Finding the right balance of appropriate skills to support the current and future needs of individuals, businesses and the local economy is a key priority for the Economy and Enterprise team. Ensuring our workforce have the appropriate skills is also crucial in order to optimise Devon\u2019s offer as a business destination and attract inward investment to the county.<\/p>\n
Devon is a great location in which to do business. We put significant resources into both ensuring that our workforce has the skills businesses need and in supporting existing businesses to grow. We also work closely with partner organisations regarding specific opportunity sites with a sectoral focus, which currently include Exeter & East Devon Enterprise Zone<\/a> and Plymouth and South Devon Freeport<\/a>. There are also often other opportunities and sites available within Devon for inward investors. For further information, please contact the Growth Hub<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Each year, we undertake a programme of research to ensure we have up to date information and evidence about the nature of skills levels within Devon. Undertaking key pieces of research is central to the delivery of our action plan. The most up-to-date research reports are available at Workforce skills in Devon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Connect to Work<\/a>\u00a0is a new, voluntary supported employment programme designed to help\u00a0disabled people, those with\u00a0health conditions, and individuals facing\u00a0complex barriers to employment\u00a0find and stay in meaningful work.<\/p>\n Apprenticeships<\/a> are at the heart of the government’s drive to equip people with the skills that are needed to grow and compete.<\/p>\n Apprenticeships are a great way to bring new talent through the ranks and train your team with job-specific skills they need to help your business succeed. As well, apprenticeships can be used to retain and up-skill current staff.<\/p>\n We fully support the role of apprentices within businesses in Devon and encourage businesses to consider taking on an apprentice through marketing communications activity.<\/p>\n The ability of the county to retain its graduate population is an important factor in determining the quality of its labour force. Devon County Council is working to make businesses aware of the pool of highly-qualified talent in Devon, encouraging them to employ graduates and engage with graduate employment schemes and further cooperation with universities and colleges. More information at Graduate retention<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finding the right balance of appropriate skills to support the current and future needs of individuals, businesses and the local economy is a key priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-sidebar.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-17 21:45:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5841,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/5841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Workforce skills in Devon<\/h2>\n
Connect to Work<\/h2>\n
Apprenticeships<\/h2>\n
Graduate retention<\/h2>\n