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Local Skills Improvement Plan

Local Skills Improvement Plan Dunstable attendees.

Developing Skills for Our Communities.

Throughout March and April, The Bedford College Group hosted a series of focus groups as part of the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) run by Chambers of Commerce in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

Local employers attended a total of four events hosted across Central Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to discuss what changes were seen to be needed in further education to meet the local skills demands. The information collected during these sessions has since been fed back to the Government.

Robin Webber-Jones, Principal of Tresham College, part of The Bedford College Group, which hosted four of the sessions commented:

“Our links with locally-based companies, large and small are already good, but we recognise that improvements need to be made across the whole employer-education section.

“Hopefully these events will lead to Local Skills Improvement Funding which can support close links between teachers and trainers and industry and employers.”

Local Skills Improvement Plan, Dunstable attendees.
Developing the skills needed in the future

At the Central Bedfordshire College event our Chair of Governors, Allan Schofield, alongside Chair of the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, Richard Cooper, joined local business owners in sharing ideas.

Allan Schofield said:

“We need to take a long-term view of how we strategically develop the skills needed for the future.”

The information from these sessions has been passed on to the Department for Education to shape plans for future funding, with 2,000 comments from employers across the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) region of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire having been collected.

Throughout the year we host regular Employer Forums with businesses from all sectors.

If you are interested in joining our next forums held across the region, please email: training@bedford.ac.uk or call 01234  291747 with your contact details and the sector your business operates within for us to book your place to help shape the skills training we offer.

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