UK SBS PS16208 Support for FE Commissioner

Description

As set out in the Governments policy document “Reviewing post 16 education” the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE) is currently overseeing the review of all FE and Six Form Colleges in England. BIS and DfE are separate Government Departments, reporting ultimately to their respective Ministers who are accountable to Parliament. The reviews themselves are locally steered reviews, overseen by the FE Commissioner and the Sixth Form College Commissioner, and carried out by a combination of expert FE Advisors, and the Skills and Education Funding Agencies through the Joint Area Review Delivery Unit. The reviews report to a local Area Review Steering Group comprising of College Principals and chairs of Governors, Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs), the Regional Schools Commissioner and local authorities. It is the responsibility of the Steering Group to agree and implement review recommendations. Post review, the Transaction Unit is responsible for evaluating and considering applications to the Restructuring Facility. These applications will directly built upon review recommendations. All FE and Six Form Colleges in England are currently being reviewed through the area review process. The overarching objective is to use the process to produce a Further Education infrastructure which: • Comprises of financially sustainable colleges which can reinvest in delivery; • Delivers high quality education and training provision; and • Meets the needs of the local economy. The aim of this exercise is to secure sufficient high-quality personnel to provide additional resource as needed to support the wider work of the restructuring programme in terms of both intervention and assessing the financial implications for government of proposals. This is a flexible resource to support the FE Commission and Deputies and the wider restructuring programme with educational and financial services where needed, recognising the current constraints and demands on the team.