Skillset Annual Report 2004/05 · SKILLSET ANNUAL REPORT 2004-5. 2 ... Animation & Computer Games...

Skillset Annual Report 2004/05

SKILLSET ANNUAL REPORT 2004-5. 2

Contents Page 1.Introduction 4 2.Mission Statement 4 3.Goals 4 4.Key Success Factors 5 5.Chairman’s Review: Clive Jones 6 6.Skillset Board Members 7 7.Skillset Patrons 9 8.Television 10 9.Film 14 10.Interactive Media, Animation & Computer Games 19 11.Photo Imaging 21 12.Cross Sector Work 23

12.1Sector Skills Agreements 12.2Careers 12.3Research 12.4Standards Development 12.5Qualifications 12.6Apprenticeships 12.7Approvals 12.8Communications

13.Nations of the UK 29 13.1Wales 13.2Scotland & Northern Ireland

14. English Regions 32 14.1South West 14.2Midlands 14.3South East 14.4Yorkshire & Humberside 14.5North West


14.6 London 15. Organisational Structure 36 16. How we work – committees, fora and working groups 37 17. Income and Expenditure 38


1.Introduction The audio visual industries are among the most dynamic and fast-moving in the UK. Skillset is the Sector Skills Council (SSC). We achieved our five-year Sector Skills Council licence from the Government in April 2004, after being one of the first five ‘Trailblazer’ Sector Skills Councils. This Annual Report covers Skillset’s activity between April 2004 and March 2005. 2. Mission Statement Our reason for being is expressed by our Mission Statement:

“Skillset exists to encourage the delivery of informed training and vocational education provision so that the UK’s audio-visual industries maintain and enhance their creativity, productivity and competitiveness.”

Our Mission reflects our SSC role. We are a strategic organisation, working with employers, trade associations and trade unions, education and training providers, government and its public training providers across the UK to make sure that the audio-visual industries have a ready supply of skilled and motivated people to help them thrive and compete.

3.Goals

In order to achieve our Mission, we identified a set of key goals to achieve in 2004-05. These were to:

1) produce informed research about skills availability and requirements and the current provision of training and education and investment in it, to underpin the planning of future training and vocational education;

2) promote investment in skills and talent to meet industry need and

encourage competitiveness;

3) use funds from the sector to support the provision of learning and skills development programmes in identified priority areas;

4) provide advice, information and guidance to support individuals’

lifelong learning and company development;

5) work actively to promote the achievement of diversity in the industry;

6) develop, update, promote and implement standards and qualifications to inform training, education and employment practice; and

7) inform, develop and promote high quality education and training

frameworks which support industry needs.


In order to progress towards these key goals and, therefore, our objective as a SSC , we :

• seek appropriate industry involvement and co-ordinate strategic partnerships to achieve our mission;

• effectively communicate our role and work; and

• ensure that the necessary planning, management and performance evaluation systems are in place.

4. Key success factors

We said we would identify our success by:

• the effectiveness of our contribution to meeting the industry’s skills, talent and diversity needs;

• our reach across the four nations of the United Kingdom and internationally;

• our visibility within the audio-visual industries and to other key players;

• the satisfaction expressed by our stakeholders;

• the quality and value of the training in which we invest;

• the quality and use made of our products; and

• the satisfaction of our staff.


5. Chairman’s Review: Clive Jones The more an industry changes, evolves or indeed departs in entirely new directions, the more it also needs a solid infrastructure to serve it. We work in a sector where extraordinary change and restructure is the norm. I’m delighted, then, that with each passing year, Skillset has strengthened its position at the heart of our industry, and is constant in its support of the skills and talent of individuals and businesses. We saw an important part of that development this year, when Skillset moved from being one of the first five ‘trailblazer’ SSCs to be successful in achieving its five year licence from the Government. It means that we now have a solid and secure financial base, from which we can really make a difference. As always, we like to lead from the front, so when the opportunity arose to be one of the first four ‘Pathfinder’ SSCs to pilot and develop Sector Skills Agreements, we seized it. Sector Skills Agreements are a new initiative to give industrial sectors more say over the skills and training delivered to them by the publicly-funded training and education sector. Our sectors will be stating to government what we are doing to invest in the skills of our workforce and what we expect them to deliver in terms of education, workforce and company development. Initially, we are focusing on three specific industries - Television, Film and Interactive Media – and have developed a skills strategy for each. We have already started to implement these strategies; the film industry, for example, now has the ambitious initiative A Bigger Future. Within television, we established a new TV Skills Strategy Committee, and our plans for the Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator, our co-regulatory body with Ofcom, came closer to fruition. Even a few years ago, progress of this kind towards building sustainable investment in skills would have unimaginable. It is no exaggeration, then, to say that our industry would not be the creative, talented, skilled and successful place it is without Skillset at its heart. I would therefore like to offer my thanks and congratulations to the Skillset staff for their considerable achievements, and my appreciation to the Board for putting skills so effectively on the industry’s agenda. I look forward to the next year as Chair.


