The Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) is an initiative from the Department for Education (DfE) that sets out the key priorities needed to make technical education and skills provision more responsive to the changing needs of employers and the local economy by:
- Ensuring a better match between the supply of and demand for the skills employers most need to thrive and boost productivity, as well as helping to drive greater collaboration between providers to realise the benefits of economies of scale and specialisation;
- Making provision more accessible and addressing barriers to progression, especially for the adult workforce, such as driving greater join-up between skills offers, including work programmes; and
- Recognising that improving the supply of skills must be accompanied by demand-side measures that drive greater employer engagement and investment in skills and support potential learners through effective careers guidance.
In other words, the LSIP puts employers at the heart of the skills agenda in Norfolk and Suffolk.
There are 38 LSIPs across the UK. Our local LSIP reaches across the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk. So Norfolk Chambers are working in close collaboration with Suffolk Chamber of Commerce to ensure both business communities are fully engaged.
The remit for the Norfolk and Suffolk LSIP is in four parts:
- Articulate the employers skills needs – what are the skills employers need locally and struggle to find?
- Translating employers needs into changes in provision – how can those employers needs best be met by the provider in more responsive ways?
- Address learner demand and employer engagement – what can local stakeholders and employers do to raise demand for and make better use of those skills?
- Report annually to the DfE on what we want to achieve, why it matters, what changes are needed, and who needs to be involved. In other words what does skills success look like?
The DfE have made it clear that the LSIP is about quality engagement with a wide range of businesses. To achieve this, we are working in close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders across the region including: Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils, all the universities and colleges across Norfolk and Suffolk and several sixth form colleges.
We also work with the private training providers, charities and the voluntary sector, as well as the DWP/Job Centre Plus and other business organisations. Work is also being undertaken with a wide range of sector groups.
But the most important people are the business communities across Norfolk and Suffolk. We want to hear from businesses of any size: from sole traders and micro businesses to medium size enterprises and large corporates – all views and opinions are being sought.
The LSIP contract runs from September 2022 until March 2025 and is being done in two phases.
Phase 1 of the Norfolk and Suffolk Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) outlined the key skills required across our region’s vital sectors and offered a strategic roadmap to tackle skill shortages. As the Employer Representative Body (ERB), Norfolk Chambers, in partnership with Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, have successfully united employers, education and training providers, and local authorities to ensure that businesses are at the forefront of our regional skills agenda.
- In Phase 1, the LSIP identified that the key priorities were:
- Skills provision mapping needed to be easy to navigate.
- There need to be a region-wide offer for Soft and Digital skills training.
- Private sector funding was needed for Net-Zero training.
- A common language was needed between providers and employers to address the perceived barriers.
Phase 2 was about building on the success of the first phase and cementing the collaborations with stakeholders, acting on the needs of the employers and helping to garner fundamental change across the Norfolk and Suffolk skills landscape.
In Phase 2 of the LSIP the key priorities are:
- Ongoing employer engagement
- Embedding the LSIP process in the local skills system
- Galvanising collaborative action with employers, providers and local stakeholders to support the delivery of the actionable priorities and the roadmap set out in the LSIP
- Keeping the LSIP reviewed and reporting annually to the DfE
- Achieving better alignment of the local skills system with employer needs and help to sustain the alignment long-term
Below are the annual reports from Phase 1 of the LSIP and the annual report for the ongoing Phase 2.
Norfolk & Suffolk Phase 2 – Progress Report 2024.
Approved Norfolk & Suffolk LSIP – Phase 1 (May 2023)
Norfolk & Suffolk LSIP Phase 1 – Appendix B (May 2023)
