Minister Smith Keynote Speech at SKOPE Skills Summit, Oxford
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-04)

Speech delivered by Skills Minister Jacqui Smith at the University of Oxford on higher education reform, access and participation and working with the FE sector

Introduction

Good morning.

Thank you for inviting me today.

I am delighted to see the exciting work on skills education being led by SKOPE’s research on joined-up tertiary education systems. It is being discussed across the sector.

And I include government in that, as part of our commitment to evidence-based policymaking.

It’s a pleasure to be back in Oxford, where I studied all those years ago.

I was at Hertford, 5 minutes down the road, a college with a proud tradition of inclusion. I was a beneficiary of the Hertford Scheme to encourage state school pupils to apply.

I hardly dared hope on a snowy December day in 1980 that I could be the first person from my Worcestershire comprehensive to study here.

It was Hertford, with its pioneering approach to outreach, that gave me the confidence to apply.

Starting in 1965, it dramatically raised the college’s academic standards and performance.

In fact, at one point, the university threatened to disassociate Hertford for unfairly ‘poaching’ the best students!

But many colleges set up similar schemes to emulate its success, before admissions were finally standardised in 1984.

Why am I telling you this?

Because it shows that breaking down barriers to opportunity is the key to success.

For Oxford to succeed, it must welcome-in the best talent, from across the whole population.

Challenging Oxford

Oxford recently released their state school admissions data for 2024.

And the results were poor.

66.2% - the lowest entry rate since 2019.

I want to be clear, speaking at an Oxford college today, that this is unacceptable.

The university must do better.

The independent sector educates around 6% of school children in the UK.

But they make-up 33.8% of Oxford entrants.

Do you really think you’re finding the cream of the crop, if a third of your students come from 6% of the population?

It’s absurd.

Arcane, even.

And it can’t continue.

It’s because I care about Oxford and I understand the difference that it can make to people’s lives that I’m challenging you to do better. But it certainly isn’t only Oxford that has much further to go in ensuring access.

For example, it is shocking how few care leavers attend university, let alone this one!

Just 14% enter higher education, and they are more than twice as likely to drop-out.

University entry is supposed to be a meritocracy.

But there’s still an awful lot of untapped talent out there.

People with the potential to soar in higher education.

Universities have got to go further.

Play a stronger role in expanding access, and improve outcomes for disadvantaged students.

And this must include more support for care leavers, some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

I welcome Oxford’s recent commitment, along with other Russell Group universities, to do more for students who grew-up in care.

And to increase your admissions transparency, and use of contextual admissions.

I look forward to seeing some tangible outcomes from this pledge.

I’m not looking for tinkering at the edges. A leg-up here, a bursary there.

As a Labour government, we want Big Picture change.

This is about individual opportunity, but it matters across government,

from education, to health, to the economy. Just yesterday, Wes and Bridget have set out how we’re asking universities to do more to support our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. We’re looking at better transparency over university admissions, starting with publishing data on medical schools’ admission of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

We must strive to ensure, from early years all the way through to higher education, that background never equals destiny.

And that’s where our Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy comes in.

The Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy

We will publish the strategy soon.

It will include our vision for a world-leading skills system.

One that takes a whole-system, mission-driven approach to breaking down barriers to opportunity to unleash growth.

This means:

A more focused skills system, underpinned by Skills England’s national view of skills needs.

Clear, high-quality qualifications that ensure every learner has a clear route to further study or work.

Firm foundations, putting the system on a financially stable footing that supports strategic specialisation.

And finally,
- A new culture of ‘skills first’ where it is everyone’s responsibility – individuals, employers, and the state – to ensure workers reskill and upskill throughout their lives.
This will boost personal and national prosperity, and reduce reliance on migration to fill skills gaps.

What do we need to do to achieve this?

First, there needs to be a renewed partnership between government and business.

This means both local and central government working with business to identify skills gaps and develop solutions.

We’ve heard the calls for more flexibility in the skills offer by introducing foundation and short apprenticeships.

