Leitch Review Into Skills Calls For Increased Employer Involvement
The Leitch Review into the skills needs of the UK to 2020 was published on 5th December 2006. This important report, chaired by Lord Sandy Leitch, examines how the skills system needs to be transformed to meet the challenges of global competition.
Employers in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism, represented by Sector Skills Council People1st, have long believed that having a stronger voice in skills provision and its funding is essential to making real change. It is only with increased authority that they will themselves be encouraged to increase their own investment, and Leitch seems to be endorsing this view, calling for an increasing involvement from sector employers
Sector Skills Councils are the employer led bodies who have been tackling the task of researching and articulating the future skills needs of industry, and People1st Council member Peter Darnell, Managing Director of the Chartridge Conference Company, welcomes Leitch's suggestions, stating: “It is vital that People1st is given a lead role in determining where funding is directed so that employers feel that it is worthwhile increasing their own investment in an increasingly effective skills agenda.”
Nick Varney, Chief Executive of Merlin Entertainments, agrees: “Industry must have more say in the way that the £600 million of public expenditure in tourism skills is directed so that employers feel it is worthwhile investing their time and resources in a skills agenda to benefit the whole industry.”
Martin Wellings, Director of Personal Service Travel, also believes that employer involvement is essential, adding: “We welcome Leitch's report as it seems to indicate that industry has for too long been a spectator while the world of education has constructed a system that has failed to deliver for us. Industry leadership is essential if we are to transform the system and People 1st has an important role to ensure that change happens.”
Brian Wisdom, Chief Executive of People 1st stated: “Our employers are welcoming the direction of travel suggested by Leitch. Employer leadership is key and the evidence base that People 1st has provided, through the most extensive research conducted on our labour market for 20 years, puts us in a great position to help industry refocus and address the call made by Leitch for a radical transformation in skills by 2020.”
