We hosted a really positive meeting last Friday for a very mixed group of stakeholders. The purpose was to identify the key information that Connexions services need and discuss how those needs could be met.  Our work in this area began when learning providers identified ad hoc data requests from Connexions as being a burden. Discussion at last week’s meeting suggested that a standardised dataset and collection timetable for Connexions data would bring real benefits. There also seems to be scope for making better use of the Unique Learner Number. One of the clear messages that I got from the last week’s meeting was that data collections will only ever be part of a solution – the key is that Connexions services and learning providers work well together to give good pastoral care to young people.

Among the other issues discussed at the meeting was the Common Application Process (CAP). Several learning providers expressed frustration with the lack of standardisation, not just with the CAP system, but prospectus information in general. There is plenty of work to be taken forward from the meeting and there will be further updates in due course. Thanks again to all those who contributed their views and ideas.

We’re hosting more meetings in the near future. Later this week the software suppliers group will meet in Coventry. One of the key agenda items is the update on the Learning Aims Database redevelopment that is going on to help support the Qualifications and Credit Framework. Once that meeting is over, we’ll shift our attention to the meeting for Learner Responsive providers which is on 14 June.

Finally we’re keen to make people aware that the information authority, Data Service and Learning Records Service are hosting a data conference on 17 September 2010 in London. The conference will highlight the next steps for the FE Learner Data Strategy, commissioned by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), and explore what it will mean for data collection and use in the FE Sector. You can book a place now by following the conference link above.

Paul

Hello colleagues

We are back in action now the election blackout is lifted and we’ve got a lot to tell you about activities happening during June and July. At present, there are no changes for the information authority and our parent department remains the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and our Secretary of State is now Vince Cable.  Some of the more curious among you would have noticed that the DCSF website has disappeared and searching for it now leads to the new Department for Education website.

Firstly, we must apologise for postponing the Learner Responsive Group meeting scheduled for 14 May 2010.  The new date will be announced shortly.  The Software Supplier Group and the Employer Responsive Group will be as advertised on 3 June and 8 July respectively.  The agenda for these meetings will be published a week before.

As the deadline for 2011/12 ILR change requests looms (18 June), we are having meetings with various policy colleagues – one such recent meeting was about the inclusion of a field for carers. We are also identifying fields which are no longer used (e.g. A02), so if you are aware of any that may be of low value or out of date, please let us know.  A number of you will be attending our ILR consultation event on 15 July 2010. This meeting is now fully subscribed, but even if you didn’t get a place there are still plenty of other opportunities to make your views known via feconnect and other channels.

You will hopefully be aware that we are facilitating a meeting on 28 May 2010 between training providers, the Connexions service and other agencies (including the YPLA and the Data Service) to standardise a dataset.  We hope the result will significantly reduce the data burden on training providers.

Finally, we are jointly sponsoring the AoC Information, Data and Technology Conference (formerly known as the AoC Nilta conference) on 24 June 2010.  More information will be available on the AoC website in due course. We are also holding a policy conference aimed at principals and senior managers on 06 July 2010. This is still in early planning stages and we will publicise the event on the information authority website shortly.

Selvy

Hi all

There is quite a lot going on at the moment. We’re running consultations on the redevelopment of the LAD and the timeliness of Employer Responsive data. Thanks to those of you who have contributed so far. Please do keep your views and suggestions coming.

We’re also preparing for a Connexions meeting on 28 May. The plan is to bring together the various stakeholders to look at the information needs of Connexions services and the best way of getting the data they need to them. What we’d like to achieve is a standardised dataset for Connexions, with an agreed collection timetable and possibly a central system for collecting and disseminating information. Attending the meeting will be representatives from Connexions services, learning providers, the DCSF, the Young People’s Learning Agency and the Data Service. There are a few places left so if you are interested in attending, please email me (Paul.Kelman@theia.org.uk) for further details.

Version 2 of the 2010/11 ILR specification was published last week. We’ve had quite a few requests to tone down the highlighting used for amended text. I’m afraid that as the specification is produced in Word, afraid we’re limited by its highlighting palette. However, colleagues are working on an online version of the ILR specification, which we hope the FE system will find useful. The long term aims is to make it possible for people to only download the parts of the ILR specification that they need.

The output from the March Employer Responsive group meeting are now available on our website. The outputs include an excel sheet to map local authorities to LSC areas. Providers wanted that to assist them with any information requests they receive from local authorities.

Finally, if you are involved in delivering ESF provision, please take a few minutes to complete our short online survey on reducing the ESF data burden. We’re keen to find out whether the steps taken to remove redundant ESF data fields from the ILR is actually making any difference and, if so, how much time is being saved. We’re also keen to know whether there are ad hoc ESF data requests and hear suggestions for ways that the data requirements for ESF provision could be made even more streamlined.

Paul

I had a really useful meeting with Connexions colleagues last week. Originally the purpose was to discuss the standardised Connexions dataset that went to our board in December 2009. However, the data needs of Connexions have recently changed. For instance, the January Guarantee and raising the participation age will have a big impact on what data Connexions services need. There is a paper going to the information authority board meeting tomorrow which recommends that we carry out further work on all of this. Ideally, I’d like to bring the various stakeholder groups together to work out how the data needs of Connexions services can be met whilst reducing the burden on learning providers.  I think it’d also be useful to look at the various Common Application Processes because they seem to be generating burden for learning providers.

Conference season will soon be upon us. We’re planning to run a couple of events ourselves in 2010 and will certainly have a presence at the AoC Nilta conference again this year. We’ve also started to receive requests to speak at other events. If you’re running an event and would like a speaker from the information authority, please email details to cst@theia.org.uk

The 2011/12 ILR change process is underway. There has already been a meeting to discuss possible future data requirements.  For the 2009/10 ILR we received 73 change requests, this dropped to 60 for the 2010/11 ILR. I wonder if we’ll see a similar drop this year?

Finally, the outputs from the recent ASL Group and the Data Users Group meetings have just been published. The next advisory group meeting is the Employer Responsive group on 19 March. There are just a few places left at that meeting. If you’d like further details, please email cst@theia.org.uk