14-19 Education & Training
Sub Regional Structures in Greater Manchester
Background
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning (ASCL) Act 2009 gave local authorities the duty to secure that enough suitable education and training is provided to meet the reasonable needs of 16-19 year olds, 16-25 year olds subject to learning difficulty assessment (Learners with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LLDD)), and young people subject to youth detention.
The way in which this statutory duty is to be carried out, the leadership role of local authorities, and the respective roles of other bodies, including autonomous schools, colleges and other providers, the Young Peoples Learning Agency (YPLA), the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), and the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), is set out in ‘Statutory Guidance: Funding Arrangements for 16-19 Education and Training’, published in December 2010. This document replaced the previous National Commissioning Framework (NCF).
In summary, the role of the local authority is:
- The statutory duty to secure sufficient education and training 16-19 provision
- LLDD 16-25
- Young offenders
- The wider leadership of education to the age of 19
- To set out a view of what needs to happen to 16-19 provision locally, based on evidence.
- To shape provision by developing a market
- To fund school sixth forms (NB funds are transferred from YPLA, via LAs, to school sixth forms)
In the original model, Local Authorities (LAs) had to work together in groups, called sub-regional groups (SRG’s). The ways in which local authorities work together is no longer prescribed, however in Greater Manchester, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) have determined that the 10 LAs shall maintain their SRG, and have reinforced this by including this local authority statutory duty as a duty of the new Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). The YPLA will support local authorities collectively where they have chosen to work together, as in Greater Manchester.
The Statutory Guidance is clear that in exercising their duty and role, LAs are more likely to meet the needs of young people where there are strong partnerships with those who provide education and training, to identify the learning needs of young people in their area, the needs of employers, and the extent to which those demands and needs are being met overall. It is envisaged, therefore, that within the Greater Manchester arrangements, each LA will maintain its 14-19 Partnership.
