Memorandum 38
Submission from the Public and Commercial
Services Trade Union
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Public and Commercial Services trade union
(PCS) represents workers in the Government sector, where, in common
with other parts of the public sector, the workforce contains
a high number of women and older staff. These groups are likely
to be particularly disadvantaged by a decision to reduce funding
for Equivalent or Lower Qualifications (ELQs) and we believe that
there needs to be a flexible approach to policy on this issue.
As the Leitch report pointed out, the 2020 workforce
will consist largely of people who are already in work now, but
these workers will be required to maintain and improve their skills
and move between different sectors and employers during their
working lives.
Whilst understanding the Government's desire
to give particular help to those with no previous qualifications
and to assist those with lower level qualifications to progress,
PCS believes that withdrawing funding for those undertaking ELQs
which will maintain their employability or enable them to take
up new work would be short-sighted. We are concerned that such
a decision would cause particular detriment to those groups who
may have particular need to update their skills after taking time
away from employment to carry out caring responsibilities or because
of illness or disability.
The programme of efficiency and 70,000 job cuts
in the civil service in the last four years has resulted in many
PCS members being forced to change their jobs or employers. In
these types of situations the ability to access the whole range
of options for re-training and updating qualifications is crucial.
Many PCS members who have been put into this position have been
older workers who may have relatively high level but out-of-date
qualifications.
We therefore urge the Select Committee to examine
carefully the impacts of a decision to withdraw financial support
for ELQs.
1. ABOUT PCS
1.1. PCS represents over 300,000 members
who work in government departments, agencies, public bodies and
in a number of private companies delivering government services.
PCS organises throughout the UK at all levels up to and including
the Senior Civil Service except for specialist professional grades.
The diversity of our members, both in terms of their individual
and social characteristics, and in terms of the wide range of
jobs they are employed to carry out, gives us particular insight
into the importance of making learning opportunities available
to all and of the importance of re-skilling throughout life.
1.2. Learning has been a major focus for
PCS in recent years. Our expertise and understanding has been
built up in a number of ways:
1.2.1. Negotiating on training and career
development from workplace to national level
1.2.2. Developing learning structures and
provision for members, with particular success in setting up a
network of union learning reps, negotiating learning agreements
and providing learning through our learning centres
1.2.3. In conjunction with our sister unions
in the Council for Civil Service Unions (CCSU), contributing to
the development of policy and priorities by the Government Skills
and Skills for Justice sector skills councils
1.2.4. Participating fully in TUC and unionlearn
initiatives.
1.3. Trade unions have a keen interest in
promoting learning and skills on three levels:
1.3.1. to benefit individual members as learners
1.3.2. to support workforce development,
productivity and well-being
1.3.3. to reduce social exclusion and raise
employment levels through increasing the skills base.
1.4. Through the development of our network
of union learning reps (ULRs), PCS has enhanced its awareness
of how learning is perceived and accessed by our individual members
across the union. This has confirmed our belief that there are
high levels of aspiration and untapped potential amongst our membership
and an appetite for learning at all levels. It has also given
us a greater understanding of the barriers and difficulties that
they face in accessing appropriate learning opportunities.
2. DEVELOPING
WORKFORCE SKILLS
2.1. The House of Commons Public Administration
Select Committee carried out an Inquiry into Skills for Government
in 2006 and PCS, in conjunction with other civil service trade
unions, presented both written and oral evidence. Some of the
points that we put forward there underpin our concerns that removing
funding for ELQs would be detrimental to the government's wish
to enhance the skills of the UK workforce:
2.1.1. a massive untapped potential exists
amongst staff at lower grades which should be developed in order
to widen the skills pool available and help address the diversity
gap at senior levels, since women, BME and disabled staff tend
to be employed in lower grades
2.1.2. structures should be developed to
provide a ladder for learning, development and promotion extending
from the bottom to the top of organisations
2.1.3. systems must be developed to identify
and encourage staff with potential and to support them to take
up appropriate learning opportunities
2.1.4. training and development at every
level should be valued
2.1.5. emphasis on transferable skills and
qualifications (including accrediting prior learning and experience)
would better enable staff in lower grades to pursue career development
and progression.
3. CONCLUSION
3.1. Promoting the learning culture that
the Government wishes to establish in UK workforces is dependent
on engaging the workforce, demonstrating that all learning is
valued and ensuring that appropriate learning opportunities are
available when workers need to access them. In the context of
an ageing and increasingly diverse workforce, the ability to maintain
and update qualifications will be vital. Removing funding from
ELQs would undermine the message that continuing learning throughout
the life course is valued, when in fact that message should be
reinforced.
January 2008
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