Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the level of the skills shortage in the general aviation sector; and what steps his Department is taking to address that shortage.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department recently conducted the latest Employer Skills Survey, which provides robust assessments of skills shortages across the UK by region and by sector. The results of this survey will be published later in 2018 and will provide insight into different industries’ skill needs. Whilst we cannot identify General Aviation specifically through the survey, data relating to the aviation sector as a whole will be made available to the public. Findings from the previous Employer Skills Survey in 2015, which was run by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, are available on GOV.UK. The department also holds responsibility for Working Futures, which provides labour market projections at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-labour-market-projections-2014-to-2024.
The department is also making our skills system more responsive to employer needs. As part of this, the department is forming Skills Advisory Panels, which aim to bring about a closer alignment between skills supply (from FE Colleges, training providers, apprenticeships, as well as centrally-held programmes) and local employer demand.