LSIS Policy Update
22nd October – 4th November 2010
Further Education, Skills and the Economy
28th September – Government publishes local growth white paper
BIS has published a White Paper which announces government plans to ‘kick start’ local growth.
Local Growth: realising every place’s potential sets out the government’s new approach on
rebalancing the economy and helping drive sustainable growth by focusing on three key themes:
•
shifting power to local communities and businesses, by creating dynamic local enterprise
partnerships;
•
increasing confidence to invest;
•
focused investment, by tackling barriers to growth that the market will not address itself.
It is anticipated that by ‘shifting power to the right levels’ government will increase democratic
accountability and transparency, and ensure that public expenditure is more responsive to the needs
of local business and people. Key details announced in the paper include:
•
the timetable and further criteria for the operation of the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund which will
operate for 3 years between 2011 and 2014. The fund will provide ‘focused investment’ for
projects that offer significant potential for private sector-led economic growth and sustainable
employment. First round bids for funding are requested by 21 January 2011.
•
the closure of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) was confirmed in the Budget and they
are expected to cease activity by March 2012. The paper set out the process for the wind down of
these operations and announced the closure of the London Development Agency.
•
the creation of directly elected mayors in the 12 largest English cities. Their roles will include
ensuring cities are genuine drivers of economic growth. These mayors may chair the board of
local enterprise partnerships.
•
the establishment of the first phase of 24 local enterprise partnerships 1 to encourage a more
responsive approach to the needs of local business. Their roles might include:
o
working with government to set out key investment priorities, including transport infrastructure
and supporting or coordinating project delivery;
o
coordinating proposals or bidding directly for the Regional Growth Fund;
o
supporting high growth businesses, for example through involvement in bringing together and
supporting consortia to run new growth hubs;
1
These are: Birmingham & Solihull with E. Staffordshire, Lichfield &Tamworth; Cheshire and Warrington
Coast to Capital; Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly; Coventry & Warwickshire; Cumbria; Gt. Cambridge & Gt.
Peterborough; Greater Manchester; Hertfordshire; Kent, Greater Essex & East Sussex; Leeds City Region;
Leicester & Leicestershire; Lincolnshire; Liverpool City Region; Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby, &
Derbyshire; Oxfordshire City Region; Sheffield City Region; Solent; S.E. Midlands; Stoke-on-Trent &
Staffordshire; Tees Valley; Thames Valley Berkshire; The Marches; and West of England.
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•
o
working with local employers, Jobcentre Plus and learning providers to help local workless
people into jobs;
o
coordinating approaches to leveraging funding from the private sector; and
o
becoming involved in delivery of other national priorities such as digital infrastructure.
Roles for local authorities in supporting growth were set out and include:
o
support for local people and businesses, including regeneration, business support and
employment programmes, working with nationally led schemes. To support this, the
government intends to provide a general power of competence for local authorities through the
forthcoming Localism Bill;
o
giving them real freedom to act in the interests of their local communities;
o
providing high quality services, such as schools and transport, that directly support businesses’
investment confidence and individuals’ life chances; and
o
leading efforts to support and improve the health and well-being of the local population,
promoting independence and rehabilitation to ensure that all individuals have the maximum
opportunity to benefit from work, and to contribute to the local economy.
Annex B to the paper includes a summary of future economic development delivery. For workforce
and 16-19 skills this includes:
•
colleges and training organisations will be encouraged to form self-organised networks ‘so they
can engage more easily with local enterprise partnerships to agree skills priorities and how they
can best be delivered’.
•
local enterprise partnerships will be encouraged to develop effective working relationships with the
further and higher education sector and engage directly with their networks of colleges and
training organisations in order to agree how to generate the demand for agreed strategic priorities
locally.
•
local authorities should include’ 16-19 provision in their wider education vision for their areas and
influence and shape that provision. ‘It is for them to decide how they will do this. However, in
many places there are highly effective 14-19 partnerships between authorities and providers
which might be the place to continue the development of shared understanding of the needs of
young people’.
BIS has also produced an analytical paper which looks at the theory and evidence on economic
growth at the sub-national level which has helped to inform the policy set out in the White Paper. The
scope of the paper is to set out broad analysis on the economic drivers and disparities between
places.
Business secretary, Vince Cable said ‘The knowledge and expertise of the private sector, local
authorities and their local communities will be crucial as we work to create a better environment for
business and ensure that everyone has access to the opportunities that growth brings’.
Communities secretary, Eric Pickles said ‘over the last decade, the country’s economy became
skewed by artificial boundaries and top-down prescription that did not work. We want to create a fairer
and more balanced economy driven by private sector strength, and our plan for local growth will
create local enterprise partnerships, reform the planning system and introduce development
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incentives for local authorities, like allowing them to keep their business rates, so all parts of the
country benefit’.
26th October – Skills Minister calls for a new Arts and Craft Movement
Skills minister John Hayes has delivered a speech at the Royal Society of Arts where he set out his
vision for craft and vocational skills as he spoke of the re-emergence of the Guilds and announced an
ambition to create a new and prestigious award for Craft. The minister called for a ‘revaluation’ of the
way that skills are seen and the value they add to individual employment prospects, life experience,
national economic prospects and the character of a civil society and to the economy in order to
stimulate and maintain growth.
