Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver

Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver

DCSF/DIUS consultation

March 2008

Introduction

On 17^th March the Government published a major consultation[1] on its proposals to reform the existing skills framework by 2010. In summary, the proposals in the White Paper involve abolishing the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and transferring its remit for young people to local authorities and its remit for adults to a new Skills Funding Agency. The closing date for the consultation is 9^th June and the TUC will be submitting a formal response.

Initial TUC reaction

The TUC issued a press release on 17^th March providing an initial reaction to the launch of the consultation, as follows:

'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.

'It's vital that as well as meeting the skills needs of employers, more individual employees are helped to get new skills under these new arrangements. Unions can help to do this, both at a strategic level and on the ground, through the 18,000-strong network of union learning reps.

'The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has played an important role in supporting the Government's skills strategy in recent years. Ministers must ensure that the expertise built up by LSC staff is utilised in any future arrangements, without recourse to redundancies.'

It is anticipated that many of the themes highlighted in this release will underpin the formal TUC response, in particular the need for Government to retain a focus on tackling inadequate employer investment in skills and also ensuring that employee demand is properly articulated by trade unions in the new system. The TUC is also supporting PCS to protect the interests of the existing LSC workforce during what will be a lengthy period of transition.

Policy thrust of the proposals

The rationale for the proposed reforms was summarised in a joint statement by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills[2]:

'The skills landscape has grown and reshaped itself over the years. Whilst the current landscape has worked well, with the LSC playing a particularly critical role supporting the achievements of young people and adults since 2001, the ever increasing pace of change means that the skills landscape must change if we are to achieve the skills challenges. With almost three quarters of the workforce of 2020 already out of compulsory education, we need to make sure the skills landscape can respond to the demands of adults and employers. Likewise the Government believes that this system of local leadership for education and training for all young people will contribute to a radical transformation in the life chances of young people.'

There are also two key policy agendas driving the proposed institutional and funding reforms set out in the White Paper:

• Raising the participation in education and training age to 18 and associated reforms, such as the introduction of an Apprenticeship guarantee, the phasing in of the new Diplomas and transferring responsibility for the Connexions service to local authorities
• Further reform of the adult skills system as recommended by the Leitch Review, including: developing a more demand-led system for employers and individuals via the continued expansion of Train to Gain and the introduction of Skills Accounts; greater integration of skills and welfare to work provision, and, establishing a new national adult Advancement and Careers Service.

Two related policy agendas that are also driving the reforms are the Government's Sub-National Economic Review which gives a greater role to local authorities particularly at the sub-regional level and also the increasing coordination of children's services at the local authority level and also the national level.

The proposed new skills infrastructure

The proposed new arrangements respectively for young people and adults are very different and this is clearly acknowledged in the White Paper. In relation to young people it says that 'responsibility and accountability is given to local authorities to deliver the right education and training provision for every young person in their area'. In relation to adults it says that the new system is 'focused on establishing a market which rewards success and brings together education and skills in a high quality offer to respond to the needs of adults and employers' (paragraph 7). The White Paper justifies the need for two new systems on the basis that they are necessary to respond effectively to the different policy challenges facing young people and adults and also to reflect their different needs.

Young people

The Government announced last summer that funding for 16-18 participation would transfer from the LSC to local authorities and the White Paper sets out a proposed model along the following lines to achieve this:

• Local authorities should cluster together in sub-regional groupings to commission provision;
• This should be supplemented by a 'slim national agency' - the Young People's Learning Agency - which would have responsibilities for 'securing budgetary control and for securing coherence in the event that there could not be local agreement'
• There should be progressive devolution of power and authority to the sub-regional level as the 'collaborative arrangements became stronger and more formal'

The policy aim is to give local authorities a clear focus for delivering education and training for all children and young people up to the age of 20 (and up to the age of 25 for disabled young people). At the sub-regional and regional level local authorities will work in partnership with the new Young People's Learning Agency and Skills Funding Agency and the Regional Development Agency will also have a key role to play.

Adults

The White Paper effectively abolishes the LSC from 2010 by announcing the establishment of a 'new streamlined Skills Funding Agency designed to oversee the development of the FE sector and to route public funding effectively to where it is most needed' in line with the greater focus on meeting employer and individual demand. It is therefore anticipated that 'the majority of its funding will flow in direct response to customer choices through Train to Gain and Skills Accounts' but that unlike the LSC, 'it will be a funding body, not a funding and planning body' (paragraphs 27-28).

In effect this means that the agency should route funding to colleges and other providers to meet the demands of employers and learners and it will also have responsibility for managing the framework and the development of the FE sector, including performance management. It will also house two new major services - the National Apprenticeship Service and the Adult Advancement and Careers Service - and it will also manage the National Employer Service for large employers which currently resides within the LSC.

Conclusion

There are a number of potential concerns in relation to some of the proposals set out in the White Paper, including what role there will be for unions in galvanising and supporting employee demand for skills and also whether the energy spent on implementing these institutional reforms will divert Government from the real challenges at hand, especially the need to increase employer investment in skills. Nevertheless, the TUC will be pressing the Government to use this opportunity to strengthen the role of trade unions in stimulating and supporting demand for skills among both employees and employers.

As regards young people, the new arrangements will require a highly collaborative approach by local authorities, RDAs and other stakeholders in order to deliver a coherent education and skills offer for all young people, especially the most disadvantaged, and there is a potential danger that this degree of collaboration will not evolve as quickly as required in some areas. However, there is undoubtedly a case for giving local authorities a greater strategic role in delivering a coherent education and skills system that meets the needs of all young people.

[1] DCSF and DIUS (2008) Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver (available at: www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/conDetails.cfm?consultationId=1520)

[2] DCSF/DIUS press release, New Reforms to Improve the Delivery of Skills for Adults and Young People, 17/3/08