Added by Love Business East Midlands | 3 June 2025
The Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership has marked its two-year milestone with the appointment of a new chair.
Diane Beresford, Deputy CEO of East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, has been appointed as the Skills and Employment Partnership Chair, where she will lead and facilitate partnership initiatives contained within the Chesterfield Skills Action Plan (2023-27) to build our local economy and bridge the skills gap.
Diane Beresford said:
“If there’s one thing employers say over and over again, they want to see, it’s skills – when they advertise a role, they want a candidate that can hit the ground running. Right now, that’s often not the case, with six out of ten businesses telling us in our Quarterly Economic Survey that they’ve struggled to recruit.
“I want to do everything I can to help bridge that gap. As a Chesterfield resident myself, getting people into work or further ahead in their career is something I’m very passionate about, so I’m looking forward to sharing my insight to help more Chesterfield people get where they want to be.”
Representatives from the business community, public sector and education providers have joined forces as part of the Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership, to create opportunities that allow Derbyshire residents to access new programmes that aim to build skills, employability and help the local economy to develop.
Since 2023 when the Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership was launched, hundreds of people have benefited from business support, recruitment events, upskilling, received support from the readiness to work programme and lots of new skills have been created through the skills hub.
Some of the highlights have included:
- 769 individuals engaging in sector specific career interventions (including the Apprenticeship and T Level information events)
- 106 Chesterfield based employees have been upskilled through UKSPF green and digital upskilling programmes
- 67 businesses accessed specialist skills funding and were supported through the Chesterfield Skills Brokerage Service
- 359 businesses supported 25 recruitment events attended by over 2500 individuals
- 642 young people engaged with the Chesterfield Youth Hub with 272 progressing into work or an apprenticeship
- 75 individuals supported through the work readiness programme
- 80 individuals developed new digital skills through the digital inclusion programme
- 42 learners supported via skills hub and 1172 individuals supported through careers’ interventions
- 808 jobs, 72 apprenticeships and £38.2m local contract value were enable through local labour planning clauses which are designed to lever skills and employment outcomes from development, improving outcomes for local people.
The Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership is a key element of Chesterfield Borough Council’s Skills Action Plan.
Councillor Tricia Gilby, leader of Chesterfield Borough Council and vice chair of the Skills and Employment Partnership, said:
“Over the last two years, we have supported hundreds of local people with training and work-based opportunities that have only been made possible through the Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership.
“I am delighted that Diane Beresford has agreed to take on the role of Chair of the Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership. She is passionate about ensuring people and businesses have the support they need to achieve their ambitions. I am sure under Diane’s leadership the Partnership will go from strength to strength.”
To find out more about programmes offered through The Chesterfield Skills and Employment Partnership contact: [email protected]
