The Dfee has this week announced the location of 47 Learning and Skills Council local headquarters throughout England.
This is part of the drive to update post-16 education and training throughout the country, announced in a white paper last year, and currently progressing as legislation though Parliament.
Education and Employment Minister Baroness Blackstone commented: "The creation of the new Learning and Skills Council and its 47 local arms will increase the standards and range of learning opportunities for businesses, communities and individuals, providing excellence with diversity to all learners. The councils will be a considerable force within their local communities. The national LSC will have a £6 billion budget and some six million learners.
"There will be significant local discretion over funding - substantially more than the current discretionary budget of Training and Enterprise Councils. Local LSCs will have the powers and necessary levers to determine what happens in their own localities. A typical LSC will have a budget in excess of £100 million to fund over 100,000 learners.
"The local LSCs will be sited where they can serve the communities in their areas most effectively. Wherever practical they will be housed in existing TEC offices, ensuring best value for money and freeing up more funds for front line services. In reaching these decisions I have taken advice from Government Offices for the Regions, who have in turn consulted Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and other local partners.
Local offices will be located in:-
North West
Cumbria - Workington
Merseyside/Halton - Liverpool
Lancashire - Preston
Cheshire - Middlewich
Greater Manchester - Manchester
North East
Tyne & Wear - Gateshead
County Durham - Newton Aycliffe
Tees Valley - Middlesborough
Northumberland - Cramlington
West Midlands
Birmingham & Solihull - Birmingham
Staffordshire - Stoke on Trent
Shropshire - Telford
Herefordshire & Worcestershire - Worcester
The Black Country - Sandwell
Coventry & Warwickshire - Coventry
Yorkshire & The Humber
North Yorkshire - York
South Yorkshire - Sheffield
West Yorkshire - Bradford
Humberside - Hull
East Midlands
Lincolnshire/Rutland - Lincoln
Northamptonshire - Northampton
Leicestershire - Leicester
Derbyshire - Derby
Nottinghamshire - Nottingham
East of England
Bedfordshire - Bedford
Essex - Chelmsford
Cambridgeshire - Peterborough
Hertfordshire - St Albans
Norfolk - Norwich
Suffolk - Ipswich
London
Central - Camden
North - Palmers Green
East - Stratford
West - Ealing *
South - Croydon
South East
Surrey - Woking
Sussex - Brighton
Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bucks - Abingdon
Kent/Medway - West Malling
Hampshire/IOW - Fareham & satellite at Newport (IOW)
Berkshire - Reading
South West
Devon & Cornwall - Plymouth & satellite at Truro
Somerset - Taunton
Gloucestershire - Gloucester
Dorset - Bournemouth
Wiltshire - Swindon
Greater Bristol - Bristol
* The Government’s preference is to locate the West London local LSC in Ealing but before a final decision is made, it will be necessary to look further into the financial implications.
