The SFC Skills Utilisation programme began in July 2009 and committed around £2.9 million in funding to 12 'action research' projects aimed at exploring the role that universities and colleges might potentially play in improving skills utilisation in the workplace.

In January 2011 the Committee accepted an offer by the ESRC Centre for Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) to undertake an interim evaluation of the programme. Jonathan Payne from SKOPE presented his key findings and recommendations to the Committee.

The evaluation found that the skills utilisation programme had helped to validate the concept of skills utilisation and the role of colleges and universities in supporting delivery of this, and had created a different kind of dialogue between colleges, universities and employers in Scotland. But it also highlighted some of the challenges around embedding and resourcing skills utilisation activities as part of a broader, sustainable approach to business improvement and innovation policy.

The Committee welcomed the SKOPE report and in discussion agreed that any future Skills Utilisation developments should build on the most successful elements of the action-research projects, and embed lessons learned. It was also agreed that there would probably be a need for a further development phase before skills utilisation became sustained by employer demand alone, and that any future developments would require partnership with Government, business support agencies, as well as from colleges, HEIs and the Funding Council.

The Committee's background discussion paper can be found here.

The SKOPE interim evaluation report of the SFC's skills utilisation programme is available on the SFC website here.

The Scottish Government's economic and skills strategies identified leadership and ambition as important components in improving the productivity of the Scottish economy. The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise had led the development of Empowering Ambition and Leadership Excellence: A Framework for Action which will be published for consultation later this summer. The framework identifies what the public sector response to developing ambition and leadership across Scotland will be, and aligns support provided by Scotland's key public sector delivery agencies.

Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have the lead role for leadership development in Scotland, but SDS and SFC also contribute with regard to their funding responsibilities and the influence they have on supply-side responses. The main supply-side challenges lie in positioning the public sector support offer effectively, finding the right products, communicating more effectively and simplifying the offer to business.

In their discussion Committee members agreed that developing ambition and enhancing leadership skills was an essential part of the wider framework of initiatives and activities to address employability and skills utilisation across the Scottish economy. The Committee will look to harness the capacity of the colleges and universities - particularly business schools - and work with employers to build sustainable partnerships to enhance leadership skills and promote ambition amongst the workforce.

The Committee's discussion paper can be viewed here.

Following a review of public sector agencies, the UK Government agreed changes to the role and responsibilities of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). The Commission has been asked to refocus its agenda to better support employability and economic growth, and will in future years allocate its funding to the Sector Skills Councils (SSC) through a competitive bidding process.

In a parallel process, the UKCES has also agreed a 'framework for change' for the SSCs with the UK and devolved governments, and is establishing a three-year strategy for investment in skills by business. The UK Government and the devolved administrations are jointly exploring options to deliver this strategy.

Committee members noted that while the Commission's core budget came from the UK Government, and its work largely directed towards achieving UK Government policy outcomes, its activities would nevertheless continue to have a significant impact on the skills agenda in Scotland.

The Committee's briefing paper on the review can be found here.

In March the SFC was asked by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to conduct a review on advanced entry and articulation into higher education. The main aim of the review is to determine the extent to which more flexible routes for entry to HE could be used to reduce the overall length and cost of a degree qualification.

The SFC has been asked to take this work forward over the next four months, and report to the Scottish Government in September 2011. The review will focus on:

• articulation between colleges and universities;
• advanced entry to university for; and
• accelerated degrees.

The Committee paper updating members on the SFC review can be viewed here.

Skills Development Scotland produces a monthly newsletter - Labour Market Focus. Normally published on the last working day of each month, the newsletter has a range of features updating subscribers on new labour market news and developments, including:

• a spotlight article on a current topic of interest (this month's article investigates polices in Finland aimed at lowering unemployment, raising employment, and enhancing vocational and job search skills);
• headline national labour market indicators (with links to local reports);
• media monitoring of monthly job gains and losses;
• headline labour market research;
• a summary of recent SDS labour market events and seminars; and
• a calendar of forthcoming events.

You can sign up for the newsletter here.

SDS's labour market research team also provides access to the most recent and relevant labour market research through its Research Online service. This service gives free access to over 8,000 items of labour market research and analysis from across the world.

You can get fortnightly updates notifying you of new additions to the site by joining the Research Online mailing list here.

SFC is to invest £2.64 million in a Scotland-wide innovation network for universities to support the Scottish food and drink industry.

The Scottish Universities Industry Innovation Network for Food and Drink is a partnership of 17 Scottish universities which will work to meet the research and innovation needs of Scottish food and drink companies. Working in partnership with businesses and their supporting trade bodies, the Network will encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration across Scotland's universities to provide the strong research and knowledge exchange base needed by the food and drink sector in Scotland as companies grow from strong regional bases to become innovative world leaders.

Led by the University of Aberdeen, the University of Abertay Dundee and Heriot-Watt University together with Interface - The knowledge connection agency for business - the Network is specifically designed to meet the needs of the Scottish food and drink industry. The SFC funding will be used to create business development specialists, pump-prime projects, fund researchers, studentships and industry placements, and host engagement activities with companies.

SFC will invest £2.64 million over five years to a total funding package of £10.58 million of cash and in-kind investment. The 17 partner universities will contribute £3.1 million of in-kind support, with trade associations such as Scotland Food and Drink and participating companies also providing £4.84 million of cash and in-kind support.

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