Charity News Alert
Third sector learning providers to get national voice
Tania Mason
The Learning and Skills Council has agreed to fund a new coalition of voluntary sector skills providers that will work to influence government policy around learning.
The National Learning Alliance has been in development for more than a year, led by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) with input from other groups including NAVCA and the Foyer Federation.
Its steering group obtained a small grant from the UK Workforce Hub to consult on the concept, shape and structure of the proposed Alliance, but since that grant ran out in April last year, it has been working on a voluntary basis.
The LSC, which spends £10.4bn a year of government money on providers of adult education, has given £58,000 for the first year of the Alliance. Negotiations are still under way for the remaining years, but there is a commitment to fund for three years.
An LSC spokeswoman said the money would “enhance the influence of the sector in learning and skills policy” and fund the setting up of a research capability “to develop informed responses to LSC policy and initiatives”.
NIACE development officer Cheryl Turner said the steering group was delighted the LSC had decided to fund the initiative.
“The National Learning Alliance’s vision is to set up a national voice for third sector providers of learning and skills,” she said. “It will do this through the establishment of a national communications network that will build on existing networks and monitor and influence learning policy coming out of all Whitehall departments.
“It will engage with those departments about the impact of their policies, and it will also be proactive, anticipating likely outcomes through the development of a research capability.”
Turner said the consultation showed that third sector providers felt they lacked a coherent, powerful voice at national level around learning and skills.
The Alliance will be initially hosted by NIACE but eventually plans to become an independent entity with a membership structure. “Becoming a membership body is critical for the ownership of the Alliance and crucial to its sustainability,” Turner said.
The funding for the Alliance was announced at an LSC ministerial reception last week, at which the LSC sought to highlight its growing commitment to the third sector by unveiling new figures relating to service delivery contracts.
It said that 43 contracts worth a total of £7.61m were awarded to 25 third sector bodies across England for delivery in 2007 and 2008, and 16 of these were brand new contracts.
A spokeswoman said the contracts were all for three years but would go on for longer “as long as providers deliver a quality service”.
The LSC has a history of Compact breaches and came in for a volley of third sector criticism last year after it spent £155,000 suing Kids in Communication, a small voluntary organisation in Wolverhampton, for breach of a contract worth £119,000. The NCVO’s Compact Advocacy Programme branded the LSC “pernicious” and “bullying” over the case.
In its latest progress report on its strategy on working with the third sector, published this month, the organisation states: “The LSC is very pleased to confirm that it is now in a position to respond positively to the Compact recommendation for longer-term contracts. The LSC grant from the Department for Innovation, University and Skills is now a three-year grant. As a result the LSC will offer longer contracts to providers, including those from the third sector.”
22 January 2008
