The UK Commission for Employment and Skills

1. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills By Judith Compton Assistant Director UK Commission for Employment and Skills

2. Role of UKCES • Non-departmental public body providing strategic leadership on skills and employment issues in the four nations of the UK. • Work through our Commissioners (social partnership of employers, trade unions, providers and Government). • Our mission is to secure a greater commitment to invest in the skills of people to drive enterprise, jobs and growth.

3. The UK Commission: Year of Change (2011/12) • A fundamentally different relationship with SSCs, empowering the market by buying and investing in skills solutions (Employer Investment Fund (EIF), the Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) –from 2012-13 no grant-fund Sector Skills Councils. • Re-organised internally to become leaner (from 120 to 90 staff) to make necessary savings of 40% running costs between 2010/11 and 2014/15 • Achieved Investor in People Bronze status • Recruited nine new Commissioners and our new permanent CEO • Introduced a matrix management system to ensure our people and resources are deployed to best effect • Begun working on office moves in both South Yorkshire and London to reduce costs • Continued to support the repositioning of IiP across the UK.

4. To deliver these priorities our key actions are to: • Supported by Executive Objectives: Delivery and accountability Robust evidence base • Our remit is to raise UK skills to help drive productivity, growth and job creation • Within this, our Commissioner priority outcomes for 2011/12 are to: • Ensure fit for purpose occupational standards and frameworks • Support preparation for work, particularly for young people • Distil and deploy evidence to reframe and refresh the debate • Provide high quality and accessible Labour Market Information and Analysis • Support compelling Commissioner messages • Create and communicate a clear evidence base on how to tackle the employment challenge • Build sectoral and employer support to get the UK working • Improve Information, Advice and Guidance • Our strategic objectives from Government for 2011/14 are to: • As a UK social partnership we will be open, collaborative, focussed and credible Reform and refocus Partnership working • Develop and communicate a compelling vision for sector leadership • Ensure strong sector leadership • Develop Best Market Solutions through investment funds • Reposition and promote Investors in People Business Plan at a Glance P1. Make and win the economic argument for greater investment in skills P2. Enhance the value and accessibility of vocational training, especially apprenticeships P3. Galvanise industries and sectors to improve the skills and productivity of their workforces P4. Work with sectors to ensure the creation of more and better jobs, maximising opportunities for unemployed people

5. Our Commissioner Priority Leads Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of John Lewis Partnership Jeremy Anderson, Chairman Global Financial Services, KPMG LLP Nigel Whitehead, Group Managing Director of programmes and support, BAE Systems Chris Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group PLC Liz Sayce, Chief Executive, Radar

6. Skills matter Strong vocational skills are vital for economy and society • for business • for individuals • for growth

7. Skills matter There has been real progress • Qualification attainment • Expansion of Apprenticeships • Diverse FE sector

8. Skills matter But we are still treading water by international standards

9. Sector Skills Councils • Independent, UK-wide, industry-led bodies, with Boards drawn from employers (& unions) in the sector with goals to • improve productivity, business and public service performance • improve learning supply including apprenticeships, higher education and National Occupational Standards • to reduce skills gaps and shortages • increase opportunities to boost the skills and contribution of everyone in the sector's workforce • Approximately 25 Councils, covering private, public and voluntary employment, and 90% of UK workforce occupations • Moved to new relationship – one in which employers/public sector co-invests (no longer receive core public funding)

10. The SSCs and coverage of the UK workforce • Manufacturing • SEMTA • Cogent • Improve • Skillfast • Proskills • Creative and Media • Creative and Cultural Skills • Skillset • Energy • Energy and Utility Skills • Transport • GO Skills • Skills for Logistics • Business services • e-skills UK • Financial Services • Public sector • Government Skills • Skills for Justice • Skills for Health • Skills for Care and Development • Lifelong Learning UK • Hospitality, Leisure, Retail • People 1st • Skillsmart Retail • SkillsActive • IMI / Retail Automotive • Construction • Construction Skills • Asset Skills • Summit Skills • Rural and Environment • LANTRA

11. Our new ‘investment’ approach The UK Commission is now investing in skills solutions. From 2012/13 we will no longer ‘core-fund’ Sector Skills Councils. Instead, we will buy, on behalf of government, ‘universal services’ and invest in new solutions through the Employer Investment Fund (EIF) and the Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF). Employer Investment Fund Investing seed capital to build solutions to increase employer ambition and have impact on increased enterprise, jobs and growth Growth & Innovation Fund -England only Universal Services Commissioning provision of Sector Skills Assessments National Occupational Standards Apprenticeship frameworks and qualification-related activities Investing to accelerate the delivery of increased sustainable employer ambition and investment by leveraging employer leadership to secure increased enterprise, jobs and growth

12. Investments

13. The Challenge • Unsustainable levels of public spending • Overly centralised and complex • Employers subsidised to join government initiatives • Two markets for skills development • Lack of alignment between business needs and government initiatives • Not delivering skills needed for growth

14. Four proposals • Incentivise greater investment in adult workforce development • Move fromqualification-based provider funding to employer-based structured investments andloans to leverage additional outcomes and work experience. • Invite employers to step up to the challenge of bringing more young people into the productive workforce • Fund employers directly for Apprenticeships, for example through thetax system, and incentivise work experience. • Extend the scope and reach of competitive investment funds to support collective action by employers of all sizes working through sectors, supply chains and in local networks and clusters • Review where current policy and infrastructure are enabling employer ownership and where they are getting in the way

15. A model for demand-led standards, qualifications and Apprenticeships

16. Standards, qualifications and apprenticeships • National Occupational Standards – updating and reform to model, technology, coverage • Demand-led vocational qualifications – credit frameworks, sector-based qualifications, qualifications approval, qualifications timeline • Apprenticeships – new quality standard, occupational map, alignment with new skill areas, reform of content and improved access

17. Snapshot of success All employers and learners able to: • have access to high quality careers information (based on detailed sectoral intelligence) to help them make choices • choose courses or employment with training that will encourage lifelong learning, and is offered by well qualified staff (in schools, colleges, HE, the workplace) • have access to affordable, well designed nationally recognised options (such as: vocational qualifications, Apprenticeship training) • be able to use national occupational standards to develop their skills - to improve productivity; • have confidence their learning represents international best practice.

18. European Union and International Work Work with other UK partners to: • support alignment of frameworks (national credit and qualifications frameworks to the European Qualifications Framework) • support alignment of national occupational standards by sector with those developed by other nations (initial focus on four sectors) Work with the British Council to: • Support development of standards and qualifications systems in India and China • Support visits to UK Work with some countries through collaborative agreements • Australia

19. Enjoy your visit to the UKand thank you for listening... Contact details: judith.compton@ukces.org.uk Tel: 07795 290015