Skills for Londoners is the first dedicated post-16 skills and adult education strategy produced by a London Mayor. It sets out the contextual skills challenges London faces, along with the priorities and actions required to make the London skills system the envy of the world and achieve the Mayor’s vision for: ‘A City for all Londoners – making sure Londoners, employers and businesses get the skills they need to succeed in a fair, inclusive society and thriving economy’ The Skills for Londoners Consultation Findings provides a high-level summary and analysis of the issues raised during the consultation of the draft strategy, from technical stakeholders, members of the public and opinion research. This allowed the Mayor to have proper regard to the consultation responses when deciding whether to approve the final version of the strategy. See below the opinion research and responses to Talk London that were considered as part of the strategy consultation.

From 1 August 2019, the Secretary of State for Education delegated responsibility for the commissioning, delivery, and management of London’s Adult Education Budget (AEB) to the Mayor of London. In early 2020, the AEB Mayoral Board agreed that AEB programme data should be published following the Department for Education’s Further Education and Skills data publication and in line with the UK Code of Practice for Official Statistics (which the Greater London Authority has signed up to on a voluntary basis). In August 2024, the AEB changed to the Adult Skills Fund (ASF). As a result, it is not possible to directly compare this year’s data with participation and enrolment to previous years under the AEB. Data for the AEB covering academic years 2019/20 – 2023/24 can be accessed here: GLA Adult Education Budget - London Datastore The GLA ASF data publication below provides information on adult (aged 19+) GLA-funded Further Education, comprising Adult Skills Core, Tailored Learning and Free Courses for Jobs (excluding apprenticeships, traineeships, advanced learner loans, the offender learning and skills service, and education and training services funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency). Wherever in-year data is used, it presents provisional, reported to date figures. These are updated in subsequent data returns, and should not be considered the final record of provision in that time period.

In 2019 the GLA commissioned education specialists Mime to provide an up-to-date picture of supply and demand of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision for 16-25 year olds in London. The Area Reviews of London’s Further Education provision and the London Adult Community Learning (ACL) Review recommended that more work should be done to determine future SEND demand to ensure that an evidence-based approach can be taken to planning post-16 SEND services. Mime, who specialise in obtaining insight from educational data to improve the life chances of young people, was appointed to conduct a London-wide SEND review. The purpose of the review was to identify the gap in post-16 SEND provision in London and produce a sustainable methodology for projecting demand that could inform future planning cycles. The project team included SEND specialists and was supported by a steering group that included a range of experienced stakeholders from across London. The project consisted of five parts; a demand model that projected the number of 16 to 25 year olds with EHCPs with different levels of learning support, an analysis of current supply, a gap analysis, an EHCP review, and stakeholder interviews. Key findings from the analysis were used to derive recommendations for the SEND sector in London. The review took place between January and July 2018.

FOCUSONLONDON2012:SKILLS:DEGREESOFQUALIFICATION London’s diverse economy, and status as one of the most important cities in the world calls for a highly skilled workforce. Qualifications are considered an important predictor of success in a labour market. This edition of Focus on London, authored by Slawek Kozdras, explores the skills and qualification levels of young people before moving on to an analysis of adults’ qualifications and the skills that different occupations in London require. REPORT: Read the full report as a PDF. PRESENTATION: This interactive presentation focuses on achievements of 15 year olds, and compares trends of GCSE results in London, and England, with results in the OECD PISA tests, and shows that while GCSE results are still rising sharply, results in the PISA tests have a slight downward trend in London and the UK. View Degrees of Qualification on Prezi.com CHARTS: The motion chart shows the relationship between percentage of pupils achieving 5 good GCSE grades with the proportion of 19 year olds achieving level 3 qualifications, at borough level, and shows how these measures have changed since 2005. Motion Chart DATA: All the data contained within the Skills: Degrees of Qualification report as well as the data used to create the charts and maps can be accessed in this spreadsheet. FACTS: Some interesting facts from the data… ● Boroughs with the highest increase in the proportion of pupils achieving 5 GCSEs at least A*-C level, including in English and mathematics (maintained schools), between 2005/06 and 2010/11: Tower Hamlets (+26%) Southwark (+23%) Haringey (+23%) -32. Ealing (+7%) ● Regions with the highest proportion of people aged 25-44 with degree-level qualifications: London (51%) Scotland (44%) South East (41%) -13. Merseyside (30%) ● Industries with the highest percentage of people with degree-level qualifications: Banking and finance (64%) Public administration, education and health (63%) Other services (53%) -9. Agriculture, forestry and fishing (23%)

The Skills for Londoners Board has published its first Local Skills Report. The report presents an overview of London’s skills landscape and an assessment of progress with the Skills for Londoners Strategy, before concluding with a forward look. We expect the November iteration of the report to have more comprehensive coverage of the work of the London Recovery Board in its response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on London’s skills sector.

