Nick Mann | 16 December 2011
Further education providers could save up to £70m a year if the government cut the red tape they face, the National Audit Office said today.
Reporting on efforts to simplify FE funding, qualification and assurance systems, the auditors found the administrative burden had not been measured and there was little co-ordination between the two main bodies responsible – the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Skills Funding Agency.
The NAO estimated the red tape cost for colleges alone at £180m a year – equivalent to £150 per student. When other providers are taken into account, this rises to £250m.
Colleges visited by the auditors suggested they could reduce these costs by half if the system were simplified. The auditors said an immediate reduction on this scale might not be ‘practicable’, but savings of around a quarter – between £60m–£70m – could be achieved.
This would also help to protect frontline services from bearing the brunt of FE spending cuts, they added.
The watchdog called on the DBIS and the SFA to set a ‘clear, ambitious’ target for the reduction in costs they were seeking to achieve. This would provide ‘more impetus to change’, it said.
The department and agency should also develop a clear picture of both the final operating model for the funding, qualification and assurance systems they were trying to develop, and exactly how they plan to get there.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said: ‘Our estimates show that substantial savings can be made by reducing bureaucracy in further education, and demonstrate the need for focused and systematic management of these costs to drive sustained improvements in efficiency.
‘The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Skills Funding Agency have the ambition to make changes to simplify the system, but they must get to grips with the issues we have raised in order to achieve value for money and prevent colleges being embroiled in red tape.’
Further education and skills minister John Hayes said the report showed the ‘considerable progress’ the government had already made in reducing further education bureaucracy as well as the ‘urgency’ of the task it faced.
‘We are moving at pace to cut red tape and empower the sector to respond more flexibly to the needs of learners and businesses, and many of these reforms have been effective since the NAO undertook its research earlier this year,’ he said.
‘I welcome the NAO recommendation that our work should be evaluated to assess the changes we are driving forward. The government will fast-track the work already begun to measure the overall impact of our reforms on colleges.’
Martin Doel, Association of Colleges chief executive, welcomed the call for ‘clear and ambitious targets’ for reducing bureaucracy but sounded a note of caution over the limited impact of previous ‘bureaucracy-busting’ initiatives.
‘While applauding the NAO’s sentiment, we must at the same time reflect the healthy scepticism of our members, who have witnessed the unveiling of a number of bureaucracy-busting initiatives since incorporation that have sadly withered on the vine. We should also be wary of cuts in frontline funding that are presented as efforts to reduce red tape,’ he said.
‘We sincerely hope that this government’s strong emphasis on institutional autonomy will ensure that reforms of funding, qualification and assurance systems lead to sustainable cost-savings for colleges and UK plc, while at the same time continuing to support high quality college courses and ensuring the most effective and responsible stewardship of the public purse.’
