The UK Transport Committee recommends government consult manufacturers on vocational training, introduce competency passports for transferable skills, and restore level 7 apprenticeship funding. The report addresses skills shortages across aerospace, automotive, maritime and rail sectors amid the net zero transition.A new report is urging the government to strengthen transport manufacturing by backing the sector and developing a skilled workforce.
The Transport Committee’s report urges action to capitalise on opportunities linked to the government’s legislative plans for bus and rail reform and cleaner fuels and assesses the transport manufacturing sector’s skills requirements with recommendations to improve recruitment, retention and workforce development, especially for women.
Evidence to the inquiry highlighted specific skills shortages across the aerospace, automotive, maritime and rail sectors, while the Committee heard that “the journey to net zero has fundamentally transformed the skills required across the automotive and wider transport manufacturing industries”.
The report says the Department for Transport should consult transport manufacturers on how effectively the UK’s vocational training system is supplying skilled workers, and share the findings across government to guide future training policy.
It calls for Skills England to consult on the benefits of a ‘competency passport’ that would harness transferable skills within the transport manufacturing sector and help workers to move between roles.
Elsewhere, the report acknowledges that the government is seeking to rebalance funding to prioritise younger people but says that its removal of funding for level 7 apprenticeships for people aged 22 and older risks jeopardising the supply of experienced and highly skilled workers.
It concurs with a recent Education Committee report that calls for this funding to be brought back for all ages within the eight growth-driving sectors identified in the government’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
Commenting on the report, Dr Benjamin Silverstone, head of Skills Policy and Strategy at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), said: “The calls for greater flexibility in how levy funding can be used – including support for short courses beyond apprenticeship units – along with the reinstatement of funding for Level 7 apprenticeships, remain key recommendations that we continue to champion as strongly as possible.
“We are passionate about the use of competency passports to showcase transferable skills and to help the workforce move more easily across traditional sector boundaries, bringing much-needed expertise and experience into the transport sector.
“What now remains to be seen is whether the government will adopt these recommendations – not only to support the transport sector, but also the engineering and manufacturing sectors.”
