Construction Skills Action Plan Mid Term Evaluation

The Construction Skills Action Plan (CSAP) was first approved by the Scottish Enterprise (SE) Board in October 2002, signalling a major investment of £35 million in construction skills across Scotland, through an ambitious plan which aims to enable the industry to respond effectively to current and future construction demand. The mid-term evaluation aims to assess the impact and performance of the CSAP’s wide range of demand-led programmes and projects after its first three and a half years of operation.

The methodology included: the establishment of a steering group with representatives from the construction industry; collation and analysis of monitoring information and outputs; participant and employer surveys; and the commissioning of an external assessment of GVA of the CSAP to the Scottish economy.

Participants in the many CSAP projects and programmes have benefited from a range of opportunities and additional support for both employability and upskilling. The majority of participants - both new entrants and existing workers - rated the training they received as good or very good and the majority of employers stated that they would recruit from the industry led programme again, reporting definite improvements in employee performance. The CSAP has also generated the following impacts based on measurable expenditure of £9.5 million: gross Gross Value Added (GVA) impact as at the mid-term point was £40.4 million with the net impact between £14.3 and £21.2 million. The estimates suggest that from the investment of £9.5 million as of September 2006 there will be a net impact of around £41.2million as at March 2010 based on a medium impact estimate. Generating a return on investment at the mid point of the programme is a solid achievement and suggests that over time the return should increase.

It is recommended that the high rate of success be maintained for the remainder of the Plan’s life, with a number of areas to be strengthened, such as expanding the support offered, the further development of new course subjects and improved communication between all parties.