Insights into the overlap between constructionskills' footprint and other sector skills councils

The current UK government VET (Vocational and Education Training) system is subject to a structural change with the launch of a UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK CES) in April 2008. The UK CES is reviewing the cluster of sectors making up the overall VET system in order to support the implementation of the government skills policy. In that context, this paper is timely by trying to address the overlaps of ConstructionSkills, Sector Skills Council (SSC) for construction, with other SSCs and their corresponding sectors. Despite the challenge of defining the construction industry, the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) offers a common and consistent metrics across different sectors of the economy. Sectoral definitions using SIC, available from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) - published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), was used as a basis for mapping the overlap of ConstructionSkills with other SSCs. It was found that ConstructionSkills has significant overlaps with the following sectors: building services, energy and utility, property/housing/facilities management. Whilst there are limitations offered by SIC definitions of sectors, it provides a useful starting point for attempting to understand the overlaps of construction with other sectors. These overlaps could help in informing the level of engagement of ConstructionSkills with other SSCs in terms of addressing common skills issues, such as joint planning for future workforce requirements in addition to enhancing the understanding of the mobility of the workforce across construction-related sectors.