This Education White Paper sets out the Government's programme of reform for the further education system, focusing on the economic mission of the sector to raise the skills level of young people and adults to achieve productive sustainable employment in a modern competitive economy. Following on from recent secondary school reforms, the FE policy measures include: i) new incentives for colleges to develop one or more areas of special excellence, with a new higher standard of accreditation (under the programme of Centres of Vocational Excellence or CoVEs), a more direct role for employers and an extension of the National Skills Academies (NSAs) programme; ii) a trial programme of learner accounts and a new entitlement to free training and education for the under-25s to gain level 3 qualifications, with the continued roll-out of the Adult Learning Grant to help with maintenance costs for those on low incomes; iii) the creation of a single Quality Improvement Agency to oversee a new national strategy to raise the quality of FE provision and promote continuing professional development of teaching staff; iv) improvement notices to be issued to colleges judged to be failing requiring the problems to be addressed within a year; and v) a simplified system for planning and funding provision designed to reduce regulatory bureaucracy at all levels, with an enhanced strategic role for the Learning and Skills Council at the regional level, new opportunities for innovative providers to enter the sector with new competitive arrangements and open advertising, and funding geared towards demand, particularly through the Train to Gain programme.
Building Engagement, Building Futures sets out the Government's strategy to improve the opportunities for young people so they gain the skills they need to secure an apprenticeship or employment. It includes radical reforms to schools, vocational education, skills and welfare provision, and has five priorities for action: (1) Raising attainment in school so that young people have the skills to compete in the global economy; (2) Helping local partners provide services that support all young people, putting the UK on track to achieve full participation for 16-17 year olds by 2015. (3) Encouraging employers to offer more high quality apprenticeships and work experience places; (4) Ensuring that work pays and giving young people the personalised support they need to find it, through Universal Credit, the Work Programme and the Get Britain Working measures; (5) Putting in place a new Youth Contract worth almost £1 billion over the next three years.
This Interim report on digital Britain has been produced by a Steering Board for two Government departments, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Divided into six sections, it looks specifically at the following areas: digital networks; digital content; universal connectivity and equipping everyone to benefit from digital Britain, along with an introduction and conclusion. The conclusion sets out a number of goals that the Government would like to aspire to by 2012 and before publishing a final report. Those goals include: universal participation in the broadband world; highly capable and robust networks; a world leading position in the communications and creative industries and a high quality digital delivery of essential public services. In all there are 24 recommendations within this report, and the Government has set out five key measures, which are: achievement of universal connectivity; a set of digital networks (wired and wireless); a digital economy; compelling programmes and online content; public service transactions which form part of the Government's objectives in acheiving the goals. Organisations and individuals interested in joining the discussion about digital Britain should register at digitalbritain@berr.gsi.gov.uk.
Following the Machinery of Government changes in June 2007 three new departments were set up in place of the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Trade and Industry. This 2007 Autumn Performance Report identifies the targets applicable to the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCFS) and charts its progress against the Spending Review 2004 (SR04), Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets and introduces a new suite of Comprehensive Spending Review Public Service Agreements (CSR07). There is also a chapter on targets from the Spending Review 2002 PSA targets that are still outstanding.
The Government's initial response, Patients First and Foremost (Cm. 8576, ISBN 9780101857628), set out a radical plan to prioritise care, improve transparency and ensure that where poor care is detected, there is clear action and clear accountability. This document now provides a detailed response to the 290 recommendations the Inquiry made across every level of the system. It also responds to six independent reviews commissioned to consider some of the key issues identified by the Inquiry. This document sets out how the whole health and care system will prioritise and build on this, including major new action in vital areas including: transparent monthly reporting of ward-by-ward staffing levels and other safety measures; a statutory and professional duties of candour; legislate at the earliest available opportunity on Wilful Neglect; a new fit and proper person's test which will act as a barring scheme; all arm's length bodies and the Department of Health have signed a protocol in order to minimise bureaucratic burdens on Trusts; a new Care Certificate to ensure that Healthcare Assistants and Social Care Support Workers have the right fundamental training and skills in order to give personal care to patients and service users; and the Care Bill will introduce a new criminal offence applicable to care providers that supply or publish certain types of information that is false or misleading, where that information is required to comply with a statutory or other legal obligation. It looks at preventing problems; detecting problems quickly; taking action promptly; ensuring robust accountability and ensuring staff are trained and motivated
This White Paper sets out the government's policies for the reform of higher education. The reforms seek to tackle three challenges (i) Putting higher education on a sustainable footing; (ii) Seeking to deliver a better student experience - that is, improvements in teaching, assessment, feedback and preparing the student for the world of work; (iii) Pushing for higher education institutions to take more responsibility for increasing social mobility. The Paper is divided into six chapters, with an annex. Chapter 1: Sustainable and fair funding; Chapter 2: Well-informed students driving teaching excellence; Chapter 3: A better student experience and better-qualified graduates; Chapter 4: A diverse and responsive sector; Chapter 5: Improved social mobility through fairer access; Chapter 6: A new, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework. By shifting public spending away from teaching grants and towards repayable tuition loans, the government believes higher education will receive the funding it needs whilst making savings on public expenditure. The reforms aim to deliver a more responsive higher education sector in which funding follows the decisions of learners and successful institutions are freed to thrive. Also, creating an environment in which there is a new focus on the student experience and the quality of teaching and in which further education colleges and other alternative providers are encouraged to offer a diverse range of higher education provision. The Government, through the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), will be introducing a National Scholarship Programme and will also increase maintenance grants and loans for nearly all students. New Technology Innovation Centres will also be rolled out followed by publication of an innovation and research strategy, exploring the roles of knowledge creation, business investment, skills and training.
This report unveils proposals for the biggest programme of reform in the education and health support for children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities in 30 years. The Government wants to fundamentally reform the SEN system to address problems including: parents having to battle to get the support their child needs; SEN statements not joining up education, health and care support; children falling between the gaps in services or having to undergo multiple assessments; multiple layers of paperwork and bureaucracy adding delays to getting support, therapy and vital equipment; confusing and adversarial assessment process, with the perceived conflict of interest where the local authority must provide SEN support as well as assess children's needs; too many children are being over-identified as SEN, preventing them from achieving their potential because teachers have lower expectations of them. The Government proposes to: include parents in the assessment process and introduce a legal right, by 2014, to give them control of funding for the support their child needs; replace statements with a single assessment process and a combined education, health and care plan so that health and social services is included in the package of support; ensure assessment and plans run from birth to 25 years old; replace the existing complicated School Action and School Action Plus system with a simpler new school-based category to help teachers focus on raising attainment; overhaul teacher training and professional development; inject greater independence from local authorities in assessments; give parents a greater choice of school and the power to set up special free schools
This consultation document seeks comments on the Government's proposals to increase the opportunities for participation and choice of young people in the provision of local services and activities in England, to establish a coherent, modern and responsive support system which seeks to strike the right balance between rights and responsibilities. In particular, the proposals aim to address four key challenges: how to engage more young people in positive activities and empower them to shape the services they receive; how to encourage a greater level of volunteering and community activity; improving provision of information, advice and guidance to empower young people to make informed choices; and ensuring more personalised intensive support provision for young people with serious problems. The consultation period runs until 4 November 2005.
This document sets out the priorities for the NHS up to 2008 based on the process of reform set out in the NHS Plan (Cm. 4818-I ISBN 0101481829). It is in three sections. The first 'Laying the foundations' looks at the progress so far in NHS reform. The second section 'Offering a better service' sets out the objectives of the policy under the headings of personalised care, supporting people with long-term conditions, and a healthier and fitter population. One of the aims is to change the NHS from a sickness service to a service that gives a higher priority to the prevention of disease and a reduction of health inequalities. The third section is called 'Making it happen' and it covers investment and diversity of provision, staff and working practices and information systems.
This document sets out a plan for England in developing world class employment skills and is a companion document to the Green Paper, Cm.7130, In Work, Better Off (ISBN 9780101713023) also published today, and follows on from the Leitch Review, published December 2006 (ISBN 9780118404860) along with an Executive Summary (ISBN 9780118404792). This publication aims to explain how the Government will provide the right supporting framework to act as a catalyst for a skills revolution. More than a third of adults in the UK don't have the equivalent of a basic school leaving certificate; 6.8 million people have serious problems with numbers and 5 million people are not functionally literate. As part of this development, the Government has set out new rights that learners and employers will have, under what are called Skills Accounts and the Skills Pledge. The Skills Accounts will be part of the new adults careers service done through Jobcentre Plus, which aims to give every adult easy access to skills and careers advice. The Skills Pledge enables employers to demonstrate their commitment to improving skills in their workplace, with the Government supporting employers through Train to Gain brokerage. Also current funding entitlement for adults to free training in basic literacy and numeracy skills, will be strengthened. Produced by the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the document sets out the Government's policy direction to build better skills.