The four ways in which the minister says the system can grow are:
•
continuing and intensifying efforts to re-establish the apprenticeship as the primary form of
practical training;
•
re-evaluating and redefining what a sector led skills system with a place for Guilds might look like;
•
continuing to support and protect adult community learning and the role it plays in enriching the
lives of individuals and contributing to local communities; and
•
Breaking down the barriers to progression so the route for any individual from basic skills to higher
learning is accessible and effective.
The government is now working to support a new award for excellence in the crafts, John Hayes
added.
John Hayes said ‘I want Sector Skills Councils to dare to rise to the challenge of going beyond the
strictly utilitarian, of becoming guilds for the twenty first century, creating a sense of pride in the
occupations of today, and giving to the individual worker a sense of purpose and belonging’.
A webpage has been set up for the public to comment on the minister’s speech.
28th October – Geoff Russell comments on the implications of the Spending
Review
Geoff Russell, chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency has spoken about the implications of the
Spending Review on the Agency and the sector. He said ‘reductions do not mean that we simply
accept delivering less because we have less cash. We have to become more efficient – but we also
must become more effective. The story is not a struggle to survive; it's about an opportunity to raise
our game even further. It is time to accelerate - not brake; we have to drive up the quality of the offer
even further. To look at it any other way is to disregard and disrespect an education sector that is
already the most cost effective in the country’.
Geoff Russell said that the Agency has reduced its headcount by 15 per cent and will become smaller
still. In reference to the Skills Strategy and Skills Investment Strategy which will be published in the
coming weeks Mr Russell said that the documents will articulate the funding available as well as a
‘much simpler system’ for monitoring and allocating it. As such, the Agency's role will be to supply
funding and information and only to intervene in the ‘hopefully rare’ instances when things go wrong.
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He added ‘I would also venture to suggest that the boardroom and the lecture room could work more
closely together. We have seen announced this month that a supermarket chain is sponsoring
students through higher education routes. This seems to be an innovative idea that could extend
beyond backing students to backing whole further education institutions and developing mutually
beneficial partnerships. More collaboration leads to better education delivered at less cost’.
26th October – Creating a ‘new economic dynamism’
Ahead of the Local Growth White Paper, prime minister David Cameron has set out the government’s
plans to back British business and create ‘a new economic dynamism’ that will lead to growth and
jobs. The prime minister set out the government’s strategy as pro-enterprise, pro-competition and
pro-innovation ‘that backs the big businesses of tomorrow, not just the big businesses of today’ and
said that the promotion of British commerce and international trade would be at the heart of foreign
and economic policy. In addition, it was announced that the government will set out how it will bring a
new emphasis on well-being in national life, and how government will work with business to spread
social and environmental responsibility.
The three parts of the strategy are:
•
providing a competitive environment for private sector growth;
•
supporting industries where Britain already has a competitive advantage; and
•
making it easier for new companies and innovations to flourish.
Mr Cameron announced a National Infrastructure Plan that sets out in detail the infrastructure Britain
needs and how government will ‘unlock’ £200 billion worth of public and private sector investment to
deliver it. This will include work with utility companies to get more investment in energy, with
construction companies on transport projects, and with the telecommunications industry on
broadband.
In the speech, the Prime minister addressed the question, ‘where is the growth going to come from –
where are the jobs going to come from?’ He said ‘over the course of this Parliament – and the next –
I believe we can transform our fortunes. We’re in a world of unprecedented economic change, with
millions of new consumers and countless innovations, where companies are starting with less
investment than ever before, yet still becoming global giants within a matter of years. This is an
incredible opportunity for Britain, for new start-ups to flourish, for innovations to drive growth and
create jobs’.
4th November – Government explores future technology and innovation
opportunities
A report, published by Foresight, the Government’s Futures think tank, highlights scientific and
technological areas that could transform the UK economy over the next 20 years. Technology and
Innovation Futures examines possible technological developments that have the potential over the
next 20 years to support economic growth in the UK. It concludes that there are strong opportunities
for growth in the UK economy if businesses can ‘harness scientific and industrial capabilities to take
advantage of technology developments’ and identifies three potential areas of growth which could be
transformative:
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•
manufacturing – there is potential for the UK to be part of a 21st Century manufacturing
revolution fuelled by new technologies and bespoke on-demand manufacturing;
•
infrastructure – including research and development (R&D); and
•
the internet – there is potential for a second Internet revolution to transform the way we use
data, and to open up opportunities for the creation of major new businesses.
The report argues that longer-term thinking, planning and support are vital for sustainable growth and
states that government should continue to listen to businesses, but businesses could also work
together more in developing sector-wide strategies. These might suggest how government could
support business’ activities, whether by reducing regulation, using procurement to boost innovation, or
helping them to seize export opportunities.
25th October – Government invests £200m in Technology and Innovation
Centres
The government has announced that more than £200m will be invested in a network of ‘Technology
and Innovation Centres over the next four years ‘to drive growth in the UK’s most high-tech industries
and bridge the gap between universities and businesses’. It is anticipated that these centres will help
to commercialise the outputs of Britain’s research base by allowing businesses to access equipment
and expertise, conduct their own in-house R&D and help businesses to access new funding streams
and point them towards the potential of emerging technologies.
