Local Skills Improvement Plan - Phase 2

The Chamber is leading on for Leicester and Leicestershire, which seeks to close the gap between the skills businesses need to succeed and those on offer in the local education system. The availability of having the right people for the workforce regularly comes up as a barrier to growth and as a member we'd love to have your views help shape the work.

What is a Local Skills Improvement Plan?

A Local Skills Improvement Plan – or LSIP for short – is a tool being produced on a locality-by-locality basis to help educators better respond to the needs of local businesses. Further Education Colleges must consider the LSIP when planning their curriculum. It has been commissioned by Government, with 38 being delivered across England. The LSIP for our area covers all of Leicester and Leicestershire. The Plan will be produced for summer 2023 and will contain recommendations for improvements in how the educators and employers in Leicester and Leicestershire interact. For example, this may involve what the curriculum offers, how this is communicated or how businesses can better engage educators.

Who is involved in creating the LSIP?
The LSIP is produced through a collaboration of businesses, education providers, support agencies and the public sector. The East Midlands Chamber, the Chamber of Commerce for Leicester and Leicestershire, is facilitating the partnership. In Leicester and Leicestershire, a steering group is helping to shape the Plan. This group consists of organisations representing business membership organisations, Further Education Colleges, independent training providers, careers advisors, the Job Centre, universities, schools, examining bodies and local authorities.

What does the LSIP look like in Leicester and Leicestershire?
In Leicester and Leicestershire, our LSIP is based on developing a deeper understanding of what the evidence tells us we need. The data behind this evidence comes from a variety of different sources, including, of course, from businesses themselves, and is presented via our 'Collective Intelligence Skills Observatory' – CISO for short. The CISO is not only the home to a variety of dashboards and explainers but also houses further information on understanding the data and, ultimately, the Plan itself.

In addition to a deeper understanding of the evidence, we're also working closely with those in education who will make the changes and shape the partnerships that will make it happen. This will help ensure that the recommendations that are ultimately made have the best chance of having the most significant impact on everyone who lives and works in Leicester and Leicestershire.

How can I get involved?
I'm a business: If you're a business, we'd love for you to be involved. We'll be working with companies in early 2023 to get new intelligence on what attributes you need to have in your people to succeed. If you want to be a part of this, then please fill in this form: bit.ly/LSIPRegister

I'm an educator or advisor: We'd love to hear more from you on what you need from the CISO to help you make great decisions when working with your students. We're holding a series of focus and discussion groups – please get in touch with us at lsip@emc-dnl.co.uk for more information.

I'm a student, parent or someone looking to change careers: Ultimately, we want our LSIP to work for you. We're engaging citizens through a variety of mechanisms and partners. Please keep checking our CISO as it develops, and let us know what you think at lsip@emc-dnl.co.uk.