South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

4.7 Skills for Sustainability

4.7.3 Barker Report on Housing(32)

The earlier Barker Review of Housing Supply is also important in terms of skills within the built environment and construction sector. With the exception of London, in 2003 access to affordable housing was more difficult in the South West than any other region in England. The Barker Report concluded that to bring supply and demand into a better balance, 70,000 more homes should be built each year nationally. The South West will be expected to make a significant contribution to this.

Innovation and skills are important factors in determining the industry’s ability to increase housing supply. Recommendations made with regard to the use of more modern construction methods which will require new skills sets in working with steel framed construction and off- site manufacture. New production methods require house-builders, their subcontractors and employees to develop new skills and competencies.

The Report noted that skill shortages currently exist in the house-building industry. Of particular concern is the low level of training undertaken by the industry. Levels of training are low compared to other industries and by international standards.

A number of factors would need to be addressed by industry and government to deal with skills issues in the sector:

• The absence of opportunities to undertake initial on-site training and the structure of apprenticeship training, which means that apprentices are insufficiently skilled to go on site and are therefore not always welcomed by employers;
• Shortages of capacity and skilled instructors in Further Education (FE) colleges. Around 75% of colleges expected their construction craft courses to be oversubscribed in the 2003/04 academic year; and
• Cultural attitudes, including both resistance to training within the industry and the ongoing difficulty in attracting new recruits from a diverse range of backgrounds.

(32) Barker K, Review of Housing Supply – Final Report, HM Treasury, 2004