Now we’re going further with new short courses from April 2026, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, in areas such as digital, artificial intelligence and engineering.

These support priority sectors named in our Industrial Strategy, like the Creative Industries and Advanced Manufacturing.

Because we recognise the importance of key sectors to delivering our Industrial Strategy and our Plan for Change.

That’s why we’ve adopted a sector-based approach to address key skills needs.

We started with our construction skills package, worth £625 million.

To train up to 60,000 extra construction workers – crucial for delivering on our pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.

We announced a further three further packages in the Industrial Strategy:

An Engineering package worth over £100 million, to support the pipeline of engineers into priority sectors like Advanced Manufacturing,

Clean Energy Industries, and Digital Technology.

A Defence package that is foundational for national security and economic growth, including establishing Defence Technical Excellence Colleges.

And a Digital package, including £187 million investment for digital and AI skills, and a commitment to train 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030, through a new industry partnership with major tech players.

Raising the prestige of Further Education

We understand that the economy needs both technical skills and academic disciplines in order to grow.

It’s not a zero sum game - because both have so much to offer our people and our economy.

And, dare I say it, much to learn from each other!

Further education needs to emerge from the shadow of Higher Education as an equal partner.

That means positive prominence in careers advice.

And public recognition that’s long overdue.

Technical education needs to be a respected alternative to academic pathways.

And Technical Excellence Colleges will be at the heart of this.

Only when there is parity, will we secure high-quality post-16 routes for all learners, rather than the lucky few.

For learners from 16-19, we will be guided by the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, set to publish this autumn.

High esteem follows high-quality teaching and student outcomes.

We will provide funding to recruit and retain high-quality Further Education teachers, especially for courses delivering scarce skills to priority sectors.

And this is backed by funding secured at the recent Spending Review.

We are investing £1.2 billion a year more in skills by 2028-29, alongside over £2 billion of capital investment in skills to support the condition and capacity of the estate.

Strengthening Higher Education’s role within the skills system I said earlier that Further Education needs to be an equal partner of Higher Education. Since we came into Government in July, we’ve ended the culture of talking down universities, and dismissing the opportunities higher education provides.

We’re doing quite the opposite, working with you to:
- drive up standards;
- maintain our position as a world-class beacon of excellence;
- build on a proud history of innovation and brilliance in higher education.
But as the world changes, so must our higher education system.

We cannot allow the town and gown divide to widen, and for universities and their communities to drift.

We need collaboration, partnership, and mutual respect.

Higher Education needs to reach out and play a bigger role in the skills system.

Because ‘high-quality post-16 routes for all learners’ doesn’t necessarily mean they must choose between HE and FE.

Our analysis shows the majority of the future skills we’ll need will be at higher levels.

This means technical students will need access to cutting-edge facilities and courses, as they build their qualifications.

So the artificial barriers between Further and Higher Education must come down - in a coordinated, effective way.

And this will be facilitated by the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.

The Lifelong Learning Entitlement

The ability to learn across our working lives is no longer just admirable, or valuable. It’s essential.

People aren’t just working for longer.

They are changing roles and careers more frequently.

And the skills needed for those roles are also evolving rapidly.

Yet despite all this change, the student finance system still largely operates on the assumption that learning only happens early in life.

To break down the barriers to opportunity, we must support learning at every stage of life.

This is exactly what the Lifelong Learning Entitlement – or LLE – will do, offering choice, flexibility and opportunity to adults across their working lives.

From January 2027, the LLE will replace the student finance system.

It will continue to fund students entering higher education to take traditional degrees.

But it will also fund new, flexible modular pathways, widening student finance to a broader range of courses and learners.

That includes those returning to education later in life, who may be working whilst studying. Providing flexibility around personal commitments like caring responsibilities.

What does means in practice?

I want you to imagine Sarah, a full-time receptionist and mother who decides she wants a career change. However, Sarah is concerned about committing to studying full-time, as her family is still growing, and she is struggling to take out time to pursue retraining in computer science.

