Key participants in the skills system


Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) — There are 16 Sector Skills Councils that work with over 550,000 employers to define skills needs and skills standards in their industry. They are employer-led and operate on a UK-wide basis. Due to major funding changes introduced in 2012, there is no longer a comprehensive system of grant funding from government for SSCs. Their funding now largely depends on how successful they are in bidding applications to various government funds. A number of SSCs are also playing a key role in facilitating Industrial Partnerships (see below).


Industrial Partnerships — Industrial Partnerships were developed to bring together employers across a sector to encourage growth and competitiveness through the development of skills. Eight partnerships have been established across the aerospace, automotive, creative, nuclear, technical, energy and efficiency, science, and tunnelling and construction industries. The government, through the Skills Funding Agency, has funded the partnerships up to March 2016 with £131 million from the Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot Fund. This investment has been matched by employers who are providing £1.70 for every government £1.


The TUC has expressed support for some key aspects of Industrial Partnerships designed to promote an industry-led strategic approach to skills in a sector but their future development is in doubt due to funding commitment changes (see pages 21-22).


Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) — These are voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to help determine local economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within the local area. There are 39 LEPs across England. LEPs replaced Regional Development Agencies.


City Deals followed in December 2011, detailed in the Unlocking Growth in Cities White Paper — These are tailored agreements between government and a city that give the city additional powers over infrastructure, skills and jobs and economic growth, in exchange for greater responsibility for their local economy. The first wave of City Deals were agreed in July 2012 with the eight largest cities outside of London. The second wave involves another 20 cities.


Training providers — These include further education (FE) colleges, universities, independent training providers, employers and Jobcentre Plus and unions, particularly through the Union Learning Fund (see page 16).


Funding organisations — There are national and EU funding organisations. These include the Skills Funding Agency (sponsored by BIS), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the European Social Fund. BIS is primarily responsible for adult learning and skills. The DWP is involved in developing skills among those unemployed or “economically inactive”. Union learning and skills provision receives funding from the Union Learning Fund. The ULF is managed and administered by unionlearn, the TUC’s learning and skills organisation, under an agreement with the BIS, which directs the level and type of learning activity that should be supported by the Fund.


National Colleges — National Colleges are intended to be expert training centres focusing on key areas of the economy. First announced by the then coalition government in April 2014, they were designed to fill high-skill vocational gaps, and to help promote greater parity of esteem between vocational education and training and higher education. They will combine academic study with practical application and will collaborate with schools, employers and universities. To date, seven National Colleges have been announced, some being formed around existing further education (FE) colleges such as Blackpool and the Fylde College. Specialisms include high speed rail, nuclear, onshore oil and gas, advanced manufacturing, digital, wind energy, and the creative industries.


Each college is led by employers, with 50% of initial investment to establish a college coming from employers. BIS has allocated £80 million of government match funding to support the development of National Colleges through to 2017.


National Skills Academies — There are 19 National Skills Academies. They are employer-led organisations with a leading role in developing the infrastructure needed to deliver specialist skills in individual industries and sectors of the economy. National Skills Academies bring employers together with specialist training organisations to develop solutions which tackle the skills challenges facing their sector. They are focused on transforming the way a sector’s training and development needs are addressed.


Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot — The Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot is a government fund available for employers in England to design and deliver more flexible training programmes. Announced in November 2011, the fund totals £340 million over four years. Employers were invited to apply for funding by submitting project proposals to create jobs, raise skills, and drive enterprise and economic growth.


An initial evaluation of the first round of funding was conducted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in March 2015 and reached mixed conclusions. It found that only 37% of desired starts had been achieved from ambitious’ initial targets of 10,000 apprenticeships and 90,000 non-apprenticeship qualifications. It also noted that many employers felt it was unlikely they would sustain their pilot projects (in their current form) after funding ceased.


However, the evaluation found that pilot projects had been particularly successful in increasing collaboration, and that the diversity of the training models funded was a key strength.