Heathrow expansion will gift the whole UK a skills renaissance
I’m very pleased to have been invited to chair the Heathrow Skills Taskforce, and to take on the challenge of developing the skills needed to make Heathrow expansion an inclusive training and employment opportunity for Britain as a whole.
The Taskforce is made up of experts from schools, colleges and universities as well as employer and trade union representatives. It is designed to take a forward look at the skills needs, and therefore employment prospects, in a range of diverse developments way beyond the creation of a third runway.
Now that at last we have a decision, the Taskforce can begin its preparations for a new runway at Heathrow.
Such enormous infrastructure investment could not have come at a better moment.
Making the most of Britain outside the European Union will require us to reach new markets. Extra capacity at Heathrow will open up 40 new direct routes, supporting small and large exporters, boosting competition and reducing prices to consumers.
Above all, an expanded Heathrow can provide jobs and economic activity which will have a beneficial spin off way beyond the core investment. The expansion of the airport will necessitate the creation of thousands of jobs over and above the major construction project.
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But while it will obviously offer real opportunity in the immediate area, it is our intention to also create economic hubs for apprenticeships and skills training across the country. Now, more than ever before, our young people will be competing in a world marketplace and must be equipped with the right skill sets to rise to the top.
It is the job of the Heathrow Skills Taskforce to face that challenge head on. We will seize on the investment and energy behind Heathrow’s expansion to create genuinely inclusive opportunities, opening up new jobs to more people, and ensuring that the workforce has the skills to take advantage of this growth.
The government has confirmed Heathrow expansion will create up to 77,000 local jobs, including 5,000 new apprenticeships. This is a real boon to local communities around the airport, where pockets of high unemployment still exist.
It is likely now that the runway will be under construction at the same time as the Thames Tideway Tunnel, Crossrail 2 and High Speed 2. This will herald a new spirit of growth and development not seen in this country since Victorian times. But in order to avoid specific parts of our economy overheating and to develop a synergy which will offer continuity of employment and planned time tables, we must act now.
Work on Britain's own high speed rail line (HS2) will start soon (Source: Getty)
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce research has found we will need a 25 per cent increase in the number of British construction workers alone to build all these infrastructure projects.
It is paramount that all players in the talent supply chain are engaged to prepare our workforce for this leap ahead. That includes schools, sixth forms, colleges and training specialists.
As a former secretary of state for education and employment, I have seen too many large-scale infrastructure projects that have not delivered benefits beyond their construction phase. Too many initiatives build up their teams only for this to go to waste.
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We have learnt from the Terminal 5 and Terminal 3 projects that expensive up-skilling needs to be channelled into future projects so that we as a nation retain the expertise.
That is why I want to see Heathrow deliver a long-term skills legacy for the nation, giving people the productive and fulfilling careers they deserve.
A key part of meeting the shortfall in skills relies on finding and developing new talent from all round the country. Our skills strategy will look at which sectors are thriving and where, so that we develop tailor-made localised recruitment drives throughout our supply chain, involving schools, colleges and universities UK-wide.
Heathrow’s procurement strategy will reflect the work of the Taskforce, so that the £15.6bn in private investment we will see being ploughed into the project will be used to provide jobs for those who need them.
Heathrow is one of the UK’s largest single site employers, a thriving economy of its own where exporters, businesspeople and travellers meet. Labour requirements will not end when the first plane lands on the new runway – we need to build the workforce that will run the UK’s hub airport, its biggest port by value, for decades to come.
When the Skills Taskforce meets for the first time this week, representatives from the worlds of education, business, labour organisations, and local government will be brought together in the pursuit of an ambitious goal – a new runway that delivers more than the sum of its parts. A skills strategy that delivers jobs beyond aviation, for generations to come.