The government has admitted it is not assessing the impact of the skills shortage on housebuilding.
Bill Esterson, Labor MP for Sefton Central, recently tabled a written parliamentary question to the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, asking her “what recent assessment she has made of the effect of skills shortages on small and medium-sized construction companies in housing construction”.
In response, Minister Nusrat Ghani said the Department of Enterprise and Trade “does not produce assessments of skills shortages in small and medium-sized construction firms and their impact on house building.” .
Ghani noted that the Construction Skills Network produces annual forecasts of demand for construction skills and had predicted a need for an additional 225,000 construction workers between 2023 and 2027.
In a separate question, Esterton also asked the education secretary “what plans she has to tackle the skills shortage in the construction industry”.
Skills minister Robert Halfon responded that the government was “building an employer-focused, high-quality and future-proof skills system”, backed by £3.8bn of investment this parliament.
It highlighted the “high-quality learning standards” available to construction employers, with 81 standards approved for delivery, including modern construction methods.
In 2021/22, 7,490 Level 3 (advanced) apprenticeships were started in the construction, planning and built environment sector, 29.7% more than in 2020/21, when the figures were hit for covid
He added that there are currently three T-level qualifications in construction available, as well as 18 higher technical qualifications approved in construction and the built environment from September 2023.
Among the other initiatives Halfon pointed out were the 418 ‘Free Courses for Jobs’ offers available in construction, which allow eligible adults to access Level 3 qualifications (equivalent to A levels) for free.
Graham Harle, chief executive of consultants Gleeds Worldwide, recently wrote for Construction news that housing was being “hard hit” by the labor shortage.
He argued that “labour, or the lack of it, will be the biggest barrier to achieving the UK’s ambitious housebuilding, net zero and infrastructure delivery targets for a long time to come”.
