Why Local Skills Improvement Plans matter

Clare Dunn Associate Director of Business Engagement, CIMSPA

The sport and physical activity sector has constantly spoken about its contribution to health, wellbeing, employability and economic growth – a skilled workforce helps people live healthier lives, supports communities and contributes billions to the economy. Our challenge has been ensuring the organisations that shape local investment, education policy and workforce development recognise it - and the publication of England’s new generation of Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) marks a shift in that direction.

As a sector, we are directly referenced In 15 LSIPs – that is 13 more than the previous publication. Now, we are not simply being viewed as a leisure service or a standalone sector – we are being recognised as a contributor to wider priorities. This milestone is the result of strategic and sustained investment by Sport England and extensive work led by CIMSPA through the Local Skills Project and the development of Local Skills Accountability Boards (LSABs).

The relationships, governance structures and intelligence developed through LSABs provide a gateway for embedding sport and physical activity within emerging devolved systems

LSIPs identify local workforce needs and align education and skills provision with employer demand, and shape where skills investment is directed and which sectors are prioritised. For employers across sport and physical activity, that matters. LSIPs create opportunities to influence how local education, skills and employability systems respond to workforce needs, meaning local skills systems are becoming more responsive to the challenges employers have been raising for years around recruitment, retention and workforce capability.

The timing could not be more important. Government policy is moving towards devolution. Decisions about skills, employability and economic development are being made locally through combined authorities and strategic authorities rather than nationally.

The Local Skills Project addresses this challenge. The relationships, governance structures and intelligence developed through LSABs provide a gateway for embedding sport and physical activity within emerging devolved systems.

Rather than asking why investment should come into sport and physical activity, we can demonstrate how investment in our workforce helps deliver wider economic, health and social outcomes.

The publication of the new LSIPs is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning of the next phase. Now, we must turn recognition into action.