GRJ0016
LGA submission to the Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry into Green Jobs |
1.1. The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We are a politically led, cross-party membership organisation, representing councils from England and Wales.
1.2. Our role is to support, promote and improve local government, and raise national awareness of the work of councils. Our ultimate ambition is to support councils to deliver local solutions to national problems.
2.1. Analysis for the LGA shows that there could be as many as 694,000 direct jobs in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy by 2030 in England, rising to over 1.18 million by 2050. These jobs will be crucial in order to meet the Government’s net zero targets.
2.2. The demand for low carbon jobs will require a diverse range of skills and expertise to roll-out clean technologies. However, to date, the ability to meet the skills needs of businesses has not been successful. Pre-Covid, four-fifths of UK manufacturers struggled to hire the staff with the right qualifications and experience. LGA Research also revealed real concerns about immediate (2020 – 2025) skill gaps in nuclear construction, design and planning supply chain, design and installation of heat pumps, and within the financial services.
2.3. Being able to match skills supply with industry demand through effective local targeting is critical and local government is committed to ensuring residents benefit from new employment opportunities. However, most employment and skills funding and programmes are nationally commissioned, which makes it difficult to meet, and respond to, local need and demand.
2.4. As we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, and looking ahead to both the Devolution and Further Education White Papers, we have a unique opportunity to ‘Rethink Local’. Further devolution of powers and funding is needed for places to ‘level up’ and ensure no one is left behind, and to make a reality of the green jobs agenda.
2.5. The LGA’s Work Local model provides a framework for an integrated and devolved employment and skills system that is fit for the future. This should be used as a blueprint for skills and employment devolution that works for all people and places. The Government should back and fund the trialling of the Work Local model.
2.6. Building on our Green Jobs report (2020), the LGA has now developed a Sector Led Improvement (SLI) offer to support up to 25 councils move forward with their local green economic recovery ambitions and create green jobs, with the overall aim of contributing to the UK reaching net zero carbon by 2050.
3.1. The pace of change in the UK economy will need to quicken if net zero is to be achieved by 2050. To deliver the substantial change needed, a variety of stakeholders will need to play their part. Local government has a critical role to play in supporting local businesses, facilitating technology transitions in homes and businesses, consulting with and informing constituents, and in many ways setting an example for others to follow.
3.2. Local government is also ideally placed to understand how employer demand is changing and how the local skills profile of an area needs to adapt. This is difficult to do within the confines of what is still a highly centralised and fragmented employment and skills system. Whilst national and local government’s net zero targets will drive demand for low-carbon goods and services over the coming years, it is crucial that there is a workforce in place to deliver the change needed by 2050.
3.3. The LGA published analysis in its local green jobs – accelerating a sustainable economic recovery report, developed by Ecuity Consulting LLP, which considers the projected net zero total jobs needed in each local authority area across England by 2030 and 2050 to support national commitments. The analysis is based on available data and industry-leading views of the following six sub sectors:
3.4. In 2018 England’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy (LCREE) employed 185,000 full-time workers. Analysis for the LGA found that there could be as many as 694,000 direct jobs employed in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy by 2030 in England, rising to over 1.18 million by 2050. These are total, direct jobs covering the value chain from manufacturing, construction and installation, to operation and maintenance. Importantly these jobs are projected to be generated across England’s local authorities and regions as the table below sets out. These predictions are welcome given no part of the country has been untouched by the economic consequences of the Covid-19 crisis and any recovery strategy will need to be predicated on job creation.
Area | 2030 total jobs | 2050 total jobs |
East of England | 68,804 | 119,294 |
East Midlands | 56,843 | 96,842 |
North West | 107,151 | 170,601 |
London | 79,614 | 143,764 |
North East | 44,812 | 84,205 |
South West | 82,671 | 139,765 |
West Midlands | 58,164 | 97,015 |
Y&H | 99,140 | 167,697 |
South East | 96,428 | 163,014 |
England total jobs | 693,627 | 1,182,197 |
3.5. Nearly half (46 per cent) of the total low-carbon jobs predicted by 2030 will be in clean electricity generation (South Ribble is predicted to generate the highest - 2,890 jobs) and providing low-carbon heat for homes and businesses (Birmingham the most - 19,043). This includes manufacturing wind turbines, installing solar panels and heat pumps.
