Community Learning and Skills Service. Contract Management 2015/16. Guidance for providers. Slough and RBWM

Transcription

1 Community Learning and Skills Service Contract Management 2015/16 Guidance for providers Slough and RBWM

2

3 CONTENTS 1. Purpose About East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service Commissioning Strategy and Framework... 5 Table 1: Contract Management Framework Principles for Contract Management Contract Management... 8 Table 2: Contract Management Lifecycle... 8 Table 3: Performance indicators and outcomes Table 4: Data management Table 5: Quality Standards from the Quality Assurance Framework Table 6: Observation and Quality Monitoring Visit framework Appendix One: Documentation Table 7: Documentation required from provider Table 8: Documentation supplied by lead provider Appendix Two: Quality Checklist Contract and Monitoring Appendix Three: Common Inspection Framework

4 1. Purpose This Guidance sets out the principles and arrangements for how your contract will be managed by East Berkshire Community Learning & Skills Service. The arrangements for contract management set out how to ensure you comply with both the performance and administrative responsibilities of your contract. It is a contractual requirement that every provider complies with this Guidance. This Guidance is for both contract and programme tier providers and specifically references a tier where additional aspects of contract management apply. It will be updated on an annual basis as and when required (otherwise the latest version will apply). Up to date information on commissioning is published on both Slough and RBWM Council s websites (for website addresses see back page of this document) in the Adult Learning area. Terminology The Service: East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service also defined as the lead provider. The Sub contractor Organisation to which the service is sub contracted to also known as the provider. The SFA Skills Funding Agency. 3

5 2. About East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service (the Service) delivers adult and community learning across Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead. Slough Borough Council manages the provision of community learning in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. This allows us to offer a wider range of courses to both boroughs including English language, functional skills, computing, skills for work, personal development and family learning courses. The service prioritises working with those residents who do not have a level 2 qualification, in particular unemployed people and those in areas of deprivation and disadvantaged communities who would not normally access learning opportunities. We work in partnership with an increasing number of local providers to deliver learning to the targeted groups of learners; this is achieved through a commissioning strategy (see adult learning on Slough Borough Council website). Our mission is: Supporting residents through learning to improve their skills for employment and quality of life With a vision to: Deliver quality learning, advice and skills to residents to enable them to improve their opportunities for education and employment and to contribute to the success of the local economy and their quality of life 4

6 3. Commissioning Strategy and Framework 3.1 Commissioning Strategy The service commissions adult and community learning to local providers, particularly from the community and voluntary sector. To this end it has established a strategic commissioning framework: 1. Major contracts for up to three years 2. Programmes that run for one year at a time for a maximum of three years 3. Small projects that are one off and run within an academic year. All contracts must meet the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills national purpose and objectives of community learning. Contracts contribute to meeting outcomes that have been identified within Slough Borough Council s or the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead s strategic plans. i. Contracts Major contracts cover full areas of work within the Community Learning Fund, including family learning. Contracts are held, subject to performance and budget constraints, for up to three academic years at a time. Contracts have a minimum value of 15,000 up to a maximum of 49,500 per year. ii. iii. Programmes Programmes are required to meet defined objectives referring to widening participation, improving the local environment, delivering pre employment support and to enable adults to move into sustained employment. Programmes are run for one academic year at a time for a maximum of three years, subject to performance and budget constraints. The maximum bid is 15,000 per academic year. Projects Small grants for community projects supporting the voluntary and community sector either to develop their own programmes or to work together to develop one off projects in response to identified need. Projects are funded from the Community Learning Fund and aim to widen participation and to build capacity in community learning. The maximum bid is 1,500. 5

7 3.2 Framework for Commissioning and Contract Management The table below sets out the framework adopted by the service to implement and deliver the commissioning strategy. Head of Community Learning and Skills Learning and Skills Manager Commissioning Lead Planning and Performance Manager Management of commissioning and subcontracting Contract manager (Contract tier only) Contract monitoring Planning and Performance Team (incl. programme tier) Contract monitoring and support of contract performance Learning Coordinators (incl. small projects tier) Coordination in localities NLDC Community Develop Network (Programme tier only) Peer Group Support Quality improvement Table 1: Contract Management Framework 6

