Productive Skills 4 Devon & Somerset

The Productive Skills for Devon and Somerset network is chaired by Tim Jones (Chairman of Devon and Cornwall Business Council and Chair of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership). This network brings together members and co-ordinators of the five Employment and Skills Boards with representatives from other strategic partners including employers, training providers, FE, HE, local authorities and government agencies and funders.

Key purposes:

• Identify and communicate the skills and workforce priorities for the Heart of the South West
• Review the effectiveness and purpose of the various partnerships working on skills issues in the Heart of the South West
• Work with stakeholders such as members of the Employment and Skills Boards, employer networks, training providers, funders and lead government agencies and local authorities to ensure coherence of effort
• Support professional development needs of staff employed in the field of adult training
• Develop timebound, SMART strategies and tactics to integrate efforts of all partners around the four priorities identified by previous research:
  
  
• Young people's employability;
• STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) skills
• Graduate retention;

Developing employment and training opportunities for local people with a particular emphasis on piloting new approaches, being a catalyst for funding bids and facilitating joint initiatives across the whole patch.

SLIM of the South West Observatory, based at Exeter University, undertakes a research programme which provides monitoring and reporting on both a Heart of the South West basis and for individual Employment and Skills Board footprints, with quarterly reports which, in turn, cover the following themes:

• young people and the world of work, including apprenticeships;
• STEM skills;
• Graduate retention;
• Local opportunities for local people and businesses.
  

In addition, discussion papers are being prepared on the topics of:

• Higher Education
• Apprenticeships
• DWP Work Programme
• Supply side data (SFA, etc)
• Measuring returns on investment.

This group has evolved from a network in Devon and the web site includes previous reports and minutes of meetings for Productive Skills for Devon, plus links to some of the projects which were funded through this partnership.