Further Education Colleges and Training Organisations

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Thursday 17th June 2010 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr John Hayes)]

I am pleased to inform Parliament that the Government are announcing today a series of measures aimed at boosting economic recovery. These measures will give further education colleges and training organisations greater freedom to deliver the education and training that employers and individuals need, and to raise opportunities for lifelong learning through a system that is freed of unnecessary bureaucracy, and driven by empowered, informed learners.

The main measures are:

All colleges, except those which are performing poorly, to be given new freedoms to move money between budgets. This will allow them to respond quickly to local demand.

Working to bring colleges into line with schools in respect of Ofsted inspection, so that colleges which achieve outstanding results do not face inspection unless their performance drops.

Refocusing £150 million of resources to expand the number of apprenticeships available; and £50 million to support FE capital development;

Giving learners the information they need to drive the system, through the publication of clear and consistent information about performance, quality and standards.

I will be writing today to all colleges and training organisations about these and other changes, which will help them to focus on meeting the demands of employers and learners in their areas.

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills will also be writing to the chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency—the body responsible for funding colleges and training organisations—confirming his priorities for the adult education and skills budget in 2010-11, including the refocusing of £150 million to pay for 50,000 extra apprenticeship places this year, and £50 million for new capital grants to colleges. A key goal will be to strengthen the supply of qualifications that are valued by employers; and to secure high-quality training opportunities to help unemployed people get the skills they need for work-readiness and sustainable employment; as well as encouraging an increasing number of people to participate in adult and community learning, both to re-engage those disenchanted by previous educational experience and to offer people opportunities to enrich their lives through learning.

Underpinning these changes, we are seeking to empower learners so that they can drive the learning and skills delivered by colleges and training organisations. A professional and impartial advice and guidance service will be available to support learners. Publication of clear information about the performance of colleges and training organisations will allow learners and employers to make well-informed choices. This will include information about learner success rates, learner and employer satisfaction, and the destinations of those who leave learning. As a result of the freedoms that we are announcing today, colleges and training organisations will be able to respond quickly and flexibly to their choices, offering a wide range of programmes that drive both high-tech innovation and new enterprise and support adult recreational learning.

Over the coming months, the Government will be looking at a wide range of other ways to remove unnecessary bureaucracy from the system, and we will be making further announcements in due course.