Sector skills councils (SSCs) are
employer-led organisations that cover specific
industries in the United Kingdom. They were introduced by Adult Skills Minister,
Rt Hon John Healey MP in 2002, while the architect of the policy was Tom Bewick, an education and skills adviser to the
Labour Government, 1997–2002.
The SSCs have four key goals:
# To support employers in developing and managing
apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
standards
# To reduce skills gaps and shortages and improve productivity
# To boost the skills of their sector workforces
# To improve learning supply including apprenticeships, higher education and National Occupational Standards (NOS).
SSCs aim to achieve these goals by developing an understanding of the future skills needs in their industry, and contributing to the development of
National Occupational Standards, the design and approval of apprenticeship frameworks and th
New Apprenticeship Standardsand creating
sector qualification strategies. There are currentl
eighteen SSCs covering about 80 per cent of the British workforce. SSCs are licensed by the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
through the
UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).
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. In 2008, the SSDA was replaced by the UKCES and the
Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards comprising all nineteen sector skills councils.
The Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards (FISSS)is responsible for managing the process of certifying apprentices on apprenticeship frameworks in England, Scotland and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. It seeks to:
* Promote professional practices among those organisations that are sector-based, and which set and maintain skills standards
* Manage the standards of those Employer-Led Partnerships that maintain these standards to ensure high quality
* Provide insight, intelligence and ideas flow between the governments of the four nations and the SSCs.
Sources
{{reflist
External links
Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards
Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government
Sector Skills Councils