3.6. Across the Midlands, by 2050, there could be an estimated 194,000 jobs working in low-carbon sectors. Most of these jobs would be focused on manufacturing low emission vehicles, battery packs and modules in gigafactories situated near existing production sites. In particular Solihull is predicted to generate the most jobs at 5,428.
3.7. In London and the south of England many of the estimated 447,000 low-carbon jobs by 2050 will be in the financial, IT or legal sectors supporting low-carbon activity due to the strong service sector in these regions (the City of London could generate the most at 15,762).
3.8. In the East of England by 2050, around 119,000 jobs could be delivering low-emission vehicle and component manufacturing (Norwich is predicted to generate the highest number at 3,791). As for the low-carbon financial and IT services, in line with the region having a strong financial and services sector, the highest number is expected in Basildon (931).
3.9. By 2050 the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber are expected to create employment opportunities to construct, install and maintain Carbon Capture and Storage plants to decarbonise energy production and carbon intensive industries. North Tyneside will generate the most jobs within the North East (743), while Selby and Leeds are expecting the highest within Yorkshire and the Humber (449 jobs each). England’s offshore wind capacity is significant, and by 2050 these jobs will primarily be located in the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. Kingston upon Hull is likely to have the most at 5,527.
3.10. By 2050 it is estimated that 491,000 workers or 42 per cent of the total number of low-carbon jobs will be engaged in constructing or installing low-carbon technologies, 410,000 workers or 35 per cent of the total number of low-carbon jobs will be engaged in supporting operations and maintenance, and 281,000 workers or 25 per cent of the total number of low-carbon jobs will be engaged in manufacturing and producing low-carbon technologies. A full breakdown of statistics can be viewed on the LG Inform pages.
4.1. The analysis for the LGA shows that demand for low carbon jobs will require a diverse range of skills and expertise to roll-out clean technologies. Meeting those skills needs is crucial as it has the potential to expedite economic recovery, with millions out of work as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
4.2. However, to date our ability to meet the skills needs of businesses has not been a success. Pre-Covid, four-fifths of UK manufacturers struggled to hire the staff with the right qualifications and experience, according to a 2019 survey by the British Chambers of Commerce.
4.3. The economic implications of Covid-19 are significant and growing. Once furlough ends in April 2021, we will have a fuller picture of unemployment numbers, although it’s already clear that millions of people, many of whom may never been out of work or had to job search, will suddenly find themselves in that position. People employed in a range of hard hit sectors such as manufacturing, retail and the arts and culture sectors may no longer have a job to go back to, and may not know who to talk to about their options e.g. what jobs are available locally, whether they have transferable skills to apply for them, if they need to retrain, and if so where and how. It is critical that good careers advice and guidance, with strong local labour market intelligence, is available for people of all ages. Making sure support is joined up is also vital.
4.4. There are already examples of how transitions from one industry to another are happening, for instance people moving from the arts and culture sector to retrofitting homes. Innovative, local examples like this should be supported and enabled. We are encouraged that the Government has started to make use of the National Skills Fund to support people to take on a Level 3 qualification for the first time for an in-demand job, and we would like to see this expanded to support people who lack a Level 2 qualification. It is also important to note that the types of in-demand jobs will be different in different places.
4.5. Alongside the implications of Covid-19 on the UK jobs market, there are also implications from the UK’s exit from the EU, and access to the EU workforce where needed. It’s important that we ensure a process for recognising qualifications from EU and non-EU citizens is in place and is easy to understand for employers.
4.6. Net zero industry specialists interviewed by Ecuity for the LGA research revealed real concerns about immediate (2020 – 2025) skill gaps in nuclear construction, design and planning supply chain, design and installation of heat pumps, and within the financial services.
