Economics viewpoint Labour needs to get a grip on skills - and fast

Ensuring England's workforce has the right skills for a rapidly changing economy is crucial to Labour's hopes of boosting social mobility and kickstarting economic growth.

- Heather Stewart

So it seems unfortunate that more than a week after Keir Starmer's drastic reshuffle, ministers are still wrangling about exactly which bits of the skills agenda will now move to Pat McFadden's beefed-up Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Broadly speaking, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is expecting to hang on to responsibility for further education, while McFadden will probably take on apprenticeships and adult skills. Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, will work across both departments.

Labour market experts say there is some logic to the shift: ensuring the right training is available in the right places is one crucial part of tackling the issue of economic inactivity in a rapidly changing employment market, which falls within the DWP's bailiwick.

But "machinery of government" changes, as official parlance has it, can often bring more disruption than clarity.

Over the past two decades, responsibility for skills has bounced, from education into the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (2007-2009) then on to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2009-2016), back into education again, and now across to DWP.