Our Expertise

Learning & Skills

Improving skills levels is a key element of the government’s drive to increase the UK’s economic growth and productivity, which global competition has made more crucial than ever. Gaining skills qualifications improves individuals’ chances of being in work and progressing in their career. Having a pool of appropriately qualified candidates to draw on also helps businesses improve their competitiveness. Providers and policy-makers working in local, regional, national and sector learning and skills therefore have an important role to play in increasing life opportunities and enabling business growth.

We can support you in improving skills levels in your area by providing clear recommendations drawn from sound data analysis. Our research has helped previous clients to: 

• identify current skills levels in their region;
• benchmark skills levels against those in other regions;
• uncover trends within their region;
• find out what skills will be needed in the future;
• find out what skills are needed by employers in different sectors;
• understand employers’ preferences of training delivery;
• determine whether there was a potential market for training provision;
• target capital funding to improve in-demand skills.

Examples of our work include: 
                                        

• carrying out employer skills surveys, combined with qualitative work, in Slough and Reading. These pinpointed key labour market issues affecting employers and have informed coordinated action by local stakeholders to address key employer concerns.
  
  
• developing the East Kent Employability and Skills Plan and the Ashford Skills Strategy, which assessed community and employer demand, key social trends and provide side information to identify specific actions for local partners to take forward to address identified local priorities.
  
  
• forecasting skills needs to inform the LSC London 2012 Legacy Buildings Investment Programme and the Thames Gateway Green Skills Assessment.
  
  
• appraising future Level 3 opportunities for Ufi's national Research and Innovation Unit.

If you are interested in finding out more about our work in this area, please contact:

Steve Matthews: 01227 811829
steve.matthews@stepaheadresearch.co.uk