"Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

I was delighted to be asked to speak to you today at your conference. I am particularly pleased because the timing for me as Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council is so good. We are just beginning to get our management teams together in preparation for taking over responsibilities in April next year. We are shortly to receive our ‘call to arms’ from the Secretary of State in the shape of his formal remit to us. I expect to receive this at the Learning and Skills Council’s first formal conference on November 9^th. That is the first occasion that I shall have together all of the Local Learning and Skills Council Chairmen, Executive Directors and Members of the National Learning and Skills Council. I know that they are all eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get to grips with the big challenges ahead.

The Learning and Skills Council is definitely now on the move. But we still have time to ensure that our plans take on board all that we need to do to ensure that we operate not only efficiently but also effectively. The Learning and Skills Council will be entering a field where there are so many active and very capable people and organisations. We are not alone, and would not wish to be. I am especially conscious of the high-class contribution that NIACE and the WEA have made and will continue to make to developments in continuing education, both through working together and with others. The outcomes from your regional seminars held earlier this year show the desire you have to be fully and effectively involved in the work of the Learning and Skills Council. I welcome that desire. I can give you my assurance that we shall be looking to set in place the most appropriate ways to engage your energies.

I have some personal experience of work-based learning in a variety of businesses and have travelled widely around the Globe. This has given me the opportunity to see how different peoples and cultures tackle the task of raising skills levels. All that I can say right now is that I have learned a lot. But the surface is merely scratched and I stand here, today, as a humble and willing student eager to listen to those with greater experience than mine. I believe that my position reflects one of the Learning and Skills Council’s operating principles – we are here to lead the drive for progressive improvement in the skills levels in the UK but not as the organisation that has all the answers. I want to encourage people like yourselves to work with the Learning and Skills Council. We shall need your help to identify the issues and to develop agreed joint action to address them and achieve success.

At this point it is appropriate to touch upon one of the Secretary of State’s key themes in his vision for the Learning and Skills Council. The Learning and Skills Council will be expected to promote the benefits of education and training to the effect of encouraging the development of a culture of Lifelong Learning. This I take to mean that, within their personal capability, every individual will have the desire and capacity to take responsibility for their own continual development. It will be almost as natural to them as breathing.

I treat achievement of this vision as a personal challenge. And what a challenge!

We shall not achieve this particular goal either quickly or easily. It is of great comfort to me, however, to know that NIACE is the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and that the WEA logo strapline is "Learning for Life". The Learning and Skills Council vision is of a society learning throughout life. If all this, taken together, does not indicate that our three organisations have agendas and interests in common then I do not know what does.

And make no mistake, it is vital that we do work together on this theme and, of course, in other areas. In a global and competitive market the skills base of our economy will be a major determinant of our future economic success and the prosperity of our country. No single organisation can hope to achieve this, certainly not alone. It will only be achieved through shared understanding, shared information, co-operation, collaboration and partnership.

Developing a skilled workforce and the individual capacities of our people is of crucial importance in securing a healthy, vibrant and successful economy. Perhaps I can quote David Blunkett from a passage in the 1998 Learning Age Green Paper:

"Learning is the key to prosperity, for each of us as individuals as well as for the nation as a whole. Investment in human capital will be the foundation of success in the knowledge-based global economy of this new millennium"

Now I want to focus on three things.

So just how big is the challenge that we face? There may be any number of ways to look at the current situation and I am a little nervous to be attempting to do so in the face of such a knowledgeable audience. But some of the statistics are so stark in the story that they tell that I am determined to give them another airing, today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that you will join me in condemning these figures. They reflect badly on all of us, of course – those in education and training, those in business and those in the business of change. Real change has to begin soon. And an incremental change will not be sufficient, no matter how laudable. We have to achieve a step change – a transformation – both in the approaches that we make and in the results that we achieve.

I believe that the Learning and Skills Council has been created as a key player in bringing about the necessary transformation. We do not start from a blank sheet of paper. Much good work has been done and successes registered against the names of those organisations whose roles the Learning and Skills Council will take over and merge into one unitary body. TECs and the FEFC will leave behind them a foundation on which the Learning and Skills Council can build with confidence. I am greatly impressed by the whole-hearted dedication of their staff as they continue to deliver to their responsibilities in the face of the impending changes.

I expect that many of you will have had some kind of experience of working with one or other of the two organisations and can echo my praises. I, too, am dedicated. I am dedicated to improving on what has gone before. Indeed, my appointment is predicated by the expectation that there will be an improvement. The introduction of the Learning and Skills Council has to be matched by clear added value in the market. I hope that you will support me and the Council in our work as you have supported others. I do believe that I can succeed only if you, and others, are willing to do so. We shall be looking at ways to make sure that the voluntary sector is properly engaged in our work at national and local levels.

Let me turn now to some of the key tasks ahead of us.

We have a number of important objectives laid down for us in the Learning and Skills Act. These objectives will be supplemented shortly by guidance that we shall receive from the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. I shall summarise them under four broad headings.

First, we have to encourage more young people to stay on in learning and to achieve at least a level 2 qualification. For this aim we shall need to work closely with a wide variety of bodies to create a ladder of opportunity. This ladder will have to succeed in sustaining the interest and commitment of young people. It will also need to form the basis of the Lifelong Learning culture we are seeking to build.

