Published date – Friday 10th June 2022
Deadline date – Monday 11th July 2022 at 12 noon
Opportunity Overview
The West Yorkshire Employment and Skills Framework and West Yorkshire Economic Recovery Plan forms part of a holistic approach to regional recovery and growth, alongside plans for the five local authority areas of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield. They are focussed on supporting jobs for people in resilient businesses and helping people get the skills they need to get jobs.
Skills Connect is an ambitious programme that, in its entirety, aims to impact over 4,500 individuals before March 2025 and participant career progression is the main key success measure. Individual courses will have their own targets, but it is expected that these will be broadly in line with;
- Courses will have at least an 80% participant completion rate
- All participants (for whom it is appropriate) will be offered an interview, or self-employed equivalent, for an employment opportunity that is linked to their newly developed skills within six months of completing the course
- A minimum of 75% of participants will secure an improved employment position within 6 months of completing a course
- All courses will be able to demonstrate clear employer engagement throughout course design, delivery and participant progression
In addition to the above, in order to demonstrate and support the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s priorities, Skills Connect as a whole aims to ensure that;
- 51% of participants identify as female
- 30% of participants identify as being from the BAME community
- 10% of participants are over the age of 50
- 15% of participants identify as having some form of disability
These aims and targets will be monitored on a regular basis and training providers will also be required to participate in and contribute to programme evaluations.
The leading aim of the Skills Connect programme is to provide participants with the opportunity to access positive and robust career progression. Therefore, participants’ career progression will be primary criteria when assessing effectiveness and impact of courses and the programme as a whole.
The opportunity will be split into the following lots:
- Lot 1 – Specific Digital Courses
- Lot 2 – Broad Digital Courses
Lot 1 – Specific Digital Courses
These courses will be aimed at providing participants with a clear pathway to a specific career within the Digital sector. High level, specific and technical digital skills remain crucial to the West Yorkshire economy. Within this lot the West Yorkshire Combined Authority is looking to procure specialist providers who can deliver training for specific skills within the digital sector, including complex analytical skills, advanced IT skills and job specific skills and knowledge. The skills that employers find most difficult to obtain from applicants are principally specialist, job-specific digital skills which hinder firm level productivity and wider economic growth.
It is West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s intention to deliver courses on the following subjects:
- Big Data
- Data Architecture
- Data Science
- Cyber Analysis
- Cyber Engineering
- Artificial Intelligence
- Virtual and Augmented Reality
Lot 2 – Broad Digital Courses
Within this lot the West Yorkshire Combined Authority is looking to procure expertise covering training for the wide range of digital skills required for diverse roles including data analytics, software development and social media marketing, alongside other digital skill areas deemed important to employers and necessary for organisations to grow. Digital skills cut across other sectors including infrastructure / construction, engineering / manufacturing and health and life sciences and the impact of poor digital skills within these areas cannot be ignored. As a result, West Yorkshire Combined Authority are looking to offer a suite of courses which reflect the growing need for a digital offer with a specific sector focus. Courses to be delivered include the following:
- Data Analytics for the Public Sector
- Data Analytics for the Retail and Hospitality
- Data Analytics for Culture and Creative Industries
- Data Analytics for Health and Social Care
- Data Analytics for Engineering, Manufacturing, Construction and Infrastructure
- Social Media Marketing for the Public Sector
- Social Media Marketing for the Retail and Hospitality
- Social Media Marketing for Culture and Creative Industries
- Social Media Marketing for Health and Social Care
- Social Media Marketing for Engineering, Manufacturing, Construction and Infrastructure
- Software Development for the Public Sector
- Software Development for the Retail and Hospitality
- Software Development for Culture and Creative Industries
- Software Development for Health and Social Care
- Software Development for Engineering, Manufacturing, Construction and Infrastructure
For specialist bidding / bid writing assistance for this opportunity, please contact AM Bid on 0800 043 0495 or email: info@ambid.co.uk
Contract Notice available at: Digital Skills Training Framework