DBIS has announced that its funding the the Learning and Skills Improvement service will come to an end in August 2013. This is the last of a series of cuts in recent years. LSIS has confirmed that it will cease delivering courses, training conferences and other support, including the provision of grants direct to providers, on a phased basis between March and August 2013. LSIS posted this today.
What the post doesn't say is what FE Week reported last month, that BIS was going to fund a new body, the FE Guild. The report said:
Last month, FE Minister Matthew Hancock announced that the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) had won government approval to “take forward” proposals for the guild – a single body to set professional standards and codes of behaviour, as well as develop qualifications. ... A spokesperson for AELP and AoC said: “We have been charged with working with partners to establish an FE Guild. That process will begin with a comprehensive consultation of the sector to define the role of the guild. The results of that consultation will inform implications for other sector bodies.” ... It would then be up to the sector to decide on the “best” employer-led contribution the guild could make to the “continued improvement of teaching, learning and governance”. David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, was this month appointed as chair of a steering group for the new guild.
Umm. Looks like a coup to me.
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