ANNEX A
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE EIGHTH REPORT
FROM THE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE, SESSION 1998-99:
ACCESS FOR ALL? A SURVEY OF POST-16 PARTICIPATION
RESPONSE FROM THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION
AND EMPLOYMENT
Introduction
1. Increasing participation in education and training
after the age of 16 is central to the Government's plans to develop
a prosperous and competitive economy and a civilised and inclusive
society in a time of rapid economic and social change. If we are
to prosper in the global economy and take ownership as individuals
of information and communication, we must build a "learning
society"—a society in which people from all backgrounds
expect and want to learn throughout life. We believe that this
goal will only be achieved if we:
- change people's culture and attitudes to learning
in general
- increase and widen participation levels across
society, and
- encourage the ongoing development of a responsive
education and training system.
We therefore welcome the Committee's report on this
important issue.
2. The Committee notes that, while participation
levels have been rising in recent years, there are still many
people who have done little or no learning after their compulsory
education and, furthermore, that such people are frequently from
among disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society. The effect
of this, the Committee points out, is to widen the gap between
the educational "haves" and the "have-nots".
There is no single answer to the problem, but the Government,
working with its partners at all levels, is taking action across
the board to raise standards and to increase and widen participation
in learning, particularly among those who do not see themselves
as learners.
3. This response covers all areas of the Committee's
report, from cultural factors affecting learning to actions to
address the barriers which prevent participation. It considers
the issues in both the short and longer term. Where we are commenting
in direct response to one of the Committee's recommendations,
the recommendation number from the report is quoted.
Participation in Learning Post-16: The Current
Position
4. We agree with the Committee about the impact of
family background and prior academic attainment on the likelihood
of participation in post-16 learning. Existing administrative
data do not, however, allow the relationship between sixth forms
and staying on rates to be explored (Section F - para 2). Destination
data on young people who complete Year 11 is collected by careers
services, but it is not possible to break this down according
to type of school. The introduction of the Learning and Skills
Council (LSC) and the Youth Support Service from April 2001 will
lead to improved data sets on young people, which will enable
the relationship between sixth forms and staying on rates to be
explored. For example, the requirement on the Youth Support Service
to track and collect key background data on all young people between
the ages of 13 to 19 will greatly increase our capacity to understand
and explain variations in participation rates between individuals.
In the meantime, we will have to rely exclusively on survey data,
such as the Youth Cohort Study, and individual research projects
to examine the relationship between school-specific factors and
participation and achievement post-16.
5. A research project planned for next year will
focus on why rising GCSE attainment in some schools has not been
reflected in increased participation rates post-16. Through in-depth
qualitative work in a large sample of schools, the study will
attempt to isolate those "school effects", such as the
existence of a sixth form, the quality of careers education and
curriculum content, which might explain variations in staying
on rates. The research will also include interviews with young
people in an attempt to identify the relative importance they
attach to the factors they take into account when deciding whether
to stay on.
6. On a technical point, we would stress that significantly
improved administrative data sets and survey data, or new qualitative
research, will not prove conclusively whether or not there is
a causal link between the existence of a school sixth form and
participation post-16. This is because it is not possible to control
for all the factors which might possibly affect participation.
Moreover, even if we could control for all the factors which might
possibly affect participation, the analysis would not prove that
there was a causal link between a school having a sixth form and
a propensity to stay on at 16, although it might establish a demonstrable
correlation between the two.
The Benefits of Learning
7. We support the Committee's conclusion that learning
is not just about securing our economic future, vital though that
is (Section F, para 4-5). We are committed to policies which recognise
the wider benefits of learning, and which maintain a balance between
the skills and labour market agenda and the learning, personal
development and social exclusion agenda.
8. To take just two examples:
- through the Standards Fund, we are making available
£9 million this year and £18 million next year to help
develop the three to four million learning opportunities local
authorities make available annually. This will allow them to offer
new provision to those currently excluded from learning, and help
ensure that the provision more closely meets the needs and aspirations
of local people; and
- the Learning and Skills Council will have a customer
driven planning system and a funding and allocations framework
specifically designed to raise standards of achievement and promote
equality of access and opportunity.
Information, Advice and Guidance
9. We welcome the Committee's recognition of the
higher priority the Government is now giving to the development
of high quality information, advice and guidance services for
adults (Section F, para 7). We believe that such services have
a critical role both in facilitating the initial engagement of
adults in learning and in subsequently helping them to make better
decisions about learning and work.
