§ Baroness Blatchasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the definition of a sector skills council; what is their remit; how, and from what source, they are funded; to whom they are accountable; what geographical area is covered by each council; and in what way they are distinct from learning and skills councils; and [HL3786]
What is the definition of the Sector Skills Development Agency; what is its remit; how, and from what source, it is funded; to whom it is accountable; for how many sector skills councils it is responsible; in what way it is distinct from the National Learning and Skills Council; and who is the head of the Sector Skills Development Agency. [HL3787]
§ Baroness Ashton of UphollandSector skills councils (SSCs) are UK-wide employer-led industry or business sector-based bodies. They have the task to define the skills and productivity priorities confronting their sectors, develop strategies to deal with them and work with employers, government and relevant agencies such as the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to deliver specific action, including apprenticeships and occupational standards where these are relevant and the innovation of new approaches to identified skills and productivity problems. SSCs will receive up to £1 million each year from my department to fund their core work. We expect that SSCs will attract additional investment from their sectors to deliver further work their sectors require. SSCs are licensed by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in conjunction with her ministerial colleagues in the Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive. SSCs are accountable to the Secretary of State, through the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), for the use of public funds in meeting their core task. As employer-led bodies, SSCs are also accountable to their sectors for their performance and any services directly delivered for a sector's benefit.
The SSDA is a non-departmental public body grant-funded by my department accountable to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills. The SSDA's chair is Margaret Salmon and its chief executive is Christopher Duff. The SSDA's role is to support the development of an effective SSC network, including making recommendations to Government about the award of SSC licences and to promote the network's engagement with government and and other key partners throughout the UK. The SSDA is also 78WA responsible for funding the core work of SSCs through three-year contracts, monitoring SSCs' performance in meeting their priorities, providing skills intelligence to government and other partners for sectors without a SSC and for the co-ordination of cross-cutting sector-related work. The number of SSCs for which the SSDA is responsible will depend on the number of SSCs licensed. SSCs will be licensed for sectors where employers want them and can meet the published SSC Standard.
The LSC is the non-departmental public body responsible for the planning and funding of post-16 learning, excluding higher education, in England.