LSIPs are employer-led and locally owned initiatives which aim to set out the key priorities needed to make technical education and skills provision more responsive to the changing needs of employers and the local economy by:
• Ensuring a better match between the supply of and demand for skills
• Driving greater collaboration between training providers
• Making provision more accessible and addressing barriers to progression
• Recognising that improving the supply of skills must be accompanied by demand-side measures that drive greater employer engagement
In essence LSIPs are about ensuring we have the right provision to enable people to do their current and future jobs better.
The Chamber has been tasked with producing an LSIP for Cumbria this year and continuing to refresh, build on, and implement the plan over the following two years.
This follows on from the Chamber’s successful delivery of an LSIP Trailblazer pilot earlier this year which involved engagement with hundreds of employers countywide, employer bodies, providers and other stakeholders.
Other employer representative bodies partnering in the delivery of the Trailblazer included: Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster, CBI, CITB, CLA, Cumbria Tourism, The Farmer Network and the NFU.
The Chamber’s LSIP will build on the work done during the Trailblazer pilot by identifying and clearly articulating employer needs, issues and opportunities and setting out how these can be addressed, and where we can act on that directly.
Suzanne Caldwell, Managing Director of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce said:
“We’re delighted to have been appointed to take this forward, working with employers, partners and wider stakeholders. And looking forward to doing that.
The pilot was a great success. A good number of the actions identified have already been implemented or are underway – some before the report was even finished in March. And stakeholders are continuing with that.
That in itself speaks volumes about Cumbria, the practicality and commitment of Cumbria’s people and what we can achieve working together.
The national roll out gives us all a valuable opportunity to build on what we started in the pilot, going into more depth and expanding the sectors covered.”
