Background of the Skills Network
The Network was set up in 2004 in partnership with Tourism South East, People 1st (the Sector Skills Council for Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). It is funded by SEEDA and managed by TSE under the leadership of Sue Gill, Head of Skills and Training.
The Skills Network is a learning network; a web of information that our skills coordinators have access to and in-depth knowledge of. Its role is to remove the usual and frustrating barriers of searching for training solutions but coming up with unsuitable answers or finding great courses only to find that they will consume the entire training budget.
Aim
The overall aim of the Network is to raise regional productivity, skills levels and competitiveness within the tourism sector in line with the priorities of the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). It will achieve this by:
- Building on and coordinating the initiatives of the six sub-regional tourism skills partnerships to achieve maximum value from limited resources;
- Securing greater commitment from sub-regional/regional/national/public sector support agencies and resources to focus on tourism specific needs;
- Delivering the priorities of the Regional and Sub-Regional Tourism Skills Strategies;
- Strengthening involvement with Regional and Local Skills for Productivity Alliances and with People 1st (the Sector Skills Council for Hospitality Leisure Travel & Tourism) at national level;
- Influencing the development and promoting of industry specific training that is cost-effective, relevant, flexible, accessible and sustainable;
- Acting as a single point of contact for employers in each sub-region to make sense of the plethora of initiatives, understand and communicate their needs and encourage participation in training/workforce development;
- Creating the foundations of a support structure which will deliver the Region's ambitions for a skilled, motivate and customer focused tourism workforce leading up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games;
- Representing People 1st, the Sector Skills Council for Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism in the South East region.
Strategy
The Regional Skills Strategy and Workforce Development Planhas been developed to guide the Network's activities, helping to bring together all of the agencies and stakeholders involved in business support and skills provision for tourism in the SE. The coordinators' local skills action plans link into this.
To ensure the region's skills issues are represented and recognised at national level, the Network works together with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and People 1st.
Other work involves developing skills brokerage arrangements for the sector and linking with Train to Gain where possible.