10. As the Committee observe, it is critical that
adult information, advice and guidance services are properly "joined-up"
with the equivalent services that will be available for young
people through the Youth Support Service, the services the Employment
Service provides for its clients, and with the information and
advice the learndirect (formerly Learning Direct) helpline
service makes available at a national level. The Department is
working with the relevant agencies to ensure that the right connections
are in place.
11. We are committed to supporting information, advice
and guidance services that are impartial. The services being developed
for adults by local Learning Partnerships will need to comply
with the Guidance Council's quality standards, of which impartiality
is an important component. It is a contractual requirement that
learndirect should put the interests of the individual
first and show no bias towards any particular organisation, product,
type or style of learning.
12. Finally, recognising the tensions that existed
between some secondary schools and colleges in the provision of
information to young people about post-16 options, changes were
made in October 1998 to give careers services, in their role as
impartial advisers, greater responsibility in the process for
making this information available. Further Education institutions,
schools with sixth forms and training providers must now provide
local careers services with information about the achievements
and destinations of students who have completed their studies.
Careers services must ensure that young people have access to
the full range of information about post-16 learning opportunities
and the labour market, at times and in ways appropriate to their
needs. Providers have the scope to agree locally with careers
services to provide additional information, which may be of help
to young people and others. Similar arrangements will apply to
the Youth Support Service.
13. We note the Committee's interest in the lifelong
learning elements of the forthcoming report from the Social Exclusion
Unit on neighbourhood renewal (Section F, para 10). In this connection,
the Committee may wish to note the analysis and recommendations
set out in Skills for Neighbourhood Renewal, the report
of the Policy Action Team on Skills and Baroness Blackstone's
response to it. Copies of both documents have been made available
to the Committee. Like the reports of other Policy Action Teams,
the Skills PAT is expected to have a significant influence on
the final shape of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.
14. The Committee expressed concern that the findings
of recent DfEE research into the effectiveness of learndirect
provided evidence that the service may be under-used by those
with no or low-level qualifications (Section F, para 11). Research
to January 1999 suggested that 41 per cent of callers had no qualifications
above GCSE or equivalents. Since then, however, DfEE and UfI Ltd,
which now manage the service, have actively targeted this group.
The means for this include advertising campaigns in the national
tabloid press; placing promotional material in such places as
libraries, leisure centres, doctor's surgeries, etc; and giving
support to NIACE's "Sign-Up Now" campaign, aimed at
mature adults with few or no qualifications.
15. In April 2000, UfI Ltd plan to make the learndirect
database of learning opportunities available on its website. Those
with access to the Internet will be encouraged to visit the website
and directly search the database themselves. It is intended that
this will free up the availability of advisers to answer calls
from those people who need more support and motivation to take
up learning opportunities. Initial findings from a customer satisfaction
survey which will be available in the new year are expected to
show an increased share of calls from those with low or no qualifications.
Uneven Funding of Learning
16. The Committee welcomed the proposals in Learning
to Succeed aimed at harmonising funding regimes for post-16
learning, but expressed concern that differentials in the funding
of the same learning routes might continue beyond the remit of
the LSC, eg, between schools and Further Education Colleges (Section
F, para 12). We are pleased to be able to reassure the Committee
on this point.
17. Following publication of a consultation paper,
School Sixth Form Funding, which sought views on how we
should fund school sixth forms within the new post-16 arrangements,
we decided that the LSC would fund Local Education Authorities
for their sixth form provision and that they would retain their
current role in distributing funding to sixth forms. The new arrangements
are intended to ensure improved quality and coherence, and that
all young people can gain access to a broad learning programme.
It is planned that these will be introduced in April 2002 to allow
time for further consultation on detailed matters of implementation.
18. A number of safeguards for sixth form funding
were outlined in the consultation including: real terms maintenance
of current funding (provided student numbers are maintained);
continued ability to vire freely between their pre- and post-16
funds; and no noticeable change in audit burdens.
19. The Committee asked about the relationship between
the local arms of the Learning and Skills Council and New Deal
delivery arrangements (Section F, para 13). We have stressed from
the outset that local Learning and Skills Councils and New Deal
partnerships will work together. As we announced in The Learning
and Skills Council Prospectus: Learning to Succeed, we expect
the local Learning and Skills Councils to invite the relevant
Employment Service Regional Director to attend local Council meetings
as an observer.
