Education Minister (): Today, as the Government
continues to build back better from the pandemic and begins the
critical work of levelling up the UK, I am announcing further
steps towards delivering the ambitious reforms set out in the
Skills for Jobs White Paper. Skills for Jobs
set out our vision for a skills system that supports people to
access the skills required and to get the jobs our economy needs,
increasing productivity, supporting growth industries, and giving
people opportunity.
We are launching a second consultation today, containing
proposals for implementing a new further education
funding and accountability system in England to help
deliver on this vision. The consultation is open from 21 July
2022 until 21 September 2022.
In this consultation, we want to hear from all interested
stakeholders and welcome responses to the consultation from
individual learners, providers (especially colleges), employers,
representative bodies, local government partners and MCAs.
Our reforms are about changing the incentives in the further
education (FE) system by focussing on employment outcomes and
simplifying the funding system so we can best support learners
into high value jobs. These reforms will:
Deliver a simpler and more effective funding
system, to make it easier for providers can invest in
the best way possible to achieve good outcomes for their
learners.
Deliver a fairer system by moving towards a more
equitable approach to funding areas in the next Spending Review,
and in the meantime, exploring how our available resources can
support those areas most in need to support levelling up and
spread opportunity across England.
Finally, we want to create and deliver a system that is
focussed on outcomes. We will use the funding system to
encourage providers to offer courses that lead to better outcomes
for the local and national economy and society, while holding
providers accountable for delivering for their learners.
This will enable providers to ensure that they are meeting the
needs of their learners, employers, and the wider area, putting
taxpayer investment to the best effect.
Subject to the responses to the consultation, we intend to
introduce our reforms from the academic year 2023/24, with
further reforms coming in the next Spending Review.
This is a key milestone in the delivery of our Skills for Jobs
reform programme, which will transform the whole skills system so
that we can train the dynamic and flexible workforce our economy
needs.
