A new network of UK wide sector skills councils (SSCs) has been established to lead the skills and productivity drive in industry or business sectors recognised by employers. The SSCs bring together employers, trade unions and professional bodies working with government to develop the skills that UK business needs.

The employer's voice

The Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) underpins the SSC network and promotes effective working between sectors. The SSDA funds, supports and champions the new network of sector skills councils (SSCs). The Skills for Business network comprises the SSDA and SSCs and covers over 80% of the working population.

Each SSC is responsible for agreeing sector priorities and targets with its employers and partners to address four key goals:

• Reducing skills gaps and shortages
• Improving productivity, business and public service performance
• Increasing opportunities to boost the skills and productivity of everyone in the sector's workforce, including action on equal opportunities
• Improving learning supply, including apprenticeships, higher education and national occupational standards.

Northern Ireland network

For the Skills for Business network to influence the overall UK skills agenda, it has to be effective at a more localised level, as well as guiding UK wide policy. Each SSC is responsible for establishing the most appropriate means of engaging with Northern Ireland employers within their sector. Most have appointed a key liaison person for Northern Ireland and are establishing arrangements for increasing opportunities for local employers to influence skill debates, locally and nationally. "In June 2005 SSDA appointed a Northern Ireland Partnership Manager to lead on the work undertaken by the NI network."

In Northern Ireland the network works closely with its partners, including the existing sector training councils, the Department for Employment and Learning and QCA, to ensure that Northern Ireland employers are able to access quickly and effectively the information and skills solution that best meets their needs. The network comes together on a regular basis to exchange cross sector issues and to debate common interests such as the Northern Ireland Skills Strategy.

Sector skills agreements

The intelligence gathered by SSCs for their sectors and across the UK will need to be articulated within an overall agreed strategy designed to deliver action to meet priority skill needs. Sector skills agreements will provide a means whereby employers and employees in each sector can identify skills and productivity needs, the action they will take to meet those needs and how they will collaborate with providers of education and training so that skills demand can directly shape the nature of supply.

Sector qualifications strategies

Accurate information about sector specific needs and requirements will be fundamental to ensure that the appropriate mix of provision (qualifications, training and other learning experiences) is available to learners. In this respect, QCA is placing a great deal of importance on the work of SSCs and other sector bodies, in particular the recommendations from sector skills agreements and related sector work.

In order to build upon and draw these various components together QCA is driving forward a programme of work to develop sector qualifications strategies (SQS) for each sector area. This work will be carried out in partnership with SSCs and other recognised sector bodies and will, where appropriate and feasible, become an integral part of the sector skills agreements as these are agreed.

Some of the questions that SQS will address are:

• What is the sector's vision, ie what does the qualifications framework need to offer in order to support the sector in years to come?
• What sort of qualifications and/or other learning experiences are required for the sector to realise its vision?
• What are the sector's expectations in regard to levelling and nomenclature for qualifications?
• What are the sector's expectations in terms of broad content, how will this be developed, and what are the parameters for flexibility?
• How will cross-sector issues be taken into consideration?
• How will the issues of credit be considered and what arrangements will be made to ensure that units and qualifications will be suitable for admittance to the FfA?

QCA has committed to having at least eight sector qualifications strategies in place by 31 March 2005, with significant progress made in the other sectors. It is anticipated that the majority of sectors will have a qualifications strategy in place by 31 March 2006. Qualification forums, independently chaired by an employer from the sector concerned are being established to support the development and implementation of SQS in each sector and to facilitate communication between key stakeholders.

In Northern Ireland, QCA is working closely with each SSC as it establishes its network for engaging local employers, providers and other stakeholders. Within these forums we will be working together to ensure Northern Ireland has a strong voice and meaningful impact on qualification policy and development both locally and nationally.

The following SSCs have profiled their work in Northern Ireland to date

• SEMTA/ETC - Engineering Strategies for the future
• CITB NI - Construction qualifications - a fast track to success
• SummitSkills - engaging employers in Northern Ireland
• Lantra - harvesting skills and qualifications
• MLN - building management & leadership capabilities
• Energy & Utility Skills - energising skills and qualifications
• SkillsActive - for active leisure and learning
• Skillsmart Retail - enhancing careers in retail
• Asset Skills - the sector skills council for the places in which we live and work
• People 1st and Tourism Trust - putting people first for skills and qualifications
• e-Skills - making qualifications fit for business.