The Skills Advisory Panel publishes Local Skills & Labour Market Analysis

The Skills Advisory Panel publishes its Local Skills and Labour Market Analysis, that has been developed to provide a forensic understanding of the existing and future skills gaps and employment priorities.

The Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) has published its Local Skills and Labour Market Analysis. The SAP has developed the analysis, providing a forensic understanding of the existing and future skills gaps and employment priorities. This will underpin and inform work to develop a Skills Action Plan.

It is long-recognised that the economic competitiveness of the Solent area depends on the steady supply of relevant skills and talent to enable growth innovation, and to compete globally, and this skills analysis provides the detailed evidence base to identify the key challenges and opportunities within the skills arena of the Solent region.

This skills analysis has informed the development of the LEP’s new economic strategy, Solent 2050, due for release this summer and identifies the key priorities on which a Skills Action Plan will be developed; these priorities are:

• The importance of the skills our world-leading maritime sector needs to remain at the vanguard of maritime innovation;
• The impact of autonomy on the demand for labour and the skills needed by businesses;
• The need to ensure a strong supply of labour to replace those that will be moving out of the labour market;
• The importance of softer skills such as social and communication skills.

The Skills Action Plan will identify priorities and address local skills needs, with specific action which will state how each priority will be addressed. We are aiming to publish this Action Plan later in the year.

Our Business Director, and Chair of the Solent Skills Advisory Panel, Rachael Randall, said: “Covid-19 has not interrupted our Skills Advisory Panel’s work. If anything it has given us fresh resolve to work at pace to ensure that the skills system plays its role in supporting businesses and the wider economy to recover. This analysis comes at a time when businesses and the wider economy are coming to terms with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and how to restart and recover.

To support this the SAP have requested that an interim Action Plan is developed to sit alongside the wider Economic Recovery Plan being developed by the LEP, to identify the key short-term actions to ensure the skills system plays a key role in supporting our businesses and communities to restart, restore and recover."

The Local Skills and Labour Market Analysis that we have released acknowledges the impacts of Covid-19, and the SAP aim to update this analysis in coming months as the data on the impact of the pandemic emerges, ensuring that a comprehensive overview of the impact of the virus on the skills ecosystem is obtained.

Carey Moore, who sits on the Skills Advisory Panel, and is Regional Director for Corporate & Commercial Coverage at the NatWest Bank, said: "It is vitally important, we in the Solent, develop and equip our workforce with the necessary skills to thrive in a knowledge and technology driven 21st century. This analysis is a first step to understanding where our existing strengths lie and articulating the talent we need to foster to ensure the Solent retains its footing on the global stage."

Click here to read the full report

Click here to read the Executive Summary