Strategic Priority One: Employer Leadership

"Putting employers at the core of what we do; championing Our Vision, Our Aims and Our Priorities"

Meeting the needs of employers is one of the key elements to achieving sustainable economic growth and helping disadvantaged people succeed in the workplace. We also need employers to work with our education and skills providers to ensure that provision is tailored to their needs and improves productivity. As key customers they have an important role to challenge how we work and what partners deliver.

We recognise the need to provide more opportunities for employers to influence the employment and skills agenda and we will be developing a range of actions to deliver this.

Up to date intelligence from employers will be an important driver of our activity. We will explore a variety of ways of seeking this intelligence including direct input to the Board and its associated activities and working much more closely with representative bodies, including Sector Skills Councils. Where needed, we will also consider commissioning specific surveys as part of developing our Labour Market Intelligence.

Integration of support for employers is a key theme and critical to success. We will provide advice on the perspective and priorities of employers to those who commission skills, employment and business development activities.

Skills will play a pivotal role in the future economic development of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. It is critical that work on Employment and Skills is fully integrated with parallel work to develop the local economy through physical regeneration, business support and inward investment. Work is underway in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to develop new inclusive governance structures for providing strategic direction to economic development which is to be led via the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. It will be vital for us to both inform and be informed by this activity and support a strong employer voice in local partnership activity.

We will: