As anticipated, the Queen’s Speech included new legislation on learning and skills, a Skills and Post-16 Education Bill.

This covers a range of the commitments in the FE & Skills White Paper published earlier this year. Unionlearn’s latest policy newsletter provides a detailed review of the key measures in the white paper.

The TUC’s immediate reaction to the Queen’s Speech highlights that this was another missed opportunity to boost retraining and skills to support economic recovery and job prospects.

The reality is that large numbers of people won’t be able to access the Lifetime Skills Guarantee because they already have a level 3 qualification. The entitlement also does not cover level 3 qualifications in many sectors, including those hardest hit by the pandemic. And the government’s plans do not include restoring the entitlement for all adults to get free courses to achieve their first level 2 qualification, as recommended by the Education Select Committee and others.

The Lifelong Loan Entitlement does have some potential merits, including that it could support access to funding on a more flexible and modular basis and develop greater parity between our FE and HE systems. But it won’t be rolled out until 2025. And there remain concerns that it may lead to high levels of debt for a new cohort of students, especially if the government fails to deliver on the recommendation by the Augar Review that maintenance grants should be reinstated for people from low-income households.

The promised additional funding for adults skills via the National Skills Fund is not near enough to compensate for the cuts in the last decade. According to a new analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Skills, this new funding stream will only reverse about one third of the reduction in government spending on adult education and skills since 2010.

While it is right that our skills system should be better at identifying and meeting the skills needs of employers, the new approach will be completely undermined by the absence of unions and worker voice in the strategy.

Commenting on the skills announcements in the Queen’s Speech, Kevin Rowan (Head of Organising, Services and Skills at TUC), said:

Once again the government is delivering too little too late when it comes to investing in training and skills.

Everyone at risk of unemployment in the coming weeks and months needs access to courses now to help them retrain and upskill, and the legislation and white paper fails to address the urgency of this.

Other policy priorities, including the transition to a Net Zero economy and society, also need the government to take much more ambitious action on skills.

The Union Learning Fund would have hugely boosted take-up of some of the new measures, including the adult level 3 entitlement, and the government’s decision to cut the ULF grant will greatly reduce the number of workers taking advantage of this.