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Final Report
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Chapter 5. Improving skills114. Action to improve skills in disadvantaged areas comes from six main sources:
b) investment by employers in improving the skills of their own workforce; c) area-based regeneration programmes like the Single Regeneration Budget and the New Deal for Communities, which have often included a significant "human capital" element; d) local community and voluntary organisations, whether their primary purpose is educational or not; e) local public sector organisations from non-educational sectors, including in particular culture and health; f) the actions of individuals themselves. Schools 115. For young people, the foundations of learning - of literacy and numeracy and of the skills they will need to access the labour market - are or should be laid during their time in compulsory education. Yet the attainment at GCSE level of young people in disadvantged areas is typically well below the national average. The very significant challenges faced by teachers and schools serving these areas are, however, well-known. How better to address them is the subject of a report by a separate Policy Action Team ("Schools Plus"), which is due to report at a later date. 116. A good deal of action has been taken in recent years by both local and central government to focus resources and energy in raising attainment in schools in disadvantaged areas. For example:
117. It is too early to be able to evaluate the long-term effect of these changes, though they can offer only indirect help to adults with low skills, who will be of working age for many decades to come. Colleges of further education 118. There are 435 self-governing colleges (including sixth form colleges) in England. While they are also concerned with full-time education for the 16-19 age group, they are the main publicly funded providers of learning to adults. Colleges vary greatly in character, size and mission, from small specialist institutions to large urban colleges aiming to offer a full range of provision to both young people and adults.
119. The Further Education Funding Council has the main statutory duty for the provision of further education to both young people and adults. Under Schedule 2 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 - which established the Council - the activities of the FEFC have related principally to the provision of academic and vocational courses that lead to a qualification 120. Most public funding that colleges receive is allocated through the FEFC's funding methodology. Funding is related to the course being followed and is linked to the initial assessment and guidance of students, their retention on courses and their achievements. Additional funding is also provided by the FEFC for colleges to meet the needs of students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
121. The Kennedy Report, Learning Works(20), emphasised the importance of drawing back into learning those who have traditionally not taken advantage of educational opportunities, in particular those with no or inadequate qualifications. In response to the Kennedy report, the Government announced its intention to bring about a major expansion in FE numbers, giving an extra 700,000 students by 2001/2002 (compared with 1997/98), principally focused on widening participation previously under-represented groups.
122. As a further response to the Kennedy Report, the FEFC introduced in 1998-99 a "Widening Participation" factor into its funding methodology to give colleges an incentive to recruit students from the most disadvantaged local authority wards. The factor provided for an average funding uplift of 6% for students from these areas, identified by postcode. The range of students for whom the funding uplift was granted has been significantly widened this year, to include certain categories of disadvantaged people (e.g. the homeless, asylum-seekers and refugees) whether they live in disadvantaged areas or not, students on basic skills courses and students whose courses are part-funded by European Social Fund money.
123. FE colleges also receive substantial funding for specific projects from the European Union, in particular through the European Social Fund. They are often important partners in local regeneration initiatives.
Higher Education Institutions
124. Universities and higher education colleges vary considerably in the extent of their work in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The Higher Education Funding Council for England is allocating funds from 1999/2000 onwards to encourage recruitment of students from disadvantaged areas identified, in the same way as in further education, by a postcode analysis. £20 million a year will be distributed in the form of a 5% per head premium in funding to HE institutions (HEIs) for each student from such areas. HEIs can also bid for special project funding.
125. Many HEIs already have 'outreach' initiatives in local communities, either to attract students into mainstream HE courses or to provide adult education which does not necessarily lead to a qualification. Although these activities are especially associated with the 'new' universities, older universities such as Sheffield, Bradford and Surrey also run schemes targeted at disadvantaged areas. A report on good practice in widening access to HE, 'From Elitism to Inclusion', was published last November by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals.
LEA adult education services
126. Although some services are much stronger than others, all local education authorities retain an adult education service, for which they currently receive £9 million pa from central Government, on a matched funding basis. That is a reflection of their statutory duty to provide further education for adults that does not lead to a qualification - the obverse of the FEFC's duty.
