The new education secretary has his work cut out. Additional funding for skills and apprenticeships must also be met with reform. The skills funding system is the place to start, says Lawrence Barton
Assigning direct responsibility for skills and apprenticeships to the education secretary was certainly unexpected. If it does lead to a genuine prioritising of the brief in Government then the move should be welcomed. The fear, however, is that Williamson’s portfolio, even with the support of Kemi Badenoch, becomes so unwieldy that skills ends up being neglected.
And be under no illusion – the challenges the education secretary faces are significant. The pledge to invest more in further education is encouraging, but money alone is not enough if we are to see the genuine transformation of skills and apprenticeships the UK workforce needs.
“The fear is that Williamson’s portfolio becomes so unwieldy that skills ends up being neglected”
Funding needs to be met with real reform and the skills funding system is a good place to start. The adult education budget (AEB) funding allocation system is antiquated, overly complex and prevents money getting to where it’s needed.
The funding allocation figures recently published by the ESFA illustrate this point. Despite being deemed by Ofsted as being in a state of required improvement, Newcastle College Group (NCG), Birmingham Metropolitan College, and Barnet and Southgate College have ranked among the largest recipients of automatically allocated AEB funding. Collectively, they received over £5 million. Moulton College, rated by Ofsted as ‘inadequate’ in consecutive years received over £1 million.
