A WORD FROM MARK HILTON, POLICY DELIVERY DIRECTOR:

We’re excited to bring you our first newsletter on the new London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP). The LSIP, led by BusinessLDN working with a range of partners across London, aims to shift the dial on skills in the capital across priority business sectors and key cross cutting themes including green and digital skills.

Through a major data driven exercise, we’ve identified the skills that employers need, the challenges in delivering them and how training supply can more closely align to this demand.

The LSIP is a catalyst for change, and through this newsletter, we want to engage employers, educators and policy makers in our work, help build longstanding partnerships between these key players, and ultimately get more Londoners into better jobs. 

We welcome your thoughts and suggestions on this newsletter, and what you’d like to see it cover as we roll it out. Contact the team at skills@businessldn.co.uk.

LSIP HIGHLIGHTS

Mark Hilton recently contributed a chapter to London Higher’s Report ‘Talking Tertiary: How London’s universities and colleges are working together to support students, employers and local communities’.

Mark wrote about how skills partnerships can support skills and productivity in London and the UK, and the role LSIPs play in this.

Ed Richardson, Programme Director, People & Skills, BusinessLDN spoke to Andrew Gower, CEO, Morley College London, and Bushra Iqbal, Vice Principal for Curriculum Impact, Morley College London on employment and skills in London.

Ed Richardson gave evidence to the Environment Committee at the London Assembly on green skills in the capital.

Ed spoke about the capital’s green skills needs, how the current lack of clear and consistent national policy framework for green skills is holding back employer demand, and the role the London LSIP can play to help tackle these challenges.

In early November, BusinessLDN hosted an event on green skills in partnership with WSP, looking at the action required to build an inclusive and green workforce for London.

Hosted at City Hall, the event was chaired by Mark Hilton and Leonie Cooper, Assembly Member, Merton & Wandsworth. Attendees heard from Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor, and a speaker panel including representatives from WSP, London South East Colleges, and the Green Finance Institute. David Symons, UK Director of Sustainability at WSP, gave his key takeaways on the event.

GET INVOLVED

The London LSIP is vital in the continuing evolution of London’s skills landscape for individuals, education providers, and employers. We are keen to involve as many stakeholders as possible through events and our media and communications channels. If you are interested, click the button below.

LOCAL SKILLS PULSE: SUB-REGIONAL PARTNER UPDATES

Following the publication of the West London Alliance Annex to the London LSIP, West London convened the first Youth Careers Summit at Wembley Stadium in November. The summit’s objective was to bring local businesses of all sizes together with skills providers and intermediaries, to develop pathways for effective transition from education into employment, and career pathways into local priority sectors, including health and social care, construction and retail, as well as cross cutting areas: digital and green. With 240 attendees, including over 50 businesses, it was a great opportunity for stakeholders to grow their networks. Watch the Summit Video.

The summit will be followed up though a series of sector-focussed events throughout the year, including a ‘Get into Tech’ event in partnership with the Digital Skills Hub and UK Black Tech. For more information/to get involved, please contact the West London Alliance.

Central London Forward recently held a workshop in partnership with Westminster City Council focused on the skills central London needs to retrofit heritage and historical buildings. Retrofitting these requires specialist and currently not widely available skills.

The event brought together training providers that are gearing up for retrofit qualifications to meet with landlords with major heritage stock and specialist officers at local authorities, as well as representatives from construction and Historic England. It explored how colleges can embed heritage retrofit in their course design, the challenges of recruiting people into the sector, identified future skills needs, and discussed some of the potential solutions.

This is an ongoing workstream and if you’d like to get involved please contact Aleyna Prokudina.

In November, Local London had their first employer representative group meeting. Chaired by Dr Noorzaman Rashid, Chief Executive of CEME, this new group will provide advice and guidance to our Employment and Skills Board.

Local London’s LSIP Employer Engagement Officer, Cathy Back, has just joined the team. As well as focusing on employer engagement, Cathy will be working with education and training providers across the sub-region as they implement their LSIF projects, following the recent announcement of their successful £6.5m bid. This funding will be used to develop green and digital skills in the Local London sub-region, including a network of 21 immersive digital hubs that will enable shared teaching expertise.

Find out more about their work here.

SPOTLIGHT ON SKILLS AND TRAINING IN LONDON

This section of the newsletter provides stakeholders with an opportunity to highlight best practice in London – and can be used to showcase case studies from the LSIP report, blogs with updates from the case studies, etc.

Central District Alliance presents ‘Un_Biased’ – A project to analyse women’s work life journeys, understand the barriers that can stop them from realising their full potential and identify opportunities for change.

The Mayor’s London Multiply Programme offers free training to support Londoners to get the numeracy, confidence and skills they need to manage everyday living at work and home.

Broadgate Connect is all about bringing people together. Since 2012, British Land have been helping East Londoners gain fulfilling roles and apprenticeships while supporting employers in their search for enthusiastic and committed local talent.

Film London’s Equal Access Network is a beacon for Equity, Inclusivity and Diversity in the screen industries. They offer comprehensive offer spans training, events, and exclusive opportunities within the vibrant screen industries landscape.

Opportunity: West London Alliance are seeking a volunteer co-Chair for the West London Skills and Employment Board. Applications to the role close on 9th February, please see here for more information on what the role entails and how to apply.

THE LOCAL SKILLS IMPROVEMENT FUND

The Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) is designed to enable further education providers across the capital’s four sub-regional partnership areas to respond collectively to the priorities in the local skills improvement plans (LSIPs). Find out more below:

• Central London Forward: New City College
• Local London: London South East Colleges
• South London Partnership: South Thames College Group
• West London Alliance: Harrow, Richmond & Uxbridge Colleges
• South London Partnerships

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 26 March - 08:30-10:30: Transforming London’s Health and Social Care Workforce: Delivery the London Local Skills Improvement Plan.