The Lancashire Colleges Supporting Further and Higher Education in Lancashire’s Colleges TLC does this through: REPUTATION AND INFLUENCE Maintaining a high profile for The Lancashire Colleges as a trusted partner with key decision-makers at local and national levels: • Providing members with a collective and authoritative voice and therefore greater influence. • Promoting recognition that the unit of funding for FE across all types of provision has to be sufficient if colleges are to remain viable. • Promoting members’ achievements in delivering sixth form, further, technical, professional and higher education to grow the skills and economy of Lancashire. • Supporting members to maintain and grow market share in traditional and core activity areas. • Providing a trusted single point of contact for the colleges of Lancashire. COLLABORATION AND INCOME GENERATION Enabling collective action on behalf of members to realise new and additional funding streams for Lancashire: • Supporting members in the delivery of successful European Social Fund (ESF) projects. • Working to highlight the urgent need for a successor programme to the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) to be put in place to TLC protect progress made on the current projects. • Responding to new tendering and business opportunities as they arise. THE ORGANISATION SUSTAINABILITY AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT Supporting members as they prepare and respond to changes in the education and skills system: The Lancashire Colleges (TLC) is a membership organisation that has been working on behalf of the • Supporting the implementation of Professional and Technical Education reforms. further education (FE) and sixth form colleges of • Facilitating collaborative working and the sharing of best practice, Lancashire for over 20 years. Our current member intelligence, resources and risk so that members remain responsive, colleges include general further education colleges, relevant and sustainable institutions. • Supporting further developments in the use of metrics and professional sixth form colleges and a specialist land-based college; development programmes to enhance the quality of provision. reflecting the diversity of the college sector as a whole. • Commissioning services on behalf of members. TLC supports its members to provide the highest quality of further and higher education in Lancashire. 2 | 3 TLC TLC HAS SECURED OVER £25M IN EUROPEAN AND OTHER ADDING VALUE FUNDS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE OF LANCASHIRE. FUNDING FOR GROWTH TLC has secured over £25m of European and other funding. This has helped Lancashire’s young people and adults to progress into employment, apprenticeships or further training as well as delivering the skills required by local employers. Working with a network of delivery partners, TLC is currently awaiting the outcome of bids for a further £24m of funding. SUPPORT FOR BUSINESS Through the Lancashire Apprenticeship Service, TLC is supporting businesses to recruit apprentices and/or upskill or retrain their existing employees. TLC provides impartial information and advice on apprenticeships provided by its members and supports businesses in finding the best solution to meet their apprenticeship training needs. SYSTEM LEADERSHIP TLC supports the vital role that Lancashire’s colleges play in the system leadership of education and skills within the geography of Lancashire. Working with the County Council and Unitary Authorities at officer and member level, TLC has helped form close working relationships and a greater degree of understanding about the essential nature of the college offer. This work has incorporated collaborative activity to tackle issues caused by funding and system shortfalls in the fields of mental health and Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND). More recently, work with NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups has ensured the voice of the colleges is represented in commissioning decisions across Lancashire and South Cumbria. SECURING LANCASHIRE’S FUTURE To inform government policy, TLC facilitates meetings with Ministers of State, Select Committee Chairs, Shadow Ministers, constituency MPs and officials from the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. TLC also organises visits to member colleges by Departmental officials. 