The roundtable was chaired by Morag McInnes, Business and Enterprise Lead at East Suffolk District Council who delivered a scene setting case study about a project that the council has undertaken to deliver a package of advice, insights, and support to help businesses in East Suffolk to grow, by improving their online presence.
- Date: 27 Tuesday 19 July 2022
- Chair: Morag McInnes, Business and Enterprise Lead at East Suffolk District Council
Introduction
This roundtable discussion covered a wide range of topics related to the uplift of digital skills in local communities including both residents and businesses.
Some of the key themes that came out of this roundtable related to digital inclusion, support for micro businesses and SMEs particularly in rural and market town areas, as well as creating a skills pipeline to meet demand from tech businesses and clusters.
The roundtable was chaired by Morag McInnes, Business and Enterprise Lead at East Suffolk District Council who delivered a scene setting case study about a project that the council has undertaken to deliver a package of advice, insights, and support to help businesses in East Suffolk to grow, by improving their online presence.
East Suffolk Council – Digital Springboard case study
In 2018, East Suffolk Council commissioned a people and places project and carried out high street health checks to ascertain the needs of businesses and examine how they would need to move forward and adapt to changing customer habits. Some of the key findings included the lack of effective marketing of place at town level and poor digital presence of businesses in town centres. There was also not enough useful data on the high street with regards to visitor habituation. Businesses also did not know how to commission digital business assets such as websites or understand the value of digital skills development.
A pilot digital advice service for businesses was launched in 2021 which focused on delivering diagnostics to give businesses a good understanding of their web footprint and digital skills needs. Following the diagnostics, the businesses were provided with a grant to make improvements based on their needs.
A longer programme - Digital Springboard - was subsequently commissioned which will provide businesses with access to:
- A Digital Advice Service
- Website and digital skills audits and recommended actions based on these audits
- Workshops, potential training, and peer support
- Potential grants for digital improvements
- Resources on Digital Springboard website
- Data from town dashboard
A support offer for town groups has also been integrated into this offer which will provide town representatives with access to:
- Support programmes
- Website and digital skills audits
- Training on town technology and social media - Training on further place marketing approaches
- Resources on Digital Springboards website
- Data from town dashboard
- allows for analysis and town insights
The overarching aim of this programme is to support the regeneration of East Suffolk through digital presence uplifts, place marketing and digital upskilling. For questions or queries about the Digital Springboard programme, please email [email protected].
The key points from the discussion
The key points discussed at the roundtable are highlighted below:
- Digital skills is a broad spectrum covering both entry level and more technical skills. It is important that support programmes offer a wide variety of different packages of support depending on the needs of the business.
- There is a shortfall in the digital skills knowledge across the sector as well as a gap in the training offered by providers. Therefore, it is important to invest more resource in order to properly articulate what is meant by digital when commissioning providers.
- There are gaps in creating clear pathways into digital careers. More needs to be done to embed digital skills into school curriculums and into adult learner provision schemes. More resource and funding is also needed at a national and local level to provide access to opportunities.
- It was observed that skills needs are at the core of all programmes and a digital skills uplift needs to be addressed across the board. This includes tackling digital exclusion and there is an opportunity to recruit digital champions and promote community learning to address digital skills shortages and ensure residents and businesses are more digitally connected.
- Local authorities, public sector organisations and businesses, have an opportunity to streamline provision and facilitate greater innovation and information sharing across the sector by working together more collaboratively.
These points are expanded below.
Digital skills are a broad spectrum covering both entry level and more technical skills. It is important that support programmes offer a wide a variety and different packages of support depending on the needs of the business.
There was a recognition that digital is a broad area which can create challenges for local authorities to provide a robust digital skills provision and support package from entry level to more technical levels.
One of the primary challenges that came out of this discussion was how can local authorities provide different layers and packages of support depending on the needs of businesses and residents. It was suggested that running diagnostics with businesses and mapping the current digital skills levels of the local population is important in identifying the packages of support that can be delivered.
Some delegates highlighted that micro businesses and SMEs can lack basic foundational knowledge of digital, so running tailored sessions for example around cloud accounting, how to build a social media presence, digital marketing etc can be a useful starting point for many businesses. 1 to 1 support has also been particularly invaluable for businesses.
Notable practice examples:
Embrace Digital – This programme delivered by Lancashire Business Growth Hub offers fully funded training which supports Lancashire based businesses identify digital platforms to support their future growth.
There is a shortfall in the digital skills knowledge across the sector as well as a gap in the training offered by providers. Therefore, it is important to invest more resource in order to properly articulate what is meant by digital when commissioning providers in order to ensure that it reflects the needs of businesses.
One of the key challenges highlighted throughout the roundtable is that although there is a large demand for digital skills amongst businesses and residents, it can be difficult to commission the right skills and training providers to deliver the programmes in an agile way.
Delegates shared that whilst digital is a broad spectrum it can also be difficult to articulate what is actually needed and create a framework for engaging with businesses across this spectrum. There were two key issues highlighted, firstly the commissioning powers, i.e., council leaders and officers need the skillset to understand the new tech coming through and this knowledge gap makes it difficult to articulate what is needed. Secondly, there is a shortfall in the digital offer delivered by training providers and ensuring that it is effective and reflective of business needs.
It is therefore important to bring key stakeholders together, for example the Chamber, training providers, local authorities, and local businesses, to articulate what the demand is and what the need is and facilitate change management to integrate digital skills provision in services.
Notable practice:
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Digital Skills Partnership commissioned a report to do a mapping exercise and deep dive to understand the skills need and develop the correct programmes and interventions to ensure the local talent pool meets the needs of local employers.
