Graham served as one of the commissioners for the report, entitled ‘Skills 2030: Building A World-Class Skills System', which calls on the next Parliament to reform skills policy to help address skills shortages and build a highly skilled workforce capable of boosting productivity and expanding opportunity for all.

The Skills 2030 Report highlights that, while some positive steps have been taken by the Government since the Skills Commission’s last inquiry into the system in 2020, England does not yet have the world-class skills system that it needs to address the challenging social and economic circumstances that the country faces.

It states that skills policy should be a top priority for whichever party or parties form the next government and includes insights from stakeholders across the sector about the vital importance of reforms to address challenges in further education, falling employer investment in skills, and persistent barriers facing both young and adult learners.

Skills 2030 presents a holistic and wide-ranging vision to transform the skills system, ensuring that it can adapt and respond to changing workforce needs in the years ahead, and sets out eleven recommendations to deliver meaningful and lasting improvements, covering the following themes:

• Reshaping Skills Policy Decision-making,
• Investing in the Future of Further Education and Skills,
• Removing Barriers for Young Learners,
• Maximising Employer Investment in Skills, and
• Making Lifelong Learning a Reality.

Graham Hasting-Evans, chief executive of NOCN Group, says:

“It’s fantastic to see the release of this much-needed report. I have long been campaigning for a more sustainable and effective skills system for the UK and Skills 2030 summarises exactly what needs to be done to make us competitive on a world stage in the ever-changing economic and social environment we now find ourselves in. It should be used by the next government as a blueprint for skills policy and I hope it is taken seriously as such.”

Find out more and read the full report here.