An Essex Skills
Evidence Base – a
tool for educators
Louise Aitken, Essex
County Council
Carol 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
Essex Skills Evidence Base: what is it?
• 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: 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
How is the ESB already supporting sectors?
• 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 Evidence Base currently used?
Helping to inform a wide range of partners:
•
•
•
•
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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:
EssexEmployment.SkillsBoard@essex.gov.uk
• 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:
Louise.Aitken@essex.gov.uk
• Carol Anson-Higgs:
Carol.AnsonHiggs@gmail.com
• Michael Bennett:
Michael.Bennett@southessex.ac.uk