6. Skillset Board Members John Woodward – Chief Executive, UK Film Council Wayne Drew – Chief Executive, International Visual Communication Association Roger Bolton – BECTU on behalf of the Federation of Entertainment Unions Peter Meier – Director of Human Resources, Channel 4 (resigned 15 December 2004) John McVay – Chief Executive, Pact Lynne Wood - Director of Human Resources, Emap 21 Philippa Hird – Group Human Resources Director, ITV plc Ian Morrison – Chairman, Carlyle Media Paul Higginson - Vice President Finance and Business Affairs, 20th Century Fox Ltd (resigned 16 March 2005) Huw Jones – Chief Executive, S4C Clive Jones (Chairman) Chief Executive, ITV News Group Stewart Till CBE – (Deputy Chairman) Chief Executive and Chairman of United International Pictures John McCormick – BBC Scotland (resigned 16 March 2005) Nigel Paine – Head of People Development, BBC Training and Development Mairead Regan – Group Human Resources Director, Ulster Television plc Donald Emslie – Chief Executive, SMG Television David Blaikley – Vice President Legal and Business Affairs Europe, Warner Bros Entertainment UK Ltd Nigel McNaught – Director of UK Operations, Photo Marketing Association Paul Brown – Chief Executive, Commercial Radio Companies Association Karen Burfoot – Head of HR, five


Eric Strange – Dawson Strange Photography Ltd Michael Fegan – Finance Director, ITV News Group (Joined 30/6/04) Beryl Cook – Group Director for People and Organisational Development, BSkyB (Joined 30/6/04) Charlotte Wright – Executive Director, Satellite & Cable Broadcasters Group (Joined 15/2/04) Dianne Herbert – Director of Human Resources, Channel 4


7. Skillset Patrons Lord David Puttnam CBE (Chair) Dawn Airey – Managing Director of Sky Networks Lord Waheed Alli Peter Bazalgette –Chairman, Endemol UK Lord Melvyn Bragg Michael Kuhn – Producer, QWERTY Films Ltd Joyce Taylor - Chair of Skillset Ofcom Task Force Greg Dyke Michael Grade CBE – Chair of the BBC and Chairman of Pinewood Studios Roger Laughton CBE – Chair of the AVITG and Head of Bournemouth Media School Denise O’Donoghue OBE – Managing Director of Hat Trick Productions Trevor Phillips –Chair, Commission for Racial Equality Mark Thompson – Director General, BBC Parminder Vir OBE


8. Television The television industry in the UK has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its ideas and workforce. But this hard-won position is one we must constantly strive to maintain. That’s why Skillset invested more than £7000 a day during 2004-5 in developing skills, people and ideas. Specifically, we channelled investment from the industry and public funds into schemes supporting independent television production companies, new entrants and experienced freelancers working in television. In addition a new TV Skills Strategy Committee was established as part of Skillset’s Sector Skills Agreement to oversee our work in television. There were three key areas of work:

• Skillset Freelance Training Fund • Business Growth Opportunity • Focus on Freelancers

with a total of around £2,500,000 being invested in this period to support 1182 individuals and 28 SMEs. These areas were: Skillset Freelance Training Fund Skillset’s Freelance Training Fund is a voluntary cross-industry training fund, financed through contributions from: Broadcasters: - BBC £100,000 - Channel Four £300,000 - ITV £188,065 Independent Producers: - Pact (Independent Production Training Fund -IPTF) £308,250 We agreed grants of over £2,078,000 in this period, to finance:

- 56 short courses which benefited 1000 experienced freelancers in the

areas of hair and make-up, PA studio skills, TV and Film continuity, HD and DV camera, directing, scriptwriting, sound, lighting, editing, animation, producing, health and safety, and production management. The


freelancers benefiting from our help receive up to 80% off the cost of any course we subsidise.

- 12 new entrant schemes which developed 110 new entrant trainees in

the areas of camera, sound, editing, art department, props, script supervising, locations, hair and make-up, wardrobe, set crafts and programme research. The trainees receive an allowance whilst they are on the course

- 7 regional schemes providing bespoke Training Needs Analyses and

solutions - qualifications initiatives - health and safety bursaries

Within this we subsidised the costs of training and development for:

All funding decisions were made by the Freelance Training Fund committee, Chaired by John McVay, Chief Executive of Pact and Skillset Board Member, and made up of senior industry professionals from all the fund’s contributors and other industry stakeholders. The freelancers benefiting from our help receive up to 80% off the cost of any course we subsidise. Business Growth Opportunity scheme The Business Growth Opportunity (BGO) initiative was a pilot scheme aimed at independent television production companies. The purpose was to give indies access to a range of expert advisers across a range of disciplines, from essential business skills to programme-making and sales. This innovative programme of support was the first time Skillset had directly funded a scheme for indies.

£301,000 was invested in helping 38 indies to grow their businesses, providing access to ten days of business planning consultancy, networking events and training bursaries. As part of the scheme, people attended short courses in the areas of: - Camera/DV Training - Production Management - Research Training - Sales Training - Accountancy and Finance


The networking events included high-level industry speakers from the indies as well as broadcasters and included activities such as speed-networking. This gave companies the chance to meet commissioning editors, network with each other and learn about the broadcaster’s perspectives, rights issues, building alliances and raising finance. The scheme was funded by the following public agencies, with their contributions matched by the Skillset Freelance Training Fund:

- European Social Fund (ESF) through the Department for Work and

Pensions - ESF funds through the EQUAL programme - Pact (IPTF) (in addition to their contribution to the Freelance Training

Fund)

The BGO scheme was developed in consultation with Pact, Business Link, SW Screen, Screen Yorkshire (on behalf of Screen England), Reel Life Television and The Learning and Skills Council London Central.

Focus on Freelancers scheme Around half of all people working in the television sector are self-employed. It is therefore vital that they can provide the skills the industry needs, and the Focus on Freelancers scheme was developed in consultation with industry to address specific skills shortages. £114,000 was invested in analysing where training was needed, and in awarding bursaries for 72 experienced freelancers to take short courses in: - Camera - Writing - Editing - Directing - Production - New Media - Media Business and Management - Cinematography - Lighting - Special Effects - Archiving The scheme was funded by following public agencies with match funding from the Skillset Freelance Training Fund:

- ESF funds through the Department for Work and Pensions


- ESF funds through the EQUAL programme Broadcast and Training Skills Regulator Following the publication of the DCMS/Skillset Audio Visual Industries Training Groups Report in 2001, the industry working with DCMS and Skillset agreed that training should be covered under the Communications Act published in 2003. The Secretary of State then asked Skillset to form a Task Force to make recommendations to Ofcom, when it came into being, on how it could take forward its responsibilities in this area. The Taskforce was chaired by Joyce Taylor and reported in October 2003. Following agreement between Ofcom, the industry and Skillset it was decided to discuss and try to achieve consensus around a new system of co-regulation. A design group was established and consultation on its recommendations undertaken. The conclusion was that Ofcom, the industry and Skillset agreed to the establishment of a new co-regulatory body, the Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator (BTSR) and all four parties form the partnership around a new co-regulatory system.


