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DEVELOPING AN EVIDENCE BASE FOR THE NORTH EAST LEP SKILLS ACTION PLAN

DEVELOPING AN EVIDENCE BASE FOR THE NORTH EAST LEP SKILLS ACTION PLAN. ANDREA GLASS, DEPUTE DIRECTOR, TERU 17 th JANUARY 2013. BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH. The NELEP was awarded a £500,000 City Skills Fund by the Skills Funding Agency to develop Skills priorities Skills Action Plan

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DEVELOPING AN EVIDENCE BASE FOR THE NORTH EAST LEP SKILLS ACTION PLAN

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  1. DEVELOPING AN EVIDENCE BASE FOR THE NORTH EAST LEP SKILLS ACTION PLAN ANDREA GLASS, DEPUTE DIRECTOR, TERU 17th JANUARY 2013

  2. BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH • The NELEP was awarded a £500,000 City Skills Fund by the Skills Funding Agency to develop • Skills priorities • Skills Action Plan • TERU has been commissioned to provide a robust evidence base and analysis to support development of the Skills Action Plan • This will provide a shared understanding of skill requirements for meeting business needs and stimulating growth in area • Research proposition • NELEP is low skills, low value economy • Want to move towards high skills, high value economy

  3. RESEARCH APPROACH • Stage 1: Baseline review • Dataset refresh and literature review • In-depth interviews and focus groups with stakeholders • Review of supply side infrastructure • Stage 2: Assessment of evidence to identify • Extent to which current provision meets need • Specific issues in high skills/high value sectors • Where improvements are required to meet identified needs more effectively • Stage 3: Developing strategic options • Identify main issues to be addressed • Agree priority areas of activity required to move NELEP towards high value/high skills • Make a series of recommendations for inclusion in the Skills Action Plan

  4. SUMMARY – CLOSING THE GAP WITH ENGLAND?

  5. WHAT ARE THE EMERGING ISSUES FOR BUSINESSES? • Complexity of the skills system - SMEs and micro-businesses struggle to engage • Need a better understanding of future skills needs but businesses struggle to communicate their needs • Nowhere to go for impartial view on availability, suitability and quality of training • Not always convinced about value of investing in skills as difficult to measure the return on investment • Skills system tends to deliver transferable qualifications but • Employers want skills not qualifications • Employers seldom want off the shelf model • SMEs fear poaching

  6. WHAT ARE THE EMERGING ISSUES FOR GROWTH SECTORS? • Opportunities in priority sectors e.g. advanced manufacturing, low carbon/ renewables but • Recruitment difficulties in some sectors • Lack of confidence in whether these will go ahead – and timescales • Although high quality jobs unlikely to deliver volume • Will increase demand for higher level skills but concerns around how to ensure skills system can respond • Need to replace ageing workforce and plan for future • Upskill existing staff • Recruit new/younger workforce • Retain and attract individuals with high level skills • But image problems amongst young people and key influencers

  7. WHAT ARE THE EMERGING ISSUES FOR THE SKILLS SYSTEM? • Schools • Fragmented IAG • Vocational/apprenticeships routes not pushed strongly • Leavers not prepared for world of work • Lack basic skills • Core employability skills • Apprenticeships • High number of L2 rather than L3+ apprenticeships • Employers find system complicated – especially hard for SMEs • Colleges and universities • Often learner/funding-led resulting in over-supply in some courses • Employers concerned that offer not tied sufficiently to labour market needs

  8. WHAT ARE THE EMERGING PRIORITY AREAS FOR ACTION? • These priority areas for action can be broadly grouped into packages for action around • Supply side • Demand side • Interconnectivity • Supply side • Given aspiration is to move towards high skill/high value need to do better on Level 3 and Level 4 qualifications • Support more effectively tackling the problem of those with no/low qualifications • Concerns raised by stakeholders about the numbers of applicants applying for high skill opportunities in the area

  9. WHAT ARE THE EMERGING PRIORITY AREAS FOR ACTION? • Demand side • Employers investing in skills to similar extent to other city region LEP areas – but scope for more? • Bulk of apprentices at Level 2 which does little to raise overall skills profile • Difficulty in attracting and retaining high skills/high value jobs to do with ‘place competitiveness’ • Interconnectivity • Fragmented IAG – especially at school level • Young people want work experience and employers willing to engage but activity is limited • Lack of employer led process for articulating and communicating skills needs • Need for ongoing assessment of performance of skills system to drive more effective skills investment decisions

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