Each centre will focus on a specific technology ‘where there is a potentially large global market and a
significant UK capability’. Areas identified as possibilities by Hermann Hauser 2 included plastic
electronics, regenerative medicine and high value manufacturing.
The network will be established and overseen by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) but individual
centres will have a high degree of autonomy ‘so they can respond to business needs’. The TSB will
work with industry, universities and other interested parties to identify the areas the centres will
support. The TSB will determine which existing centres to invest in by April next year and will then
consider requirements for new centres.
4th November – New all-age careers service to launch in England in 2012
Skills minister John Hayes today set out his vision for the first all-age careers service in England.
Both young people aged 13-19 and adults will be able to begin accessing new arrangements for
careers guidance from September 2011. The service will be operational by April 2012. It will build on
‘the best of’ Next Step and Connexions and provide a joined up service for all age groups for the first
time. The all-age careers service will be founded on ‘core principles’ of independence and
professionalism. Schools will be under a legal duty to secure independent, impartial careers guidance
for their students, but will be free to decide how best to support young people to make good careers
choices.
2 Hermann Hauser's review The Current and Future Role of Technology and Innovation Centres in the UK was
commissioned by the Government and published in March 2010
http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/innovation/docs/10-843-role-of-technology-innovation-centreshauser-review
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The all-age careers service will be delivered through a range of online, telephone and in the
community channels, with prioritised intensive face-to-face guidance. Local authorities will continue
to have a statutory duty to provide services to young people that ‘enable, encourage and assist’ them
to participate in education and training.
In response to recommendations of the Careers Progression Task Force, BIS and DfE will work with
advice professionals, schools and colleges on how best to revitalise the professional status of careers
guidance. Options under consideration include introducing a new kite mark to recognise the best
career guidance services or establishing a register of providers who meet the highest standards.
John Hayes said ‘Informed learners are empowered learners. The right guidance at the right time not
only helps young people and adults to progress in learning, but also increases their confidence and
motivation to succeed. Careers guidance is at the heart of increasing social mobility, and a vital part
of the machinery of social justice’.
26th October – Learners motivated by practical learning in Diplomas
Ofsted has published Diplomas: the second year, a report which focuses on the introduction of the
Diplomas in their second year of operation. The survey focused on how well 14–19 consortia were
introducing the Diplomas, evaluating the success of key components of the Diploma and the
coherence of the programme as a whole.
The report found strengths in the main subject content of Diplomas (the ‘principal learning’), however,
the delivery of the ‘functional skills’ of English, mathematics and ICT was often weak. When taught in
isolation from the vocational content of the Diploma –sometimes in a different institution - the lack of
connection left learners ‘struggling to develop and apply functional skills’.
In the best examples, consortia ensured a clear application of learning to commercial, industrial,
professional and work-related contexts. Learners benefited from a wide range of links with
employers, visiting industry premises and taking the opportunity to get involved in both voluntary and
commercial activities.
Christine Gilbert, chief inspector, said 'The complexity of the qualification is proving a real challenge to
both learners and institutions, with only just over a third of the first cohort gaining a Diploma after two
years. More also needs to be done to make the teaching of the functional skills of English,
mathematics and ICT more industry-relevant, and joined up with the main subject content.'
1st November – Cross government action to unleash enterprise and help small
business
Small business minister Mark Prisk has set out a cross government package of measures to help the
five million small and medium companies in the country ‘grow and boost’ enterprise across Britain.
Ministers from Department for Business, Cabinet Office, Treasury and Communities and Local
Government have announced three major policies to support this ambition: to improve access to
finance; to make it easier to do business with the public sector; and to allow social tenants to start up
their business at home. Measures to support this include:
•
committing a further £200m to Enterprise Capital Funds supporting equity investments in the
highest growth potential businesses over four years;
•
continuing the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) for the next four years; and
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•
setting a goal to award a quarter of government contracts to SMEs.
In addition, Lord Young has taken up the role of enterprise advisor to the prime minister to propose
new ways of ‘encouraging business start-ups, reducing burdens, maximising procurement
opportunities and engaging with small businesses’.
18th October – The Young Foundation launches the Citizens’ University
The Young Foundation and NESTA has launched The Citizens’ University, a programme that has
been developed as a way of ‘providing citizens with the skills and confidence they need to help
others’. Its aim is to reduce unnecessary deaths, reduce the risk of violence, and strengthen
communities’ capacity to act for themselves.
The Citizens' University will prioritise skills, for example first-aid, which can be learned relatively easily
by the majority of people in small ‘bite-sized’ modules that do not require a significant commitment of
time from the individual, and where there are existing national providers. The Citizens' University will
aim to help these providers reach greater numbers of people by building up a cadre of volunteer
trainers. For other skills, such as averting conflict, mentoring a learner reader or developing a website
for the local area, the Citizens' University will provide help to existing small scale providers by
supporting them in formalising their training, helping them reach a wider audience and creating a
network of providers across the country.
The Citizens' University aims to have a presence on every high street by using pop-up shops to
attract the general public and as sites on which to provide the training. This new institution will be
developed with a coalition of civil society organisations who will provide specific modules or support
the Citizens' University in other ways, such as providing expertise. Its medium-term aim is to reach,
at relatively low cost, at least 1% of the population with a catalytic effect on much larger numbers of
people.
