3 Meeting the needs of business and
local labour markets
20. Linking skills and employment support to local
labour market needs is of critical importance because the jobs
available, the skills needed and the skills of people looking
for work vary between regions and these variations can be even
greater at the local level. Competition for vacancies is greatest
in London, Yorkshire and Humberside, the West Midlands and the
North East. In the National Audit Office's surveys of Regional
Development Agencies and Local Strategic Partnerships, eight of
the nine Regional Development Agencies and 78% of the Local Strategic
Partnerships considered that 'skills mismatch' was one of the
barriers to employment in their area.
21. At a regional level Jobcentre Plus and the Learning
and Skills Council work with a range of organisations including
Regional Development Agencies, Regional Skills Partnerships, and
employment and skills boards to understand the future needs of
local labour markets. When deciding which training to supply,
the Learning and Skills Council takes a lead from Regional Development
Agencies. Every Regional Development Agency has a regional economic
strategy that sets out in the short, medium and long terms how
it sees economic development in that region, including the priorities
for jobs growth and sector growth. It is important that Jobcentre
Plus and the Learning and Skills Council take full account of
what employers expect by way of jobs and long-term skills needs.
The Learning and Skills Council's 150 local partnership teams
aim to allow the Council to keep in close touch with local employers
to understand their changing needs, while the Train to Gain programme
helps employers to meet their current training requirements.[27]
22. Jobcentre Plus is establishing Local Employment
Partnerships to match up the people most disadvantaged in the
labour market with local job opportunities. Employers who sign
up for the partnership commit to offering employment opportunities
to people who are furthest from the labour market, while the Government
undertakes to provide candidates who are ready to work and who
have the skills needed for the specific jobs on offer. To date,
over 200 companies have agreed to participate. Jobcentre Plus
agrees that the public sector also has an important role to play
as an employer in this initiative. A working party of Departmental
Permanent Secretaries has been established to determine how the
civil service will participate in Local Employment Partnerships.[28]
23. Adult training is becoming increasingly 'demand-led'
and responsive to employers' needs. This trend is reflected in
the funding of adult provision (Figure 5). Changes to arrangements
in skills provision include:
- The rationalisation of adult
vocational qualifications, which began in 2003. The reforms aim
to offer clear progression routes and to allow employers and providers
with a greater range of options for having their own training
nationally accredited.
- The development of a standard set of indicators
for assessing the quality of provision in post-16 learning providers.
Responsiveness has been identified as one of the key performance
areas. The framework is due to be implemented from summer 2008.
- A new standard for the employer responsiveness
and vocational excellence of training providers. This new standard
will provide a badge of quality for employers to look for when
purchasing training.
Figure 5: An increasing proportion of adult funding
is planned to be spent on employer responsive provision
Note:
Employer responsive provision includes employer-based National
Vocational Qualifications, Apprenticeships and work-based learning
and Train to Gain. Adult learner responsive provision includes
further education (19+), learndirect, employability learning,
adult safeguarded learning and the Offender Learning and Skills
Service.
24. The Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 announced
funding for over 7.3 million training places over the period 2008-09
to 2010-11,
representing a drop in the number of training places of 0.7 million
compared to those available between 2005-06
and 2007-08.[29]
Resources are being refocused on priority areas including Skills
for Life, full Level 2 and Level 3 provision and all employer
responsive provision, with the number of training places in these
areas set to increase.
27 Qq 27-30, 58 Back
28
Qq 23, 56, 60; C&AG's Report, para 5.6 Back
29
Qq 77-79, 91; C&AG's Report, paras 4.8, 4.15 Back
|