Memorandum submitted by the Learning and
Skills Council (LSC)
This briefing note summarises the role of the
LSC and highlights achievements to date. It also sets out challenges
and opportunities for the future; including areas the LSC is focusing
on to accelerate progress in order to deliver its priorities and
targets, for the benefit of learners, employers and the communities
it serves.
WHAT IS
THE LSC?
The LSC is the body that is taking government
priorities in post-16 education and training and turning them
into action.
The LSC was established in 2001 to transform
the life chances of individuals, the productivity of business
and increase the efficiency of the system. Prior to this, there
were 72 Training and Enterprise Councils, the Further Education
Funding Council and many local authorities involved in the delivery
of post-16 education and training. The LSC has brought all the
planning and funding into one place, saving some £50 million
a year in operating costs.
The LSC plans and funds all post-16 education
and training (other than Higher Education) including further education
colleges, school sixth forms and work-based learning. In 2005-06,
it has a budget of £9.6 billion. It is led by the needs of
employers and the needs of learners; working with business to
help meet their current and future skills requirements; and working
with and on behalf of schools, colleges and other training providers
to provide choice and opportunities for learners.
The LSC operates locally, regionally and nationally.
Locally is where it has the most impact—working with providers—to
deliver for learners, and employers. Regionally it engages with
other regional partners, such as the RDAs on issues such as the
Regional Economic Strategies. Nationally, the LSC works with Government
and other national partners on policy and development and provides
leadership to the whole system.
The LSC also benefits from the expertise of
750 non-executives, locally, regionally and nationally, who have
a statutory responsibility to ensure that the education and training
needs of learners—whatever their background—and employers—whatever
their size or sector—are met. At each level they support
and challenge what the LSC does, they provide leadership to the
LSC and to the sector and they act as ambassadors for the LSC.
PROGRESS TO
DATE
Four years on, the LSC has overseen real progress
for young people, adults and employers:
For young people
— in 2004-05 there were 1.4 million
young people (76%) in learning: the highest number ever;
— there are 275,000 apprentices: the
highest number ever; and
— over the last year the number of
young people achieving a level 2 qualification (equivalent of
five good GCSEs) has risen from 705,000-722,000.
For adults
— over 800,000 adults have improved
their reading and writing over the past four years. We are on
course to meet the 2007 target of helping 1.5 million people to
improve their skills.
For employers and employees
— our employer training pilots have
been successful in increasing staff training, benefiting 26,000
employers, 210,000 employees with a 90% satisfaction rate;
— there has been a rapid increase in
Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs), providing high quality
facilities and teaching in specialist subjects. There are now
over 350 CoVEs in operation and there are expected to be 410 by
the end of March 2006—ahead of target; and
— in March 2005 we announced plans
for our first Skills Academy—the Fashion Retail Academy,
offering newly developed qualifications and backed with £11
million of funding from employers including Arcadia, GUS, M&S
and Next. Four more Skills Academies were announced last week
in the following sectors: food and drink, financial services,
construction and manufacturing.
INVESTING IN
WORLD CLASS
BUILDINGS
To offer everyone world class education and
training, the LSC needs to provide world class buildings and facilities.
Total investment supported since the LSC was formed has now passed
£2 billion; the LSC has now updated nearly half of the FE
Estate. The LSC's capital budget will increase from £394
million in 2005-06 to £480 million in 2006-07 and expected
to rise to £600 million by 2007-08. Better buildings provide
a better, more effective learning environment for learners and
for businesses as well as for lecturers and other staff.
QUALITY
The LSC has a key role in driving up quality,
driving out poor quality as well as action to support the achievement
of excellence. In 2004-05, of the 94 colleges inspected 96% were
satisfactory or better. The number of colleges judged as being
in the worst category by the Inspectorates fell from 13 to four.
CURRENT AND
FUTURE CHALLENGES
For young people
Yet, despite record levels of young people in
learning, we still have one of the lowest levels of participation
in education at 17 years, compared to other countries, according
to the OECD. The LSC also faces the challenge of keeping pace
with the population of 16-18-year-olds, which has risen by almost
a fifth in the past 10 years.
In addition, continuing to increase the number
of young people in learning means engaging more of the hardest
to reach young people. Some 200,000 young people are still missing
out entirely—on education, training or employment. Last
year the LSC invested £0.25 billion on our Entry to Employment
(E2E) programme to bring them back into formal study. In the two
years since E2E began, the percentage of young people moving out
of unemployment into jobs, training or education has risen by
10 percentage points and continues to improve.