27th October – National School E-Learning head calls for greater use of Virtual
Learning
Ken Ingram, National School of Government’s head of e-learning, delivered a speech on how on-line
learning can provide savings by bringing together organisations to build and share programmes that
have impact across a large audience. Ken Ingram suggested that in the past, organisations may
have been guilty of ‘wheel reinvention’ and emphasised the need to be smarter about the way we
work together in future. However, he warned that e-learning was not a panacea and, in many cases,
would need to be used as part of a blended solution to make it sufficiently specific to be useful. He
also argued that in the future we will need to embrace interventions based around social media
applications whilst warning of the possible tension caused between the freedom afforded by these
informal learning opportunities and the increasing wish by organisations to be assured of compliance.
It was argued that as budgets become tighter, e-learning can provide a cost effective way of meeting
organisational learning needs.
The National School of Government’s Protecting Information e-learning course provides clients with a
guide to why information is important, the risks to its safety, and what can be done to protect it.
Protecting Information is free to all UK government workers and can be accessed at:
http://virtual.nationalschool.gov.uk/eLearning/Pages/ProtectingInformation.aspx.
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29th October – Skills Minister says Olympic apprentices must be given new
opportunity
Under government plans, regulations to the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning (ASCL)
Act 2009 will be submitted to Parliament to allow a special exception to rules that apprenticeships
have to be undertaken while in employment. If supported by Parliament, this will mean that athletes
in Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth disciplines will be able to take up the Advanced
Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence without needing to be employed in their chosen discipline. 3
John Hayes said ‘Although my determination is that apprenticeships should ultimately be directly
linked to employment, clearly, if we hope for a successful Olympics for this country we will need to
nurture sporting talent... There needs to be flexibility within legislation to free up opportunities for
talented sports men and women to pursue their dreams’.
29th October – IfL and NUS launch joint teaching and learning campaign
The Institute for Learning (IfL) and the National Union of Students (NUS) has launched a joint
campaign ‘to highlight the value of brilliant teaching and learning in further education and skills’.
A Teaching and Learning Facebook page has been set up inviting students and teachers to discuss
‘what makes a brilliant teacher?’ in teaching and learning. The Institute for Learning (IfL) is also
calling on the coalition government to set up an independent inquiry into world-class teaching and
training in further education and skills.
Shane Chowen, vice-president for further education at NUS said, ‘Learners expect the highest
standards and want their teachers and trainers to be up to date in their specialist field and in their
teaching and training methods. We are delighted to have this opportunity to debate the subject
directly with teachers and trainers at our conference and through social media, and look forward to
continuing our work with IfL to discuss and promote the highest standards of teaching and learning in
our sector’.
28th October – The Learner Panel
The Learner Panel is an online facility which is managed by the YPLA and co-funded with the Skills
Funding Agency and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) ‘to help the FE sector
improve their access to learners for conducting quantitative and qualitative research’.
The panel has 10,000 registered learners aged 14 and over enrolled at schools, colleges and training
providers in England. These learners are available to participate in research such as ad hoc
quantitative surveys omnibus surveys, longitudinal studies, evaluation of products or services and
recruitment for face-to-face or online qualitative studies.
3
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning (ASCL) Act 2009 will require apprentices to be employed
under an Apprenticeship Agreement (a contract of service) as a standard condition of completing an
apprenticeship. This part of the ASCL Act will come into effect on 6th April 2011. At present, there is no legal
requirement for an apprentice to be employed. The new draft regulations will propose that AASE apprentices in
Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth disciplines be exempt from the requirement to be employed. The
regulations will be laid before Parliament for affirmative resolution in March 2011.
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14-19 and Schools
3rd November – New endowment fund to raise standards in underperforming
schools
The secretary of state for education has allocated £110 million to establish an education endowment
fund (EEF) designed to raise standards in underperforming schools. The EEF will distribute money
to local authorities, academy sponsors, charities and other groups that bring forward ‘innovative
proposals to improve performance in our most challenging schools’. Those bidding for funds from the
EEF will have to outline how their proposals will raise attainment. Bidders must also demonstrate how
they will be held accountable for the success of their proposals.
The EEF draws on president Barack Obama and secretary Arne Duncan’s ‘Race to the Top’
programme, which invites states to apply for ‘funding to trailblaze bold and innovative approaches’ in
schools across the country. The EEF will be administered at arm's length from ministers. The team
administering the fund will be appointed following an open competition. Funding for projects will come
from returns on the EEF’s investment and fund managers will be able to draw down some of the
capital from the total sum each year. The independent organisation that runs the EEF will also be
expected to attract additional contributions from other organisations and philanthropists to add to the
fund. This fund is being established from the money that was set aside when the government took
the decision not to increase the number of free school meals.
3rd November – Ofsted: Improving outcomes for children and young people
through partnership in Children’s Trusts
Ofsted has conducted a small-scale survey to evaluate the impact of Children’s Trusts on improving
the lives of children and young people. The report draws together features common to each of the
Children’s Trusts in relation to their leadership and management, systems and structures, and selfevaluation. It also evaluates the impact of provision commissioned by the Children’s Trusts’ strategic
partners on improving the lives of potentially vulnerable children and young people in the six
authorities.
