New name for SSC Alliance reflects changing skills landscape

Responding effectively to the UK’s future skills challenges will require flexibility and adaptability of the kind shown by the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards as it changes its name from the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, SummitSkills said today.

The name change was announced on 10 April, along with a restructuring of the former Alliance’s Board and the appointment of a new chairman, Brian Wisdom – CEO of People First.
The new organisation will continue to represent the UK’s Sector Skills Councils, organisations set up by employers to work for their skills interests in their sector and maintain standards by safeguarding the quality of training.

Chief executive of SummitSkills (the Sector Skills Council for building services engineering), Keith Marshall OBE, welcomed the changes to the former Alliance organisation as a positive response to the changing skills landscape: “This challenging economic climate makes it a particularly difficult time for anyone whose focus is on raising employers’ awareness of how importance it is to keep skills up to date and train their workforce. We must all adapt to the developing skills agenda and, as we have supported the Alliance from its beginnings, we will continue to support the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards as it pursues its ambitious skills agenda with a renewed sense of purpose.”

The Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards represents, promotes and supports the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) across the UK. It has two key areas of activity:
• policy and public affairs activity to strengthen the collective voice of SSCs and position them effectively in the skills systems across the UK nations; and
• apprenticeship services activity to support the issuing of Apprenticeship Frameworks and the registration and certification of apprentices in England and Scotland.