Party Conference season is over for another year – and this year for the first time Skills Builder took part in person! 

Conferences are the ‘festivals’ of the political world: intense days of speeches, fringe events, and meetings. They give exposure to current sector debates and talking points, and provide opportunities to both meet both new contacts and build on existing relationships.  

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Education and skills: What we heard 

The atmosphere at the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences differed hugely. Labour was surprisingly upbeat for a party in opposition, with a real sense that power is within reach at the next election. At the Conservative Conference, meanwhile, it was difficult to miss the huge U-turn on tax policy – a reflection of a wider party with little clear direction on economic policy and even less clarity on other issues including education and skills. 

So what was there on education and skills? Labour announced they would turn the current apprenticeships levy into a ‘growth and skills levy’, devolve adult education skills spending to combined authorities, and establish a new expert body – Skills England – to oversee the national skills effort we look forward to more detail of this next week with the launch of the Council of Skills Advisers report. The Conservatives did not make any new policy announcements. Instead, Education Secretary Kit Malthouse promised his team would be “much more assertive about intervention and standards” in schools. 

Beyond the speeches in the main hall there were the fringe events. Explicitly skills-focused events were few and far between, but at the events I attended the tone of the debate reflected the essence of the two parties. 

Labour were very focused on using skills to tackle disadvantage and inequality.  The range of speakers on panels at the fringes was wide, head teachers, think tanks, businesses and unions. Despite their differing positions they were united in the need for better careers advice information and guidance in a clamour for more ambition in policy making to deliver this.  The traditional role of a school careers advisor is being lost and with government spending under pressure this is unlikely to improve so there were discussions on who can fill this role and the resources they will need to do this. Schools are the natural first option as they reach all but third sector groups shared some inspiring stories on how they have helped young people especially to develop their skills and career ambitions. 

Conservative fringes focused on how skills development can contribute to economic growth and deliver opportunity. There was an agreement that the work of work is moving fast with AI taking some jobs while the ‘green jobs’ sector is showing rapid growth. I was interested to hear several times that the need for knowledge is declining but the need for skills is rising. I would argue this very much includes essential skills that are needed for most roles. There was an underlying sense from party members that with in effect 18 months of policy making time before the next election (though with things as they are it may be even sooner) there is an urgency to show progress, however agreement on what this was seemed to elude most fridge debates. 

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The case for essential skills

How can the development of essential skills tackle disadvantage and inequality and contribute to economic growth and deliver opportunity? Research into the value of essential skills by Skills Builder Partnership (Better prepared Essential skills and employment outcomes for young people, February 2021) shows that the development of essential skills from schools and into further and lifelong education can both tackle disadvantage and contribute to economic growth and deliver opportunity. 

Essential skills also support young people’s employment outcomes. The Skills Builder Essential Skills Tracker, published in March 2022, showed that individuals that possess higher levels of essential skills earn up to £5,900 more per year and are 52% less likely to be out of education or employment. They also receive more lifelong learning opportunities to improve their essential skills.

Now that conferences are over for another year and the daily workings of Westminster return, we will continue our conversation with both parties into how essential skills can be advocated for.  

As Labour flesh out proposals for Skills England, we would be keen to include essential skills on a level footing with basic and technical skills. As Conservatives deliver education and work policies, we urge they invest in the promotion of essential skills and cite the Skills Builder Universal Framework as a tool that can provide a national standard for essential skills, helping individuals develop and recognise their essential skills from education to work life. 

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