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Training: Finance

Volume 463: debated on Monday 3 September 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the (a) core budget and (b) total amount of funding received from Government sources was for the (i) Adult Learning Inspectorate, (ii) Basic Skills Agency, (iii) British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, (iv) Business Link Network, (v) Connexions, (vi) the Learning and Skills Council, (vii) the Learning and Skills Network, (viii) the Sector Skills Development Agency, (ix) Skills for Business Network, (x) Office for Fair Access, (xi) Quality Assurance Agency, (xii) Quality Improvement Agency, (xiii) University for Industry and Learndirect and (xiv) National Education Business Partnership Network in (1) 2003-04, (2) 2004-05, (3) 2005-06 and (4) 2006-07; and which of these have Civil service terms and conditions for their staff. (150555)

The information requested is set out in the following table. The vast majority of funding is spent on programme expenditure that directly funds learning or other services, for example improving the quality of provision. This funding is included in the category of ‘other/programme expenditure’.

The category ‘core funding’ refers to administrative costs which are the costs of staff salaries as well as other non-pay costs such as accommodation, computer facilities and stationary.

The notes set out where it has not been possible to separate out administrative costs and programme costs or where figures are simply not available.

None of the following organisations have civil service terms and conditions for their staff, though some staff are members of the civil service pension scheme.

Funding from public sources

£ million

Organisation

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

Adult Learning Inspectorate

Core budget

26.63

27.72

26.81

21.83

Other/programme expenditure

Total

26.63

27.72

26.81

21.83

Basic Skills Agency1

Core budget

5.41

5.47

5.71

5.85

Other/programme expenditure

6.32

1.28

0.6

0.6

Total

11.73

6.75

6.31

6.45

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency

Core budget

11.85

15.46

10.56

12.1

Other/programme expenditure

20.20

26.00

23.50

21.60

Total

32.05

41.46

34.06

33.7

Business Link Network2

Core budget

Other/programme expenditure

55.90

73.46

152.13

148.13

Total

55.90

73.46

152.13

148.13

Connexions3

Core budget

Other/programme expenditure

451

458

445

407

Total

451

458

445

407

Learning and Skills Council4,5

Core budget

269.30

244.09

289.59

239.42

Other/programme expenditure

8,308.94

8,722.31

9,842.01

10,316.23

Total

8,578.24

8,966.40

10,131.61

10,555.64

Learning and Skills Network6

Core budget

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Other/programme expenditure

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Total

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Sector Skills Development Agency

Core budget

4.93

6.11

6.58

7.63

Other/programme expenditure

29.97

64.14

61.73

67.22

Total

34.90

70.24

68.31

74.85

Skills for Business Network7

Core budget

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Other/programme expenditure

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Total

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Office for Fair Access8

Core budget

n/a

0.41

0.5

0.5

Other/programme expenditure

n/a

Total

n/a

0.41

0.5

0.5

Quality Assurance Agency9

Core budget

Other/programme expenditure

Total

2.30

4.14

4.12

3.02

Quality Improvement Agency10

Core budget

n/a

n/a

n/a

5.94

Other/programme expenditure

n/a

n/a

n/a

87.20

Total

n/a

n/a

n/a

93.14

University for Industry and Learndirect11

Core budget

Other/programme expenditure

239

182

201

171

Total

239

182

201

171

National Education Business Partnership Network12

Core budget

Other/programme expenditure

0.12

0.14

0.23

0.27

Total

0.12

0.14

0.23

0.27

1 The core budget figures cover both programme and administration costs and it is not possible to separate these out. Other/programme expenditure relates to fixed term or tendered contracts.

2 It is not currently possible to split out the funding for the Business Link Network into core expenditure and programme expenditure.

3 Only programme funds are provided to Connexions Partnerships, the majority of which pays for the salary costs of Connexions Personal Advisers. The figures exclude funding for Connexions routed via Local Area Agreements to local authorities since this does not go to Connexions Partnerships. Figures only cover grant from the former DFES. We do not hold figures for any funds brought in by Connexions Partnerships which may include some public sector funding.

4 These figures include some of the funding identified separately for the University for Industry.

5 Subject to the successful passage of the Further Education and Training Bill, the LSC is expecting to reduce administration expenditure in 2007-08 through restructuring and the associated reductions in staffing, property and related costs. Expenditure on LSC administration Is expected to reduce from £239 million (2.2 per cent. of LSC’s budget) in 2006-07 to planned expenditure of £219 million (1.9 per cent. of LSC’s budget) in 2007-08.

6 The LSN is a private company competing for contracts through competitive tender. It receives some public funding from the QIA which is included separately in the figures quoted for the QIA, Many colleges and other providers in the FE system subscribe to LSN services using public funds, but this is an indirect relationship with government and the funds are not shown here.

7 The Skills for Business Network is the brand under which the 25 Sector Skills Councils and the SSDA come together for marketing purposes. It is not a separately funded body or a legally constituted body of any description.

8 The Office for Fair Access was established on 14 October 2004 but expenditure was incurred from 1 July 2004.

9 Figures cover the HEFCE contract with the QAA only. HEFCE is not the sole source of income for the Quality Assurance Agency which also receives subscriptions from institutions and funding from other UK funding councils. It is not currently possible to provide the breakdown between core and programme expenditure.

10 The Quality Improvement Agency was only formed in 2006 so figures have only been provided for that year.

11 We have not included a breakdown of Ufi administration costs as they are not available in the format required.

12 The National Education Business Partnerships Network is the umbrella organisation and national voice for the 126 local Education Business Partnerships working in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since 2003-04 DFES has grant-funded NEBPN to manage national networks for local and national practitioners of (a) work experience, (b) teachers’ professional development placements in business, (c) enterprise education. It is not possible to separate out core costs from the programme expenditure.

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many local Train to Gain budgets are (a) overspent, (b) on target or (c) underspent. (152350)

Train to Gain is an ongoing service and as such, performance is updated on a regular basis. Detailed operational information is not held centrally by the Department but is collected by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and Mark Haysom, the LSC Chief Executive will write directly to the hon. Member with the available information. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.