Examination of Witnesses (Questions 638-639)
MR STEVEN
BROOMHEAD AND
MR JOHN
KORZENIEWSKI
4 JUNE 2007
Q638 Chairman: I welcome Steven Broomhead
and John Korzeniewski to our deliberations. We are very pleased
to have two people to talk to us about skills. One is the regional
director of the North West Learning and Skills Council and the
other is the Chief Executive of the North West Regional Development
Agency. Interestingly, both of you started off in the world of
education as principals of colleges. You have both been around
the block to some extent, and I expect you know where all the
bodies are buried! We usually give witnesses an opportunity not
to repeat their cvs but say where we are in skills at the moment.
We are just getting under the skin of our inquiry into skills.
We looked at the diploma and got that out because we wanted it
to influence what the Government was or was not up to, but we
are now back in the main stream and we find it an extremely complex
area. This morning we spoke to the head of a major construction
company, Kier. We were told that they employed some of their staff
for three months to look at different sources of funding for various
kinds of skills training and in the end gave up because they could
have gone on for ever. The things that were available when they
started disappeared half-way through the three months and so on.
They painted a picture of the skills world which was extremely
complex for a major employer in what appeared to be a focused
sector. Why is it perceived as being so complex?
Mr Broomhead: First, I think that
with skills we are at a pivotal stage in policy development terms.
We have had the Foster review; we have the Leitch report. I know
that the Department for Education and Skills is moving steadily
towards an implementation plan which it has shared with partners.
The key theme of that is an employer-led and demand-led approach.
It is true that from a customer access and route-to-market point
of view many employers claim to have found it rather difficult
over the years to access good advice and information for adults.
That may be partially solved if the Government, following the
Comprehensive Spending Review, can support the development of
an adult guidance service for adults. Second, I think that the
very complex funding arrangements in place before have deterred
some employers from being able to access the courses that they
want. Third, perhaps the courses that they want have not been
available on demand and at the time and with the flexibility required
in order for them to access them properly. There has been a lot
of confusion. I believe that Leitch offers a golden opportunity
for us to refocus on a vocational world-class skills agenda, but
the devil is always in the detail about how these plans are turned
into reality.
Q639 Chairman: Some very respected
individuals in terms of knowing the world of skills have said
that there is nothing new. People have said that it ought to be
demand-led and employers ought to have a much higher profile,
but governments have said that for many years. Do employers really
know what they want?
Mr Broomhead: I think most employers
in the past have tended to voice their concerns about short-term
skill needs linked to their particular business needs and opportunities,
and certainly there has been a need to take a much more medium-term
view. They have had a much more reliable policy base and also
labour market intelligence for those decisions to be reached.
That is why I believe the regional development agencies have a
part to play here. We are responsible for bringing together partners
to develop a Regional Economic Strategy, of which skills is a
key theme. We will not improve productivity and competitiveness
in the UK and make ourselves a world-class economy unless we join
together skills, productivity and competitiveness. We have done
that. Generally speaking, if the confusion experienced in the
past can be addressed by Leitch it will be a good thing on which
to move forward.
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