SINGAPORE - Two new statutory boards tentatively named SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) will be formed to move the national focus on skills and employment forward.

SSG will coordinate the drive for deeper skills and comes under the Ministry of Education (MOE), while WSG, under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), will focus on jobs and enterprises, the two ministries said on Tuesday.

The boards are expected to be established by the end of this year as the reorganisation will require changes to existing laws and must be approved in Parliament.

SSG will absorb some of the functions of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) such as the training of adult workers. It will improve the links between vocational, academic and adult training qualification systems so that credentials can be recognised consistently.

It will also take in the Council for Private Education, a statutory board under MOE which regulates private school operators. The ministries said this will allow for "a more coordinated approach towards audits and quality assurance for the private education institutions and adult training centres".

Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung will be helming SkillsFuture initiatives following the restructuring. He was appointed WDA's second chief executive in 2005.

The other new statutory board, WSG, will aim to achieve a good match of manpower supply with industry demand, and retains WDA's work of employment help, career services and industry engagement. For companies, it will focus on helping them become manpower-lean while remaining competitive.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the reorganisation will help the two new statutory boards to focus all their energy on their key missions.

"SSG will foster a culture of lifelong learning, and help to integrate a whole system of education and training through life," said Mr Tharman, who is Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies. "WSG will be MOM's agent in developing a strong Singaporean core in each sector of our economy, and (will) help companies to be manpower-lean while remaining competitive."