GRJ0037
Written evidence submitted by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership Introduction
New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership works with businesses, local authority partners and education institutions to drive growth and enterprise in Norfolk and Suffolk and has a strong record of working together to deliver sustainable growth. We welcome the opportunity to provide a submission to Environmental Audit Committee’s call for evidence on green jobs.
Norfolk and Suffolk have global strengths in sectors critical to achieving a more resilient, sustainable economy and society, in particular agri-food, energy, and ICT/digital. As the UK’s Clean Growth Region, we are committed to remaining at the forefront of tackling the challenges and opportunities of climate change. We are a globally recognised, technology-driven, creative and inclusive economy which is leading the transition to a post-carbon economy through sustainable food production and sustainable energy generation and are at the forefront of developing green jobs opportunities in this regard. The continued development of these sectors, and net zero infrastructure more generally, will be a key element of the post COVID-19 economic recovery. Therefore, we are submitting a response to this call for evidence.
In summary, a clear national regulatory and policy framework that sets out the role of the private sector employers, local government and training providers is urgent and essential to meet the near-term targets for decarbonisation through the 2020s and 2030s.
A flexible and adaptive approach is essential to ensure rapid deployment of new training. Otherwise, the employment and growth opportunities from green jobs will be exported elsewhere because of the lack of relevant skills and the associated rise in costs of development in the UK.
1. What estimates are there for the jobs required to meet the pathway to net zero emissions, by sector, and other environmental and biodiversity commitments?
The Local green jobs - accelerating a sustainable economic recovery report estimates that 1.2m direct jobs in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy will be required in England (in descending order in terms of jobs numbers: low-carbon electricity, low-carbon heat, low-emission vehicles and infrastructure, low-carbon services, energy efficient products and alternative fuels). Over 119,000 of these jobs will be needed in the East of England, the highest increases in low carbon jobs will be in low carbon electricity, low carbon heat and low emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing. Low-carbon financial and IT services will also see growth in the East of England based on its current expertise in this sector.
The Energy White Paper focuses on growing our economy, supporting green jobs and new green industries across the country as well as leveraging new green export opportunities.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Sector Skills Plan for Clean Energy and associated Data Pack offer some useful narrative around skills and clean energy.
Local Energy East is a tri-LEP Local Energy Strategy covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire and the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Combined Authority areas which sets out our agreed priorities with respect to local energy. The key elements of the Strategy include achieving clean growth through supporting housing growth and commercial site infrastructure; secure, affordable, low-carbon consumption; and clean transport networks.
The Norfolk and Suffolk area contains one of the highest densities of designated landscapes across all geographies in the country and these valuable landscapes contribute a significant amount of the region’s GVA through the visitor economy. The Natural Capital Compendium of Norfolk and Suffolk prioritises seven priority themes for action with these priorities providing the framework for the Norfolk and Suffolk 25 Year Environment Plan which we would welcome sharing with the Committee once complete.
There will be significant growth in green jobs both with new roles being created and also the requirement to upskill existing staff. However further complex modelling needs to be undertaken taking into account other government initiatives and funding, business and consumer appetite.
Clarity and further definition of low-carbon sectors and associated opportunities must be improved. In addition, tangible and recognised competencies need to be developed to create sustainable development in the future. Active research is required with significant employers in these sectors to identify skill packages, transition opportunities and career promotion.
2. Does the UK workforce have the skills and capacity needed to deliver the green jobs required to meet our net zero target and other environmental ambitions (including in the 25-year environment plan)?
No.
A recent study by the Energy Systems Catapult highlighted a triple challenge around quantity, quality and complexity.
Quantity: We will need to decarbonise around five homes every minute for the next 30 years to help the UK achieve its ambition of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The need to not only upskill existing tradespeople but to recruit and train hundreds of thousands of people for new roles will create a huge opportunity as well as challenge.
Quality: The study also identified issues around quality which highlighted many shortcomings in the current training system.
Complexity: currently, a customer looking to decarbonise their home encounters a fragmented supply chain, conflicting and confusing advice and uncertainty around expected performance and benefits of the changes. This is a significant deterrent to action.
UK housing: Fit for the future? Identifies addressing the skills gap as one of five priorities for government action. Key steps for the UK in reducing emissions, like the wider deployment of heat pumps, require new skills. There is a key role for local collaboration in both the delivery of ground- breaking sustainable development as well as retrofit and the skills required to support each of these endeavours.
