Employment and Skills Boards
An Employment and Skills Board (ESB) can be broadly defined as ‘a partnership integrating the employment and skills agenda at a local level, promoting shared responsibility through a demand-led approach'
The role of employer led ESB's is to engage local employers, articulate labour market needs, scrutinise local services and inform how best to integrate training support with the local labour market. Their approach is flexible, based on the needs of the area they support and, in line with this, their development is based on the sharing of good practice rather that working to prescribed models and processes.
Over the last few years, ESB's have continued to develop through local initiatives in a number of areas across the UK, including Nottinghamshire.
The Nottinghamshire: City & County Employment and Skills Board
In 2004 the Greater Nottingham Employment & Skills Board (GNESB) was established as a single strategic body to take responsibility for the "skills and employability" agenda across Greater Nottingham. In May 2009 the Alliance Employment and Skills Board, which fulfilled a similar role for north Nottinghamshire, was merged into the GNESB to form the Nottinghamshire: City & County Employment and Skills Board (NCCESB).
The NCCESB has maintained a membership of influential senior private, public and voluntary sector leaders, with representation from organisations such as Boots, Experian, Capital One, Laing O'Rourke, Ikano, Jobcentre Plus, the Skills Funding Agency and both Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Councils.
This expansion has seen a partnership created which has allowed the development of a closer relationship between local agencies and Government for the benefit of creating more jobs and better training opportunities across the county.
A close working relationship has also developed between the NCCESB and Experian, a global information services company which provides data and analytical tools to clients. Over the past 18 months, Experian have produced a number of reports for the NCCESB detailing/profiling labour market information for Nottinghamshire with regards to identifying and prioritising growth sectors for the area - these reports can be found in the publications section of this website. Future work will continue to focus on this area.
To find out more about the economic landscape of Nottinghamshire click here.
"The last 2 years have been tough economically for local businesses and people across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. With representation including international employers, local authorities, local learning providers, Jobcentre Plus, The Skills Funding Agency and the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, the Board is well placed to tackle the challenges ahead as we emerge from the recession and into recovery.
Employment and skills will continue to play a key role in the future development of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire economy. The NCCESB is strong and has a clear strategic focus which will enable us to take on the challenges ahead and make a difference for all of Nottinghamshire."
Caroline Maley
Chief Operating Officer of the National College and Independent Chair of the Nottinghamshire: City & County Employment and Skills Board.
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