A new report published by Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce shows that some of the numbers of apprenticeship starts in key sectors are falling short and do not meet the levels needed to address skills shortages.
Published as part of the work conducted by the Chamber for Greater Manchester’s Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), the apprenticeships analysis looks at courses in key sectors – construction, engineering and manufacturing, health and social care, and digital – and shows which courses are attracting the right levels of learners to bridge key skills gaps, and which courses are falling short.
Areas such as retrofitting, heat pump installation and steel trades such as welding do not currently have enough apprentices on programmes to meet demand, according to the data from the academic year 2022/23, along with Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technicians.
Within the digital sector, the number of apprenticeship starts on courses focusing on cyber security has also been categorised as ‘insufficient’ compared to the demand from industry for people with these skills, whereas apprenticeships in Data Analytics and Cloud Computing accounted for most of the starts in the digital sector.
Commenting on the findings from the apprenticeships analysis, Chris Fletcher (pictured), Policy Director at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said:
“We have launched our apprenticeship analysis in the midst of National Apprenticeship Week to highlight the discrepancy between the number of learners currently on apprenticeship programmes, and the individuals needed by employers with those specific skills. Employers have told us throughout our research for the Greater Manchester Local Skills Improvement Plan that there are skills gaps specific to their industry where there are not enough people coming through, such as: welding, people with retrofit skills, cybersecurity, and electrical and mechanical engineering technicians. It is positive, however, to see that apprenticeships relating to nursing and care work are getting good levels of take up, particularly as these roles are regularly in high demand.
“As part of our role as the designated Employer Representative Body delivering and developing the LSIP on behalf of the Department for Education, we have highlighted this data and put recommendations in place so that training providers can deliver more courses where they are needed, but we also encourage employers to contact their local colleges and training providers to discuss their skills needs and talk through the skills that they’re missing. We have worked with many colleges and skills providers so far on the LSIP project and all are open to a direct dialogue with businesses to ensure new learners and existing employees have the skills they need to grow as individuals and help our business community flourish.”
The Chamber’s newly published report also includes a number of updates for key sectors in GM and a summary of the main skills and recruitment issues businesses have reported through interviews and surveys so far.
Read the Apprenticeships Analysis here: https://my.visme.co/view/y43xm48x-lsip-update-jan-2024#s47
The full report can be accessed here: https://my.visme.co/view/y43xm48x-lsip-update-jan-2024
More information about the Greater Manchester Local Skills Improvement Plan can be found here: https://www.gmlsip.co.uk/reports
To feedback to the GM LSIP team, email: gmlsip@gmchamber.co.uk.
To contribute your views about Business Training to the next iteration of the LSIP Report, complete our short survey here: https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/GMLSIPNL