SKOPE’s contribution to the ESRC’s Future of UK and Scotland programme

Apr 9, 2014

SKOPE and the Scottish Centre for Employment Research (SCER) at Strathclyde University have published a report on current debates in Scotland on work, employment, skills and training, as part of the ESRC’s Future of the UK and Scotland research programme.  This programme has been established to support the debates surrounding the vote on Scottish independence this September.

The WEST project (work, employment, skills and training) was conducted by Johanna Commander, Professor Patricia Findlay, Professor Ewart Keep, Dr Colin Lindsay, Dr Stephanie Wilde, and Professor Ken Mayhew.  It has covered five substantive areas:

Education, training and skills

Welfare to work and employability

Employment and related matters

The workplace and employment relations therein

The governance of employment and work

45 interviews across a wide range of stakeholders (employers, trade unions, third sector organisations, government, and public agencies) were conducted, as well as documentary and data analysis.  The report, which was launched at a conference in Glasgow on 31st Marc, provides a snapshot of an evolving debate, and illustrates that English and Scottish policy trajectories on education and training, and also on employment relations and the workplace, are diverging quite radically in some ways.

west report FINAL v7