Colleges and education providers teaching thousands of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire students have given their views on a proposed ‘Provider Charter’ – created to support the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership’s ‘Skills for Growth Strategy’ – exploring how their courses can support economic growth and workforce development.
D2N2 – the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – launched the consultation on its D2N2 Provider Charter last month (February). The draft Charter sets out how education and training providers across the D2N2 area can work more closely with employers, to meet their needs and put them at the heart of training and skills; creating an environment for skills and employment across the D2N2 area which is employer and sector-led.
D2N2’s target is to help create 55,000 new jobs in ten years (by 2023).
The draft D2N2 Provider Charter had input from interested parties – including colleges, national and local training providers, universities, and the D2 and N2 training network – across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Work on the Charter was done through the Provider Advisory Board, facilitated by the East Midlands Further Education Council (EMFEC), a membership body for Further Education colleges and training providers.
Thirteen colleges and training providers responded to the Charter during the month-long consultation period, between February 10 and March 9. The feedback has been used to inform the D2N2 Skills and Employment Commission as to the level of buy-in from providers, regarding the D2N2 Provider Charter, and how it could be used as a tool to encourage cooperation between employers and providers delivering in the D2N2 area. The Charter has now been accepted and will go live on the D2N2 website for providers to sign up to, shortly.
Chief Executive Officer of EMFEC group and Chair of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership’s Provider Advisory Board – a strategic group which assists D2N2 in delivering its Skills for Growth Strategy – Paul Eeles, said:
“This Charter, shaped by the views and opinions of local stakeholders and providers, will help to realise D2N2’s ambition of creating 55,000 new jobs by 2023. It will create a fit-for-purpose, high quality skills and employment system which ensures our young people are ready for work, that our graduates have access to graduate level jobs, our employers can provide apprenticeship career pathways, and that our businesses can recruit and develop a skilled workforce.”
By helping providers working in the region to match the skills they teach with the needs and demands of employers, and enabling employers to make a greater contribution to shaping those skills and training, D2N2 is seeking to drive development of the workforce as well as higher skills, enterprise, jobs and growth within its area.
To read D2N2’s proposed Provider Charter and to learn about its Skills for Growth Strategy see www.d2n2lep.org/skills
