Editorial: Hard work begins on 16-19 transfer
Ravi Chandiramani
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The children's services arena is about to get considerably bigger. From next April, local authorities will inherit responsibility from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for commissioning and funding education and training for 16- to 19-year-olds in a 7bn mega-transfer of funds. One of the key principles driving this reform is that provision of education and training is shaped by local demand, both by young people and by employers. The onus will be on councils to plan strategically to ensure a range of providers is set up to meet this demand.
Their new burden of responsibility comes against a challenging backdrop: the raising of the education participation age to 17 by 2013 and 18 by 2015, the national expansion of diplomas and apprenticeships, and an economic crisis where jobs will be at a premium.
While the official handover is still 10 months away, the transitional planning has begun in earnest. A programme is under way to transfer 950 or so LSC staff to local authorities but, as we reveal, LSC staff have massive reticence about becoming council employees. These people have the expertise of negotiating with learning providers so it is crucial they transfer across smoothly with morale strong, otherwise that knowledge will leak out of the system and leave it weaker. It would mirror the seepage of talent from the Commission for Social Care Inspection when Ofsted took responsibility for children's safeguarding inspections, with dubious results.
Around another 500 LSC staff will transfer to the new Young People's Learning Agency, billed as a slimline LSC to support councils. Among its tasks, this body will have a crucial role to commission and thereby protect niche provision that isn't widely available around the country.
While the actual transfer of staff is happening in the background, local authority managers, including Connexions advisers, will need to build relationships with both education and training providers and local employers to give them a robust knowledge of what opportunities are available to young people. Commissioning doesn't happen in a dark room in a town hall - it depends on these relationships.
While the handover remains 10 months away, it is the hard graft and negotiating over these next 10 months that will determine whether or not the 16-19 transfer works for young people. There are a host of negative economic and social ramifications lying in wait if it all goes horribly wrong.
