5. PANEL SESSION: SHAPING THE FUTURE Question and answer session with a panel comprising: Tim Down, Divisional Manager, Individual Learning, DfEE Chris Evans, Vice Chairman, Careers Service National Association Prof. David Melville, Chief Executive, FEFC Alan Moody, Chief Executive, CEWTEC Jill Stansfield, Director, Learning and Development, Milton Keynes LEA The panel made the following key points: Partnerships are a voluntary coming-together of organisations who invest large amounts of money in learning - it is probably unnecessary and inadvisable then to make them statutory. Learning and Skills Councils could be the given the power (not available to the FEFC) to fund partnerships. Important that legalistic debates should not hinder the development of real partnership on the ground. The new post-16 arrangements provide a major opportunity to link skill needs to training and education needs. Hard to see how all the Government's initiatives hold together. While not doubting the Government's commitment, there is a danger of great disruption and lack of clarity. Lifelong learning needs to embrace the whole experience of personal development, which could motivate people to do more formal learning. The Youth Support Service should be not only for disaffected groups but to engage a whole range of young people in personal development. People would achieve more if they thought learning was fun.The debate should focus more on the 'content' issues-programmes, review of the post-16 curriculum and the consultationdocument on skills -and less onthe structural and technical issues. There is a danger we might exclude people by focusing on participation in learning and standards - many successful leaders would have failed to meet such criteria. The local Learning and Skills Council should not get involved in local delivery but should concentrate on strategy and effective distribution of funds. It is essential that local LSCs take account of what Learning Partnerships say is needed, and therefore that Partnerships develop a thorough understanding of local needs. An ideal scenario might be one where an effective local Partnership produces good needs analysis, to which the LSC responds by funding appropriately to meet those needs. The relationship between local Learning and Skills Councils and Learning Partnerships should be one of equal partnership and will need to be built up over time into one of mutual trust. In particular, the local LSC must have confidence in Learning Partnerships to deliver the kind of information they need, and also to be part of the process whereby those local objectives and targets are met. Learning Partnerships have a head start that the Learning and Skills Councils can build on when they began their task. "I believe there should be a vehicle for funding by the local Learning and Skills Councils to encourage joint delivery using complementary skills by public and private providers. This would be the means by which local targets are met, so that we do not have lots of people chasing the same things or the same learners." Prof. David Melville