9.Film The excellent worldwide reputation of the UK film industry does not make it immune to acute commercial pressures. It has to operate in the face of intense global competition, which is why Skillset, in partnership with the UK Film Council and the industry, embarked on an ambitious plan to make the UK the global home of film skills and crafts. The result was A Bigger Future, the UK’s first-ever five year film skills strategy. Launched in November 2003, beginning its implemented in April 2004, it is joined-up thinking at its best. Skillset, the Government and the industry have worked as one to create a strategy which will see £50 million invested in skills and skills delivery and talent development. A Bigger Future formed part of our Sector Skills Agreement. The delivery of the strategy is funded by the Skillset Film Skills Fund and guided by the Film Skills Strategy Committee, initially Chaired by Stewart Till, Chairman and Chief Executive of UIP, then by international film producer Iain Smith. The Skillset Film Skills Fund has two income streams: lottery funding routed through the UKFC, and contributions from the film producers via a voluntary levy. . The UK Film Council provides Skillset with around £6.5 million of lottery funding a year and delegates to us the responsibility of investing it to help deliver the strategy. The rest of the investment comes from the British film industry in contributions to the Skills Investment Fund (SIF). Collected through a voluntary levy on film productions based or shooting in the UK, the SIF receives 0.5% of the production budget (up to a maximum amount of £39,500). Between April 2004 and March 2005, some 67 film productions contributed a total of £652,761 to the SIF including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Kinky Boots, Nanny McPhee, Pride and Prejudice, Revolver, Batman Begins, Ladies in Lavender and Creep. (See Appendix Two) This contributed to an overall total of more than £3.1 million given voluntarily to Skillset by the film industry, from the SIF’s inception in October 1999 through to April 2005. By early 2005, momentum was growing in support of making the voluntary levy mandatory. The Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke, consulted with the industry, asking whether they would support a mandatory levy and the establishment of a Skillset Film Industry Training Board (SFITB) to collect it. The proposition received the majority support of the industry and the necessary steps are now being taken to establish the formal processes.


Who benefited from A Bigger Future? Between 2004 and 2005 a total of £3,307,247 was invested in the skills of the British film industry via A Bigger Future, benefiting 1,473 people.

• Continuing professional development – grants to organisations

Nine training providers achieved grants to provide courses to update the skills of industry professionals in priority areas. £1,093,668 was invested, with 1075 people benefiting. (A full list of who achieved support is available if required.)

• Continuing professional development – bursaries

Skillset Film Future bursaries were awarded to 41 film industry professionals, with £24,122 being invested in updating their skills.

• New entrants

A total of £1,199,241 was invested in four new entrants’ schemes, including the Skillset Film Trainee Network. 62 new entrants benefited from these structured, work-based programmes. (A full list of who achieved support is available if required.)

• Higher and further education

£990,216 of funding went into higher and further education including £700,000 for the National Film and Television School to develop support services for the new Screen Academy network. The remainder was allocated to award bursaries to attend Skillset-accredited screenwriting courses at the UK’s top institutions. (A full list of who achieved support is available if required.)

Other strategy developments to promote film skills

• Skillset Screen Academies. One of the many strengths of A Bigger Future is that it will benefit aspiring entrants to the film industry at an early stage. A network of centres of excellence, known as Screen Academies, will be established in further and higher education. Financed by the industry and public funding, the academies will quickly be identified as the best ports of call for students planning a career in film; similarly, they will lead employers straight to the rich pools of talent. Alongside six Screen Academies, the network will include a Film Business Academy, which will focus on the skills it takes to forge a career in the business of making, marketing, distributing and selling films. The foundations for this exciting


initiative were laid during 2004/2005, with educational institutions throughout the UK being able to apply to become a Screen Academy.

• Careers. Six new careers advisers, each with active experience of working in film, were recruited and trained to enable Skillset to offer this guidance service the film sector.

• Research. Skillset enabled employers and other stakeholders to look at hard evidence about where the skills issues really lie, and take steps to address them. The Skillset Film Production Workforce Survey was the first of its kind, and also allowed freelancers and employees to have their say on recruitment and skills.

• Communications. A new and dedicated area of the Skillset website was

created exclusively for film skills, giving people a single and definitive source of information in one place. After its launch, visitors to the film area leapt from 4509 to 19,934 per month, with page impressions increasing from just over 7,500 to 66,537.

Skillset also embarked on a major advertising campaign, targeted at both the industry and ordinary consumers, to raise awareness of Skillset as the place to go for film skills information and support. We maximised this investment with an active campaign to generate extensive press and broadcast coverage on the film skills strategy throughout the year. We also sponsored, or exhibited at, a number of the higher profile events in the film industry calendar.


