A major new plan to help the West Midlands and Warwickshire tackle labour and skills shortages has been approved by the Government – with more than £10 million of funding available in the region to deliver its aims.
The West Midlands and Warwickshire Local Skills Improvement Plan (WMW LSIP) has been produced by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and Black Country Chamber of Commerce.
The plan, which sets out three key priorities, has been devised after around six months of research and consultation including engaging with more than 1,000 employers as well as skills and training organisations such as FE and HE institutions and other private providers.
It has identified where there are shortfalls in provision and, also, a lack of knowledge of what is available both by individuals and employers, and makes recommendations on how they can be addressed.
Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, has rubber-stamped the plan and £10.4 million has been made available through a Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) to enable FE providers to respond to the proposals.
A partnership of local providers, led by Solihull College, is now bidding for that funding to address the issues set out in the plan and the fund is an immediate opportunity to further develop the critical relationship between education and business.
The first priority is to target key sectors crucial to the growth of the region as set out by the West Midlands Combined Authority, including engineering & manufacturing, construction, ICT & digital and logistics and distribution and to promote training and education provision already available but also to invest in new facilities and courses where appropriate. General actions are also recommended for all sectors.
The second priority set out in the WMW LSIP is the provision of excellent, flexible leadership and management training in both specific and general topics to help facilitate business growth.
Finally, the plan responds to employer requests for greater levels of essential skills for work and workplace digital skills with a range of recommendations from the creation of a new short course programme through to mentoring and coaching.
Corin Crane, Chief Executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are very pleased that the regional LSIP has been approved by Government and that we can now set to work in helping to tackle the skills shortage in the region.
“Over the past few months, we’ve spoken to and engaged with just about every organisation with an interest in this topic – from skills providers to the WMCA and from our local councils to the DWP.
“Crucially, we have also engaged with more than 1,000 businesses right across the West Midlands and Warwickshire and we have ensured that we have spoken to those companies who wouldn’t normally engage in this kind of process to make sure we got a fully rounded picture of what is missing.
“The plan sets out how we can tackle some of those issues – in some cases it will require investment in new facilities or new courses to provide the right level of post-16 skills training but, in others, it will be making sure that businesses and individuals are aware of what support and provision is already available.”
Henrietta Brealey, Chief Executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: "We hear loud and clear from local businesses that finding people with the right skills has got a whole lot tougher in recent years. Labour market shortages are a leading factor constricting business growth.
“The LSIP sets out opportunities to upskill more local talent and address these acute shortages. It also comes at a critical juncture for the region, as organisations look to overcome challenges and grasp opportunities associated with digitisation, the advancement of new technologies, and the transition to net zero.
“The West Midlands and Warwickshire LSIP is a testament to the spirit of collaboration across the region, and I’d like to express my thanks to the over a thousand local businesses, stakeholders and providers of post-16 technical education and training who contributed their time and expertise to the project.
"We look forward to continuing to work with fellow regional Chambers and all the partners involved in the LSIP to build on this research and report on the impact of the plan in due course.”
Sarah Moorhouse, Chief Executive of Black Country Chamber of Commerce, said: “For decades now our members have reported that recruitment, retention, but more importantly skills, or sadly the lack of them, is their number one priority, so the opportunity to work collaboratively on this project, and place employers at the heart of the skills system, has allowed our businesses to express their short and long-term skills needs.
“By consulting with and articulating the skills needs of employers, the Chamber is helping to create a skills and training blueprint that meets the needs of businesses as well as the wider community, and LSIPs provides us with the opportunity to shape the future of the region’s skills and talent pipeline.
“Many of our businesses, both members and non-members, took part in a comprehensive assessment of skills requirements to ensure the correct provision is in place to meet those needs and to ensure we avoid skills gaps in the future.
“Alongside the specific skills required to build new green economy, and ease the recruitment crisis in many sectors, businesses involved in the LSIPs overwhelmingly identified communication and soft skills as a key priority, and digital skills were raised across the board along with those lacking specific to our region in the fields of engineering and manufacturing.”
“We look forward to working in partnership with our colleges, training providers, the combined authority, and other regional stakeholders to deliver real change as we move forward to phase two of the plans and the implementation of our findings.”