Now, more than ever, we must look to the future and provide greater insight into the world of work, the skills needed to succeed in the sector and build relationships between employers, colleges and universities.

With that said, the world of skills and education has been changing over the past few weeks, prompted by the reshuffle in Westminster. The government has merged the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (previously known as BERR), with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). The resulting new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is charged with building Britain’s capacity to compete in a global economy.

For the first time, this new department puts together skills, FE, HE and business development all under the same umbrella and recognises the need to have employers, colleges and universities closer aligned at a government level – something Sector Skills Councils have lobbied for since their inception six years ago. This new department puts employers where they should be – at the very heart of education reform and policy making.

So what does that mean for our industry? Well, we’re not entirely sure of the details; however we should recognise that there is a huge opportunity for the sector. For a start, we finally have a doorway to discuss vocational skills development aligned with academic qualifications, Apprenticeships are recognised as part of business and innovation, and skills development is now visibly at the heart of government thinking. We are an industry that needs the highly technical vocational skills to operate, combined with the more academic skills in leadership and management to succeed. Not forgetting that the training and qualifications available need to reflect this, and be eligible for public funding.

We can be encouraged by this new department’s remit to deliver on the government’s ambitious objectives to expand the number of Apprenticeships available. Despite the negative stories in the press recently, last month the government announced it will fund a £1.9m Apprenticeship Expansion programme in our sector, led by our National Skills Academy, and will recruit, train, place and mentor over 1,400 people in the next two years.

So the outlook is positive, it seems that the new department will be positioned to guide us through the economic turbulence, and we’re confident that the sector can once again prove resolute as the economy responds to the current downturn. As always, we will continue to work closely with employers across the sector to encourage the continued development of staff and investment in training at this time.