Buckinghamshire Business First celebrates significant progress with Local Skills Improvement Plan
Buckinghamshire Business First (BBF) is delighted to present a progress report on the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) which has successfully brought employers and providers together to address long-standing skills challenges and collaborate on innovative solutions. The impact has been profound and significant, with the LSIP integrated into the wider Skills and Employment Strategy for Buckinghamshire.
Buckinghamshire has one of the most robust local economies in the United Kingdom, but barriers to growth have long included a skills mismatch between the type of skills sought by local employers and the skills held by local residents. The LSIP Progress Report makes clear that this is one barrier that’s being tackled with great success, with employers from key sectors embracing the LSIP.
The LSIP has enabled the leverage of £2.5million from the Local Skills Improvement Fund to support various skills projects in the county, including new facilities at Buckinghamshire College Group for new full-time, part-time and apprenticeship provision for the construction sector; development of an Engineering Hub to provide hitherto unavailable full-time, part-time and apprenticeship provision in mechanical and electrical engineering; a pilot Volunteering Skills Record with Buckinghamshire Health & Social Care Academy and Community Impact Bucks to enhance work-readiness skills; and a programme to help technically skilled industry professionals transition into teaching roles.
Other skills initiatives supported by the research undertaken by the LSIP include £45,000 from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for research into the skills needs of the retrofit workforce under its Home Decarbonisation regional skills project; £3.2million for 24 Skills Bootcamps to address skills shortages in LSIP priority sectors for 2024-25; and £5.9million from the UK Space Agency to build a new technical and training facility at the Westcott Space Cluster.
With Buckinghamshire being home to Pinewood and other highly regarded film and television studios, a feasibility study for a Film & TV Skills Hub is also being incorporated into the “Screen Buckinghamshire” concept.
Paul Skitt, Director of Skills and Education, Flannery Plant Hire & Chair, Buckinghamshire Construction Sector Employer Group, said: “The LSIP process really gave employers, and in our case construction employers, the chance to collaborate and influence the skills priorities within Bucks. From a construction perspective this has helped bring the supply chain together and work more collaboratively to not only influence the priorities but work together to find solutions”.
The Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern, the Minister for Skills at the Department for Education, said: “I welcome the publication of the Local Skills Improvement Plan Progress Report for Buckinghamshire. These reports set out progress made on meeting the skills needs of local employers. As well as being a valuable source of information for local skills deliverers, employers, and stakeholders, the reports along with the LSIPs themselves will provide important intelligence for the newly established Skills England.”