The NCFE conference on Machinery of Government changes took place in London and attracted some excellent speakers presenting to a large and varied audience. Presentations are due to be posted on the NCFE site in the next few days: http://www.ncfe.org.uk/
The processes underlying the changes and the introduction of the YPLA and Skills Funding Agency were rehearsed in detail with delegates being reminded that there were only 50 days before the launch. There has obviously been an enormous amount of work put into making the transition work and into achieving a "soft landing." There were however, concerns about whether the commissioning and allocations process for 2010-11 are in any significant way different from that which would have ben achieved had the changes not occured. Bearing in mind the current criticisms arising from the wholesale transfer of staff and Board from the LSC to the Skills Funding Agency and the movement of staff to the YPLA and the local authorities the pressure to be seen to be different will quickly grow.
As ever, some speakers were exited, some were optimistic and we had a least one "passionate" during the morning! Others were more sanguine about how complex the new regime will be and there were some concerns from the platform and from the floor about the readiness of Local Authorites, the RDAs and the new agencies to achieve the planned for "soft landing" yet alone the work planned for the remainder of 2010-11 and for 2011-12 and beyond. What happens to these plans if there is a change of government in May/June was raised as an issue and we quickly moved on!
One employer spoke from the audience about the impact the changes will have on his ability to influence the skills agenda. He was not optimistic and it is not hard to see the point he was making.
The new machinery, the most important changes in a generation we are told, is underpinned by Leitch and the new thinking around demand-led provision reflecting adult, employer and learner responsiveness.
Ian Wright, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and keynote speaker, spoke with enthusiasm about the skills agenda supporting British industry and highlighted the leading role of the UK's creative industries in the global marketplace.
I was recently approached by the owner of an SME involved in the creative industry: a film and video maker for B2B clients. I was asked how he could go about getting a course accredited and funded. For the new machinery to be truly responsive one should be able to respond simply to this employer's perfectly reasonable question:
"I want to offer a programme of learning which I think is crucial for new recruits to our business and which is a key to future business development. What should I do to see if I can get it funded or will I be told I should just pay for the training myself?"
I started talking about approaching sector skills councils, about compacts and about the new qualification and credit framework and he quickly glazed over!
I wondered what the panel would have answered had he asked them how he should go about getting some employer responsiveness for him. Even more telling, I wondered what the panel would have said would be different after the Skills Funding Agency starts its work. Perhaps I am just naive about what demand-led means but I still don't know the answer. I hope someone out there does!
