The East of England LGA is running a series of free roundtable discussions in 2024 and 2025. These sessions are open to all councils in the East of England and their partner organisations. At the EELGA roundtable, you will hear from a guest speaker on each theme and have an opportunity to learn from, and share your examples of, best practice, opportunities, and challenges.
The East of England faces a challenge with regards to adult skills. The region has the lowest participation rate and achievement rate in England for Further Education, and with regards to apprenticeships, the situation is similar, with only London scoring lower on both metrics. The skills deprivation is particularly acute along our coasts, more rural areas, and some of our urban centres. However, on the other end of the spectrum, several prestigious universities in the region are leading the world in terms of research and student satisfaction.
Skills and training will be essential for our region to flourish, and we want to make a clear case that investment in the East of England is investment in growth and a boost for the whole country. To do this we want to respond to the recently published Industrial Strategy Green Paper. We want to take this opportunity to ask you, the stakeholders, interested parties, and local governments in the region, for your thoughts on how the East of England can develop its adult skills offer, and use education and training to boost our local economies.
- What are the most significant barriers to investment? Do they vary across the growth-driving sectors? What evidence can you share to illustrate this?
- Where you identified barriers which relate to people and skills (including issues such as delivery of employment support, careers, and skills provision), what UK government policy solutions could best address these?
- What more could be done to achieve a step change in employer investment in training in the growth-driving sectors?
We also want this to be an opportunity for stakeholders in the region to share what they are doing already as a community of experts, giving us all a chance to learn from one another and celebrate in the great work already being undertaken. It will be useful to hear about the challenges you are facing in your local areas, and how you are looking to navigate these.
The East of England is primed to contribute massively to the UK’s industrial strategy, and if we are given the support with skills and training, the region could be a colossal engine for growth, just as it already is for productivity. We hope that by the end of this roundtable, we will have the evidence to set out to Government why this should be their priority.
We look forward to seeing you at the roundtable. However, if this session is oversubscribed, places will be limited to 2 – 3 people per authority.
Who should attend: Portfolio Holders for skills and economic growth, Heads of Service for Skills and economic development, Directors of Skills and economic development, skills bodies and institutions.
If you have any queries please contact Matthew Stewart, Policy and Programmes Manager, East of England LGA, e-mail matt.stewart@eelga.gov.uk