4 | 5 COLLEGES ARE DELIVERING GROWTH FOR LANCASHIRE COLLEGES ARE COMMITTED TO WORKING WITH THE LANCASHIRE LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP (LEP) TO DELIVER THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PRIORITIES OF LANCASHIRE. We are currently: Investing in our own capability to support – investing in research, developing our communications and marketing function and raising the status of vocational, professional and technical education. Developing our offer – local colleges delivering core education and training services, together with a range of core specialisms designed to meet national workforce and industry needs. Increasing the amount of revenue that remains in Lancashire – through joint procurement, via joint bids for funding, by sharing services and by capital investment in college estate and facilities. Improving the responsiveness of our curriculum – working with the LEP Skills and Employment Board, employers and industry bodies to better understand the needs of local labour markets in terms of future skills needs and demand. Building on sectoral employer engagement – working closely with local employers to ensure our curriculum offer is relevant, current and responsive to employer needs now and in the future. Working collaboratively – with commercial training partners and universities to meet the demand from local employers. Researching options for apprenticeship delivery – identifying and delivering new approaches to maximise the take up of apprenticeships. THE COLLEGES ARE BY FAR THE LARGEST PROVIDERS OF FURTHER EDUCATION AND APPRENTICESHIPS IN LANCASHIRE. OF ALL THE LEARNERS THAT ARE AT A LANCASHIRE BASED PROVIDER, 80% ARE BASED AT A COLLEGE. 6 | 7 TLC THE COLLEGES The colleges of Lancashire: Colleges deliver core services and quantifiable benefits: KNOWN FOR To deliver real results, there are four factors • Providing high quality education and that need to be considered and balanced: training that leads to positive destinations. • Creating students and apprentices who EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE are confident and ready for work or further study. High quality provision, both in terms of • Being responsive to the needs of all the practice of teaching, learning and stakeholders, working collaboratively assessment and the specialist facilities and sharing good practice through required to support this. productive partnerships. • Championing social mobility, cohesion LEARNER CHOICE and social change. Education and training that recognises the importance of learner choice in terms SEEN AS of the curriculum offered, its location and • Critical to the delivery of a highly skilled its mode of delivery. workforce in support of the country’s economy. LABOUR MARKET AND • Influential in the leadership of the EMPLOYER RESPONSIVENESS education and skills system and playing a key role in national and regional policy Recognising the growth sectors of the development. economy and the alignment of skills • Maintaining value for money through provision with business growth and financially stable sovereign institutions employment opportunities, now and with strong governance, oversight and for the future. accountability. EFFICIENT USE OF PUBLIC RESOURCES OFFER Using resources effectively to maximise • A diverse and richly differentiated impact and to support quality, accessibility curriculum from entry level upwards. and, on occasion, change. • Outstanding quality academic, professional and technical education in addition to higher level and degree apprenticeships. • Innovative and responsive solutions THREE OF LANCASHIRE’S COLLEGES to Lancashire’s current and future ARE IN THE TOP 10% OF COLLEGES economic and skills needs. NATIONALLY FOR FURTHER • Effective partnership working for the greater good of Lancashire. EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENT RATES. • A clear and authoritative voice for SEVEN ARE IN THE TOP 20%. the sector. 8 | 9 COLLEGES ARE ASSETS OF BUSINESS AND £285 THE COMMUNITY Some data excludes West Lancashire College, MILLION part of the Newcastle Colleges Group. With a combined turnover of over £285 million, Lancashire’s colleges are major employers in their own rights, employing around 7,000 people, making a significant contribution 95,000 to the local economy. YOUNG AND ADULT LEARNERS 7,500 Lancashire’s colleges provide HE STUDENTS 2/3 education and training to over 95,000 young and adult learners each year from entry level to postgraduate IN COLLEGES and across a spectrum from the most disadvantaged to the most able. Two thirds of Lancashire’s Almost 7,500 or 13% of higher 16-18 year old learners (not education (HE) students based in including apprentices) study Lancashire study at Lancashire’s 10,000 in Lancashire’s colleges. colleges compared with 4% nationally. The 2nd and 3rd largest HE in FE providers nationally are BUSINESSES Lancashire colleges with a further Lancashire college in the top 20. OfS data shows there is more HE SUPPORTED , provision delivered in Lancashire’s 10 000 colleges than colleges in any other Lancashire’s colleges have extensive LEP area outside of London. networks of public and private sector APPRENTICES For every pound of partners and currently work with more government funding invested, than 10,000 businesses, supporting Each year, Lancashire’s