« Back

UKCES: The UK Commission for Employment and Skills

The UK Commission: April 2008 – March 2009
Principal role:

• To develop an independent view of how employment and skills systems can be improved to increase employment retention and progression, skills and productivity
• To provide advice to inform strategic policy development and the exchange of good practice to shape these systems to meet the needs of employers and individuals
• To express our advice to the highest levels of governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• To Manage the performance of the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and advise ministers of their relicensing

Core programme:

• Prepare first ‘State of the Nations Report’: March 2009
• Move on SSC re-licensing
• Review how employers work collectively on skills

Baseline projects:

• Underpinning research evidence from the UK and overseas
• Linking geographical initiatives to sectoral initiatives

Special projects:

• Map the UK employment and skills systems to ease employer access and support
• Learn how teaching methods help increase work readiness/employability skills
• Produce Labour Market Information models to give consistent, high quality, sectoral and regional LMI
• Learn how the use of skills, esp. At higher levels, resulting in more productive business strategies
• Track user experiences and customer journeys to develop proposals to simplify systems in England
• Find out what stops employees joining in career-advancing training

We aim to raise UK prosperity and opportunity for all by improving employment and skills, vital actions in a fast-changing world economy.

We want every citizen to benefit from improved employment and skills systems so that the UK remains among the most productive and well off countries in the world. We also want a fairer society through high employment.

We are guided by an expert panel of Commissioners. Most are leading employers, since employers bear final responsibility for greater productivity. Other are trades unionists, academics and leaders in the voluntary sector.

The ambitious projects in our first year business plan will lead us to develop, with others a five year strategic plan. We will gather evidence showing what works well and what doesn’t, at home and abroad. Then we’ll give advice to the governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

One key annual output will be a ‘State of the nations’ review of how well the UK is performing. The different priorities and systems of the four UK nations will add insights to that.

The more effective use of skills in work is of supreme interest to us, while the complexity of current systems demands simplification.

Further information at: www.ukces.org.uk

Jun 2008

« Back