Funding recipients of A Bigger Future 2004-05

Programme Area Organisation Project Title*

Grant Amount Participants Sector

CPD

The Actors Professional Centre Ltd. The Actors Centre Film Lab £29,978.00 100 Actors

CPD

Berlinale Talent Campus Berlinale Talent Campus £85,000.00 500

Art Department

CPD

FDI (Film Design International) Art Direction Training £64,680.00 77

Art Department

CPD

The Directors Guild of Great Britain

Directors Guild Trainee Director Scheme for Feature Films £38,496.00 4 Directors

CPD VET Final Cut Pro Editing £13,380.00 40 Editors

CPD

NFTS (National Film & Television School)

The National Film and TV School Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Post Production £328,745.00 6

Post-production

CPD


The National Film and TV School Postgraduate Diploma in Special Effects £328,245.00 6

Post-production

CPD ACE The ACE Producers' Training and Networking Programme £160,760.00 30 Producers

CPD The Script Factory

Cross Sector Development Training and Publicity, Sales & Marketing personnel training in Script Reading £44,384.00 312

Script Development

£1,093,668.00 1075

New Entrants

FT2 (Film & Television Freelance Training Ltd)

Pilot Grips Apprenticeship Scheme £160,480.00 4 Camera

New Entrants

FT2 & The Production Guild Skillset Film Trainee Network £175,000.00 25

New Entrants

New Entrants

The Production Guild

The Production Guild Assistant Production Accountant Training Scheme £184,475.00 8

Production Accountants

New Entrants

FT2 (Film & Television Freelance Training Ltd) FT2: (New Entrants & Set Crafts) £679,286.00 25

Technical & Craft New Entrnats

£1,199,241.00 62

Higher/Further Education


Screen Academy Support Services £700,000.00 All grades


Leeds Metropolitan University

'PgDip/MA in Screenwriting (Fiction)' Bursary Support £49,000.00 10

Script Development



LCC, University of the Arts, London

'MA Screenwriting' Bursary Application £28,199.00 5

Script Development



'MA in Film and Television - Screenwriting' Bursary Application £20,000.00 2

Script Development


University of East Anglia (UEA)

'MA in Creative Writing: Scriptwriting' Bursary Application £6,709.00 1

Script Development


Bournemouth University

'MA/Postgraduate Diploma Screenwriting' Bursary Application £33,325.00 16

Script Development



'BA Hons Scriptwriting for Film and Television' Bursary Application £60,000.00 10

Script Development


Bolton Institute of Higher Education

'B.A. (Hons) Media, Writing and Production' Bursary Support - living expenses only £18,000.00 5

Script Development


Royal Holloway - University Of London

'MA in Feature Film Screenwriting' Bursary Application £38,254.00 7

Script Development


Leeds Metropolitan University

'PgDip/MA in Screenwriting (Fiction)' Course Development £5,000.00 30


Royal Holloway - University Of London

'MA in Feature Film Screenwriting' Course Development Bursary Application £5,000.00 25


Bolton Institute of Higher Education

'B.A. (Hons) Media, Writing and Production' Course Development Bursary Application £4,176.00 11


University of East Anglia (UEA)

'MA in Creative Writing: Scriptwriting' Course Development Bursary Application £2,560.00 12



'BA Hons Scriptwriting for Film and Television' Course Development Bursary Application £4,993.00 115



'MA in Film and Television - Screenwriting' Course Development Bursary £5,000.00 6


LCC, University of the Arts, London

'MA Screenwriting' Course Development Bursary Application £5,000.00 24



'MA/Post Graduate Diploma Screenwrititng' Course Development Bursary Application £5,000.00 16

£990,216.00 295


10. Interactive Media, Animation and Computer Games Although newer areas for Skillset, Interactive Media, Animation and Computer Games have all shown dynamic development within Skillset. We also see it as important that they are treated as separate industries, despite the obvious overlaps between them. We have therefore established an Industry Forum for each of the sectors as the first point of focus. These forums meet every quarter, and are invaluable in informing, guiding and prioritising Skillset’s work in these sectors. Interactive Media The year’s activity focused on developing the first-ever skills strategy for Interactive Media, part of Skillset’s Sector Skills Agreement, and together with a supporting Action Plan, it was signed off by the Industry Forum. The strategy followed an on-line consultation with all the key players in the industry, and covers activity to improve skills from school age; improve partnerships with further and higher education; better support new entrants into the industry; and on-going training for professional development and business support. Skillset also developed a suite of occupational standards for the interactive media sector, which can be used for course and qualification development, in-house training, recruitment and many other human resource applications. Animation With the UK boasting some of the world’s finest animators, Skillset successfully piloted a new animation accreditation scheme for higher education courses. Three courses achieved accreditation from the industry through Skillset, and three more are currently applying. The three successful courses were:

• BA Hons Animation Production at the Arts Institute, Bournemouth;

• BA Hons Computer Visualisation and Animation at Bournemouth University

• HND in Art & Design (Computer Animation)/BA Hons Animation at the Glamorgan Centre for Art & Design

The scheme will then be rolled out more widely so that we can welcome applications from other institutions.

http://www.skillset.org/courses/courses.asp?id=E001

http://www.skillset.org/courses/courses.asp?id=4941

http://www.skillset.org/courses/courses.asp?id=8014


We also established a new training bursary scheme for the animation sector. The scheme, which was funded by the European Social Fund, invested £37,963 in bursaries for 34 animation professionals. We funded ten different animation skill areas, at 16 training providers across the UK. Computer Games We achieved real progress with the Computer Games industry during the year, including:

• The creation of a skills strategy and supporting Action Plan for the industry, which were then agreed and signed off by the Industry Forum. The strategy followed an on-line consultation with all the key players in the industry, and covers activity to improve skills from school age; improve partnerships with further and higher education; better support new entrants into the industry; and on-going training for professional development and business support.

• We also responded to industry requests for an accreditation scheme for computer games degrees. £20,000 was raised from the DTI to fund development of the Computer Games Accreditation Initiative, and work started this year.

• Skillset also developed a suite of occupational standards for the industry ,

which can be used for course and qualification development, in-house training, recruitment and many other human resource applications.

IT Users We also took the lead on a cross-sector project, designed to highlight the importance of information and communication technologies throughout industry. Business Case for IT featured a series of case studies to demonstrate the message. The project was funded by the Sector Skills Development Agency.