8 4. Principles for Contract Management The key principles by which this Guidance follows are: 1. Compliance with requirements from Skills Funding Agency. The Skills Funding Agency sets out conditions of funding for sub contractors in its Funding Rules 2015/16. You are expected to comply with these rules which have been embedded into this Guidance. The document can be found here: funding rules 2015 to Achieving a grade 2 in an inspection from Ofsted. The Service monitors the sub contractors to ensure their delivery to ensure it both complies with the Common Inspection Framework (2015) and is at grade 2. The Framework is used by the Ofsted inspectors (see Appendix Three). 3. Meeting the Service s Quality Assurance Framework. Underpinning the Common Inspection Framework the Service sets minimum standards for quality in delivery with which it will monitor sub contractors to ensure they are met (see section 5.5). As part of its contractual requirements the provider is expected to comply with the Service s Quality Assurance Framework. 4. Alignment with the two respective Council s strategic objectives. Slough Borough Council has a Five Year Plan which includes the ambition for Slough to be a place where people can make good choices about where to live and work and where children can grow up to achieve their full potential. The Service delivers its provision within the outcomes of the Plan in particular for Slough to be the premier location in the south east for businesses and for the centre of Slough to be vibrant, providing business, living and cultural opportunities. RBWM has a vision: A great place to live, work, play and do business, supported by a modern, dynamic and successful council. The transformation programme has four principles which underpin the focus of service delivery. These are: Resident Focused Value for money Delivering together Equipping ourselves for the future 7

9 5. Contract Management 5.1 Annual contract management life cycle Contract management is the process of systematically and efficiently managing contracts to maximise their quality and performance, and minimise risk. The Service manages contracts through the annual lifecycle shown below. This comprises the following key elements: i. Schedule of services ii. Contract monitoring iii. Performance and management information iv. Quality assurance Schedule of services including delivery plan & Performance Indicators agreed for next year JUNE Annual review including future contract arrangements MARCH Annual self assessment result for current year JULY Developmental observation by Service Contract monitoring NLDC termly meetings Provider quality assurance Autumn/Spring/Summer Contract for the new delivery year commences AUGUST Table 2: Contract Management Lifecycle 8

10 5.2 Annual schedule of services The annual schedule of services provides the information agreed between the lead provider and the sub contractor used for contract monitoring: Annual key performance indicators and local indicators/outcomes Conditions arising out of the annual review Deadlines for provision of data Other information e.g. tutor record, programme of learning The payment schedule. Whilst the schedule of services is updated for every delivery year it is recognised that circumstances do change and that on occasions it may be necessary to amend the performance indicators or original delivery programme; this will be undertaken through contract monitoring and reported at the annual contract review meeting. If any information in the Schedule of Services changes the sub contractor is required to inform the Service 5.3 Contract monitoring The purpose of monitoring a contract is to gather qualitative information and data to assess the progress of the contract against the performance indicators and outcomes set in the schedule of services. The type of monitoring will vary by commissioning tier and risk assessment. i. Monitoring by meeting. At the end of every term a provider may be requested to attend a monitoring meeting; this will depend on the tier and risk level. Subcontractors are required to give the Service access to its premises and all documents relating to education and training funded through the contract. For Contract tier sub contractors will have a meeting after every term. For programme tier sub contractors will have a meeting after the first term. If any contract is assessed as having a higher level of risk it will be subject to additional monitoring meetings. ii. Monitoring by report. All contracts will be sent a monitoring report which they are required to complete and return within ten working days. After the first term programmes with a low risk may be monitored via the report only and returned completed with any actions. iii. Data monitoring. At the end of every term the Service will download a data report from the database and assess the performance of the contract against its indicators (see Section 5.4). iv. Annual review. All contracts will be subject to an annual review either through a meeting or an assessment of the final monitoring report. If requested subcontractors are required to attend an annual contracting and review meetings with the Service. The review will assess data against indicators, 9

