Skills: shared outcomes framework

Annex B: Full remit of Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council

Skills Development Scotland: National skills agency, enabling the economy, people, and businesses of Scotland to achieve their potential through the delivery of careers services, investment of around £100m annually in apprenticeships and other workplace training, and the curation of intelligence to inform skills provision. 1400 FTE

SDS and SFC support employer leadership of apprenticeships through the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) (ToR at Annex D). The SAAB is an industry led board that ensures apprenticeships in Scotland are fit for purpose and adapt to the changing needs of Scotland’s employers and economy. SAAB maintains the integrity of the apprenticeship family (Foundation, Modern & Graduate Apprenticeships) in Scotland. This includes overseeing governance of all apprenticeship frameworks and standards; ensuring apprenticeships are aligned with industry and economic demand; making recommendations on continuous improvement activities, including equalities & diversity; promoting apprenticeship pathways to employers and prospective apprentices.

Building an Inclusive, Resilient and Skilled Talent Pool for Scotland

• Advising and guiding individuals to enable effective transition into work, progression within work and return to work, through:
• Face to face delivery of careers services from Primary 7 onwards with clear offers into broad general education and senior phases
• Post-school transition support for unemployed 15-18 years olds not in learning or education, through a national network of SDS and partner sites
• Universal, All-age Careers service, including Careers Helpline
• My World of Work online careers service
• Webinars for parents and carers to support subject choices
• SQA Results Helpline
• Redundancy Support through PACE service and Adopt an Apprentice
• Leading Careers Review

Collaborating in delivery of a Talent Attraction Service and other initiatives to attract more people into the workforce in Scotland

Workplace Training

Enable individuals to access workplace training which develops their skills and allows them to attain standards that meet employer needs.

• Modern Apprenticeships
• Standards and Frameworks for the Scottish Apprenticeship Family
• Broadening access to apprenticeships for under-represented groups
• Employer engagement in workplace training

Workforce Productivity

Encourage employers and individuals to invest in their skills as a means to remaining competitive and productive.

• Individual Training Accounts (ITAs)
• Skills for Growth
• National Transition Training Fund (NTTF)
• Flexible Workforce Development Fund
• Digital Skills Catalyst Fund
• Green Jobs Workforce Academy

Skills Intelligence & Insight-

SDS compile and interpret robust intelligence on current and future skills demand and carry out direct engagement with employers, industry leadership skills groups to inform a shift towards a more dynamic, resilient, and inclusive skills system:

• National Labour Market Insights and evidence:
• Regional Skills Assessments covering all College Regional Outcome Agreement Areas and City / Regional Growth Deal geographies
• Sectoral skills assessments covering priority sectors
• Demand analysis and forecasting for all Scottish apprenticeships, including FA, MA and GA, via ILG Skills Groups and validated by SAAB
• Management of the shared dataset on youth participation in Scotland – 16+ data hub
• Utilising the data in the 16+ data hub to provide the Annual Participation Measure, a monthly participation snapshot and the Scottish Government’s school leaver destination statistics.
• Range of regional and sectoral skills investment and action plans
• Co-commissioned bespoke research on critical regional and sectoral skills issues in response to demand from Enterprise Agencies, and Local Authorities
• National, Regional and Sector stakeholder engagement to drive evidence-based investment in skills
• Innovation to ensure SDS products and services remain fit for the future

Scottish Funding Council: National strategic body investing £2.1bn in tertiary education, research and knowledge exchange through 26 colleges, 19 universities and higher education institutions, and national programmes. 109 FTE

Protecting and Promoting Students’ Interests

• Investing in opportunities for both school leavers and those who are seeking to upskill and reskill to secure the education and training they need to flourish and succeed
• Widening access to further and higher education, enabling social mobility and taking people out of poverty
• Addressing student poverty and wellbeing by providing financial and wellbeing support to students to enable them to complete their studies
• Ensuring the quality of college and university provision to support college and university graduates enter into positive destinations

Driving Economic and Social Renewal

• Delivering the apprenticeship programme through delivery of FAs, and GAs
• Providing core funding for national organisations that support curriculum development and provision for future skills needs (eg Energy Skills Partnership)
• Supporting employers to reskill and upskill their workforce through the FWDF
• Supporting work based learning with courses linked to industry and delivery of learning to students who are in work
• Responding to SG economic recovery programmes with the development of short course opportunities supported by the NTTF and Young Persons Guarantee (YPG)
• Supporting universities to pivot course provision to shorter, sharper courses through the development of the Upskilling Fund

Sustaining Research and Enhancing Knowledge Exchange

• Investing in the research infrastructure of universities through the Research Excellence Grant enabling them to leverage additional monies to carry out fundamental research essential to our green, wellbeing economy
• Supporting early researchers thrive through the Research Postgraduate Grant
• Supporting innovation and knowledge exchange to transform academic excellence into innovative solutions through the University Innovation Fund, funding of Interface and Scotland’s Innovation Centre Programme
• Expanding entrepreneurship through development of an Entrepreneurial Campus Strategy and through existing funding streams

Collaborative Working and Continuous Improvement

• Successful allocation of £2.1bn to ensure the financial sustainability of 26 colleges and 19 universities, thereby supporting local and regional economies and communities right across Scotland
• Delivery of data and statistics to support future policy development
• Delivery of regional pathfinders to support enhanced skills planning and coherent provision of education and training