11. Photo Imaging In February 2004 we were delighted that the Photo Imaging Sector decided to come under the Skillset umbrella. A Photo Imaging Sector Manager and Administrator were appointed in April. This first year was therefore about getting up to speed; looking, listening and learning, increasing our knowledge and getting to know the key players in the industry. We also established the Photo Imaging Skills Forum, with representation both from employers and all the major trade associations and professional bodies active in the sector. The Forum met four times in this period and guided Skillset’s work in the following areas: Occupational map and careers factsheets Our work started with a basic question: who does what in photo imaging? With the active help of the many contributors from the industry we compiled detailed information about job roles and the scope of the sector. From this we were able to compile accurate job profiles, and create a pack of fact sheets with information on ten of the most popular roles. Continuing professional development

Skillset supported a pilot course, Photoshop for Photographers, designed in partnership with a professional laboratory and identified as a skills need by the Professional Photographic Laboratories’ Association. This successful course is now to be rolled out throughout the UK. We have also formed a working group to guide the development of an accreditation scheme for short courses in digital management. Skillset also secured an offer from Swindon & Wiltshire LSC to trial an Employer Training Pilot for photographic retailers by developing a programme for Snappy Snaps in that region, with a view to rolling it out across England. Occupational standards, qualifications and apprenticeships

We are planning an incremental review of Photo Imaging’s National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the next financial year, to be followed by a full review in 2006. Skillset facilitated the approval of a training provider with City & Guilds to ensure all eleven NVQ pathways can be delivered throughout the UK, together with the Photo Imaging Apprenticeship framework. Skillset also started working on a bid to develop a Foundation Degree in Photo Imaging.


Communications and industry engagement

In our first year of working with this sector, the task of engaging the industry and communicating Skillset’s objectives were the overriding priorities. Skillset’s Photo Imaging Sector Manager embarked on a programme of targeted visits, phone calls to employers and presentations to professional bodies and associations. Skillset also exhibited at the Focus on Imaging exhibition, the sector’s major trade and consumer show, and hosted two seminars. We also created a new and dedicated Photo Imaging area on the Skillset website, carrying a wealth of regularly updated information about the sector. Skills strategy

Skillset is aiming to produce a draft skills strategy for Photo Imaging by Autumn 2005. Several strategic planning meetings have already taken place to support this project.


12. Cross Sector Work Sector Skills Agreements Sector Skills Agreements (SSAs) were conceived to meet a clear purpose: the Government wanted to make sure that education and training opportunities were designed to meet more closely the actual needs and demands of industry. These industry-led agreements aim to have lasting implications for tackling skills issues within sectors and the first four ‘Pathfinder’ SSAs were developed by four SSCs, including Skillset. The agreements, which took a year to develop, set out exactly what skills are needed, how they should be delivered and how they will be funded. This includes defining the investment that industry itself is prepared to make. At their heart, SSAs mark a shift towards supplying what industry demands and positioning ourselves within a global marketplace. Skillset focused on three sub-sectors in its SSA: television, film and interactive media. We developed skills strategies for each sector, based on comprehensive research of their particular labour markets. Separate Agreements for Scotland, Wales and England have been developed with the English one being supported by nine regional strategies. Work has begun on an SSA for Northern Ireland. Careers Skillset Careers is for people who want to break into the audio visual sector, and indeed for those who work in it now but want to move on and develop. For both, it offers a wealth of professional, industry-specific careers information, advice and guidance. Skillset Careers is the new name for the original ‘skillsformedia’. We re-branded the service this year. A major communications exercise took place to support this change. Between 2004 and 2005, the service helped:

• 468 people through one-to-one advice sessions with one of Skillset’s professionally-qualified freelance advisers;

• 1,773 people who received advice through Skillset’s email advice service; • 5,062 people who called our telephone helpline.

A major aim this year was to increase the diversity of people who are attracted to use the service, and progress was made: 47% of all clients were women, 15% were from black and ethnic minority groups and 4% were people with disabilities. As part of the film skills strategy A Bigger Future, we recruited and trained six new advisers with specific expertise in film to expand the service into this sector.


All our targets specified in the strategy were met, and two further advisers with animation experience have also been recruited and trained. Skillset Careers was also key in raising the quality of careers information, advice and guidance across the Sector Skills Council network. We were awarded the contract to support twelve other SSCs in adopting our approach: to give careers advice that is led by what the industry actually needs. We also worked closely with the Warwick Institute for Employment Research on how to make more effective use of labour market intelligence within careers services. During 2004-5, Skillset Careers formed a partnership with Equity to put in a bid to the Union Learning Fund to extend our service to actors and performers. This was in response to a need which we identified in our first-ever survey of this group. The service was also piloted in Northern Ireland before a planned roll-out, and we contributed to the graduate training schemes of regional screen agencies. We also achieved a dramatic increase in the profile of Skillset Careers throughout the publicly-funded careers services, through our keynote presentations at all the major careers conferences. Skillset is now being seen as a successful and progressive SSC in this area.

Research Everything we do in the fields of skills and training is driven by the actual needs of the Audio Visual sector. We therefore invest a great deal of time and resources in conducting research, both quantitative and qualitative, into the dynamics of the labour market. Last year, the key aspects of this programme included:

• The fifth annual Census of the industry- 2004. This achieved the highest response to date, from nearly 2,900 companies. The report was published in March 2005;

• The 2005 Workforce Survey. Conducted every two years, it was sent out

in March 2005 to the largest sample ever. A response of nearly 7,000 was achieved – also the highest ever – giving crucial data on a range of areas including the size and shape of the workforce, qualifications, training received and training needed;

• A survey of people working in film production. This covered

production-specific questions such as the number and type of productions worked on during the last year; numbers of hours and weeks worked; and more generic questions on skills and training common to other Skillset


surveys. 860 people took part, making a 34% response rate, and the survey was published in early 2005;

• The Performers’ Survey. This was carried out in February-March 2005

and targeted at all Equity members. Nearly 8,400 responses were received. This was the first major attempt to capture detailed information on performers, covering a range of areas including the size and shape of the workforce, qualifications, training received and further training needs.

