Employment and Skills Roundtable Discussion: Emerging Ideas and Recommendations

The following brief paper sets out the issues, ideas and recommendations emerging from the Employment and Skills Roundtable discussion held with Stephen Timms and Gordon Marsden MPs and ERSA members on 29 January 2013.

The main areas of discussion broadly fell into the following categories:

• National system challenges, primarily relating to the commissioning and funding regimes for employment and skills.
• Potential changes to qualifications routeways to respond to both employer and learner needs.
• Mechanisms for integration of provision spatially.
• Necessary adjustments to other areas of social policy, including housing and welfare payments, to support moves into employment.
• Specific issues relating to Work Choice funding and to the funding regime in Wales and Scotland.