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