Contact: John Wilkinson, Assistant County Education Officer

ext 5084

1 Summary

1.1 This report presents the outcomes and improvement plans resulting from phase three of the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review. At the meeting of 25 May 2004 the panel received a report outlining the options for improvement. This report asks members to agree an improvement plan for the Best Value Review (Appendix 1) which incorporates the main option agreed by members of the Panel of "Partnership Working" as the underlying driving principle for the "Lifelong Learning Strategy" (Appendix 2). It also asks members to agree the initial Improvement Plan for the Lifelong Learning Strategy (Appendix 3).

1.2 The developments and actions in this Strategy are many, varied and dynamic. In this Improvement Plan, just a few of the actions have been highlighted prior to further development work on the Lifelong Learning agenda, as referred to in the Best Value Review Improvement Plan. The Strategy addresses key statements, aims, objectives and actions for the County Council to approve and to develop.

2 Introduction

2.1 The vision for the review remains that "Everyone in Hampshire should have access to high quality learning opportunities to develop their skills, knowledge and abilities". This is wholly consistent with the Lifelong Learning Strategy and seeks to enhance, all six aims of the County Council's Corporate Strategy "Developing Quality of Life for Everyone", whilst giving support to member priorities and Hampshire's Community Strategy.

2.2 The project brief stated that the outcome for the review was to be a Lifelong Learning Strategy, to widen and promote contributions to this area of activity across the County Council and within Hampshire. It was to consider the following issues:

- life skills developments in preschools and schools

- increasing adult participation in learning

- increasing learning opportunities for older people

- engaging young people in education, employment and training

- links with the Cultural Strategy

- sustainable education and education for the environment

- access to learning in the county

- basic skills and skills development

- youth development and citizenship

- access to learning and information

- community focussed schools and discovery centres

- learning in the workplace

These have been addressed along with the following important issues, derived from an initial `visioning exercise' undertaken by the review team:-

- ensuring seamless provision and ease of access

- effective communication and consultation

- developing quality and capacity among service providers

- fostering co-operation between service providers

- partnership working

- plugging gaps and providing a range of provision

- providing leadership in terms of co-ordination, direction, support, enabling, planning at a strategic level, empowering, stewarding, promoting and advocacy

- cultural changes including organisational leadership

- optimal use of Hampshire County Council's resources in provision and allocation, effective use of buildings, availability of funding, adequate skilled and trained staff, IT development and information sharing

The Lifelong Learning Strategy has sought to address this extensive range of issues.

3 Progress in phase three of the review

3.1 The review has been undertaken by a team of County Council officers representing each Department, working with elected members (Councillors: Keith Chapman; Susan Allbright; Roger Kimber; Brian Dash and Jo Kelly). The team has met three times since the presentation of the Option Report at the end of phase two. It has been strongly supported by the project board which has met between each of the review team's meetings. There has been a regular exchange of information via e-mail between the meetings.

3.2 Following the Options Report and bearing in mind its agreed recommendation, an additional consultation exercise was progressed during June 2004. The consultation requested comments on the findings from phase two and upon the Desired Learning Outcomes in relation to partnership with Hampshire County Council and how these developments may affect the Strategy and implementation plans.

As well as a wide range of consultees within the County Council, the consultation was addressed to the Executives of the Headteachers Conferences and Lifelong Learning Standing Committees, principals of Further Education and 6^th Form Colleges, Health Authorities, Chief Executives of Borough/District Councils, Learning and Skills Council, South Central Connexions, Chairs of Local Strategic Partnerships, Chairs of Community Learning Forums and the Hampshire and Portsmouth Learning Partnership.

Although the direct responses were relatively small in number, they were strong in support of the Strategy and its proposed actions.

The value position of the Strategy is well supported by schools, as is the encouragement for the development of Discovery Centres and Extended Schools.

Further Education Colleges are pleased with the intentions to improve collaboration and in the context of constructive, equal and modern partnership, and would welcome further opportunities for joint project work.

South Central Connexions greatly value the stronger moves towards `Partnership Working' which will help in the achievement of:

- better developed and more co-ordinated working

- flexible and responsive services to meet young people's needs

- addressing the needs of workforce development.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council see the Strategy as being entirely complementary with their Lifelong Learning Skills and Employment Strategy. They welcome the role of partnership "and in providing coherent and not competitive provision". They are keen to work with Hampshire County Council and with other partners to ensure the County Lifelong Learning Strategy is as effective as possible.

3.3 Consideration of key themes:

During the review, nine cross cutting themes were addressed by the team and in particular by the task groups who worked throughout phase 2. The action outcomes to these were featured in the Options Report. They have all been developed since and incorporated into the Strategy under the main outcome headings. For ease of reference, the actions from the key themes are listed in Appendix (4).

