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Follow on Google News | Proskills Welcomes Ongoing Review of the Skills SystemQuango Reform - Proskills CEO Terry Watts welcomes the ongoing review of the skills system.
By: Proskills Group This process will include a full review of the bodies that have responsibilities for developing skills and qualifications across the UK. Proskills’ “It is apparent to everyone that the skills system is currently far too complicated, and there is obviously scope for reducing the number of barriers that face companies when they try to use qualifications to train their employees. The announcements made today show that the Government is not afraid to make the sweeping changes needed in order to make the skills system run efficiently and effectively in the future. Our hope is that this will be followed up by an informed and thoughtful look at how best to establish the new system; we need a new more focussed system rather than a watered down, or paler version of the current one.” Proskills has recently responded to the Government’s consultation “Skills for Sustainable Growth” in order to make suggestions about how the skills system should operate in the future. Key points are that: • The best solution will be a sectorally-structured skills system. A one-size-fits- • There must be safeguards to ensure that training provision meets real industry needs, and to minimise the risk of training providers only offering the most cost effective courses for them, or those that are easiest to deliver. • Investment in training in “new” areas of the economy is important, but it should not come at the expense of established industries such as those in the Proskills industries; with an aging workforce there is a growing need for replacement skills in key parts of the economy. • Any available public funding should support qualifications and skills development based on quality of need and economic impact rather than quantity of certificates • Apprenticeships will be important to developing skills, but should not be the only qualifications available. Different people and different industries will have different needs. • Detailed and accurate career advice will be essential to ensure people can learn about the options that are available to them. Terry Watts continued: “We believe that there is a real opportunity to change the skills system for the better as part of this review, and we will continue to work with our employers and the government to get the best possible result for the people who work in the Process and Manufacturing industries” -Ends- Notes to editor: Proskills is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the Process and Manufacturing sector. A major contributor to the UK economy, the Process and Manufacturing sector covers Building Products, Glazed Ceramics, Coatings, Extractive & Mineral Processing, Furniture, Furnishings & Interiors, Glass & related industries, Paper and Printed Packaging, Pulp and paper, Paper and Print industries. One of a network of employer-led SSC’s across the UK, Proskills is a not-for-profit organisation, whose role is to raise the skills levels and competitiveness in the 80,000 workplaces and 800,000 employees that make up the sector. This is achieved through researching business skills needs, delivering occupational standards and qualifications, matching skills demand to supply, and securing funding to meet business skills priorities. For more information please contact: Joe Leverson Marketing Communications Executive P: 01235 432 034 E: Joe.Leverson@ W: www.proskills.co.uk # # # Proskills UK is an employer-led organisation that represents the interests of the industries that make up the process and manufacturing sector to government. End
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