Fórum Lidské Zdroje

Learning & Skills Council

Cheylesmore House
Quinton Road
Coventry
CV1 2WT
United Kingdom

Tel: 024 7682 3327
Email: david.greer(zavinac)lsc.gov.uk

Professional career:

David Greer is a Director in the Skills Group at National Office of the Learning and Skills Council.  He leads on employer skills policy including Leadership and Management, Investors in People, higher level skills development, Employer Training Pilots and the development of the new national employer training programme – Train to Gain. Employer Training Pilots is a £350 million pilot programme  to investigate whether reimbursing a wide range of employers, that agree to give low-skilled employees paid time off work to undertake training courses, will deliver a significant increase in employer commitment to train their poorly qualified workforce.  The project was announced by Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the April 2002 Budget following a commitment to consider using the tax system or other mechanisms to encourage increased workforce training, which is vital to the nation’s economic performance. As a result of the success of the pilots he announced, in his 2005 Budget Report, a commitment to make Train to Gain available across  the whole of England by 2007-2008.  Train to Gain is now fully operational across England. David has a particular interest in workforce development and the role of upskilling the existing workforce in business improvement. David has previously worked in both private and public sectors.  He was Director of Skills and Workforce Development at Birmingham & Solihull LSC. He has also been an Assistant Principal in FE, a project manager for major IT projects and has taught in schools.  He has also provided consultancy to several Government Departments, most recently DfES in developing the business processes prior to the formation of the Learning and Skills Council. He has a teaching qualification, a first degree in Physics and Electronics and a Masters degree in Information Systems Design and Management.

Summary of the presentation:
Greer

The factors affecting economic productivity and social inclusion, particularly the part that skills gaps and skills deficiencies play have been the subject of significant debate and Government policy development for some years in the UK.  Two Skills White Papers in 2003 and 2005 and the commissioning of a major review by Lord Leitch (due to report in December 2006) have offered further insights into the challenges and proffered a range of solutions. UK Government is clear that its role is to focus public funding on three critical areas:

1. Increased investment in young people and their achievements prior to entering the labour market
2. Focusing adult funding on those disadvantaged adults in the workforce with low skills and few qualifications – an area classed as market failure where employers and employees are not investing to raise skills levels
3. Responding to the pressures of increasing global competition and the forecast impact on skills requirements in the future by investing in higher level skills support including vocational degrees and leadership and management training

Key to these strategies is a reforming of systems of training supply to make the ‘offer’ to employers and individuals more flexible and more responsive to customer needs and requirements.  In return is the expectation that employers and individuals will bear a greater proportion of the costs of any training outside of the priorities described above.