Education & Skills 
On 3 March the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Skills, Careers and Employment (APGSCE) held a parliamentary roundtable at the Palace of Westminster to discuss the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper with Minister for Skills Jacqui Smith. The session brought together parliamentarians, employer representatives and sector leaders to examine the government’s intent, priorities and timelines for the reforms, their implications for providers, employers and learners, and the opportunities for Parliament and the APPG to support effective implementation.
Chaired by Lauren Edwards MP, APGSCE Co-Chair, the session opened with remarks from the Minister, followed by scene-setting contributions from:
- Sir John Hayes MP
- Lord David Willetts
- Lord Watson of Invergowrie
- Professor Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor, University of Derby
- Peter Mayhew-Smith, Principal, South Thames Colleges Group
This was followed by an open discussion with attendees. Claudia Jaksch, CEO of Policy Connect, closed the session with an update on the APPG’s future work programme.
The Minister framed the White Paper against a backdrop of an ageing population, shifting labour market demands and the uncertain impact of AI, and highlighted the move of the skills brief across the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions as a signal of intent to connect skills policy more closely to employment outcomes. Key commitments outlined included 50,000 additional apprenticeship places, free AI foundation skills training for up to ten million people, an expanded Youth Guarantee, two weeks of work experience for young people, and an ambition for two thirds of young people to progress into higher education or apprenticeships. The Minister was clear that publication marked the beginning of the process rather than its conclusion.
Participants broadly welcomed the scale of ambition set out in the White Paper, while raising a range of questions about implementation, resourcing and coherence. Key themes raised included:
- Recruitment and retention pressures in the further education workforce, including a structural pay gap relative to schools and difficulty attracting experienced practitioners from industry into teaching roles.
- The need for a more agile and locally accessible apprenticeship system, including faster processes for updating provision, stronger pre-apprenticeship pathways, and concerns about apprenticeship completion rates, particularly at higher levels.
- The importance of employer engagement, particularly among SMEs, with trade and representative bodies suggested as a practical route to reaching smaller employers at scale.
- The diversity of the higher education sector and the need for policy to reflect the differing circumstances of institutions, alongside calls for greater modularity, clearer information for prospective students, and improved credit transfer between providers.
- Careers guidance as a cross-cutting concern, with broad agreement on the need for a better-funded, lifelong system that reflects the non-linear nature of modern careers.
- Inclusion and equity, including the importance of early identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET, alignment with the SEND White Paper, and the decline in entry-level roles available to young people.
- Funding and capacity constraints across the sector, including adult skills funding being exhausted before demand is met, and questions about the structural and financial support available to Skills England to deliver its remit.
Looking ahead, participants agreed that translating the ambitions of the White Paper into practice will require sustained investment, cross-sector collaboration and clarity about the role and resources available to Skills England.
For further information, please contact Rhiannon Tuckett-Jones (rhiannon.tuckett-jones@policyconnect.org.uk)
This event was supported by Policy Connect’s APGSCE members.
