Learn how Essex County Council uses Labour/Insight as a source of labour market information for the Essex Employment and Skills Board Evidence Base to drive local policies.

1. Skills In Demand
Using LMI– The Essex Employment
and Skills Board Evidence Base
Labour Insight User Group - 26th
November 2015
Nicola Faulkner & Tristan Smith

2. The Background: Essex Employment & Skills Board
Set up in July 2013 with the fundamental role of helping to set the strategic
direction of skills provision and ensuring that this supports economic growth and is
aligned to employer needs.
Remit:
•Strategic influence and leadership (i.e. with national government and the LEP)
•Affect change locally (i.e. work with Providers Network and schools to bring about
change)
•Commission activity to support employer led skills (i.e. grants for employers,
STEM in schools, Tutor CPD)
•Be a voice for the wider business community and champion involvement and
participation in the skills system
Supported by: A robust and comprehensive Evidence Base identifying skills
needs now and in the future

3. Membership: Essex Employment & Skills Board

4. Why an evidence base?
• To provide clarity and agreement among partners on the current and future
picture
• To achieve (for the first time) an accurate local skills picture which is owned,
utilised and endorsed by all partners
• To ensure that skills issues and barriers are reflected in evidence
• To inform the Essex Employment & Skills Board – lobbying, funding, decision
making
• To inform local FE / HE and help shape their future offer ensuring it is employer
driven
• To provide an accessible toolkit to support work such as funding bids and
collaborative working
• To provide all Essex businesses a clear voice

5. Essex Skills Evidence Base: What is it?
An overview of current employees,
companies, vacancies, salaries and skills
needs leading up to 2020
Incorporating infrastructure and other
developments as indicating skills needs (i.e.
50,000 new homes, ageing 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

6. How?
• Evidence Base Task & Finish Group , chaired by the University of Essex
• Engagement with all national Sector Skills Councils and local businesses
• Feedback from ESB Sector Action Groups
• Peer reviews & input fro local companies and partners
• University of Essex intern assisting research – inlcuding data from Nomis, ONS,
SSC reports, FE data library, SFA Data Cube and ……….
 Labour Insights.

7. Types of info – Nomis (PAYE / VAT businesses)
www.nomisweb.co.uk

8. Types of info – Vacancy Data

9. Types of data – specialist skills (by sector)
Construction Skills

10. Types of data – Location of vacancies
Construction

11. Types of Data – Essex Skills Survey

12. Types of Data – Essex Skills Survey

13. Types of Data – Sector Action Groups
Sector action groups established for 7 priority sectors
Meet to discuss skills issues challenges / opportunities
Review sector information produced
Develop solutions

14. Essex Skills Evidence Base: How is it 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

15. Essex Skills Evidence Base: How is it used?
Helping to inform a wide range of partners, i.e.
South Essex College adapted rebuild to focus on construction and provide level 3 and 4
in building Technology
Colchester Institute’s South Wing development to provide skills for growth sectors; i.e.
Engineering, ICT & Creative
Writtle College and Chelmsford College utilising the information for curriculum
development
Job Centre Plus using for future planning
District, borough, city and unitary authorities
Skills Funding Agency and MPs utilising information
Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) planning to adopt the same model for Kent & East
Sussex
AND starting to inform schools, Governors, local business
and sector groups

16. How labour insights informs the ESB
programmes
1. Helps clarify our sector approach. e.g. Creative / Digital
– Identifying clusters / what providers to work with
– Identifying skills needs and subsector focus
» Colchester wants to grow its ‘creative’ sector but what does
this mean?

17. How labour insights informs the ESB
programmes
2. Helps identify cross sector programmes
» Digital Skills for Growth
2. Helps with curriculum planning
» Demonstrate to colleges skills needs of industry
4. Helps inform activities of E&I programmes
» Demonstrates where / what projects, mentoring
and activities should focus on
5. Helps inform IAG
» Sector fact sheets – job roles, salaries, skills.