Skills Investment Plans

We provide a wealth of information on how skills can drive growth and opportunities in Scotland’s sectors and regions. Find out what we, and our partners, are doing to bring these plans to life.

Our Skills Investment Planning approach

Through Skills Investment Planning, we aim to bring skills demand and supply closer together.

We contribute to a vibrant economy by supporting individuals to develop the skills industry needs. And, we support sectors and regions to make best use of the people, skills and resources available. 

The first stage was building Skills Investment Plans (SIPs). SIPs describe the skills challenges and opportunities across Scotland’s key sectors. They give a picture of the economic and labour market situation, trends in skills and qualification supply and employers’ perspectives on the big skills issues affecting sector growth.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, we worked with Industry Leadership Groups and other key industry players to develop these plans. They were created through a process of labour market and skills supply research and analysis, industry consultation and action planning with industry and partners across Scotland’s education and skills system.

Each SIP is tailored to the needs of the sector. We also ensure that SDS services for individuals and employers line up with the SIP recommendations. With the plans now in place, we’ll continue working with industry and partners to carry out the actions and monitor progress.

Regional Skills Investment Plans

We’ve now extended this approach to include Regional Skills Investment Plans (RSIPs), which recognise the diverse needs of regions across Scotland. This work builds on Regional Skills Assessment data to take account of the particular challenges, opportunities and drivers at regional level and present a partnership response to these.

The RSIP for the Highlands and Islands enterprise area is the first of these regional plans. Work has already begun to extend this to other regions in the coming year.