11 quality of delivery, and overall performance overall for consideration of recontracting next funding year. v. Self Assessment. Following the annual review the sub contractor is expected to contribute to the Service s annual self assessment by producing or contributing an annual report. The report includes a summary of year s performance based on performance targets, achievements and areas for improvement and development, relationship with the Service and, learner feedback. vi. Risk. All contracts are assessed for the level of risk they present to the delivery of the programme and their performance against agreed indicators i.e. the robustness of the provider to deliver the contract for the agreed sum. Risk is assessed at the pre contract stage based on whether the level of risk is low, medium or high. If the risk is not low then this may lead to additional contract monitoring. The contract is assessed during monitoring and at any stage additional resources may be deployed to mitigate risk. Any financial cost to the Service may be clawed back through the performance payment of the contract. 5.4 Performance and management information The Service manages the performance of a sub contractor through regular monitoring of performance indicators. Performance indicators and other outcomes are agreed between the lead provider and sub contractor at the annual review stage i.e. planning the programme for next year of the contract. Should circumstances change performance indicators or the original delivery programme can be reviewed through contract monitoring. Performance indicators Area Key performance indicators Additional performance indicators Local indicators/ outcomes Details 1. unique learners* 2. enrolments 3. retention 4. attendance 5. Achievement* 6. Success 1. disability 2. gender 3. Ethnicity 4. Number of learners under qualification level 2 5. Teaching/guided learning hours* 1. Target group 2. Target ward Table 3: Performance indicators and outcomes Note: *measures critical when assessing payment for delivery 10

12 Management information The Skills Funding Agency and the Service requires information about the Skills and Community Learning courses which it funds. Data is used to provide evidence to the Skills Funding Agency on the Service s delivery against agreed targets for funding. In order to meet these requirements the Service needs to collect data from you about the courses offered, the learners and their achievements. At the contracting stage through the schedule of services sub contractors are required to provide course information about all courses run. Course information required (updated through termly reporting): Name of the course Venue Start and end date, course length, session dates Name of the tutor Any fees During delivery sub contractors are required to collect data to be inputted on the management information system (see table 4 below): The data is reported as performance indicators through contract monitoring. Data collection should be done in real time, with enrolments entered within two weeks of the commencement of the courses and registers on a monthly basis. Training and ongoing support is available from the Service on request. Area Eligibility Enrolment form Register Achievement Action Sub contractors must ensure all learners are eligible for public funding (see Skills Agency s Funding Rules and the Service s Eligibility table). In particular please note the requirement for learners to have been ordinarily resident in the UK, EU or EEA continuously for at least three years on the first day of learning. Once the course starts sub contractors must have a signed enrolment form from every learner completed in full. For compliance with Skills Funding Agency sub contractors should use the Service s enrolment form or their own if it meets the same data requirements. These must be available for inspection. A record of attendance (a register) of every learner must be kept for all courses that consist of more than one session. If delivery is roll on roll off then an individual record needs to be kept of all engagement activity linked to outcomes agreed with the learner at initial assessment or learner log. Completed registers should conform to the requirements of the Skills Funding Agency and the Service. For Family courses children taking part in the sessions should be recorded. Registers must be available for inspection. At the end of the course a record of individuals achievement or non achievement of individual learning goals must be recorded on registers and entered on the MI system. 11

13 Table 4: Data management This data contributes to the annual self assessment of the Service leading to the Self Assessment Report (the SAR ). The evidence provided will guide the judgements and grades within the final SAR. Following the report, a Quality Improvement Plan is implemented. These documents are provided to Ofsted upon inspection (see Section 5.3). 5.5 Quality assurance Quality Assurance Framework The Service is committed to securing the delivery of services to a high standard. Its Quality Assurance Framework (2014/15) governed by the Common Inspection Framework (2015) and the Service s own policies. The Quality Assurance Framework sets out quality standards for delivery of provision across the following areas: Area Course planning and induction Recognising and Recording of Progress and Achievement (RARPA) Observation of Teaching and Learning Standard 1. Sub contractors should contribute to the performance and quality monitoring, and reviews. 2. Sub contractors should arrange with their tutors to undertake the comprehensive preparation for every course including the delivery of documentation, initial assessment and full induction 3. Sub contractors should follow the five stages of RARPA and use an individual learning plan that meets the standard of the Service version. 4. Sub contractors should make arrangements for the observation of tutors in line with the Service s policy. Progression 5. Sub contractors should include advice on progression within their programme planning 6. Providers should collect destination data about a sample of their learners for every course or activity Learner engagement 7. Sub contractors should use a variety of methods to gain feedback from learners for the purpose of measuring and improving the quality of their learning. 8. Sub contractors should capture the impact of the learning on learners lives to assess the aims of the provision. Continuous improvement 9. Sub contractors should use learner feedback to identify and implement improvement to the quality of their service. 12

