White Paper

This report details research into the New Choices approach to Investors in People (IIP), which was introduced in May 2009. The project, undertaken by HOST Policy Research, identifies the impact of New Choices approach on attitudes towards and take up of IIP. Research included stakeholder interviews, an e-survey of employers engaged with the New Choices approach, and case study work with employers. The report identifies areas for potential future activity, including targeted marketing of IIP to smaller organizations; increased use of IIP Champions and Employer Representatives; greater links with the wider business and labour market infrastructure; and further consideration of how the award levels are promoted.

The vision of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills is to create the best opportunities for the talents and skills of people to drive competitiveness and growth. By having informed intelligence about the labour market, businesses and people can make informed decisions on skills and careers. Developing a deep understanding of the skills and performance challenges facing the UK economy now, and in the future, is integral to this vision. The wholesale and retail sector is an important contributor to the UK economy and has been successful in achieving growth and remaining competitive, despite the economic downturn. However, changes in technological advancements have created many challenges which in turn have consequences for the sector’s skills supply and needs, and impact upon workforce development strategies. The aim of this research was to investigate the skills requirements of the wholesale and retail sector in relation to a number of key themes and associated drivers of change (as listed below). Six themes were initially identified by UKCES along with the drivers of change, were refined through the research. The study involved a detailed literature review, data analysis and a series of depth interviews with employers and stakeholders.

‘Technology and Skills in the Construction Industry’ details the findings of a study into the role of technology in driving high level skills needs in the construction industry, with a specific focus on offsite construction.2 The construction industry is one of the most important sectors to the UK economy, with 12 per cent of construction taking place offsite (Taylor, 2010). This report is one of a number of studies commissioned with the purpose of understanding the skills needs of Government priority sectors. 3 This is essential in order to ensure appropriate responses in relation to tackling skills gaps and shortages, so that the UK is best placed to compete in a global marketplace. The research used a mixed approach of depth interviews with academics, industry representative bodies, employers, trade associations and professional institutes, combined with a literature review and roundtable discussion events.

This report is one in a series examining sector skills and performance challenges, with an emphasis on the skills mix needed in specific occupations. It also investigates current levels of use of, and interest in, National Occupational Standards (NOS). This report focuses on the retail sector, identifying the outlook for jobs and skills as well as looking at trends affecting the sector, employer perceptions of the skills needs of specific occupations, and the implications for skills supply and workforce development. It builds on a previous study which investigated skills and performance challenges across both the wholesale and retail sectors. The report looks at five occupations in detail: customer services/sales assistant; customer service manager; marketing associate professional; human resources manager; SME1 owner/manager. The research was conducted using a mixed method approach of interviews with stakeholders and retailers, combined with secondary analysis of survey data and literature.

A longstanding feature of the UK vocational education and training (VET) system, in comparison with some of its main competitors, has been its relative weakness regarding intermediate level training. This was recognised at the end of the 1980s in the Low Skills Equilibrium hypothesis, amplified in the National Skills Task Force’s reports, and reiterated in various editions of Skills in England in the 2000s (e.g. Campbell et al, 2001; IER and CE, 2003; Hogarth and Wilson, 2005). The Leitch Review (HM Treasury, 2006) drew attention to the need for a step change in skill levels if the UK was to maintain its position in the global rankings of industrial states. More recently, the National Strategic Skills Audit for England by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (2010a) focused attention on the need for intermediate level skills demand to be stimulated if key sectors were to support economic and employment growth. There is little doubt that the UK needs to improve its supply and deployment of intermediate level skills, but the very fact that, twenty years after the Low Skills Hypothesis was first aired, policy is still drawing attention to this issue indicates the intractability of the problem. Nevertheless, much has changed in the VET landscape in the UK over recent decades just as other national VET systems have changed too. This project allows a comparison with three countries which apply significantly different but nevertheless successful1 Of course, the systems these countries have in place cannot be transferred lock, stock and barrel to the UK. If it was that simple this would have occurred many years ago, but there are likely to be important conclusions from the analysis of the three selected alternatives, which indicate the direction in which the UK can develop its intermediate VET system. approaches to intermediate level vocational training: Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. Australia’s VET system was modelled on that in the UK, but it has developed its own qualification structures which have been able to attract rising shares of young and older workers. The German and Dutch approaches are widely regarded as exemplars in the development of intermediate level skills but differ significantly regarding the role of company-based apprenticeship training.

This work was commissioned in response to increasing strategic and policy focus on developing intermediate level skills in the UK, particularly through the use of apprenticeships. It seeks to provide a better understanding of how other countries have developed intermediate level skills and what part apprenticeships play within their skills systems. Following horizon scanning, three countries were selected as case studies for the research: Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. All three countries were considered to be examples of countries which, first, have each developed an efficient and successful training system that has existed for more than a decade and second, use alternative approaches along the principal antagonisms in intermediate vocational training: (a) company-based training versus school-based training; (b) initial training versus lifelong learning; (c) theoretical versus practical knowledge; and (d) modular versus curricula based training. The main report, International Approaches to the Development of Intermediate Level Skills and Apprenticeships: Synthesis Report, contains summaries of the case studies, discusses findings with respect to UK policy learning, draws broad conclusions with respect to the character and effectiveness of the intermediate levels skills systems in the countries studied, and discusses the relevance of international policy experience for the UK.

In examining the experiences and practices of over 91,000 employers, the UK Commission’s Employer Skills Survey (ESS) is the definitive source of intelligence on the skills challenges employers across the UK are facing and their response in terms of investment in skills and training. The survey was first conducted at UK wide level in 2011 and was developed from a series of surveys conducted in each of the countries of the UK during the 1990s and the 2000s. The UK survey has been conducted biennially, and the 2015 survey represents the third edition in the series. This period of time coincides with the UK economy leaving recession and experiencing relatively sustained economic growth. It explores the skills challenges that employers face both within their existing workforces and when recruiting, their use of the skills of their staff, the levels and nature of investment in training and development, and the relationship between skills challenges, training activity and business strategy. The study reports on the experiences of employers at the establishment level, rather than at the enterprise level. The survey covers establishments with at least two people on the payroll.

This paper reviews the latest evidence on the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) -- and the digital economy more broadly -- on economic growth for Europe and the United States since the late 1990s until most recently. The paper provides estimates on the contributions from ICT to growth from three channels affecting the long-term growth performance of entire economies: 1) a productivity effect through the ICT-producing sector, 2) an investment effect from ICT-using industries through capital deepening, and 3) a productivity effect from an efficiency rise through the use of ICT which goes beyond the direct capital deepening effect. The study finds that the slowing of the total factor productivity growth rate in Europe reflects a failure to effectively adopt new technologies and innovation. It is also argued that the lack of rapid accumulation of intangible capital (such as information assets, innovative property, and economic competencies) constraints Europe's ability to accelerate and facilitate the innovation effects from digital technology. Finally, we discuss some policy implication emerging from our work, in particular the need to complete the Single Market in Europe to improve the productivity effects from the digital economy.

This report is based on a study by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) on behalf of Skills for Justice undertaken between September-December 2009. The main objectives of this work were to: identify key skills drivers, skills needs and priorities in the justice sector, and develop a small number of future skills scenarios regarding the justice sector workforce.