MD2826 Adult Education Budget Good Work for All Fund

1.1    Under cover of MD2718, the Mayor approved the launch of a new competitive grant award process aligned with the London Recovery missions. This became known as the Adult Education Budget (AEB) Good Work for All Fund (the Fund). The Mayor also approved the GLA’s commitment of additional funding to the Fund to be awarded over two Academic Years under cover of MD2763. 
1.2    Funded provision was intended to prioritise training, education, and employability support that will enable Londoners to gain relevant skills, retrain, and move into good work in sectors key to London’s recovery, including, although not exclusively, digital, health, social care, green, and creative and cultural industries. Strong partnership and collaboration with employers and businesses would form part of the delivery approach.
1.3    This is the first opportunity for Independent Training Providers (ITPs) to apply for AEB funding from the GLA in over two years. The fund also presented the GLA with an opportunity to expand significantly both the AEB provider base and the reach of its AEB programmes. The increased number of AEB providers will support the educational needs of Londoners from a variety of backgrounds who live in all parts of London.
1.4    The Mayor committed £32m to the fund over two years. This amount comprises c.£10m of AEB, and up to c.£6m of NSF per annum to deliver provision eligible through the new NSF Level 3 Adult Offer. Bidders were invited to apply to deliver AEB, NSF or a combination of both. Where bidders are awarded a grant to deliver both AEB and NSF, each allocation will be ringfenced.
1.5    In total, 144 eligible applications were received, 120 of which were from ITPs. The applications spanned the four priority sectors agreed by the London Recovery Board: Digital, Health and Social Care, Green Economy, and Cultural and Creative Industries. Bidders were also invited to offer the delivery of learning courses against other sectors, if they could provide evidence that these sectors were a priority for London’s recovery.
1.6    Each application was evaluated by two scorers in accordance with the guidance in the published prospectus resulting in a final ranking of all applications. A preferred funding allocation option based on the existing ranking was confirmed by a GLA expert panel and then endorsed by the officer-led Skills for Londoners Programmes Board.
1.7    The Mayor approved changes to the AEB decision-making arrangements to streamline the existing process and reduce the number of decisions that must be reviewed by the Mayor twice, under cover of MD2736 in March 2021. In so doing the Mayor approved that certain AEB decisions may be approved by the Mayor at the AEB Mayoral Board meetings. This included decision-making that falls within the scope of any MD form setting the strategic direction or Mayoral priorities (and where these do not affect the basis of the original decision) and/or where a decision is not, according to the rules set out in ‘Mayoral Decision-Making in the GLA’, reserved to the MD process.
1.8    Further decisions related to the AEB Good Work for All Fund, i.e. those that fall within the scope of this MD, can be made by the Mayor at future AEB Mayoral Board meetings, as long as they (a) are not matters that are reserved to the MD form process according to the rules in the Mayoral decision making protocol and AEB governance documentation, or (b) do not require amendments to any recommendations made in this MD, which would be automatically referred to an MD form and submitted through the usual processes once the changes had been made. Where proposed changes result in fundamental changes to the decisions agreed in this form, these will be brought back for approval under an MD form.
1.9    The decisions set out in this form were considered by the AEB Mayoral Board on 7 June 2021 and endorsed with no further recommendations.

2.1    Following the conclusion of the evaluation process it is proposed to grant fund 40 organisations through the Fund. A summary of the projects recommended for funding is attached at Appendix A.
2.2    This approach will expand the Fund’s reach across the priority sectors through delivery of a wide range of provision aimed at supporting Londoners to develop the skills they need to move into employment. Among the 40 successful organisations, there are 20 new ITPs, resulting in a significant expansion in the GLA provider base. As only half of the successful organisations are new, it is considered well within the GLA’s capacity to manage these additional grants.
2.3    The successful projects cover all four key priority sectors identified by the London Recovery Board, with many of these projects delivering across multiple priorities. In total, 29 projects propose to deliver provision aligned with the Health and Social Care Sector; 25 with Digital; 13 with Creative and Cultural Industries; and eight with the Green Economy.
2.4    It is proposed to award funding to the 40 highest-ranked bidders. These awards will include the full amount of NSF and a pro rata amount of the AEB requested by bidders. A pro rata approach has been taken in relation to AEB as there was a greater demand among the highest-ranked bidders to deliver the AEB funded provision compared with NSF. Awarding the full amount of AEB requested by the highest-ranked providers would have led to fewer awards overall, and left a significant share of the NSF budget unallocated. Funding a larger number of providers means that a broader selection of qualifications can be accessed by Londoners through the Fund, and more Londoners are proposed to be enrolled in courses at Level 3 which will enable them to develop the skills valued by employers.
2.5    If the 40 highest-ranked bidders were to be funded in full, the available AEB would be heavily oversubscribed. To enable all successful providers to be funded, the available AEB budget is distributed proportionately among 40 providers. This results in each provider receiving approximately 44 per cent of the AEB funding requested. The outputs proposed to be delivered by bidders will also be reduced proportionately, and these targets will form part of providers’ final grant agreements.
2.6    It is proposed to allocate £20,002,938 of AEB and £12,076,474 of NSF across the two Academic Years. Both allocations are slightly more than the amounts approved under MD2763. The first year can be funded via the budget available for 2021-22. The amounts allocated for 2022-23 are subject to confirmation of the respective AEB and NSF budgets by central government. In aggregate this would result in £32,079,412 being allocated across the two-year programme. The recommended funding values for each organisation in respect of AEB and NSF is provided in Appendix A.
2.7    Successful providers will be awarded a grant as a contribution to their costs of delivering AEB, NSF or a combination of both. Providers will be paid in arrears based on actual levels of delivery.
2.8    Following Mayoral approval, all bidders will be notified of the outcome as soon as practicable. Successful providers will undergo an onboarding process with grant agreements issued in June/July 2021. Delivery will commence from 1 August 2021.