• The Skillset Sector Skills Agreement. We drew on the learning from

extensive initial research in developing our agreement. In particular, research was key in developing the regional, national and sector strategies and, for the first time, in exploring the future of the industry and the skills it will need. New research was launched in order to map the supply and provision of relevant training and education. We also talked at length to employers, unions and training providers, and held a number of focus groups on specific themes and issues.

Standards Development During 2004-5, we covered a lot of ground in the Occupational Standards field, developing job profiles to cover Photo Imaging, Animation, Interactive Media and Computer Games. These profiles have now been expanded to replace the original Skillset Careers Factsheets.

We also felt it was important to help the industry see the many benefits that can be derived from the standards. To this end, we appointed a Standards Implementation Co-ordinator who developed promotional materials, case studies and a freelancer support tool. We also delivered information sessions on Occupational Standards to training providers, Learn Direct advisers and Skillset Career Advisers across the UK. Standards were also more widely promoted at trade shows, and the Co-ordinator became a ‘champion’ for Management and Leadership Standards with the aim of making sure they suit the needs of the sector.

The Animal Care Standards were approved and new Interactive Media standards are now being developed. We are also pleased to say that an incremental review of all standards is now possible after a successful bid to the National Occupational Standards Board for funding.


Qualifications

The core activity for the qualifications team throughout this year was the development of the Draft Sector Qualifications Strategy. This was part of Skillset’s Sector Skills Agreement and was informed by numerous workshops and focus groups with key stakeholders. Other progress included:

• The creation of the Audio Visual Qualifications Forum, in partnership with QCA, to help develop and implement the strategy. Its aim is clear: to be the catalyst for a free-flow of communication between key stakeholders - in particular, the awarding bodies - and to share information.

• The development of three Foundation Degree Sector Frameworks,

launched at the Foundation Degree Forward Inaugural National Conference. Three colleges were selected to pilot the frameworks. To raise awareness of the degrees in our sector we launched an intensive marketing campaign involving advertising in the trade press, tactical inserts and direct mail.

• A new pathway was successfully accredited within the current NVQ Level

3 in Animal Care, for animal trainers working in film and television.


Apprenticeships

Our work on apprenticeships fell into two main areas. The first was a project with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority looking at how qualification units with credit assigned to them can form the content of a sector-devised apprenticeship. We are also working to develop new models of apprenticeship delivery. The second area we addressed, with our new responsibility for Photo Imaging, was a review of the existing Photo Imaging Modern Apprenticeship and Advanced Modern Apprenticeship frameworks for England and Wales. We developed revisions to both frameworks, and these were approved in October 2004. Approvals The Approvals Team has the task of approving and accrediting industry training providers, regional training partners, further and higher education institutions and individual courses. The major project for the team this year was to roll out the assessment and selection process for the Skillset Screen Academy Network , a key strand of A Bigger Future- the UK’s film skills strategy. This included producing the guidelines, application literature and designing the assessment process.

We also launched the accreditation scheme for animation courses, with the Animation Forum playing a key role in drawing up the guidelines. We accredited eight screenwriting courses located throughout the UK, with bursaries for their students. Expert input from the skills panels for film and screenwriting supported this development. Communications As a service organisation, we place a strong emphasis on communicating our work to the widest possible group of stakeholders, whether to the audio visual sector and its workforce; to the Government and its public agencies; or the legion of young creative and technical talent waiting to enter and move on. The year 2004-5 was a particularly busy one, demanding extensive communications campaigns. Key activity included:

• The implementation of A Bigger Future, the first-ever film skills strategy for the UK. Activity included the biggest advertising campaign Skillset has


undertaken with a media mix of outdoor activity, trade and consumer press;

• Our first appearance at the Berlin Talent Campus, where we organised

speed-matching, the closing party, promotional giveaways and generally promoted our attendance there;

• The development and launch of the film skills website, and associated

promotion of the site;

• The re-branding of our careers service, Skillset Careers (from ‘skillsformedia’);

• An ongoing communications plan throughout the year focusing on Sector

Skills Agreements, including two editions of Pathfinder News, our SSA newsletter to public partners;

• Engaging with the Photo Imaging industry for the first time, with activity

which included attending the Focus on Imaging trade and consumer show, developing dedicated new content on the Skillset website and generating press coverage and awareness of our new involvement in this area;

• Organising and promoting the first-ever National Skills Day, a cross-sector

initiative to have one day of the year focused on skills. 100 companies organised over 300 skills events, benefiting some 5000 people.

During the year, the press saw Skillset as more and more newsworthy, with nearly 200 articles and stories covering some 12,555 single column centimetres. This represented an equivalent advertising spend of well over £300,000, and a PR value of nearly £1 million. Perhaps one of the simplest indicators of the awareness of Skillset and our presence in the sector is the traffic attracted by the Skillset website. During 2004-5 it received 537,214 visitors; an average of 1471 hits a day.


13. Nations of the UK Wales Skillset Cymru’s main achievement during the year was to create the Sector Skills Agreement for Wales. The agreement cemented a formal partnership with seven key public bodies: the Welsh Assembly Government, Welsh Development Agency, Education and Learning Wales (ELWa), Careers Wales, Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales (ACCAC), Higher Education Funding Council Wales (HEFCW) and Job Centre Plus. Skillset Cymru also teamed up with the Welsh Assembly Government to develop the ‘Skills, Education and Training’ section of the new Creative Industries Strategy. This ensured that skills and training were one of the strategy’s three core areas. We also made significant progress in many other areas:

• Skillset Cymru’s Welsh Language Scheme was approved by the Welsh Language Board - the first SSC scheme to be approved during the year. We also identified during a consultation the need for a Welsh language edition of our National Occupational Standards for the Interactive Media industry; this was duly produced.

