AS a member of the Government’s new Skills Alliance, the Association of Learning Providers welcomes the commitment in the skills strategy White Paper to open up provider access to government funding as vital for engaging more employers in training.
Despite the intentions of the Learning and Skills Act, the delay in fully using work-based learning providers, who operate directly with employers, has held back growth in employee development.
Funding for any learning provider that has the skills and capacity to deliver the quality demanded will build on the current initiative to deliver basic skills into the workforce.
This will be done by contracting directly with a whole new raft of work-based learning providers.
We also support the commitment to put employers at the heart of the skills agenda and the determination to make the qualifications framework more relevant and flexible.
The move towards unitisation, and establishing a credit-based system at all levels, must be driven forward purposefully and quickly. There is a vital need to implement quickly something that is clearly better, rather than wait - forever - for the unattainable, “perfect” system.
Graham Hoyle Chief executive Association of Learning Providers Keynsham, Bristol