3.4 Main findings of the review

From the outset of the review, the desired outcome was to produce a corporate Lifelong Learning Strategy and this has been achieved.

The Strategy is structured under six main outcomes or aims. These state that Hampshire County Council will:-

1. foster co-operation and partnership in Lifelong Learning between service providers for the benefit of all learners.

2. seek to ensure that opportunities for Lifelong Learning are continuous and progressive with seamless provision and ease of access to learning.

3. take a strong leadership role in Lifelong Learning.

4. develop effective communication and consultation processes with regard to Lifelong Learning.

5. give commitment to the development of high quality services in Lifelong Learning and seek to increase capacity in conjunction with partners.

6. work with its partners to maximise and secure appropriate resources for lifelong learning and to optimise their use.

The aims are translated into 20 objectives, each supported by several actions. Some of these are happening already, some are subject to the Strategy Improvement Plan (Appendix 3) others will be developed later.

The aims, objectives and actions were reflected in the main findings reported in the Options Report at the end of phase two of the review, as follows:-

· The County Council's commitment to lifelong learning should be self-evident in the way in which it delivers its services to the public. At all levels, the County Council should engage with learners in ways which value learning and which lead to self empowerment.

· As an aspiring `learning authority', the County Council should continue to seek feedback from its client groups about need and performance and to act upon the information received. A `culture of learning' should be actively encouraged throughout the organisation.

· Hampshire has a diverse range of learning provision of high quality which provides an excellent baseline for future strategic plans and should be nurtured and developed.

· There is a clear need for better developed and more co-ordinated working within the County Council as well as between the Council and its many partners.

· The Strategy needs to link into the community cohesion and regeneration strategies being developed by Local Strategic Partnerships.

· Serious consideration needs to be given to a more user friendly Hantsweb, which can provide a single point of entry for Lifelong Learning, through which the respective age groups can access relevant signpost information with ease.

· Family Learning and support for parenting skills should continue to be regarded as a priority in future developments.

· Lifelong Learning will need to be more flexible and responsive in order to meet the needs of young people, who will be faced with a variety of choices for education and employment from 14 years onwards.

· The County Council should seize the opportunity being presented by central government to expand the current network of extended schools. The extended schools strategy should include an expansion of opportunities for adult learning and should be complementary to the innovative plans for Discovery Centres across Hampshire.

4. Improvement Plans

4.1 This report is unusual in that there are two Improvement Plans. Improvement Plan (A) Appendix (1) is for the Best Value Review outcomes which are internally focussed - designed to ensure that the Departments of the County Council are best set up to deliver the Lifelong Learning Strategy. Improvement Plan (B) Appendix (3) covers a first selection of actions to be progressed to achieve key outcomes of the Lifelong Learning Strategy

4.2 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. Some of the work within the Strategy is already underway. Those actions within the Improvement Plans are now moving forward.

4.3 Improvement Plan (A) for the Lifelong Learning Best Value Review (Appendix 1)

This plan focuses upon five objectives which cover those main findings from the review which can secure its swift and continuous implementation.

· Objective 1

Implement Lifelong Learning Strategy

This fundamentally requires the approval of the County Council to approve the Lifelong Learning Strategy. If this approval is given, then it is recommended that the Corporate Steering Group for Lifelong Learning be re-established, and led by a Senior Officer of the County Council. It is also recommended that an elected member is appointed by Cabinet to be a member of the Corporate Lifelong Learning Steering Group and to act as a `champion' for Lifelong Learning . The corporate steering group will be responsible for progressing the actions in the Strategy, as well as monitoring and evaluating their purposes. This group will need to report on the progress of the Strategy to the cabinet.

· Objective 2

Co-ordinated community provision through effective communication, collaboration and partnership with external learning providers

An important feature of this objective is to establish firm and effective links with Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). It will also require to seek support for the development of additional Community Learning Forum (CLFs) linked to the LSPs. This objective also seeks to improve the communication and collaboration within local areas between the providers, based upon audit and balanced funding which helps to eliminate duplication and competition, and secure more equitable and well matched provision.

· Objective 3

Co-ordinated community provision through effective partnership in Lifelong Learning between all County Council Departments

Critical to the development of this objective is the belief and willingness of departments to work with each other on integrated projects which improve our capacity and efficiency in meeting community need. Good examples of inter departmental work already exist, several of which have been reported to Cabinet. This objective highlights new initiatives in supporting lifelong learning.

· Objective 4

Hampshire County Council has a `culture of learning'

Central to most of the objectives and essential to this one is the commitment from each department to the Lifelong Learning Strategy and to the ongoing development of learning within their work force teams. Statements of commitment to Lifelong Learning from departments are attached at Appendix (5).

