While a healthy degree of scepticism at the birth of another post-16 body is to be expected, it’s also right that your article on the proposed Quality Improvement Agency for Lifelong Learning (QuILL), (“A step up to better quality?”, FE Focus, March 4), shows how many stakeholders are welcoming the potential of QuILL to deliver key benefits.
The danger, however, of overlapping responsibilities and consequent confusion in this uniquely diverse sector is also a point well made.
Lifelong Learning UK has a remit to lead on workforce development. Its key priorities will be to establish robust workforce data and to provide a “climbing frame” for standards-based qualifications. We will, of course, be working with QuILL on developing the proposed skills academies, but the core of our work is to provide the sort of coherent qualifications framework that will best address skills gaps and needs across the whole sector.
LLUK also shares with QuILL the fact that both our organisations will be judged on how well we meet the needs of sector employers and their workforce.
David Hunter Chief executive Lifelong Learning UK
