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This report examines skills and performance challenges facing the health and social care sector. It provides a synthesis of evidence on the sector outlook, identifies major trends affecting skills demand, investigates employer perceptions of skills challenges facing specific occupations, and investigates employer awareness of, engagement with and interest in National Occupational Standards. The study focuses on five key occupations in the sector: care assistants, care home managers and proprietors, medical professionals, physiotherapists and nursing auxiliaries.

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This project forms part of the sector insights research undertaken by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). The overall aim of the programme is to examine skills and performance challenges across a range of industry sectors of critical importance for the UK economy. This report examines skills and performance challenges in the advanced manufacturing sector with an emphasis on the mix of skills needed in specific occupations, as well as employer awareness of and engagement with National Occupational Standards (NOS). This study focuses on five key occupations that are prevalent in advanced manufacturing industries, and which represent a cross-section of skills levels: (1) production managers and directors in manufacturing; (2) biological scientists and biochemists; (3) production and process engineers; (4) metal working production and maintenance fitters; and (5) assemblers of electric and electronic products. The research adopted a mixed-methods approach. Existing sector data and literature on skills and performance issues was supplemented with primary research with employers and stakeholders to explore experiences and perceptions of the sector.

The report concludes that advanced manufacturing is widely reported as an area of significant potential growth for the UK economy. There are a range of key drivers shaping the performance of the sector, most of which have a skills dimension. The sector is heavily-influenced by developments relating to advanced manufacturing technologies and employers perceive that these changes will continue to significantly impact on the skills required from workers in key occupations. A number of actions which could be taken to improve the responsiveness of skills supply across the advanced manufacturing sector are recommended in relation to policy and funding, training and apprenticeships, and workforce development. Also included with this publication are an executive summary, a slide pack, and an infographic presenting the findings contained within the report.

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This report was commissioned as part of the joint Department for Education (DfE) and BIS FE workforce programme. It aims to investigate the impact of: maths and English enhancement programmes; special educational needs and disability (SEND) training grants; the golden hello scheme; subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) scheme; recruitment incentive grants; premium graduate scheme; and FE initial teacher education (ITE) bursaries.

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This report presents the findings from a study undertaken during September and October 2010 by GHK Consulting on behalf of The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (the UK Commission). It looked at the responsiveness of the online careers market in providing Labour Market Information (LMI) and Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG).

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This report examines the provision and take-up of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in the Further Education (FE) sector. It presents information on trainee teachers who attended ITE courses in the 2015/16 academic year and their destinations, as well as the provision available in 2017/18. The purpose of the research is to provide intelligence that can support policy makers and the sector make informed decisions to ensure a sufficient supply of high-quality teachers entering FE. This is particularly relevant in the current policy climate. The technical education reform agenda outlined in the post-16 Skills Plan (2016) [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 125.183] and subsequent T level action plan and consultation (2017) [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 131.665] sets out substantial changes to FE. The reforms are likely to have a transformative impact on the sector, changing both the programmes taught in FE and how they are delivered. Implementing them effectively will require a highly-skilled and adaptive FE workforce.

The study focuses on qualifications that are within the formal framework for Initial Teacher Education in FE. These qualifications are based on the Professional Teaching Standards for FE. The study also distinguishes between different types of ITE provision, most notably: (1) pre- and in-service provision: pre-service provision is ITE provision for trainee teachers before they enter employment; in-service provision is training that trainee teachers undertake while working in FE; (2) AO-accredited and HEI-accredited provision: ITE qualifications can be certified by either independent Awarding Organisations (AOs) or higher education institutions (HEIs); and (3) franchised and non-franchised provision: this relates specifically to HE-accredited ITE provision, which can be delivered either directly by the HEI that accredits the qualification or by an FE provider in partnership with a HEI. The study is based on an analysis of FE, HE and qualification data on ITE programmes, as well as qualitative interviews with 16 ITE providers. The report examines the volume and characteristics of trainee teachers undertaking ITE and the coverage and quality of provision. In particular, it presents: the characteristics of ITE programmes; the coverage and quality of providers delivering ITE qualifications, including the number and coverage of providers delivering ITE programmes and information on how the courses are delivered; and the volume and characteristics of learners undertaking ITE, including the overall number of starts and completions, the gender, age and ethnicity of participants and their post-study destinations.

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The UK Commission for Employment and Skills commissioned a qualitative evaluation across a range of investments in demand-led skills solutions, including: the standards and frameworks programme: procurement of the development of National Occupational Standards (NOS) products, apprenticeship framework products and Vocational Qualification (VQ) products; and the investment programme: investment in projects under the Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) and the Employer Investment Fund (EIF) programmes. The overall aims of the evaluation were to: develop a greater understanding and insight of the development and commissioning of the individual funds; draw insights about delivery and potential improvements; and enable the continuous improvement and capacity building to develop sustainable solutions.

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GHK Consulting was commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to undertake a feasibility study for research into employer investment in higher-level learning. The study looks at existing data on what employers currently spend on higher-level learning (assigned using the National Qualifications Framework levels) and whether that information could be improved. In undertaking their analysis the consultants trialled a qualitative research approach through an in-depth discussion with 20 employers. The study’s findings are that a large amount of information already exists on the types of learning in which employers invest, but there is very little on how much they actually spend. There is also a significant information gap on the qualification levels of the learning in which employers are making their investments.

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This is the final report for the study evaluating the Professional Qualifications Directive (2005/36/EC) against recent [European Union] EU educational reforms. The over-riding aim of the study was to: (1) assess to what extent European policies and related national developments in the area of education and training may have an impact upon the functioning of the Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications; and (2) examine whether certain aspects of these policies should be integrated into the ‘acquis’ on professional qualifications. Within the scope of the study were a number of important EU educational reforms: (1) the Bologna process, as well as work undertaken as part of the ‘Tuning’ project; and (2) the development of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), including National Qualification Frameworks (NQFs) and the Framework for Qualifications in the European Higher Education (FQ-EHEA). These reforms have largely evolved in parallel (or subsequent) to the development and introduction of Directive 2005/36/EC and are not integrated or acknowledged in the provisions of the Directive. As part of the wider evaluation of the Directive, it was therefore felt to be important to consider the specific impact of these education reforms on the functioning of the Directive, particularly given that some elements, notably the Bologna process, are mature policies with over a decade of development behind them.

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