The key features of the good practice identified in these six local authorities included a history of
strong partnership working at a strategic level and highly effective leadership by directors of children’s
services and lead members. Children and Young People’s Plans were clear, focused and designed
to have an impact on outcomes. There was a determined commitment to early intervention and
prevention, as well as evidence of services being redesigned around the needs of children and their
families. There was also a range of integrated services in which professionals were clear about the
benefits of joint working.
28th October – Ministerial statement on abolition of the School Support Staff
Negotiating Body (SSSNB)
The Department for Education has confirmed that the School Support Staff Negotiating Body
(SSSNB) will be abolished. The government has conducted a review of the future policy direction for
determining school support staff pay and conditions, including the role of the SSSNB, and has
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concluded that the SSSNB does not fit well with the government’s priorities for greater deregulation of
the pay and conditions arrangements for the school workforce.
28th October – Small schools: Big communities
The Commission for Rural Communities has launched Small schools, Big communities: Village
Schools and Extended Services, a report to highlight the importance of the extended services
agenda for children and families living in rural areas. The report also shows the crucial significance of
schools to rural communities and their role in creating an inclusive or big society.
The report argues that schools offering access to extended services face particular challenges in
delivering services in rural areas, where populations are dispersed and which include many scattered
small communities. However, the provision of holiday schemes and other activities, childcare and
parenting support may also offer a life line to remote villages and hamlets which suffer from poor
transport links to larger towns. In those same communities, village schools which are part of school
clusters provide a venue for extended services and this may, in some circumstances, secure greater
viability for schools with small and falling rolls.
Sarah McAdam, Chief Executive of the Commission for Rural Communities said ‘Children and young
people in low income rural households can experience considerable isolation and more limited
choices when it comes to education, training and future employment. This report identifies village
schools as the lynch-pin of extended services in rural communities and the key to ensuring that
services reach all families, including those most at risk of exclusion’.
Higher Education
3rd November – Initial government response to the Browne review
The government has announced plans for reforms to higher education and student finance ‘to ensure
that we maintain England’s world class university sector’. The new reforms have been designed to
offer ‘a more generous package of financial support’ for students from low income backgrounds to go
to university. New plans include:
•
a graduate contribution threshold of £6,000 a year.
•
in exceptional cases, universities will be able to charge higher contributions, up to a limit of
£9,000, subject to meeting conditions on widening participation and fair access. The Office for
Fair Access (OFFA) will be able to apply sanctions in cases where universities do not deliver on
the commitments in their access agreements, up to and including withdrawing the right of the
university to charge more than £6,000.
•
a £150m National Scholarships Programme targeted at ‘bright potential students from poor
backgrounds’. It will guarantee students benefits such as a free first year or foundation year.
•
government will lend any eligible student the money to pay university or college tuition costs. For
the first time, part-time students will be entitled to a loan.
•
increased maintenance grants and loan for students from low income families
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•
graduates will not make a contribution towards tuition costs until they are earning at least £21,000,
up from the current £15,000. The repayment will be on 9% of income above £21,000, and all
outstanding repayments will be written off after 30 years.
•
a real rate of interest will be charged on loan repayments, but with a progressive taper. The
government will consult on an early repayment mechanism that does not privilege those who are
able to buy themselves out of the repayment system.
The government will publish a Higher Education White Paper in the winter with detailed proposals on
the wider, long-term issues that arise from Lord Browne’s review.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said ‘The Coalition Government has developed a package that is
fairer than the present system of student finance and affordable for the nation.... We want to have a
thriving university sector with excellent teaching accessible to everyone who has the ability to go. We
are clear that there must be a link between the financial advantages conferred by a degree and the
contribution made by the graduate. A high earning banker or lawyer should pay more than a nurse or
youth worker’.
David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science said ‘This progressive package will put
universities' finance on a sustainable footing with extra freedoms and less bureaucracy. But in return
there will be greater choice for students with a stronger focus on high quality teaching’.
28th October – HEFCE funding for Foundation Degree Forward to end
HEFCE has announced that it will cease mainstream funding for Foundation Degree Forward (fdf) by
July 2011, although transitional funding will be available until October 2011. This follows the
achievement of the last government's target of 100,000 foundation degree students to be enrolled at
any one time, in England. HEFCE report that their investment of £100 million has also enhanced the
employer engagement capability of universities throughout the country, as part of its ongoing
workforce development programme.
HEFCE and fdf are now working together to secure and sustain fdf's legacy and expertise in
foundation degree development and, more widely, employer engagement and work-based learning to
support the development of higher-level skills.
David Sweeney, director of HEFCE research, innovation and skills, said 'The programme has been a
resounding success. 250,000 students have taken up foundation degrees to date and fdf has been
instrumental in helping to meet that target. Fdf has also helped universities and colleges to develop
successful relationships with employers which have benefited students and employees across the
country. I would like to thank Derek Longhurst and his colleagues for the very successful work fdf has
undertaken. HEFCE colleagues will work closely with fdf in the coming months to ensure that its
legacy is not lost’.
29th October – Joint statement on the future of the quality assurance system
from HEFCE, UUK, GuildHE and QAA
HEFCE, Universities UK (UUK), GuildHE and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
(QAA) are publishing consultations which will help to develop the quality assurance system for higher
education (HE) in England and Northern Ireland.
