Further Education Funding Council for England
Introduction
The Further Education Funding Council for England (the Council) was set up in July 1992 as a new statutory body created under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Its main statutory duties are to ensure that all reasonable needs for further education in England are met, and that the quality of FE in England is assessed. The Council operates through setting a funding and policy framework within which colleges are able to respond to local needs for further education. The Council's funding system rewards cost-effectiveness and is related to individual student activity with elements of funding available for the initial entry and guidance costs, teaching costs and to recognise student achievement.
The Council is advised by nine regional committees appointed by the secretary of state for education and employment on matters relating to local facilities for further education.
The Council's staff is organised in four divisions covering funding and strategy, education programmes and institutions, inspection and finance and corporate services. The Council employs around 400 staff, of whom around half are based in Coventry and half in the regions. A quarter of these are educational inspectors.
The Council has 14 members appointed by the secretary of state, including the chairman and chief executive. Membership is broadly balanced between education and business interests.
| | Number of Staff | | | Expenditure (£m) |
| Full-time equivalents | | As announced in annual PES settlement, including running costs |
| 1995/96 | 426 | | 1995/96 | 3,054 |
| 1996/97 | 420 | | 1996/97 | 3,070 |
| 1997/98 | 403 | | 1997/98 | 3,072 |
The Council's annual report and accounts, corporate plan and chief inspector's report are published and circulated to main public libraries, institutions funded by the Council and others with an interest in the Council's work. The Council has also held meeting for the last two years to present its annual report to representatives of the institutions which it funds. These meetings have been open to the public and the press. The Council adopted and published codes of practice governing the conduct of members and staff, its corporate responsibilities and access to information.
Achievements in 1996/97
In allocating funds to institutions, the Council continued with its policy of seeking value for money by bringing closer together the varying levels of college funding which it inherited from previous funding arrangements.
It completed a first cycle of inspection of all colleges in the further education sector. This is the first comprehensive review of the quality of further education in England. It also completed its first audit of all college financial control and management systems. It carried out its annual review of further education facilities in England and concluded that on the evidence available there were no gaps in provision.
The Council introduced a new system of capital funding in 1996-97, which provides funding to support private loan finance secured by colleges. It continued to support the Private Finance Initiative and published a register of potential PFI-projects, supported college pathfinder projects and organised a conference to bring together colleges and potential private sector partners.
The Council published a report on the development of further education for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and established a committee on to advise on widening participation in further education. A fundamental review of the Council's main funding method was also started.
The Council published performance indicators for each college in the further education sector. This is the first time such comprehensive information on institutional performance has been available for any educational sector.
It also published a guide for those wishing to complain about further education colleges to support arrangements under the Charter for Further Education.
Plans for 1997/98
The Council plans to introduce a new quality assessment framework in 199798 which will rely to a greater extent on college self-assessment. The Council is exploring the alignment of its inspection and audit arrangements to reduce the burden its monitoring activities place on colleges and it plans to introduce a means of accrediting colleges' quality assurance, financial monitoring and audit arrangements so as to allow lighter scrutiny of colleges whose internal systems are sound.
Key Performance Targets The Council set key operational targets for the first time in 199697. The targets are to:
- monitor each autumn planned further education provision and to address, by the beginning of the following teaching year, any inadequacy or insufficiency identified : achieved.
- confirm 90 per cent of provisional funding allocations by the end of May in each year; and pay institutions accurately and on time : 97 per cent of college provisional allocations sent on time; 86 per cent of all 'institutions' allocations sent on time; 100 per cent of payments made on time; error rate in payments under 0.01 per cent.
- maintain an accurate database of colleges' major capital projects and an up to date, published register of proposed projects and commercial sector interest : registers maintained.
- achieve a year on year increase in units of student activity provided by institutions involved in further education for each pound of public funding made available : an estimated 6.5 per cent increase in units for less than one per cent increase in funding paid to colleges.
- inspect 120 colleges in the academic year; and produce 85 per cent of reports within 10 working weeks of the inspection : 124 colleges inspected in 199697 teaching year; on target for production of reports at the time of going to press.
- decide on the placement of students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities at specialist establishments within six weeks of the receipt of complete information in 90 per cent of cases : 93 per cent of decisions made within timescale.
Key Performance Targets
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