Registration of the care workforce in Scotland
There are an estimated 174,000 people working in Scotland's social care services, employed across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Legislation on the regulation of care requires that key groups of the social care workforce are registered, placing a significant training and development commitment on employers.
Frances Scott from the Scottish Social Service Council (SSSC) briefed the Committee on the SSSC's concerns in relation to registration, noting that employers faced challenges in supporting staff to achieve the required qualifications and training necessary for registration.
The Committee recognised that the care sector - in common with many others - faced significant challenges in prioritising necessary legislative-related training. However it concluded that meeting the costs of such training should be the responsibility of employers. The Committee suggested that the care sector should be encouraged to draw on approaches used by employers in other sectors to meet their regulatory obligations in this area.
The Committee's discussion paper can be found here.
Post-16 skills reform: Making Training Work Better
On 14 September the Scottish Government published its pre-legislative consultation paper outlining it proposals for the reform of post-16 education 'Putting Learners at the Centre: Delivering our ambitions for post-16 education'.
One component of the overall reform programme was the Making Training Work Better review, which the Scottish Government has undertaking in partnership with SDS to ensure that training in Scotland best meets the needs of trainees and businesses, and contributes to both employment and business growth ambitions.
The Government issued a series of consultation questions as part of the review, and the Skills Committee framed a formal response to the questions during the meeting. The Scottish Government is considering all consultation responses, and other evidence gathered as part of the review, and will outline its detailed programme for reform in 2012.
The Committee's discussion paper can be found here.
Workforce Development Framework for Action progress report
The Workforce Development Framework for Action was published by the Skills Committee in November 2010. The Framework identifies a series of actions, activities and objectives for the SDS, SFC and their strategic partners around four themes:
- simplification and achieving a 'no wrong door approach'
- greater visibility for public support to provide a clear 'Scottish offer'
- enabling the system to be better informed through shared understanding of customer demand and current future intelligence; and
- focus on achieving customer satisfaction and national outcome.
The Committee noted the progress made in the implementation of the Framework, and outlined its priorities for taking this work forward in the context of the fast developing policy and funding landscape.
The Committee's discussion paper can be found here.
Learner demand: entry with advanced standing
At their meeting in May 2011 Committee members had the opportunity to inform a review undertaken by the SFC - at the request of the Scottish Government - to determine the extent to which more flexible routes for entry into higher education could be used to reduce the overall length and cost of a degree level qualification.
The SFC submitted its report to Scottish Ministers in September 2011. A formal response is expected from the Scottish Government shortly. The Committee were updated on the evidence and issues highlighted by the review, and will have the opportunity for a more detailed discussion on the report's conclusions and the Scottish Government's response at a future meeting.
The Committee's briefing can be found here.
1 March 2012
31 May 2012
19 July 2012
18 October 2012
17 January 2013
18 April 2013
Skills in Focus
The second of the Committee's Skills in Focus events took place in Glasgow on Friday 16 December 2011. The Skills in Focus series of discussions is intended to stimulate informed debate around current and future skills issues. December's event focused on two key areas:
- labour under-utilization in the recession; and
- active labour market programmes.
The event included expert briefings from Prof Alan Flastead, an internationally recognised authority on skills and training, and Andy Hirst, a leading expert in economic policy evaluation, and attracted senior figures from across Scotland's skills landscape. The diverse nature of the audience demonstrated the importance of the topics under discussion and made for a stimulating and wide-ranging debate. These discussions will help inform the work of the Committee going forward, and will support the wider national conversation on skills and employability.
Papers, presentations and video clips from December's event are available to view on the SDS website here.
Skills resources
You can access over 8,000 items on labour market research and analysis through the SDS Research Online service.
SDS also produces a monthly newsletter - Labour Market Focus - with a range of features updating subscribers on new labour market news and developments.
My World of Work is a new web based careers service developed by SDS that enables and encourages individuals to plan a career, build on it and direct it so that throughout their lives they can choose options that maximise their potential.
If you would like to find out more about our work in general, obtain further information on anything in this newsletter, or if you wish to contribute something yourself, please don't hesitate to email news and items to our Committee clerk, Derek Horsburgh: dhorsburgh@sfc.ac.uk
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