Sector Skills Councils
Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are employer-led organisations that cover specific industries in the United Kingdom. They have four key goals:
- to support employers in developing and managing apprenticeship standards
- to reduce skills gaps and shortages and improve productivity
- to boost the skills of their sector workforces
- to improve learning supply
SSCs aim to achieve these goals by developing an understanding of the future skills needs in their industry, and contributing to the development of National Occupational Standards, the design and approval of apprenticeship frameworks and the New Apprenticeship Standards and creating Sector Qualification Strategies. There are currently nineteen SSCs, covering about 80 per cent of the British workforce. SSCs are licensed by the government through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).[1]
The Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) was formerly responsible for funding, supporting and monitoring SSCs and for overseeing industries that fell outside an SSC footprint. In 2008, the SSDA was replaced by the UKCES and the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards comprising all 19 Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). The Federation is responsible for managing the process of certifying Apprentices in England, Scotland and Wales. It seeks to:
- promote professional practices among those organisations that are sector based and who set and maintain skills standards
- manage the standards of those Employer-Led Partnerships which maintain these standards to ensure high quality
- provide insight, intelligence and ideas flow between the Governments of the four nations and the SSCs
List of Sector Skills Councils
The following organisations were listed as SSCs/SSBs as at January 2015.[2]
Sector Skills Councils
- Building Futures Group - Facilities Management, Housing, Property, Cleaning and Parking
- Cogent - Nuclear, Chemicals, Polymers,Petroleum, Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals
- ConstructionSkills - Construction
- Creative and Cultural Skills - Craft, Cultural Heritage, Design, Jewellery, Literature, Music, Performing Arts and Visual Arts.
- Creative Skillset - TV, Film, Radio, Interactive Media, Animation, Computer Games, Facilities, Photo Imaging, Publishing, Advertising and Fashion and Textiles
- Energy & Utility Skills - Gas, Power, Waste Management and Water Industries
- e-skills UK - Business and Information Technology
- Financial Skills Partnership - Finance, Accountancy and Financial Services
- The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink - Food and Drink Manufacturing and Associated Supply Chains
- Institute of the Motor Industry - Retail Motor Industry
- Lantra - Land Management and Production, Animal Health and Welfare and Environmental Industries
- People 1st - Hospitality, Leisure, Passenger Transport, Travel and Tourism
- Semta - Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies
- Skills for Care and Development - Social Care, Children, Early Years and Young People’s Workforces in the UK
- Skills for Health - UK Health
- Skills for Justice - Community Justice, Courts Services, Custodial Care, Fire and Rescue, Forensic Science, Policing and Law Enforcement and Prosecution Services
- Skills for Logistics - Freight Logistics and Wholesaling Industry
- SkillsActive - Sport, Fitness, Outdoors, Playwork, Caravans and Hair and Beauty
- SummitSkills - Building Services Engineering
Sector Skills Bodies
- ECITB - Engineering
- Proskills - Printing, mineral extraction and processing, health and safety and process, manufacturing of furniture, wood, glass, ceramics, coatings and paper
- SkillsCFA - Business and administration, customer service, enterprise and business support, human resources and recruitment, industrial relations, leadership and management, marketing and sales
- Skills for Security - Security
Notes
- ↑ Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - Sector Skills Councils
- ↑ Directory of SSCs accessed January 2015.