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 news
- YPLA takes over funding from Local Authorities for 16-18s
On 20th July the Department for Education announced
changes to the 16 – 19 funding arrangements.
Please find below links to a few bits of information about
the new arrangements.
Direct link to the Department for Education news
announcement -
http://www.education.gov.uk/news/press-notices-new/simplify-college-funding
Link to the AOC response (reproduced below)
http://tinyurl.com/16-18Funding
The Association of Colleges welcomes today's (20 July)
announcement from the Department for Education about
streamlining and simplifying the 16-19 funding allocations
system. The changes will include funding for General Further
Education Colleges and Sixth Form Colleges coming directly
from the Young People’s Learning Agency rather than via
local authorities.
Local authorities will retain their strategic responsibility
for meeting the needs of young people by influencing and
shaping provision through 14-19 partnerships. The decision
means that will remove the need for local authorities to
carry out financial audits on Colleges and removes the need
for them to manage contracts for 16-19 provision.
The funding process will also be simplified and Colleges and
other providers will be mainly funded on the basis of their
previous year’s activity; this will lead to efficiency
savings across the sector as it removes the need for
detailed planning by either the local authorities or the
YPLA.
AoC Chief Executive Martin Doel said: “These changes will be
welcomed by Colleges as a means by which the funding
arrangements for 16-18 year olds can be simplified and in
the process costs contained to the benefit of front-line
services to students. They are also entirely consistent with
wider government policy and with the intention in the
Coalition’s Programme for Government which spoke of ‘setting
Colleges free.’
“As autonomous institutions Colleges appreciate the
responsibilities that attach to such freedoms. Key amongst
these freedoms is the need to respond to their communities.
In doing this, local authorities must be key partners in
influencing and informing College provision to young people,
and in a particular vulnerable learners. We look forward to
discussing with local authority partners how this might best
be achieved.”
LGA response - LGA media release - 20 July 2010
Responding to new arrangements announced for the funding and
management of post-16 education, Cllr Shireen Ritchie, Chair
of the Children and Young People’s Board at the Local
Government Association, said:
“There will be disappointment that this reorganisation of
post-16 education follows so swiftly from a previous one,
and the latest leaves just as many funding streams and
middlemen in place.
Making changes to who distributes the money to colleges will
make no difference if the process isn’t simplified. Colleges
dealing with funding from two quangos – the Young People’s
Learning Agency and the Skills Funding Agency – would be
better served by just one funding body. Colleges and
councils should not pick up the extra burden of having to
deal with money coming from two different government
departments.
It’s good that councils today have again been promised a
strong, strategic role in overseeing the education and
training offered in their local area. Accountability to
local politicians is vital, because local authorities know
best the social and economic needs of their areas.
The years young people spend learning the skills and
knowledge they hope will shape their future careers are some
of the most important in their lives. During these difficult
economic times it is even more crucial that colleges and
schools are providing high-quality courses that give young
people the skills that local employers need.” |