The LSC also needs to do more to improve the
numbers of young people at 19 achieving level 2 qualifications;
and it is working with the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit to improve
performance in this area.
For adults
Despite progress on Adult Basic Skills, 3.5
million people still go to work who cannot read and there are
15 million people with low number skills. In 2004, 50% of staff
in small business received no training.
For employers
20% of business report skills gaps in their
workforce. One in five vacancies remain unfilled because no applicants
with the right skills apply for them. More than 40% of employers
suffering from skills shortages said they were losing business
as a direct result.
All of this harms England's ability to compete
in the modern global economy.
14-19 AND THE
SKILLS AGENDA
The Government's 14-19 and Skills Strategies
are key to tackling these challenges, to do even more to ensure
young people have the opportunity to succeed and to raise the
nation's skills and competitiveness. The LSC is central to the
delivery of both. For 14-19-year-olds it is working with local
authorities and other local partners, leading collaboration to
increase opportunities and achievement for young people. Through
the Skills Strategy, the LSC is working with partners such as
the Sector Skills Councils to ensure that the training it funds
meets the skills requirements of employers and the economy. It
is ensuring that adults have the skills they need to succeed in
the modern workplace; and that employers are able to recruit individuals
with the right skills to contribute to the success of their business
now and over time.
The Government has agreed that the LSC should
take over responsibility for learning and skills for offenders
from the Home Office and Department for Education and Skills,
for completion in September 2006; and for unemployed people from
Jobcentre Plus.
FUNDING
The LSC's recently published funding strategy
(Priorities for Success) is designed to support these priorities
and meet the challenges set out above. This means funding to support
increased participation and achievement for young people, embedding
14-19 reforms, supporting low skilled adults in acquiring basic
skills, progression to level 2 qualification and above. It also
means increasing employer engagement and meeting the needs of
employers and continuing to raise standards of education and training.
This focus on priorities inevitably creates
funding pressures elsewhere. To manage these funding pressures
the LSC expects colleges to reduce courses that do not contribute
directly to these priorities; and to re-balance funding so that
employers and individuals outside the priority areas contribute
more towards the cost of learning. The increase in contribution
reflects the tangible benefits (including financial return) that
those employers and individuals receive from increased skills
levels.
TRANSFORMATION AND
LEADERSHIP
It is vital that the right tools are in place
to enable the post-16 sector and the LSC itself to deliver on
this huge agenda. To this end, the LSC has embarked on a fundamental
programme of transformation for the sector and for itself through
its agenda for change programme. This programme sets out
proposals to remove the obstacles that the sector currently faces
in delivering high quality, relevant education and training to
young people, employers and adults. The principles underpinning
agenda for change are about simplification, removing barriers
to cooperation, moving resources across the front-line and excellence
across the sector. Agenda for change consists of seven
themes:
— how the sector can best meet the
needs of employers;
— how to build a sector fully committed
to quality and delivery of the highest standard;
— how funding methods can be changed
to support priorities;
— how data can be simplified;
— how the sector can achieve business
excellence;
— how the reputation of the sector
as a whole can be enhanced; and
— how the LSC can change itself to
provide real leadership to the sector.
The proposals for change to the LSC itself will
mean that it can operate:
— locally with flexibility and expertise,
focusing on relationship management and partnership working;
— regionally with greater efficiency
and effective support to local teams through regional service
centres; and
— nationally, through a smaller, expert
national office that adds value to the whole of the LSC.
The implications of this are huge, with potential
management and running cost savings of up to £40 million
a year which could be redirected to front-line learning and a
reduction in posts of some 1,321.
LSC'S ANNUAL
STATEMENT OF
PRIORITIES
The LSC's second Annual Statement of Priorities
for 2006-07 to be published in November, sets out the six priorities
that support all of the above in order to achieve a step change
improvement in outcomes for young people, adults, and employers.
These priorities are:
1. Ensure that all 14-19-year-olds have
access to high-quality, relevant learning opportunities.
2. Make learning truly demand-led so that
it better meets the needs of employers, young people and adults.
3. Transform the learning and skills sector
through agenda for change.
4. Strengthen the role of the LSC in economic
development so that we provide the skills needed to help all individuals
into jobs.
5. Improve the skills of the workers who
are delivering public services.
6. Strengthen the capacity of the LSC to
lead change.
November 2005
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