The 157 Group has welcomed the joint report from the UK Commission on Employment and Skills and the Association of Colleges. Local action, national success: how outcome agreements can improve skills delivery widens the debate on how skills needs can be best met in local areas.
Dr Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group, said, “At a time when devolution is high on the policy agenda, this report provides a timely focus on the roles of local actors – employers, colleges and local organisations - in shaping skills provision. The ultimate aim behind local outcome agreements is that education and training provision effectively delivers the skills the local economy requires. It is right that the accountability of Colleges towards their local communities should be better reflected and we believe these agreements offer a positive way of approaching this.
“We support the ambition presented in this report that Outcome Agreements should increasingly feature in education provision at the local level. The benefits of this approach would be numerous: better alignment between provision and local needs, increasingly accountability of education providers, and greater collaboration between education providers and employers. We believe such agreements would serve to bring the purpose of the ‘system’ closer to the expectations of individuals and employers and to shift the culture of delivery towards meeting local needs.
“We will be engaging with UKCES and government departments as work in this area progresses.”