Innovation Economy: Skills

Earl of Clancarty Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, it is essential that this is both a local and a national approach by the Government. A national skills and productivity board has been announced and is in development, made up of experts sitting at a national level. There are now 36 skills and advisory panels—similar name but different function—at local level, which include the FE sector and employers, so that at local level we can provide the skills that the local economy needs.

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree with the statement from Innovate UK on its website that

“One of the most frequently-overlooked yet crucially important elements of innovation is design”?


If so, will the Government address the currently precarious and actually pitiful position of design subjects in schools, where design and technology in particular has 67% less GCSE take-up and 43% fewer teaching hours than 10 years ago?

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, the Government are committed to all those sectors with a skills gap: there is design, the automotive sector and engineering. What I just outlined at local and national level is to ensure what is being developed in qualifications and skills. That is why employers are involved in ensuring that apprenticeships match the needs of the economy.