Sector Qualifications Strategy - Government Skills
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This includes 500,000 in the Great Britain Civil Service, 27,000 in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, 67,000 in Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and almost 200, 000 in the armed forces. Civil Service employees work within one of 22 main job families, known within government as ‘professions’ and each led by a ‘Head of Profession’ within the Civil Service. For this reason references to employers within the Civil Service refer both to government departments and to ‘professions’ that operate across departments.
The context
The central government workforce is in a unique position for a number of reasons. Firstly, because it is a part of government there is an expectation that employers will respond directly to government policies on skills and particularly to the agenda outlined within the Leitch Review of Skills. Whilst England and the devolved administrations responded separately to the Leitch Review, each accepted the broad nature of the challenge. Secondly, central government is particularly diverse in terms of the range of professions employed. And thirdly, much (though not all) of the workforce is already highly qualified, meaning that there is a need to think carefully about the value that will be added by further qualification interventions.
The approach
Government Skills launched Building Professional Skills for Government – a strategy for delivery1 in April 2008. The strategy serves as the Sector Skills Agreement for the sector and sets the direction for this qualifications strategy. Specifically, it addresses the complexity within the sector by putting professions centre stage in ‘influencing professional career progression, supporting their members in professional development and aligning attainment of standards in the government sector to standards and qualifications recognised in the wider labour market.’
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