In the News
It’s been three years since the adult education budget was first devolved. The first local authorities to take control of their local allocation were six mayoral combined authorities and the Greater London Authority.
The number of authorities commissioning their own provision has since expanded and now includes large chunks of the north of England.
But wait, there’s more! The government’s levelling up white paper, published in February, revealed areas without a mayor will be given the opportunity to take control of their AEB. How this will change when the new government comes in next month is unclear.
Could devolution go further? Mayors, including London’s Sadiq Khan and the Tees Valley Combined Authority boss Ben Houchen, have long called for more skills policies to be devolved to them. In 2018, several mayors proposed they be handed control of apprenticeship levy cash that employers fail to spend.
Combined authorities have also gone in a different direction to central government, which still controls AEB for areas without a devolution deal, in their approach to dealing with providers.
Several authorities were more generous than Whitehall in their support to providers which couldn’t recruit learners during the pandemic. But some have been less accommodating to providers which have not delivered to enough learners.
Industry Interview
In this month's edition, HOLEX policy director Dr Sue Pember CBE discusses how adult education providers have fared under the devolved regime and what parts of the education system could be handed down next.
What have been the greatest benefits of AEB devolution to providers?
Although the Combined Authorities (CAs) are different in shape and structure, and some have found it difficult to determine their role within the skills structure, there have been some tangible benefits.
Providers have been able to explain the type of support that local residents need and CAs and the Greater London Authority have been able to respond. This has made the system more agile and given colleges and providers the ability to respond to emergencies and changes in local circumstances - this in turn has supported more adults into learning.
For example, in London, the Mayor introduced a scheme where all those living in London who were receiving less than the living wage could access free education and training.
What have been the greatest challenges?
Understanding the limitation of their role and establishing plans that are relevant to local need. Many CAs took on the job assuming what was needed was more level 3 and 4 and wanted to shift the priority of the AEB funding. But, in reality, most have realised that their main role is with residents who are below level 2 and have poor basic skills.
It may be more effective if other parts of the skills system were delegated, such as the apprenticeships programme
There is also the issue that DfE have kept back funds for level 3 and above and haven’t delegated those monies to CAs. There has also been an issue around relationships with some CAs instigating a contractor supplier relationship and not one of a shared endeavour with colleges and LA providers who are already rooted in local need and know where the issues are. This is now changing and a more partnership approach is being developed in the majority of CAs and the GLA.
Should more skills policy areas be devolved to mayoral combined authorities?
Many of the issues that have arisen are because only part of the skills and adult education infrastructure has been devolved. Therefore, it may be more effective if other parts of the skills system were delegated, such as the apprenticeships programme and new elements such as free Level 3, skills bootcamps and Multiply. This would stop duplication and allow for all the funding to be directed to the needs of residents.
However, there will always be fault lines between schools and skills and university education, so what is more important is that roles are respected, and planning is done collaboratively.
What tweaks would you like to see made to devolved AEB?
We would like to see funding information made available earlier, with three-year budgets established and the administration burden reduced.
We would like to see colleges and local authority adult education institutions and centres treated as partners who are respected and trusted to deliver to local need.
We would also like to see the CAs increase their coordination role with the Department for Work and Pensions and other funding routes that come from other government departments. For example, English as a second or other language provision is funded via three government departments and it would be helpful if the CA had oversight.
Opinion
For this month's edition of The Mark, Helen Kemp, Group Director of Business and Skills for the Tees Valley Combined Authority, discussed their experience as one of the first local authorities to run its own AEB.
The Tees Valley Combined Authority’s main priorities include creating thousands of good quality jobs across the region – but this would be a fool’s errand if local people didn’t have the skills to access them.
Equally, our brilliant local businesses would wither on the vine without an experienced, agile and ever-developing workforce equipped to meet their requirements.
The Tees Valley Combined Authority is unique as it has a fully integrated Local Enterprise Partnership, giving local companies influence at the top table of our policy and decision-making. This immediately makes us better placed than most to understand the skills needs of our businesses.
Before securing the Adult Education Budget, we researched and consulted to consider the benefits of the approach and how it could be used to specifically address current and future skills gaps – it quickly became obvious devolution was key.
We examined the previous nationally funded providers already in place, the range and type of learning that they could deliver to our local people and how this could be improved to tackle our skills needs. This was all with one eye on emerging jobs in the low-carbon sectors of tomorrow, at sites such as Teesworks – part of the UK’s largest and first operational freeport. We developed a robust commissioning process to secure a strong, quality set of providers that could make an economic and strategic impact, responding to the jobs on offer here.
We’re already seeing the benefits of this approach, with more than 53,000 adult learners entering post-19 education to boost their potential since 2019/20. Devolution helps us to fully understand what our providers are delivering and prioritise learning linked to local demand. We’ve also developed new funding packages of qualifications targeted to jobs our businesses are creating.
We want to see the wider devolution of the National Skills Fund into a single pot
Flexibility has been a watchword. While the pandemic has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge we’ve seen since AEB devolution, local control helped us minimise the impact of reduced learning levels. We’ve been able to be more responsive to increasing employer and learner demand, support provider stability and flex funding where necessary.
It has also helped us improve the performance of our providers, while reducing subcontracting - which keeps more cash in our area and increases funding for learners. We can be confident that public money is being spent with the most successful and specialist providers.
This great progress is why we want to see things go further, including the wider devolution of the National Skills Fund into a single pot, helping link local delivery to demand, address duplication and make the system much simpler for everyone. Devolution of DfE careers funding and greater influence over 16-18 vocational skills funding, and Department for Work and Pensions local flexible funds directed to skills, would help us offer a more rounded and progressive approach.
Adult education, though, is only one string to our bow. From careers education beginning in primary school and our successful Routes to Work scheme - which recently informed the national Restart programme - to support for apprenticeships and traineeships, we’re making sure no one gets left behind.