Putting Lancashire employers at the heart of the local skills programme.

The North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, working in partnership with the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, will be delivering the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) following a successful Trailblazer in 2021.

The Lancashire Local Skills Improvement Plan aims to reshape the local technical skills system to better support the needs of the local labour market and the wider economy.

Working with Lancashire colleges

Running alongside the Lancashire Local Skills Improvement Plan is the Strategic Development Fund, which will provide capital and funding to Lancashire’s colleges that build providers’ capacity to meet the agreed priorities identified in the Lancashire LSIP.

Lancashire’s colleges, led by Myerscough College, were successful in a bid to be a Strategic Development Fund pilot.

Skills Accelerator

The Lancashire Local Skills Improvement Plan is part of the government’s Skills Accelerator programme, which follows the Skills for Jobs White Paper published in January 2021, with a clear focus on stronger links between employers and providers.

The government wants to use the findings from the Trailblazer and SDF pilots to further engage with more county businesses and report on the outcome to further education establishments so they can adjust their curriculum accordingly to meet the needs of the employers.

Have your say

Our dedicated business engagement team will be gathering evidence from a wide range of employers of all sizes and sectors to develop a clear plan of what skills provision is required in Lancashire.

This will take place in the form of events, focus groups, interviews and online surveys. Visit our Surveys and Reports section to find out further information.

We are aiming to engage with 10,000 Lancashire employers, giving businesses a chance to set out the key changes needed to make technical skills training more responsive to employers’ skills need.