The Buckinghamshire Skills Hub, based at Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, promotes and optimises links between the business community and education/training providers to enable young people and adults to develop the skills and qualifications they need to progress in the workplace, at whatever stage of their career they are in. Skills development is central to creating the conditions for sustained innovation, excellence and growth for our Buckinghamshire businesses, particularly in priority sectors as described in our Local Industrial Strategy.
Buckinghamshire Skills Hub co-ordinate a number of programmes including an Enterprise Adviser Network and Careers Hub working with schools, the annual Bucks Skills Show, sector focused employer and stakeholder groups, apprenticeship support for businesses and a Skills Advisory Panel for Buckinghamshire.
Skills Advisory Panel
The Buckinghamshire Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) was established in 2019. It took up the mantle from the Buckinghamshire Skills and Employability Board, which had been providing a skills activity co-ordination role in Buckinghamshire since 2015. The Buckinghamshire SAP reports to the Buckinghamshire LEP Board. Employers are the heart of the Buckinghamshire SAP. Sector sub-groups, made up of employers and learning providers, meet regularly to share information and collaborate on sector-specific skills initiatives.
A list of SAP members is here
Minutes from SAP meetings can be downloaded here
Local Skills Report
In 2021 Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the Buckinghamshire Skills Hub launched the first ever Buckinghamshire Local Skills Report, a ‘go-to’ document for everything skills-related within Buckinghamshire, bringing together evidence, strategy, information on current and planned initiatives and examples of best practice.
The 2022 Buckinghamshire Local Skills Report provides an analysis of Buckinghamshire’s skills and employment needs, identifies the priorities for public investment and sets out an action plan for skills development within the county for 2022/23.
Achievements and progress to date
Buckinghamshire LEP invested £220,000 of its Growing Places Fund into the skills agenda in May 2015. That focus and resource leveraged further funding from the Careers and Enterprise Company matched by Bucks County Council resulting in an overall total of three times the original investment to £757,000 by August 2019.
Skills development is central to creating local conditions for sustained innovation, excellence and growth, and through our shared cohesive skills agenda, we are connecting educators and employers. Buckinghamshire LEP’s Skills Hub and the Enterprise Adviser Network (part of the Careers and Enterprise Company’s national network) supported 150,000 employer-student encounters in Bucks in 2019.
Recent highlights include: the development of the Bucks Skills Show as the essential event to inform young people about career opportunities; being one of the only areas in the country to have all mainstream secondary schools in a Hub; development of workforce skills support programme – all leading to the Buckinghamshire Careers Hub being recognised as one of the highest achieving in the country by the Careers and Enterprise Company for the second year in a row!
Bucks Skills Show goes from strength to strength
The annual Bucks Skills Show is the county’s largest interactive and experiential skills festival.
The Bucks Skills Show 2022 was a fitting in-person return for the county’s largest skills and careers show, with over 120 businesses – including Pinewood Studios, Google, MetroBank and Satellite Applications Catapult – and over 4,500 people walking through the doors of Westcott Venture Park for two days of careers inspiration!
In addition, Buckinghamshire Skills Hub inspired over 300 students with Special Educational Needs (SEND), at its first SEND Skills Show in June, which exposed students to a broad range of employers to discover different industry sectors and be inspired! The Skills Show, which was attended by over 30 inspirational businesses, took place at Stoke Mandeville Stadium and enabled young people to explore careers, discover different industry sectors and work out how to achieve their ambitions.
Workforce Skills Team
Buckinghamshire Business First’s Workforce Skills Team is made up of highly experienced training and development professionals who are here to help Buckinghamshire businesses with all of their skills needs.
The Workforce Skills Team provide expertise in apprenticeships, traineeships and work placements; training and development; recruitment; diversity and inclusion; engagement with schools and colleges; and labour market intelligence to help businesses plan for the future.
Redundancy support
In the event of redundancies, support is available to help employers and employees through this tough time, including helping people find a new job, training opportunities and financial support.
