The Regional Skills Partnership in the West Midlands
The Government’s Skills Strategy White Paper, (21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential) published July 2003, aims to ensure that employers have the right skills to support the success of their businesses and that individuals have the skills they need to be both employable and personally fulfilled. It emphasised the need to move towards a more demand-led system which places the needs of employers and employees centre stage. It identified Regional Skills Partnerships (RSP) as a major component of the National Skills Strategy with the aim of giving regions the flexibility to tackle their own individual challenges and priorities.
The West Midlands RSP was established in 2004 to lead the skills agenda in the region and act as a catalyst for real change. By involving key partners and stakeholders, such as employers and businesses, public funders of training and private training providers, it's members can identify skills shortages and the actions needed to address them.
The RSP aims to achieve the full engagement of employers and employer organisations to promote a demand and data led perspective in the skills and employment agenda. This approach ensures that employers and businesses in the region have access to the skills they need to prosper and that individuals receive the training they require to fulfil their career potential.
The RSP has identified and represents the needs of the following key groups:
Employers, as they look to access the skilled people they need, make effective use of their employees' skills and invest in the development of their workforce;
Individual learners, as they look to develop skills to get a job and advance their career;
Training providers, such as universities and colleges, ensuring training and business support is better aligned to the needs of employers and individual learners;
Organisations that fund training and development, so this matches the region's common, agreed, priorities.
We know there are still major challenges ahead for the West Midlands and members are committed to working in partnership to tackle these issues in the belief that we can achieve more together than we can as individuals.
To learn more about why you should invest in skills follow this link.