4.7. We must start planning for these jobs now to ensure that wherever these jobs are created across the country, residents in those areas have the potential to equip themselves with the skills to compete for them. This will also be a crucial means of achieving inclusive recovery and the Government’s levelling up agenda. Being able to match skills supply with industry demand through effective local targeting is critical.
4.8. Local government is committed to ensuring residents benefit from new and existing employment opportunities, however this can be difficult as most employment and skills programmes and funding is nationally commissioned. This makes it difficult to meet – and respond to – local need because decisions so often bypass local government. Despite this, local government does all it can to make the best use of available resources to support residents and businesses. Below are several examples demonstrating what councils and combined authorities are doing now to develop low carbon skills locally:
4.8.1. Hull is projected to need 6,143 low-carbon jobs by 2030 and 11,563 by 2050. The city is already on its way to that target due to the presence of firms like Siemens Gamesa which has created more than 1,000 jobs in the sector – with more than 97 per cent of jobs filled from within a 30-miles radius of its factory. The Council wants to create more opportunity to increase the skills and knowledge of residents so they can take up these new green jobs and help local businesses transform for the future. It is developing its climate change team, including three new European Regional Development Fund funded positions to work with companies to improve the energy efficiency of their businesses.
4.8.2. Kent County Council has plans to extend a wind farm off the coast of Thanet which would make it one of the largest county producers of renewable electricity. There are plans to produce renewable hydrogen to offer clean fuel to decarbonise transport and heat, and the installation of electric vehicle chargers to support the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles. The council is working with local training academies to address the green skills gaps. For instance, it funded Taskmasters (UK) Ltd to diversify from the construction sector to deliver skills support for the offshore wind sector, and the Electrical Academy in Maidstone and Ashford will move to a larger facility to help support transferrable skills that can support a career in the low carbon sector. For renewable-power plant developers, further resource will be required to ensure work ready engineers have both the technical skills and sub-sector specific skills.
4.8.3. Portsmouth City Council aims to make the council-run Portsmouth International Port the first carbon neutral port in the UK by 2030 and expand the city’s integrated Park and Ride facility to support the move to a possible Class B Clean Air Zone. The Council is considered a key facilitator of job growth and low-carbon skills and aims to continue this by making use of the National Skills Fund and with two of Portsmouth’s feeder colleges leading on T Level pilots.
4.8.4. West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership have committed to achieve net zero by 2038 at the latest. The energy sector is identified as fundamental to the region’s success. The Combined Authority is scoping out the pathway to deliver on net zero and identify sub-sectors that will require skills and training support, for example scaling up domestic energy efficiency retrofit and increasing the pace and scale of deployment of heat pumps. Ensuring collaboration between stakeholders (including further education, employers and individuals) will ensure skills provision is geared up to deliver for a low carbon sector that is considered the cornerstone of regional activity.
5.1. Local economies vary with a different range of skills, employer bases, and assets, which provides both opportunities and challenges. As highlighted above, the current national employment, skills and careers advice system is not working at an optimum level to address the challenges and opportunities of every local area. It is local government that understands the needs of businesses and its communities better than any other part of the public sector. However, the resources and tools needed to provide a coherent offer for local communities remain nationally-lead and are lacking at a local level.
5.2. Alongside this, infrastructure investment decisions, which include decisions to create low carbon jobs, tend to be made nationally. We are calling for this to change and for local government to be involved at an earlier stage in the decision-making process. The newly established National Green Jobs Taskforce is a clear route to join up such conversations, and local government should be represented on it.
5.3. There needs to be a continuum within a local careers information advice and guidance offer that follows from school into adult life and includes green job opportunities. An effective system would enable a young person to learn about all the opportunities available to them, ranging from entry level jobs to qualified professions in for instance, low-carbon power or heat.
5.4. An immediate next step must be to help local communities through the Covid-19 crisis, otherwise there is a real risk that more jobs will be lost, and current skills will become quickly out of date. As democratic leaders of place and trusted conveners of partners, councils have brought real added value to deal with the economic implications of the current crisis including delivering advice and grants to local businesses and establishing local redundancy taskforces (or similar) to bring partners together to coordinate action.
