Lesley Giles, Deputy Director of Research and Policy

Biography

Lesley is currently Deputy Director of Research and Policy at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. She manages a team providing research and policy analysis to inform the work programme of the UK Commission and to ensure policy development on UK skills, employment and workforce performance more generally is evidence based. Prior to this, Lesley was Acting Director for Strategy and Research (2006-08), and Head of Research (2002-06), at the Sector Skills Development Agency, an umbrella organisation, set up in 2002 to license and performance manage the Sector Skills Councils as part of the Skills for Business network. In this role she provided research and intelligence services on skills issues for the SSC network and wider partners in the skills system. In addition, Lesley has worked in a variety of other research roles across government undertaking skills and/or employment research: including for the Department for Education and Employment, the Employment Service and the Cabinet Office. Prior to joining the government, Lesley was a researcher for the Institute for Employment Research, the University of Portsmouth's Business School, and the University of Central England. Her research interests cover skills, employment and human resource management. She is also a graduate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Areas of Expertise and Interest

Skills and Employment Research and Evaluation and Policy Review
Labour Market Information
Human Resource Management (HRM), organisational behaviour and Employee Relations
Maximising the impact of public policy research.

Current Responsibilities

Development and management of Research and Policy programmes
Annual progress report on World-Class Skills and Employment
Developing a programme for LMI
Skills utilisation and High Performance Working
Knowledge brokerage
Member of Ashridge Education and Skills Advisory Group and Advisory Board for the ESRC Learning and Life
Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies.

Previous Projects

Various research and evaluation projects on aspects of skills and employment
Research and consultancy projects on HRM and ER
Researching students' experiences of higher education.

Selected Publications

Stanfield C, Campbell M and Giles L (2004) The UK Workforce: Realising our potential. SSDA Research Report No. 7. Wath upon Dearne.
Tamkin P, Giles L, Campbell M, Hillage J (2004) Skills pay: the contribution of skills to business success. SSDA Research Report No. 5. September 2004.
Campbell M and Giles L (2003) The productivity and skills challenge Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol 35, Issue 3, pp99-103.
Dench S, Perryman S and Giles L (1998) Key skills, IES Report. DfEE. Skills Review Project.
Atkinson J, Giles L and Meager N (1996) Recruitment, Employers and the Unemployed, IES Report. DfEE.
Farnham D and Giles L (1995) 'Trade Unions in Britain: Trends and Counter-Trends since 1979' Employee Relations, 17, 2, May.

UKCES