An Essex Skills Evidence Base – a tool for educators Louise Aitken, Essex County Council Carol Anson-Higgs and Michael Bennett, South Essex College.

An Essex Skills Evidence Base – a tool for educators

Louise Aitken, Essex County CouncilCarol Anson-Higgs and Michael Bennett, South Essex College

Introduction

• Introduce the speakers• Plenary session: Essex Skills Evidence Base

with Louise Aitken• Breakout discussions: Louise Aitken, Carol

Anson-Higgs, Michael Bennett

Introduce the speakers

• Louise Aitken, Lead Commissioner for Employability & Skills, Education & Lifelong Learning, Essex County Council

• Carol Anson-Higgs, Vice Principal Business Development, South Essex College, and Director, Federation of Essex Colleges (FEDEC)

• Michael Bennett, Head of Marketing and Communications, South Essex College

Why do we have an Essex Skills Evidence Base?• To inform the work of the Essex Employment and

Skills Board

Essex Skills Evidence Base: what is it? • A detailed local Evidence Base capturing the skills

needs of Greater Essex up to 2020 and beyond

First produced in 2013 including:• area profiles for 14 districts, city, unitary and boroughs• 17 sector profiles• first produced as a summary November 2013 then 2014

• Commissioned by the ESB to inform their work due to an absence of local skills data

• Produced with universities, colleges, providers, companies, business groups and Sector Skills Councils

• Bulk of research undertaken with a University of Essex intern

• An overview of current employees, companies, vacancies, salaries and skills needs leading up to 2020 and beyond

• Incorporating infrastructure and other developments as indicating skills needs (i.e. 50,000 new homes, ageing and growing population)

• Feedback from employers and sector specialists through existing (and new) surveys, visits and Sector Skills Councils

• All ‘reality tested’ with real employers and regularly updated

Essex Skills Evidence Base: what is it?

Essex Skills Evidence Base: headlines

• Key sectors (such as construction, advanced manufacturing and IT) with significant skills shortages at all levels

• Many misconceptions and a lack of awareness in general

• Lower than average skills levels in Essex - level 4 skills at 27% compared with 43% in Cambridgeshire & Hertfordshire and 36% nationally

• Over 200,000 people employed across key sectors with over 42,000 vacancies last year and growing

• A range of roles, from entry level to apprenticeships to PhD

Headlines: did you know?• Essex is home to over 63,000 VAT registered companies• There are 1.7 million people living here, rising to 1.9

million by 2021 • There are over 600 primary and secondary schools here• The offshore wind farm development, East Anglia One, off

the Essex/Suffolk/Norfolk coast will be the world’s largest• Essex hosts the largest concentration of advanced

engineering and manufacturing companies in the south east

• There are clusters of digital and technology companies emerging in locations including Colchester, Chelmsford, Harlow and Southend

“Collectively, we’ve helped to capture images of the universe, land on a comet, design cars used by millions and produce Apps used in everyday life. Our opportunities range from software developers, civil engineers, aerospace engineers, lab assistants and wind turbine technicians ranging from apprenticeships, work experience, internships and graduate/PhD level jobs.”

Over the last 12 months• The majority of job vacancies have been in our growth

sectors including nearly 6,000 in nursing, over 4,000 in software and programming

• Where stated, the top skills sought by employers include Maths, SQL, Business Development and Technical support

How is the Evidence Base currently used?• Enabled the ESB to identify seven growth sectors, with

significant skills and employment needs and opportunities locally now and in the future

• Helped the ESB to illustrate to government the mismatch between local provision and employer need

• Informed the ESB’s first programmes and priorities including the Digital Skills for Growth programme, extension of Essex Education and Industry programme and forthcoming ‘Golden Handshake’ programme

• Serving as an important baseline to ensure Essex gets a fair share of appropriately directed national and regional capital and EU funding

• Each sector has a Board ‘Champion’ heading up a Sector Action Group to engage with other employers across Essex, Southend & Thurrock

• ESB members are spreading the word and getting involved, speaking at a range of events, including local business networks, school events and national funding and sector forums

• The ESB is engaging with educators to outline the needs of their industry at a range of events and meetings

• The ESB is lobbying government for change and highlighting barriers via conversations with HM Treasury & BIS, devolution discussions and writing to Essex MPs and the Skills Minister

How is the ESB already supporting sectors?

How is the Evidence Base currently used?

Helping to inform a wide range of partners: • Key tool for local colleges (further information today) • Job Centre Plus using for future planning • District, borough, city and unitary authorities • Skills Funding Agency and MPs utilising information• Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) potentially to adopt

the same model for Kent and East Sussex• Starting to inform schools, governors, local business

and sector groups

Essex Skills Evidence Base: next steps

• Build on an October 2014 summary refresh of the Evidence Base, with a 2015 version to launch in the next few months

• Update statistics, key messages and information • Commence an ESB Sponsored PhD with the

University of Essex from October to take the evidence to the next stage

• Continue to ensure that all partners have a clear and consistent picture of local skills to meet the needs of industry and create opportunities – a continuing commitment to accuracy

• Develop information in different formats – posters, videos, online versions

Further information

• View the Evidence Base: http://esb.essexpartnership.org

• Contact the Employment and Skills Board: [email protected]

• View one of our videos: https://youtu.be/pZE9fV1g3Ck

Breakout discussions

Louise Aitken:• Discuss the Evidence Base in greater detail• Find out more about the Employment and

Skills Board• Discuss next steps and how you can get

involved

Breakout discussions

Carol Anson-Higgs:• Discuss how the partners in the Federation of

Essex Colleges (FEDEC) are using the Evidence Base

• Examine a case study at South Essex College: logistics and supply chain

• Discuss the importance of employability in the further education sector

FEDEC colleges

• FEDEC: six general FE colleges, two sixth form colleges, plus specialist provider, Writtle College

• South Essex College: logistics and supply chain; advanced engineering and construction

• Colchester Institute: computer programming and coding

• Chelmsford College: medical science

Breakout discussions

Michael Bennett:• Discuss how South Essex College is using the

Evidence Base for initial advice and guidance to support ethical recruitment

• Find out more about how the College is using live labour market intelligence to support academic managers

Contact us

• Louise Aitken:[email protected]

• Carol Anson-Higgs:[email protected]

• Michael Bennett: [email protected]