The Regional Skills Plan is a roadmap to equip local people with the skills they need to support our economic growth. This would be the first jurisdictional agreement of its kind and other combined authorities in the country will have the opportunity to enter into negotiations with the DfE with a view to concluding similar agreements. The West Midlands is the first combined authority to have entered into a Skills Deal with the Department of Education, with $69 million for training. Media coverage of the agreement has shown that other combined authorities have the door open to opening negotiations with the DfE on similar agreements – the government should put these rumours into practice. Given the central role that skills play in implementing the government`s industrial strategy, the Ministry of Education should now, more than ever, work with other local services and authorities to ensure that each location has the tools it needs to meet its challenges. The plan calls for training providers, businesses and local authorities to coordinate their skills, with a focus on construction, automotive, digital and business and professional services, and re-employment services. In the agreement with the government, it will contribute $40 million annually over 30 years to support a global investment package that will free up $8 billion, as well as create half a million jobs. “The West Midlands is the engine of our thriving economy, but we want to ensure that more people on the ground have the skills to progress in life, while increasing the productivity and technical know-how of the region,” said Education Minister Damian Hinds. We will give people the skills they need to drive regional growth. Read the stories of people who are already taking advantage of the programs put in place to fill the skills gap and reduce unemployment in the West Midlands. “This new skills agreement will provide the right investments for young people and adults to learn, improve, recycle and use the range of exciting trades in areas such as construction, cybersecurity and digital technology.” – Development of results agreements with suppliers in 2016-17; Our government-based skills will promote regional digital and technical skills, employment opportunities and productivity, so that more young people and adults end up at work while recycling and recycling local people of all ages. The government will co-finance the agreement at the same time as employer funding. We are going to invest $20 million.
The paper outlines policy areas in which the government and the West Midlands Combined Authority will work closely together to test procedures for implementing important recycling, digital skills and learning measures. For example, Birmingham has the highest proportion of an unqualified population in a British city, and beats below its weight in terms of highly skilled population. It is not surprising that improving the skills of the workforce is a priority for the combined authority, and this competency agreement gives them the opportunity to do so simply. The automotive industry accounts for 45% of advanced production in the region, and the number of jobs in this sector increased by 40% between 2010 and 2014. There is a lack of higher professional qualifications and qualifications, fuelled by an ageing workforce and new manufacturing technologies/techniques.