Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of supporting youth sector organisations to work with Local Enterprise Partnerships on the implementation of local skills improvement plans.

The department recognises the importance of ensuring learners and employees gain all the skills that businesses need to succeed and grow. The need for communication skills and resilience was also a theme that came through strongly in the employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIP) that were published in August 2023.

Each of the 38 LSIPs are led by a designated employer representative body (ERB), for example a local Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Business, or other local employer body. This puts employers at the heart of the skills system and supports the government’s long-term priority to drive local economic growth by better aligning provision of post-16 technical education and training with local labour market needs.

The department’s LSIPs statutory guidance makes clear that a range of national and local bodies and organisations can play an important role in supporting and facilitating the development and implementation of LSIPs. These could include youth sector organisations or schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The department recognises that opportunities provided by these organisations can help young people develop a range of skills that can support them in the workplace, such as resilience, adaptability, creativity, problem solving, decision-making and communication skills.

It is for the designated ERB in each area to determine the most relevant stakeholders to work with to deliver effective solutions to meet employer-identified local labour market needs. However, the department will review the LSIP statutory guidance ahead of the next round of LSIP development.