Employment and Skills Summit 2023
Thursday 23 November 2023 | Online | 9.30am – 1.00pm
The Employment and Skills Summit took a deep dive into the question of where next for employment support?
Anticipating Mayoral elections in England and a General Election coming up in 2024, we brought together political, employment and skills audiences with a focus on good practice and the most urgent areas for change.
Our plenary sessions and workshops covered diverse themes, including economic inactivity, health, in-work progression, young people and vocational training, and digital skills.
Sponsors included Clarion Futures, Youth Futures Foundation, Edge Foundation and City & Guilds.
Watch our keynote, plenary and workshops on YouTube
Download the programme
DownloadVictoria Whittle, Head of Jobs and Training at Clarion Futures, said:
We’re delighted to be sponsoring this year’s Employment and Skills Summit, which will bring together all sorts of people to explore the big question of ‘where next for employment support?’. It’s a subject we’ve been thinking about for some time now following the end of the Governments’ Kickstart scheme and I’m looking forward to swapping insights and best practice with those in attendance and thinking about innovative ways to break down barriers and support people into work.
Five themes will explore engaging the disengaged and bringing economically inactive back to work; defining good work and promoting in-work progression for all; ensuring strong pathways for all young people into further study or work; the value of essential skills, not just qualifications, in offering a bridge to employment or progression; and addressing the Covid legacy of longer term physical and mental health issues. We believe in a National Skills strategy supported by local deployment flexibility, developing a lifelong learning culture for all ages and levels and a funding system that is fair, accessible and effective. Put simply, we believe that Skills Change Lives.
Barry Fletcher, CEO of Youth Futures Foundation, said:
Narrowing the employment gap for young people facing marginalisation is vital to ensuring there are fewer young people outside the labour market and that there are improved progression pathways. We are looking forward to highlighting the value of vocational training and exploring what works in supporting young people’s access to apprenticeships and training in our session.
Five themes will explore engaging the disengaged and bringing economically inactive back to work; defining good work and promoting in-work progression for all; ensuring strong pathways for all young people into further study or work; the value of essential skills, not just qualifications, in offering a bridge to employment or progression; and addressing the Covid legacy of longer term physical and mental health issues. We believe in a National Skills strategy supported by local deployment flexibility, developing a lifelong learning culture for all ages and levels and a funding system that is fair, accessible and effective. Put simply, we believe that Skills Change Lives.
Patrick Craven, Director of Policy and Stakeholder Partnerships at City & Guilds, said:
We’re delighted to be sponsoring this year’s Employment and Skills Summit with L&W and to have this chance to further amplify the voice of our Future Skills Coalition partners. The summit will harness the expertise and insights of so many great organisations to debate a key topic for the future prosperity of the UK – how do we identify, unlock and develop the potential of our population for maximum social and economic good.
Five themes will explore engaging the disengaged and bringing economically inactive back to work; defining good work and promoting in-work progression for all; ensuring strong pathways for all young people into further study or work; the value of essential skills, not just qualifications, in offering a bridge to employment or progression; and addressing the Covid legacy of longer term physical and mental health issues. We believe in a National Skills strategy supported by local deployment flexibility, developing a lifelong learning culture for all ages and levels and a funding system that is fair, accessible and effective. Put simply, we believe that Skills Change Lives.
Olly Newton, Executive Director, Edge Foundation
I’m looking forward to sharing the key evidence from our latest Skills Shortage Bulletin as we discuss the challenge of falling apprenticeship opportunities and how we might refocus the system on young people.
Speakers include
