Business-Led ‘Road Map’ Launched To Boost Hampshire’s Workplace

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A three-year, business-led ‘road map’ has been launched to narrow skills gaps in the workplace, spotlight training opportunities including for NEETs and boost Hampshire’s regional economy.

Commissioned by Hampshire Chamber of Commerce in partnership with firms, education providers, policymakers, charities and the public sector, the Hampshire and The Solent Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) 2026-29 builds on detailed research to identify four top priorities for action.

These are summarised as: a more responsive and inclusive ‘skills ecosystem’; more support for workforce ‘progression and transitions’; stronger awareness and access for employers and residents alike; and deeper employer participation.

Ross McNally, Hampshire Chamber Chief Executive, said:

“The LSIP is deliberately employer-focused to ensure that skills training works better for businesses of all sizes and sectors. In the research stage, employers - especially SMEs - consistently told us they want a skills system that is easy to access, flexible and has the capacity to enable genuine employer participation opportunities rather than simple engagement.”

NEETs, the widely recognised acronym for young people typically aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training, face particular barriers to acquiring skills and participating in work, the LSIP research report found.

Issues cited include youth disengagement driven by lower confidence, higher anxiety, limited networks and reduced access to early work experience.

In Hampshire, 35.2% of young people are at risk of becoming NEET, well above the national average of 28.2%, highlighting the scale of vulnerability across the region.

Under the government’s rollout of LSIPs nationally, Hampshire Chamber is the official ‘employer representative body’ (ERB) for Hampshire and The Solent.

The new plan strengthens the delivery of priorities and foundations set out in two previous LSIPs, one covering the Solent, the other focused on the ‘Enterprise M3’ area across north Hampshire and Surrey.

Following publication of a white paper on post-16 education and with guidance from government agency Skills England, all 39 ERBs were required to develop a second round of three-year LSIPs this summer.

Based on the research report produced for Hampshire Chamber by consultants and analysts Lichfields, the new LSIP for Hampshire and The Solent is designed to be a unifying strategy in response to changing economic conditions and labour market pressures.

Lichfields found that the region now supports almost one million jobs, having added 31,300 jobs since 2023, with strongest growth in Portsmouth and Southampton. At the same time however, labour market participation has actually weakened over the past three years relative to the whole population.

Employment has fallen by 8,100 people, unemployment has risen to 3.2% and economic inactivity has increased significantly. Barriers include caring responsibilities, youth disengagement, early retirement among skilled workers, a weaker jobs market and greater exposure to external economic shocks.

Factors directly influencing skills gaps in all sectors include shortages of digital capability, leadership, essential employability skills and green skills.

“The new three-year plan is a road map for the next phase of LSIP delivery,” Ross McNally explained.

“The strategy highlights the major sector opportunities and challenges we face including in our core clusters of maritime, defence, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, creative industries and health and social care."

“The creative industries, for example, contribute over £900 million in GVA, while marine and maritime support 20,000 jobs and £1.7 billion in economic output. Logistics employs 27,000 people, with the Solent Freeport expected to create 15,000 additional jobs."

“Across all sectors, improving workforce participation, business capability and access to flexible skills provision will be critical to achieving and sustaining regional growth."

“Trends analysed in the report underline the need for a skills ecosystem that drives productivity while also widening participation. An expansion of the employment base must be matched by efforts to unlock local talent, reduce barriers to work and support employers to recruit, retain and grow their workforces."

"That means building and maintaining strong skills development pathways between education providers and employers. We must also recognise and address demand-side barriers which influence businesses confidence, capability and flexibility to recruit."

“Our LSIP report makes clear that we need to strengthen capability across the workforce. Financial literacy, leadership and entrepreneurial confidence are among the essential foundations for improving resilience and productivity especially among our SMEs and micro-businesses. This is particularly important in a region such as ours where 88% of businesses employ fewer than ten people."

To read and download the Hampshire and The Solent LSIP report, visit Hampshire LSIP Skills Channel | HCOC LSIP

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Nov 28, 2023
3 min read

UK business leaders understand the value of implementing new technology, but they don’t know how to measure it, according to new research from Deloitte.

In a new report, Measuring Value from Digital Transformation, 1,600 global business and technology leaders across six different industries were surveyed about their technology investment strategies. It found that three-quarters of UK respondents (74% vs 68% globally) believe that digital transformation - the adoption and implementation of new technologies - is the single most important investment they can make for their organisation.

Data analytics (90%), cloud data centres (73%), and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (68%) are the technologies which generate the most value back to an organisation.

However, the research also revealed that UK organisations are finding it harder to generate value and return on investment from their technology investments compared to global peers. Across the 12 different technologies examined, there is on average an eight percentage-point gap in value created by UK organisations using technologies compared to the global average.

Mark Lillie, global technology strategy & transformation leader at Deloitte, commented: “Technology leaders are under pressure to deliver value and growth for their business. However, implementing and creating value from new technologies, whether that’s a cloud system or a generative AI tool, can face many potential pitfalls. While it is acknowledged that these digital capabilities are vital for an organisation’s long-term strategy, competitiveness and commercial success, their perceived complexity and costliness means that these projects often fall at the first hurdle.”

Barriers To New Tech And Growth Potential

Despite having high ambitions, 30% of UK respondents said that their organisation lacked a digital transformation strategy “to a large extent.” Dependency on legacy systems (37%), difficulty securing funding (33%), insufficient data (31%) and inadequate cross-departmental communication or silos (31%) are perceived to be key barriers to creating value from digital transformation projects. Across every category, the barriers were more pronounced for UK respondents compared to the global average.

Lillie added: “Many UK organisations are now bearing the burden of not updating their tech, with those relying on legacy systems and code struggling to connect old technology with new. At the same time, technology leaders are struggling to secure the funding and investment they need from executives and boards to enact the changes they need to make."

“Any technology investment needs to look at productivity not just as a cost-cutting measure but also as a way to unlock long-term growth opportunities. Through clear communication of easy-to-understand KPIs, business leaders will be better-equipped to make informed and impactful investment decisions and, crucially, maximise growth and productivity value.”

Monetisation And Assessment Timelines

Deloitte’s report also revealed some of the key challenges facing leaders trying to monetise the digital technology that they have implemented. Nearly four-in-ten respondents (38%) cited disruption of the traditional business model as the biggest challenge to monetisation. This was followed by the inability to benchmark against peers to know how much to invest (29%) and protecting intellectual property and regulatory barriers (both 27%).

Lucinda Clements, UK lead partner for technology strategy and transformation at Deloitte, commented: “Investment in new and innovative technologies can create future value throughout an organisation – even in areas where it was not necessarily intended or expected."

“By using a more comprehensive framework of KPIs, spanning a number of measures including financial performance, growth, customer impact and workforce metrics, technology leaders can reveal the full value of any investment into the latest technologies– much of which is likely not currently being captured by existing measurements.”

When it comes to value assessment, UK organisations tend to think more short-term than their global counterparts. More than three-quarters of UK respondents assess the value gained from digital transformation within just a year (77%), twelve percentage points higher than the global average (65%). At the same time, 19% of UK respondents assess the value gained within two to three years, compared to 31% globally.

Clements added: “For business leaders to fully realise the return on investment for using innovative technology or implementing a new IT system, they must consider the long-term implications. The results of true digital transformation are worth the wait.”

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