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Regional Skills Policy and Sector Skills Councils
An LSC Viewpoint 19 October Chris Minett
Regional Skills Director
Welcome
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Sector Skills Councils

• Skills Strategy White Paper March 2005
• Skills are fundamental to achieving our
  ambitions, as individuals, for our families and
  for our communities. They help business create
  wealth and they help people realise their
  potential.
• Employers will be given a strong voice in the
  design and content of vocational qualifications
  through Sector Skills Councils.

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Sector Skills Councils

• If training supply is to respond to employers
  skills priorities, those priorities must be
  clearly and consistently expressed. The main
  mechanism for that is the Sector Skills Council.

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Learning and Skills Council Priorities

• The highest priorities for funding will be the
  participation and success of young people aged 16
  -18, alongside helping adults gain Skills for
  Life qualifications and their first full
• Level 2 qualification.
• We want more adults to gain their first full
  Level 2 qualification to maximise both their
  individual potential and their economic
  contribution. More of the provision we fund must
  deliver full Level 2 learning, particularly where
  that responds to sector needs.

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Learning and Skills Council Priorities

• Government resources cannot fully meet the
  increasing demand for learning. Consequently
  public money must benefit those who need it most.
  As individuals and employers benefit from skills
  development it is reasonable they should
  contribute a greater amount of the cost of
  learning and, in some circumstances, the full
  cost.

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Learning and Skills Council Priorities

• As employers benefit from skills investment we
  expect them to contribute more to training costs
  for workers, especially where the training is
  highly customised or is required for legislative
  purposes and is therefore the employers
  responsibility.

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LSC Planning Priorities

• We want to continue changing the way learning is
  delivered to better meet the needs of employers
  and individuals. For employers, this means
  increasing their choice of training that suits
  their business requirements at the right time
  and in the right place.
• In local planning discussions with colleges and
  providers, we will prioritise our investment in
  learning and skills development that actively
  meets the priorities identified in Sector Skills
  Agreements.

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Business Cycle Key Processes

• October / November
• National LSC/DfES
• Grant Letter
• Budgets to Regions
• Regional LSC
• Agree priorities with Regional Partners
• Regional Statement of Priorities
• Regional consideration of budgets

• December / January
• Local LSC
• Indicative alloca-tions to providers
• Annual Planning Review in progress

• November
• Local LSC
• Identify key areas for dialogue with providers
• Strategic briefing of providers by ED
• Annual Planning Review with providers begins

• October
• National LSC
• LSC Annual Statement of Priorities
• Providers
• Self Assessment
• Local LSC
• Strategic Analysis
• Self Assessment

• April
• Allocations to providers confirmed

Ongoing Monitoringof Delivery
Evaluation of the Business Cycle
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LSC Response to Sector Skills Agreements

• The LSC will respond to the Sector Skills
  Agreements tactically through
• Solutions which will support purchasing via local
  providers
• Strategically on broader issues that need
  resolution before any solution can be effective
• Not all changes required by the Sector Skills
  Agreement are needed or are deliverable in the
  first year.

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LSC Data

1. Health, Public Services and Care
2. Science and Mathematics
3. Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care
4. Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies
5. Construction, Planning and the Built Environment
6. Information and Communication Technology
7. Retail and Commercial Enterprise
8. Leisure, Travel and Tourism
9. Arts, Media and Publishing

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Potential Planning Changes

• Qualifications and provision that does not
  support SSA priorities may not attract any LSC
  funding or may attract less funding, and employer
  fees will need to fill this gap.
• Stop or reduces provision volumes in
  qualifications currently being delivered that are
  no longer identified as fit for purpose or
  supported by the sector.

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Potential Planning Changes

• Expand provision volumes in priority areas to
  prepare for forecast demand
• Build capacity over a period of time to prepare
  for or respond to new or priority qualifications
  or provision
• Align other funding to support capacity building
  or other changes in support of the response to
  the SSA

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• The regional skills partnership (SWESA) is
  responsible for developing a partnership approach
  to the SSAs
• The National Employer Training Programme (NETP)
  will be implemented nationally in 2006 and will
  support employer choices in training with an
  independent and impartial skills brokerage
  service
• Capacity building funds are available to support
  NETP

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Challenges

• How do we ensure employers understand and agree
  with Sector Skills Agreements?
• Public funding is limited how do we encourage
  employers to invest more in training their
  employees?
• 25 Sector Skills Councils with a wide variety of
  demands how do we respond adequately to them
  all?
• How do we identify where public funding is needed
  for level 3/4 training?
• Aligning SSA planning cycles with the LSC
  business plan.

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LSC Response to Sector Skills Agreements

• A stepped plan measurable over the relevant
  timetable could be agreed and this would be
  reflected in planning with providers.
• The LSC cannot respond equally to all Sector
  Skills Agreements and the response for each
  agreement may vary, dependant upon local and
  regional priorities.