January’s Trades Council meeting considered the issue of the Lancashire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), which stems from a government white paper ‘Skills for Jobs’. Delegates received a report which gave details of the project but raised doubts on the extent to which it relied on employers to predict the skills required in the future. It was argued that such engagement was necessary, but not sufficient – and that a key element of any attempt at “skills anticipation” was that it should be closely synchronised with anticipated economic strategies and investment. There was, for instance, a failure to an effective approach to ‘green’ skills with a plan for investment in “green jobs”. The Lancashire Chambers of Commerce had been given responsibility for developing the LSIP, and they had posted on Facebook that they wanted people to send in their views – but the link led nowhere, and they had not replied to correspondence.
A copy of the report received by the Trades Council can be read here:
The meeting also considered a draft response to the Transport for the North ‘Freight and Logistics Strategy’ consultation. This highlighted the current limitations on transport links across East Lancashire, for example the failure to re-open the Colne-Skipton link, the lack of a direct line from Blackburn to Liverpool and the M65 ending at Colne. The response made a case for these issues to be considered in any strategy going forward. Reference was also made to the proposed Huncoat terminal for freight trains.
A copy of the Trades Council’s submission can be read here: