The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel

Transcription

1 The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel Date of issue 5 July 2011 The new Skills Funding Agency (the Agency) 1. Remit and purpose The Agency will operate a radically simpler and more market-driven funding and regulatory system that is self-sustaining, incentivises providers to deliver efficiently what customers want and improves the cost effectiveness of further education (FE) and Apprenticeships. The Agency will be less interventionalist and operate a less labourintensive, more simplified system, making significant savings in operating costs over the next few years; reducing bureaucracy in the FE sector. 2. Rationale Statutory remit The Chief Executive of the Agency has a duty to ensure the FE and skills sector is capable of offering adequate provision to meet the demands of learners and employers across England. The function of the Agency will be structured to facilitate the delivery of this duty and maximise resources available for teaching and learning for learners and employers. The changes being made to the structure and operations of the Agency are driven primarily by the role and purpose as set out in the Government s Skills for Sustainable Growth and Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth, together with its Funding Letter dated 31 March 2011, informing the Agency of the funding and core priorities for and indicative funding for Skills Funding Agency Cheylesmore House Quinton Road Coventry CV1 2WT T An agency of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills 1

2 The Government s skills strategy is informed by the views of stakeholders and features: local democratic accountability focus on outcomes rather than inputs and outputs informed customers determining the nature and quality of what markets provide 3. Context the commitment to rationalise and streamline public bodies, reduce bureaucracy and free the FE sector means that the Agency s role will change significantly. The Agency will be smaller, more cost-efficient and its focus will narrow (Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth, November 2010) The Agency will operate a new system driven by empowered and informed learners supporting a stronger employer voice (Secretary of State s Letter to the Chief Executive of the Skills Funding Agency, June 2010). 4. The New Structure Enables the Chief Executive to continue to discharge statutory responsibilities and accountabilities. Minimising costs and maximising effectiveness. Building on best practice developed and lessons learned from first year of operations - establishing local management of relationships with central budgetary control, processes and policy implementation. Strengthens the focus and resources available for driving up the quality and quantity of Apprenticeships and skills in general - avoids duplication of effort and reduces cost. Less directive and more influencing nature requires more experienced and skilled staff to develop extensive local knowledge and strong relationships with providers, stakeholders, employers and labour markets. The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 2 of 10

3 5. Agency Office Locations Teams dispersed across the London/the South and Midlands/the North: Birmingham Chatham Coventry Fareham Gateshead Histon (Cambs) Leeds Liverpool London Manchester Nottingham Reading Taunton/Exeter Existing offices across Bedford, Billingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Derby, Ipswich, Leicester, Plymouth, Sheffield, Stoke and West Malling will close between September 2011 and December The Liverpool team will move to a new office in Liverpool in March The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 3 of 10

4 6. The Senior Organisational Structure Senior appointments in the new Agency structure (as of 13 May 2011): Executive Management Team (EMT) Chief Executive Geoff Russell Executive Director, Capacity and Infrastructure Verity Bullough Executive Director, Delivery Kim Thorneywork Executive Director, Finance Paul McGuire Executive Director, Human Resources and Facilities Management - Sally Stewart Executive Director, Information Management, Richard Field Executive Director, National Apprenticeships/Chief Operating Officer David Way Executive Director, Relationship (North) Julie Robson Executive Director, Relationship (South) Marinos Paphitis The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 4 of 10

5 National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) NAS Divisional Sales and Business Development Director (North) NAS Divisional Sales and Business Development Director (South) NAS Divisional Sales and Business Development Director (Central) NAS Divisional Sales and Business Development Director (London &SE) NAS National Programme Director NAS Central Sales and Business Development Director Sue Price John Chudley Karen Woodward Vic Grimes VACANT Keith Smith will undertake this role until no later than December 2011 Jaine Bolton A dedicated Apprenticeship service with: End to end responsibility for all aspects of the Apprenticeship programme and service Focused Area teams who work with key partners and stakeholders to stimulate and support demand from employers and suitably qualified young people and adults A comprehensive marketing and communication strategy to increase employer and apprentice engagement and enhance the Apprenticeship brand Consistent, high quality, support for large employers which enables their increased engagement and investment in Apprenticeships A new, streamlined and responsive service for smaller businesses Apprenticeship Vacancies, a web based service where employers can advertise their Apprenticeship jobs Comprehensive plans to grow Apprenticeships in priority areas including Advanced Level and Higher Apprentices, under represented groups and in key growth sectors The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 5 of 10