5.5. Recovery interventions must be designed and delivered in recognition of every area having different demographics, economic strengths and weaknesses. Fundamental to the success of all of this is how different interventions (national/local, existing/new) are coordinated nationally and locally. Local government brings a wealth of expertise, capacity and capability to the table, and we encourage national government to work with the sector to co-design locally integrated and delivered jobs and skills recovery initiatives within a broad, flexible national policy and funding framework. We continue to call on national government to adopt a co-design process to recovery, as set out in our recent paper. Central to our calls are:
5.5.1. A coordinated national effort through a Cobra style partnership bringing together local and national government, sector and trade representatives and key stakeholders, to maintain political focus, urgency of action, to plan and coordinate action.
5.5.2. A coordinated local effort through local government-led recovery taskforces bringing together national government and its agencies, local employers (large and small), further and higher education, providers, third sector, unions and other stakeholders to pool local expertise at a granular level and coordinate resources on the ground.
5.5.3. This must be matched by a multi-year, flexible, outcome driven local funding pot so they can make swift decisions for their local businesses and residents. Funding should be agreed through local labour market plans[1].
5.5.4. Alongside this, existing funding can be better geared to support the skills needs of local people and places, including:
5.5.4.1. Increased Apprenticeship Levy flexibilities, including allowing pooling of funds, Treasury pausing its expiry policy and devolving non-levy funding, so local government can support local businesses in a much more targeted and coherent way, including by allowing them to target sectors, address local supply / demand side issues, and widening participation to disadvantaged groups and specific cohorts.
5.5.4.2. Plan for disruption: lockdowns have hindered employer confidence. Businesses and supply chains should be kept operational. This could be done through establishing / scaling up local ‘training agency’ models to help businesses’ recruitment needs and move more people into work.
5.5.4.3. More coordinated support for young people to make the suite of interventions available (Kickstart, the youth offer, sector-based work academies, apprenticeships, T levels, traineeships) better connect with one another and local activity. Local government is well placed to do this given their post-16 statutory duties.
5.5.4.4. National Skills Funding to support adults train and retrain for in-demand Level 3 qualifications is welcome, but these need to be relevant to the local economy so that people can train with a line of sight to a job. That requires a partnership between local government as well as colleges. There are still too many who will not be able to access this training because they do not have a Level 2 qualification or below. Funding must be released to enable upskilling. We continue to call for at least a doubling of, and full devolution of, the Adult Education Budget.
5.6. Our Work Local model provides a framework for an integrated and devolved employment and skills system that is fit for the future. Democratically elected combined authorities and groups of councils, working in partnership with local and national partners, would have the powers and funding to plan, commission and oversee a joined-up service, bringing together careers advice and guidance, employment, skills, apprenticeships and business support for individuals and employers. This would enable them to work with businesses and a joined-up local education and training provider base, underpinned by a locally relevant careers advice and guidance offer to develop a pipeline of skills to train and retrain young people and older workers.
5.7. This should be used as a blueprint for skills and employment devolution that works for all people and places. It could for a medium sized combined authority lead to an additional 8,500 people leaving benefits, and 5,700 people increasing their qualifications. This would be associated with additional fiscal benefits for a local area of £280 million per year, with a benefit to the economy of £420 million.
5.8. As we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, and looking ahead to both the Devolution and Further Education White Papers, the Government should back and fund the trialling of the LGA’s Work Local’ model, an integrated and devolved employment and skills system. Further devolution of powers and funding is crucial in order for places to truly ‘level up’ and ensure no one is left behind, and to make a reality of the green jobs agenda.
6.1. Green job creation is central to achieving the UK’s legal obligation to be net zero by 2050. Following recent announcements in the Ten point plan for a green industrial revolution and the Energy White Paper, such as the wide installation of 600,000 heat pumps, the roll out of EV charge points and heat networks and, the need for resilient and affordable energy, there is a clear role for councils to play.
