1. Minimum Contract Level Localism and Accountability November 2011 Barry Langfield, LSIS Partnership Adviser

2. Objective Understand the impact of Localism and Accountability on the learning and skills sector in the context of Minimum Contract Level

3. Localism Bill 3 rd Reading House of Lords 31 st October 2011 Consideration of amendments Royal Assent

4. New Challenges, New Chances “To free colleges and other skills providers from as many bureaucratic restrictions as possible in order to allow them to respond more effectively to the needs of their local communities.” “No network of institutions has greater expertise and local presence than the FE sector.” “... partnerships with employers or specialist providers to deliver specific training opportunities: working with National Skills Academies to enhance the learning and skills offers within their local area, or setting up skills centres to provide specialist skills training” “Participating in collaborative partnerships such as federations or joint venture models, might also provide opportunities to develop innovative ways to meet the needs of learners and employers in local communities.”... we intend to outline the main features of successful delivery models in a framework to help colleges and training organisations make their own assessments of how best to develop local solutions. “To free providers to respond to local demand”

5. Providers in their community The new ‘localism’ agenda and the ‘Big Society’ idea of devolved responsibility and increased levels of community ownership... Providers are viewed as part of the fabric of their community Providers are already shapers in their community, fostering aspiration and providing real opportunities for individuals to advance their social, economic and personal ambitions The vision is essentially that of providers as the ’dynamic nucleus’ within their communities, forging, as they do now, ‘neural networks’ of partnerships. Providers are already centrally positioned between the educational community on the one hand and the employer community on the other.

6. Skills for Sustainable Growth (BIS) “Control should be devolved from central government to citizens, employers and communities so they can play a greater role in shaping services to ensure that they meet their needs efficiently.”

7. Open Public Services White Paper “ Choice - wherever possible we will increase choice Decentralisation - Power should be decentralised to the lowest level Diversity - Public services should be open to a range of providers Fairness - We will ensure fair access to public services Accountability - Public services should be accountable to users and taxpayers ”

8. Four key localism issues and MCL New skills Context and intelligence Accountability to your community and a new partnership Developing local links

9. Making sense of the changing public sector landscape Challenges from the reforms : spending cuts will change demand for learning and skills new economic policies and trends will radically change skills needs changing public service delivery models will demand new skills sets MCL impact Providers and the public sector will need new skills How are smaller independent training providers responding to this? New types of skills will be needed : a more flexible workforce, as professional silos blur into more flexible teams a need for skills in multi-agency co-ordination, communication and negotiation business ownership, commissioning and planning skills for new types of service delivery skills for community enterprise building and social entrepreneurs

10. Learning and skills in a changing landscape Liberalisation A strong current of liberalisation and marketisation runs through the Coalition’s agenda – academies and free schools are examples. Localism Councils given some new freedoms, but reduced influence over some key public services and constraints over spending. Spending cuts Deficit reduction underpins the whole Coalition drive. Supply-side reform Supply-side diversity is a key feature of coalition proposals, encouraging new private and civil society providers. Local growth Regional Development Agencies have been replaced by Local Enterprise Partnerships. More for less Getting more for less is the reality across public services at a time of cuts. Jobs and learning and skills budgets in public sector organisations will be severely squeezed. MCL impact Providers need to keep a close eye on all agendas and understand how this impacts upon their specialisms. How are smaller independent training providers going to do this?

11. Commitment to your locality Minimum Contract Levels has encouraged smaller providers into relationships with others whose commitment to localism and community accountability is different. Many colleges and some skills providers are based in more than one local authority area, operate campuses or outreach projects in adjacent areas, and take in learners from an even wider region. Compete to survive - Collaborate to contract - Federate for efficiency - Collaborate for the benefit of learners MCL impact How will smaller providers maintain focus on the locality they serve whilst also being accountable to their new partnership or lead provider?

12. Learning and skills sector, the new agenda The future will require further education and skills providers to be fundamentally more collaborative, networked, and socially productive We will see incubators of social value and hubs for service integration Providers will serve learners through being tapped into the wider local growth and service reform agendas MCL impact Even with a sub-contract under MCL providers are accountable to the local community they serve. It is more important than ever to maintain local relationships whilst at the same time engaging with the new localism agenda.

13. Support for Collaborative Contracting Case Studies Toolkits: o Managing Risk o Partnership Planning and Working o Shared Leadership and Governance o Shared Services o Sub-contracting o Quality Management o Sub-contracting (Nov 2011) o Annual planning and operations cycle (Nov 2011) http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=MCLsupport Resources

14. Wrapping Up We’ll send you evaluation form and a link to the recording Slides from the seminar will be on the Excellence Gateway You may be be interested in further support from the LSIS MCL Support Programme. A range of resources are available on the Excellence Gateway site www.excellencegateway.org.uk/MCLsupport www.excellencegateway.org.uk/MCLsupport Further web seminar events are planned, you can find details and registration on events.lsis.org.uk/Pages/Event/Stage1/Events.aspxevents.lsis.org.uk/Pages/Event/Stage1/Events.aspx If you would like to talk to an MCL Partnership Adviser please send an e-mail to mclsp@lsis.org.ukmclsp@lsis.org.uk