Mouthpiece: A skilled workforce is vital

It is gratifying to see skills and training given such prominence in the Scottish election campaign.

We have heard impressive commitments from all parties on the creation of apprenticeships, the importance of investing in the skills base of those sectors likely to deliver new jobs, and making the education system more responsive to the skills needs of employers.

In the current economic climate, developing a highly skilled Scottish workforce has never been more important. One of the key challenges is to anticipate future skills gaps and shortages accurately and to ensure these are addressed.

Each year, Scotland's sector skills councils undertake in-depth labour market intelligence to identify the evolving skills needs of individual economic sectors. As the collective voice of employers on skills issues, the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils in Scotland has a key role to play in helping employers identify their longer term skills needs.

Right now, we need to be mapping out the skills graduating students and apprentices will need in five to ten years' time. For Edinburgh, these include financial services, life sciences, tourism and hospitality and the higher education sector.

We also need to build much closer links between employers, students and education and training providers. A key element of this is the creation of on-the-job training and skills development. Teachers and lecturers should be encouraged to participate in exchange programmes with business and industry. Meanwhile, employers should be given more direct input into the decision-making processes of our educational institutions.

All of these measures will help us to build a system that is far more responsive to employers' needs. Ultimately, it will ensure the ongoing success of the Scottish economy.

• Jacqui Hepburn is director of the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils in Scotland