HC Deb 27 January 2003 vol 398 cc540-1W
Barbara Follett

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will define the term employer-led when applied to sector skills councils; [93246]

(2) what plans he has to make sector skills councils financially independent; [93247]

(3) if he will make a statement on the terms of ownership of the sector skills councils; and what the terms of ownership are of the retail skills council, Skill Smart. [93248]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

To meet the standard to become a Sector Skills Council, an organisation should be employer-led. This means it should be launched and led by employers but should also involve other important organisations in the sector, such as trade unions. We recognise that a component of many SSCs will be support from their trade association but the SSC, as an organisation licensed by Government and in receipt of public funds, must be wholly independent of it or any holding company. In the case of Skillsmart, we have made it clear that to become a fully licensed SSC it will need to be independent of the British Retail Consortium.

On the question of funding, my Department will meet part of the costs of an SSC (up to £1 million core contribution) to give capacity to allow SSCs to take a more strategic approach underpinned by proper research and avoid being compromised by commercial interests. But we have always expected our £1 million would lever significant additional private investment into skills and productivity development in the sector.

Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will give an update of progress on the foundation of Sector Skills Councils. [93293]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

Five trailblazer Sector Skills Councils were announced in December 2001 covering audio visual industries: land based industries; apparel, footwear and textiles; oil and gas extraction, chemicals manufacturing and petroleum industries and the retail sector. There are nine further sectors in the final phase of developing Sector Skills Council proposals for consideration by the Sector Skills Development Agency. The trailblazer SSCs together with those in development cover over 50 per cent. of the workforce. We expect the first SSCs to be licensed early in 2003.