Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership wins £6.5m to improve skills training across nine boroughs

The Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership, which is a partnership of 23 further, higher and adult education providers and stakeholders, led by London South East Colleges (LSEC), has won £6.5m of Local Skills Improvement Funding (LSIF) to deliver employer-responsive skills and training in our sub-region.

The successful bid for the sub-region was announced last week by the Department for Education which granted over £165 million to colleges across the country to strengthen skills provision.

The LSIF funding is designed to enable further education providers across a geographic area to respond collectively to the priorities identified by employers in local skills improvement plans (LSIPs).

Locally, the partnership intend work together to deliver improved green and digital skills training. This will include a network of 21 immersive digital hubs that will enable shared teaching expertise across boroughs in the Local London sub-region comprising the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Enfield, Havering, Redbridge, Newham and Waltham Forest.

These pioneering learning suites will promote collaboration across the sub-region; both widening access to learning for both employers and individuals, as well as connecting employers and education providers to help local people develop digital skills to enter work and to help others further their careers.

In addition, a series of green capital projects will be developed, including low carbon training labs, retrofit training centres, a wind turbine training centre and green hubs.

Welcoming the successful bid Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “It is fantastic for our sub-region that the partnership of education providers, led by LSEC, has been awarded £6.5m of LSIF funding. This will help colleges in our sub-region adapt and prepare to offer first class training to meet skills needs prioritised by employers in our local skills improvement plan. This is an important piece of the jigsaw to ensure people get the training they need for jobs in our boroughs today and in the future.”

The funding announcement was made the day following the Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, The Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, visit to London South East Colleges’ Bromley Campus.

The Minister said “The Local Skills Improvement Fund will transform skills training up and down the country. I saw that first-hand at London South East Colleges’ Green Skills Lab, which was funded by the precursor to the LSIF.

“The funding will ensure London’s next generation have the skills needed for a more sustainable future and help brilliant students like the ones I met at LSEC secure good local jobs and climb the ladder of opportunity.” 

London South East Colleges’ Group Principal and CEO, Dr Sam Parrett CBE, added: “We are delighted to have showcased their hard work to Minister Halfon – and to have shown him our ambitious vision for skills provision over the coming years. The £6.5m we have secured from the LSIF is central to these plans. We are very much looking forward to delivering this programme in collaboration with our partners – which we know will have significant impact going forward.”  

Find out more

⇒For more information on LSIF, visit: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education

⇒Find out more about the Local London Green Jobs and Skills Partnership

⇒Find out more about our employer-led local skills improvement plan

Related content

Read more news about addressing skills gaps.