Opportunity for All

Chair: Sam Barratt; Aide: Cllr Simon McGrath; Hall Aide: Fraser Graham.

Submitted by: Federal Policy Committee
Mover: Ian Sollom MP (Spokesperson for Universities and Skills).
Summation: Rosie Shimell (Chair of the Policy Working Group).

Conference believes that:

1. The ‘fair, free and open’ society that the Liberal Democrats exist to build can only be achieved against the backdrop of an education system which truly gives everyone, no matter their background, circumstances or stage of life, the opportunity to thrive.
2. Currently, education and training provision still fails to give everyone a fair chance to succeed, and especially lets down people who, for a variety of reasons, have not thrived in traditional academic education settings during childhood and early adulthood.
3. The UK economy and vital public services are currently hampered by severe skills shortages in a range of sectors; and the failure to address this by successive Governments has limited growth, left the UK less well-equipped to transition to a low-carbon economy, and squandered the potential of individuals.
4. The rapid pace of technological change in the workplace, not least the rapid adoption of new AI tools, leaves many employees feeling anxious and uncertain about the future of their professions, heightening the need to offer retraining and upskilling opportunities for people who are mid–career.
5. Businesses and entrepreneurs should be properly supported to create growth and jobs in every part of the UK, to give the country the financial boost it desperately needs.

Conference believes that people need to be able to access the training needed to turn their innate talent and potential into usable skills; and that policy on skills and training is a cornerstone of opportunity.

Conference notes that:

1. The UK faces critical skills shortages in sectors such as social care, construction, AI, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.
2. Employer investment in training has dropped by 28% per employee since 2005, while further education funding and participation have been in long–term decline.
3. The Government’s newly created Skills England lacks the operational independence needed to deliver the transformation of skills and training provision, the breakdown of barriers to training opportunities for disadvantaged groups, and the proper workforce planning for critical sectors that are desperately needed to transform opportunity and skills provision in this country.
4. Persistent inequalities limit access to skills training, with adult learners, young carers, care leavers, prisoners, ethnic minorities, socio–economically disadvantaged people, disabled people and parents among the groups who face systemic barriers.

Conference further believes that:

1. Equipping people with the skills they need is essential to improving economic productivity, addressing labour shortages, and empowering individuals to thrive in a changing world.
2. The skills system must be locally responsive, nationally coherent, and built around the needs of individuals and employers alike.
3. The Government’s duty to support education and training should not stop when an individual turns 21; lifelong learning is essential in an era of rapid technological and economic change, and Governments must guarantee access to training and support throughout working lives.

Conference therefore endorses policy paper 159 Opportunity for All and in particular its proposals to:

1. Set the right institutional framework for opportunity and skills in England by:
   1. Reforming Skills England to establish a truly independent, arms-length body, accountable to Parliament and supported by regional and sectoral partners, with a specific remit to enable growth and opportunity, understand the nation’s skills needs and improve the skills offer, tackle discrimination in access to skills, forecast future workforce needs in essential sectors, and guide investment.
   2. Requiring regions to produce Workforce Development Plans aligned with industrial strategy, and devolve skills funding to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and county partnerships, within a national framework of performance and quality assurance.
2. Boost the funds available for Further Education in England by:
   1. Introducing a £10,000 Lifelong Training Grant for every adult, disbursed in tranches at ages 25 (£4,000), 40 (£3,000), and 55 (£3,000), with clear guidance to support its use for re–skilling and career transitions.
   2. Allowing FE colleges to reclaim VAT, to put them on a level playing field with Sixth Form Colleges.
   3. Extending the Pupil Premium to post–16 FE learners to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to stay in education and training.
   4. In the long run, equalising per–student funding in FE with school sixth forms.
3. Incentivise and improve training in the workforce by:
   1. Transforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a Skills and Training Account model which would empower employers and individuals to fund training, and make it more accessible to small– and medium–sized employers.
   2. Boosting the take–up of apprenticeships by guaranteeing they are paid at least the National Minimum Wage through scrapping the lower apprentice rate.
   3. Introducing Skills Tax Credits, with enhanced relief for priority sectors.
   4. Establishing Skills Cooperatives of SMEs to pool training resources and rotate apprentices between member businesses.
   5. Enabling funding of accredited micro–credentials and modular learning to increase flexibility and participation.
   6. Guaranteeing AI training for all public sector workers, to support the adoption of emerging technologies.
4. Strengthen the uptake of Vocational Qualifications by:
   1. Supporting BTECs and reforming T–levels into modular formats with flexible industry placements.
   2. Implementing reforms to bring more technical education into mainstream schools.
5. Improve the support and guidance available to learners at all levels by:
   1. Making careers guidance a statutory part of the curriculum from primary school onwards.
   2. Strengthening the National Careers Service’s adult offer and face–to–face capacity including ensuring provision in community settings, so it is easily available for people not currently in full time education.
   3. Supporting voluntary mentoring schemes in places of work.
6. Take steps to tackle barriers faced by specific groups including by:
   1. Extending the Childcare Grant currently available to low– income HE students to all full–time students undertaking eligible courses regardless of level.
   2. Give parents on full–time courses access to equal support with childcare costs as is available to working parents, offering them an additional 15 hours free childcare for 3– and 4–year–olds for 38 weeks of the year.
   3. Speeding up the process to recognise asylum seekers and refugees existing qualifications where possible, so they can use their existing skills here in the UK.
   4. Expanding the Pupil Premium to include extra funding for young carers, and exempt young adult carers from the ‘21– hour rule’ that currently prevents them from claiming Carer’s Allowance if they study for more than 21 hours per week.
   5. Improving the provision of training, education and work opportunities in prisons.
   6. Make care experience a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 to strengthen the rights of people who are in or have been in care to receive training.

Applicability: England, except for 2. b) (lines 82–83), 3.b) and c) (lines 94–98), and 6. f) (lines 139–141) which are Federal.

Mover and summation combined: 16 minutes; mover and summation of amendments: 4 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see pages 6-7 of the agenda. You can submit a speaker's card online here from Monday 15 September up to 13.40 Saturday 20 September or in person.

The deadline for amendments to this motion is 13.00 Monday 8 September; you can submit amendments online here, see pages 9–10 of the agenda for more information. Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Saturday’s Conference Daily. The deadline for requests for separate votes is 09.00 Thursday 18 September; you can request separate votes here, see page 5 of the agenda for more information.