Results of Futureskills Scotland Forward Looking Approach Published

In response to a recommendation from an independent evaluation, Futureskills Scotland commissioned a review of its forward-looking approach from external experts. This review was conducted by Volterra Consulting and consisted of:

• a large-scale survey of Futureskills Scotland customers;
• a review of potential approaches to economic projections and forecasts;
• a series of individual, face-to-face interviews with eight key stakeholder representatives; and
• a facilitated workshop with 10 key users of Futureskills’ projections.

Volterra Consulting’s final report concludes that:

• stakeholders are satisfied with the service provided by Futureskills Scotland and see it as a valuable resource;
• stakeholders generally understand the limitations of labour market projections; and
• Futureskills Scotland’s current approach and procedure is perfectly reasonable and its previous decisions regarding the commissioning of labour market projections were well founded.

There are a number of areas where improvements can be made. These relate primarily to:

• making more explicit the assumptions which underpin the projections;
• providing access to labour market projection data in Microsoft Excel format via the Futureskills Scotland website;
• providing a clearer assessment of the uncertainty surrounding projections; and
• taking a longer term view of projections by including headline projections for a ten year period.

A full copy of Volterra Consulting’s findings can be found on the About Us section of the Futureskills Scotland website.