Meet our LSIP Membership Engagement Executive, Joshua Shelper

When my friends ask this question, I like to say that I am paid to chat! My role involves going out and engaging our community to understand what’s going on for them as a business, and how Business West can help. The work I do in the LSIP team has a real focus on understanding what is challenging business owners, what they are excited about, and what they need support with from a skills perspective. This is all with the goal of having a tangible positive impact for businesses in our regions and in our membership. 

LSIPs are a UK Government-funded research project, which give you the opportunity to have your say on your business’ skills needs now, and in the future. Local colleges and universities are training the future workforce, and we want your insights into in-demand skillsets, challenges and opportunities, training needs and emerging trends.   

The research aims to align post-16 technical education and training with real business needs, ensuring companies where we live and work are resilient to future change.   

As explained in the Post 16 Education and Training White Paper, the government’s plan is to create a world-leading, joined-up skills system that supports growth, innovation, and opportunity for all. It places skills at the heart of the national growth mission, recognising that a third of productivity gains come from workforce skills. LSIPs are central to achieving the Government’s Opportunity and Growth Missions, supporting Skills England’s role to identify skills gaps across the economy, which will be published in our reports.   

The LSIP is just another example of a great benefit that we offer to our chamber members, as it gives them a voice to make local change for the better. I see the LSIP as an extension of the collaborative work we already do when we engage our members on what they would like to see happen to improve our local regions. From my short time here at Business West, I’ve learned that the chamber was formed to help businesses have a better environment to trade, and the LSIP is another example of how we support that here. 

If you do have any thoughts or would like to share your experiences, you can book in a chat with me directly here.

We have skills advisors, Barry and Fiona, who offer bespoke workforce development planning support via there free to attend virtual skills clinics, which can be booked here. 

We are also running a survey now which provides another way that you can contribute and make your voice heard, click here to complete the Local Skills Improvement Plan survey.

The events our chamber team puts on for our community are incredibly fun and rewarding. The connections that you make through having conversations with business representatives in our region have fostered a greater sense of connection to the region, and it's a privilege to listen and try to resolve businesses' problems in a group setting. I would say that the networking breakfasts have been my favourite!  

The talent and years of experience that already exists in organisations in terms of their older workforce, and the opportunity to use this to train less experienced staff in the business.  

This is something that both the individual and businesses themselves can look to tap into as a hidden strength.

Whilst my work for the LSIP team will predominantly still focus on gathering intelligence and supporting businesses through signposting internal and external support available, we are moving into a project phase where we will look at being more impact-focused and providing solutions to business needs post-report release. 

In my free time I do love to take advantage of Bristol’s fantastic food scene and am always open to conversations about restaurants that have excited you. Aside from this, I love being active with friends and family, taking time to cycle, hike and run around Bristol, and the West in general.