There are gaps in creating clear pathways into digital careers. More needs to be done to embed digital skills into school curriculums and into adult learner provision schemes. More resource and funding is also needed at a national and local level to provide access to opportunities.
It was also highlighted that the school curriculum does not yet meet the need for future digital skills pathways and this needs to be made more robust to ensure that employers have access to the skills they need in the future.
There is also a gender gap in the uptake of digital/IT related GCSEs with less girls taking these courses than boys. Some examples were shared where authorities are working on a transitions package for all kids going into KS3 with an agreed set of digital skills that all primary leavers will have. Some delegates have shared how their authorities are looking to create links between the colleges, universities, and local sectors, such as the maritime sector to recruit a talent pool for future digital jobs.
In addition, the adult skills provision landscape needs to be more tailored, and more resource needs to put in to create pathways into digital careers.
Notable practice:
- In Somerset West and Taunton, a national re-training programme was delivered by Bridgwater and Taunton Collage who led a 12 week bootcamp in conjunction with the health sector to train and upskills social care and healthcare workers in integrating digital technologies into their delivery of care.
- Lancashire Digital Skills Bootcamps – courses up to 16 weeks that provide 19+ year olds with alternative routes into tech careers.
It was observed that skills needs are at the core of all programmes and a digital skills uplift needs to be addressed across the board. This includes tackling digital exclusion and there is an opportunity to recruit digital champions and promote community learning to address digital skills shortages and ensure residents and businesses are more digitally connected.
Addressing digital exclusion and ensuring all residents have the necessary skills to be able to stay digitally connected is also a key component of supporting businesses and the local economy.
Supporting businesses and residents is an interconnected issue particularly in rural areas and market towns where the landscape is largely dominated by micro businesses and SMEs, many of whom may not be equipped with the necessary digital skills to run their businesses more efficiently and utilise new opportunities for growth by increasing their digital presence.
It was suggested that offering internships and work placements for younger cohorts can be a good opportunity to provide young people with work experience whilst simultaneously growing micro businesses digital capability for example by improving their social media and web presence.
There are also opportunities to deliver community learning programmes and upskill residents with digital skills to address not only digital exclusion but also to support micro businesses who may have limited digital skills. Recruiting digital champions and/or leveraging the expertise that exists within councils by utilising councils’ volunteering programmes can be a good platform to improve digital skills. There are also existing resources that can be utilised to upskill residents in digital.
An example was shared in Essex where they are working with the Duke of Edinburgh to create digital champions through this programme, with 18/19 year olds doing two hours a week for 12 months on community based projects including for example supporting businesses with social media.
Notable practice example and resources:
- Digital Eagles | Barclays – A scheme run by Barclays which provides online resources, webinars and courses in digital skills as well as connecting individuals and businesses with digital champions.
- Lloyds bank business hub - A scheme run by Lloyds Bank which offers a learning platform with a huge variety of lessons and webinars in digital, life and work skills for businesses, charities and individuals.
- Digital Boost - A community of volunteers who help start-ups, small businesses and charities get the support they need to grow by matching organisations who need support with volunteer experts for free one-to-one advice, small group workshops and learning resources.
- Digital Inclusion Group LinkedIn group – a group which aims to work together to tackle digital inclusion through problem solving, sharing best practice ideas and insights across the sector.
Local authorities, public sector organisations and businesses, have an opportunity to streamline provision and facilitate greater innovation and information sharing across the sector by working together more collaboratively.
Local Authorities have an important role to play in bringing together key stakeholders together including businesses and public sector groups to deliver an enhanced digital skills offer and also utilise existing community assets to support communities and businesses with their digital skills. For example, it was suggested that libraries can play an important role in delivering digital skills workshops and training.
It was also observed that the support provision that is available for digital skills can be confusing. It was noted that there are several hubs that people can access support from for example, business hubs, growth hubs and people hubs but this makes the landscape tricky to navigate and delegates suggested that this provision should be more streamlined and instead a one stop shop of support should be created./p>
Notable practice:
- The Good Things Foundation are supporting libraries to help their communities develop digital skills they need to improve their lives.
- In Somerset, a scheme was run where libraries were running clubs for young people to code for robotics.
Delegates also highlighted that Networks are a powerful resource, and some examples were shared of digital business networks that have been created to share learning, tools and resources amongst businesses and across different sectors. These networks also provide a platform for young people and learners to tap into and encourage innovation through the delivery of tech events, hackathons and the creation of new innovation hubs to encourage digital uplift across the board.
Notable practice:
- In Somerset West and Taunton, they are launching a digital innovation centre with a view to encouraging students to take part in business challenges to resolve, hackathons, online white papering as well as access to other events through their 400 strong digital somerset cluster network.
- Imperial Enterprise Lab – A community network ran by the Imperial College Enterprise Lab to support students and alumni explore creative ventures to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship
LGA support offer and additional resources
The LGA will be hosting more events including roundtables and webinars as part of our Economic Growth Support offer. For more information on all of our upcoming events and publications on Economic Growth please visit the Economic Growth Support Hub webpage.
The LGA has also released guidance for councils to support businesses, regenerate high streets, and improve digital skills. The links to the publications are included below:
Councils' role supporting the digital skills pipeline
Creating resilient and revitalised high streets in the ‘new normal’
Public-Private Partnerships: Driving Growth, Building Resilience .
Supporting councils with business engagement
How well do you know your microbusinesses?
The also runs a digital improvement programme which focuses on digital connectivity and addressing digital inclusion. For further details visit the Digital hub webpage.
For further information about the LGA’s Economic Growth support offer, please email [email protected].