Being employer-led is crucial for us as a Sector Skills Council; it means that employer’s needs are at the heart of everything that we do. With this in mind, we have a strong employer-led structure within SkillsActive through our board of trustees, sector council, home country committees and our sub-sector committees – all of which influence and direct our work.

Through our current re-licensing process, sector employers have taken the opportunity to shape a number of direct messages to government; which will be delivered through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills; about the skills system and its impact on our sector.

The time and commitment of sector employers by engaging with us sends out a strong message in itself; the active leisure and learning sector is engaged with the skills and education agenda. Through the development of standards, the sector qualifications strategy, new and existing qualifications, employers are shaping the skills of their current and future workforce.

However, they remain concerned about the unresponsiveness of the government in a number of key areas that impact on our sector. Prioritisation is key, active leisure and learning needs to be considered a priority sector not only because of its major contribution to the economy, but also its contribution to other key agendas including health, physical activity, social cohesion, personal and social development and education. Qualification reform must lead to a well planned and implemented credit-based system however; if we continue to witness an over-hasty transfer of qualifications to the new framework it will compromise the effectiveness of a well planned and properly implemented credit structure.

The skills agenda is devolved so there is a need to ensure transparency between the qualifications and credit framework and the Scottish qualifications and credit framework, and how qualifications, levels and credits articulate across the two. Our role in approving qualifications needs clearer definition; and higher education courses must produce industry-ready graduates. We have been lobbying against the PSA target-driven ‘full-fat’ qualifications that receive public funding; the nature of our sector doesn’t necessarily align itself to these larger qualifications and in the majority of work places would benefit from ‘bite-size’ learning which directly reflects employer needs. This learning needs to be part of government targets and attract public funding if our sector is to continue to grow and flourish.  

There needs to be a greater return on employer investment into developing the skills system. Our strong engagement over the past five years with employers has been hugely beneficial for the sector. This needs to be further acknowledged at government level as employers will become reluctant to engage in government-led processes through us if they feel that once asked for their opinion, nothing changes as a result. And finally, the government must stop moving the goal posts and ensure a joined up approach to skills across departments.

I’m sure that you will agree that these messages reflect the core needs of the sector, to this end, we will continue to lobby the government on behalf of the sector to get the recognition it sorely deserves.