This week the Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP, and the Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP, launched Skills England as part of the Government’s ‘Breaking down barriers to opportunity’ mission, following the announcement of the Skills England Bill in The King’s Speech.
Commenting on the announcement, CIMSPA Chief Strategy Officer, Spencer Moore said,
“The government’s announcement of Skills England is important for the sport and physical activity sector. The intention is to use this new body as a catalyst to create new opportunities and drive economic growth, by ensuring that the workforce across all sectors, is equipped with the necessary skills to meet the evolving demands of industry.
Our sector is particularly important because we contribute so much to public health and therefore, the economy. By ensuring our sector workforce is equipped with the skills, knowledge and capabilities that the sector needs, it’s possible to make a significant difference to the number of people suffering from long-term physical and mental health conditions. This reduces the cost pressures on the NHS and helps more people to be economically active.
Many of the approaches outlined in the plan for Skills England are already underway in our sector. We’re already harnessing meaningful collaborations between employers, education providers and other stakeholders to address skills gaps and ensure that qualifications and training meets local needs. Releasing the Power of Our Profession, CIMSPA’s Strategy, sets out how this approach is driving the sector forward.
Skills England’s focus on regional disparities and skills gaps is particularly important for our sector. Different regions have unique needs and strengths, and a one-size-fits-all approach would not be effective. By tailoring initiatives to the specific needs of each region, Skills England can ensure that opportunities in sport and physical activity are accessible to all. Our local skills project, being driven by Local Skills Accountability Boards (LSAB) across 31 areas is the perfect template which Skills England can learn from to accelerate its plans.
Commended by the Chamber of Commerce as pioneering and ahead of the curve in comparison to many other sectors, this work is ensuring that the skills and professional development needs of the sector are met at a local level. We invite Skills England to collaborate with LSABs to develop a greater understanding of how local priorities can be addressed and specific skills development initiatives can be effectively implemented across different regions.
A critical aspect of Skills England will be its alignment with the Government’s Industrial Strategy. While full details of this are yet to emerge, it would be inconceivable for it not to address the importance of health and wellbeing as a key theme. The sport and physical activity sector is integral to this context, contributing significantly to both the economy and the nation’s health. To achieve this, Skills England will need to place focus on working with the sector to develop skills and capacity in areas such as management, coaching, exercise referral, community activation, and more to ensure that the sector can engage diverse communities.
This complements CIMSPA’s work to build further professional recognition of the sector workforce. The sector’s professional standards and qualifications framework are designed to meet industry needs, providing a clear career pathway. Skills England can leverage these standards to ensure that its work in our sector is relevant and impactful. There is also much it can learn from this and translate to other sectors.
The Prime Minister and Secretary of State have strongly signalled that they intend Skills England to be built on a collaborative approach which involves government, employers, other industry stakeholders, and education providers working together to create a dynamic skills ecosystem. In the sport and physical activity sector, this partnership is essential for developing learning opportunities that address the needs of communities, local priorities and are aligned with sector standards.
CIMSPA has been at the forefront of such collaborations, working with employers, training providers, educational institutions, local authorities, health commissioners, employment support agencies and community groups to ensure that qualifications and training meets the needs of the sector locally. Skills England can build on CIMSPA’s established networks and frameworks to enhance the effectiveness of its approach.
Alongside partners and stakeholders, across the sector, we can provide valuable insights into the skills that the nation needs. We use this insight to help educational providers to design curricula that prepares learners for entry to, and to advance, their career in sport and physical activity, ensuring they acquire practical, sector specific knowledge and skills. The Government’s role in providing policy support and infrastructure is crucial for the sustainability and scalability of these collaborations.
Our work as a sector has demonstrated that the local approach not only promotes sustainable economic growth based on place-based needs but also fosters community engagement and wellbeing through increased participation in sport and physical activity. It’s very encouraging to see that Skills England will be driving a similar approach and this will build on the great foundation already in place.
For Skills England to have the impact that the Government intends there are a number of factors which need to be considered, but which our sector can provide important evidence for. Implementing appropriate policies in relation to funding is essential to support the development and delivery of learning that directly addresses skills gaps. Clear communication among stakeholders in any sector is also crucial to ensure that initiatives are effective, duplication is avoided, and everyone buys in to a co-ordinated approach.
Accessibility is another key challenge. Skills development initiatives must be designed to be inclusive, offering opportunities to diverse populations, including underrepresented groups and in areas with Low Socio-Economic Group (LSEG) scores. CIMSPA has already established work to address this challenge including through targeted opportunities, creating flexible learning options, and developing outreach work to raise awareness of the varied career opportunities in the sector.
CIMSPA’s emphasis on local inclusivity can provide valuable insights and frameworks for Skills England to adopt.
Keeping pace with societal and technological advancements, and evolving industry needs is also critical for Skills England to consider. Our sector is rapidly changing, with data analytics becoming more important and employers increasingly struggling to find employees with key skill sets in areas such as safeguarding, management, supporting individuals with long-term health conditions and mental wellbeing. Skills England must connect with already established, successful ways of working such as those that are established in our sector.
With the announcement of an interim chair for Skills England, Richard Pennycook (former chief executive of the Co-operative Group and current lead non-executive director at the Department for Education), and the drive to reform the Apprenticeship Levy into a more flexible growth and skills levy, plus the intention to transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), the new Government is wasting no time in putting skills at the heart of its early plans.
We look forward to working with Skills England plus our partners in other areas of the UK to continue to grow our sector workforce as key drivers of public health and wellbeing and economic growth.”
Find out more about the local skills work underway in the sector
Individual and collective professional recognition for the sport and physical activity workforce.
