Introduction

The Skills Strategy White Paper (21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential) (2003) outlines government policy towards skill development. It is of direct relevance to those interested in adult guidance and key extracts of the document are reproduced here. The white paper emphasises: 'we will provide better information, advice and guidance on skills, training and qualifications, so that people know what is available, what the benefits are, and where to go' (Skills Strategy 2003: Summary 12e). 'Our ambition is to ensure that employers have the right skills to support the success of their businesses, and individuals have the skills they need to be both employable and personally fulfilled' (Skills Strategy 2003: Foreword 9).

'It is not for Government to tell private business what products and services to invest in. But it is the Government’s role to offer support to businesses to increase productivity and invest in innovation, so that they stand the best chance of success. That means encouraging and helping employers to invest in skills and training in a more strategic way, linked to business strategies, human resource strategies and product-market strategies' (Skills Strategy 2003: 1.15).

Extract from the Skills Strategy Summary: What will the government do to help employers and learners?

We will work with employers and employees to:

• Give employers greater choice and control over the publicly-funded training they receive and how it is delivered. Evaluation of the current Employer Training Pilots will inform the development of future national programmes to support skills training.
• Provide better information for employers about the quality of local training by introducing an Employer Guide to Good Training.
• Improve training and development for management and leadership, particularly in small firms centred around the new Investors in People management and leadership model.
• Develop business support services to ensure that employers have better access to the advice and help they want, from the sources best placed to provide it, bringing in a wider range of intermediaries.
• Expand and strengthen the network of Union Learning Representatives as a key plank in encouraging the low skilled to engage in training.

For individual learners, we will:

• Create a new guarantee of free tuition for any adult without a good foundation of employability skills to get the training they need to achieve such a qualification (known as a 'level 2' qualification).
• Increase support for higher level skills at technician, higher craft or associate professional level (known as a 'level 3' qualification), in areas of sectoral or regional skill priority.
• Pilot a new form of adult learning grant, providing weekly financial support for adults studying full-time for their first full level 2 qualification, and for young adults studying for their first full level 3 qualification.
• Safeguard the provision in each local area of a wide range of learning for adults, for culture, leisure, community and personal fulfilment purposes, with a better choice of opportunities to encourage adults back into learning.
• Provide better information, advice and guidance on skills, training and
• qualifications, so that people know what is available, what the benefits are, and where to go.
• Help adults gain ICT skills, as a third basic skill alongside literacy and numeracy in our Skills for Life programme.
• A key means of raising our game on skills is through the Sector Skills Council network. We are on track to establish 23 Councils by summer 2004.The Councils will be a major new voice for employers and employees in each major sector of the economy. We will support the development of sector skills agreements, setting a longer term agenda for raising productivity in each sector, the skills needed for international competitiveness, and how employers might work together on a voluntary basis to invest in the necessary skills.
• The Sector Skills Councils need to be major contributors at regional as well as national level. There is a strong regional dimension to the skills problem. Variations in the skills base of the regions are a major factor in explaining regional variations in productivity. Regional Development Agencies lead in producing Frameworks for Regional Employment and Skills Action (FRESAs) designed to address the skills and employment needs of employers and individuals in the regions within an economic, demographic and social context.

Extract from the Skills Strategy Summary: how will government bring about these changes?

To achieve these gains, we need to take concerted action to reform the supply and delivery of publicly-funded education and training. We will reform the qualifications framework so that it is more flexible and responsive to the needs of employers and learners by:

• Strengthening and extending Modern Apprenticeships, as a top quality vocational route designed to meet the needs of employers. We will lift the current age cap, so that adults will be able to benefit.
• Reviewing, through the work of the group led by Mike Tomlinson, the vocational routes available to young people, and strengthening the focus on their employability and enterprise skills.
• Making qualifications for adults more flexible by dividing more learning programmes into units and speeding up accreditation of new qualifications.
• Introducing a credits framework for adults, to help both learners and employers package the training programmes they want, and build up a record of achievement over time towards qualifications.
• Making it easier for people to gain the skills they need by reviewing in each sector the need for new adult learning programmes to develop generic skills for employment.

We already have in place the major Success for All reform programme to to raise the effectiveness of further education colleges and training providers. We will build on that by:

• Reforming the funding arrangements for adult learning and skills, to give training providers stronger incentives to work with employers while reducing bureaucracy. This will include introducing a new approach to setting fees and raising income.
• Supporting the development of e-learning across further education, with more on-line learning materials and assessment.
• Helping colleges build their capability to offer a wider range of business support for local employers.
• Broadening the range of training providers, by bringing within the scope of public funding those private providers who have something distinctive and high quality to offer.

We recognise that Government must lead by example, showing that and our delivery agencies can work more effectively together at national, regional and local level in providing coherent services for skills, business support and the labour market. We will:

• Form a national Skills Alliance, bringing together the key Government departments with employer and union representatives as a new social partnership, and linking the key delivery agencies in a concerted drive to raise skills.
• Link implementation of the Skills Strategy with the conclusions of the Department of Trade and Industry Innovation Review, so that both skills and innovation work together as two key drivers enhancing productivity.
• Integrate the work of Regional Development Agencies, the Sector Skills Council network, the Small Business Service, the Learning and Skills Council and Jobcentre Plus, inviting the Regional Development Agency in each region to develop innovative proposals for effective collaboration.The focus will be on simplifying the system for employers and learners, improving value for money, raising aspirations and responding to local and regional skills needs.
• Strengthen the partnership between the Learning and Skills Council and Jobcentre Plus, with a stronger push to support skills and training for benefit claimants, and provide a better integrated service for employers.
• Build up education and training opportunities for offenders through closer working between the Prison Service, the Probation Service, the Learning and Skills Council, Ufi/learndirect and other partners.
• As a major employer in our own right, the Government will invest in the skills of our staff to achieve our public service objectives.

Links:

DfES (2003) Skills Strategy (21st Century Skills: Realising our Potential), London: DfES.

The Government’s skills strategy was published on 9 July 2003. Its implementation is being driven by a partnership of Government, employers, unions and skills delivery agencies, known collectively as the Skills Alliance. Regular updates on progress on implementation are available from the Skills Strategy website.