LSIP Update Introducing Phase Two

The Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce was awarded the governmentfunded program LSIP, Local Skills Improvement Plan in 2022. LSIP is designed to bring together businesses and education providers to discuss the skills needed now and for the future. Organisations, particularly SMEs, will be given a much stronger voice in local skills planning with colleges, universities, and other training providers.

Herts Chamber contacted over 5,000 SME’s together with a further 40,000 business identified by the 10 Hertfordshire Boroughs to complete an LSIP survey – a total of 73% of the registered Herts business community, ensuring we had a significant sample of data within the county to tackle the issue of the skills shortages in Herts.

The survey was a huge success and had over 550 responses, which greatly helped the process giving a range of different opinions and views on the skills shortages.

The Herts Chamber also held a prize draw initiative, whereby every time someone completed the LSIP survey they were entered into a prize draw to win a full-page editorial which is worth £1000!

A series of LSIP focus groups, planned and lead by the Herts Chamber, took place in February. These covered the chosen priority sectors identified such as; Hospitality & Tourism, Life Sciences & Creative Industries. The aim of the groups was to discuss the skills shortages within each sector. At the focus groups, the Chamber had sector panels which included business professionals to help start the discussions around the skills gaps. Everyone in attendance was given the opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions within their sectors and to suggest solutions to the problems.

The LSIP results will be released in July, once approved by the Department for Education, but with LSIP Phase Two being implemented shortly, we would like to share a few of the statistics from the report:

• The LSIP survey results showed that ALL sectors were aware of the pressing need for essential skills in their industry with, as expected, a wide range of skills gaps.

• Responders revealed that 74% of employers were prepared to invest in skills.

• 70% of respondents are likely to engage with an external training provider to upskill staff in the next 12 months.

• 86% of employers are likely to upskill staff in the next year.

• On average, across all 10 priority sectors, 71% of companies were looking to employ in the coming year.

• 38% of businesses had no contact with any skills providers.

• Almost 50% of employers were considering offering apprenticeships in the near future.

The Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce would like to thank everyone who was involved in the first phase of LSIP including the sector panellists, FE colleges, training providers, SME’s, everyone who attended the focus groups and completed the survey. Phase two is just around the corner. Do look out for opportunities to become involved, your voice is Important and needed!

If you would like to learn more about LSIP or would like to shape the county’s future growth, please go to the LSIP page on the Herts Chamber website www.hertschamber.com/lsip

The Herts Chamber received some amazing feedback, here is what a few of those involved in phase one of LSIP had to say about the focus groups:

Hertfordshire employers maximise apprenticeships to help fill key skills gap, boost employee motivation by investing in their development, and to improve retention. Join the hundreds of employers tapping into their levy, or levy transfer to upskill your leaders – for both existing staff and new recruits: University of Hertfordshire’s Senior Leader Apprenticeship programme welcomes new learners twice a year – September and March – for a 29 month long part-time programme, enjoying award-winning teaching and excellent facilities from our campus in Hatfield. Our Senior Leaders can top up to an MBA or a Masters in Strategic Leadership too – for free!

To find out more about the transformative Senior Leader programme, or how you can benefit from apprenticeship funding to enhance your leaders skills, visit https://www.herts.ac.uk/enterprise-zone/talent/apprenticeships or contact Senior Leader Programme Leader Becky Jones r.1.jones@herts.ac.uk

By University of Hertfordshire

Over £4,500 was raised for Helping Herts, the official charity of the Stort Valley Rotary Club, who support 12 children and young people’s charities across Hertfordshire to help them improve the lives of the children and families they support. The £4,500 was made up of 100% of ticket sales, proceeds from the raffle, match funding from Helping Herts and sponsorship from the Raymond James Investment Services.

The sell-out audience of 100 guests were treated to a catwalk show, a glass of prosecco and an opportunity to get style and beauty advice.

Rebecca Sawyer, owner of Hitchin’s Brick Lane, provided a stunning selection of clothing, modelled by friends and family who strutted their stuff on the catwalk. All the clothing was preloved, featuring high street brands as well as designer labels.

During the evening guests had the opportunity to browse the rails and purchase second hand clothing from Hitchin’s Brick Lane, Keech charity shop and independent style advisor Marika