Stephen Isherwood, ISE Chief Executive, introduces our latest manifesto with the policies that a future government will need to adopt to ensure that businesses can find the talent and skills that they need and that young people can make a smooth transition to the workplace and build productive careers.

With election fever currently gripping the country it is important that we remember that this isn’t just a ‘Punch and Judy show’ and that there is a lot more at stake than just what happens over Brexit.

Representing the calls of hundreds of Britain’s largest employers who collectively bring tens of thousands of young people into high quality employment every year, we will be working to influence the kind of debate that takes place across the campaign. We will then work with whatever government emerges from the election to ensure that the issues that our members care about get addressed.

This is why we have issued a manifesto that – through consultation with members – sets out the key policies that our community believes a new government should be implementing.

ISE does not endorse any one political party, but rather seeks to influence the policies of all parties and work with governments of any colour to ensure that the student labour market works effectively for everyone.

Our manifesto sets out the six key policies that a future government will need to implement to ensure that firms are able to find the talent and skills that they need and young people are able to make a smooth transition to the workplace and build productive careers.

• Place greater emphasis on employer and university collaboration in higher education: Universities are engines of economic development and higher education graduates are a key source of talent for all businesses. Higher education policy should be designed with a clear understanding of the needs of the labour market.
• Maintain and streamline the apprenticeship system in consultation with employers: The apprenticeship system has seen radical changes over the last few years. A future government should commit to the maintenance and streamlining of the current system.
• Facilitate better employment outcomes for disadvantaged students: Social mobility and diversity bring enormous economic benefits to the country. It is important that government supports businesses and educators to improve education and employment outcomes for all young people.
• Renew the Careers Strategy and extend careers hubs across the country: The government should support schools and colleges to implement the Gatsby Benchmarks and deliver ‘good career guidance’ for all students.
• Invest in vocational education and engage employers in its design and implementation: It is essential that the UK builds a strong vocational system with parity of esteem to higher education pathways.
• Design migration policies that enable businesses to access high quality global talent: Migration policy should be designed to ensure that employers can recruit the talent that they need with the minimum of cost and bureaucracy.

We hope that all political parties will attend to these policies and work with ISE and its members to build a society and economy that is fair and transparent for young workers and which supports businesses to make the most of the young talent that is available.

Read our manifesto in full to find more on our six key themes and action points.