Boardrooms Watch Closely as Cabinet Reshuffle Sets Course for UK Talent and Skills Policy

By Donna James, Research Director at Populus Select

Government Reshuffle

New faces in Whitehall, but will Britain finally skill up for the future?

In a nutshell

The Government’s reshuffle has changed the skills landscape with the splitting of ‘skills’ shifting  into the DWP and ‘education’ remaining in education.

Jacqui Smith remains Minister for skills but is now working across two departments and thus to two bosses: Bridget Phillipson, education secretary and Pat McFaddon, the new work and pensions secretary.

So What?

Skills has had a home in the Department for Education for around ten years, but it has been moved on several occasions. There have been mixed reactions to the shunt over to the DWP, with some business leaders hailing the incorporation of skills into the department responsible for business as an indication that there might be more alignment between skills programmes and policies to increase employment support.

The Data and Marketing Association welcomes the change asserting that the  “new configuration reflects an important recognition that, in the age of AI, many workers will need to upskill and retrain, often moving between industries and career paths. By placing skills policy closer to employment strategy, government signals its intent to deliver a more coherent system to help individuals and businesses adapt”. (https://dma.org.uk/article/starmer-reshuffle-places-key-focus-on-data-ai-and-skills accessed 10/09/25 09:31). It’s also worth noting that a not insignificant amount of skills funding is now devolved to mayoral authorities, so the DWP will have to work closely with mayors as well as the DfE and DBT.

Both the institute of Government and the Data and Marketing Association believe that the skills move is motivated by pushing the Growth Mission under a new ‘super ministry’ under McFadden.

However, other commentators note that there may be adverse effects, notably that the divide between vocational and pure academic routes might be more pronounced rather than working to the parity of esteem and more streamlined pathways desired by many.

Only time will tell whether the reshuffle and skills shift will align with the growth agenda and whether either or both will achieve meaningful results in the short to medium term.