"Success for All" Strategy

HC Deb 19 November 2002 vol 394 cc13-4WS

The Minister of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Charles Clarke)

We will today launch the "Success for All" strategy for reforming further education and training. "Success for All" will build on the strengths and systematically tackle the weaknesses within the learning and skills sector, through a programme of reforms which willimprove the responsiveness, design and quality of provision in each locality to meet learner, employer and community needs, with providers focusing on their individual strengths; achieve excellence in teaching and learning across the sector by identifying, creating and disseminating good, learning materials and training and support practice programmes; improve leadership, raise the number of qualified teachers, managers and support staff in the sector, and ensure better rewards for high performing staff; and Establish a new planning, funding and accountability system for providers in the sector.

This strategy represents a vote of confidence for the learning and skills sector, and will be supported by our largest ever investment programme in further education and training: the total planned funding for further education allocated to the Learning and Skills Council will rise by £1.2 billion by 2005–6 compared to 2002–3, a 19 per cent. real terms increase in 3 years; all learning and skills providers will negotiate 3-year funding deals based on agreed assumptions on participation levels; capital funding for the whole learning and skills sector allocated to the LSC will rise by over 60 per cent. in real terms by 2005–6 compared to 2002–3; and funding of over £40million in 2003–4 rising to over £100 million in the year 2005–6, to deliver a major programme of training and support for teachers and trainers across the learning and skills sector in response to area reviews and inspection findings

For further education and sixth form colleges, we will provide new money sufficient to raise the core unit of funding by 2 per cent. each year in real terms, on average. Targeted funds for college pay and staff training will also be consolidated into core funding, further boosting the core unit of funding by at least 3.5 per cent. from 2003–4.

Higher funding rates will be paid to colleges who perform well in meeting the needs of learners and employers. Poor performing colleges will get lower increases. Where necessary they will receive additional support and intervention until they improve. By 2005–6, this investment should enable a substantial narrowing of the core funding gap between FE and school sixth forms, and of the pay gap for staff between general FE colleges and schools.

We are also committed to further investment in work based learning providers to deliver the major reform of Modern Apprenticeships recommended by the MA Advisory Committee under Sir John Cassels, and the PSA target of 28 per cent. of young people entering MAs before they are 22 by 2004. We will make further announcements in due course about assumed funding for work based learning and adult and community learning.