The government announced its intentions in a White Paper which underlines details of the transfer of £7bn to local authorities to help colleges and sixth forms deliver the reforms needed to raise the education and training leaving age to 18.
A new Skills Funding Agency for adults will get £4bn to oversee the distribution of funds to the sector and manage the performance of further education colleges. It will also house the new National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) for good measure – just lump it all in there, why not!
Mark Haysom, chief executive at the LSC, said two new bodies will replace the skills council.
For young people there will be a new national Non Departmental Public Body, with some regional capacity, which will support local authorities in their new role in commissioning and funding 14-19 provision.
"The world does not stand still. In 2010 the LSC will enter its tenth year and this represents considerable longevity in an era of constant change," said Haysom.
Indeed it doesn’t Mark, and by change I assume you mean the entire world change and not just the three changes that the LSC has undergone since its formation a mere six years ago?
The EEF organisation, which represents manufacturers and engineering organisations called for the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) should be combined into one body that would speak with a single voice on the development of post-16 learning and be all the more influential for it.
And David Frost, director general of the British Chamber of Commerce said of Train to Gain: "Employers want to engage with the training system to ensure they have a workforce equipped to meet the challenges of the globalised economy yet are often frustrated by its complexity."
But instead of listening to the needs of business, government decided to kill one body and create two new quangos – my new favourite word.
And this White Paper will obviously please skills supreme Chris Humphries, chief executive of the Commission for Employment and Skills no end.
The CES body will advise ministers on skills strategy and policies, but will also challenge the government to improve the current skills system, which includes 25 Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and initiatives such as Train to Gain and the skills pledge.
"Employers constantly tell me that the system is too complex,” Chris Humphries told Personnel Today at the start of the year.
"An early focus of the Commission will be: how can we simplify the skills system for employers, how can we convince them they will not wind up in bureaucracy," he said.
Well then government is off to a flyer.
