SFL104 - Review Skills Budget for Foundation Learning

Overview

Outline of Proposal

Rochdale Borough Councils has a statutory duty to work with a range of partners and providers to ensure the mix and balance of Education, Employment and Training meets the needs of its young people from 16-19 (up to 25 for Learners with Learning Disability and Difficulty (LLDD)).

In previous years funding has been provided to Local Authorities through grant funding to lead the drive to ensure adequate Foundation Learning Provision (below L2) is in place for those young people who, for whatever reasons, do not achieve, and are not likely to achieve L2 (GCSE A*-C) qualifications.

Due to changes in national policy and better partnership working, RMBC and a wide range of partners ensure provision is in place through other none LA mainstream skills funding streams.

A strong partnership exists that ensures the needs of young people are articulated, so that providers in particular can respond and develop provision through mainstream and specific skills and employment funding arrangements.

There is therefore no longer a need to fund provision from Rochdale Borough Councils resources.

General Impact

The Local Authority will continue to work with a wide range of providers including schools, providers, Education Funding Agency, Skills Funding Agency and the National Apprenticeship Service to ensure the mix and balance of provision for 16-19 (24 LLDD) meets the needs of all learners.

There is no financial impact on other services as a result of this proposal. The proposal does not have any staffing implications for the council.

There are no legal implications as a result of this proposal.  It is envisaged that we will be able to meet our statutory duties as a Local Authorities within the reduced contract value.

Impact on Service Users  

Partnership arrangements are in place across the borough to ensure 16-19 (24 LLDD) are not impacted upon by this proposal.

The indicative saving for this proposal is £100,000.

We have undertaken an Equality Impact Assessment to identify likely or actual effects on people with protected characteristics. The Equality Impact Assessment will be reviewed and updated as required, taking account of consultation feedback.

You can find the full proposal document and Equality Impact Assessment below in the related documents section.