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Equal and the ‘Skills for Life’ policy forum

7 September 2004, QEII Conference Centre, Westminster, London

A one-day event for policy-makers/delivery agents and Equal Development Partnerships across all eight Equal themes highlighted the contribution that ‘Skills for Life’ can make to successful outcomes in Equal and the role Equal can play in the development and implementation of ‘Skills for Life’.

1. Context

Skills for Life is the national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills. Its priority target groups are:

• unemployed people and benefit claimants
• prisoners and those supervised in the community
• public sector employees
• low-skilled people in employment
• other groups at risk of exclusion
• people who live in disadvantaged communities

These cover all of the key target groups of ESF Equal.

The Skills for Life strategy is designed to ensure that every relevant organisation, at national and local level, can contribute by working to a common set of objectives and within a clear national framework.

2. Objective

1. To match the supply of innovations from Equal Development Partnerships with the demand for new approaches in policy and implementation around the Skills for Life agenda;
2. to encourage networking between Equal DPs and policy-makers;
3. To encourage new TNG members to join Equal for the 2nd Round of DPs (2004–2008).
4. To provide an early opportunity for Equal DPs to identify the potential for mainstreaming opportunities and post-project sustainability.

3. Overall Format

The event was opened by a context address by the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit (ABSSU) at DfES. The presentation set out the scope and ambition of Skills for Life, illustrating how it is relevant to DPs in all Equal themes and truly ‘cross-cutting’. It also set out how Equal can:

1. contribute to the delivery and further development of Skills for Life;
2. learn from work that has already been undertaken in the development and delivery of Skills for Life.

There followed a sequence of eight parallel workshops on key themes that marry the interests of Skills for Life policy-makers/delivery agents and Equal DPs. Each workshop attempted to define an issue or challenge and highlight good practice from within Equal or other Skills for Life-relevant delivery programmes. Workshop topics included:

• ESOL for different target groups
• using ICT to deliver Skills for Life
• engaging employers in the Skills for Life agenda
• improving the basic skills of offenders/ex-offenders (OLSU, probation)
• mentoring basic skills learners
• Skills for Life qualifications
• embedding Skills for Life in vocational and other training provision
• social inclusion
• local authorities
• LDD

The workshops were facilitated by the Equal Support Unit. They featured planned contributions from invited policy-makers and Equal DPs, followed by discussion.

4. Report

5. Presentations

Please find below all the materials from the event.

• Claims and certification support seminars (April–May 2006)
• Disability: Challenging the barriers and moving on (2 February 2006)
• Round 2 start-up seminar (July 2005)
• Closure seminars (April–May 2005)
• Equal and the Diversity Agenda: TNG event (March 2005)
• Building an Equal Europe conference (January 2005)
• Partnership planning seminars (November 2004)
• Start-up event for DPs in Round 2 (October 2004)
• Action 2 refresher seminars (May 2004)
• Second round information seminars (May 2004)
• Action 2 and 3 closure seminar (April 2004)
• Working for Equality and Diversity conference (March 2004)

DP resources

• DP resources
• Second round resources
• Operational documentation for DPs
• Good practice guides
• Thematic update papers
• Events
• Mainstreaming
• Programme reports and summaries
• Equal logos
• Links