3.1    Section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that, in the exercise of their functions, public authorities, of whom the Mayor is one, must have due regard to the need to:
3.1.1    eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010;
3.1.2    advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and
3.1.3    foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
3.2    Relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
3.3    The Mayor is required to comply with the duty set out above in making the decision set out in this report and any future decisions relating to the AEB made pursuant to those arrangements which will be subject to separate decision forms.
3.4    As part of the application process to receive a grant through the Fund, all bidders were required to demonstrate how they will positively promote and encourage diversity and equality at all levels within their organisation and eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. Bidders were also asked to explain how they adhere to the Mayor’s Good Work Standard focused on embedding fair employment practices.
3.5    The NSF will enable even more Londoners to enrol in fully-funded qualifications and courses, improving opportunities for them to move out of unemployment and progress in work, and supporting London’s recovery. The recommended approach allocates the committed NSF budget of £6m in full, supporting the delivery of Level 3 qualifications in the capital.
3.6    With 40 organisations delivering learning provision through the Fund, this will expand the reach of GLA-funded programmes across the city, ensuring that the most disadvantaged Londoners can access learning to achieve their goals and improve their lives.
3.7    The Fund places an emphasis on supporting learners who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The Fund will deliver to a high number of unemployed Londoners, most of whom have lost their jobs within the past year. Delivery of learning to Black, Asian and minority ethnic Londoners is strongly represented among the successful providers.
3.8    Grant agreements require successful providers to consider equalities implications through their delivery of this provision, ensuring the Mayor meets requirements relating to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Risks arising/mitigation
4.1    The key risks are:
•    Successful providers may decline offers of funding made to them. Due to the pro rata award of funding all providers will receive 44 per cent of the AEB funding requested in their bids. This may impact on the viability of this provision, which may lead to providers declining the offers made to them. This could result in some of the available budget remaining unallocated. If such a scenario arose, the GLA would then make an offer to the next highest ranked provider.
4.2    There are no conflicts of interest to declare from those involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.
4.3    This decision was considered by the AEB Mayoral Board on 7 June 2021 and submitted for signature through the GLA’s formal decision-making processes after that meeting.

5.1    This decision is seeking the Mayor’s approval to grant fund 40 organisations eligible for funding as seen in Appendix A. It is proposed to allocate £20,002,938 of AEB and £12,076,474 of NSF. In aggregate, this would result in £32,079,412 being allocated across the two-year programme – both allocations are slightly more than the amounts approved under MD2763 as stated in section 2.6.
5.2    The first year can be funded via budget available for 2021-22. The amounts allocated for 2022-23 are subject to confirmation of the respective AEB and NSF budgets by central government as stated in section of 2.6. 
5.3    Should any successful provider decline the offer of funding made to them, the GLA would make an offer to the next highest ranked organisation.
5.4    The expenditure is funded by the AEB budget and the NSF budget received from the government.

6.1    Section 39A of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 permits the delegation of ministerial functions to the Mayor, subject to certain limitations and conditions. This forms the basis of the delegation to the Mayor of AEB functions from the Secretary of State for Education. A particular limitation of the delegation is that the usual power of delegation by the Mayor is not available in respect of s39A- delegated functions.
6.2    MD2736 amended the Mayoral decision-making process (the AEB Assurance Framework, the AEB Constitution and the amended Mayoral decision-making process) to provide that certain decisions can be made by the Mayor at the AEB Mayoral Board without having to proceed through the MD form process, and paragraph 1.8 sets out that process.  
6.3    In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty – namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
6.4    Should the Mayor be minded to make the decisions sought, officers must ensure that grant funding agreements (on the GLA’s standard AEB funding terms) are put in place between and executed by the GLA and proposed recipients of the funding before any commitment to fund is made.

• Appendix A - List of organisations recommended for funding