127. Although, in financial terms, LEAs' level of activity is small compared with colleges and universities, they are an important source of learning opportunities provided at the community level.
128. Much of what LEAs provide is adult education of a traditional type. However, many LEAs are also introducing measures to encourage participation such as websites, learning shops, open learning centres and provision in old peoples' homes. Others are making particular efforts to develop schools as community and lifelong learning centres and to deliver basic skills provision and family learning in community settings. Some are working to raise levels of basic education in targeted wards or for groups such as travellers, and to involve older people in community learning.
Training programmes
The New Deal
129. The New Deal is the generic title for a range of Government programmes aiming to help provide opportunities for unemployed people to gain new skills or update the ones they already have.
130. The New Deal for Young People offers 18 to 24 year olds the opportunity to train towards a recognised qualification, usually up to a NVQ/SVQ level 2 or equivalent. This can be achieved by joining the Full-Time Education and Training Option where a course of education can be taken for up to twelve months, or by taking part-time training for up to six months whilst participating on one of the other three Options. Over 42,000 unemployed young people have started on the Full-Time Education and Training Option and a further 47,000 one of the other three Options.
131. The New Deal for the long term unemployed offers people over the age of 25 the chance to gain a recognised qualification, up to NVQ/SVQ level 3 or equivalent, by entering full-time education courses or work-based learning.
132. Under the New Deal for Lone Parents, limited financial assistance can be given to lone parents undertaking external work related training courses of up to 12 months duration which will lead to a qualification of no higher than NVQ/SVQ level 2/3.
133. The New Deal for people on income replacement benefits over the age of 50 is currently being developed and will offer provision for skills improvements on the same lines as the other New Deals.
Work-based learning for adults
134. Work based learning for adults (over 25s) is delivered through TECs. Around 116,000 people will be helped this year. Almost all will have been claiming JSA for at least 6 months though early entry is possible for those with particular disadvantages. All are volunteers. The programme has two principal strands:
135. Access to BE is for those with multiple needs including motivation, self confidence, interpersonal & social skills, work habits and disciplines and basic skills. About 15% of trainees have never worked and the rest average 51/2 years since their last job. About a fifth are disabled, about half have basic skill problems and half lack appropriate life skills. The vast majority are JSA claimants - other benefit claimants are eligible but very few join.
136. Provision is largely via voluntary sector contractors. Providers are encouraged to offer individually tailored, flexible support which provides whatever combination of basic employability and occupational skills are required to at least access an entry level job in the local labour market. "Training" covers a wide range of activities including group work, projects, work tasters and placements. Some may get help with the transition to work. Chalk and talk is avoided.
137. The programme has been increasingly skewed towards the basic employability strand over the last few years so that resources are increasingly concentrated on the most disadvantaged. 35,000 BE starts are planned this year, rising to 40,000 in 2000-01. Funding (allowing for an average programme of about 7 months) for the BE strand is planned at £136m this year rising to £165m in 2000-01 (about £2000 on training fees and £1800 on training allowances per person). Total funding this year for TEC-delivered work-based learning for adults is £312m.
138. Funding for TECs is related to local levels of long term unemployment. TECs are responsible for ensuring that provision, particularly BE, reaches the most disadvantaged. TECs and ES district offices are required to enter joint planning arrangements to ensure the most effective delivery of work based learning. ES refer most of those who join.
The arrangements sketched out above describe briefly the activity of the formal education and training system in disadvantaged areas at the time of writing. However, the Government announced at the end of June 1999 a set of proposals aiming at the comprehensive structural reform of that system. These proposals are set out in the White Paper, Learning to Succeed. Implementing most of them will require primary legislation. Assuming that Parliament approves the legislation, the new arrangements will enter into force from April 2001.
The analysis in the White Paper of the shortcomings of the current system is supported by many of the arguments in this report and indeed was influenced by them. The main points of that analysis are:
Specific proposals put forward in the White Paper include:
Employers
139. Most employers invest very substantial resources in the training and development of their workforce. 82% of employers provide some off-the-job training for their staff, although this proportion has scarcely increased in recent years(21). Of the types of training funded or arranged by employers, health and safety training is by far the most common, followed by induction, training in new technology and management training.
