19-605: The Skills Funding Agency was one of two successor organisations that emerged from the closure in 2010 of the Learning and Skills Council (England's largest non-departmental public body or quango ). The agency was in turn replaced by the Education and Skills Funding Agency in 2017. The restructuring of the English skills system was announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown shortly after he took office in 2007. The office of
38-781: Is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom , sponsored by the Department for Education . The ESFA was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). It brings together the existing responsibilities of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA), creating a single agency accountable for funding education, apprenticeships and training for children, young people and adults. Previously
57-915: The CBI , Sir Digby Jones , was critical of the LSC during his time as the UK government's skills envoy. Speaking of the LSC management and outcomes, he said: "It is what I call the British Leyland model - you put a lot of money in at the top and an Austin Allegro comes out at the bottom. The money has not been spent in the right way and it is not delivering what the employers want." There has also been significant press criticism for its handling of EMAs, capital, adult funding and numerous other areas of work especially by its own staff over its handling of various restructures and more recently its closure and transfer of powers to
76-831: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in England . It closed on 31 March 2010 and was replaced by the Skills Funding Agency and the Young People's Learning Agency . The LSC was established in April 2001, under the Learning and Skills Act 2000 . It replaced the 72 training and enterprise councils and the Further Education Funding Council for England . In 2006 it had an annual budget of £10.4 billion. It
95-614: The National Apprenticeship Service and the National Careers Service . In January 2012, Chief Executive Geoff Russell announced his resignation, and on 30 May 2012, it was announced by Skills Minister, John Hayes that Kim Thorneywork had been appointed as interim chief executive. In November 2014, Peter Lauener was appointed as chief executive. Following machinery of Government changes, the Skills Funding Agency became an executive agency of
114-403: The Skills Funding Agency , reporting to DCSF and BIS respectively. These changes started in April 2009 and were completed by March 2010. Mark Haysom CBE, the second chief executive of the LSC, announced that he was stepping down from his role on 23 March 2009 - taking accountability as Chief Executive for difficulties that the LSC had encountered with a college ( PFI ) rebuilding programme. He
133-504: The Young People's Learning Agency and Partnerships for Schools . From 2013, the EFA oversaw a schools capital building programme, appointing construction contractors under national and regional framework agreements to enable schools and other education bodies to select and appoint contractors. A report was issued in 2015 which highlighted that the EFA had discriminated against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when appointing to
152-750: The 2/3 successor bodies and 150 local authorities. The equivalent body in Wales was ELWa . In Scotland, colleges are funded by the Scottish Funding Council . Also in England, until 2006, there was the Learning and Skills Development Agency , which split into the Quality Improvement Agency and Learning and Skills Network in March 2006. Education Funding Agency The Education and Skills Funding Agency ( ESFA )
171-618: The Coventry headquarters, the remainder from local offices. The restructuring process was challenged by the PCS Union , with a strike that took place on 28 April 2006, and a work-to-rule commencing in May 2006. The work-to-rule ceased on 26 June 2006 after PCS and LSC representatives reached agreement. During its lifetime the LSC had three chief executives: John Harwood, Mark Haysom and Geoff Russell. There were nine regions. Former leader of
190-467: The Department for Education in 2016. The Skills Funding Agency was abolished on 31 March 2017. Its former functions, together with those of the former Education Funding Agency, were transferred to the Education and Skills Funding Agency , created on 1 April 2017. Learning and Skills Council The Learning and Skills Council ( LSC ) was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by
209-507: The EFA was responsible for distributing funding for state education in England for 3–19 year olds, as well as managing the estates of schools and colleges; and the SFA was responsible for funding skills training for further education in England and running the National Apprenticeship Service and the National Careers Service . The EFA had been formed on 1 April 2012 by bringing together the functions of two previous non-departmental public bodies ,
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#1732772506133228-483: The abolition of the LSC was announced; funding responsibilities for 16- to 19-year-old learners were to transfer to Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency , which was created to distribute funding for adult learners in further education colleges . The Machinery of Government announcement heralded the end of the LSC, to make way for the Young Peoples Learning Agency and
247-545: The chief executive of Skills Funding was established in law by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 . The office was originally a corporation sole, and employees were appointed by the chief executive as Crown servants , collectively referred to as the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). The chief executive was appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills . Further legislation
266-477: The framework agreements, contrary to UK government guidance promoting SME access to government procurement opportunities. In the 2019–20 financial year, the ESFA was responsible for a budget of £59 billion and had approximately 1,500 staff. The budget had increased to £65 billion by 2022. David Withey is the current Chief Executive; appointed in 2022. On September 11 2024, Bridget Phillipson announced
285-801: Was described as Britain's largest Quango . Until June 2007, it was sponsored by the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES). In July 2009, the Public Accounts Committee described the LSC's handling of its college building programme as 'catastrophic mismanagement'. It resulted in a £2.7 billion debt, with 144 college building contracts having to be terminated abruptly, and leaving many colleges with huge financial penalties for breach of contract with civil engineering companies. 23 colleges have debts of more than 40% of their annual income, with some facing possible financial collapse. The re-building programme had renovated over half of England's colleges since 2001. On 17 March 2008
304-551: Was passed in 2012, with the agency becoming an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The agency funded skills training for further education (FE) in England. Its scope included apprenticeships and adult education ; it also implemented initiatives funded by the European Social Fund . The agency supported over 1,000 colleges, private training organisations, and employers with more than £4 billion of funding each year. The SFA's mission
323-505: Was replaced by Geoff Russell, formerly of accountants KPMG . The LSC was responsible for planning and funding further education (post-16 education and training other than higher education ) in England . The LSC had a national office in Cheylesmore House, Cheylesmore , Coventry , nine regional offices and 47 local Learning and Skills Council offices. The LSC's national office was not a typical headquarters – its main role
342-480: Was to ensure that people and businesses could access the skills training they needed to succeed in playing their part in society and in growing England’s economy. This was done in the context of policy set by government and informed by the needs of businesses, communities and regions, and sector and industry bodies. The SFA employed around 925 staff at its head office in Coventry and in offices around England. It ran
361-497: Was to produce guidelines and targets for its 47 local offices. It was announced in 2005 that the LSC's organisation structure would change as part of the Agenda for Change programme, creating a streamlined configuration with more focus on the regional dimension. Although management and administration has been restructured on regional lines, the 47 local Learning and Skills councils were retained. Around 1,300 jobs were lost, 500 from
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