Skills Utilisation
Background
Skills for Scotland identifies that:
"Scotland's skills profile has .. been improving faster than that of the rest of the UK… Scotland has not, however, matched the UK economic growth rate despite its positive skills profile (p6)."
Simply put Scotland's strong performance on skills qualifications is not currently reflected in our productivity. The Scottish Government considers that this is in part because the skills of the workforce can be better utilised. In the words of the strategy:
"Simply adding more skills to the workforce will not secure the full benefit for our economy unless employers and individuals maximise the benefits that they can derive from skills. Furthermore, how skills interact with the other drivers of productivity, such as capital investment and innovation, is crucial (p13)."
The strategy identified the following principal actions to improve the utilisation of skills in the workplace:
- encouraging better management and leadership and improved human resource practices (including recruitment) across the range of employers in Scotland;
- supporting job design that encourages autonomy, makes better use of employees and stimulates enterprise and innovation in the workplace;
- improving links between skills and the other drivers of productivity, such as investment in technology and infrastructure; and
- ensuring that individuals can use the skills they have acquired through learning in a way that immediately benefits their employer.
Leadership Group
An informal dinner with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, employers, the STUC and other stakeholder representatives took place on 27 May 2008. The dinner participants have now been formally invited to form a leadership group, chaired by Ms Hyslop.
The role of the leadership group is to champion the skills utilisation agenda in their own organisations and beyond. In particular, the group will:
- help raise awareness of how the better use of skills in the workplace can have wide ranging benefits for business, employees and the Scottish economy;
- contribute to the development of a programme of research; and
- make recommendations for further action.
The members of the Leadership Group are:| Fiona Hyslop MSP (Chair) | Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning |
| Stephen Boyd | Scottish Trades Union Congress |
| Brendan Dick | BT Scotland |
| Mary Dickson | First ScotRail |
| Dr Janet Lowe | Scottish Funding Council |
| Stephen Noon | Scottish Government |
| Raymond O'Hare | Microsoft Scotland |
| Willy Roe | Skills Development Scotland |
| Martin Sime | Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations |
| Grahame Smith | Scottish Trades Union Congress |
| Graeme Waddell | |
| Rosemary Winter-Scott | Scottish Government |
Col Baird (Secretariat) Euan Dick (Secretariat) Michael Davis (Facilitator) | Scottish Government Scottish Government Centre for Enterprise |
Michael Davis of the Centre for Enterprise facilitated the dinner and produced a discussion paper and a report of the proceedings.
The first formal meeting of the leadership group will take place on 1 September 2008.