140. As already noted - and as suggested by the type of topics which are a priority for off-the-job training - people who are low-paid or in part-time employment are less likely to receive training than more secure employees. In addition, some employers continue to be deterred from investing in skills by doubts that the long-term benefits will justify the short-term costs and fear that employees who have been trained at their expense will leave. These concerns are particularly marked in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
Area-based regeneration programmes
141. There is a long history of "integrated" regeneration programmes seeking to address the problems of disadvantaged areas. These include the Urban Programme and the Single Regeneration Budget, as well as the more recent New Deal for Communities, Employment Zones (see box) and Education Action Zones..
142. Such programmes have often included an element at local level intended to help adults improve their skills and return to the labour market. However, as the Social Exclusion Unit's report on Neighbourhood Renewal(22) noted, past regeneration programmes have had a strong emphasis on physical infrastructure and have sometimes neglected the need to help the people, as well as the place, to improve. The mechanics of such programmes, with their focus on "hard", quantifiable outputs, have tended to reinforce this approach.
143. The New Deal for Communities (NDC) is an attempt to put these problems right. It aims to cut across the barriers which have traditionally led to the multiple causes of social exclusion being tackled in isolation from each other and to promote "joined-up thinking to tackle joined-up problems". NDC projects are intended to:
144. 10 Pathfinder local authority areas have so far been identified and invited to put forward delivery plans by July this year.
Currently running in five areas, prototype Employment Zones are delivered through local partnerships made up of TECs, local authorities, ES, the voluntary sector, local employers etc. They were introduced in February 1998 as an interim measure to test innovative approaches under the 1973 Employment and Training Act. Employment Zones aim to tackle the multiple barriers faced by long-term unemployed adults trying to re-enter the labour market. Long-term unemployment leads to social isolation and exclusion and, if not addressed, can reinforce patterns of social depravation.
Fifteen new Employment Zones will run from Spring 2000. Organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors were invited to bid to run the zones. Three different contractors have been chosen to run the first eleven new Zones: Working Links - a new public/private sector partnership comprising the Employment Service (ES), Manpower PLC and Ernst & Young; Reed in Partnership with local organisations and Pertemps also working with local organisations. Contractors for the remaining four Zones will be announced in the New Year.
The new zones will have maximum flexibility over the way they help the long-term unemployed move back into work, unlike the prototypes. Powers under the 1999 Welfare Reform & Pensions Act allow personal advisers to work with participants to develop fully costed action plans. Participants 'buy' the help they need to get a job or start a business with their personal job account.
Strong links with other initiatives are a requirement in all Employment Zones. There will be NDC projects in half the English Zones. Links will also be made with Education and Health Action Zones as well as the various New Deals
Community and voluntary organisations
145. Community and voluntary organisations come in all shapes and sizes. Some - like for example the Workers' Educational Association - are national organisations which are very significant providers of learning in their own right. Many smaller organisations are also important providers of learning in their own locality, increasingly in association with colleges of further education or more "formal" providers..
146. Whether they are themselves providers or not, community and voluntary organisations tend to be closer to local people than larger, more faceless , public sector institutions and can have a critical role in engaging socially disadvantaged people in community activities like a local tenants' group or a community association. Participation of this kind can often be an important step in confidence-building which can lead on to further learning.
"Other" public sector organisations
147. Many public sector organisations outside the formal education and training sector nevertheless have an important role in helping adults to learn and to improve their skills. Chief among these are organisations in the broad cultural sector, notably libraries, museums and galleries, which have an explicit mission to promote learning and which often have extremely effective links with local providers of education and training. Other kinds of less obvious "cultural" activities supported by public bodies- like sport - can, because they are a good way of engaging adults' interests, act as important gateways to learning.
148. Finally, the public sector is also of course a very significant employer in its own right, employing in some services a disproportionate number of socially disadvantaged people.
Individuals
149. Individuals are increasingly motivated to contribute towards the costs of their own learning. The National Adult Learning Survey suggests that - excluding full-time students who went straight from school to college or university - 5 million adults contributed something towards those costs over a three year period.
20. Learning Works - Widening Participation in Further Education, FEFC, 1997
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