In this, the final article in our series based around the British Chambers of Commerce’s recent annual conference theme of People, Planet, Progress, we look at an exciting new Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) programme we’re developing to tackle the skills shortage for businesses in our local area.
With the UK employment skills shortage extending across over 30 domains, according to the Government’s own figures – from graphic design, to welding, IT to engineering, care provision to arts management, and many more – colleges and other institutions have a critical role to play in identifying where skills fall short and what needs to be done to redress the balance. The LSIP makes this progress possible.
The LSIP originated in the Government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper, which set out an ambitious employer-led approach aimed at making Further Education (FE) provision more responsive to local skills needs, and ultimately local economic needs.
An LSIP is intended to give employers a stronger voice in shaping local skills provision by clearly articulating the future skills need to FE providers and setting out the priority changes needed to help people develop the skills they require to get good jobs and enhance their prospects.
At Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, we have played a key role in the development of the LSIP in our region, as, in conjunction with the Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire Chambers, we applied in June this year to be a Local Employer Representative Body (ERB) for the development of an LSIP in the South-East Midlands – a bid that was successful.
Our LSIP development activities will commence from November of this year, working with many different local educational and training establishments that deliver post-16 technical education, including FE colleges, Sixth Form colleges, higher education institutions, independent training providers, and other designated institutions.
How will our LSIP engage with employers?
An LSIP depends for its success on combining input from multiple participants, including businesses, employers, and education institutions, but also other stakeholders such as local enterprise partnerships and local authorities.
Our development of the LSIP will follow a clear, three-stage process, comprising:
– Articulating employers’ skills needs: what are the skills employers need locally, but struggle to find? We will place special emphasis on those who struggle most to get their voices heard by, and engage effectively with, education and training providers.
– Translating employer needs into changes in provision: how can those needs best be met by providers in more responsive ways? New modules, or new courses? Changes in what is taught, or how it is taught? How can accessibility, flexibility, refresher training and upskilling be combined with thoroughness and rigour?
– Addressing learner demand and employer engagement – what can local stakeholders and employers do to raise demand for, and make better use of, those skills, particularly when they are new or nascent (e.g. sustainability, digitalisation, net zero, etc.)?
Clearly, interaction, dialogue, and insight are key here, so the first stage in the process will start with a detailed research exercise – including online surveys, employer-focused and group roundtable events, telephone calls and one-to-one meetings – to capture businesses’ views on the greatest imperatives and opportunities for improvement, and ensure we get traction quickest where it’s needed most.
What are the LSIP’s outputs and outcomes?
Once the views have been gathered, the data has been analysed, and the skills shortages have been identified in terms of the occupational routes and pathways that can address them, we will publish the LSIP report. This is a strategic but concise document – no more than 30 pages in total and designed to be easily accessed and consulted – setting out the priority changes needed to make post-16 technical education and training more responsive to the skills needs of employers in our geographical area (and indeed highlighting what should be retained), and defining how and when these changes will be organised, managed, and achieved.
Crucially, the LSIP is not a concept, or an exploration, or a theory: it is a solid plan for action that can only be published when it has been scrutinised and approved by the Secretary of State.
For more information on how Bedfordshire Chamber’s involvement with the LSIP programme can nurture the employee skills your business needs now and in the future, and support you in other ways through membership, visit our website or call us on 01582 522448