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The QAA's consultation on a draft operational description for a new method for reviewing higher
education institutions in England and Northern Ireland, to apply from academic year 2011-12, will run
until 26 November 2010.
Some of the key elements of the proposed new review method are:
•
higher education institutions will be reviewed on a rolling cycle and findings will be published
quickly, using clear judgments and straightforward language with information available in a variety
of formats to suit a wide range of audiences;
•
there will be a greater emphasis on the information institutions make available to the public,
including a judgment on this;
•
QAA will make clear judgments on academic standards and the way institutions meet students'
expectations and enhance their learning opportunities; and
•
after the review, all institutions will draw up and publish an action plan with details of how they
plan to address any areas identified for improvement.
Two further consultations are planned:
•
HEFCE, UUK and GuildHE will publish a joint consultation in late November or early December
2010 on changes to the information that institutions publish about HE. This will run until March
2011; and
•
QAA will consult the sector from late November 2010 on revisions to the UK-wide Academic
Infrastructure.
Devolved Administrations
25th October – Increased advocacy support for young people in Scotland
Barnardo's Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Child Law Centre have been awarded the
contract to provide free lay and legal advice to families and young people who appeal to the
Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland (ASNTS) against education authorities' decisions
regarding the provision of educational support, such as out of area placing requests.
Children's Minister Adam Ingram said ‘it is vital we ensure that young people with additional support
needs are able to access the help and support that they need, especially when they are faced with the
legal challenges of the tribunal process’.
27th October – £3m drive to create next generation of young scientists in Wales
Welsh deputy minister for science, innovation and skills, Lesley Griffiths, has announced a £3m
project aimed at increasing the number of young engineers, scientists, technologists, and
mathematicians in the Welsh workforce.
STEM Cymru will encourage young people to study STEM subjects (science, technology,
engineering, and maths) to improve their qualifications, skills and career prospects.
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Led by the Engineering Education Scheme in Wales (EESW), the project will target young people
from 12 to 19 years to participate in industry linked technological and engineering activities including
hands on activities, work experience, competitions, events, and career related programmes. The
scheme is supported with £1.6m from the European Social Fund through the Welsh Assembly
government, with further support from industry.
1st November – Commencement of new powers on school discipline in Wales
Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews has welcomed new powers coming into force which
clarify teacher’s roles when it comes to discipline and exclusions. The new powers under the
Education and Inspection Act 2006 reaffirm teachers’ ability to:
•
discipline pupils on and off school premises;
•
use reasonable force to prevent pupils from harming themselves and others and in some cases of
serious misbehaviour; and
•
clarify the powers relating to confiscation of pupil’s property.
The new powers come into force on the day that schools and further education colleges in Wales
have the power to screen any pupil for a knife or weapon under the Violent Crime Reduction Act.
28th October – Kennedy looks to future challenges within further education in
Northern Ireland
Danny Kennedy, the minister for employment and learning in Northern Ireland has said that
integrating technology into teaching and learning was a challenge for everyone in Further and Higher
Education.
On his first day as the minister, David Kennedy emphasised the many benefits accruing from the use
of this technology, and added that ‘It is essential that, collectively, we explore new and innovative
ways of meeting the skills needs of both employers and learners.’
He also reflected on the importance of the role played by Further Education colleges in the wider
economic agenda ‘the role of government is not to dominate our regional economy. Rather it is to
provide the framework that will allow the private sector to flourish. That framework, above all else,
means skills - and that is the particular vocation of the FE sector’.
The Minister paid tribute to his predecessor Sir Reg Empey and said that he looked forward to
continuing Sir Reg’s unwavering commitment to growing the economy.
Local Government and Public Sector
22nd October – 16 areas get 'Community Budgets' to help the vulnerable
From April next year this first phase of 16 areas covering 31 councils and their partners will be put in
charge of Community Budgets that pool various strands of Whitehall funding into a single 'local bank
account' for tackling social problems around families with complex needs. The government also
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expects Community Budgets to be available for those places with elected city mayors and from April
2013 intends to make Community Budgets available to all places so communities can develop ‘local
solutions to local problems’.
The government believes all 16 areas have demonstrated that they have strong local relationships
involving communities, voluntary sector and public sector players which put them in a strong position
to operate the first Community Budgets from 2011-12. They are: Birmingham; Blackburn with Darwen;
Blackpool; Bradford; Essex; Greater Manchester (a group of 13 councils); Hull; Kent; Leicestershire;
Lincolnshire; London Borough of Barnet; London Borough of Croydon; London Borough of Islington;
London Borough of Lewisham; The London Boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham,
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth; and Swindon.
Central government departments will also be actively working with a further 20 innovative areas to
help push forward local flexibility and to address barriers. For example, DCLG and Cabinet Office will
be working together to support budgets focused at the very local level in 13 areas, including
Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, and Stoke. Cabinet Office will work with Cheshire West and Chester,
Kingston-upon-Thames, Blackburn, Barnsley, Calderdale, Sheffield, Leeds, Tameside, Warrington to
involve communities in designing and commissioning services that better meet local needs. Places
that want to trial different ways of delivering services including community-designed and delivered
services are encouraged to do so.