20. This close relationship between the Learning
and Skills Council and the Employment Service will also be a feature
at Board level, where the Employment Service Chief Executive should
be invited to attend national Learning and Skills Council meetings
as an observer. In addition, we expect the Learning and Skills
Council to invite a senior Employment Service Director to attend
its Adult Learning Committee. Further work remains to be done
to establish the detail of the relationship between local Learning
and Skills Councils and New Deal partnerships, but there are a
number of ways in which the two have close operational links,
including the use of labour market information and joint planning
arrangements.
21. We agree with the Committee about the case for
funding informal, community-based learning, which may not lead
to qualifications (Section F, para 14). The recent report of the
Policy Action Team on Skills shared these views. As announced
in Learning to Succeed, we plan major reform of the arrangements
for planning and funding learning opportunities for adults. Qualifications
are clearly extremely important and accreditation will continue
to be appropriate for the majority of courses, particularly in
Further Education Colleges. But we recognise that to secure one
of our key objectives—a commitment to lifelong learning
in everyone—we need to offer in every locality a wide range
of learning opportunities. Through the LSC we must aim for a balance
which attracts both those who want or need to gain qualifications
and those who value learning for the experience and enrichment
it gives them individually and society as a whole.
22. We are also keen to see more opportunities for
families to learn together. This can help pupils achieve more
at school by building families' skills and confidence in areas
such as basic, social and creative skills. It can foster better
family relationships and closer links between schools, families
and communities. It promotes an effective learning environment
for children and provides gateways to learning for adults as part
of our aim to widen participation. The Government is providing
£6 million this financial year and £7 million next for
Family Literacy and Family Numeracy initiatives. We are keen that
learning providers everywhere do all they can to open up further
opportunities for family learning.
Funding of Full-Time and Part-Time Learners
23. The issue of funding part-time learners is addressed
in Learning to Succeed: Post-16 Funding and Allocations: First
Technical Consultation Paper (DfEE, January 2000), which sets
out thinking on the principles and basic structures to underpin
the Learning and Skills Council's funding system (Section F, para
15-16). Creating a level playing field for all learners, wherever
and however they learn, is one of the principles on the basis
of which we are consulting. We plan to consult further on more
detailed issues, such as how a funding formula should apply to
different types of learning and learner, in spring 2000.
24. Earlier this year, we announced that, from autumn
2000, loans will be available to part-time students in Higher
Education on low incomes (Section F, para 17). Details of the
scheme will be announced shortly. This follows a number of other
steps taken by the Government to encourage participation by part-time
Higher Education students. In 1998/99, following Lord Dearing's
National Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education, Access Funds
were doubled, to £45m, to include part-time students for
the first time. In the current academic year, an additional £12
million has been made available to meet the fees of part-time
Higher Education students on benefits or low incomes with the
National Training Organisation National Council and individual
National Training Organisations to consider the feasibility of
some pilot schemes in this area.
Finance and Benefits
25. As the Committee says, it is difficult to draw
any firm conclusions at this stage on the impact of tuition fee
contributions on entry levels into Higher Education (Section F,
para 18). We would point out, however, that there have not been
any significant differences in entry levels between this and the
previous year. Our statisticians have work in hand to monitor
closely entry levels into Higher Education over the next few years.
26. Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is a benefit which
is specifically aimed at unemployed people whose primary aim is
to return to work. It is not intended to act as an alternative
form of student support, and for this reason full-time students
are not normally entitled to JSA. However the Government is committed
to the promotion of study where it can improve a person's employability,
and there is already provision for certain groups of unemployed
people to study full-time. Those who have been out of work for
at least six months can study full-time under Work Based Learning
for Adults or the New Deal for Young People (aged 18-24); these
people will receive a training allowance equivalent to their JSA
entitlement plus an additional £10 per week. In addition,
the New Deal for those aged 25+, unemployed for two years or more,
provides for people to study full-time for up to a year and retain
entitlement to JSA (Section F, para 19).
27. On the question of the impact of learning accounts
(Section F, para 21), the Committee may be interested to know
that evaluation results from developmental learning accounts suggest
that they have given rise to new learning. For example, in the
North West 37 per cent of account holders said they would not
have paid for their own learning, without the added contribution
of the learning accounts; in Kent 45 per cent of account holders
said that they would not have undertaken the learning episode
without a learning account; and in London, 29 per cent of part-time
employees and 42 per cent of full-time employees said they would
not have been able to undertake this training without the help
of the learning account. On eligibility, the Committee may be
interested to know that learning accounts, although targeted at
people in work, will be available to both unemployed and employed
people.
