Councils should be given full control over employment and skills services to address the growing skills shortage in the construction industry, according to the new leader of the Local Government Association (LGA).
Speaking at the LGA annual conference later today, Cllr Gary Porter will argue the industry risks being left without the skills needed to deliver housebuilding ambitions. Demand for skills within the construction industry is up by 54% since 2013, while 58% fewer apprenticeships are being completed today than in 2009.
The LGA believe the devolution of employment and skills services would allow councils to ensure young people and the unemployed to develop the skills to build.
Cllr Porter is expected to say: 'The Government has expressed a clear ambition to build more affordable homes and help more people own their own home. Local government has a central role to play to make this happen.
'Central to this is lifting housing borrowing limits to allow us to invest in new housing, giving us the freedom to set Right to Buy discounts and retain 100% of the receipts locally.
'For too long there has also been a mismatch of centrally-set training and skills needed locally. We’ve trained too many hairdressers and not enough bricklayers.'
