Reducing bureaucracy
By cutting bureaucracy and simplifying systems we are freeing providers so that they can focus on the key relationship they have with their direct customers.
Our vision is for an FE and skill system in which colleges and training organisations have greater freedom to operate within a simplified system. Centrally imposed bureaucracy is reduced enabling greater responsiveness and accountability to local learners, employers and communities.
The bureaucratic systems stem from different but overlapping processes all of which we are tackling. For example, we are:
- reducing central regulation, both through streamlining bodies, and removing over-prescriptive regulations concerned with college governance and management
- consulting on simplifying the funding systems and removing complex eligibility rules and associated monitoring and audit processes;
- overhauling the complex and burdensome performance management system, with proportionate inspection and performance management, and with greater sector lead of its own improvement ;
- tackling the burdens and costs for providers in delivering qualifications;
- investing in systems to enable better sharing and management of data to reduce the amount of data collected, and encouraging greater use of electronic systems.
Last year, the Bureaucracy Reduction Group (BRG) worked to tackle bureaucracy and reduce unnecessary administrative burdens within the learning and skills sector.
FE and Training Bureaucracy Reduction Group
The FE and Training Bureaucracy Reduction Group (BRG) was set up in June 2005 and completed its programme of work for 2009/10 in July 2010 (BRG Annual Report (DOC, 234 Kb) ). The Association of Colleges is currently reviewing the work of three sector-led groups including the BRG.
The Group’s chair, Tony Craven, retired Principal of Salford College, published key points and recommendations for policy developers following the Group’s discussion of areas perceived to be overly bureaucratic. These Chair’s Notes are also available here:
The Group’s members were drawn from key partner organisations and also practitioners in the sector. The work was jointly supported by BIS and the Learning and Skills Council.
The BRG reviewed and challenged the impact of new policies across the whole learning and skills sector, publicly challenging existing policies where they added unnecessarily to bureaucracy and scrutinised proposed plans before implementation.
If you'd like to raise specific examples of bureaucracy for the sector to look into and raise with appropriate organisations, please contact the AoC or the Information Authority. Alternatively, if you have ideas for improvements you could log these on the “Your Freedom” web-site
The information authority
The information authority was set up in response to concerns about FE data burden that were raised in the Foster Report (2005) and the government white paper ‘Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances’ (2006).
It operates by setting and regulating data standards for further education (FE) and training, reviewing the need for data collections and improving data quality.
Since becoming fully functional in October 2007 the authority has investigated several areas of data collection and use, and instigated work to streamline, improve and provide clarity.
