A list of buildings occupied by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the year of expiry of lease agreements are provided in the following table. The total cost of the LSC’s property portfolio for 2008-09 is £26.1 million. DIUS and DCSF are undertaking an assessment of the detailed options, costs and benefits for the estate to support effective delivery by the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA).
We have already announced that the YPLA and SFA headquarters will be co-located in Coventry.
LSC office Building/city Break or lease expiry Year of lease expiry 2009 Surrey Technology House, Woking Lease Expiry — Bedfordshire Woburn Court, Kempston, Break Due 2011 Nottinghamshire City Gate East, Nottingham Licence 1— 2010 Greater Manchester Arndale House, Manchester Break Due 2015 London Central Centre Point, London Lease Expiry — Staffordshire Festival Way, Stoke-on-Trent Lease Expiry — Sussex Princes House, Brighton Break Due 2015 2011 Kent and Medway Kings Hill Avenue, West Mailing Lease Expiry — Lincolnshire and Rutland Alpha Court, Lincoln Lease Expiry — Leicestershire 17a Meridian East, Leicester Lease Expiry — London East Boardman House, London Lease Expiry — Cambridgeshire Stuart House, Peterborough Lease Expiry — Hereford and Worcester 5 Brook Court, Worcester, Break Due 2016 Humberside 4 Earls Court, Hull Break Due 2016 2012 Shropshire Hollinswood House, Telford Break Due 2017 Lancashire Citigate, Preston Break Due 2017 Greater Merseyside The Plaza, Liverpool Break Due 2017 Somerset Kingston House, Taunton, Break Due 2016 National Office Security House, Coventry, Break Due 2017 Tees Valley/County Durham Wynyard House, Billingham Break Due 2017 Black Country Unit 6 and 7 Castle Court, Dudley Break Due 2017 Derbyshire 1 Mallard Way, Derby Lease Expiry — South Yorkshire The Straddle, Sheffield Break Due 2017 Norfolk Lakeside 500, Norwich Lease Expiry 2017 Cheshire and Warrington Dalton House, Middlewich Lease Expiry — Coventry and Warwickshire Oak Tree Court, Coventry Lease Expiry — 2013 West Yorkshire Mercury House, Bradford Break Due 2019 2014 Wiltshire and Swindon The Bora Building, Swindon Lease Expiry — Suffolk Felaw Maltings, Ipswich, Lease Expiry — Berkshire Pacific House, Reading, Lease Expiry — Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole Provincial House, Bournemouth Lease Expiry — West of England St. Lawrence House, Bristol Lease Expiry — 2015 — Tyne and Wear Moongate House, Gateshead Lease Expiry — London West Central House, Hounslow Lease Expiry — North Yorkshire 7 Pioneer Business Park, York Lease Expiry — Devon and Cornwall Foliot House, Plymouth Lease Expiry — County Durham Allergate House, Durham Break Due 2019 Cumbria Progress/Venture House, Workington Lease Expiry 2020 2016 Devon and Cornwall Penhaligon House, Truro Lease Expiry — Essex Redwing House, Chelmsford Lease Expiry — London South Canius House, Croydon Lease Expiry — London North Dumayne House, London Lease Expiry — 2017 Gloucestershire Conway House, Gloucester Lease Expiry — Devon and Cornwall Richmond Court, Exeter Lease Expiry — 2018 Northamptonshire Royal Pavilion, Northampton Lease Expiry — Hertfordshire Grosvenor Road, St. Albans Lease Expiry — 2020 Hampshire and IOW Eagle Point, Fareham Lease Expiry — Milton Keynes Latimer House, Kidlington Lease Expiry — 2021 Birmingham and Solihull NTI Building, Birmingham Lease Expiry — 2022 National Office Cheylesmore House North and South, Coventry Lease Expiry — 1 Can vacate at any time. Note: Table arranged by date of break in lease or lease expiry date (whichever is sooner).
We have identified that there will be some 3,300 full-time equivalents in 2010, which is in line with existing LSC staffing levels.
We expect to transfer around 1,000 posts to local authorities. This will be supported by the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), a non-departmental public body which will have approximately 500 posts in total, with around 200 at the national office and 300 in the regions. The YPLA will support local authorities in their new role in the commissioning process and delivery of good outcomes for young people.
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) will be an agency of DIUS and will have approximately 1,800 posts, including the 400 posts in the National Apprenticeship Service.
We are committed to retaining the expertise of LSC staff in the new arrangements. DCSF and DIUS officials are working with the LSC and wider further education sector to finalise the details of these plans and processes over the coming months.
DIUS and DCSF are being guided by the Cabinet Office Staff Transfers in the Public Sector Statement of Practice (COSOP) in our approach to the treatment of LSC staff in this transfer of responsibilities under the Machinery of Government changes. This includes the principle that there should be appropriate arrangements to protect occupational pensions and the application of “A fair deal for Staff Pensions” (which sets out the policy on staff pensions that must be followed by Central Government Departments and Agencies, and which Ministers expect to be adopted by other public sector employers).
We expect that staff transferring to the Young People’s Learning Agency and Skills Funding Agency, which will house the National Apprenticeships Service, will continue to be covered by the Civil Service Pension Scheme and staff transferring to local authorities will have access to local government schemes. We are working with the Government Actuaries Department and representatives of the various pension’s schemes to establish the details for every member of staff affected by this transfer.