Scottish Government
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Scottish Skills Strategy
Plans to bring a national focus on skills by bringing organisations together into a single skills body were announced yesterday.
Presenting Skills for Scotland, A Lifelong Skills Strategy Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary Fiona Hyslop said:
"A key principle of our Scottish skills strategy is building coherent and cohesive structures for skills development and delivery. As an initial step towards that I am announcing today that we will merge Careers Scotland and learndirect Scotland into one body.
"This will not only bring a new focus for skills but also create real direct benefits to the individual customer and sustainable economic growth as well as strengthen links with local government.
"I expect to have a shell organisation set up by the start of 2008 with a more formalised body in place by the end of this financial year.
"This strategy sets out our objectives to develop a lifelong learning system centred upon the individual but responsive to employer needs. It provides a framework to set out a new agenda for skills and learning in Scotland and our ambitions for skills in a lifelong learning context from early years to the work place.
"It is important to make the link between this strategy and our policies on the economy. That is why we will take forward our skills development policies in close relationship with those on economic development, business improvement and innovation."
The development of a Skills Strategy for Scotland was announced as part of the Scottish Government's first 100 days commitments by Ms Hyslop during an education debate in June.
The merger of Careers Scotland and learndrect Scotland is the first step towards creating a unified skills body.
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