Sector Skills Agreements (SSAs) map out what skills a workforce needs and how these skills will be supplied - both now and in the future.
They are created by employers (through Sector Skills Councils), trades unions and employer bodies, along with organisations that supply and fund education and training.
The need for skills in the future will generally be met by training and developing the current workforce and by attracting the right kind of new recruits into employment within each sector.
All sectors face a falling supply of potential young workers; this creates competition between the sectors who often need to find potential employees from elsewhere.
This competition means that workers from eastern Europe and other parts of the world have become critical to some industries.
By changing recruitment strategies to attract new workers that would not normally have considered employment in that sector, gender and ethnic minority imbalances and skills shortages can be redressed.
Effect on Literacy, Language and Numeracy (LLN)
All of these points have implications for people working to develop LLN skills in the health sector. Impact will vary according to different levels of LLN skills in the regions.