It is not possible to list all actions in the Improvement Plan, and clear mention is made in the Strategy to the important roles of the Hampshire Learning Centre and the Hampshire Teaching and Leadership College in promoting a `culture of learning'.

· Objective 5

Resources for Lifelong Learning opportunities are maximised

This objective has focused upon the proposed development of Extended Schools as centres of learning in the community, upon the continued development of Children's Centres, and supporting the development of Discovery Centres.

4.4 Improvement Plan (B) for the Lifelong Learning Strategy (Appendix 3)

This improvement plan has identified six outcome/objectives for the initial moving forward of the Strategy. Some of the actions in the Strategy are already being implemented, whilst others will need to be addressed later by the Corporate Steering Group for Lifelong Learning.

· Outcome/Objective 1

Smooth transition in learning between phases and ages

The actions identified here concern critical points in the movement of children and young people between schools and other providers. These occur in the early years, between home-preschool-and school; at the critical transfer between primary and secondary schools; and at the transition between school-work-training and further/higher education. Each requires careful planning and liaison between a range of agencies and providers. However, successful transition is critical for every individual. No child or young person should experience failure as they move from one place of learning to another.

· Outcome/Objective 2

Increased participation in learning activities, in particular, for groups that are under represented

There is a strong focus in those actions on family learning, particularly in literacy and numeracy (FLLN). There are separate targets for ethnic minorities and for an increase in male learners within family learning.

Other actions are featured under the Strategy, Aim 2 Objective 2.

· Outcome/Objective 3

Increased opportunities for learning in the community

Central to this area is the development of the Lifelong Learning website portal. This needs to be established as a matter of some urgency in order to give the public greater access to learning information and opportunities. This is linked to a main finding of the review in developing a more user friendly Hantsweb. Other actions within this outcome concern the localisation of information related to learning in schools and libraries and the opportunities through such links to work more closely with business and industry.

· Outcome/Objective 4

Provide greater consistency in learning provision for older people

The main aim of this outcome is to seek greater transparency, consistency and equity in funding the older learners across Hampshire, particularly in seeking recognised funding from the Learning and Skills Council in support of this growing group of learners.

· Outcome/Objective 5

Lifelong Learning opportunities are provided across all areas of the county and age groups, taking account of demographic trends

This outcome will require the more efficient use of data to identify needs against population groups in conjunction with information received through MORI surveys. Better match needs to be achieved between population groups and services required. Two examples are provided in the match of Family Learning, Literacy and Numeracy to priority areas, and the planned increase access to ICT on mobile libraries which can better meet the needs of these in more isolated positions.

· Outcome/Objective 6

Learning opportunities are `learner focussed'

The actions here require the greater engagement of learners in shaping their learning opportunities, thus improving their `ownership' of the learning and increasing motivation. Such active participation requires a commitment from service providers, including Hampshire County Council, for their active engagement. Examples are provided in relation to the `voice' of the young person, and to increased learner retention in adult learning programmes.

5. Outsourcing

5.1 This option was fully considered during phase two of the review. It was considered that as many of the services for learning that Hampshire County Council provides are statutory functions or core duties, it would be very difficult and complex to manage as outsourced provision. The County Council is accountable to its electorate for the effectiveness and efficiency of its services. As an excellent authority, it does this work well. Lifelong Learning is a complex arrangement of inter related networks and services, spanning work well beyond the County Council's capacity to deliver. The recommended outcome recognised this reality in stressing our full support to `partnership working', supporting a mixed economy of provision supply. Outsourcing would lead to a fragmentation and a potential dissipation of quality control. The management of resources would prove very complicated, time consuming and could prove to be highly ineffective. Partnership can help to ensure that the County Council's resources, in this regard, can be fully optimised, and that the value added factor delivered through partnerships, through pooled or shared resources, brings significant benefits.

6. Conclusion

6.1 The scope of this review has been wide, its substance complex and difficult to manage. It represents a bold attempt to draw together a wide and disparate range of initiatives, engaging a large number of both internal and external providers. The Best Value Review Team started from a clean sheet and generally were not aware of the scale or diversity of activities and provision for Lifelong Learning in Hampshire. They were genuinely surprised and encouraged by what they found. However, there was real concern that such important developments had not been brought together, nor been made known to a wider public.

The Best Value Review for Lifelong Learning has started the process of bringing such work together and identifying means for its more effective publicity. The Strategy for Lifelong Learning highlights the main directions of development for the County Council. It orders and illuminates the key issues for Lifelong Learning and lists as many actions as reasonable, to inform the County Council and the public of the activities in place or being developed. The list of related plans and strategies at the end of each section provide a useful base for cross-referencing.

Overall, the Best Value Review and Strategy for Lifelong Learning provides a clear route by which Hampshire County Council can establish its legitimacy as a `Learning Authority'.