Agenda item

7.4

AGENDA ITEM 12: LEARNING PROVISION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS IN SHEFFIELD

7.4.1

The Executive Director, Children, Young People and Families, submitted a report containing proposals for the creation of a new commissioning framework that would allow the local authority to draw on a network of local providers to deliver tailored programmes to young people and adult learners across the City.  The report sought approval to use a proportion of the funding awarded annually to the City Council by the Young People’s Learning Agency and the Skills Funding Agency to secure learning opportunities for 16-19 year olds and adult learners from a quality assured network of local providers selected through tender.

7.4.2

RESOLVED: That Cabinet agrees to:-

(a)

the creation of a commissioning framework that allows for a more responsive, flexible and innovative approach to matching teenage and adult learners to the provision that best meets their needs;

(b)

the tendering, through the framework, of a  proportion of the Adult Safeguarded Learning  funding awarded to the City Council to better meet the needs of adult learners;

(c)

the tendering, through the framework, of a proportion of the Employer Responsive (ER) and  Learner Responsive(LR) funds to better meet the needs of both teenage and adult learners in their local communities;

(d)

the delegation to the Assistant Director of Lifelong Learning, Skills and Communities – Family and Communities, in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Children, Young People and Families, and the Directors of Finance and Legal, to award the contracts and to determine the terms and conditions upon which the contracts will be awarded; and

(e)

the delegation to the Assistant Director of Lifelong Learning, Skills and Communities – Family and Communities, in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Children, Young People and Families, the ability to do anything which they feel is necessary to achieve the outcomes outlined in the report.

7.4.3

Reasons for Decision

·        The national picture for adult learning is changing and there is a projected move towards developing the activities of local community involvement in adult learning. Offering contracts to local organisations and supporting them to build capacity and expertise will enable them to be better prepared for this. It will also help to strengthen their ability to secure other sources of external funding for education and training.

·        The City also needs a more flexible, varied, and easily accessible programme of learning for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people that makes us better able to further reduce the Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETS) cohort and to meet the challenges associated with the Raising of the Age of Participation to 18 by 2015.  A commissioning framework through which quality assured partners are able to respond rapidly, reach into communities and engage potential learners in innovative ways will contribute to this agenda.

7.4.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

·        Retain direct delivery of all adult and community learning by the City Council. This is in direct conflict with the national direction of travel to localise responsibility for the planning and delivery through Community Learning Trusts.

·        Retain direct delivery of the ER and LR funding streams exclusively through the City Council’s own learning centres. This would militate against the development of a more flexible and diverse provider base across the city that is, in some cases, better placed to meet the needs of the most vulnerable learners.