As we enter a new year, and indeed a new decade, we are faced with a number of new possibilities, but also new challenges.

According to the economists we are entering into phase two of the recession and the old adage of getting worse before it gets better is a real possibility for us in the skills sector. With a general election fast approaching, there is a renewed emphasis on squeezing public expenditure. There appears to be a competition going on between the political parties on who can cut public expenditure the most, yet have the least impact on public services. This very much puts funding for training into the spotlight.

With that said, we are already in active dialogue with the political parties to fight the corner for public funding focused on the needs of employers. It is clear that whichever party gets in, Apprenticeships will be the flagship training programme. This is good news for a sector built of vocational qualifications.

There is clear evidence that Apprenticeships provide the best route for young people into the industry by giving them structured training and real work experience. They also provide employers with the opportunity to get to know and shape the people that they need for the future.

The good news is that the role of Sector Skills Councils as the coordinated voice of employers has been reaffirmed by both the Labour and Conservative parties; and in fact the Conservatives see employer leadership as crucial to the continued rationalisation of the skills landscape.

Of course a major weapon in our armoury is our National Skills Academy, set up to bring together public, employer and individual investment to achieve best value for money and ensure the best training available. We are proactively promoting the Academy to politicians as the most cost effective way of getting funding into skills delivery where it is really needed.

Looking forward, the new Qualifications and Credit Framework finally becomes the only game in town after the end of this year, enabling employers to access bite sized learning credits – something we have been lobbying for a long time. In addition, only qualifications approved by us will get on the new Framework, meaning that only qualifications that are approved by employers may be eligible for public funding.

And not forgetting the launch of the Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure in September. A major part of the 14-19 education reform, the Diploma will offer young people the opportunity to combine both class work and hands-on experience giving them the a fully rounded education through a number of learning methods within both the classroom and the workplace. We have ensured that employers have been fully engaged through the development of the Diploma and can be confident that the content is right, what employers are looking for, and yet is still suitable to go on to college and university if that is the ultimate goal.

So what a year we have in front of us. Last year was all about the relicensing process, this year is about delivering our strategic objectives. With that said, we still need employers to engage with us, now more than ever, with your support we can continue to pressure the government to fund the qualifications and training that are important to our sector. Once you’ve help us to shape them of course.

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.

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.