Information Advice and Guidance service
Current IAG service for Adults
The new service was always intended to be bigger and broader than the current contract, (see ‘Shaping the Future’, http://dius.ecgroup.net/files/133-08-SK_on.pdf), but the need to prioritise economic recovery has led to an earlier expansion of volumes than originally planned. Much of this expansion has been enabled through targeting ESF funds of £1.08 million, our priority for support is the increasing number of JCP customers.
This current contract is delivered across the SW region through the Prime Contractor, Connexions Devon and Cornwall, who have recently changed their name to Careers South West. The Prime Contractor delivers much of the service directly, but sub-contracts certain elements to over 60 other organisations in the region.
The core service consists of group advice sessions (the ‘Universal’ offer) to those seeking employment – not just the unemployed and jobseekers, and a ‘Differentiated and Personalised Service’ (DPS), delivered on a one-to-one basis to individuals who need more in-depth support and coaching. To support the economic recovery, as well as expanding the current offer, additional services are being provided for those at risk of redundancy, those newly redundant and new entrants to the labour market.
Future IAG Service
The expansion of the service will not only be in terms of volume, but is intended to bring about a holistic approach to advice and guidance in general – not just careers advice. The aspiration is that all types of advice and guidance services: health, finance, housing etc., will be networked and operate to agreed standards, so that individuals get the best service possible. The first step in bringing this about is to start to engage with a variety of organisations and networks to begin a constructive dialogue.
Steering this work in the SW is the Regional AAS Board, currently chaired by Sir Harry Studholme – soon to be the new RDA Board Chair. Working to the AACS is a taskforce group that includes representation from the LSC, RDA, nextsteps, learndirect, unionlearn and the 3rd sector. The taskforce is responsible for defining the tasks to be undertaken to prepare the ground, and to specify the nature and shape of the service to be delivered across the region. Communication is the responsibility of the Regional AAS Board and a major consultation document will be released later in the summer to partners and stakeholders. A draft version will be circulated to LSC managers for comment prior to the public release.
Skills Accounts
In time, all adults will have their own online skills account and it has been identified as a significant motivator in encouraging the take-up of training.
An individual’s personal account will contain links to all aspects of training and skills development, at its core will be a financial statement that shows the individual how much public funding will be available to them towards their studies. This figure will consist primarily of the funding that providers currently draw down from the LSC.
In the longer term (2015?), providers’ funding will be geared to the skills accounts of their learners. This is seen as the main lever in bringing about true Adult Learner Responsive funding.
The timescale for the introduction of these has been brought forward and, at the beginning of this month, we agreed that the SW region would be included in piloting aspects of this from September 09.
We will be piloting the introduction through the IAG contract and through a small number of FE providers for some types of learners. The first stages of this are to brief managers in the region so that we can agree where to run the pilots. Areas that agree to run the pilots will then be supported in briefing their providers and partners. Before the end of this academic year, we need to plan to extend the pilots further across the region and to additional audiences. We will do this in the light of the lessons learned from our pilots.