The welfare state of the 20th century was designed to provide support from the cradle to the grave, but the changing demographic profile of Britain - longer life-spans mean that by 2007 the number of people over state pension age will exceed the number of children - presents a challenge to such a system of support. This plan sets out the Government's strategy of aiming for an 80 per cent employment rate as the best means of keeping people out of poverty, and allowing saving for a secure retirement. Such an aspiration requires the movement into work of a proportion of those people traditionally seen as outside the labour market and with complex barriers preventing entry into that market. Supporting these inactive people into employment will require carefully tailored support. The strategy outlines the approach in three major areas: (1) supporting children and families, including helping lone parents into gainful work; (2) helping those on incapacity benefits to return to work; (3) breaking down barriers to employment faced by disabled people, older workers and ethnic minorities.
The UK has comparatively high levels of child poverty: around one in five children are living in relative poverty (defined as living in a household with below 60 per cent median income before housing costs). The Government has made significant progress on reducing child poverty, with 700,000 less children in poverty than in 1988/89 (when the figure was 3.4 million), but missed its interim target of reducing child poverty by a quarter by 2004/05. It is unlikely, with current policies, to meet its 2010 target of halving child poverty, nor the 2020 target of eliminating it. This report recommends reforms to the Welfare to Work and New Deal for Lone Parents programmes. They should be more attuned to the particular needs of parents, who need guidance, support and skills to progress in work. They should not just encourage parents to take any job rather than one that offers them good long-term prospects, or leads to parents "cycling" between having a job and being out of work. Moreover, many children in poverty live in families that have no contact with Welfare to Work programmes. Jobcentre Plus, the agency that is charged with reducing joblessness, needs to focus more on the family, providing more flexible packages of support and seeking a wider customer reach. If necessary other agencies might have to be involved in delivering the recommendations. The author makes a number of recommendations for immediate implementation; others are for action after evaluation; and several new pilot schemes are also suggested.
This consultation paper sets out the Government's proposals for supporting participation and achievement for young people, and reforming the post-19 skills system to secure better outcomes for adults. The changing nature of the world economy makes increasing participation in education and training an urgent necessity. In the system for young people, responsibility and accountability is given to local authorities for the whole 14-19 age range. They will provide a place in learning for every young person through strategic commissioning. Local authorities will cluster together in sub-regional groupings reflecting travel-to-learn patterns to commission provision across the wider local area. A Young People's Learning Agency will supplement this structure, have responsibilities for budgetary control, and secure coherence if agreement cannot be reached locally. There will be a progressive devolution of power to the sub-regional level. The main mechanism to hold local authorities to account will be the performance criteria set out in the "Strong and prosperous communities" white paper (Cm. 6939, ISBN 9780101693929). With the adult sector, the Government proposes a demand-led system and the integration of employment and skills (this latter requiring close co-operation between the Departments for Children Schools and Families, and Innovation, Universities and Skills, as set out in "Opportunity, employment and progression, Cm. 7288, ISBN 9780101728829). A new Skills Funding Agency will manage the framework and development of the further education (FE) service, and ensure that public money is routed to FE colleges and providers following the purchasing decisions of customers. The Skills Funding Agency will also be involved in the operation and management of the National Apprenticeship Service, the adult advancement and careers service, and the Offenders Learning and Skills Service.
This White Paper sets out proposals to tackle the effects of the recession and to get back to full employment. Its aims are to give young people a chance to a better start to their working lives and to help more people back to work and make sure they are better off in work, to keep them in work and to build a fair and family-friendly labour market
This paper sets out the Government's strategy for moving people from being passive recipients of benefits to becoming active in seeking and preparing for work. It builds on the reform principles set out in the green paper "In work, better off: the next steps to full employment" (Cm. 7130, ISBN 9780101713023) and relates to the policies set out in the skills document "Opportunity, employment and progression: making skills work" (Cm. 7288, ISBN 9780101728829) and to the proposals to implement the Leitch Review set out in "World class skills ..." (Cm. 7181, ISBN 9780101718127). It deals in particular with creating a stronger framework of rights and responsibilities, and supporting people to find work through a personalised and responsive approach. Policies include: making work pay, to ensure long-term claimants see a significant rise in their incomes when they take a job; lone parents with older children will have to seek work, and availability of affordable childcare will be a key part of the assessment by Jobcentre Plus staff; modernisation of the New Deal arrangements; Jobcentre Plus will lead the job search for the first 12 months; support for disabled people and people with health conditions will be revised, with Employment and Support Allowance replacing Incapacity Benefit, and Pathways to Work and a Work Capability Assessment being available; Jobcentre Plus will be at the heart of the system, and will work in partnership with public, private and third sector specialist providers, employers and local communities; integrated employment and skills provision, with basic skills screening and more support for training.
