The UK Commission for Employment and Skills held an event to outline its plans for the future on the 14 July 2008. The event was attended by Ministers from across the UK, senior figures from the business community and policy makers.

Two documents were launched at the event – the UK Commission's first-year business plan, outlining the organisation's objectives and the projects which will be carried out over the course of the year; and the relicensing process for Sector Skills Councils which all SSCs will have to go through before to receiving a renewed licence to practice.

Access the documents here

ConstructionSkills has developed a project to produce e-learning content in order to transform the efficiency, effectiveness and economy of the Scotland-wide college delivery of work-based qualifications and learning for construction Modern Apprentices. The pilot proved extremely successful with classes of apprentices completing their college course work early and they were able to return to their employers.

Graeme Ogilvy, ConstructionSkills Scotland Director, has been invited to present the findings of the project at various conferences in September and October this year. Graeme has stated that he will report at the end of the year a complete suite of technology materials to meet the needs of today’s learners. This platform is open to all SSCs to develop products to that would benefit other sectors.

View the full press release

Skillsmart Retail is pleased to report that a National Skills Academy (NSA) for the retail sector has been approved. The go-ahead for the National Skills Academy for Retail, announced by Skills Minister David Lammy MP, will now see the creation of a network of Skills Shops across the UK offering world class training and business support to all retailers, their employees and those seeking retail careers.

The Skills Shops will be located in high streets and shopping centres and offer core services including pre-employment training, qualifications, courses, advice, placements, work experience and store management programmes for anyone interested in joining or progressing further in retail. They will also offer support to small retailers.

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The Road Haulage and Distribution Training Council has recently granted Skills for Logistics (SfL) additional funding of over £400,000 over two years, which will be spent on developing further curriculum resources and careers materials. These resources will be used in schools across the UK to raise the awareness of the sector with young people, in order to increase the number of new recruits in the future.

In Scotland, specific materials have been developed to fit in with the Standard Grade Maths curriculum and these are being trialled in 10 Scottish schools. The materials will also support Made in China, an enterprise activity which dovetails with Determined to Succeed and Curriculum for Excellence that will shortly be piloted in a number of Scottish schools. The next phase will involve materials which support the S1 and S2 curriculum for geography.
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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 the Cabinet Secretary, that will act as the driver for a workstream based programme of research to take forward the skills utilisation agenda. Michael Davis, from the Centre for Enterprise, facilitated the dinner and has now produced a report of the proceedings which can be found here.

The Scottish Government has published a guide that gives an overview of the funding available from August 2008 for part-time or distance learning students, and is a useful guide to practitioners giving advice to part-time students. Click here to access the guide.

From July 2008, Investors in People Scotland offers New Choices. New Choices is a fresh approach that allows you to tailor the Investors in People framework to reflect your own organisational priorities and the requirements of your company. More.

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training has published a briefing on the implementation of Individual Learning Accounts policy across a number of EU countries. The publication reviews the different approaches employed across the EU to provide learning accounts that support learners in their development. More.

Following yesterday’s meeting of the Modern Apprenticeship Group (MAG); we can announce that SkillsActive’s new MA framework for Active Leisure and Learning has been approved, subject to some minor points of clarification.

Skills Development Scotland is now inviting nominations for this year’s MA Awards. Full details on the categories and the entry process are available here.

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