Design Council and CCS scheme to be rated by panel

The skills consultation initiative being run by the Design Council and Creative and Cultural Skills is set to go into its second phase at the start of next month, when it is to be evaluated by the 25-strong Design Skills Advisory Panel.

A final report, off the back of the Keep British Design Alive campaign, will then be compiled by the cross-industry advisory panel for publication in March 2007. The report will include a number of recommendations aimed primarily at bolstering design skills across schools, colleges and the workplace.

Along with submissions from other parts of the creative industries, the design sector’s report will then be used by the sector skills agency Creative and Cultural Skills to complete a Sector Skills Agreement for publication in around January 2008. This will become part of a broader skills programme for the UK overseen by the Sector Skills Development Agency, which directs the sector skills agencies.

Design Council head of design skills Lesley Morris says any available funding to take the cross-industry recommendations forward will be made available by CCS after that time, with the backing of the Department for Education and Skills.

The current consultation will close to design professionals at the end of the month.

Pictured: from left – Annabel Praeger, Tom Bewick, Lesley Morris and David Kester