UKCES

The National Audit Office has completed its analysis of SSCs in tranche three and four. Tranche three draft reports were sent out to each of the Councils to ensure factual accuracy at the end of April. Once agreed, final reports were submitted to the UK Commission in readiness for the Commissioner visit, followed by the Relicensing Panel which takes place the 19 May. Tranche four draft reports will be sent to each of the SSCs at the end of May.

As part of their analysis, the NAO conduct a site visit. These are a week long and give the National Audit Office an opportunity to interview employees and key stakeholders including Regional Development Agencies and Awarding Bodies. We are also very interested in the views of employers.

The reports are structured in such a way that key strengths and weaknesses are highlighted against each of the four themes. The four themes we assess each Sector Skills Council on are whether they are well run; their core products and services; their sector specific solutions; and their results and impacts.
Planning meetings for tranche five (Skillsmart Retail, Lantra, Skills for Logistics, Proskills, and Creative & Cultural Skills) were completed in April. Site work for the five Sector Skills Councils in this tranche will take place during June 2009.

To date, the National Audit Office has interviewed around 300 employers as part of the relicensing process and the UKCES has received written feedback from around 500 employers. These employers cover a range of regions and nations and both larger and small and medium-sized enterprises are consulted.