This report sets out interim assessments of the progress made by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) against its Public Service Agreement (PSA) performance targets as agreed in the 2004 Spending Review, together with progress against the Department's efficiency target and the outstanding targets from the 2002 Spending Review. This report is supplementary to the Departmental Report 2006 (Cm. 6812, ISBN 0101681224).
Social justice is about making society function better - providing the support and tools to help turn lives around. This is a challenging new approach to tackling poverty in all its forms. This book defines social justice and describes the new set of principles that inform the government's approach.
This White Paper represents the ambition of Government to promote innovation across society as a tool to develop and generate economic prosperity and improve the quality of life throughout the UK. The policies include proposals about how Government can use procurement and regulation to promote innovation in business and make the public sector and public services more innovative. The White Paper is in 10 chapters: The role of government; demanding innovation; supporting business innovation; the need for a strong and innovative research base; international innovation; innovative people; public sector innovation; innovative places and the innovation nation: next steps. An Annex sets out the development of this White Paper. Published alongside the White Paper is 'Implementing "The Race to the Top": Lord Sainsbury's review of Government's science and innovation' (ISBN 9780108507175). Lord Sainsbury's review published in October 2007 (HM Treasury, ISBN 9781845323561, http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/5/E/sainsbury_review051007.pdf) and also relevant is the 2008 Enterprise Strategy (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/E/3/bud08_enterprise_524.pdf)
This Command Paper, sets out how the Department for Work and Pensions as well as the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills aim to improve training and support opportunities for people who are moving from receiving benefits to employment, along with the ongoing training they need to progress in work. The publication is divided into 4 sections, and covers the following areas: principles of welfare and skills reform; the challenge - integrating employment and skills; increased support with skills - getting into work and beyond; sustainable employment, progression and lifelong skills development.
How does the Children Act 1989 affect family support services? What are the implications for day care services for young children? What action should local authorities take? This guide provides a clear statement of the requirements placed on local authorities by the Children's Act 1989, highlighting the need for authorities to review their existing childcare policies. It outlines effective strategies and policies to help authorities give practitioners a framework within which to work, discussing the implications for policy, procedures and practice. The Act gives local authorities a new range of duties, including identification of children who are in need or danger, support of children's links with their families, provision of day care and the setting up of procedures to consider representations about the provision of services.
England's school system performs below its potential and can improve significantly. This white paper outlines action designed to: tackle the weaknesses in the system; strengthen the status of teachers and teaching; reinforce the standards set by the curriculum and qualifications; give schools back the freedom to determine their own development; make schools more accountable to parents, and help them to learn more quickly and systematically from good practice elsewhere; narrow the gap in attainment between rich and poor. The quality of teachers and teaching is the most important factor in determining how well children do. The Government will continue to raise the quality of new entrants to the profession, reform initial teacher training, develop a network of "teaching schools" to lead training and development, and reduce the bureaucratic burden on schools. Teachers will be given more powers to control bad behaviour. The National Curriculum will be reviewed, specifying a tighter model of knowledge of core subjects so that the Curriculum becomes a benchmark against which school can be judged. Schools will be given more freedom and autonomy, the Academies programme extended and parents will be able to set up "Free Schools" to meet parent demand. Accountability for pupil performance is critical, and much more information will be available to aid understanding of a school's performance. School improvement will be the responsibility of schools, not central government. Funding of schools needs to be fairer and more transparent, and there will be a Pupil Premium to target resources on the most deprived pupils.
The Children's Plan, conceived after consultation with both parents and professionals, sets out the Government's ambitions for improving children and young people's lives over the next decade. The six strategic objectives are to: secure the health and wellbeing of children and young people; safeguard the young and vulnerable; achieve world class standards; close the gap in educational achievement for children from disadvantaged backgrounds; ensuring young people are participating in achieving their potential to 18 and beyond; and keeping children and young people on the path to success. The ambition depends on all children's services working together at the local level and the final chapter looks at the systems which are needed for this to happen
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