We need a fresh approach and greater devolution to deliver the flexible, agile and locally effective skills system that’s needed to drive up productivity and respond to the opportunities of automation, AI and net zero, argues Bradford’s Cllr Imran Khan, the Key Cities lead on skills, in this new report.

Skills for cities, skills for life reviews current government policy against a backdrop of below-OECD-average investment, growing skills shortages and low productivity.

The report contains expert contributions from a range of experts from the Key Cities Innovation Network universities, the FE sector, independent providers and member cities.

Pointing out that no growth strategy, national our local, will succeed unless the right skills are available in the right places, it makes a series of recommendations for municipal devolution, improved information and advice services, expanded opportunities for lifelong learning, improved technical pathways from age 14, raising investment to at least the OECD average, and trialling scalable models across the Key Cities network for effective skills delivery.