About
Our Approach
OxLEP Skills aims to ensure that every person who lives and works in the county is equipped with the skills they need in order to maximise their potential. We are undertaking a refreshed Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy in 2023.
Oxfordshire is the UK’s engine for innovation: ground-breaking research and development is driving the creation of new, dynamic businesses, hungry to grow and scale up; cutting edge products and services are solving the challenges in healthcare, mobility, energy and communications; and commercialisation of these new ideas is delivering manufacturing and supply chain opportunities across the length and breadth of our country.
OxLEP aims to maximise the full potential of each and every person who lives and works in the county, ensuring that they are equipped with the very best skills which can provide them with the capability to secure the new employment opportunities generated across the innovation ecosystem.
Oxfordshire Skills Board
The OxLEP Skills agenda is supported and delivered by the Oxfordshire Skills Board (OSB) operating as sub-group of, and under the rules of governance of, OxLEP.
OSB pre-dates OxLEP and has for over a decade convened key stakeholders and communities of interest to develop a strategic and coordinated approach to skills support activities aligned to Oxfordshire’s economic growth ambitions, as articulated in the Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy and the extant skills strategy.
It was from these firm foundations that OSB assumed the responsibilities of the Department of Education’s (DfE) Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) in early 2019 – a natural evolution of the group and an endorsement of OSB’s activities. From April 2023, SAPs are no longer being funded by the DfE, however the OSB remains a fundamental part of OxLEP’s governance and structure.
OSB draws representatives from relevant local key stakeholder groups, including (but not limited to): public and private sector employers, further education, higher education, local authorities, schools, private training providers, and other key stakeholders appropriate to the remit. Members are visionary independent thinkers who have a shared ambition to drive change.
Local Skills Report and Plan 2022
The Local Skills Report and Plan commissioned by the Department of Education complements and supports the ambitions and priorities of our Economic Recovery Plan , to drive recovery and economic renewal, whilst building a resilient and inclusive economy for the future. We are supported to achieve this by our OSB. The 6 priorities identified in the Local Skills Report and Plan are:
1. Support the reform of vocational and technical skills provision, which includes promoting Apprenticeships and T Level offers
2. Help to provide clear, diverse and inclusive career pathways for young people and adults to ensure they are aware of the Oxfordshire labour market and sectors
3. Managing Oxfordshire’s consistently tight labour market
4. Graduate promotion and retention
5. Business skills provision and support
6. Ensure training and re-skilling provision in identified priority sectors
To retain graduate talent by inspiring them to see the incredible choices available in Oxfordshire, we created this ‘Keys to Your Future’ video in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University:
Download the Skills Report and Plan
OxLEP 2022 Local Skills Report and Plan
OxLEP 2022 Local Skills Report and Plan Executive Summary
OxLEP 2022 Local Skills Report & Plan: Annex A + B
OxLEP Skills programmes
Find out about the programmes we are delivering across the Oxfordshire county to help professionals develop their skills.
