Tartan Tiger

The head of Scotland's employer-led skills councils has challenged the country's government, industry leaders and training sector to step up its game on education and skills or risk seeing the dream of a "Tartan Tiger" economy slip away.

Speaking at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry's Influencers' Dinner in Edinburgh, Jack Matthews, chief executive of food and drink sector skills council Improve and chair of Scotland's Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, told guests that, despite progress, Scotland was still not effective enough in developing and harnessing its workforce, to the detriment of the economy.

He challenged the audience of politicians, advisers, industry leaders and education experts to work together to develop a "universal currency" for recognising and rewarding achievement which was demand-led, responsive and would directly result in growth for both individuals and businesses.

He said he was encouraged by work being undertaken between employers, sector skills councils and training providers to develop accumulative, unit-based frameworks for learning which could accommodate academic, vocational and work-based training. He suggested this would increase routes into employment and encourage more people to carry on training and education. Employers would benefit from a more flexible and responsive system which recognised their investment and targeted training directly at boosting productivity and performance.

"I believe we must have the courage, politically, professionally and economically to take the next step," he said. "We should be able to capitalise and lead the UK, if not the world, in growth of skills levels and competency of our workforce. We should have the highest levels of productivity and entrepreneurialism, the highest levels of employment and talent retention, if we are to become a veritable "Tartan Tiger" of an economy."