Sector Skills Councils

Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are state-sponsored, employer-led organisations that cover specific economic sectors in the United Kingdom. They have four key goals:
* to reduce skills gaps and shortages
* to improve productivity
* to boost the skills of their sector workforces
* to improve learning supply.

SSCs achieve these aims by contributing to the development of National Occupational Standards, the design and approval of Apprenticeship frameworks, brokering Sector Skills Agreements and creating Sector Qualification Strategies.

There are currently twenty-five SSCs, covering about 85 per cent of the British workforce. SSCs are licensed by the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, in consultation with Ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) was formerly responsible for funding, supporting and monitoring SSCs and for overseeing industries that fell outside an SSC footprint. From 1st April 2008, the SSDA was replaced by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the Alliance for Sector Skills Councils comprising all 25 Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). The full extent of the Alliance’s scope will develop over time, but its core purpose is to:
* Promote understanding of the role of SSCs within the skills system across the four home nations
* Co-ordinate policy positions and strategic work on skills with stakeholders across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
* Help build the performance capability of the Sector Skills Councils, to ensure they continue to work effectively on the employer-driven skills agenda

External links

[http://www.sscalliance.org/web/site/home/home.asp The Alliance for Sector Skills Councils]