Progress of skills research revealed

Employers from across the Marches are being invited to a fact-finding event which will outline the progress being made in tackling the region’s labour and skills shortages.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) have been designed to put employers at the heart of skills provision, identify skills gaps and work with partners to devise solutions.

And on September 6^th, all of the LSIP teams from across the Midlands will be coming together to reveal and discuss their progress.

The event is being held at MIRA Technology Institute in Nuneaton, and Shropshire Chamber of Commerce – which leads the LSIP project in the Marches area – is urging Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire businesses to attend.

Ruth Ross, project director of the Marches LSIP and chief executive of Shropshire Chamber, said: “The LSIPs have been warmly welcomed by employers as they give an opportunity to explain the issues they face with skills, training, and recruitment, as well as help shape the future of training and their own staff pipelines.

“This Midlands-wide celebratory event will enhance the project further as employers from across the region learn about the wider LSIP outcomes and discuss next steps, sharing their views and collaborating to again enhance the value of the already successful LSIP England-wide projects.

“The depth of employer engagement achieved is testament to the relationship we have with businesses and the value employers put on the LSIP projects. We’d love to see a good representation of businesses from the Marches at this event.”  

There are still spaces for businesses to book to attend (all learning provider spaces are taken). For more information, go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/midlands-lsip-celebration-tickets-981659178027?aff=oddtdtcreator

Each area of the Midlands has created its own LSIP and been awarded Local Skills Improvement Funding (LSIF) funding – with Shropshire Chamber of Commerce taking the lead in the Marches area, for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire.

Across the region, a huge amount of work has already taken place to identify the needs of each area and start to put plans in place to address them.

The September 6 event is a chance to celebrate the achievements so far, to look ahead to the next phase of delivering against the plan and to talk to businesses about their ongoing needs.

Speakers will include Dr Mel Collins from the Department for Education, and there will be panel sessions to provoke wider discussion.

The event will look at the priorities for each different part of the Midlands, look at how employers are being engaged and how learning and training providers are being collaborated with.

There will also be an opportunity for each area to talk about a ‘star’ project that is dealing with a priority focus.

The Marches LSIP project has been targeting specific sectors across the including engineering, manufacturing, professional services, construction, environmental technologies, and health & social care.

Marches LSIP project manager Rosie Beswick said: “The more information we are able to put into our reports, the more benefit local businesses stand to receive from it.

“We know that the inability to recruit the right calibre of skilled staff is holding companies back, so we must ensure that post-16 technical education and training is as closely aligned as possible to the needs of local employers.

“Our aim is to create an environment for the sharing of best practice to create the best possible outcomes for businesses and workers across all corners of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, and Herefordshire.”

Pictured: Ruth Ross, project director of the Marches LSIP and chief executive of Shropshire Chamber