Helen Barrett,
Regen.net,
23 July 2010
Education secretary Michael Gove announced plans to shake up education funding for 16- to 19-year-olds this week, claiming current arrangements were too complicated and bureaucratic.
Further education colleges, sixth form colleges and other training providers will be paid directly by the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) from August this year.
The former Labour government set up the YPLA in April this year to provide councils with money to pay for local provision after it scrapped the Learning and Skills Council.
But schools minister Nick Gibb said the current system had "too many layers", and that new measures would free up local authorities to focus on strategic planning. Gove also scrapped the requirement for councils to set up sub-regional groups and regional planning groups to support the commissioning of education for 16- to 19-year-olds.
Iain Mackinnon, managing director of economic development consultancy the Mackinnon Partnership, said education providers would welcome the changes.
"It’s an intelligent piece of streamlining," he said. "Colleges are used to money arriving in a correct and timely way, and to get that right is very demanding. Many had objected to Labour’s fragmenting the system and were anxious they would be on the receiving end of a muddle."
