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Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board publishes 20-year strategic plan

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Nora Senior

The Scottish Government’s Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board has published a 20-year plan to drive greater productivity and inclusive growth through the enterprise and skills system in all parts of Scotland.

The Strategic Plan outlines a series of 14 actions for Scotland’s five enterprise and skills agencies and 18 recommendations for Government, outlined around four interconnected missions: Skills for the Future; Business Models and Workplace Innovation; Business Creation and Growth and Exports.

The Scottish Chambers of Commerce has welcomed the publication “as a step in the right direction to improving collaboration between the private sector and public support agencies”.

The actions set out in the Plan include:

  • A new focus on ‘Innovating Workplaces’ challenging Industry to adopt progressive new business practices and workplace innovation models in recognition of the benefits Fair Work can bring to inclusivity and productivity.

  • A focus on improving leadership and management skills which are key to growth, with the potential to increase businesses’ productivity by between 10 – 30%. Developing more entrepreneurial and ambitious leadership which will create more diverse and socially inclusive workplaces, increased employee engagement, better paid jobs and improve the overall performance of Scottish workplaces. This includes the adoption of increased Fair Work criteria being associated with business support.

  • Developing a suite of programmes designed to focus on the potential of mid-sized companies to scale up and internationalise, alongside private partners such as CAN DO Scale.

  • Embedding a culture of lifelong learning at all stages of an individual’s career, including a stronger emphasis on work-based learning to better respond to the current and future skills needs of industry and learners with a recommendation to Government to redesign and expand interventions in this area such as the Individual Training Account.

  • Helping companies to export through a national exporting service – a ‘one Scotland approach’ to export delivery, organisations and services, strengthening national and regional partnerships and enhanced digital support services to engage more companies and address known barriers to exporting, including sales skills.

  • Ensuring there is a demand-led skills system that is flexible and highly responsive to industry and learner needs and which is underpinned by robust evidence on employer demand, predictive analytics on future skills needs and access to lifelong careers advice that addresses the future realities of constant change, ever evolving occupations and the critical requirement for lifelong learning. From primary schools, through secondary schools, in colleges, universities and within the workplace, pupils, learners, employees and those seeking work should be able to access high quality, well informed, independent careers advice on demand.

    • A number of recommendations to Government have been made around exploiting the potential of digitalisation and new technologies, including those that support the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Digital literacy is flagged as being central to developing enterprise and education across Scotland. The Plan calls for the agencies to make use of new data sources and predictive analytics to improve big data, and calls for measures to encourage greater uptake of digital skills and technologies by business and education.

    The Plan also ensures that the needs of the customer – whether business or learner user – will be at the centre, with advice easier to access. The development of an online portal in by April 2019 is proposed to direct business to where support can be best sourced across the system. In addition, the concept of ‘agency-fluid’ teams will be introduced with bespoke support drawn ‘cross-agency’ to deliver a more cohesive approach to programme delivery for the user.

    Nora Senior, chair of the Board, said: “Among the 36 OECD members, Scotland currently sits mid-table for productivity. Closing this gap would mean more money for individuals to spend, improved business competitiveness and profits, and would deliver higher tax revenues to help fund better public services – it is a prize worth winning.

    “Shifting the dial on productivity and inclusive growth will require everybody stepping forward to play their part. Business, skills providers and learners must also engage to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the interventions delivered by the agencies.

    “The Strategic Plan has a 20 year horizon, but given the fluidity of geopolitical and economic circumstances, it will be updated annually to ensure it is fit for purpose and able to flex in response to ever changing global conditions.”

    Charandeep Singh, head of external relations at Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: “We will look closely at the recommendations put forward by the Enterprise & Skills Strategic Board and welcome today’s publication as a step in the right direction to improving collaboration between the private sector and public support agencies.

    “If implemented with business needs at the forefront, we are confident that these recommendations will prevent fragmentation and will foster stronger alignment between public agencies and business. Ultimately, anything that will make it easier for the private sector to access the right support and expertise when we need it most, is a sensible approach to take.

    “We are looking to see real change on the ground and look forward to engaging with the Strategic Board on the role the vast Scottish Chamber Network can play to implement these recommendations and enable a more competitive Scottish business environment.”

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