Enterprise and Skills Review: report on Phase 1

Actions

One Scotland - STRONGER GOVERNANCE OF A COHERENT SYSTEM

1) To bring greater integration and focus to the delivery of our enterprise and skills support to businesses and users of the skills system, we will create a new Scotland-wide statutory board to co-ordinate the activities of HIE and SE, including SDI, SDS and the SFC.

2) To support the new board, we will review existing data and evaluation functions to further align our enterprise and skills support and to ensure robust evaluation of activity and impact.

NATIONAL AND LOCAL ENTERPRISE AND SKILLS DELIVERY

3) Recognising the different social, economic and community development challenges facing the Highlands and Islands, we will maintain dedicated support which is locally based, managed and directed by HIE.

4) Recognising the unique challenges faced in the region, we will create a new vehicle to meet the enterprise and skills needs of the South of Scotland. This will be accountable to the new Scotland-wide statutory board alongside our other enterprise and skills bodies.

AN OPEN AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY

5) In order to bring greater coherence as we step up the pace of delivery of our Trade and Investment Strategy through activity such as the establishment of a new Board of Trade, the appointment of Trade Envoys, the establishment of an Innovation and Investment Hub in Berlin, and the doubling of SDIs presence across Europe, we will ensure a much stronger focus on co-ordinating international activity across the public and academic sectors to deliver maximum benefit for Scotland.

6) We will consider the role, position and governance of SDI and its possible establishment as a distinct and separate organisation under the new Scotland-wide statutory board delivering a broader range of international activities and support.

INNOVATION

7) We will review, streamline and simplify the innovation support ecosystem, connecting programmes, funding and delivery mechanisms. We will ensure that more businesses in Scotland increase their level of innovation to realise their major growth ambitions by implementing an innovation action plan that will be published by end of November.

SKILLS PROVISION AND ECONOMIC SUCCESS

8) We will align the functions of our learning and skills agencies to better join up how education services and training are planned and provided to learners and employers.

9) We will conduct a comprehensive review of the Learning Journey focused on sustained employment, with significantly enhanced use of labour market information in skills planning at its heart.

10) We will review the effectiveness of our investment in learning and skills to ensure we have the right balance of provision across age groups and sectors and to maximise our contribution to productivity and inclusive growth.