Sector Skills Agreements Update
Sector Skills Agreements Update
Organisation and Services Department
December 2005
Introduction
This briefing provides an update on the information available on the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) website in relation to the documentation for those Sector Skills Agreements (SSA) that have been signed off and also the tranche 2 Agreements that are currently under way. In addition, it also highlights a recent SSDA evaluation about the lessons to be learned from the experiences of the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) involved in drawing up the first four Pathfinder Agreements.
SSA documentation
Full copies of the four Pathfinder Sector Skills Agreements (ConstructionSkills, e-skills UK, SEMTA and Skillset) are available on the SSDA website (www.ssda.org.uk). To access these documents select Sector Skills Agreements from the left hand menu on the SSDA home page and then select the Draft and final documents option. This will lead you to a page which includes the Final Documents (i.e. the finalised Agreements) for these four SSCs. Alternatively, you can go direct to this page using the following link: http://www.ssda.org.uk/ssda/default.aspx?page=2139
This page also includes the draft documentation for five of the six SSCs involved in the second phase (described as Tranche 2) of SSAs that are now under way. Most of this documentation relates to Stages 1 to 3 of the SSA process (see description of SSA stages below). The SSCs involved in the second tranche are Cogent, Lantra, Skillfast-UK, SkillsActive, Skills for Health, and Skills for Logistics (there is no documentation on the SSDA website for the Cogent SSA process at this stage).
All these six SSCs have had initial meetings with the relevant unions in each sector and the TUC during October in order get union input at an early stage and to develop a dialogue about the union contribution. However, Union Board members on these SSCs have of course been engaged in a dialogue with the SSC about this issue at a much earlier stage. Further meetings between the unions and each SSC will be taking place in the New Year as the SSA process moves into the crucial latter stages.
SSA Process
Stage 1 - sophisticated assessment is made of each sector to determine short-term, medium-term and long-term skills needs and to map out the factors for change in the sector.
Stage 2 - Current training provision across all levels is reviewed to measure its range, nature and employer relevance.
Stage 3 - The main gaps and weaknesses in workforce development are analysed and priorities are agreed.
Stage 4 - A review is conducted into the scope for collaborative action - engaging employers to invest in skills development to support improved business performance - and an assessment is made into what employers are likely to sign up to.
Stage 5 - The final outcome is an agreement of how the SSC and employers will work with key funding partners to secure the necessary supply of training.
Evaluation of the Pathfinder SSA process
The SSDA commissioned a detailed evaluation of the Pathfinder SSA process and this is available on its website. To access the full report select Research from the left hand menu on the SSDA home page and then select Research Series. Alternatively, you can go direct to this page using the following link: http://www.ssda.org.uk/ssda/default.aspx?page=41
The evaluation concludes that the SSA process is itself largely robust but that agreed collaborative outcomes (i.e. stages 4 and 5) need to be given much greater priority from the very beginning of the process. In other words, engagement with employers, unions and other stakeholders needs to be prioritised at the beginning of the process with this long-term aim in mind, e.g., by looking at 'whether more informal routes can be used earlier in the process to set the ground for agreement'.
Another key conclusion in the report is that it has proved difficult to engage employers as a whole in making a substantive commitment to action at the sector level via the SSAs. The executive summary summarises this as follows:
'While the SSA provided the basis for a new and richer dialogue with employers, the pathfinder SSCs found it difficult to translate that into a substantive commitment to action. This is partly because those involved in shaping the SSA represent a small number of employers. In addition, in some sectors, getting employers to work jointly in this way - with their competitors - is a new approach.
Much of what has been achieved is either through individual employers 'signing up', or groups of larger employers committing to participate in a particular activity. Some of these commitments are about employers acting in the vanguard to change how the sector operates and how it delivers skills and learning.
The key test will be whether a particular employer - or more likely a group of employers - can lever wider change by committing to new ways of working.....' (page 3).
However, the evaluation also highlights that there are 'clearly different cultures, traditions and approaches that dictate the likely model for the employer commitment' in each of the four sectors. For example, it cites the 'regulatory dimension to both the ConstructionSkills and Skillset sectors that makes collective action easier' (e.g. the former has a mandatory training levy still in place and the latter has proposed a new mandatory training levy for the film production sub-sector). However, it also highlights that these two sectors are the exception rather than the rule and that most forthcoming SSAs will not be able to draw on a robust regulatory framework.
The evaluation says that the 'trade union presence is strong' (page 4) and also that 'there is consistent trade union involvement across the four SSAs that could support significant change' (page 51) especially by integrating the role of Union Learning Reps into a number of workplace skills strategies. It clearly states that 'involving trade unions is also a positive and more SSCs should be encouraged to do this - although its success is dependent on the sector having a strong culture of partnership working.' (page 59)
However, the report also highlights a number of ways in which the union contribution could be strengthened and this is set out in more detail on page 45-46. For example, it is suggested that trade unions could play a more active role in the intelligence phase of the SSAs and this recommendation has been taken forward by ensuring that the tranche 2 SSCs engage with the unions at an earlier stage.
The final section of the report includes a number of recommendations about how the tranche 2 SSA process can benefit from the lessons of the Pathfinders and one key recommendation is 'for SSCs and the SSDA to ensure dialogue with the full range of key stakeholders takes place early and actively.'
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