FE Governance

FE Policy

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is responsible for policy on education and training in England.

Education is compulsory up to the age of 16, after which young people are encouraged to

• stay in full-time education at school or attend a college
• undertake training on a government funded programme
• take up employment - preferably with training opportunities (which may be wholly or partly provided by colleges)

From 2015, the Education and Skills Act 2008 will oblige young people to continue in either full-time education or training until they attain either the age of 18 or a level 3 qualification. For further discussion of the effects of the Education and Skills Act 2008, please refer to the Policy and Legal section.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was given responsibility in 2001 for funding post-16 learning - excluding higher education. The LSC currently funds all post-16 provision, not just that of FE. From April 2010, responsibility for the commissioning and funding of 16-19 education will transfer to local authorities. The Young People’s Learning Agency will ensure the coherence of Local Authorities’ plans and set a national framework. The Skills Funding Agency will be responsible for funding post-19 education and apprenticeships.

Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education is responsible for inspecting the quality and effectiveness of post-compulsory learning provision. Under the arrangements for the LSC business cycle, the LSC also undertakes an annual review of the provider's business plan which is a reflective, retrospective review of the previous year's achievements against agreed targets.

Sector policy focuses on two areas - "World Class Skills" which aims to raise the skills of the workforce and "Raising Expectations" which looks at post-16 compulsory education.