Skills Utilisation Literature Review

Scottish Government


CFE was commissioned to undertake a literature review on behalf of the Scottish Government into skills utilisation.

The aim of the literature review was to bring together literature evidence on skills utilisation in order to provide a clear picture of the nature and extent of the current evidence base, identify current knowledge gaps and make recommendations regarding areas for further exploration.

A key finding from the research found that there was no pre established definition of skills utilisation. CFE’s analysis led to the following definition for consideration:

"Skills utilisation is about ensuring the most effective application of skills in the workplace to maximise performance, through the interplay of a number of key agents (e.g. employers, employees, learning providers and the state) and the use of a range of HR, management and working practices. Effective skills utilisation seeks to match the use of skills to business demands/needs."

The full skills utilisation literature review can be found on the Scottish Government's website here.