Government Skills
Last updated: 15 May, 2009
15 March 2009
The Skills Survey, which started in March 2009 and runs until 30 June 2009, is off to a great start. So far, all organisations that have already run the survey have achieved the same or better response rates than in the Employee Survey in 2007.
The Department for International Development (DfID) recently achieved the best response yet to the Skills Survey – with 53 per cent of staff taking part within DfID's agreed dates. There was also high participation in other departments such as the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), which nearly trebled its response rate from 2007.
Both DfID and WAG found that gaining senior support within their department and working closely with their communications teams were both crucial factors in increasing staff responses.
Sir John Elvidge, Chair of the Skills Strategy Delivery Board (and Permanent Secretary, Scottish Government), encourages senior leaders to get behind the survey, saying:
“The Skills Survey 2009 is the biggest survey on skills ever run across the Civil Service. I believe it is a valuable initiative from Government Skills, and gives us the opportunity to combine our efforts to raise the skills of all civil servants.
“With high response rates we will gain extremely significant data to assess progress on the Skills Strategy for central government, and to develop this strategy. You will benefit directly as you receive the full dataset for your department, along with an overview of your results, to help assess your own skills strategy. Please use your influence to increase responses by supporting the delivery and communication of the Skills Survey in your department.”