• We launched a new initiative in partnership with the Cardiff Business

School. Called the Leading Media Business Scheme, its role is to address business and management issues within the sector. The scheme comprised of a series of master classes in business, management and finance; mentoring; trade visits and the development of business-focused modules for media courses in higher and further education. During the year, a group of 14 producers from the Animation, Television and New Media industries benefited from an investment of some £70,000 in the scheme.

• Skillset teamed up with the North East Wales Institute for Higher

Education (NEWI) on a Knowledge Exploitation Fund project, The New and Digital Media Training Consortia. The project seeks to work with partners, and a representative group of companies, to understand training needs, develop appropriate resources and pilot them to ensure that they are effective within the Interactive Media industry. The scheme ties into Skillset’s Interactive Media Strategy.

• We began work on developing a Learning Network Project in partnership

with ELWa. The aim here is to bring some joined-up thinking to the process of designing and providing post-16 learning, minimising any duplication, and achieving cost-efficiencies and added-value for learners.


• Our Animation Fast Track Scheme came to a successful conclusion. In April 2005 it was praised at the ELWa launch of the Skills Development Fund as a ‘best practice case-study’.

• Skillset Cymru were sponsors, participants and organisers of a number of

events during the course of the year including: FFRESH, the Student Moving Image Festival; the Celtic Film Festival; the Cardiff Screen Festival; Swansea Animation Days (SAND); BAFTA Cymru; the Sector Skills Development Agency’s annual Skills for Business Wales dinner; Skills Summit Wales Conference; the launch of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Skills and Employment Action Plan for Wales; and the launch of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Creative Industries Strategy.

Scotland & Northern Ireland During the year, the main focus of Skillset Scotland was to develop the Sector Skills Agreement for Scotland. In addition to the film, television and interactive media industries, radio was also included due to its particular prominence in Scotland. The agreement cemented a formal partnership with seven key public bodies: Highlands & Islands Enterprise; Scottish Executive; learndirect Scotland; Scottish TUC; Scottish Enterprise; Scottish Screen; Scottish Funding Council for Further & Higher Education; Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Other significant developments included:

• Skillset Scotland again secured funding from the Scottish Skills Fund, this time to develop and deliver a Creative Entrepreneurship Programme in partnership with Scottish Screen. The programme is designed to help build the entrepreneurial awareness of managers in creative businesses and follows a pilot with a group of six professionals drawn from across the audio visual sector. Feedback was exceptionally positive and we hope to offer the programme more widely in future.

• Our pioneering work with the Scottish Qualifications Authority came to a conclusion during the year, with three new qualifications structures successfully validated following detailed scrutiny by leading industry practitioners: an HNC in Radio Production, and an HNC and HND in Television Production. These new awards reflect better than ever the real-world demands of the industry now. This focus on currency is key; indeed, a condition of the validation is a commitment to monitor the structure and content of these awards on an ongoing basis, making sure they are right up to date at all times. This model of working will be expanded to bring industry influence to bear on all relevant qualifications developments.


• We also made our first moves in Northern Ireland, piloting the Skillset Careers sessions there. This activity generated exceptionally positive feedback and we are now moving forward with a more detailed plan to bring a consistent level of service to the area.


14. English Regions

South West

In the South West, Skillset completed the Regional Strategy and Action Plan supporting the Sector Skills Agreement. This was the result of a major and rigorous consultation with industry partners, strengthening relationships with key bodies such as Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Regional Development Agency (RDA) and Regional Screen Agencies (RSAs). We actively strengthened our engagement with the sector through working with regional clusters, who now have a considerable membership body of approximately 1,000 companies. We see these clusters gaining considerable importance and, indeed, becoming the key vehicle to help us develop our relationships throughout the region. For example, they have already been the catalyst for an excellent regional participation in our consultation on the qualification strategy (from employers and providers).

Aspiring animators in the region now have a regional animation apprenticeship programme. Implemented by South West Screen in partnership with Skillset, this will establish a new way of exploring entry into the animation industry .

We also pioneered a knowledge-sharing initiative as part of National Skills Day, teaming up with SW Screen, Aardman, Endemol West and 2Four productions. The concept was simple: to pool and share information on work, skills, systems and facilities within the industry.

Midlands Skillset’s presence in this region was greatly strengthened when we appointed a new Midlands Sector Manager in November 2004. A great deal of work has since taken place to build local relationships and identify the opportunities for fruitful partnerships in the region. We enlisted in-depth contributions from the regional skills panels in order to develop the Regional Strategy and Action Plan. The panels also contributed to the qualifications strategy consultation and, importantly, made sure that there was an improved response to the Skillset Census. Positive help was delivered to employees made redundant by Carlton through the Skillset Careers sessions; advisers were briefed by EM Media and Skillset on regional opportunities, and there were one-to-one advice sessions for employees. On the educational side, we built some strong relationships by forming a virtual forum of computer games HE staff, and by sparking a debate around foundation degrees. We also continued to engage with the Learning and Skills Councils and


Regional Development Agencies in the region, putting forward proposals for funded projects around business support, and links with further and higher education. South East Region

Skillset’s key achievement in this region was to complete the Regional Strategy and Action Plan, which was launched successfully with the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) supporting the event.

Other critical partnership developments included the development of a Partnership Agreement with Screen South and the establishment of the SE Education Focus Group (comprising higher and further education, and key regional stakeholders). This proved to be an excellent vehicle for strategic liaison with the regional supply side and, more importantly, brought about more joined-up thinking between the supply and demand sides. We also formed a working group on apprenticeships, which was an agreed priority with the South East Industry Panel.