Non-domestic retrofit must also be considered along with the significant raft of substantive infrastructure projects in the pipeline which will further stimulate demand.
Local Green Jobs Report highlights that as England transitions to a net zero economy, demand for green jobs will rapidly increase. This report identifies a strong split between manufacturing in the Midland and the north and services in London and the wider south east. The evidence collected suggests that there are some key sub-sectors (heat pump supply chain, the nuclear sector and professional services) that require early intervention to ensure that the work force is sufficiently well resourced to deliver on emerging demand.
3. What needs to be done to ensure that these skills and capacity are developed in time to meet our environmental targets?
Understand the pace of change and the scale of investment required. The pace of change required is unprecedented and will require innovative solutions and approaches. It is vital to understand the whole challenge and its components and fund this accordingly.
Consider anticipatory investment. Post-16 education tends to be reactive, rather than proactive, and will only invest in delivering new curricula once a need has been fully evidenced and articulated. In the absence of evidenced, articulated employer demand there is a need for de-risking the creation of new courses. This would take the form of providing funding under anticipatory investment. New money is not necessarily required. A viable option is the reallocation of existing funds, such as the Apprenticeship Levy.
Provide flexible funding. It is important that flexible funding is available for both training providers and employers to access in order to meet immediate demand. The development of Apprenticeships will take time and will fit a need over a longer duration with new people coming into the industry sector, however shorter sharper training will be needed for those with skills already. These 3-6 week programmes fall out of funding currently so would either need to be paid for by the employer or if funding could be sourced it could support employers, military leavers, prison rehabilitation etc.
Investigate reskilling/upskilling options post the COVID-19 pandemic.
Identify core competencies to be delivered at a foundation level. By proactively building the pipeline/talent pool of foundationally competent people, by the time the higher-level work comes to market you have a talent pool to take up the opportunity.
Align regional and national skills initiatives. A combined approach can combat shortages, fill gaps, reduce the risk of duplication at both local and national level, and make the best use of available, qualified and relevant tutors. There is great value in regional initiatives that, supported by credible labour market information, seek to understand the skills required locally, taking national shortage occupations into account. For example, the Technical Skills Legacy for Norfolk and Suffolk study.
Reframe/rebrand the STEM inspiration. The high awareness of climate change issues among the target audience of 10–18-year-olds can be used to reframe the STEM inspiration as supporting our efforts to tackle the climate emergency – a coordinated delivery approach between STEM and green opportunities is critical. This may increase the reach, inclusivity, and motivation to engage.
Construction. The UK Government should use initiatives under the Construction Sector Deal to tackle the low-carbon skills gap. New training support and professional standards are needed for the domestic and commercial building sector a supply chain.
The Decarbonisation Academy proposal provides a national and regional programme for upskilling the workforce, commitment should be made to delivering the infrastructure required to get this programme started.
The development of appropriate accreditations will help build consumer trust and drive demand for high-quality build. Uptake of relevant qualification and accreditation schemes can be supported by requiring them for developments on public land.
Government should support industry in addressing the skills gap by mandating that all construction and built environment related Apprenticeships and T-levels assess the apprentices understanding of sustainability and mitigation of environmental impact.
4. What measures should the Government take to ensure that its proposals to meet environmental targets do not by default lead to jobs in affected industries being exported?
5. What risks are there to meeting the Government’s ambitions for green job creation in both the public and private sectors? What should the Government do to create the conditions to ensure its commitments are met by both sectors?
Public Sector
Clarity is required around the role of the public sector in the delivery of net zero and green jobs and the balance between the roles of central and local government. The devolution of implementation to local government is likely to be more effective for responding to local conditions and aligning delivery with the needs of the energy sector regionally/locally. Such an approach, combined with the freedoms and flexibilities outlined in question 3, would facilitate a dynamic and adaptive response to changing local needs in the supply of skills for green jobs.
There are opportunities to upskill and re-train workforce that may have been displaced by Covid (in hospitality for example), this does however require a huge training effort which need to be aligned with the industry need. The ambitious targets require collaboration and funding. Suitable numbers of trained employees will be needed to carry out the installation and retrofit required to meet targets.
