In February, it was announced in the Levelling Up White Paper that the Department for Education would be setting up a new Unit for Future Skills. The White Paper recognises that good information is necessary for the skills system to respond effectively to emerging needs. The unit has therefore been set up to improve the quality of jobs and skills data, working across Government to make this publicly accessible.
Rich sources of information on skills and jobs already exist. However, this information is often held by various parts of Government and in different or incompatible formats. Furthermore, data in the public domain is typically not presented in a way that is most useful for its intended audience, whether learners, providers, local areas, businesses, or researchers.
Today, the unit has officially launched with its first data release. This covers the jobs, sectors and regions people work in after gaining a qualification. This is the first time we have brought together data on higher and further education to make it easier for people to see where their training can take them: for example, showing the routes young people take through high-quality technical education to get good jobs where they live. This data is an early example of what the unit can do, and we will work with others to improve this and release more useful information.
The unit will work extensively with a variety of stakeholders to enrich our employer-led skills system and make it more responsive to the economy’s needs. The unit covers England only, but will work with devolved Administrations to share learning and insights.
Alongside the data from the Unit for Future Skills, the Skills Productivity Board has also published its remaining reports, concluding its work. The board is an expert committee set up in 2020 to provide independent, evidence-based advice on skills and their contribution to productivity. Findings from the board emphasise the need for sustained focus on data improvements and formed the basis of the unit’s priorities.
The unit will continue to work with other Government Departments to bring together different datasets and make these widely available, including through APIs—application programming interfaces.
Specific priorities for the unit over the next six months include:
Improved dashboard on career pathways providing users with more detail on which post-16 qualifications support successful employment in specific sectors within a local area—improvements to be designed based on user feedback on dashboard released today.
A skills demand dashboard. Development of a product based on newly available data from the ONS, showing what types of jobs are being advertised in which local area
Research projects on future skills demand forecasting and a UK specific skills taxonomy. The latter will underpin better linking of data, enriching its potential
Roundtables and stakeholder workshops, to gather feedback on the unit’s launch products and define its longer-term priorities.
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