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