Geography and Transport
28. We agree with the Committee about the importance
of taking learning to people, as much as taking people to learning
(Section F, para 22). That is a point very much emphasised by
the recent report of the Policy Action Team on Skills. UfI Ltd
will use modern information and communications technologies (ICT)
to make high quality learning products and services available
to individuals at home, in the workplace and at learning centres
country-wide. This approach will help to overcome barriers to
learning created by geography and transport issues. UfI Ltd aim
to achieve nationwide coverage with up to 1,000 learning centres
in operation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by March 2001.
Scottish UfI will be a separate but parallel organisation. These
learning centres will be situated in easy-access locations such
as sports and shopping centres, football and rugby clubs, community
centres, churches, railway stations and libraries. UfI Ltd has
also made £5 million available to establish learning centres
in areas where there may be issues of financial viability, eg,
rural areas or areas of urban deprivation.
29. In addition to UfI Ltd learning centres, the
Information and Communication Technology learning centres initiative
will focus on helping adults in disadvantaged communities to access
ICT. The aim is to establish around 700 ICT Learning Centres across
England by March 2002, which will be located in the places people
visit every day. This programme will be supported by some £250
million of capital investment.
30. We welcome the Select Committee's general support
for the introduction of the Youth Card. By providing a range of
local transport discounts, the card has the potential to help
reduce the cost of travel and consequently remove a significant
barrier to learning. In addition, by offering a range of commercial
and leisure discounts, the card will develop into a genuine "learning
reward" card. Nevertheless, any travel cost can be a
barrier for some young people. That is why we are introducing
Education Maintenance Allowance transport pilots which will test
out the potential of a "smart" Youth Card to support
the payment of transport costs.
Childcare
31. The Government shares the Committee's view that
there should be a comprehensive approach to childcare to avoid
this being a barrier to participation in Further Education for
those with dependent children. The report acknowledges that there
are initiatives already in place to help with the costs of childcare
for those who cannot afford to pay full costs and to increase
the number of places provided or contracted for by colleges. The
survey by the Daycare Trust and other studies, which call for
more provision and for this to be available more consistently
and more flexibly, have been taken note of. For 1999-00 the DfEE
has added £5 million to the Further Education Funding Council
(FEFC) tariff scheme so that £9 million will be available
to support low income students, particularly lone parents, and
will allow a higher maximum unit cost to be supported and for
a 75 per cent subsidy to be offered by colleges as well as free
places. Colleges are also being actively encouraged to work more
closely with Early Years Development Partnerships to share information
and activity and local Learning Partnerships have been asked to
contribute to local strategies.
32. Feedback on these new arrangements from colleges
and others has suggested that these still do not allow sufficient
flexibility for the funding mechanism to be attractive to all
colleges. In response, the DfEE has now decided that childcare
will be removed from the tariff scheme and made a ring-fenced
element within the Further Education Access Fund. This will mean
a simpler method of allocation to colleges—based on student
numbers and widening participation factor—and much more
discretion as to how institutions apply the funds to meet individual
student needs. The Government has also announced that this change
is to be coupled with a very significant increase in funding.
In 2000-01 this Access Fund will be supported by £21 million
plus the £4 million which the FEFC has earmarked in the tariff
scheme. It is estimated that this will allow 37,000 students to
receive childcare support. This will include students aged 16-18,
for whom there will also be a separate series of targeted childcare
pilots starting in 2000, aimed at encouraging teenage parents
back into education, as set out in the Social Exclusion Unit Report,
Teenage Pregnancy. The large increase in funding will mean
that childcare will be a significant factor in the lifelong learning
strategy of the FEFC and its successor body, the Learning and
Skills Council.
Changing the Culture and Raising Awareness
33. We welcome the Committee's recognition of the
important role that the Learning and Skills Council will play
in creating a culture of lifelong learning for all. We also firmly
agree that employers have a key role to play in engaging people
in learning. This is not just a matter for Government and its
agencies.
34. In response to the Committee's point about using
the media etc (Section F, para 27), the DfEE is already working
with the BBC and other broadcasters to promote learning. In addition,
UfI Ltd plan to use the Internet as well as analogue and digital
television to stimulate demand and provide access to on-line learning.
35. At the Committee's suggestion, we will give consideration
to making greater use of popular public figures and others who
have enhanced their lives through learning to promote learning
messages (Section F, para 28-30). As the Committee may be aware,
football clubs already feature in Playing for Success, an
initiative aimed at raising young people's attainment and preparing
them for adult and working life through activities linking education
with business.
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