Ray Walker

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Ray Walker Business Executive Director Local
Authorities, Community and School
Development Birmingham Metropolitan College The
Role of Further Education in the Development of
Skills and Economic Growth
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• Challenge set down by government
• Skills for Sustainable Growth
• Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth
• New Challenges, New Changes

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• Promote Adult Skills.
• High Quality Teaching and learning
• Free Colleges/Providers from bureaucracy to
  enable better response to local
  needs/communities.
• Better investment in skills between the taxpayer,
  learner and employer.

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• Apprenticeships
• Significant increases in the number of
  apprenticeships in the region.
• Greater increase in youth apprenticeships as well
  as adult apprenticeships.
• Government funding for 250,000 more
  apprenticeships over the next four years.
• More High level Apprenticeships.
• Apprenticeship Training Associations/Agencies
  (ATAs) and Group Training Associations/Agencies
  (GTAs).

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• Adult Skills Budget- Provision for the
  unemployed
• Meet the needs of those claiming JSA and ESA in
  Work Related Activity Group.
• Referral via Jobcentre Plus
• Provision appropriate to learner and employer
  needs.
• Job Outcome Incentive Payments.

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• Skills Conditionality
• Skills training a condition of continued receipt
  of benefit.
• Benefit sanction for non participants

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• Colleges and Training Providers to support
  Service Academies
• Combining work placements with pre-employment
  training.
• Guaranteed Interviews with employers.

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• Key Developments to support growth via skills
  development
• Review of funding.
• Lifelong Learning Accounts Launch.
• Development of new industry led professional
  standard schemes ensuring qualifications are
  valued and are of high quality.

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• 210 million /year protection of informal Adult
  Community Learning.
• Fully funded provision for the low skilled, young
  people and jobseekers.
• Government backed loans for first time in FE for
  learners aged 24.
• Upfront cost of training not being a barrier to
  following learning and skills.

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• Growth and Innovation fund
• 50 million / year.
• Pump prime and pilot selected projects, build
  leadership and management skills in SMEs.

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• What else needs to be done?
• Greater integration of the pre 19 and post 19
  activity to address skills and employability.
• Young NEETs can and often do become older
  NEETs/long term unemployed.

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• Addressing the skills and employment agenda much
  earlier with young people.
• Wolf Report more appropriate vocational
  learning for young people.
• Following vocational qualifications that are
  recognised by employers.
• High quality Internships a real engagement with
  the world of work.

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• New structural arrangements to deliver education
  and training.
• Continued focus on functional skills and
  employability skills.
• Differentiated approach for specific
  disadvantaged groups.
• Programmes that integrate wrap around support
  with good teaching and skills delivery.