Catalyst Business Talent

Lord Leitch's 'Review of Skills' report, published in December 2006, challenges the UK to become a world leader in all levels of skills by 2020. And it predicts a central role for the Further Education (FE) sector in enabling that change.

The United Kingdom is already in the top quarter of the world's elite economic performers — but as the report shows, we have to raise our game as a nation even to stay in that position. To do this, business, education and training need to start working together as a team.

The first step on this journey is improving the skills of the Further Education workforce itself. Over the next three years the Catalyst Business Talent programme will drive recruitment initiatives across the Further Education sector to ensure that staff have the necessary skills to deliver exceptional teaching and training to their relevant sectors, and that they are backed by world-class leadership. Catalyst provides the money and the expert help to allow the birth of new partnerships. In fact, the Catalyst programme puts the government's money where its mouth is, £30 million to be precise, to help business and training to work together more effectively.

And that's where Business Talent comes in. This initiative will support the development of a world-class management system for Further Education by encouraging experienced private and public sector managers to move into senior management roles within Further Education. With this kind of crossover happening routinely and successfully, we can hopefully meet the challenges set by Lord Leitch.