In the UK, skill supply has been a key concern for employers and inward investors for many years. That is why WorldSkills UK set up an independent Skills Taskforce for Global Britain in May 2021 to provide recommendations on how the UK could get better at using high-quality technical skills to attract and retain more inward investment.
The UK already has a world-leading knowledge economy and has been using it effectively to help attract investment to the UK, but most of this investment has gone to London and the southeast of England.
The most important conclusion of this report is that the UK also needs a world-class skills economy to compete effectively for international investment and to make sure that the investment and high quality jobs it brings go to more parts of the UK.
As a result of the findings and recommendations in this report, WorldSkills UK is committing to work with our partners in governments, education and industry on five key actions to help develop a world-class skills economy in the UK.
We will:
• ensure our skills development programmes are increasingly aligned with the needs of international investors, with a particular focus on STEM and digital skills
• collaborate with our partners in further and higher education to boost the quality and attractiveness of higher technical education
• work with our partners in industry to champion their future skills needs
• establish more opportunities across the regions and nations of the UK to benchmark skills against world-class standards through our Centre of Excellence and related programmes
• showcase British excellence in skills through performance benchmarking in WorldSkills Europe and WorldSkills International to help attract more inward investment to the UK.
WorldSkills UK is indebted to the twelve members of the Skills Taskforce for Global Britain for their input to this independent report over the last twelve months. Their advice and expertise has been vital and I am sure that this report will not only provide a legacy of greater understanding about the critical role that skills plays in winning inward investment to help create high-quality jobs, but also help galvanise action to boost UK economic growth for the long term.
