Chris Banks, chairman of the Learning and Skills Council, tells ePolitix.com about the LSC's skills campaign.

Question: What is the Skills Campaign?

Chris Banks: The Skills Campaign is an ambitious campaign aiming to raise the aspirations of millions of people. This week, we (the Learning and Skills Council), together with our partners at the new Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) will launch the five year marketing and communications campaign. It is designed to inspire people to take control of their future through learning with a theme of Our future, It’s in our hands. We want to empower and equip individuals and employers to fulfil their potential.

Question: Why have you set up this campaign?

Chris Banks: Well if you look back to last December when Lord Leitch published his review of the UK’s long-term skills needs he certainly didn’t pull his punches. He said, and I quote his report: “Without increased skills, we would condemn ourselves to a lingering decline in competitiveness, diminishing economic growth and a bleaker future for all. The case for action is compelling and urgent.”

Lord Leitch pointed out that low skills levels can hold back productivity and growth. In the review he outlined that by 2020 skills attainments at all levels should be increased - so that 95 per cent of working-age adults have basic literacy and numeracy skills, more than 90 per cent have Level 2 qualifications, the number of apprentices double and more than 40 per cent of adults are skilled to graduate level and above.

If the country, its individuals and organisations are to achieve progress in this competitive marketplace, skills levels will need to increase further and faster than ever before. Over 70 per cent of our 2020 workforce has already completed compulsory education. This means that to improve their skills to Level 2 and beyond, we need to provide opportunities and to highlight the importance of skills for individuals, employers and the nation as a whole.

It is precisely to address these concerns highlighted by Leitch that the skills campaign is being launched now.

Question: What do you want from the campaign?

Chris Banks: The campaign will act as a ‘call to action’ and I hope create a real buzz around the importance, the benefits and the need to encourage people to take control of their lives through learning and skills.

The ambition is that we create a lasting and memorable campaign that is actively supported, and the message ‘it’s our future, it’s in our hands’ is used and developed by all partners in their own communications and advertising across all types of further education – the message can be easily adapted for employers, young people, adults and stakeholders.

Question: Will this cover all your other campaigns?

Chris Banks: Yes. The Skills Campaign will act as an umbrella message for everything that further education can provide for employers, adults and young people. For example, businesses across England have already reaped the benefits of Train to Gain, the LSC’s employer focussed service. Train to Gain provides employers with impartial advice on what skills training is available in their area and ensures that this training meets the need of the business.

In its first year, more than 40,000 businesses signed up to Train to Gain, exceeding the original target and showing how successfully the free and impartial Skills Brokerage service has engaged with businesses. Not only that, feedback about the service has been overwhelmingly positive.

Ninety per cent of employers who have used the service describe it as very good or above. Train to Gain will now be marketed through the ‘In our Hands’ theme of the Skills Campaign, alongside other services such as Adult Learning Grants and Educational Maintenance Allowances (EMA).

Question: What will success look like?

Chris Banks: Our future, It’s in our hands is aiming to transform the way people think, feel and act about learning and skills so that over time, the demand for it, and investment in it, both in terms of time and money, from basic skills to Levels 2, 3, 4 and beyond, is improved.

Success will be a change of culture and attitude. We will work hard to achieve this. It will take time - but it is time well worth spending.

Question: What does the campaign look like, what’s the big idea behind it?

Chris Banks: The Skills Campaign consists of a high-profile and eye-catching series of advertisements. These will run on TV, radio and in the press and, we hope, will attract widespread attention and raise awareness about the need to improve skills levels.

The strap-line of the campaign, 'Our future, it’s in our hands', has been designed to talk to people as adults and empower them to transform their lives. The artwork on the TV and outdoor adverts will feature a series of painted hands forming shapes to reflect the different messages put across. An ugly duckling is transformed into a swan in one advert, and in another, a business in danger of running out of steam is given a new lease of life after equipping its staff with new skills.

We want to trigger discussion about the importance of training and learning and how they can go about improving their skills. But, creating the demand for better skills is just the beginning. It’s vital, too, to ensure that colleges and learning providers up and down the country continue their excellent track record and to translate that demand into even better and relevant learning and training.

So, once people have been inspired by the campaign, how do they go about accessing the learning they want to do?

A Skills Campaign line (0800 011 30 30) has been set up in collaboration with Learndirect which will signpost callers to courses and services to fit their needs. The LSC is bracing itself to keep up with the extra demand created by the campaign and colleges, learning providers and other stakeholders have been fully briefed so that we can ensure we make the most of the campaign and to spread the message in local communities.

Individuals and employers will be able to discuss their skills needs and aspirations with trained call handlers who will then pass them through to the most appropriate range of help, support and programmes such as Apprenticeships, Train to Gain, Further Education courses, or get help with funding through programmes such as the Adult Learning Grant and Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) as well as tailored information and advice through nextstep, learndirect and local services.

Question: So when does the campaign launch?

Chris Banks: Today. We launched the consumer side of the campaign this morning at a special event for stakeholders to show them the campaign and ensure as many as possible could join in and get behind it. Our first television advertisements air tonight. The employer campaign for Train to Gain launches next Monday on 16 July and will continue over the summer and early autumn with a second phase in early 2008, so that information, planning and recruitment periods for training and courses throughout the year, can be fully maximised.

If others in the skills sector want to get involved in the campaign is there still time to do so?

Absolutely. We want the skills campaign to change people’s attitudes towards learning and make a substantial impact on the country’s skills levels in the next five years. By working together we can strengthen each others’ work and create a consistent and powerful message.

This campaign will give people the confidence to take the first steps in improving the rest of their lives and the more organisations working as one to spread this message the more powerfully it will be amplified. Any organisations wishing to find out more should contact 020 7413 3400 or skillscampaign@lsc.gov.uk