Welcome to communityskillsni

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man writing on flipchartThis site will keep you up to date with news on skills development in the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland including: National Occupational Standards, Sector Skills Councils, management, leadership, training opportunities, best practice, and more

 

Major Changes to Skills Landscape (from DEL)

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UK Commission for Employment and Skills

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK CES) was launched on 1 April 2008. The Commission incorporates many of the roles of the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and National Employment Panel (NEP) which both closed on 31 March 2008.

The Commission will play a central role in raising the UK's skills base, improving productivity and competitiveness, increasing employment and making a contribution to a fairer society. The Commission will report to the Prime Minister in the UK Government and the relevant Ministers in the Devolved Administrations, this will be the DEL Minister in Northern Ireland. The UK Commission will be primarily advisory in nature, but will also have an executive function in performance managing and funding the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), as well as a lead role in their reform and relicensing.

Northern Ireland Employment and Skills Advisor

Bill McGinnis has been appointed as the Northern Ireland Advisor for Employment and Skills, who will have a place on the UK Commission and will report to the Minister for Employment and Learning.

Alliance of Sector Skills Councils

The Alliance of Sector Skills Councils (the Alliance) also came into operation on 1 April 2008. The Alliance is owned and lead by the network of 25 Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and has taken over the co-ordination of the Skills for Business Network. The role of the Alliance is to support the work of the SSCs and to build their performance capacity and profile. David Hunter, Chief Executive of Lifelong Learning UK has been appointed Chair of the Alliance in Northern Ireland, and Laurence Downey (formerly of the SSDA) has been appointed its Northern Ireland Manager.

Sector Skills Council Reform and Relicensing

The Leitch Report recommended that an evaluation of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs)should take place. The relicensing programme will be lead by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK CES). To achieve relicensed status each SSC must have the confidence, support and influence of employers within their sector. If an SSC does not meet the required standards, the UK CES will be asked to consider alternatives to cover these sectors.

As part of the relicensing process, an employer document will be published setting out the benefits employers gain by working with their SSCs, and asking them to become involved by providing their views on the work of the SSCs. A second, more technical document will set out the detailed criteria and process for relicensing and what is expected of the SSCs themselves. It is hoped that the employer document will be available at the end of May 2009 and the technical prospectus will be available towards the end of June. The relicensing process will take about 6 months for each SSC and will be completed for the whole network by December 2009.

 

Spotlight on sector skills councils

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In the third of a series of interviews with voluntary and community groups and sector skills councils, Roisin Kelly, NICVA’s Skills Development Officer, talks to Judith Thompson from Skills for Justice about their work in Northern Ireland.

Watch the interview

 

focus on

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Focus on: Skills for Care and Development

Skills for Care and Development (SfC&D) is the UK Sector Skills Council for the Social Care, Children and Young People’s workforce.

Focus on: Leonard Cheshire

Leonard Cheshire employs over 7000 social care workers throughout the UK and is a keen promoter of caring as a career.