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Economic Strategies and Plans

A Starship Robot driving down a street
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Economic Strategies and Plans

School students having a discussion with their teacher
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Economic Strategies and Plans

East Northamptonshire Enterprise Centre
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Economic Strategies and Plans

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Economic Strategies and Plans

Northampton College Advanced Engineering Centre
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Economic Strategies and Plans

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SEMLEP Skills Strategy

The South East Midlands has seen growing employment with higher employment levels and a more diverse and inclusive labour market than national averages.

To ensure employment in the South East Midlands continues to prosper, working with partners from across the area, we’ve produced a South East Midlands Skills Strategy. The strategy follows on from the 2017 Growing People Skills Plan and sets out the local strengths, skills needs and an action plan to address key priorities.

This Skills Strategy contributes to the South East Midlands Local Industrial Strategy and Economic Recovery Strategy.

The ambitions of the strategy are to:

  • Support alignment of provision, facilities and activity with employer needs.
  • Remove discrepancies between the skills and attainment needed by employers and those held by individuals.
  • Inform, inspire and raise aspirations of the talent pipeline.
  • Enable people into employment and those within employment to progress.
  • Deliver through employer-led engagement, best practice and innovation.
  • Guide stakeholders through informed labour market information.
  • Coordinate, facilitate and simplify engagement for all stakeholders.

This strategy aims to influence local partners and feed intelligence to the central government, including the national-level Skills and Productivity Board.

The Skills Strategy includes the cross-cutting themes of:

  • Being employer-led.
  • Delivery including employer engagement to maximise impact.
  • Accessible labour market information for use by stakeholders.
  • Coordination of provision and support of local and national providers.
  • Leveraging local and national initiatives to support local people and the economy.
  • Supporting inclusivity and diversity throughout.

Governance of the SEMLEP Skills Strategy is through the Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) which operates under delegations from the SEMLEP Board and full terms of reference can be found here.

The Department for Education (DfE) supports the SAP with grant funding primarily to produce high-quality analysis of the local labour market and Local Skills Report.

The SEMLEP Skills Strategy comprises the Local Skills Report and two annexes containing the supporting data and evidence base. Further evidence can be found in Skills Needs.

The Local Skills Report is the core of the Skills Strategy and comprises:

  • Foreword
  • Skills Advisory Panel – Introduction
  • Skills, strengths and needs
  • Skills strategy
  • Skills action plan:
    • Development of the talent pipeline within and from education.
    • Engagement with work for individuals.  
    • Recruitment to work for employers.
    • Development within work.
    • Entrepreneurship/business start-up.
  • Assessment of progress
  • Case studies/positive impact stories
  • Looking forward

Further details for each element of the Skills Action Plan are being developed. More information is available by contacting paul.thompson@semlep.com. 

Read the Skills Report

South East Midlands Local Skills Report

This is a set of high-level statistics with commentary. The document comprises data from Government sources:

  • Local landscape – an overview of employment, business types, GVA, wages, population, claimant counts, areas and levels of deprivation.
  • Skills Supply – data on qualifications held, further education and training achievements, apprenticeships, higher education qualifiers, destinations from education, graduate retention, employer-provided training.
  • Skills Demand – online vacancies, sector and occupation growth forecasts, skills needed by employers.
  • Mapping Skills Demand and Supply – proficiency of the workforce, hard-to-fill and skills shortage vacancies.

View Annex A: Core Indicators

Local Skills Report Annex A: Core Indicators

A more detailed set of analysis and data for the South East Midlands created by SEMLEP through consultation with businesses, the SEMLEP Business Survey and data analysis.

  • Local Landscape
    • Employment by sector, demographics, full/part time, occupation
    • Job vacancies by occupational group
    • Enterprises by employment size
    • Employment rates by age, gender, ethnic cohorts, disability and the impact of Covid-19
    • Productivity
    • Salaries by both workplace and residency
    • Income, employment and education deprivation
  • Skills Supply
    • Learner starts for further education and apprenticeships
    • Participation in higher education by local authority area
    • Destinations from education
    • Not in Education, Employment of Training (NEET)
    • Development of the talent pipeline – careers provision and employer engagement
  • Skills Demand
    • SEMLEP Business Survey 2019 – skills related data summary
    • SEMLEP Skills Reports – conclusions including definitions of employability skills and digital skills, the impact of leaving the EU, an ageing workforce and the Green Economy.
  • Mapping Skills Supply and Demand
    • Summary of the current status for each occupational group or sector
    • Skills supply and demand – profiling of employment, vacancies and learner pipeline through quotients
    • Occupations in demand and local mapping of education and training provision

View Annex B: Additional Analysis and References

Skills Report: Additional Analysis and Reference

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