The Department for Education’s novel Unit for Future Skills has been “useful to a point”, sector leaders have told FE Week, after it was revealed the group has cost over £2.5 million in its first 15 months.
Set up by DfE in May 2022, the Unit for Future Skills (UFS) is an analytical and research unit, whose main priority this year was to deliver two skills dashboards on careers pathways and skills demand, showing available jobs in each area of England based on skills needs.
It was the replacement for the Skills and Productivity Board, which brought together FE experts into a committee providing independent, evidence-based advice to DfE.
The DfE revealed it spent £2,569,794 on the unit between its inception and August 2023, in answer to a parliamentary question from Labour’s new shadow skills minister Seema Malhotra who appears keen to find out whether the unit is offering value for money.
