Share

SCOTTISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE CALL FOR RADICAL CHANGE IN SCOTLAND’S SKILLS SECTOR TO DRIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH

The Scottish Chambers of Commerce have today proposed a series of radical reforms to funding and structure’s of Scotland’s skills and employability system.

The proposals form the basis of the SCC’s response to the Scottish Government’s ‘Putting Learners at the Centre’ consultation on its proposed reforms to post 16 education in Scotland.

Presenting the Scottish Chambers of Commerce proposals, Chief Executive Liz Cameron explained:

“Scotland’s education system is crucial to ensuring that Scots have the skills to drive our current and future economic growth. It is therefore important to get system reforms right.

“We commend the Scottish Government for recognising the imperative for change in the system due to the economic challenges Scotland currently faces.

“The Scottish Chambers of Commerce are calling for fresh thinking and focussed reform to ensure that post-16 education in Scotland delivers the skills people need to get jobs, develop businesses and make sure that Scotland’s economy grows now and in future. We are calling for real partnership between Government, the post 16 education sector and Scotland’s business communities to deliver a system that performs efficiently and effectively.

“The immediate priority for us all must be to tackle youth unemployment. These Scottish Chambers of commerce proposals demonstrate how effective partnership with business can achieve just that.”

1. A full and detailed strategic and operational mapping exercise is required to identify all programmes, projects and funding that are part of the employability agenda. In our opinion there could be substantial financial savings made by rationalisation of these programmes to create a more focussed and quality intervention enabling more individuals to gain job opportunities direct with business. The landscape is fragmented and we believe that there is scope for greater efficiency enabling funding to have greater impact. SCC Limited would be willing to lead this review and recommend a series of changes thereafter.

2. A new Scottish Employment Incentive Programme should be established. This should provide up to £5000 for each job created, direct to the employer. This will provide our young people with real job opportunities and our businesses – including our many SMEs – with the incentive and support to create them. The programme should be unrestricted, open to businesses of all sizes and sectors. Scottish Chambers of Commerce recommend this programme as the cornerstone of a revitalised partnership between Government and the private sector in Scotland, with each side contributing what they do best.

3. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce recommend that to achieve a truly joined up, economically effective sector, an analysis should be undertaken of the cost/benefit balance of a merger of the Scottish Funding Council with Skills Development Scotland.

4. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce recommend that the work placement landscape in Scotland is simplified significantly for employers. SCC sees duplication of resources in work experience and work placement management, and therefore the potential for cost savings if the programmes were streamlined. It requires an impartial body, with business interest at its core, to manage coordinating activity. Scotland’s SMEs should be represented effectively at programme inception, and supported throughout in an efficient, business focussed design. Building on our experience as lead business partner in the Education into Enterprise programme, SCC would be prepared to take the lead in the development of a proposal to rationalise work placement and work experience activity across the education sector.

5. Scottish Chambers of Commerce recommend that the public sector agencies that comprise the skills sector in Scotland should come together to establish a common process of ongoing, partnership based business engagement to ensure that the sector is aware of and effectively responding to employer and economic needs. This process should replace the existing fragmented processes – including but not limited to committees, Sector Skills Councils and Industry Advisory Groups - that the Government and its agencies use. This process must effectively include the SMEs that make up such a large majority of Scotland’s business community and the sector should make use of the representative organisations that those SMEs already know and trust to do this, such as Chambers of Commerce. SCC is willing to take on a leadership role within this streamlined process to ensure more effective engagement takes place, using its unique geographically based membership structure to dovetail with the Scottish government’s proposed reorganisation of Further Education in Scotland to a regional basis.

6. Scottish Chambers of Commerce recommend that the existing strong and long-standing links between SCC and the SQA are built upon to ensure the effective dissemination of relevant information about Curriculum for Excellence - including any developments going forward – to employers, particularly SMEs.

7. Do we collect the right data to effectively inform decision making? On the basis that every business is driven by data, we need to ensure we have the right market intelligence to enable employers, potential students and funders to make effective decisions about post 16 courses. For example, we need to know which courses are most effective in giving students the skills they need to get a job on graduation. Employers must be involved in deciding what data is captured, to best meet their needs. In turn, employers should be involved with mapping future skills demand in Scotland to ensure that curricula are adapted to meet changing employer need. This mapping needs to include assessment of the skills demands of planned infrastructure projects to ensure as far as possible that the resulting jobs are accessible to Scotland’s young people.