Almost a third of manufacturers are dissatisfied with the progress of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda, according to a new report Levelling up: Bridging the gap between policy and progress, published by Make UK.
The report reveals that that manufacturers want to see mayors and local councillors given more responsibility for driving the levelling up agenda and better support for skills training and creation of job opportunities prioritised by Government.
The report goes on to say: “This suggests that existing programmes such as IoTs or the National Skills Fund is not adequately plugging this problem. However this is may not necessarily be due to the programmes’ designs, but awareness of the various support programmes available to manufacturers – for example, only 10% of manufacturers had heard of IoTs and were engaging with them. A lack of awareness is not a new issue, particularly amongst SMEs: previous Make UK research shows an average of 60% of businesses were unaware of available business support schemes or programmes.
Despite the manufacturing sector being able to stay open during the pandemic, over 50% still had to make redundancies, and 9 in 10 are concerned about accessing skills. It is therefore no surprise that we see manufacturers across every region wanting to see this prioritised. To date the Government has introduced a number of skills initiatives including the National Skills Fund, but as our data shows, almost a third of manufacturers had not even heard of it (29%), with only 21% had actually engaged with it.
If manufacturers are to overcome the skills challenges they face as a sector, Government must begin to address some of the long-standing issues manufacturers have been contending with, including rethinking the Apprenticeship Levy system – specifically to make it financially sustainable in the long-term.
Crucially, better support for skills training and creating job opportunities can only be achieved through improved transport connections, digital connectivity, affordable housing and greater devolution. Each of these are therefore enablers to improving access to people, skills and opportunity across all of the UK.
Manufacturers in Yorkshire & the Humber want to see Government prioritise upgrading local transport infrastructure as part of their Government Levelling Up agenda with 74% of respondents in the region voting for this.
This is consistent with the view of manufacturers in 2020. The Government’s decision to scrap the eastern leg of HS2, as well as publish an underwhelming Integrated Rail Plan, are examples of local transport connections in the North – both rail and road – not being seen as a priority by central Government. Yet all the evidence shows that improved transport connections can not only support people accessing job opportunities, but it also allows businesses to start up and scale up across different areas.
