e-bulletin
9th
Issue 17
February 2011
Welcome to Issue 17 of our e-bulletin - we hope you find it useful and informative.
This is addressed to:
 Local authorities - Chief Executives, Directors of Children’s Services and 14-19 commissioning
leads.
 All YPLA funded providers – Principals/Heads of Academies, colleges with 16-19 provision, sixth
form colleges, Independent Specialist Providers and independent providers.
Local Authority Directors of Children’s Services are asked to please forward this e-bulletin to
Heads of their maintained schools with sixth forms.
If you would like us to add recipients to this distribution list then please send their e-mail address to
[email protected].
Copies of all e-bulletins will be posted on the News section of our website. You can also sign up for
alerts to new documents posted on the YPLA website by registering for our web alert service.
All statutory guidance and legislation linked from this site continues to reflect the current legal position
unless indicated otherwise, but may not reflect current Government policy.
Key headlines for strategic managers are as follows:
FOR ACTION:
Article 1 - LR02 - Unique Learner Number (ULN) is a compulsory requirement
FOR INFORMATION:
Article 2 – Discretionary Learner Support 16-18 addendum
Article 3 – Updated Foundation Learning guidance on YPLA website
Article 4 – The Data Service: Latest Statistical First Release (SFR) published
Article 5 – Parliament and Public Affairs Update
Article 6 - LAD and Section 96
Article 7 - Mid-year Estimates 2010/11 - Not now required by 14th February 2011
You can click on any of the above to go directly to the article.
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Action for all Local Authorities, FE Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges, Independent Private
Providers and Independent Specialist Providers
Article 1 - LR02 - Unique Learner Number (ULN) is a compulsory requirement
The second Learner Responsive Individualised Learner Record (ILR) return for 2010/11 (LR02)
must be sent by the hard close date 14th February 2011.
The Data Service will be contacting providers who have not yet submitted valid Unique Learner
Numbers (ULNs) for some, or all, of their learners. It is a compulsory requirement for providers to
submit valid ULNs in their LR02 ILR return.
The information authority is unable to extend the hard close date for this return.
Further details are available on the Data Service website.
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Information for all Local Authorities, FE Colleges, Academies and Sixth Form Colleges
Article 2 - Discretionary Learner Support 16-18 addendum
Please take note of the following additional information to the Discretionary Learner Support Funding
Guidance and Requirements 2010/11 for learners aged 16-18. The full guidance document, and this
additional information can be found on the Discretionary Learner Support website.
Local authorities should consider pupils in Academies as being eligible for discretionary learner
support funds, although in those cases we would not expect the local authority to make an allocation
to the school, simply that the pupil from the Academy should be eligible to apply directly to the local
authority. They would be considered on the same basis as other pupils in the local authority area.
(Addendum to paragraph 20).
If you have any queries on this, or any information within the guidance document, please email
[email protected].
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Information for 14-19 leads in Local Authorities, Schools with Sixth Forms,
FE Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges, Academies, Independent Private Providers, Independent
Specialist Providers
Article 3 - Updated Foundation Learning guidance on YPLA website
Following ongoing consultation with the sector through events and subsequent feedback, we have
updated the guide, frequently asked questions and the worked examples to reflect policies for 2010-11
and 2011-12. These updated documents can be found at the following link:
http://www.ypla.gov.uk/aboutus/ourwork/funding/funding-foundation-learning/
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Information for all Local Authorities, FE Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges and Independent
Private Providers
Article 4 - The Data Service: Latest Statistical First Release (SFR) published
The Data Service published the latest SFR on 27th January 2011, which is available to view on the
Data Service website.
This SFR contains information on a national level for achievements and Qualification Success Rates
for Learner Responsive, Apprenticeships and Train to Gain for 2009/10.
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Information for all Providers and Stakeholders
Article 5 – Parliament and Public Affairs Update
We thought you might like to get some parliament and public affairs updates on what’s happening in
the young people’s learning sector.
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Information for FE Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges, Private Providers and Independent
Specialist Providers
Article 6 – LAD and Section 96
We are working with DfE, Ofqual and the Data Service on the process and timescales for updating
systems following changes to existing qualifications made through the Regulatory IT System (RITS) –
such as extensions to review dates, setting operational end dates and other changes to the details of
qualifications. There are approximately 1,500 qualifications that should be eligible for funding for
young people – having been amended and extended through RITS – which are not currently approved
on Section 96 and have a ‘last date for new starts’ which has elapsed and are therefore ineligible for
funding for new 16-18 enrolments.
We expect that most of the amendments and extensions will be approved shortly, but there is a slight
risk that these amendments will not be made in time to support providers submitting LR02 returns.
This is because there is usually a time lag in the Ofqual data being amended and other systems, for
example Section 96 and the young people’s funding eligibility details on the LAD, being updated. This
is being complicated by the need to establish new data flows from Ofqual because of the introduction
of new regulatory arrangements and RITS to support them.
These changes have also resulted in a backlog of new qualifications being approved on Section 96.
Significant progress has however been made and the first amendments to Section 96 since the
introduction of RITS have been processed and 287 new qualifications have now been approved on
Section 96. These qualifications are with the LAD team and funding information will be updated in line
with this in due course. Again there is a slight risk that these amendments will not be made in time to
support providers submitting LR02 returns.
LR02 is mainly of importance for independent private providers delivering Foundation Learning, and
so we expect the impact to be relatively low – but if this does have an effect on an individual provider
then we would consider it as an exceptional case in looking at 2010/11 performance and 2011/12
allocations.
We are working with DfE and Data Service to make these updates as soon as possible but in the
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meantime any queries should be directed to Christina Ficini [email protected]. All other
LAD queries should continue to be raised through the LAD team on
[email protected].
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Information for all Local Authority Finance Leads and Providers
Article 7 - Mid-year Estimates 2010/11 - Not now required by 14th February 2011
The YPLA no longer requires Mid-year estimates for 2010/11 from any provider who returns ILR
LR02 (2010/11) by 14th February 2011. The ‘YPLA Funding Guidance: Funding Returns’ document
will be updated later this month to include the final reconciliation rules for all contract providers for
2010/11. The document will also be revised in respect of required funding returns for 2010/11.
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Please click here to see copies of the Skills Funding Agency’s Updates
If you would like to give feedback on this e-bulletin, then e-mail us at [email protected]
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