What did Party Conference Season tell us About the Future of Skills?

Party conference season is one of the few points in the political calendar when politicians, policymakers, employers, think tanks and organisations from across the public and private sectors come together in one place.

The conferences offer a valuable opportunity to understand the issues shaping political debates, build relationships and make the case for change. For AELP, the objective this year was clear: to ensure that those shaping skills policy hear directly from those delivering it. That meant putting the voices and vital role of employers and providers into political priorities ranging from economic growth and youth opportunity to skills shortages and local prosperity. With AELP members delivering nearly 6 in 10 of all apprenticeships, ensuring their experiences inform policy is essential.

It also meant sharing our five main asks of government this autumn:

• Invest the full Growth and Skills Levy in apprenticeships and employer-led training. Over £600m is raised through the Levy but not spent on skills. It’s time to end that Treasury ‘top-slice’.
• Keep apprenticeships national and employer led. We should retain a national apprenticeship system, while giving devolved areas greater flexibility and funding to respond to local skills priorities.
• Increase skills funding rates annually to reflect deliver costs.
• Transform Skills England into a UK-wide body. This will help ensure that employers from across the country – especially SMEs – are actively engaged in the skills system.
• Guarantee open, provider-neutral procurement across the skills system. An efficient, sustainable system needs transparent commissioning and contracting arrangements that focus on quality, outcomes and values.

A fragmented political system but a consensus that skills are vital

We seem to be seeing a weakening of the two-party system in British politics, and with further devolution throughout England expected, it’s more important than ever to engage with all the major political parties. As a result, AELP attended all five major party conferences this year. While the mood and focus varied significantly, skills featured in a much wider range of conversations than simply those explicitly labelled as “skills” events.

Given the impending publication of the second part of the Milburn Review, Labour Party Conference focused strongly on youth opportunity, apprenticeships, NEETs, employment and devolution. Meanwhile, at Conservative Party Conference, we engaged with the party’s newly configured skills team and explored its thinking on youth employment. Its proposal to halve employer National Insurance contributions for workers aged 21 to 24 brought an important dimension to the debate: how to give employers greater confidence and capacity to create opportunities.

At Green Party Conference, discussions around fuel poverty and the transition to a net zero economy opened questions about the role of green skills. The Liberal Democrats provided several opportunities for direct engagement with MPs and peers, while Reform’s conference offered a different political environment and gave us an opportunity to understand its developing positions on the economy and skills, and to explain the importance of high-quality training and the expertise providers bring to delivery.

Across those different conversations, some common themes emerged, particularly around the relationship between skills and economic growth. There is broad political recognition that businesses cannot grow, infrastructure cannot be delivered and local economies cannot prosper without people with the right skills.

Youth opportunity was another important theme. With unemployment among young people remaining a major concern, there is clear political interest in how education, employment and skills systems can provide better routes into work. Crucially, though, we continued to highlight that employers need to be able to train and develop people at different stages of their careers to enable progression, while providers need a system that can respond to those needs.

Devolution also featured repeatedly, particularly at Labour Conference. While we support giving local areas greater responsibility for employment and skills, it is important that this works within a coherent national system, with consistent standards and a clear role for providers in shaping and delivering local priorities.

Representing the skills sector

For AELP, conference season was not simply about setting out what government should do, but about building relationships and making sure policymakers understand the practical impact of their decisions.

We had direct conversations with ministers, MPs, advisers, think tanks and other stakeholders, as well as contributing to panels, roundtables and fringe events. A particular highlight was our panel event with the Fabian Society, exploring how employment and skills devolution can unlock local growth, where we highlighted the important role ITPs play, delivering around 70% of apprenticeship starts and 60% of all apprenticeships for 16–24-year-olds in England.

Across our engagement, we consistently made the case for the conditions providers and employers need: a properly funded and clear apprenticeship system tied to a national, employer-led approach that works for businesses and learners.

We also wanted AELP to be seen not simply as an organisation asking for more investment (which is of course an important part of our asks!), but as a source of practical intelligence about how the skills system works. Providers are closest to the reality of delivery, so they know where employers are struggling to recruit, which learners are facing barriers, where funding models create problems and what it takes to make programmes work. Bringing this into political conversations gives policymakers a clearer picture of what their decisions mean in practice.

So, what did we achieve? Conference season strengthened our relationships across the political spectrum, created new opportunities for engagement and allowed us to challenge assumptions about how the skills system works. We have already followed up with politicians, including by providing questions that will be tabled in Parliament.

The next step is to build on these conversations to extend and strengthen AELP’s influence on skills policy. Our members will be central to this, providing the evidence and insight we need to ensure that the experiences of providers and employers continue to inform decisions and shape a skills system that works for learners, employers and providers.

By Charlotte Dignam, Public Affairs Officer at the AELP