International Women's Day - Nicola Newman

To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, Dorset LEP is pleased to profile some of the county’s leading females driving strategic economic change and innovation in Dorset.

Nicola Newman is a Dorset LEP Board Member and has Non-Executive, CEO and Executive Director level experience in governance, strategic leadership and communications.

Nicola is currently leading the development of the Dorset Local Skills Improvement Plan on behalf of the Dorset Chamber.

The Dorset Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) is a three-year Dorset-wide review of skills provision against the current and future needs of businesses, funded by Department of Education (DfE).

It aims to identify, and provide recommendations on, the skills and training provision which Dorset employers need to grow and develop their businesses now and in the future.

The result will be a series of recommendations on post-16 technical education including apprenticeships, T-levels, and other workplace learning.

Attracting and retaining the optimal skills mix is critical for Dorset’s industries to recover and thrive, yet recent years have been challenging. Dorset has experienced a tighter labour market, prevalent skills shortages, lower productivity, decline in earnings and pay gaps, an ageing workforce and pockets of deprivation, all dynamically influenced by the global pandemic.

Nicola, whose most of her career has been in the education and sport sectors, comments: “Dorset has a very specific and ageing workforce that is not big enough currently to meet demand. With an ageing workforce, and rapidly changing skills needs in most industries, we need to work together to prioritise and support key sectors and issues. Through this process we intend to pinpoint specific skills gaps by conducting thorough research and capturing employers’ views and concerns.”

Over 500 businesses have already engaged with the process and the Phase 1 report and action plan is due May 31 2023