Head of Business Development at NOCN, Laura Randall called for co-ordinated regional and national action on skills at the Get Britain Growing North West Conference (Left to Right: Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee, Bill Esterson MP, CEO of UKAI, Tim Flagg, MP for Bootle, Peter Dowd, MP for Southport, Patrick Hurley and Head of Business Development at NOCN, Laura Randall)
Advertorial: This report and event was sponsored by NOCN
The North West stands at a moment of real opportunity. With strong civic leadership, industrial diversity and a growing appetite for innovation, the region has many of the ingredients needed to drive long term growth. Yet one constraint continues to cut across every ambition discussed by policymakers, employers, and educators alike: skills.
At the Get Britain Growing: North West Conference in Liverpool, leaders from local government, business, education, and civil society came together to tackle that challenge head on. Under the theme Building Skills, Building Britain, the Sprint Two workshop focused on a central question: how can the region build a workforce that keeps pace with technological change, supports decarbonisation, and delivers inclusive economic growth?
Participants agreed skills are not a policy add on. They are economic infrastructure – as essential to productivity as transport, energy, or digital connectivity.
Skills as the backbone of regional growth
Across the workshop, participants stressed that growth ultimately depends on people. Businesses may invest in new technologies, but without the right skills in place those investments cannot deliver their full value. At the same time, learners and workers need clear, trusted pathways into meaningful employment.
The problem, participants agreed, is that the current skills system is too fragmented. Funding streams are short term and often tied to qualifications rather than outcomes. Curricula lag behind industry need. Collaboration happens, but too often in silos.
As one participant put it, “Skills planning still operates by sector, by institution, or by geography – but the future workforce cannot be built in isolation.”
The result is a persistent mismatch between what employers need and what learners are taught, particularly in fast moving sectors such as low carbon construction, advanced manufacturing, and digital technology.
Building future skills and reskilling the workforce
Discussions identified two parallel priorities for the region.
The first is building future skills, ensuring that young people entering the workforce are equipped for emerging industries rather than yesterday’s jobs. Participants highlighted how further education curricula often remain rooted in traditional trades, while new roles increasingly demand hybrid skillsets that combine digital, technical, and environmental knowledge.
“Skills are not an adjunct to growth – they are its foundation.”
The second is reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce. As technology reshapes every sector, adults need flexible ways to retrain, transition between roles, and sustain employment over longer working lives. Modular learning, micro credentials, and employer led training were all seen as critical to making lifelong learning a reality rather than a slogan.
Crucially, participants argued that vocational and technical routes must be valued on a par with academic progression. Cultural perceptions continue to undermine apprenticeships and technical training, despite their proven value to employers and individuals alike.
Collaboration as both challenge and solution
While the need for collaboration was widely accepted, the workshop participants were candid about how difficult it can be to achieve in practice. Employers and educators often use the same language to mean different things. Where employers talk about hands on capability, education providers are constrained by qualification frameworks and funding rules.
Small and medium sized enterprises face particular barriers. Many lack the capacity to offer placements or apprenticeships, even though they account for a large share of employment growth. Without practical support, skills policy risks being shaped by the needs of larger organisations alone.
Yet collaboration also emerged as the most powerful lever for change. Participants called for employers and educators to act as equal partners, co designing curricula, sharing facilities, and aligning training with real labour market demand.
Local Chambers of Commerce were highlighted as natural convenors, able to bridge the gap between business need, education provision, and regional strategy.
From ideas to implementation
A defining feature of the sprint methodology is its focus on action. Rather than producing another diagnosis of the problem, participants worked through practical models that could be implemented and scaled.
Among the most compelling proposals was the creation of a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ – a cross-sector alliance of employers, educators, trade bodies, and local authorities committed to delivery rather than discussion.
At the heart of this approach is a Network of Business Clinics, where learners work on real world challenges set by employers. These clinics offer practical experience for students while helping businesses, particularly SMEs, to solve live problems without the burden of formal placements.
Participants also proposed Industry Learning Partnerships, providing ongoing forums for curriculum co design, shared training, and joint investment across administrative boundaries. Alongside this, a Regional Skills Innovation Platform would bring together labour market intelligence, training opportunities, and careers information into a single, trusted hub.
Digital tools, including AI assisted careers guidance, were seen as essential enablers – provided they are implemented transparently and with appropriate safeguards.
“What we need is something tangible and visible – real pathways into opportunity, not just strategies.”
The role of national policy
While much of the focus was rightly on regional action, participants highlighted national policy must provide stability rather than churn. Frequent changes to funding and qualification rules make long-term planning almost impossible.
There were strong calls for Skills England, Local Skills Improvement Plans, and mayoral combined authorities to be better aligned, reducing duplication and competition. Stable, outcome-based funding, clearer national standards in priority sectors and earlier, more realistic careers education were all identified as necessary foundations.
As one participant noted, without consistency at the national level, even the most innovative regional initiatives struggle to scale.
A model the North West can lead
The North West has the leadership, partnerships and civic energy needed to pioneer a more joined up approach to skills.
But success will depend on moving beyond goodwill to shared accountability. Employers must be empowered – and expected – to shape, fund and validate skills. Education providers need the freedom to adapt quickly. And collaboration must be structured, not informal.
If those conditions are met, the region has an opportunity to show how skills policy can be translated into place-based leadership, and how investment in people can deliver growth that is both sustainable and inclusive.
In the words of the workshop’s closing reflection, building skills is not just about filling vacancies. It is about giving people the tools to help build Britain’s future – and ensuring that opportunity grows alongside innovation.
This Sprint Session was sponsored by international charity NOCN which delivers future-fit skills solutions with social impact for Colleges, training providers, employers and individuals.