Secretary of state for communities and local government Eric Pickles said ‘By uprooting the silos,
unlocking and relinquishing the spending controls administered by Whitehall we can give towns and
places the freedom to direct spending to best meets the needs of the citizens within their boundaries’.
2nd November – Green Paper to put Big Society at the heart of public service
reform
Ministers have pledged action to open up new opportunities in public services as charity, voluntary
and social enterprise sector leaders gathered at 11 Downing Street for a summit on their future in
public services. Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office and paymaster general, alongside
decentralisation minister Greg Clark and civil society minister Nick Hurd announced:
•
the intention to publish a Green Paper later this year for discussion on creating a level playing
field for civil society organisations wanting to bid for public service contracts. It will inform a Public
Service Reform White Paper next year; and
•
continued investment in a programme of training public service commissioners to work with Civil
Society organisations will continue.
1st October – Spending Review outcomes for DWP
Announcements made in the Spending Review 4 and since for DWP include:
•
4
replacing all working age benefits and tax credits with a single Universal Credit delivering
savings of £7 billion a year by 2014-15:
Details of spending review announcements for other key departments were included in Policy Update no. 12.
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•
•
•
•
capping household benefit payments from 2013 at around £500 per week for couple and lone
parent households and around £350 per week for single adult household ‘so that no family
can receive more in welfare than median after tax earnings for working households’. All
Disability Living Allowance claimants, War Widows and working facilities claiming the working
tax credits will be exempt from the cap;
reducing the childcare element of working tax credits that parents can claim from 80 per cent to 70
per cent;
personalised back-to-work support through the Work Programme for the long term unemployed
and disabled people, delivered by private and third sector specialists; and
lone parents with children aged seven and over will claim Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) if they are
able to work, rather than Income Support. Those with a health condition or disability which limits
their capability for work will be able to claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
28th October – New legislation introduced to enable quango reforms
The Public Bodies Bill, designed to ensure the necessary legal framework is in place for the
government to carry out its public bodies reforms 5, has been published in Parliament. The Bill
follows minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude’s announcement of plans to reform hundreds of
public bodies as part of the government’s commitment to ‘radically increase the transparency and
accountability of all public services and enable the government to operate in a more efficient way’.
In addition, the Bill contains a schedule listing a number of public bodies which were part of the review
process and which would need legislation to make any reforms to them in the future. The list includes
bodies for which there are no plans to reform. This is to ensure that, if the government wishes to
make changes to these bodies in the future following further review processes, the necessary legal
framework will already be in place.
The Public Bodies Bill is an enabling bill which means it will not itself make any changes to public
bodies. It will
5
On the 14 October the Government announced proposals to reform 481 bodies. Of that total 192 will cease to
be public bodies and their functions will either be brought back in government, devolved to local government,
moved out of government or abolished altogether. Another 118 public bodies will be merged down to 57 and a
further 171 will be substantially reformed.
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•
create a legal framework that will enable government departments to implement the majority of
public bodies reforms that require legislation and that are not already covered in other
departmental bills;
•
create legislative powers which give ministers the ability to abolish or merge bodies; modify a
body's constitutional or funding arrangements; or transfer its functions elsewhere; and
•
give Secretaries of State the necessary powers to take forward changes to their bodies in
secondary legislation when they are ready to do so.
27th October – Publication of the DWP Total Place Data release
Since the Total Place report local authorities have been encouraged to undertake their own Total
Place approach. As a result DWP have received requests from local authorities for financial data
relating to the costs of delivering DWP face to face services to clients in their area. In response to
these requests DWP has developed the DWP Total Place Data Release. This data provides the
costs of delivering face to face services for Jobcentre Plus and Pensions, Disability Carers Service
clients for the financial year 2009 – 2010 at Jobcentre Plus district level. In addition, the DWP Total
Place Data Release also provides the costs of Employment Programmes at Jobcentre Plus district
level and at National level where applicable.
3rd November – Best practice for councils managing spending cuts with civil
society
Nick Hurd, minister for civil society has published examples of how local authorities can work well
with charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises to minimise the impact of any spending cuts.
The examples, published jointly by the Cabinet Office and the National Association for Voluntary and
Community Action (NAVCA) aim to provide a resource for local authorities making difficult funding
decisions. They are accompanied by analysis of data to help local authorities in the decision making
process. The case studies cover communication, using evidence, equal partnership, creating
efficiencies, and strategic planning and transitional support.
27th October – Bob Neil: councils free to raise £250m for underpaid workers
Local government minister Bob Neil has announced that thousands of historically underpaid workers
will benefit as 21 councils get the go-ahead to borrow against or sell assets up to £250 million this
financial year to settle their equal pay commitments. This financial flexibility is important for councils
needing to meet and manage one-off costs of equal pay compensation while protecting frontline
services and keeping down council tax.
Thousands of local government employees - mostly women on low pay - are legally entitled to
backdated pay following years of being paid less for doing equally valued jobs.
25th October – Rural broadband pilot areas announced
Four rural areas have been selected to pilot the next generation of high speed broadband in
preparation for a £530 million project ‘to help upgrade areas of Britain that the broadband market
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alone would not meet’. The Highlands and Islands, Scotland; Cumbria; North Yorkshire; and the
Golden Valley, Herefordshire will be connected at speeds usually only found in densely populated
urban areas. Each pilot area will receive between five and ten million pounds. The pilot exercise will
help establish the commercial costs and challenges involved in rolling out superfast broadband across
the UK.
