Changing weather or changing climate?

Spring Policy Briefing

[Background] [Programme] [Application Form]

Background

The first 100 days of Gordon Brown's premiership enhanced his reputation. The second hundred did not. The election-that-never-was, Northern Rock, Customs and Revenue data loss and Peter Hain's resignation all generated negative headlines. During the same period, however, the Comprehensive Spending Review reported and the two education departments (John Denham's Innovation, Universities and Skills department and Ed Balls's Children, Schools and Families) started to find their feet and set out new directions of travel.

At DCSF, the key document was the Children's Plan and a key activity was to be the lead Department of State on the Government's Education and Skills Bill which includes the proposal to extend compulsory initial education or training of some kind to everyone under the age of 19.

Over at DIUS, the Government scored something of an own-goal with its proposals for equivalent and lower qualifications in HE – prompting far greater levels of wide-ranging and well-argued concern than Ministers may have anticipated when they decided to re-allocate a relatively small amount of money in the HE budget. The bigger embarrassment for the Government was however, the LSC's Statistical First Release which showed that NIACE had been conservative rather than alarmist in predicting the consequences of Government policy on adult learner numbers: the decline over a two year period was, in fact, a staggering 1.4 million places. When averaged out, this represents a loss of 80 adult learning place in England, every hour of every day since 2005.

Elsewhere, there has been evidence of a closer relationship development between DIUS and DWP; the emergence of an integrated employment and skills strategy and some welcome flexing-up of the Train to Gain initiative. In addition the Secretary of State at DIUS confirmed his reputation as a thoughtful politician by initiating wide-ranging consultations on the future of informal adult learning, on science and on innovation.

Meanwhile at the Department of Communities and Local Government, former education minister John Healey started to take forward the recommendations of the Sub-national review at the same time as that Department got behind the emerging community cohesion agenda.

Outside Government, both the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats continued to challenge and scrutinise the Government in Parliament whilst  exploring policy ideas in the hope of power and influence in the future. In the case of the Liberal Democrats, a new leader reshuffled his shadow team whilst the new Select Committee for Innovation, Universities and Skills chose one of NIACE's Parliamentary Patrons, Liberal Democrat Phil Willis MP, to be their Chair.

This briefing is for anyone whose college, local authority, university, voluntary organisation, union or business expects them to be aware of what's happening in post-initial education and training policy in England. It will be led by NIACE's Senior Policy Officer, Alastair Thomson who may be supplemented by other members of NIACE's senior team as available. It will be informed, interactive, analytical, and wholly unspun!

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Programme

This programme is correct at the time of going to press. The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the published programme in the event of one or more of the advertised speakers being unable to attend. Delegates will have no claim against NIACE in respect of such changes.

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Also in March 2008...

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