UKCES

Building a more strategic, agile and demand-led employment and skills system.

Current situation

The UK is recognised for having world-class higher education institutions, and a long-standing reputation for high quality school education. Each nation has shown real progress over this most recent decade. However, as Ambition 2020 makes clear, the overall outputs of our education and training system – through schools, colleges, private training organisations and universities – are systematically losing ground against our principal international competitors. Without further dramatic and focused change, we shall not attain our goal of top quartile.

In the short term, a dynamic system needs to enable greater front line responsiveness to immediate employment and skills needs. In the medium term, it must have the adaptive capability to respond to unforeseen economic and social events and changing demands. In the long term it must have a more strategic approach to build a workforce ready to meet future UK needs. To operate effectively, the system must be supported by policies, targets and measures that encourage a balance of demand-led and strategic approaches; optimise the behaviour of providers and learners within the system; and that avoid the potential for unintended negative consequences. Government policies, measures and incentives in the employment and skills arena have not always been consistently aligned nor have funding regimes and related incentives optimally reinforced policy intent. The UK must learn from both its past successes and failures, and from national and international best practice.

Necessary actions

To achieve these outcomes the UK Commission will:

• Undertake a review of measures, targets and incentives and make recommendations to governments on the changes that would give us a more rounded and outcome-focused review of our international standing and also drive increased relevance, quality and value for money of all publicly-funded employment and skills provision
• Ensure those measures, targets and incentives enhance equality and opportunity in employment and skills among individuals and groups at greatest risk of inactivity or exclusion in the labour market
• Support a more proactive and strategic skills approach through improvement of Labour Market Information and the development of emerging skills (e.g. new sectors; technologies; skills and retraining requirements) to better align future demand and supply of skills, with regular reports to governments
• Recommend policies and practices that promote employer influence and leverage within the employment and skills system
• Recommend and monitor measures to simplify all employer-facing employment and skills services at national and sub-national levels
• Investigate how employment and skills services can best work together to deliver a joined-up service to employers and individuals – to shape our 2010 review of the integration of employment and skills services
• Undertake international research on best practice in employment and skills services, and encourage the development of providers’ own leaders and managers, to inform and enhance provider performance to world-class standards
• Encourage policies and practices that identify, kite mark and celebrate excellence in employment and skills providers and promote continuous improvement.