Agenda item

The Board received a report of the Operational Director – Economy, Enterprise and Property, which provided an update on the development of a Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for the Liverpool City Region (LCR).  Members welcomed Rachel Owen, from the Halton Chamber of Commerce, who delivered an accompanying presentation.

It was reported that the While Paper The Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth introduced a plan to put employers more firmly at the heart of the skills system to help ensure businesses and people had the skills they needed to thrive and progress.  The LSIPs were a key part of achieving this aim.

The LSIP was led by a designated Employer Representative Body (ERB); St Helen’s’ Chamber of Commerce was designated for the LCR and would liaise with the other Chambers within the LCR.  The LSIPs would set out employers’ skills needs and the priority changes required in a local area to help ensure post-16 technical education and skills provision was more responsive and flexible in meeting local labour market skills needs.  The report and presentation set out how this would be done and provided some guidance in respect of the LSIPs.

In response to Members questions and comments the following information was provided:

·         TUC involvement was being done at a national level with DWP.  St Helen’s’ Chamber was the ERB for Halton as part of the LCR, so they could be contacted for more information about this;

·         The responses to the questionnaire from Halton businesses was welcomed – there was no particular profile of companies that had responded so far; they were a mix of large, medium and small enterprises;

·         Members were invited to provide details of companies in Halton they were aware of to the Chamber, for them to make contact with them;

·         Although the top three sectors identified in Halton with skills gaps were manufacturing, construction, and logistics and warehousing, there was scope to include the environmental sector, for example companies such as Innovyn and Alstom (who had responded to the research);

·         Construction was a very large area so a broad view of this was being taken, to include as many companies and trades as possible;

·         Apprenticeships were included in the plan and focus groups would identify the skills gaps within apprenticeships as well;

·         Focus groups would also identify the needs of the Borough as a whole;

·         The ERB for the area was appointed by the Department for Education, after a tender process had taken place;

·         Halton Chamber was working with the Colleges in Halton to identify gaps in skills provision, which was fed to Government.  Any funding as a result of this went directly to the College (or other provider of education); and

·         It was noted that additional specialist teachers / lecturers would also be needed to plug the gaps identified by the research and to deliver the education.

RESOLVED:  That

1)    Members note the process and progress being made to develop a Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) for the Liverpool City Region; and

2)    the Council works with Halton Chamber of Commerce to raise awareness of the Research Questionnaire contained in Appendix one of the report; additionally the Chamber maximises existing strategies and research held by the Council’s Business Support Team.