Premier Zille to Chair Convening of Premier's Council of Skills

This morning, Tuesday, 17 July, Premier Helen Zille will chair a convening of the Premier's Council on Skills (PCS) in Bellville. The PCS is comprised of representatives from government, higher education institutions, organised labour and business, and seeks to determine the skills priorities for the Western Cape, and define an agenda for producing these needed skills. It also plays a critical role in ensuring that the public and private sector work in close partnership to drive skills development in the province.

The PCS is one of three structures that make up the Provincial Skills Development Forum (PSDF), which was launched in June 2011 by Premier Zille and Minister Alan Winde, as the province's plan to foster and drive demand-led skills development. The primary purpose of the PSDF is to coordinate skills development in the Western Cape, to ensure that skills development interventions translate into real opportunities for the citizens of the province.

Recently, Premier Zille highlighted the importance of this approach at the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Skills Colloquium, stating that by identifying potential growth sectors, and forecasting the skills demand in those sectors together with the private sector, the government could play a key role in facilitating partnerships to develop those skills aligned to, and relevant to, the needs of a growing economy. This makes the PSDF a crucial intervention because economic and employment growth are at the centre of the Western Cape Government's agenda.