Education and Skills Policy Forum webinar

Alex Hall-Chen is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Institute of Directors. She is a specialist in employment, skills, and sustainability policy. She previously worked in education research and as a Policy Advisor at the Confederation of British Industry.

Jane Gratton is Deputy Director of Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce. The 52 UK Accredited Chambers of Commerce represent tens of thousands of businesses of all shapes and sizes, which employ almost six million people across the UK.

Jane leads on policy development, with a particular focus on employment and skills, business environment and planning.

Before joining the BCC, Jane was the Deputy Chief Executive at the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce, delivering a wide range of business support services to thousands of firms, including employment and training, start-up, scale-up and international trade.

Phoebe Sarjant is a Policy Advisor at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), where the team aims to provide a voice for the UK’s 5.5 million small businesses and the self-employed. She leads on the education and skills, childcare, and women in enterprise policy portfolios. FSB publish regular reports on a range of topics that affect small businesses, including FSB’s quarterly confidence report, and the Scaling up Skills report – an in depth look at how skills policy affects small businesses. Prior to joining FSB, Phoebe was a Policy Analyst at the Bar Council.

Robert West is the Head of Education and Skills at the CBI where he plays a lead role as part of the Future of Work Directorate speaking for businesses across every region and nation in the UK, giving them a voice in influencing skills policy.

He joined CBI in 2022 from the Sector Skills Council for the creative industries – Creative & Cultural Skills where he led their National Skills Academy, bringing together business, education, and other stakeholders to identify and produce solutions in an ever-changing skills landscape. Previously Rob’s career has included working with universities, schools, FE and Adult Education colleges both in the UK and abroad. In his spare time, he continues to focus on skills by delivering football development sessions on behalf of Chelsea Football Club.

Simon is the Director of Policy and Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP). AELP is a national membership body, proudly representing around 800 organisations. AELP members support thousands of businesses and millions of learners in England by delivering a wide range of training, vocational learning, and employability programmes.

Simon is the senior responsible officer for policy development, stakeholder engagement and supporting members with a wide range of complex issues on funding and policy. At AELP Simon leads a small, high-performing team responsible for: policy, communications, projects, research, and public affairs.

Simon joined AELP in January 2017 and has worked in the further education and skills sector for over twenty years in a range of strategic and operational roles with different training providers and employers.