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.

As the year draws to a close, the government, under Lord Mandelson’s leadership, has published its new skills white paper, Skills for Growth. It outlines plans to address current and future skills issues as part of Britain’s move to grow out of the recession. It has been produced in the context of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ Ambition 2020 skills document, and in fact around 90% of the UKCES’ recommendations can be found in the white paper, giving momentum to some of the proposals outlined.

Positively, Skills for Growth is very supportive of the strong role that the re-licensed Sector Skills Councils have. The strategy states that an “employer-driven system is essential if we are to address current and future skills issues”. This is encouraging, as you know we are committed to ensuring the future success of our sector – we are vital in so many ways to the health, prosperity and quality of life for everyone in the UK. However, we are yet to see policies truly reflect the needs of our sector, and there are various question marks around the detailed recommendations put forward.

The problem is, this is an overarching strategy and, despite referencing Sector Skills Council’s, doesn’t reflect any sector-specific differences. A few highlights reveal the government recognises that ‘it is as valuable for a young person to gain a good technical qualification through an Apprenticeship as it is to go directly into university’, and I agree. However, if this approach is going to have an impact, Apprenticeship legislation needs to support the development of frameworks that work for our sector. As a sector that doesn’t have a long tradition of Apprenticeships, we have worked hard with you, the employers; to develop the right frameworks. In fact, we boast record figures of completions annually and have already issued over 4,000 certificates so far this year.

Equally, it is encouraging that the government ‘set a bold new ambition for the higher education and skills systems – that three quarters of young people should participate in higher education or complete an Advanced Apprenticeship or equivalent technician level course by the age of 30’. This highlights the need to develop high level skills as we come out of a recession, however we would question the benefit in such a large number of individuals studying for degrees without the courses on offer appropriately preparing graduates as ‘job-ready’.

Our sector doesn’t necessarily need a degree as an entry level requirement. It’s the technical, job-ready skills that employers want. We also question a move for such a high level of Advanced Apprenticeships due to the availability of places to train and currently the employment opportunities. That said; we do look forward to working with employers, FE and HE to explore this proposal and find a way to make it work for us.

Other challenges include the move toward a digital Britain and a low carbon economy. The white paper states this approach will take us out of the recession. This in itself poses us a challenge. We must continue to demonstrate the vital role our sector plays in the economy, the physical activity agenda, and the health and well-being of the nation, and not get overlooked within this new approach.

The commitments outlined in the paper are a start, a platform to build on, as long as the government continues to recognise that a sector approach to tackling skills challenges is the right one. One thing is sure; as we approach a general election, the white paper puts skills firmly at the centre of political debate. This recognises their importance to the future of the UK. 2010 promises to be an interesting year.

As we announced last week, our discussions with Ofsted highlighting the impact of Early Years Foundation Scheme (EYFS) requirements on playwork has led to new guidance which should allay the concerns of playworkers.

We are delighted that numerous meetings with Ofsted to represent the employer voice on this issue have finally paid off. It highlights the importance of the role that we have, as the sector skills council and employer voice for playwork, in challenging external regulations that impact our sector.

We listened to the playwork sector to understand concerns about the requirements of the EYFS, gathered evidence and took this to Ofsted, ultimately resulting in this new guidance which should mean that playworkers don’t have to change their existing practice to meet the requirements of the EYFS.

It is encouraging to see that Ofsted has recognised that play based provision is compatible with the EYFS and we hope that this this factsheet will make Ofsted inspections clearer for the play sector.

With the government due to review the EYFS in September 2010, we will continue to listen to our members and will work closely with the DCSF to ensure playwork employer views are once again represented.

The Ofsted factsheet is available to download while we have also produced a guidance paper on the Early Years Foundation Stage and its impact on holiday playschemes, a topic recently mentioned by Elaine Clowes in a previous blog post.

As I noted last month, after months of waiting, I am delighted to say we have finally been officially relicensed as the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning.

Following a rigorous relicensing process by the government, we were not only successful in having our five year license renewed, but was also judged as a good SSC with a number of outstanding areas, namely employer engagement, leadership, project management and delivery. And I am thrilled with this assessment, as our sector employers are our bread and butter and if we’re not delivering on their behalf then we’re doing something wrong.

Over the last five years – technically six – our focus has been on increasing the demand for skills, along with raising the quality of skills provision, creating a fit for purpose system of training, and lobbying funding agencies and policy makers to invest in this employer-led framework. And this can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, for example the development and delivery of apprenticeships, these programmes have developed and rapidly grown in a sector with no tradition for such structured work-based programmes. Over 4,000 apprentices have been certificated in the past 12 months.

The development of a broad range of S/NVQs that have become established across the industry – there has been a 30% increase in people completing their qualification, and we have issued around 22,000 certificates already this year. Not forgetting our National Skills Academy, which since its creation, has led to a one-stop shop for the industry to access quality assured training and support in four out of nine English regions.

Our renewed license is based on a new five year plan of delivery. We need to ensure all qualifications in the sector are on the new Qualifications and Credit framework – in which case they have to be the qualifications employers want their future workforce to have. We need to ensure our National Skills Academy continues to expand across the whole of the country and look at ways it could work within the home nations. And despite the recession, we are a growth sector, its crucial that we continue this growth. Therefore, we must ensure that the sector is supported by a qualified, high calibre workforce, and we must support employers to invest in this workforce. So there’s a lot to do.

The fact that we have been relicensed is a testament to the commitment and passion of my staff that are working so tirelessly on behalf of the sector. But also, it is a testament to the commitment and passion of employers in the sector, that are working so tirelessly to develop and deliver a service that addresses the health and well-being of the nation.

So for me, right now, it’s important to recognise how far we’ve come and say with pride that we’re going in the right direction. But it’s also just as important to recognise the journey has only just started and we’ve a long way to go. However, working together, I know that we’ll get there.

Over the last couple of weeks the row over quangos has hit the headlines once again, with both Labour and the Conservatives wanting to crackdown and relight the ‘bonfire of the quangos’ on the lead up to a general election – despite it being a year out.

The term quango is widely used; however I was deeply concerned to hear Sector Skills Councils being referred to in this way by ill-informed spokespeople who clearly hadn’t done their research.

Sector Skills Councils are independent organisations licensed by government – we are a charity and a membership body. We are very much led by employers and our work is solely directed by an employer-strong board made up of representatives from across our sector. In fact, we are the only organisation that operates within the sport and active leisure sector that addresses the skills and productivity needs in sport, fitness, playwork, the outdoors and caravan industries.

Being licensed by government is a pre-requisite for all Sector Skills Councils. Through this licence, government buys a service from an organisation that meets specific criteria, and being employer led means that we can speak with authority to government departments about the skills needs, funding issues and general landscape of our sector. We can, and do, lobby government departments on behalf of employers as we know what the real issues are, and yes like quangos, we are seen as the experts in this field and we are not a government department; however unlike quangos, our work is directed by employers, and we are not fully supported by government funding.    

It’s important for me that people understand our status, we do not want to be seen as yet another government directed organisation that doesn’t know what its like on the ground. We do, we’ve done the research, and we’re out meeting employer’s everyday. We are developing solutions – such as the National Skills Academy – to ensure the sector has access to the best training provision, at the best price. We’re working with a sector that is primarily made up of micro and small businesses and we’re brokering funding on their behalf. We’re producing workforce development tools that help to build a well trained and professional workforce that deliver a quality service. We’re working across those many partner organisations that have a foot in the door of our sector, and we’re ensuring that they – through us – support more people, being more active, more often, so that the sector can grown, become sustainable and excel.

In short, we ensure that more people are better skilled to deliver the active leisure and learning agenda for benefit of the health and well-being of the nation, and that those people hold the qualifications that employers value. And that’s not the role of a quango.