6.2. As democratic leaders of place, councils have a far-reaching influence on green recovery and decarbonisation. The Committee on Climate Change Local Authority Sixth Carbon Budget identifies the powers and levers that councils have to support Government to meet their ambitions through their services, planning and enforcement roles, housing, regeneration, economic development activities, education and skills. However, a lack of skills and capacity within councils as a result of inadequate funding poses a risk to translating the national vision locally.
6.3. The LGA’s recently published climate change survey of Directors of Environment or equivalent in councils across England, found that funding (96 per cent), followed by legislation or regulation (93 per cent) and lack of workforce capacity (88 per cent) are the most frequently identified barriers to tackling climate change. The areas of expertise most frequently identified as in need of further support were green economic recovery planning (95 per cent of respondents) and low carbon procurement and low carbon budgeting (92 per cent of respondents).
6.4. We want to work with government and business to establish a national and fiscal policy framework for addressing the climate emergency. This framework should outline responsibilities for the Government nationally – for example, aligning the regulatory system, including the planning system and national tax incentives – and the local responsibilities, together with a commitment to cooperate with local public sector bodies. There should be a process of engagement between central and local government and industry to enable councils to fulfil their role to translate a national framework into transformative local plans that deliver on the net zero agenda and invest in solutions for a green recovery and future.
7.1. Government’s ambitions for green job creation are critical to the commitment to levelling up and a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. A green economic recovery presents a unique opportunity to make great advances in skills and green jobs, as well as other national and local priorities such as inclusive growth and meeting future housing needs. The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on certain communities across the country and will exacerbate economic inequalities and exclusion. Research undertaken by IPPR North and commissioned by the LGA outlines the steps councils are taking to ensure their communities and local economies are more inclusive.
7.2. Councils as democratic organisations are well placed to meet the needs of their communities in the transition to a low carbon economy. Their ability to put in place inclusive policies will depend on future funding arrangements and local flexibility to make key decisions in areas such as skills provision. Without adequate funding, councils will increasingly have to focus on protecting statutory services and the most vulnerable in society. Longer term sustainable funding will enable local leaders to draw together an approach to inclusive economies by embedding across council services and policies, developing strategies, learning and working in partnership such as anchor institutions, and using evidence effectively.
7.3. There is an increasing amount of research and recommendations on the role of ‘green finance’ in a just transition to a low-carbon economy. The London School of Economics Grantham Research Institute has formed a Financing a Just Transition Alliance which includes over 40 banks, investors and financial institutions to look at this agenda.
7.4. One of the three key areas of focus is financing place-based needs. In addition, a new report from the London School of Economics and the University of Leeds, produced in association with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Sustainable Finance, UK100 and HSBC looks at engaging the financial sector on the ‘levelling up’ agenda. It includes plans for mobilising public and private sector finance to deliver place-based projects which tackle both environmental and social challenges.
7.5. The above report is cited in the LGA’s recently published practical guide for councils on financing green ambitions. Identifying and securing funding for green place-based projects is key to delivering real change and this guide aims to provide an array of financial options for different projects, as well as sharing good practice by councils.
8.1. Building on our Green Jobs report (2020), the LGA has now developed a Sector Led Improvement (SLI) offer to support up to 25 councils move forward with their local green economic recovery ambitions and create green jobs, with the overall aim of contributing to the UK reaching net zero carbon by 2050. Local government economic and climate change officers can now apply to be part of the programme (sign up closes in mid-January 2021) which will include a series of action learning sets to work through individual local as well as sector-wide challenges to create green jobs and support the development of their own skills and capacity to support the wider local business community make the most of the green agenda.
8.2. Separately the LGA will also facilitate for up to five or six elected members from a variety of councils to share experiences and learn together, as they progress towards a green economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
8.3. Whilst each local situation will be different and have its own challenges, this support offer will provide space for those directly involved to share learning and ideas and inform practice and policy development amongst them, as well as being shared more widely for the benefit of the whole sector. The programme will be facilitated by Transitional Space and will run until May. The LGA will be able to share the findings during 2021.
[1] Funding should include careers advice, back to work, training support (increased AEB plus National Skills Fund and National Retraining Scheme), some apprenticeship funding, EU funds / UK Shared Prosperity Fund with additional national resources as required.