National and Regional Sector Skills Agreements describe a reducing supply of workers and rapidly increasing demand for care.  The gap is widening more rapidly in the East of England than any other region.

These issues are faced by the NHS, Voluntary and Independent Health Sectors alike and developing a health workforce to meet new demands has never been more challenging.

The focus of 2009/10 East of England Skills for Health Sector Skills Agreement update is the Sector Qualification Strategy and ensuring health qualifications are fit for purpose.

NATIONAL GAPS

The Skills for Health "National Health Sector Skills Agreement for England" (2006)

A key message is the need for a flexible workforce to respond to changing demands. The building block of competencies will allow flexibilty for the future while maintaining national standards.

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Third Sector Skills Research (2008) Published by NCVO

This National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) report describes:

• The skills gaps in the voluntary sector
• How employers in the sector assess and respond to these skills gaps
• How employers highlight and address the challenges of skills development.
  

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Review of the Independent Sector in England 2008

This study appraises employer demand for workforce skills in the independent health sector in England, and identifies key workforce development issues.

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Social Mobility and Skills

This key issue focusses on maximising the potential of all in society.  Relevant publications include:

• The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions.  The final report of the Panel was published in July 2009  It concluded that access to a professional career has become more and more inflexible over time and proposes radical change in order to meet the requirement of over 7 million new professionals by 2020.  The Government's response was published in January 2010.  For further information, click here.
• British Medical Association – Equality and Diversity in UK medical schools (December 2009).
  This report states that the majority of medical students continue to come from professional and managerial backgrounds which has important implications for the future.  For further information, go to - BMA Report.
• The Effect of Lifelong Learning on Intra-generational Social Mobility. In April 2009 DIUS published a study by Surrey University showing the positive impact of learning on occupationally based social mobility. To read the report click: DCSF Report.

EAST OF ENGLAND SKILLS GAPS

East of England Workforce Investment Plan 2009/2010

This plan sets out the priorities, commitments, work programme and investment for 2009/2010 and builds on the 6 workforce priorities identified in Towards the best, together. See further - Workforce Investment Plan.

Sector Skills Agreement Action Plan for 2009/2010

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The Health Sector in East of England needs to attract staff from a wider range of sources. Employers will then need to retain staff by offering satisfying careers (including the creating greater productivity).

 
Analysing the Skills Issues (2007)

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This report contains the analysis that went into the East of England Sector Skills Agreement.It plots the current and future gaps between skills supply and demand in each county of the East of England.

East of England Public Services Action Plan

In 2008/09, the Public Services Sector Skills Councils - Skills for Health, Skills for Care, Children’s Workforce Development Council, Skills for Justice, Skills Active and Lifelong Learning UK - agreed to take shared action on areas of concern common to all of their Regional Sector Skills Agreements. An initial report on progress made was published in May 2009 - click here.  4 areas of activity to work on were selected and a report published in April 2009 provides a summary of the action plan and the progress made to date. To access this report, click here.

RESOURCE GUIDE

To access further information on skills gaps and challenges, see section 1 of the Resource Guide.