Senior construction sector leaders, working in partnership with Government ministers, have launched a new ‘construction sector skills mission’, which aims to ensure the sector has the workforce it needs for the future.
The Construction Skills Mission Board has had an initial meeting to set a strategy for recruiting an additional 100,000 workers a year by the end of the Parliament. The Board was established by the Construction Leadership Council to support the Government’s commitment to invest an additional £625 million in construction skills.
To support delivery of this strategy, the government is funding at least £725 billion for infrastructure over the next decade, as well as building 1.5m new homes, and retrofitting an additional 5 million homes.
The Board is chaired by CLC co-chair Mark Reynolds. The Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, joined the first meeting alongside other ministers, representatives of the supply chain and training organisations.
The Board aims to develop specific initiatives and actions to deliver the mission, while supporting the Government to shape and deliver skills policy. The actions will focus on five key areas to drive increased recruitment. They are:
- confidence to employ and invest;
- clear new entrant pathways;
- access to provision & support to train;
- funding that works; and
- reliable and rewarding careers.
The Board will work with industry bodies to ensure these actions are rolled out across the sector.
The CLC is keen to ensure that all parts of the sector can be involved in the mission, understand the plans and policies being developed to drive investment in skills and play a role in the subsequent work to recruit this new workforce. Any organisation that would like to support the mission can do so through engagement with their relevant trade body.
