Strong welcome for Cable’s Stoke and Staffordshire skills pilot

COUNCIL and business leaders in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire have welcomed Government backing for pioneering work to match the future skills of its workforce with the needs of local businesses.

The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership last year launched an education trust which brings business leaders together with universities, colleges and councils. The trust aims to ensure training courses, apprenticeships and workplace training are joined up and produce the skilled workers needed by local firms, in particular in advanced materials and manufacturing.

In a speech to  the LGA Conference in Manchester, Business Secretary Vince Cable revealed that Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP would be one of just three nationwide to pilot radical new measures to improve skills training and get more people into work.

While full details are still to be worked out, he revealed that the Skills & Funding Agency will design financial incentives to reward LEPs and further education providers who work together and deliver skills training and courses that support their local economy.

Addressing skills shortages and providing local people with the right training to get quality jobs is a key part of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire’s bid for a City Deal from Government. The bid proposes to create 28,000 jobs over the next decade, turning the area into a powerhouse for advanced materials and manufacturing. However, it has acknowledged this will only be achieved providing the future workforce has the right skills mix.

Cllr Mohammed Pervez, Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “We welcome this recognition by Government that greater local leadership and influence is needed if we are to get our local – and ultimately national – economy moving, and create more jobs for our residents.

“For some time, councils, businesses and the colleges and universities across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire have been pioneering work to match workforce skills with business needs both now and in the years ahead.”

Ben Adams, Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills at Staffordshire County Council, said: “We welcome this endorsement that local businesses, education and training providers are best placed to decide what our future skills needs are and how to meet them. It also signals a long-term investment and vision in strengthening local industries, and in particular advanced materials and manufacturing.

“Our councils, businesses and education providers have been united in efforts to skill up our future workforce for these industries, that we believe will be the backbone of our economy in the years ahead. This innovation has paid off, securing government support so that we can move forward at even greater pace, and potentially act as a pioneer for LEPs across the country to follow.”

Ken Stepney, chair of the Education Trust and former Group Head of People Development at JCB,  added: “Our Education Trust’s  strategy is business-led and fits with the potential offered by this pilot.  We have already taken great strides in promoting apprenticeships.  The pilot will allow us to develop a closer link between our employment needs and the skills developers and providers.  

“The outcome will be students equipped with skills ready to enter the workforce.  This will provide them with a route to employment, support the growth of local businesses and attract inward investors.”