Thu, 2 Oct 2014 | By Tom Hadley, director of policy, Recruitment & Employment ConfederationWe were back in among it this week for round two of the party conference season. Jobs, skills and boosting business growth all featured prominently at the Conservative Party’s annual bash in Birmingham.

Here are some of the key issues that came up in MPs’ speeches and conference fringe sessions that are relevant to us in the recruitment industry:

• The UK’s ‘jobs miracle’. Jobs and employment will be a key battleground in the run up to the 2015 election. Employment minister Esther McVey focused on progress made on apprenticeships and the overall employment figures. In his keynote speech secretary of state for work and pensions Iain Duncan Smith talked of the UK’s ‘jobs miracle’ and the Prime Minister committed to “full employment”. When we meet with the employment minister later this month, we will once again underline the recruitment industry’s contribution to a dynamic and successful UK jobs market.

• Progress on the skills agenda. Secretary of state for education and minister for women and equalities Nicky Morgan underlined priorities around equipping children with core life skills. This may signal a renewed focus on careers advice as called for by our Youth Employment Taskforce in 2010. Discussions with the new skills minister Nick Boles focused on the role our industry can play in flagging evolving skills needs. We also talked about the need to ensure that the visa system addresses current skills needs with immigration minister James Brokenshire.

• Boosting key sectors. The most obvious example of this is the NHS. Significant additional investment for the health service was announced, as well as plans for rolling out seven-day GP services. One of the challenges will be to ensure an effective supply of suitably qualified doctors and other healthcare professionals. Elsewhere, skills minister Boles said we need to remove stigmas about careers in sectors including hospitality, retail and tourism and bemoaned the UK’s ‘Downton Abbey’ mentality – a certain condescension with regards to service industry jobs. Other sector-specific discussions focused on education, engineering, life sciences and creative industries and on how the changing landscape may affect future staffing needs.

• Overseas recruitment and up-skilling UK workers. The PM stated a future Conservative government would look at EU migration levels but, disappointingly, called into question the valid role agencies play in legitimately sourcing talent overseas. The Equality Act already prevents discriminatory recruitment practices against British workers, a fact we continue to emphasise in our conversations with politicians of all parties. Speaking at the CIPD’s fringe session with the Rt Hon David Willetts MP thefocus was on the impact of migrant workers on the UK jobs market. The overall tone was upbeat with recognition for the positive role of migrant workers, especially in high-demand sectors. At the same time, there was recognition that more can be done to raise skills of UK workers and that the business community has a key role to play here. The panel session also enabled us to flag the importance of effective enforcement, whether on the National Minimum Wage, illegal working, taxation rules or agency standards.

• Social mobility and youth employment. Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, argued that "part of the social mobility agenda must be to look at how businesses recruit". Similar conclusions came out of other fringe sessions on youth employment, such as the need to encourage more employers to review current hiring procedures and criteria to reach out to young jobseekers and under-represented groups.

Next stop, this weekend in Glasgow with the Liberal Democrats.

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