• Standing Groups

Sector Operations Group

Sector Operations Group (SOG)

The SOG enables the South West region to interpret and support the Sector Skills Agreements produced by Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) as maps of exactly what skills are needed by employers for their workforce and how these can best be supplied.

The aims of the Sector Operations Group are:

• To enable South West agencies to work in effective partnership and support the SW RSP.
• To identify and address key issues arising from the sector focus on skills
• To support the regional implementation of Sector Skills Agreements (SSAs)
• To realise the added value to be achieved by joint working among SSCs and partners.

Sector Skills Councils (SSCs)

Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are employer-led strategic bodies set up by Government to help raise business performance, meet skill needs and shape relevant learning supply within a given sector of the economy. Each SSC represents a sector with a workforce of at least 500,000. There are 25 Sector Skills Councils covering around 85% of the UK workforce. They have a key role in pulling together bids and business plans, co-ordinating employer sponsorship, and working on curriculum content and liaison with learning providers.

For more information on SSC's please visit the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils website here

Sector Skills Agreements

In each region, the Regional Skills Partnership is working with the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils to develop a model for Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) integration into regional skills planning. These models vary according to the needs of the region and the nature of partnerships and structures for planning and delivery.

All the relevant partners on the SW RSP are committed to supporting the Sectors Operation Group (SOG) and to taking forward the integration and implementation of regional SSAs through action planning, delivery and review.

Partners are currently working on the next phase of the Sectors Operations Group with launch expected in the Autumn 08.

The Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, LSC, RESP and RDA have combined funding to bring a ‘team SW’ feel to the SW regions Sector Skills activity. Dawn Neale and Jennie Holder have joined the RESP team to drive forward the partnership approach to Sector Skills activity. Both have a clear aim of ensuring the SOG meets its potential and the spatial and sectoral agendas are brought together.

New Booklet Guides

The SW RESP is proud to announce that you can now access our informative booklets 'Sector Skills in the South West' and 'NSAs- an Overview and SW Activity'. These booklets are useful tools for anyone working in Skills and cover many areas. Please scroll to the bottom of this page to download the latest versions, which should be printed as A5 booklets on A4 paper.

The Sectors Operation page is currently under construction.