The government is aiming for the UK to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by
2015, with a minimum download speed of two mega bytes per second for virtually every community.
Equality and Diversity
25th October – Employment support for people with severe disabilities launched
Minister for disabled people, Maria Miller, announced the launch of Work Choice, the employment
programme for those with severe disabilities. The programme is expected to support around 23,000
people each year
The programme is available on a voluntary basis, and open to anyone who meets the eligibility
criteria. It will sit alongside the new Work Programme which becomes available early next year. The
programme will be delivered with 28 contracts with nine ‘prime providers’.
Providers will also have the flexibility to agree with the customer what kind of support they need. This
can include help with CV writing and applying for jobs. It can also progress to supporting people as
they get used to going to work and will offer coaching in specific tasks as well as working with
employers and co-workers to teach them how to adapt tasks so that a disabled person can continue
to be employed.
Maria Miller said ‘Work is the best way out of poverty and we know over 1 million disabled people
currently on benefits want to work. We must give people the support they need to do this. Work
Choice will ensure people facing the biggest barriers to work get the intensive support they need’.
2nd November – EHRC publishes Equal Pay - Where Next?
To coincide with Equal Pay Day, the day of the year when women in effect stop getting paid because
of the gender pay gap of 16.4 per cent, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published
Equal Pay – Where Next? in partnership with the Fawcett Society, UNISON and the TUC.
The report contains the main discussions and recommendations from the Equal Pay – Where Next?
conference held earlier this year to mark the 40th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act. The report
explores four key aspects of tackling the gender pay gap: making the business case for equal pay;
how the structure and organisation of the workplace plays a part in the equal pay debate; the
adequacy or inadequacy of the legislative framework underpinning equal pay; and attitudes and
culture surrounding equal pay.
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Voluntary and Community Sector
25th October – Spending Review impact on charities
Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive, responded to measures set out in the government’s Spending
Review relating to the voluntary and community sector.
Sir Stuart said ‘we should be under no illusions: the coming months will be difficult for the people and
communities we work to support. We know from our own research that many organisations lack the
financial resources to cope with sudden cuts in income. So the announcement of transitional support
for voluntary and community organisations is very helpful.
‘Local government is the main source of statutory funding for many voluntary and community
organisations. We are calling on local authorities to ensure that they don’t treat our sector as a soft
option for cuts’.
Liz Hazell, head of charities at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, has commented on the impact of the
Spending Review on charities. Liz Hazell said that there are great opportunities for charities,
however, this will also be a real challenge in four key areas:
•
Capacity and capability of charities to actually deliver
•
The upfront investment which is likely to be needed to be able to deliver
•
Cash resources – many contracts now are paid retrospectively based on delivery of outputs -this
is a real challenge for those with only small cash reserves
•
Managing contract negotiations – many charities will need to be much more astute as they
negotiate with funders who are themselves working with much smaller budgets
She said ‘I believe the winners will be those charities that are already at the fore-front of efficiency,
those who have done their internal reforming already and are ready to bid for new contracts. Those
that will find it tougher are the charities that are delivering public sector functions such as care and
social services, and those who have smaller reserves, typically the smaller and mid-sized charities.
They will need to work together through merger or collaboration to be able to compete’.
New Faces and Awards
29th October – LSIS announces new chief executive
LSIS is pleased to announce that Rob Wye, currently director of strategy and implementation at the
Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), has been appointed as its new chief executive. Rob
replaces Dr David Collins CBE who will be retiring in the New Year. Rob Wye will take up his post on
1 January 2011.
Dr Collins said ‘I have greatly enjoyed my time at LSIS and I have gained a huge amount on a
personal and professional level. The staff have been tremendous especially in embracing the
changes needed to offer new improvement solutions and strategies. In Rob Wye, LSIS has found
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someone who knows the sector well and also understands the bigger picture. I am delighted that LSIS
and the sector’s quality improvement strategy will be in excellent hands’.
On his forthcoming role, Rob Wye said that the role ‘represents a great opportunity to make a
difference for the whole FE sector and I am greatly looking forward to the challenge and to working
with all the highly successful team’.
Contact the LSIS policy team
This policy update has been prepared by Angela Nartey, policy research officer, LSIS. Your
comments are welcome – please contact Angela by email on angela.nartey@LSIS.org.uk.
Caroline Mager, Executive Director, Policy, Research and Communications
Caroline.Mager@LSIS.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7929 8733
Jenny Williams, Head of Policy
Jenny.Williams@LSIS.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7929 8713
Angela Nartey, Policy Research Officer
Angela.Nartey@LSIS.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7929 8734
Anyone wishing to arrange a free subscription to these Policy Updates, or the associated Brief
Guides, should subscribe at www.lsis.org.uk/policyupdates
© LSIS November 2010
Published by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).
The purpose of these guides is to stimulate discussion and debate. While every effort has been
made to ensure the information contained within this publication is correct, neither the publisher
nor the authors or their companies accept any liability for any errors or omissions.
The text in this document may be reproduced free of charge in any format or media without
requiring specific permission, on condition that the source is acknowledged, that the material is
not used in a derogatory manner or in misleading context and that the findings are not
misrepresented.
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