Current Work

John Hayes, Minister for Skills, FE & Lifelong Learning meets with the TSNLA

On the 26th April directors from the TSNLA met with John Hayes in Westminster. It was a very friendly and cordial meeting and the Minister started by seeking to allay concerns regarding Minimum Contract Values. He said that he understands the risks and there will be discretion to go below MCV where there is a risk to provision - rural communities and young people were two examples.

The Minister indicated that if we have any specific examples of specific provision being put at risk due to MCV he and his department would like to hear about them.It is crucial that members inform TSNLA and we shall be asking for further information from members.

The TSNLA is encouraged to input to the IACL Review as the VCS are "absolutely critical" to this agenda. We are represented on the Stakeholder Group and will consult members towards preparing a response to the consultation.

It was agreed that DBIS will look at how they can encourage collaborative work between third sector, FE colleges and others.

The idea of a Third Sector champion in the Skills Funding Agency was liked and the department will look into this.

The Minister would like the TSNLA to work with DBIS officials to prepare a framework paper on 'learning co-operatives'.
For this key meeting the TSNLA was represented by Jonathan Gilbert (Lancashire Learning Consortium CIC), Jane Slowey (Foyer Federation), Anthony Harmer (ELATT) and Richard Williams (Rathbone).

Identifying collaborative organisation models to access larger contracts

With funding from LSIS we are working on developing case studies which will explore potentially effective collaborative organisation models enabling access to higher value contracts. The three models in scope are the North west Special Purpose Vehicle, the East Midlands lead partner model and CLESP in the South West. Critical success factors will be identified through this process of tracking the development of partnership models. Further

Consulting the sector on support needs for providers

With Consortia + and NIACE we are seeking to identify the support needs for providers and to make appropriate recommendations to LSIS. A joint event was held on the 10th March at which the Skills Funding Agency and LSIS contributed perspectives on current developments and the support programme provided by LSIS. 

THE FINAL REPORT OF THIS CONSULTATION PROCESS IS BELOW.