SLIM Alliance Papers

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have been created ‘to provide the clear vision and strategic leadership to drive sustainable private sector-led growth and job creation in their area.’ On 6 April 2011, Gloucestershire LEP was launched on the basis of a proposal that included among its four priorities ‘connecting education and skills with the needs of business and the local economy – ensuring the ready supply of talent and, and attracting and retaining young people’. Recognising the significant manufacturing presence in the area, Gloucestershire LEP has established an ‘Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing’ Group.

This paper has been written at the behest of this group, to support efforts by local partners to foster closer connections between education and skills providers and manufacturing employers and to ensure that that this highly productive sector has access to the skills it needs. It has been written in advance of a workshop on 24 April 2012, which will focus on identifying the employment and skills challenges facing the industry and good practice in promoting STEM learning and progression into the industry.

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Manufacturing & STEM Skills in Gloucestershire Event - Somerset College, 24^th April 2012

At the onset of the recession, partners across the South West agreed that, as well as mitigating the worst impacts of the crisis, we needed to focus on creating the conditions for recovery and enabling local businesses to grow out of recession. We agreed that post-recession growth would look different to that seen beforehand – export-oriented, green and re-balanced away from the public and financial services. Unfortunately, the recovery has been delayed beyond most of our expectations and decisive action is still needed to help the UK emerge from recession.

The Government’s investment in next-generation, superfast broadband should be seen in this context - as an investment in a vital part of our national economic infrastructure, bringing us up to the standards of the best internationally.

In 2009, NESTA estimated that providing universal superfast broadband could directly create 600,000 new jobs, with £18 billion added to UK GDP and larger indirect effects¹. Earlier research, conducted in 2003², estimated that the growth in broadband would result in UK GDP being £21.9bn per annum higher in 2015 than it would otherwise have been; in annual UK fixed investment being around £8bn per annum higher than would otherwise have been the case, and annual government borrowing being around £13bn per annum lower.

These estimates are rough. No one knows for certain how people will use superfast broadband, what business innovations it will give rise to or the scale of the productivity improvements that will result. We have many clues, which we explore in this report. However, the main thing we do know is that a dramatic improvement in connectivity will open an array of new possibilities for businesses and that those that use it effectively will have a considerable advantage over those that remain without.

It is for this reason that four Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in South West England³ are seeking Growth and Innovation Funding: to drive economic growth by delivering the skills needed by businesses to maximise the advantages that superfast broadband can bring⁴.

So what are these potential advantages? And what skills will be required to grasp them?

1 Getting up to speed: making superfast broadband a reality, NESTA Policy Briefing, January 2009
2 The Economic Impact of a Competitive Market for Broadband, Centre for Economics and Business Research ltd, November 2003.
3 Cornwall & IoS, Heart of the South West, West of England and Gloucestershire & Herefordshire.
4 Draft GIF Application

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Profiting from Superfast Broadband Event - Somerset College, 26^th March 2012

This briefing paper has been written at the request of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (HoSW LEP) and the South West Employment and Skills Partnership (SWESP). Its purpose is to inform a discussion about how the partners who make up the LEP can support manufacturing in Devon and Somerset. This discussion will start with a workshop on 14 November. Organised by the HoSW LEP, the SWESP, Engineering Employers Federation and Semta Sector Skills Councils (SSC), the workshop will focus on identifying and responding to employment and skills challenges facing the industry. This paper explores these issues and is provided as a briefing in advance of the event.

The following documents are available for download:

Supporting manufacturing in the Heart of the South West - Executive Summary
Supporting manufacturing in the Heart of the South West

This Briefing Paper sets the scene for the Alliance meeting, Valuing Voluntary Action – helping voluntary organisations understand changes in employment and skills, organised by the SW Forum in conjunction with Employment and Skills Partnership. It will explore the issues and challenges emerging for the voluntary sector as the employment and skills policy landscape changes. The Briefing Paper was produced by the Skills and Learning Intelligence Module (SLIM) of the South West Observatory, based at the Marchmont Observatory, University of Exeter.

The backdrop to this discussion of course is the Government’s Big Society agenda, which seeks to shift power from government to local people. The main themes of this agenda promise much:

• Devolving power to communities and local government.
• A greater role in public services for Voluntary and Community Organisations and civil society organisations.
• Supporting the voluntary and community sector.

The Big Society agenda is one where social purpose organisations could justifiably expect to be at the forefront of delivery. Not only do they play an important role as providers of services; they are also employers, contributing to the economy. Indeed, the contribution that the voluntary sector makes to the economy has been well documented and acknowledged. In the context of the reform of public services, they also play a vital role not only in delivery but in identifying need, including unmet need, in supporting people and communities to shape the services that they require and in terms of evaluating services, advocacy, and in working with other sectors to improve services. This role becomes even more important in the context of increasingly decentralised services and funding cuts, particularly where individuals and communities have greater opportunities and responsibilities around public services.

Yet to what extent has this new rhetoric become reality in terms of the delivery of services?

Here we are concerned about the role that the voluntary sector plays in delivering employment and skills support. The purpose of this Briefing Paper is to outline the changes that are taking place in the employment and skills field and to identify the issues and challenges which the voluntary sector organisations face at present. We have drawn on the latest literature and conducted a series of interviews with voluntary organisations delivering employment and skills programmes, together with representatives of key agencies. We are indebted to these organisations for their time and ideas. Through a series of case studies, we have also explored in detail some of the changes that are taking place and how organisations are responding.

Download the Report
Download the 4 page summary
Meeting Summary
Download Presentation

This report is timed to coincide with the launch of the Work Programme in June 2011. It is written for local authorities, employment and training providers, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Employment and Skills Boards (ESBs), who may be asking themselves:

• How will the Work Programme work in the South West of England?
• Are there areas or groups of people who are most likely to benefit?
• What should we be watching and monitoring?
• How can we help to ensure that none of our people and places gets left behind?

The task of this report is to: sketch out the structure and goals of the Work Programme; identify the risks that may arise from its design and delivery; assess its chances of success in the South West; and highlight matters that partners may wish to monitor or influence in order to ensure that the Work Programme works for those in their area.

The Work Programme In South West England : Full Report.

The Work Programme In South West England : Executive Summary.

Meeting Summary.

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