Our commitment to engaging employers was stronger than ever, via Business Links, Regional Development Agency cluster groups and face-to-face meetings with employers themselves. Yorkshire & Humberside and the North East

During the year we recruited our team in the Yorkshire & Humberside regions, giving us the resource to raise our profile significantly with the key public and industry partners there. The Regional Skills Strategies we developed were helped, and signed off by, their respective Skills Panels. A Collaborative Action Plan is now being developed, taking into account the priorities of the Regional Skills Alliance. Skillset also signed Individual Partnership Agreements with Screen Yorkshire and Northern Film and Media, and a Yorkshire and Humberside Education Focus Group has been established to make sure that the supply side listens closely to, and responds to, the actual needs of the industry. We also initiated a rolling programme of engaging employers, using the industry panels for each region, Yorkshire Forward digital groups, Business Links and through direct visits to employers.


North West In the North West, Skillset completed the Regional Strategy and Action Plan supporting the Sector Skills Agreement. This was the result of a major and rigorous consultation with industry partners, strengthening relationships with key bodies such as Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Regional Development Agency (RDA) and the Regional Screen Agency (RSAs). A Partnership Agreement was signed with North West Vision, the RSA. Employer engagement continued to be strengthened with a number of direct visits to employers and attendance at industry events. London Having been highly successful in raising funds from the European Social Fund – to the tune of £2,478,000 – we were able to expand the Skillset London team to work on projects which will progress over two years (2005 - 2007). The money will be invested in the following:

• Freelancer Training Scheme: Some 700 freelancers will benefit from

£900,000 worth of investment from LSC/ESF pan-London co-financing. This project will develop and deliver a range of training and development programmes for freelancers in broadcast, interactive, animation and post-production.

• Employees’ Training Scheme: 217 employees will benefit from £358,000 worth of investment from LDA/ESF pan-London co-financing. This project consists of a training and development support programme for employees of SMEs within London’s audio-visual industries, particularly in post-production and animation. 50% of the beneficiaries will be women.

• Inductions: 250 new entrants and runners will benefit from £600,000 worth of investment from LSC/ESF pan-London co-financing. This project will develop and deliver a generic Industry Induction Award accredited by QCA as well as pre-vocational training in specific industries for new entrants. The Induction Award will be developed for the broadcast, interactive media, animation and design industries. We intend the recipients to be either freelancers, or people on longer contracts employed by SMEs. By ‘new entrants’, we mean people who have worked in the sector for less than 12 months.

• Open Door: £420,000, co-financed by LDA/ESF, will be invested to help 40 people from London’s black or ethnic minority groups who are seeking to move up the media ladder. Partnered and supported by the BBC’s Training and Development department with a package of £80,000 worth of assistance in kind, the scheme will provide the beneficiaries with a ‘passport’ of skills, through industry knowledge, mentoring, opportunities of


attachments to productions, and networking events. The training will focus on the areas of New Media Production, Radio Journalism & Production and Digital Camera production. The beneficiaries will be expected to produce a project that will showcase the skills they have acquired through the Open Door scheme.

The Skillset London Team also launched First Post, a scheme for people hoping to break into the post-production industry. The London Development Agency has contributed £200,000 to fund the scheme for two years, and the industry has also contributed £200,000 in kind, with cash and industry time. 25 people from 13 post-production companies will benefit in the first year from the scheme. The Facilities Forum, established as part of this project, developed the curriculum and will monitor delivery of the project.

The London team also continued to work closely with the various London stakeholders, including the London Sector Skills Forum, the London Skills Commission (London’s Regional Skills Partnership), the Framework for Regional Employment and Skills Action (FRESA) Objective Groups, the London Learning and Skills Councils and the London Development Agency.

16. How we work – Skillset Committee, fora and working groups


17. Skillset – Income and Expenditure 2004/05 Skillset Sector Skills

Council STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES AND INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT y/e March 2005 y/e March 2004 Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total £ £ £ £ £ £ INCOMING RESOURCES Grants receivable 9,652,807 9,652,807 50,000 2,941,236 2,991,236Activities for generating Funds: Industry funding 1,029,236 1,715,684 2,744,920 1,149,283 1,729,207 2,878,490Invest income 17,521 102,028 119,549 35,612 35,681 71,293Other incoming resources 0 10,070 10,070 TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES 1,046,757 11,470,519 12,517,276 1,244,965 4,706,124 5,951,089 Less: Costs of generating funds: Marketing and publicity 109,139 80,836 189,975 44,140 36,801 80,941 NET INCOMING RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR CHARITABLE PURPOSES 937,618 11,389,683 12,327,301 1,200,825 4,669,323 5,870,148 CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE Grants payable in furtherance of the charity's objects 4,823,514 4,823,514 1,350,284 1,350,284Costs of activities in furtherance of the charity's objects 445,732 5,073,540 5,519,272 533,044 2,794,446 3,327,490Support costs 236,044 900,233 1,136,277 478,574 374,668 853,242Management and administration of the charity 68,215 68,215 76,911 59 76,970 TOTAL CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE 681,776 10,865,502 11,547,278 1,088,529 4,519,457 5,607,986 TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED 790,915 10,946,338 11,737,253 1,132,669 4,556,258 5,688,927 NET INCOMING RESOURCES FOR THE YEAR / NT INCOME 255,842 524,181 780,023 112,296 149,866 262,162 Fund balances b/f at 1 April 324,622 2,009,813 2,334,435 212,326 1,859,947 2,072,273 FUND BALANCES C/F AT 31 MARCH 2004 580,464 2,533,994 3,114,458 324,622 2,009,813 2,334,435

Skillset Annual Report 2004/05 · SKILLSET ANNUAL REPORT 2004-5. 2 ... Animation & Computer Games...

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