Skill matters

Alongside national skills programmes, such as Train to Gain, you can find a dedicated body for each individual, sector that is constantly working away to deliver the best research, advice and support they can to you. Here’s a glimpse at what they do.


Textiles

Get help from? Skillset

Who? Sector Skills Council for the clothing, footwear and textile-related industry. The big news is that on March 31, 2010, Skillset – the Sector Skills Council for creative media industries - will take over representation for the fashion and textiles sector (Skillfast).

Objectives: The fashion and textiles sector has a Compact, which could help employers in England to access funds for training using recognised qualifications. To find out more read Skillfast’s vision The Way Forward 2010

What they say? "The UK is home to some of the world’s best designers and manufacturers, but to retain our position in the face of global competition we need a highly-skilled workforce. More needs to be done to ensure that our schools, colleges and universities produce people with the skills employers need – and for that, we need a Sector Skills Council to provide strategic influence at the highest level. Skillfast-UK made great strides, but through Skillset, fashion and textiles employers will be able to influence on the skills agenda at a new level. This is a good decision for the industry and one that we hope employers will embrace.” John Wilson, director general of UK Fashion and Textiles (the industry’s main trade association), and Skillfast-UK board member.

Partnered with? Can U Cut it, Fabricadabra.co.uk, Just the Job, Technical Textiles.

Contact: Tel: 0113 23 99 600. Email: enquiries@skillfast-uk.org
Website: www.skillfast-uk.org.



Chemicals, Nuclear, Offshore Oil/Gas

Get help from? Cogent.

Who? The voice of employers for the Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Oil and Gas, Nuclear, Petroleum and Polymer Industries. One of 25 Sector Skills Council’s (SSC) representing 90% of the UK workforce.

What are they doing? Developing qualifications and standards by working with employers to create a skills environment that businesses need to be innovative, competent, productive and sustainable. Find out more here.

Cogent’s UK footprint: See it here.

The master plan? Since its creation Cogent has been building on existing partnerships at regional and national level to drive forward the skills agenda in science.

In the news:
Semta and Cogent agree skills partnership
Celebrating the Nuclear stars of the future.

Contact: Tel: 01925 515200
Website: www.cogent-ssc.com.



Engineering

Get help from? SEMTA.

Who? The Sector Skills Council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies in the UK.

What they do? Through Sector Compact Semta has won £65 million to help employers develop their employees and boost business performance. Specialist advisers continue to assess skills needs and recommend how they can meet them.

What they say? Semta's Darren Race claimed the UK's electronics industry needs 17,400 engineers by 2014. 'Industry,' he said, 'needs a bigger and higher quality pool of talent.'

Industry news:
Semta and Cogent agree skills partnership.

Contact: Tel: 0845 643 9001

Website: www.semta.org.uk.



Food and drink

Get help from? Improve.

Who? The Sector Skills Council for Food and Drink in the UK. With an annual turnover of £77.4 billion and employing over 500,000 people, the UK food and drink industry is one of the largest and most competitive manufacturing sectors in the world.

Objective? To support the development of vocational learning, promoting sector entry and career development, providing insight to the sectors skills issues, continuing to engage with employers to give them a voice.

What they say? Government must put food and drink manufacturing at the heart of its economic thinking as it looks to bring its recently-published Food 2030 vision to life, according to Melanie Leech, Director General of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF). She delivered a keynote speech at Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum in February 2010.

The master plan? The FDF’s Five-fold Environmental Ambition has now been running for two years, turning the commitments we made on behalf of our members in October 2007 into real environmental improvements across all the areas where we felt we could make the biggest difference.

In the news:
Food and drink employers to create own recipe for apprenticeships.

Contact: Tel: 0845 644 0448. Email: info@improveltd.co.uk

Website: www.improveltd.co.uk.



Process and manufacturing

Get help from? Proskills.

Who? An employer-led organisation that represents the process and manufacturing sector (Building products & refractories, coatings, ceramics, furniture, furnishings & interiors, glass, paper and wood) through two arms: the Sector Skills Council (SSC) and the National Skills Academy for Materials, Production & Supply.

What they do? Provide skills, funding, develop standards and qualification, research industry needs and trends, deliver training solutions, support skills investment and raise sector profile.

Future objectives? Sustainability. The SSC deals with industry boards, Government and its agencies on the development of standards and qualifications, industry needs and strategic engagement with employers. Meanwhile, the Academy aims to deliver sustainable, employer-driven education through an accredited network as well as a range of employer-endorsed products and services.

What they say? "For a dead industry, British Furniture manufacturers still number over 12,000 companies. They employ over 147,000 people. 69% of the furniture manufacturers surveyed made the conscious decision to retain their skilled staff, sometimes at the expense of profitability, through the recession. The industry is fighting back." Terry Watts, CEO of Proskills, Sector Skills Council for the Furniture industry.

In the news
The furniture Industry is not dying.
Ask If It Is Great British Furniture campaign.

Contact: Telephone: 01235 833 844 or Email: info@proskills.co.uk.