Where we are at:
At the end of May (2023) the final report for the Norfolk and Suffolk Local Skills Improvement Plan (N&S LSIP) was submitted to the Department for Education (DfE.)
Phase 1 has seen the N&S LSIP engage with hundreds of employers, stakeholders, and providers to ensure all voices are heard.
Delivered:
The report will build on the hard work of the plan which aims to bridge the problems between employers and education providers in giving them the right courses for the right people to come through the right career pathways and working in collaboration with employers, skills providers, and other local stakeholders the LSIP will help develop and co-ordinate solutions to these problems.
Clear themes and actions came through from our conversations, included:
Accessibility:
Employers need to understand the skills landscape and how to access skills training provision more easily.
Knowledge:
Needed around T-Levels and other qualifications and an understanding of how they can be used within an employer.
Advice & Guidance:
Employers understand the skills required but do not know how this relates to qualifications.
Engagement:
Providers to be more responsive and inclusive in their approach to training and employer engagement, creating working partnerships instead of transactional relationships.
LSIP next steps
Whilst we await sign off by the Secretary of State, we are developing plans for the next stage of the LSIP. From now until 2025, as we seek to publicise the N&S LSIP, we will be exploring opportunities to maintain and strengthen the lines of communication and opportunities to collaborate between employers, providers, learners, and other key stakeholders, as well as working with employers and providers to implement the recommendations made within the LSIP.
Local Skills Improvement Funding – LSIF
As well as the progress being made on the LSIP, the Department for Education (DfE) has also recently launched the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF), which has been designed to enable training providers across a sub-region to respond collectively to the priorities in the local skills improvement plans (LSIPs). FE providers have agreed that the lead applicant for our sub-region will be Suffolk New College.
If you are a training provider working within region and would like to know more about the project, please contact [email protected]
Get Involved
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in our Board, Working Groups, Events, interviews, and online surveys.
The final published report will appear on our website and will let you know when it’s published.
To be part of improving local skills provision, please contact: [email protected].
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