The LGA has launched a new online resource to map national employment and skills provision in every local authority in England.
The resource, designed in partnership with Research Matters, identifies almost 50 nationally run employment and skills programmes managed and commissioned by government departments and agencies, delivered over different boundaries by multiple providers.
A key challenge of the employment and skills system is that there are so many schemes. This can make provision difficult to navigate for residents and businesses, especially as there is no single local organisation responsible for coordinating the provision.
Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chair of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “All too often, the skills and employment system can be complex and fragmented.
“This is an important resource, which supports local authorities to better understand and navigate employment and skills provision in their local areas.
“We also want it to help improve connections between local and national government on how to collaborate on existing provision within local areas and to plan future provision.
“Helping our residents retrain and get into work is critical to building back better from the crisis into recovery and levelling up our communities.
“Throughout the pandemic, local government has been trusted to coordinate employment, training and business support for their local areas.
“Councils want to build on this as we help our communities recover, and an important way of doing that is working with government, businesses and other partners to make the most of vital national employment and skills support.”