Chancellor invites Creative & Cultural to
Number 11 - 22/03/05
Chief Executive of Creative & Cultural Skills, Tom Bewick and other representatives from Skills for Business - the new network of Sector Skills Councils - today met with HM Government to mark the progress of the Sector Skills Agreements which are shaping the future of skills provision in the UK.
At a reception at 11 Downing Street, attended by the Chancellor Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly, the first employer-led agreements which will have lasting implications for tackling skills issues within their sector were unveiled.
The new Sector Skills Agreements, strongly endorsed by the Government's Skills White Paper published today, ensure that education and training more closely meets the real needs and demands of industry. They are being developed by all Sector Skills Councils, including Creative & Cultural Skills in partnership with employers, unions, trade organisations, colleges and universities, funding bodies, and qualifications authorities.
Tom Bewick, Chief Executive of Creative & Cultural Skills said:
"A lot is riding on the delivery of the Skills White Paper in England and the Sector Skills Agreements in particular. For far too long employers and freelancers have been short-changed by an education and training system that has consistently failed to equip the creative and cultural industries with the skills it needs. Gordon Brown's launch of the latest skills strategy today demonstrates a real willingness, on the part of government, to shift the balance of power in education in favour of the consumer (individuals and employers) as opposed to the producers (education institutions and training providers). Our role as the SSC for the creative and cultural industries - working with a powerful group of employers - will be to ensure this really happens."
Speaking at the reception, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly, said:
"The Government has made good progress on skills, working with the national Skills Alliance. But the weaknesses in our national skills record are well known and go back generations.
"Improving our national skills base must be a joint endeavour between Government, employers, trade unions, colleges and other training providers. If we tackle the challenges that face us we have a real opportunity to make a fundamental change for the better, for individuals, for employers, for the country."
"As well as the new Sector Skills Agreements, employers will benefit from: a powerful network of Sector Skills Councils; a new network of Skills Academies; a national network of brokers who will work with employers to identify their business' training needs and source that training for them; and the development of the first four vocational diplomas by 2008."
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