Great Britain: ‘Levelling up the UK’, a plan to develop local skills

Published on 02 February, a 300-page White Paper document plans to unify living standards and productivity throughout the UK by 2030 by energising the whole of the nation and by boosting local skills and lifelong education. To date, the executive has set out twelve specific missions, including training 200,000 people to a high skills level and 80,000 people to a basic skills level, standardising labour markets in all regions, and improving transport and access to new technologies in some areas. The government has also announced the creation of ‘Local Skills Improvement Plans’, which will give local employers a role in defining the skills and training needed in each region. “For decades, too many communities have been overlooked and undervalued. This White Paper “is about ending this historic injustice and calling time on the postcode lottery,” promised Levelling Up Secretary of State Michael Gove. The employers’ confederation CBI has welcomed the plan, which it says offers a ‘serious assessment of the regional inequalities.’ However, the trade union confederation TUC was much more sceptical. “If we don’t level up at work, we won’t level up the country,” said Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC.