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.

Recently FE News interviewed John McNamara, chief executive of the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, about what is in store for the future of skills given the recession. He emphasises the importance of training and the continual improvement of skills, along with reinforcing the points of Stephen Studd’s recent blog posts about how employers direct government messages through the Sector Skills Councils and the need for employers to be at the forefront of skills development.

View the video below:

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.

There is no mistaking that this is a difficult time for the economy. As we move into spring, more job losses and redundancies are reported, along with the downturn in consumer spending and rise of repossession figures amongst homeowners – there really isn’t much to celebrate.

Let’s not forget that over the last ten years sport and active leisure however, has outperformed the rest of the UK economy four fold in terms of GVA and employment. Yet the period of recession that we are now in will put immense pressure on the sector to maintain its position in the economy.

We are a service sector and therefore we attract discretionary spending. Consequently there is now a real concern that this spending will be hit. Prior to Christmas there was no clear evidence of this and there is a view that fitness and physical activity is now more resilient and the benefits are better appreciated by the consumer. Recently there has been anecdotal evidence that customers are being more cost conscious and looking for more value of money with their gym and leisure centre memberships. However, both privately and publicly owned and run clubs and centres are in the same boat. Local authorities are not immune to the lack of public spending and face the same business pressures as privately owned health clubs after all; people still pay for leisure services.

During this time it is crucial for SkillsActive to work with employers, to help them through this period of turbulence and maintain their status within both the economy and government agenda.

We’re taking a four ‘R’ approach. Retain: where possible encourage employers to retain their staff, facilitate opportunities to access funding for training and keep people on the ‘shop floor’. Re-skill: proactively broker training solutions for employers to introduce new skills in the workplace. Re-deploy: encouraging perhaps smaller employers to share both expertise and workplace training. For example, if an Apprenticeship programme cannot be completed within one organisation, linking with another to ensure the apprentice can finish the programme. Re-engagement: encouraging employers to open their doors to people who have perhaps been made redundant and offer volunteering places, coaching hours or similar to engage them with the sector. 

The fact is recession or no recession, increasing the number of people participating in sport and physical activity and adopting an active lifestyle is the key success for all parts of the sector and is an agenda shared with government. And although the last economic slowdown back in 1997-98 did have an impact on the sector, and we witnessed negative growth in employment, I am confident that ten years on consumers are more health conscious and physically active. That doesn’t mean we don’t need to stop encouraging them back through the door. A workforce with more people, better skilled, better qualified will help. And although we will inevitably come up against challenges over the coming months, working together we can and will overcome them.