Agenda item

Adult Skills Funding

To seek approval to accept the annual funding and contracts offered by the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) through new devolved arrangements, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the sub-contract offered by Barnardo’s for the provision and delivery by the Authority of post-16 education, training, apprenticeships and work experience.

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval to accept the annual funding and skills contracts offered by the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA), Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and a sub-contract offered by Barnardo’s for the provision and delivery by the Authority of post-16 education, training, apprenticeships and work experience.

The contracts and funding from the NTCA, ESFA and the sub-contract with Barnardo’s would be annually renewed to all providers. In the North of Tyne area, the three Constituent Authorities received the main funding streams. This offer covered the period 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2021.

NTCA had taken control of a devolved Adult Education Budget (AEB) of over £24 million from Government for learners residing in the North of Tyne area from 1st August 2020. The devolved AEB, which would enable a greater control of skills provision delivered across North of Tyne to respond to residents and business needs, had been allocated to 29 education providers across 10 Grant Agreements and 21 Contracts for Services. The ESFA had retained control of other funding streams covered by the report including apprenticeships, 16-19 Education, AEB for learners who resided outside of the NTCA area but who were educated by providers in the area and Advanced Learner Loans.

 

The initial funding offer was set by the NTCA and ESFA and therefore no further negotiation was required. However, through the devolved arrangements for AEB to the NTCA and as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, additional funds were being made available and this could result in a further increase in the funding allocation during the academic year. Additional funds for an awarded contract for services (Digital Outreach Project) and Covid-19 response funding (Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs)) were already included in this offer.

 

Annually, the Authority’s Adult Learning Service (ALS) delivered training and learning with over 2500 enrolments equating to around 600 learners. The vast majority of the learners were either unemployed or low skilled. Additionally, around 23% of learners lived in the most deprived areas of the borough or had a learning difficulty or disability. The proportion of learners with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) rose to 64% amongst 16-18-year-old learners.

 

The Authority via the ALS had been delivering these contracts for over 20 years. In recent years the funding had been offered with increasing focus on qualifications, formal skills development and performance. The Authority had responded well to these changes by improving the quality and range of formal qualifications offered to residents. This funding would enable the Authority to continue to provide a wide range of programmes to support residents to gain the skills and abilities to engage successfully in work, in their own self-development and learning, engage in their community through volunteering and work placements, and support their children’s attainment and aspirations.

 

The focus of the Authority’s programme was on low skilled, unemployed or disadvantaged young people and adults and a wide range of provision was offered as set out in the report.

 

The service had developed a range of vocational provision and had received additional funding this year to support the development of digital skills in the local community through the Authority’s Digital Outreach Project. The service had increased the range of Distance Learning courses available to support blended learning approaches and in direct response to Covid-19 had received additional funding from the NTCA to deliver Sector Based Work Academy Programmes to support residents to gain employment in the Health and Social Care sector. The Authority had also developed a successful ‘Ignite your Potential’ three-year study programme to support young learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to access employment, apprenticeships, supported internships and further learning.

The direct impact of this level of skills provision targeted to low skilled, unemployed or disadvantaged was that the Authority offered a routeway or an alternative to more formal Further Education establishments, including colleges. Many learners progressed onto extended learning programmes with colleges or directly accessed work that they would not have been able to access prior to the learning provided. The Authority’s joint prospectus and progression strategy with Tyne Met College continued to ensure that learners could achieve this progression through a pathway to higher levels of learning assisting them to enter employment and develop their own skills to deliver career development.

 

All of the provision would be delivered by the Authority’s direct delivery arm, the ALS. Delivery would be provided by existing Authority employees who were fully funded from these funding streams and therefore were not a pressure on the Authority’s Budget. Any changes in delivery would be met from the available funding.

 

The most recent Ofsted inspection (April 2018) graded the ALS as good with outstanding features and particular attention had been given to the impact of the work with unemployed adults, the support provided to young and vulnerable learners, high levels of performance and the leadership and management of the service.

 

The overall contract funding had an aggregate value of £2.54m and this was broken into a number of specific funding streams as detailed in the report.  Whilst there were annual changes to the funding lines with changes in Apprenticeship funding being influenced by recent Apprenticeship reforms and increases this year being received for digital skills, Sector Based Work Academies and 16-19 Education for young people with SEND the overall amount of funding had remained relatively stable for a number of years. The main change this year was in the funder arrangements with the NTCA receiving an overall delegated package of AEB of £24m to allocate to providers. This was a positive development that enabled more responsive provision to be delivered to meet the needs of the local economy rather than a nationally designed set of priorities. The ESFA would continue to allocate funds for 16-19 Education, legacy Apprenticeship payments, Advanced Learner Loans and AEB for learners who lived outside of the North of Tyne area. The ALS received a small number of enrolments for out of Borough learners mainly for Distance Learning courses.

 

Annual business planning took place in the Spring/Summer term to plan staffing and delivery requirements for the Academic year that this funding related to. Any changes to resource requirements were addressed prior to the commencement of the Academic year. 

 

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to accept the recommendations as set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report, or alternatively, to not approve the recommendations.

 

Resolved that (1) the offer of funding on terms and conditions accepted by the Head of Law and Governance and the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Head of Resources and the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning, be approved;

(2)       the Head of Heath, Education, Care and Safeguarding, in consultation with

the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning, Chief Executive and Head of Resources, be authorised to take all necessary steps to manage the associated funding and deliver the education and training programmes for residents; and

(3)       the Head of Heath, Education, Care and Safeguarding be authorised to continue the

negotiations with the North of Tyne Combined Authority, Education and Skills Funding Agency and Barnardo’s relating to the contracts available to the Authority and approve future offers of funding in consultation with the Head of Law and Governance, Head of Resources and the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning.

 

(Reasons for decision: The Authority will continue to access resources and deliver provision which supports young people and adults who are unemployed and/or low skilled to develop vocational, academic and key skills to support their transition to employment, their development and their ability to sustain themselves economically and contribute to their community.

 

The programmes are high performing and judged by key partners such as Jobcentre Plus as essential to supporting disadvantaged communities. The Authority’s provision for vulnerable residents has been praised by partners including the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner; Jobcentre Plus are similarly positive about the Authority’s role as a key provider of training and support to unemployed adults in the borough; employers such as the NHS and businesses across the Borough are closely aligned and supportive of the Authority’s delivery and training to prepare young people for work in a range of sectors.

 

A lack of basic qualifications is causally linked to poorer health and employment outcomes in later life; supporting the most vulnerable residents to address their key skills has positive benefits in terms of improving the health of unemployed and under skilled people and reducing out of work benefit costs.

 

Acceptance of this funding will ensure residents in North Tyneside are not disadvantaged in terms of the levels of support available in neighbouring local authority areas.)

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