Education business partnership services face taut funding criteria

The government has tightened its reins on local authority funding applications for education business partnership services, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has announced.

According to the recent Guidance for Commissioning and Funding Education Business Partnership Services in 2010-11, local authorities will need to provide an “education business funding plan” setting out the intended nature and volume of the education business services they intend to commission, the sources of funds, and the proposed commissioning process.

The Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), which is taking over responsibility for distribution of funds in this area from the Learning and Skills Council, has powers to withhold funding from a local authority that does not submit an education business funding plan which meets the conditions of funding, and will be able to “claw back funding” if the plan is not delivered.

The Award for Education Business Excellence (AEBE) has also been highlighted as a compulsory brokerage standard for education business partnership services from 2011. “Every Education Business Partnership Organisation (EBPOs) should have achieved this Award in order to receive public funding,” the guidance states.

To ensure high quality EBPOs, local authorities, with their partners, will need to judge what action to take to replace or supplement services that cannot demonstrate that they are working towards the AEBE. An organisation, including sections of local authorities, which does not hold or is not working towards the excellence award risks not being granted funding.

The guidance also encourages local authorities to go to open competitive tender for brokerage services where they are dissatisfied with the current services.

Local authorities will be required to submit a short annual report to DCSF on behalf of the 14-19 Partnership in the autumn of each year, describing the volume and nature of education business partnership activity in the preceding academic year.

“The funding made available to local authorities for education business partnership services should be used to enlist the services of the most suitable EBPOs,” the guidance adds. “This funding is one of the strongest leavers we have over the quality of brokerage, and it is vital that we use it to maximise the quality of Education Business Partnership Organisations who provide the brokerage.”

To obtain a copy of the guidance, visit:

http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=DCSF-01144-2009&