Whilst much of this was excellent work, and was given boosts in numbers where it proved possible to work through employer networks, this approach was never going to unlock to high volumes of employee development work to make the skills breakthroughs required.

Birmingham and Solihull Learning and Skills Council have been working with a range of agencies to develop an approach that will lever out much higher levels of work-focused basic skills developments. There are a number of strands to this model. These include:

1. Stressing the strategic importance of work with employers/employees

• high profile in Birmingham and Solihull LSC’s strategic plan to 2005
• linked to national drives via ‘Skills for Life’ national adult basic skills strategy
• inclusion in co-financing framework
• build into sector development plans/Human Resource plans
• high level of development activity in 2002-2003 via Core Skills Development Partnership resources
• high priority within Regeneration Zone activity

2. Promoting importance of basic skills at work

• better understanding of specific needs of each sector – by job levels; by changing nature of jobs etc
• employer briefings, making use of ‘champion’ employers
• strengthened links to developments via Sector Skills Councils; TUC etc
• marketing campaign to sectors/employers

3. Integration of basic skills enhancements into unified package of business support

• part of company process analysis work
• part of support for businesses to gain Investors in People
• part of business Training Needs Analysis
• linked to sector/company Human Resource strategies
• using a range of recognised brokerage processes to give access to appropriate, skilled providers
• basic skills materials form part of development of learning points/learning centres on company premises
• sector specific curriculum development work, focusing on work tasks (e.g. sector-focused CD-ROMs with bite-sized learning)
• linked to role of union learning representatives

4. Business Link (for smes) and local LSC (for larger companies) hold promotion and brokerage role

• Two kinds of trained brokers – ‘generic’ and ‘more advanced’
• Generic brokerage promotes the value of basic skills development in the workplace and discusses general needs.
• More enhanced brokerage, e.g. via Business Link staff who have specialisms in a sector, able to discuss the support available and to create links to appropriate external providers

5. Improved range of basic skills providers

• ‘First steps’ provision often able to be made in company via sector-specific software, learning points, boxes of learning resources, trained learning champions/learning representatives
• work with Learndirect to ensure that on-line learning in companies, adequately covers basic skills needs
• Including company basic skills trainers in any wider training sessions
• Training providers increasingly benchmark to higher standards re Common Inspection Framework
• Providers offered training on how to more effectively work with different companies and deliver in an employer context
• Providers encouraged to see this work as part of longer term relationships with companies
• Providers become more familiar with Sector Skills Council mapping re basic skills and vocational programmes

Since this initial development work many of the aspects have been carried forward as part of pilots that are leading in 2005/6 to a national programme of employee training that offers businesses packages of Level 2 vocational training alongside enhancements of the basic skills of employees.