Appendix: Delivery partners in further
education
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
(BIS)
· Determine
overall investment and priorities.
· Determine
performance system (Framework for Excellence).
· Meet
the Skills Public Service Agreement.
· Sponsorship
of colleges and training organisations and their contribution
to Department for Children, Schools and Families targets.
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills
· Advise
BIS on the current and future skills needs of the country, including
what is identified in the Single Integrated Regional Strategies.
· Monitor
and challenge Government performance on employment and skills.
· Manage
the Further Education and Skills Research Function.
· Manage
Sector Skills Councils and ensuring their effectiveness.
· Advise
on Sector Skills Council relicensing.
Sector Skills Councils
· Determine
the skills required within their vocational area.
· Raise
employer engagement with, demand for, and investment in skills.
Regional Development Agencies
· Work
with employers, local authorities, sector skills councils, Jobcentre
Plus and all other relevant sources to identify demand at the
regional, sub regional and local level.
· Produce
Single Integrated Regional Strategies incorporating skills priority
statements.
· Ensure
that sub-regions and city-regions are able to shape policy in
line with their own priorities.
· Spearhead
multi-agency action to identify and resolve mismatches in the
demand for, and supply of, skills.
· Be an
advocate for skills. Actively engage with employers to raise their
demand for, and investment in, skills (e.g. through the Skills
Pledge).
· Manage
the Skills brokerage service.
Skills Funding Agency
· Fund
colleges and training organisations through a Single Account Management
System.
· Lead
and provide customer focused services and underpinning systems.
(e.g. Train to Gain, the National Employer Service, the National
Apprenticeship Service and the Adult Advancement and Careers Service)
· Design
and manage the underpinning systems for funding, settlement, data
collection and exchange etc.
Employment & Skills Boards
· Set
the strategy for delivery of adult (post-19) skills in their area,
taking into account key national priorities in Skills for Growth
and other relevant strategies, such as the Single Integrated Regional
Strategy.
· Actively
engage with employers to raise their demand for, and investment
in, skills.
· Provide
feedback to Skills Funding Agency assessing how well the skills
and employment system is responding to employer demand in its
area.
Local Authorities
· Statutory
responsibility for assessing the economic needs of their areas,
including skills and employment.
· Convene
local area agreements, bringing together the action of other public
bodies and colleges.
Colleges and Training Organisations
· Meet
the requirements of learners and employers.
· Collaborate
with relevant bodies and each other to respond to demand.
· Collaborate
with each other to provide a range of support services to the
sector, including peer assessment, staff development programmes,
shared services and improved procurement.
Ofqual
· Regulate
the qualifications offer.
Learning and Skills Improvement Service
· Support
college and training organisations performance and facilitate
self regulation (owned by the bodies it supports).
Becta
· Champion
use of technology to support learning.
Ofsted
· Provide
an independent view of college and training organisation performance.
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