Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the outcome of the recent OFSTED inspection of Medway’s Adult Learning Service and gave details of future proposals for the service.

Following an inspection of the Adult Learning Service in February 2013, the service was reinspected in February 2014 and was rated as a 3 – “Requires Improvement”. This represented good progress in a year and it was noted that one subject area (Maths) was rated at Level 2 - ‘Good’. In addition the inspectors made some very positive comments on the new management and governance arrangements and commented favourably on the partnership working. There were comments around support for learners and the good progress they were making.

The report also provided details of future service provision noting that adult learning could contribute to the Council’s ambition to improve Medway as a place to live and work. The following mission statement had been developed: ‘To achieve excellence for our community and businesses in Medway’.It was considered that the current configuration of the Adult Learning Service did not fully support this ambition, therefore, it was proposed to divide the service into three distinct business units: Community Learning and Skills Development; Business Development and; Leisure Learning.

Reasons:

This report outlined the OFSTED outcomes and suggested a way forward for the service. The reconfiguration of the service will make it more robust for the future and meet both the OFSTED requirements and new priorities for funding. This will support a vibrant service which is fit for purpose, meets the Council priorities and make it more financially robust.