HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was a
non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...
jointly sponsored by the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , type = Department , logo = Department for Business, Innovation and Skills logo.svg , logo_width = 200px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG , seal = , se ...
(BIS) and the
Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was replac ...
(DCSF) in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. It closed on 31 March 2010 and was replaced by the
Skills Funding Agency The Skills Funding Agency was one of two successor organisations that emerged from the closure in 2010 of the Learning and Skills Council (England's largest non-departmental public body or quango). The agency was in turn replaced by the Ed ...
and the Young People's Learning Agency.


History

The LSC was established in April 2001, under the
Learning and Skills Act 2000 The Learning and Skills Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made changes in the funding and administration of further education, and of work-based learning (or apprenticeships) for young people, within England and Wale ...
. It replaced the 72 training and enterprise councils and the
Further Education Funding Council for England The Further Education Funding Council for England (FEFC) was a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education and Skills which distributed funding to Further Education and Sixth Form Colleges in England between 1992 and 2001. It wa ...
. In 2006 it had an annual budget of £10.4 billion. It was described as Britain's largest
Quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where N ...
. Until June 2007, it was sponsored by the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES).


Economic mismanagement in college re-building

In July 2009, the Public Accounts Committee described the LSC's handling of its college building programme as 'catastrophic mismanagement'. It resulted in a £2.7 billion debt, with 144 college building contracts having to be terminated abruptly, and leaving many colleges with huge financial penalties for breach of contract with civil engineering companies. 23 colleges have debts of more than 40% of their annual income, with some facing possible financial collapse. The re-building programme had renovated over half of England's colleges since 2001.


Abolition

On 17 March 2008 the abolition of the LSC was announced; funding responsibilities for 16- to 19-year-old learners were to transfer to
Education Funding Agency The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Department for Education. The ESFA was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of the Education Funding Agency a ...
and the
Skills Funding Agency The Skills Funding Agency was one of two successor organisations that emerged from the closure in 2010 of the Learning and Skills Council (England's largest non-departmental public body or quango). The agency was in turn replaced by the Ed ...
, which was created to distribute funding for adult learners in
further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...
colleges A college ( Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
. The Machinery of Government announcement heralded the end of the LSC, to make way for the Young Peoples Learning Agency and the
Skills Funding Agency The Skills Funding Agency was one of two successor organisations that emerged from the closure in 2010 of the Learning and Skills Council (England's largest non-departmental public body or quango). The agency was in turn replaced by the Ed ...
, reporting to DCSF and BIS respectively. These changes started in April 2009 and were completed by March 2010.


Mark Haysom's resignation

Mark Haysom CBE, the second chief executive of the LSC, announced that he was stepping down from his role on 23 March 2009 - taking accountability as Chief Executive for difficulties that the LSC had encountered with a college ( PFI) rebuilding programme. He was replaced by Geoff Russell, formerly of accountants
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
.


Function

The LSC was responsible for planning and funding
further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...
(post-16 education and training other than
higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
) in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
.


Initiatives

* Train to Gain in September 2006


Organisation


National office

The LSC had a national office in Cheylesmore House, Cheylesmore,
Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, nine regional offices and 47 local Learning and Skills Council offices. The LSC's national office was not a typical headquarters – its main role was to produce guidelines and targets for its 47 local offices. It was announced in 2005 that the LSC's organisation structure would change as part of the
Agenda for Change Agenda for Change (AfC) is the current National Health Service (NHS) grading and pay system for NHS staff, with the exception of doctors, dentists, apprentices and some senior managers. It covers more than 1 million people and harmonises their pay ...
programme, creating a streamlined configuration with more focus on the regional dimension. Although management and administration has been restructured on regional lines, the 47 local Learning and Skills councils were retained.


Redundancies

Around 1,300 jobs were lost, 500 from the Coventry headquarters, the remainder from local offices. The restructuring process was challenged by the PCS Union, with a strike that took place on 28 April 2006, and a work-to-rule commencing in May 2006. The work-to-rule ceased on 26 June 2006 after PCS and LSC representatives reached agreement.


Staff

During its lifetime the LSC had three chief executives: John Harwood, Mark Haysom and Geoff Russell.


Regions

There were nine regions. * East of England -
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
* East Midlands - Meridian Business Park ( M1/ M69 junction), Leicester * London - five offices in Stratford (East), Hounslow (West),
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...
(South), Palmers Green (North), and
Centre Point Centre Point is a building in Central London, comprising a 34-storey tower; a 9-storey block to the east including shops, offices, retail units and maisonettes; and a linking block between the two at first-floor level. It occupies 101–103 ...
on New Oxford Street (Central) * North East - Team Valley,
Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...
* North West -
Arndale Centre Arndale Centres were the first "American style" malls to be built in the United Kingdom. In total, twenty three Arndales have been built in the United Kingdom, and three in Australia. The first opened in Jarrow, County Durham, in 1961, as a ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
* South East - Brighton and Reading * South West - Bristol * West Midlands - Birmingham * Yorkshire and the Humber - Bradford


Criticism

Former leader of the CBI, Sir Digby Jones, was critical of the LSC during his time as the UK government's skills envoy. Speaking of the LSC management and outcomes, he said: "It is what I call the British Leyland model - you put a lot of money in at the top and an Austin Allegro comes out at the bottom. The money has not been spent in the right way and it is not delivering what the employers want." There has also been significant press criticism for its handling of EMAs, capital, adult funding and numerous other areas of work especially by its own staff over its handling of various restructures and more recently its closure and transfer of powers to the 2/3 successor bodies and 150 local authorities.


Similar organisations

The equivalent body in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
was ELWa. In Scotland, colleges are funded by the Scottish Funding Council. Also in England, until 2006, there was the
Learning and Skills Development Agency The Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) was a publicly funded body in the United Kingdom that supported further education in England. At the end of March 2006 its functions were divided into the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) and ...
, which split into the Quality Improvement Agency and
Learning and Skills Network LSN (Learning and Skills Network) was an independent not-for-profit organisation in the United Kingdom that provided consulting, outsourcing, research, technology and training services for learning and skills. It went into administration in Novem ...
in March 2006.


See also

*
Education in England Education in England is overseen by the United Kingdom's Department for Education. Local government in England, Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and State-funded schools (England), state ...
*
Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engla ...
*
Lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated"Department of Education and Science (2000).Learning for Life: Paper on Adult Education Dublin: Stationery Office. pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons ...
* Qualifications and Curriculum Authority *
Vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...
* Business Link * National Employer Service (for large companies) *
UK Commission for Employment and Skills The UK Commission for Employment and Skills was a non-departmental public body that provided advice on skills and employment policy to the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills closed in ...


References

{{reflist


External links


Official website

Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA)
holds an archive of some LSC publications.


News items

* 11 June 201
Director of Shropshire LSC jailed after receiving £300,000 in kickbacks from contracts worth £1.3m

College building £2.7bn in the red in July 2009

College building is halted in March 2009
* 28 March 2008, LSC

* 13 February 2008, BBC
Anger over pupils database plan


Audio clips


File on 4 in June 2009 with Gerry Northam


Video clips


LSC Yorkshire and Humber

LSC North East

TV advert

Train to Gain TV advert
Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Further education colleges in England Organisations based in Coventry Organizations established in 2001 2010 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Vocational education in the United Kingdom