Contact: John Wilkinson, Assistant County Education Officer, ext 5084, e-mail [email protected]

1 Purpose of this Report

1.1 This report is presented to Education PRC at the request of members of the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review Member Panel, for comment. The report will be presented to the Recreation & Heritage PRC on 18^th November, for its comment also, prior to its presentation to Cabinet, for approval.

1.2 The programme of best value reviews is a key element in supporting Corporate Strategy Aim 5 - `Improving Services'. Lifelong Learning contributes to all six Corporate Strategy aims.

2 Background

2.1 The Best Value Review of Lifelong Learning has been undertaken by a team of officers, representing each department working alongside five elected members - Cllr Susan Allbright, Cllr Keith Chapman, Cllr, Brian Dash, Cllr Jo Kelly, and Cllr Roger Kimber .

2.2 The five elected members were nominated by the Education and Recreation & Heritage PRCs, to be both members of the Review Team and to also form a Member Panel, to make key decisions at critical review stages.

2.3 At a meeting in May 2004, the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review Member Panel agreed that out of a range of five options for service delivery identified by the Review Team, `Partnership working, supporting a mixed economy of supply' should form the basis for the review outcome.

2.4 A draft Lifelong Learning Strategy was subsequently produced, based on the Members preferred option.

2.5 The Review is unusual in that two improvement plans have been produced:

Improvement Plan A - for the Best Value Review outcomes, which are internally focussed - designed to ensure that departments of the County Council are best set up to deliver the Lifelong Learning Strategy.

Improvement Plan B - covers a first selection of actions to be progressed to achieve the key outcomes of the Lifelong Learning Strategy.

3. Legal Implications

3.1 None, in as much as this report is seeking views and comments.

4. Financial Implications

4.1 There are no significant requests for additional resources as these are built into existing plans projected for future years in forward planning. However, there will be demands upon officer time, which can be met, in part, through the careful integration of lifelong learning into mainstream departmental work and for support in Hantsweb development. These developments will have to be approached with caution to avoid raising expectations within restricted budgets. Some of the work within the Strategy is already underway. Those actions within the Improvement Plans are now moving forward. The costs of this review were less than the original estimation and at a lower level than some other reviews. However, the costs of the publication of the Strategy have yet to be determined.

5. Personnel Implication

5.1 Demands upon officer time, which can be met, in part, through the careful integration of lifelong learning into mainstream departmental work.

6. Impact Assessment

6.1 Equality and Diversity considerations were one of the foundations of this review. A briefing was held at the beginning of the review and each working group assessed the impact throughout their task. Asylum seekers, refugees, gypsies and travellers, Asian women in some areas have limited understanding of English and some disabled people were identified as potential for adverse impact. Outcomes of the assessment are reflected throughout the Strategy. This Strategy sets out the overarching principles and there is an expectation that impact assessment is also undertaken at the point of delivery.

7. Crime Prevention Issues

7.1 These were addressed in some detail as part of the nine cross cutting issues published in the Options Report. All findings have been incorporated into the actions within the Strategy.

8. Views of the local County Councillors

8.1 As this was a high level cross cutting review, the implications cover the whole of the County Council's area. There were five representative County Councillors working with the Review Team, who then formed the Review Panel. Their views were instrumental in drawing up the Strategy and were based upon the needs of local communities in Hampshire.

9. Attached documents

9.1 Appendix 1 - Outcome Report of the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review, as reported to the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review Panel on 8 September 2004. This is reported in three parts:

a) Covering Note - produced by the Chief Executive, providing an `at a glance' summary for members (Appendix 1a).

b) The Outcome Report - produced by the County Education Officer (Appendix 1b).

c) The minutes of the Review Panel (Appendix 1c).

Appendix 2 - The Hampshire County Council Lifelong Learning Strategy. The production of this Strategy was a key aim of the review - and this has been achieved. This Strategy aims to provide a framework for the role of the County Council in the development of opportunities for lifelong learning in Hampshire.

Appendix 3 - Improvement Plan A - internally focussed, designed to ensure that departments of the County Council are best set up to deliver the Lifelong Learning Strategy.

Appendix 4 - Improvement Plan B - covers a first selection of actions to progress to achieve the key outcomes of the Lifelong Learning Strategy.

Appendix 5 - Departmental Statements of Commitment to Lifelong Learning.

Appendix 6 - Impact Assessment Report

Appendix 7 - Glossary

Recommendation

1. It is recommended that the outcome report of the Best Value Review of Lifelong Learning be noted.

2. Any comments on the report, arising from this Committee, will be forwarded to Cabinet.

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.