Delivering in collaboration
To ensure our Strategic Plan delivers effectively, we have worked closely with our agency partners to develop a shared understanding of the environment in which we operate.
Collaboration has always been at the heart of our approach to meeting the needs of Scotland’s people, places, and economy. The nature and complexity of the current challenges Scotland faces will require a further intensification of active collaboration and partnership working between national and regional partners to help Scotland become fairer, wealthier, and greener.
In the development of our Plan, SDS engaged with our enterprise and skills agency colleagues to identify ongoing and future opportunities for cross-agency collaboration.
We cannot change the system alone. Partnership and collaboration have always been at the core of SDS’s approach. We are grateful to all our government and agency colleagues, and partners at national, regional, and local levels, for their commitment to finding more effective ways of working together to achieve our shared ambitions. The need for this will only strengthen going forwards.
Frank Mitchell
Chair, SDS
Collaboration for skills
As Scotland’s two skills agencies, SDS and the SFC must work particularly closely to deliver Scottish Government’s ambitions for a skilled workforce. There are multiple opportunities for cross agency collaboration within our Plan, including work related to our key areas of focus, apprenticeships and lifelong training. We are already working together to deliver the Shared Outcomes Agreement effectively and will continue to proactively identify ways of jointly building greater coherence, agility, and responsiveness into the skills ecosystem.
Collaboration for businesses
The Business Support Partnership has demonstrated how the public sector and other key stakeholders can join together to reduce duplication and create more streamlined and holistic services for industry and employers. We are committed to this partnership and will continue to work with the other BSP partners to help Scotland’s businesses thrive through skills. With Scottish Enterprise (SE) and other agency colleagues, we will also continue to play our role in the ‘Team Scotland’ approaches to attracting inward investment and talent, and supporting business growth, ensuring Scotland has the skills and good job it needs.
Collaboration for regions
The challenges Scotland faces over the coming years differ across its regions, and as such, the importance of place-based solutions is paramount. As a national agency, we commit to collaborating with partners at the right level. Working closely with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), Regional Economic Partnerships, Community Planning Partnerships, and other stakeholders, we will ensure skills are at the heart of economic development plans and actions around population and talent attraction.
Collaboration for equality, diversity, and inclusion
At the heart of all our work is a commitment to achieving greater equality of opportunity, and of outcomes, for everyone in Scotland. We recognise the very real challenges that some people face in achieving their full potential in the labour market, including structural inequality, discrimination, and the impact of poverty. The equality outcomes in our Equality and Diversity Mainstreaming Report, were informed by a range of equality partners and are ambitious and challenging. We will continue to collaborate to improve our understanding and activity in relation to these outcomes, informed by the lived experience of our customers and their advocates.
Collaboration for the public sector
As a provider of cross-agency services, including EIS, the shared ICT function for SDS, SE, HIE and SOSE, we understand the public value that can be generated by collaborating across organisational boundaries in the delivery of back-office processes. We recognise the potential for more of this activity and will work with Scottish Government and others to explore these opportunities.
Skills for a Changing World
Download our Strategic Plan 2022-27
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