The All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group recommends that government empowers industry and education provider partnerships to ensure a manufacturing workforce fit for the future.

Today Policy Connect and the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group publish their latest report: Supporting UK manufacturing Skills in a post Covid-19 world. The report outlines how the government can support the development of UK manufacturing skills to ensure an adaptable, capable and diverse workforce, ready to put manufacturing at the heart of tackling urgent societal challenges, including Covid-19 recovery, levelling up through job creation and business growth, and paving the way to a net zero and digitalised society.

For the Business Department to deliver its priorities of enterprise, net zero and innovation, it must empower employer and education provider partnerships along with regional bodies to drive the delivery of skills, to ensure that skills are ‘replenished’ at a local level and to fit local needs. Government and the manufacturing sector must also jointly fund this regional approach to skills improvement policy.

Any successful sector needs to combine inclusivity and diversity to actively draw on the strengths and talents of the whole population. This report also recommends that government needs to drive forward the equality objectives published in July 2021, to create a more inclusive, accessible and diverse manufacturing sector actively drawing on all talents.

To find out more about the report and its recommendations or to hear some best practice examples from the sector, please contact the report co-author, Floriane Fidegnon, on Floriane.Fidegnon [at] policyconnect.org.uk (Floriane[dot]Fidegnon[at]policyconnect[dot]org[dot]uk).

“Covid-19 has presented an opportunity for the sector to reflect on its skills needs going forwards and create an environment where manufacturing professionals reskill and upskill in line with demand. The examples of existing good practice the inquiry found shows that we can do this, but that there is more the government needs to do to support the sector across the board, in order for it to support society’s transition to net zero.” - Report co-author Shiza Naveed, Policy Connect

Note to editors

For further information contact victoria.zeybrandt [at] policyconnect.org.uk (Victoria[dot]Zeybrandt[at]policyconnect[dot]org[dot]uk)

About Policy Connect

Policy Connect is a cross-party think tank with five main policy pillars which are: Assistive & Accessible Technology; Education & Skills; Health; Industry, Technology & Innovation; and Sustainability.

We specialise in supporting parliamentary groups, forums and commissions for which Policy Connect provides the secretariat and delivers impactful policy research and event programmes. Our collaboration with parliamentarians through these groups allows us to influence public policy in Westminster and Whitehall. We are a social enterprise and are funded by a combination of regular annual membership subscriptions and time-limited sponsorships.

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About the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG)

The APMG is at the forefront of the policy debate, parliamentary engagement and research related to manufacturing and industry. By holding regular events and seminars in Parliament, the APMG seeks to bring parliamentarians together with industry and the commercial sector to better understand the sector challenges. The APMG publish a monthly newsletter to Parliament and its members, with summaries of manufacturing policy stories, industry news, and other political developments, along with research-based briefing papers on topical legislation. The arms-length Manufacturing Commission produces research reports with evidence-based recommendations for government informed by our members.

This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either Houses or its committees. All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group.