Private sector
The private sector needs a clear regulatory signal from government, with clarity regarding the direction and objectives of policy and a clear framework for its implementation at national and local level. That will give the private sector the confidence to invest in the necessary training and skills and collaborate with local training providers and local government to provide the necessary taught and vocational courses.
We cannot meet our climate objectives without a major improvement in UK housing. There are 29 million homes in the UK and around 1.5 million new homes to be built by 2022. Energy use in homes accounts for about 14% of UK greenhouse gas emissions with progress in reducing this currently off track.
Innovations and changing market conditions may be critical to the future job and skill requirements of these industries. Whilst automation within manufacturing could ultimately reduce the number of jobs only requiring low qualifications, demand for certain technologies that currently remains unknown could create ‘booms’ in certain subsectors.
6. Are the Government’s ambitions for green job creation in the public and private sectors sufficient for the scale of the challenges? What changes should be made?
It will certainly support the overall ambition of climate change and ensure generations beyond us are thinking in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. The area has a strong history of scientific research at the heart of the future economy with research, implementation, commercialisation and productivity of new products and services making full use of the ‘Open-Air Laboratory’ of the area. Our scientific facilities and Intellectual Property include the UEA Climate Change Centre and Environmental/Business Schools, John Innes Centre, Institute of Food Research, CEFAS Marine Laboratory, the Broads National Park (only wetland national park in UK), Thetford Forest (largest lowland forest in UK) and expertise in managing a dynamic and climate challenged coastline.
7. How can the UK ensure jobs are created in areas most impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy?
Clean growth cannot be delivered by one partner alone or by one strand of investment or actions. It is important that local partners (private and public) play a role in developing the action plan to secure their buy in and for them to own their role in delivering.
Achieving net zero will be disruptive. However, if we recognise this from the start, it need not be a negative. We know which industries are likely to shrink and/or face change and can therefore identify where intervention is needed. We also know where specialism lies in specific regions and can take advantage of this in any intervention. East Anglia is a good example of this, as we have seen the transition of part of the oil and gas workforce into offshore renewables. It is possible to take skilled personnel from an allied sector, add to their knowledge base, and then deploy this knowledge in a new, growing sector
8. What additional interventions should be undertaken to aid in a ‘just transition’?
Long-term funding support for training, R&D grants, Tax Relief etc. LCIF2 is a good example of welcome financial intervention to aid the development of low carbon innovation, at the moment such programmes are reliant on short-term funding. It would be good to have long term support for programmes.
9. What impact can green jobs have on the wider UK economy?
Our approach locally is to consider how all jobs adapt to support zero carbon economy.
If we are able to demonstrate we have the skilled employees, experience and desire to be world leads in this sector, this will ultimately bring investment to the UK. Green jobs deliver energy efficiency that in turn reduces business cost. Developing expertise in highly energy efficient buildings represents an industrial opportunity for the UK, in retrofit as well as new build. The construction sector, encompassing contracting, product manufacturing and professional services, exported over £8bn of products and services in 2016. European requirements on net-zero energy buildings, and growing interest in markets such as Canada and China could represent export opportunities for UK innovation and expertise.
10. What contribution can green jobs make to the UK’s economic recovery from Covid-19?
We are keen to work with Government to continue the rollout of offshore wind, which will bring with it manufacturing and operations and maintenance jobs, as well as working to minimise the impact of cabling and substations on our landscape. Our ports are playing a critical role in the growth of this sector and with Government support are ready to do even more.
Other opportunities were identified in a recent open letter to the Prime Minister which outlined our area’s expertise and commitment to alternative fuelled vehicles (not just the car), public transport, active travel, clean maritime, construction, carbon capture, natural capital, finance and innovation. It is possible that some of these opportunities will be accelerated as a result of the pandemic and these opportunities need to be capitalised upon.
There are significant opportunities to upskill and re-train the workforce that may have been displaced by Covid-19, this will require a huge training effort which need to be aligned with industry need. Green recovery contributes to a healthy recovery which is financially beneficial. For example, improving the standard of homes through insulation and efficient heating supports health and wellbeing.
11. How can the UK ensure high emissions are not locked-in when tackling unemployment?
Stimulate jobs growth in sectors that can help to limit emissions. These can include the various areas of the economy discussed previously. By stimulating jobs in these sectors and supporting workforce skills we can help transition to a greener economy and tackle unemployment at the same time.