New Skills Board oversees impact and delivery of South East Midlands Skills Plan

This month, the newly formed SEMLEP Skills Board met for the first time to set out contributions to delivering the Growing People Skills Plan. This Board comprises representatives from business, education, training providers, local authorities and the voluntary and social enterprise sectors.

The SEMLEP ‘Growing People’ Skills Plan is a cohesive strategic plan for lifelong skills development working with businesses, organisations, educators, agencies and local authority partners. Its focus is from the latter years of primary education, through all phases and pathways of education and employment, building a talent pipeline and unlocking the potential of all people including those within and seeking employment.

The SEMLEP Skills Board task is to oversee the delivery and impact of this plan. The ambitions are:

• To inform skills development through employer sector driven labour market information (LMI) derived from data analysis, research and consultation with employers, sector bodies and educators
• To address discrepancies between the skills and attainment needed by employers and those held by young people
• To address skills gaps between those held by employees and those required by employers
• To enable people to enter employment and those within employment to progress

With the introduction of the government’s Industrial and Careers strategies, the SEMLEP Growing People Skills Plan will provide the conduit to address the needs of both local employers and individuals in terms of employability and skills, the Skills Board being the driving force behind this activity.

For more information about the Skills Board, contact Paul Thompson, Employer and Skills Manager at SEMLEP on paul.thompson@semlep.com