Purpose

Adult learning is a
non-statutory service funded via the Department for Education (DfE)
through the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). The County
Council currently receives a total £3.228m of funding for its
Adult Education Budget each year from the ESFA.  This funding is used to target the provision of
different elements of learning for adults to enable them to obtain
skills or qualifications and/or enhance their
wellbeing. 
 
In
March 2023 the Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills approved the
commencement of an open
procurement process to secure contracts with multiple providers to
deliver adult skills programmes.  The
Cabinet Member also delegated authority to the Assistant Director
(Education and Skills) to award contracts to successful providers
(decision
LS10(22/23) refers). That decision set out the
overall service strategy and how funds would be deployed. This
decision covers that part of the programme which deals with the
procurement of service providers.
Providers were invited to bid for
funding for Adult Skills contracts across 13 targeted lots
totalling an annual value of up to £1.2m. Approval is now
sought to award the contracts to the successful providers including
for the provision of a ‘back up’ service as explained
in the report. The remaining ESFA funding allocation will be the
subject of a future key decision report.
 

Decision

The Interim Assistant Director (Education and
Skills) has approved the award of Adults Skills contracts and
‘back-up’ contracts to the organisations identified in
Appendix A of the report up to a total value of £3.6m for an
initial 3-year period to 2026 with an option to extend for a
further 2 years should the delivery and performance be
satisfactory.