Secondly, we must drive up demand for learning from adults. The Learning and Skills Council has a new statutory duty to promote learning. That is one way towards meeting this obligation. Importantly, we will need to make sure that the supply side of the education and training system responds more effectively to the needs of adults, businesses and communities. The quality of provision must constantly be addressed and improvements introduced wherever appropriate. Growth in demand will also be encouraged by innovation in the way learning can be accessed. Innovation is also needed in how it is delivered. We must encourage those who currently do not engage in education and training to do so. And we need to make sure that there is effective marketing and promotion and an accessible and effective information, advice and guidance service. This will be essential to raise awareness of the opportunities on offer and to help individuals and business to take advantage of them.

Further, we must move quickly and decisively to remove barriers to education and training. The current patterns of disadvantage are not just for changing. They must be eradicated. We must make certain that they do not re-emerge.

If this, perhaps a little breathless, itemisation sounds somewhat familiar then please bear with me. The Learning and Skills Council does not have options as to which of these and associated problems it addresses or which avenues of improvement it travels. The Learning and Skills Council has a clear and demanding duty to succeed in effecting the changes necessary to bring about the step change that I mentioned earlier.

 The third focus for the Learning and Skills Council is to build on the work of the Skills Task Force. We must raise the skills of the work force. Wee have to make sure that we have the right skills in place to meet the needs of businesses, large or small. To do this we must have in place an effective infrastucture. The infrastructure must allow us to identify skills needs and to raise awareness of trends. Accurate and timely information and analysis will be vital tools in this. We shall also be looking to strengthen the commitment of employers to workforce development. We must ensure that there are effective systems in place to support employers who develop workforce development plans.

Finally the Council will have a clear focus on raising standards. This will underpin everything else that we need to do. We will work closely with the new Inspectorates. Our joint task is to make sure that, as well as increasing the level of participation in education and training, we secure a step change in the quality of that provision. The Council will be working hard to build on excellence and equally hard to root out incompetence wherever we find it. At the same time we will make objective judgements that reflect the varying contexts in which learning takes place.

I am tempted to take a few moments to allow you to absorb the enormity of the agenda that we face. But time is precious and we must keep moving on. I simply invite you to consider how you might best apply your energies and provide your invaluable help and support to me and the Learning and Skills Council in meting our challenges.

Perhaps I should now move to describe briefly how we, for our part, are progressing in preparations to meet the challenges.

Early work in developing the policy framework within which the Learning and Skills Council will operate has been taken forward by the Department for Education and Employment . In government-speak the Department is the Learning and Skills Council ‘sponsors’. I believe that their hard work has given us a flying start and I am grateful for the dedication of all those involved. Over the next few months we shall be operating a system of ‘dual running’. In essence, this is the process by which a careful handover of responsibilities for delivering the programmes currently handled by the organisations to be merged will be managed. The key here is to ensure that people ‘out there’, whether learners or learning providers , are not compromised by the mechanics of our internal changes.

A vast amount of work has been done in putting the nuts-and-bolts in place, including the securing of premises, developing fundamental systems, consulting on the developing funding system and appointing people.

On the subject of appointments, we now have the full complement of 47 local Chairmen and Chairwomen to ensure that I no longer feel lonely. I have carried out a tour of the country to meet as many of my colleagues as possible. I am most impressed by the enthusiasm and the calibre of the people with whom I shall be working.

The high calibre is shown also in the people that have recently been appointed to the National Learning and Skills Council. I look forward to a similar story in respect of the Local Learning and Skills Council Member appointments to be announced in later this month as well as those of the Adult and Youth Committees scheduled for December.

In terms of Executive staff you will be aware that we already have our Chief Executive, John Harwood along with the Directors of Finance (Philip Lloyd) and HR and Corporate Services (David Russell) firmly in post. Adverts for the remaining four Directors have been published in the national press and we await applications with some anticipation. Very importantly, we have announced the appointments of all 47 Executive Directors and they are taking up posts just as rapidly as they can be extracted from their current jobs.

A few key milestones in the time leading up to the magic day in April 2001:

November

9^th LSC National Conference. For the National Council Members, Local Council Chairmen/women and Executive Directors. We expect to receive our formal remit and outline budget from the Secretary of State at this event.

Complete detailed design of our national and local offices.

December

Budgets issued to local Learning and Skills Councils

Core teams in place to begin negotiating contracts.

FEFC recommend provisional funding allocations to be applied from 1 August 2001.

Initial allocations of posts to staff joining LSC.

February

Contracts for 2001/2002 work-based training issued.

Provisional allocations for FEFC sector notified to providers.

March

Staff appointments completed.

Final decisions by LSC on allocations of funds for 2001/2002.

April

Publish Corporate Plan and begin work on planning for 2002/2003 which will be the first year of full operation for a new LSC-derived funding system.

There is, of course, very much more to be done than can be expressed in a simple outline programme. Not least of what I and all my colleagues, management and executive alike, will be about is meeting those people with whom we must and want to work. I am determined that the Learning and Skills Council will operate as an open and inclusive organisation from the top to the bottom and throughout its unitary structure. We do not have and will not have a ‘Head Office’. The local Learning and Skills Councils will be the spearhead of our operations with the National Office in Coventry the source of effective support and guidance for their actions. We shall have a national, and therefore common, framework of operations for all our offices, including the application of agreed funding systems to encourage coherence. But local autonomy will be sustained to allow the specific needs of local markets to be met and we will be sensitive to the realities of operations ‘at the coal-face’.

Everybody with a legitimate interest in the effective working of the education and training market will have a part to play. I invite you, today, to consider how you and your organisations might best contribute to the success of the Learning and Skills Council.

I am confident that we shall be co-operating and working together on many fronts over the years to come. We will want to do this because we share a common agenda and a common purpose which is to elevate the post-16 education and training system in the UK to a position as world leader and recognised as a true Lifelong Learning culture.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank You. "

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