NATECLA responds to Bill Rammell's statement 26 March

Letter to Bill Rammell Minister of State 10 April 2007 NATECLA welcomes the latest concessions made by the Minister to meet the concerns expressed by the ESOL profession about the changes in ESOL funding. The 4.5 million to be given to the Learner Support Hardship Fund is welcome and we are pleased that the Minister has listened to our real anxieties regarding access to mainstream programmes for spouses, particularly women. We are also pleased that the government recognises the barriers for learners, particularly at Entry Level, in evidencing their low incomes. However, our view is that the changes will not be sufficient and will still impact negatively both on ESOL learners and the profession We feel  there will be many areas of the country where the amount colleges and LEA’s receive will not in any way minimise the impact of the introduction of fees  many of our surveys show that at least 40% of learners will be adversely affected by the introduction of fees – again this amount will in no way cover this amount of learners  providers have been given guidance to enrol learners whilst assembling the evidence – in many cases women will never be able to provide this evidence as they often do not have access to the information needed  many institutions do not have the resources to provide the level of support to potential learners to enable them to bring evidence or claim the benefits they are entitled to in order to access free tuition  learners at entry level, particularly in community programmes will be seriously affected - these are precisely the groups the government is trying to reach  there are no guarantees in place to ensure that the additional funding is ring fenced to ESOL learners  decisions about the allocation of this funding to learners will not be made by ESOL practitioners Asylum seekers will be able to access free tuition after six months. This is a positive move and will enable those who have been waiting a considerable length of time for a decision to continue with their programmes. We also welcome the lifting of restrictions on those who are unable to return to their own country and asylum seekers who have been on a waiting list before they are 19. There are however the following concerns:  six months is a long time for potential learners to wait before accessing tuition  if the government has made a pledge to deal with cases within three months, then this should be the time period they restrict access to tuition  many providers have closed their waiting lists We also welcome the recognition that cross – Government co-operation and co-ordination of funding streams to support and fund the ‘learning and social needs of learners in asylum seeker dispersal and resettlement areas’. However we would like to see this also extended to the areas within government that address social cohesion and the Citizenship agenda. There are also insufficient guarantees and sanctions proposed to ensure that employers will actually contribute the cost of ESOL provision. We welcome the idea of the Employer Pledge but are not convinced that this is sufficient. We also question how this would work in the case of employment agencies. In terms of the new suite of ESOL for Work qualifications, we feel that this qualification has been shrouded in confusion about its purpose and target group, which has been voiced not only by ourselves but also the awarding bodies. There is no evidence to show what employees in the workplace or employers actually want. The timescale proposed for the introduction of this qualification is also not realistic if the final product is to be both ‘fit for purpose’ and of high quality. We are also still concerned about the position of young ESOL learners who are unable to access suitable provision before their 19th birthdays in spite of their applications being prioritised. Suitable provision for learners in this age group is generally limited to the larger providers and it is frequently very difficult to find a place for those who apply later in the academic year. There are to be large cuts in ESOL provision, particularly of Entry Level tuition in London. This is not about messages regarding ESOL not being communicated but part of the cuts in Adult Education, residual funding and diversion of funds to Train to Gain and full level 2 qualifications. If ESOL learners are unable to access tuition at Entry Level, they will be further disadvantaged as they will not be in a position to access Train to Gain or level 2 qualifications. We therefore urge the Minister to consider the allocation of further funds to alleviate the impact of the withdrawal of automatic fee remission and to implement the NIACE proposals on funding. Irene Austin/Anne McKeown Co Chairs Ministerial ststement 26 March 07 http://www.natecla.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=194

External Link: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus/planning_and_funding