The last few weeks have seen some welcome and much needed progress in the skills world. The Richard Review on apprenticeships was a timely follow up to news from the Skills Minister, Matthew Hancock, that a further £150m pot of funding has been made available to enable employers to create the training schemes they need to grow their companies and develop the skills of their workforces. The message from both of these announcements was loud and clear:
'Employers must take more ownership of the skills debate if there is any hope of aligning workplace training and skills development with long term business strategies and overall economic success'
It's crucial to give employers more opportunities to lead when it comes to skills investment and setting the standards for quality outcomes, and to ensure the debate about skills and training does not exist in its own "bubble", but forms an integral part of discussions about long term business planning and growth strategies. Of course, there needs to be accountability as well - if funding is going to be channelled through employers, they should be required to improve their human capital reporting to show how they've invested in learning and development and, crucially what the outcomes have been... Read the rest of this article here on the UKCES website.
Link: http://blogs.bis.gov.uk/ukces/2012/12/05/loud-clear-employers-to-take-the-lead/