As London looks ahead to a skills devolution deal, the capital has ambitions to create an adult skills system that is more responsive to the needs of the local economy. This work reflects on the area based review which will shape the future of the Further Education sector in London. Analysis by GLA Economics sets out what drives London’s economy, and what this means for future skills needs. In this series of papers we analyse the demand for jobs and skills to inform the Government’s area reviews of post-16 education and training, covering four London sub-regions (working papers 76-79). Thanks to London’s excellent transport links, the job opportunities available to learners are wider than a particular sub-region. The 2011 Census shows that less than half of all workers in London (48%) live in the same sub-regional area as their place of work. This calls for a broader, pan-London view (working paper 75). https://www.london.gov.uk/business-and-economy-publications/skills-londons-economy

This page presents analysis and data related to skills and employment in London Note on data sources and interpretation: The analysis is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive. It is a snapshot analysis of key data as it pertains to London. The analysis does not represent the full body of evidence on which Mayoral Policies are, or will be, based. Outputs should be triangulated with other sources of information and analysis to develop a rounded statistical picture of specific policy issues.

From 1 August 2019, the Secretary of State for Education delegated responsibility for the commissioning, delivery, and management of London’s Adult Education Budget (AEB) to the Mayor of London. In early 2020, the AEB Mayoral Board agreed that AEB programme data should be published following the Department for Education’s Further Education and Skills data publication and in line with the UK Code of Practice for Official Statistics (which the Greater London Authority has signed up to on a voluntary basis). This GLA AEB data publication provides information on adult (aged 19+) GLA-funded Further Education, comprising Education and training and Community learning (excluding apprenticeships, traineeships, advanced learner loans, the offender learning and skills service, and education and training services funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency). Note that in August 2024, the AEB changed to the Adult Skills Fund (ASF). As a result, it is not possible to directly compare ASF data with participation and enrolment from previous years under the AEB. The most recent ASF data releases are available here: GLA Adult Skills Fund - London Datastore Wherever in-year data is used, it presents provisional, reported to date figures. These are updated in subsequent data returns, and should not be considered the final record of provision in that time period.

The 2014 London Business Survey (LBS) is an innovative survey designed by the Office for National Statistics, on behalf of the London Enterprise Panel and the GLA. The survey collected information from a representative sample of private sector businesses in London in May-July 2014. This dataset contains information on skills, training, and apprenticeships corresponding with Section 7 of the London Business Survey 2014: Main Findings report. Information is provided on: London businesses that did upskilling, training and development of their employees, and the number of employees that working for such businesses. The sources of training used by London businesses, including on-the-job learning, in-house training courses, and long and short courses with external providers Business use of external providers of long courses including further education colleges, adult education colleges, universities and other private businesses London Businesses employing apprentices Business awareness and receipt of grants available for apprenticeships London businesses employing staff with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills As with any survey, the 2014 LBS is based on a sample and as such is subject to variability in the results. Care should therefore be taken in interpreting the survey findings. For all estimates, lower and upper limits of 95% confidence intervals are provided in the data files to assist with interpretation. The LBS results represent the population of business units in London. A business unit is defined as a site/workplace, which may also be a head office if the head office is in London. It will be the whole business in the case of businesses which only have one site, or part of the business in the case of multi-site firms. The results are presented by enterprise size band and industry sector.

Ask Research were commissioned to undertake research on the delivery of transferable skills through GLA adult skills funding in London. This research aims to improve the GLA's understanding on the delivery and impact of transferable skills on learners' economic and social outcomes. It provides a qualitative deep dive into the need for and impact of transferable skills provision and the challenges, approaches to and success factors in the delivery of transferable skills. This report includes recommendations for the GLA, providers and employers on how to engender a more consistent understanding and delivery of transferable skills and how to support more Londoners to gain these vital skills.