Through the LLE and the funding of individual modules, Sarah will be able to study one module at a time, to build up her credits over time, alongside her work and family commitments.

The LLE will not just change the type of provision on offer.

It also has the potential to transform how employers work with providers to train and recruit staff, allowing modular top-up to build or update their skills.

We’re already seeing this play out through our modular acceleration programme.

We want education providers to innovate in how they respond to the new model, so that lifelong upskilling becomes accessible and unremarkable.

At the same time, employers must be active partners in LLE provision, co-designing flexible courses that create accessible pathways into the workforce.

We will shortly set-out the final policy design of the LLE, so FE and HE providers can plan for this transformational change.

Improving local join-up

The final thing we must do to widen opportunity and build growth is better local join-up. This means strategic collaboration between local education providers, employers, research hubs and health services.

We set the scene at the end of last year with our ‘Get Britain Working’ and ‘English Devolution’ White Papers.

These described how mayors and Local Growth Plans will play a key role in shaping their regional skills systems. Local Get Britain Working plans will drive joined-up action to reduce economic inactivity, and take forward our Youth Guarantee.

This is key for ensuring young people in difficult circumstances are supported to achieve good qualifications and good employment.

The skills system is at its most effective when detailed local understanding is matched with insight from local employers and training providers.

Many young adults face complex barriers to engaging with skills courses; an estimated 1 in 8 young people are NEET - not in education, employment or training.

Improving the accessibility of training will be crucial to reducing the number of NEETs,.

But to bring them into the fold, you have to understand local barriers as well as national, systemic issues.

Further Education colleges often do this well by working with many local partners. They are big participants in Local Skills Improvement Plans (or LSIPs).

These collaborations identify and respond to gaps in skills provision, giving employers a more strategic role in the system.

I believe in LSIPs because they facilitate partnership

Early evidence shows Plans are already having an impact, raising the number of learners training in priority sectors - with more employers telling us that local skills provision meets their needs.

But we must go further to join-up local systems to drive opportunity and growth.

Which bring me back to universities.

Discussions on LSIPs should involve all local providers, and all levels of education – including up to Doctorate level!

If your university offers a course that relates to your local skills offer, or local employers, you have something to contribute to these discussions.

And to the outcomes of local students studying beyond your campus, in neighbouring colleges.

And let’s not forget the role of research and innovation.

Universities are renowned for delivering solutions to global challenges.

But this also happens at a local level, as seen with the Oxford Local Policy Lab.

HE also brings new ideas to market, through start-ups and partnerships with industry.

Whichever way you look at it, Higher Education has a huge role in driving local growth and opportunity.

You need to be part of this conversation.

Universities involved in local growth

And this is not just some government aspiration!

There are plenty of examples of institutions stepping-up to play their part.

The London South Bank University group acts as an anchor institution within the local education community. It brings together FE colleges, sixth form colleges and employers – particularly the NHS – to ensure a truly collaborative approach to education, training and skills provision.

You’ll hear later from Professor Kathryn Mitchell, Vice Chancellor of Derby University.

They work closely with FE colleges and local employers, particularly Rolls Royce to ensure clear links between education and the labour market.

And in the North East, organisations like Sunderland Software City are leading the tech industry to match local education and training provision with regional requirements.

It’s great to see – and shows just what university participation in inclusive growth can do for the local economy and community.

Conclusion

I know I’m not alone here in admiring this, and wanting change.

Many people in this room who are working to make Further and Higher Education better - to better serve our people and our nation.

I’d like to thank you for your innovation and dedication to this - which can sometimes be uphill work!

I’m grateful to SKOPE, who’ve worked with my officials to share their expertise in developing our Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy.

And to the Nuffield Foundation for helping to fund SKOPE’s research.

The strategy is just the beginning, by the way!

The different parts of the system will need to work together to meet its vision.

To bring about a fairer society, where everyone has the chance to gain good qualifications, get a good job, support their family, and contribute to their community and our economy.

Let’s make it happen!

Thank you.