In March 2008, the UK government announced plans to reform England’s skills infrastructure. The plans include a proposal to abolish the country’s Learning and Skills Council and restore the local authorities’ role in delivering further education for 16–19 year-olds. At the same time, the government is proposing the establishment of a new Skills Funding Agency in charge of adult training.
On 17 March 2008, the UK Labour government published a consultation white paper, entitled Raising expectations: Enabling the system to deliver, which proposed radical changes to England’s education and training system. The government’s plans include a proposal to abolish the country’s Learning and Skills Council (LSC) by 2010.
The LSC was established by the Labour government under Tony Blair in 2001 to fund all education and training for over 16 year-olds outside of higher education (UK0110111F). The council is the largest para-state agency in Europe, with a budget of GBP 10.4 billion (about €12.96 billion as at 23 April 2008). Under the new proposals, the LSC’s budget for 16–19 year-olds, which stands at GBP 7 billion (€8.7 billion), will be transferred to the local authorities; at the same time, a new Skills Funding Agency (SFA) will direct the remaining GBP 4 billion (€4.98 billion) currently allocated for the training of adults.
Policy background
Several factors are driving these changes. Firstly, the government is committed to raising the education and training leaving age to 18 years by 2015; moreover, it believes that the local authorities, whose control over further education colleges was removed in 1993, are best placed to deliver the ‘local leadership’ necessary to achieve this. In the area of adult training, the government is also implementing the main recommendations of the 2006 Leitch review of skills, which are aimed at developing a ‘world class’ skills base and making the skills delivery system more responsive to the needs of individuals and employers (UK0612049I).
Key points of white paper
The white paper outlines new arrangements for the education and training of young people and adults, and provides details on how these measures will work in practice.
Young people
Under the new measures for young people aged 14–19, local authorities will be responsible for ensuring that the right range of provision is available for every young person to continue in education or training until the age 19 years – this includes the General Certificate of Secondary Education studies (GCSEs), A-levels, new diplomas and apprenticeships. Local authorities will also have powers to commission more places in schools and colleges of further education, as well as contract the services of new providers in order to meet young people’s and employers’ demands.
It is proposed that the local authorities should work together in ‘sub-regional’ clusters, in order to commission provision across coherent ‘travel to learn’ areas. In addition, a new ‘slimline’ national Young People’s Learning Agency will maintain overall budgetary control, help resolve local disagreements and ‘step in’ when performance problems arise.
Adults
The new streamlined SFA will channel funding for over 19 year-olds to further education colleges and other service providers. The bulk of this funding will flow through an expanded ‘Train to Gain’ service (UK0505107F) and new ‘Learner Accounts’, so that it correlates with the purchasing decisions of employers and adults (UK0612049I).
The SFA will oversee the coherence and performance of the further education sector, as well as manage the new Adult Advancement and Careers Service and National Apprenticeship Service (NAS).
Reaction to proposals
Launching the white paper, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, outlined:
We want every 16 and 17 year-old in the country to stay on in education and training so that they get a better job, have the chance to earn more and can make the most of their talents. Local Authorities will play a key role in making this happen.
The Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, added:
The new Skills Funding Agency will ensure that government funding responds to employers’ and adults’ skills needs and supports excellence in the further education sector.
While the Trades Union Congress (TUC) welcomed the proposals, it also underlined the significance of the employers’ role in this context:
Many of the proposed reforms, such as giving local authorities a greater strategic role for young people, should help more employees get the skills they need. But with two in five workers still not getting any regular training at work, this organisational reform must not divert attention from the wider skills challenge – getting more employers to offer quality apprenticeships and training opportunities.
Commentary
The proposed reforms represent the biggest overhaul of England’s skills infrastructure since the establishment of the LSC back in 2001. However, as the President of the Association of Colleges (AoC), David Collins, has already warned, the reforms could result in a ‘bureaucratic nightmare’, with local authorities being asked to develop coordinated commissioning plans and colleges being expected to source funding from a range of bodies, including local authorities, the SFA and NAS. Fifteen years after further education colleges were removed from local authority control, this link is now being restored. It remains to be seen how this relationship will develop, as both sides come to terms with the new institutional arrangements.
Jonathan Payne, SKOPE, Cardiff University