South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

7.2 Gaps in provision

In commissioning this Regional Analysis, the ESP wished to identify areas where there were gaps in policy or provision, in relation to the identified needs of employers. Issues have been highlighted throughout this report which may require attention by the ESP or by individual partners. Identifying gaps is far less straightforward.

Here we have sought to develop a definition of what may be regarded as a 'gap' for the purposes of this report and potential future ESP action.

• Gap 1 - where provision is available but is not of a sufficient scale to meet demand (this is particularly difficult to assess because partner plans are less than specific on the actual scale of activity taking place and expressed demand may not reflect true need). Here we have referred to SSC analysis or views from partners;
• Gap 2 - Gaps where provision exists but is piecemeal and unplanned and therefore may lack sufficient impact. Here the ESP may be in a position to add value through bringing together partners and supporting better co-ordination of activities.

We have tried to categorise the gaps identified in Table 20 below in accordance with these definitions.

Table 20: Gaps

Table 21 below sets out the priorities and activities of the key partners in the region. This information was extracted from regional action plans, where available, and national plans in the case of HEFCE and Jobcentre Plus.

Table 21: Partner Plans and Priorities (Open Word document in new window.)