Recommendation 19

DfE’s overarching philosophy is to put employers at the heart of the skills system, specifically by giving them a central role in identifying local and national skills needs, and in developing and designing qualifications and training. New local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) are intended to provide a framework to help colleges and other training providers tackle skills mismatches and respond to local skills needs, with a designated employer representative leading the development of the LSIP in each local area.25 DfE told us that LSIPs were intended to bring together providers, employers and others, including the local authority, to come up with a joint plan. We asked how the work of the LSIPs complemented, rather than duplicated, the work of local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and other local authorities. DfE replied that it expected LSIPs to take inputs from these other forums and noted that the statutory nature of LSIPs gave them teeth because training providers had to have regard to the LSIPs’ findings. DfE also noted that, historically, LEPs’ success in engaging with employers often depended on who was on the LEP board.26