6 Relationships Division Director Area Relationship (London) Team Jill Lowery Relationship Division: 12 Relationship Teams, overseen by two Director Area Relationship (London) Team Clare Arnold Relationship Executive Directors with responsibility for London/the South and the Director Area Relationship (Fareham) Team Rachel McKellar Midlands/the North. Teams in each Director Area Relationship (Chatham) Team Tony Allen geographic area led by a Director (two Directors for the larger London team) Director Area Relationship (Taunton/Exeter) Team Paul Lucken The single relationship for providers through our Single Account Management Director Area Relationship (Reading) Team Peter Marsh System Responsible for maintaining relationships Director Area Relationship (Histon) Team Laurie Kay with providers and local/regional stakeholders. Monitoring and observing the Director Area Relationship (Birmingham) Team Mary Rogers operation of the local skills system, nudging and influencing provision. Director Area Relationship (Nottingham) Team Karen Riley Gathering intelligence on learning and Director Area Relationship (Liverpool) Team Nick Wilson skills needs and on the performance of the skills system. Leading on any interventions Director Area Relationship (Manchester) Team Kirsty Evans in the system with the support of Delivery and capacity and Infrastructure. Director Area Relationship (Gateshead) Team Gillian Miller Working seamlessly with the Apprenticeships sales team in the same Director Area Relationship (Leeds) Team Karen Sherry locations to ensure that the sector is responsive to Apprenticeship demand The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 6 of 10

7 Capacity and Infrastructure Director of Strategic Intervention Director of Capital Director Careers Service Director Adult Safeguard Learning Policy Reform Mike Bell Pauline Tiller Julie Nugent Julie will adopt this role no later than December 2011 Jon Gamble Jon will continue to undertake the Careers Service role until no later than December 2011 Capacity and Infrastructure Division: Three discrete functions: Strategic Intervention: leading quality improvement, sustainability and stability for colleges and providers and establish an intervention strategy appropriate to the assumption of freedom and flexibilities Capital: policies and procedures for capital and revenue expenditure in relation to further education, colleges, other providers property and capital activities, and other programmes and projects as required Careers Service: implement the National Careers Service, establish Lifelong Learning Accounts and lead on fees policy and increasing income collection to the sector. Also providing a development function for all major Agency projects including Fee Loans; Outcome Incentive Payments (OIP) and the Reform of Adult Safeguarded Learning, until they can be put into operational use. The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 7 of 10

8 Delivery Division Delivery Division: National Delivery Division will work with BIS, sector bodies and other Agency divisions to agree and implement funding policy, allocate funding to providers and manage Director Provider Performance Judi Baxter performance. Two key functions: Funding Policy and Provider Support. Director Funding Policy Keith Smith Julie Nugent will undertake this role until no later than December 2011 Funding Policy function agrees the annual Skills Investment Strategy (SIS) with BIS and agrees funding and policy for all mainstream and European Social Fund (ESF) programmes. The Provider Support Centres have accountability for all routine transactional provider services and will be the driver of the main delivery processes, including allocations and programme performance management. The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 8 of 10

9 Finance Financial control of Agency budgets and provider delivery. Providing professional Director of Financial Control - North Stephen Packham financial management and control of the Agency s financial resources. Director of Financial Control - South Director Forecasting and Budgetary Control Director Provider Finance Raza Raheem Jim Minogue Chris Griffin Provider Finance will provide comprehensive oversight of provider financial performance. Financial Contract Control and Forecasting will provide assurance that allocations, contracts and variations are within budgetary control limits. Financial Control will be responsible for financial policy, budgeting, transactions, control, management and financial reporting. The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 9 of 10

10 Marketing and Communication Director Marketing and Communications Joe Billington Marketing and Communications will deliver a comprehensive communications strategy for the Skills Funding Agency, ensuring that all channels are utilised to their fullest extent to ensure that the sector is fully informed to be able to operate efficiently, to promote skills products through targeted marketing and PR to employers and individuals to raise the status, esteem and participation in vocational learning and the reputation of the Further Education sector. Staff appointed to these roles will be taking up their posts over the next few months. There will be a transition period during which staff will begin to adopt their new roles while also ensuring that previous responsibilities continue to be delivered. We expect that all staff will be fully in their new posts by October, although in some cases there will be an extended handover up to December The new Skills Funding Agency remit, structure, operation and personnel 10 of 10