Clare Vokes, Senior Research Executive Pye Tait Consulting

 Specialists in: ◦ skills and labour research ◦ Standards and qualifications development  Conducting the review of Local Land Charges and Property Information NOS and the NVQs

 The Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Facilities Management, Housing, Property, Planning, Cleaning and Parking ◦ Employer-led ◦ One of 25 SSCs ◦ Lead on skills issues

 Standards in existence for the public sector  Reviewed (2007) to ensure they are up to date – to include new units for those working in other departments (e.g. Highways)  NVQs at Level 3 and Level 4  Completing the picture for the sector by adding coverage for private companies

 Addressing calls for professionalisation  Developing new units for: ◦ Level 3 – Supervisory ◦ Level 4 – Middle Management  Adding into the current NVQs a route for personal search agents

 Liaised with professional bodies and personal search companies  Background scoping  Written new standards for personal search agents  Reviewed the standards with the sector

◦ Define competence in a job role or occupational area ◦ Divided into ‘units’ covering broad functions ◦ Describe required performance and underpinning knowledge ◦ Written in ‘outcome’ terms ◦ Free!  They are not – ◦ Mandatory ◦ A training course

 Unit title  Unit overview  Performance statements  Knowledge requirements

NOS exist for many different sectors: 1.Specialist, sector specific 2.‘Generic’, cross-sector  Management & Leadership  Administration  Customer Service

What are they used for?  Job descriptions  Recruitment  Appraisals  Staff retention  Identifying skills needs  Training needs analyses  Training programmes  Qualifications development

 NOS used as a basis on which NVQs are built  Level 3 – roughly equivalent to A level  Level 4 – roughly equivalent to HND  A range of mandatory and optional units

 Documentation submitted to the approvals body  National Occupational Standards  Qualification structures  NOS freely available to use for...

 Monitoring performance  Specifying organisational competence needs  Linking training and development to strategy and objectives  Preparing recruitment specifications  Preparing job advertisements  Job design  Identifying trends in skills requirements  Developing training programmes  Self-assessment  A format for internal assessment and appraisal