Mayor confident in construction skills supply

Millions of pounds are being pumped into ensuring young people gain construction skills to hit ambitious house building targets, the West Midlands Mayor has said.

Richard Parker said thousands would be trained for jobs in the sector over the next few years, when quizzed on whether enough money was being spent on skills.

This was in response to Solihull councillor Andrew Burrow, who raised the issue at a West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) joint overview and scrutiny committee meeting.

Local authorities across the region have housing targets for the coming years, while Parker himself wants to build 2,000 social homes a year by 2028.

Burrow said: "We've got a big housing target and there's always been a lack of skills.

"Do we have enough money to train sufficient building and construction workers to meet the regional housing targets?"

Parker said he launched a Growth Plan last summer, and one aspect of that was its recognition of the importance of construction to the regional economy.

"We have around a quarter of the workforce in the West Midlands with low skills and no skills," he said.

"Too many people in low paid work and, in some of our poorest and deprived wards, we have twice as many young people out of work than the national average.

He described sectors like construction as "fantastic" to allow people to access the skills they needed to "get that well paid work".

"We understand the quantum of funding we're spending and we want to make sure we're investing in the young people particularly that would require the skills," he said.

"We're investing now £20m per year from our skills budget in the construction sector and that commitment we've made over the next three-and-a-half years is £75m.

"That will train 12,000 young people in getting apprenticeships and skills which will allow them to get jobs in that sector."

In 2025-26, the Growth Plan delivered almost 9,000 level-three qualifications in the sector and an additional 15,000 in essential skills courses, he added.

"We're doing as much as we can but we are part of the eco-skills system and we are not it.

"Very soon we will be announcing a Compact with our further education colleges, which will continue to build upon what we've done."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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