2. TELFORD COLLEGE OF ARTS & TECHNOLOGY A College perspective on funding - the uncertainty, its sources and adequacy to meet needs and efficient delivery. Paul O’Neill Research & Development

3. OR Don’t panic Captain Mannering.

4. Where we came from 1992 – small GFE College at Incorporation –Efficient in terms of ALF –Programmed to develop and grow efficiently, year- on-year, to meet funding targets. 1993 – Started the ‘In-Company’ Team with 5 staff, covering Engineering, Management and Business Admin. Aim was to ‘engage with employers’.

5. Where we are now Larger GFE College ‘In-Company’ Team now the Directorate of Commercial Development & Training with 143 staff. Successful Employer Training Pilot. Set for no growth in core LSC funding and reduced ETP targets.

6. Directorate of Commercial Development &Training 5 staff in 1994 to 143 in 2005. 350+ company NVQ partnerships - local and national / corporate & SME's Serving 18 different vocational areas. Annual enrolments for the department exceeds 5,000 and delivers Short Courses, Development Programmes, NVQ’s, VRQ’s and associated training courses. 13 local learning centres including the ‘College in the Company’ initiative

7. Delivery of Training & Development Delivered at College or on the Customers site Delivered at a time to suit the Customer– often at weekends, depending on the size of the company. Modularised Delivery – meeting the demands of shift patterns and production requirements. Using specialist deliverers at suitable rates of pay that enables a cost effective structure, responding efficiently to small numbers.

8. Staffing Commercially aware, not ‘academic’. Customer focused. Not timetabled to College courses – where relevant staff have days allocated to development and delivery. Industrial/Commercial background. Flexible, not 9-5 or 850 hours per year. All year delivery – not September to June.

9. What Employers say they want A product/programme that addresses their perceived needs – not necessarily a qualification. Training and assessment for:- –Operator qualifications (Process, Quality, H&S, etc.) –New procedure/process/model introduction –Management skills at all levels –Flexible skills e.g. TPM (Operator Maintenance Training to Cross/Multi Skilling for Engineers). –Change in philosophy, develop an interest in the Company and training. –Business Improvement (Kaisan, 5S/5C, Six Sigma).

10. Costs to Employers These need to be realistic. –Management training can be in excess of £1,000 per person, usually less than 20 people, total cost is £20,000 for the programme. –Operator training can be for more than 500 (over several years) – at £100 each this is £50,000 – and in some cases this barely covers the Certification and Registration costs. Assumed fee income for an NVQ programme of £275 would cost the Employer £137,500. For many low value added producers this is a cost they cannot meet, especially if the workforce is transient.

11. College Funding for Training LSC ‘Core’ – Qualification related. LSC projects (ETP) – usually relates to a qualification. ESF projects – Generally qualification related, depending on the project. Fee Income – completely open. Other Projects and Grants (RDA) – can be flexible.

12. Provider relationship with the LSC Government has an agenda and targets for education and training. The LSC is funded to procure a service to meet these targets. Colleges and providers deliver the service against agreed plans. Contracted to the Learning & Skills Council to deliver training to meet their needs/agenda. This will be a percentage of overall college income.

13. Business Planning Providers are required to agree a three year delivery plan for the LSC, to meet their targets and agenda Experience is the plan rarely moves to year two as targets change. For example:-

14. Skills White Paper “The Skills White Paper responds to many of the concerns of business and sets a challenge for employers to work more closely with colleges and training providers in new ways. “With employers we can develop a better mix of skills to fill jobs that demand high-level expertise as well as those that require technical abilities. This will require the right kind of financial investment from both the public and private purse.”

15. Employer Engagement changes Employer Training Pilots has introduced Employers to free training. Increase Fee Element to funding (25% to 27.5% staged to 35%). Employer Training Pilots rule changes (reduce funding, introduce eligibility criteria, etc.) especially where they have been very successful. The ETP has funded the creation of an infrastructure to deliver successfully. Removing funding may lose the infrastructure and reduce confidence in the sector to deliver.

16. Considerations with Employer Engagement Funding –Is it stable if you develop a provision. Staffing –Timetabled, flexible, competent, creditable, affordable. Response –College/Provider, often quick depending upon the request. –Employers have production requirements to be met. Employer contribution –% of turnover –Low value added product

17. Infrastructure needed −The infrastructure to deliver large numbers of qualifications for employers needs a large staffing resource that is expensive to develop but needs to then be maintained. Size of company −SME’s have low numbers who cannot be released, often requiring specialist training – every method of meeting these needs is expensive. Size of cohorts −The individual cohort sizes are often small to meet shift patterns and production requirements.

18. Where are we now Efficient at delivery – grade A Finances. Large and responsive infrastructure. Stable and successful year. Next years targets –Increase Employer Engagement. –Reduce ‘other provision’. –Increase Assumed Fee Income. –Meet income targets and learner number targets.

19. The Directorate Available Core funding not finalised. Future ETP funding being discussed. Business is being generated without knowing if it can be funded. There is not enough money to meet all the targets, however our experience is the local LSC fully supports providers who are delivering to the agenda and within the rules.

20. Employer Training Pilot To date –Enrolled3,783 –Complete1,621 –Targeted by August 20051,419 After August 2005 –What funding is available. –What do we do with the staff if funding is not available. –What will the Employer Training Programme look like in April 2006.

21. Visitors Alan Johnson MP – Minister for Adult Learning, April 2004. Michael Beasley MBE – ex Jaguar Chairman, Chairman of Skills4auto – opened the CoVE in November 2004. Mark Haysom – Chief Executive of the LSC in December 2004. Representatives from LSC, DTI, DfES, other Colleges. Focusing on Employer Engagement

22. Questions