14 Table 5: Quality Standards from the Quality Assurance Framework Quality assurance will be partly monitored through a planned format of observations and quality monitoring visits: Period Activity Comments September to December January to March Developmental observation or quality monitoring visit Observation (formal classroom learning) or quality monitoring visit Agreed observation where the observer will observe a lesson/activity. A report will be written including the identification key strengths and areas of improvement. The tutor will receive a copy of the report and an action plan will be produced. If an observation was graded low then an additional graded observation will be undertaken. Table 6: Observation and Quality Monitoring Visit framework Sub contractors are required to give sufficient evidence to allow the Service to assess the quality of delivery against Ofsted s Common Inspection Framework and its Quality Assurance Framework. If there is under or over achievement of performance the service will assess the risk and undertake additional monitoring and assessment of the quality of the provider s provision. Sub contractors are required to use the Service s Quality Assurance Framework to manage and improve the quality of their delivery. Roll on roll off programmes: Sub contractors with roll on roll off programmes are required to have an agreed robust process of recording attendance and achievement of all enrolled learners. NLDC Community Development Network The Network is for programme tier sub contractors. The sub contractor nominates one member of staff to attend the meetings. The meetings will be used to support sub contractors with: any developments within the service and programme planning, sharing information and ideas across the service s sub contractors, providing support and quality assurance updates on an ongoing basis. 13

15 Appendix One: Documentation As part of the monitoring process the sub contractor is expected to have the following processes and documents in place and available for inspection at reasonable notice to the lead provider: Document Description Source Tutor information record Suitably qualified staff Form from Schedule of Services Course plans Scheme of work and lesson plan A separate plan for each session taking into consideration group and individual issues and progress from the previous lesson. By provider (form available from lead provider) Health and Safety documentati on Learner Induction Initial assessment The five stages of RARPA built into the scheme of work (see Quality Assurance Framework) Building and Activity risk assessment Sub contractors should have undertaken and documented a building risk assessment and also an activity risk assessment. All risks should be reasonable with control measures in place. Specific requirements should be defined e.g. dance. Health and safety incident log Sub contractors have a responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) for the safety of your learners and to report any incidents to the Service. Induction includes safeguarding, health and safety in the building and with the course, course aims and a complaints process. Learner experience and knowledge, any additional support needs, ambitions, and the setting of individual realistic and SMART targets. By provider (form available from lead provider) Incidents recorded on monitoring report Scheme of work Evidence recorded by sub contractor for every enrolled learner 14

16 Document Description Source Effective system for gathering feedback, including leaver surveys and action taken to make improvements. Learner feedback The sub contractor should encourage ongoing feedback from learners Complaints are recorded by sub contractor in table in monitoring form. Destinations The intended destination of learners is captured once they have completed a period of learning. The agreed percentage of learners to be followed up after leaving their course. Sub contractors are expected to include advice on progression within your programme. The sub contractor can assess the ELA adult advice service: ela@slough.gov.uk Feedback is recorded and reported in contract monitoring form Destinations are captured by subcontractor using categories given by lead provider and reported annually Table 7: Documentation required from provider Documents supplied by the lead provider: Document Eligibility of learner Community Learning Service Guarantee Quality Assurance Framework Contract Management Team Description List of learners entitled for SFA funded learning Sub contractors are required to check their eligibility and record it on the enrolment form The provider is contracted to meet this minimum service guarantee The standards to be achieved by using the Common Inspection Framework and Service s policies including RARPA Contact list of relevant staff in the service Table 8: Documentation supplied by lead provider 15

17 Appendix Two: Quality Checklist Contract and Monitoring Contract 1 Venue(s) secured and checked for health and safety 2 Contract signed and returned 3 Tutor record up to date & added to contract 4 Annual programme by term added to contract 5 Key performance indicators and outcomes agreed Monitoring 5 Authorised enrolment form and register used 6 Enrolment forms, registers and achievement added promptly and regularly on to LearnerTrack 7 Observations agreed and set up 8 Monitoring form completed termly including health and safety and Learner feedback 9 Achievement data collected through register and added to LearnerTrack 10 Pound Plus form completed termly 11 Destination information collected 12 Final report for year submitted Quality processes 13 Enrolment form for every learner checked as fully completed 14 Registers checked for every course as fully completed 15 Learning logs completed (programmes only) 16 Documentation maintained and up to date 17 Observations held 16

18 Appendix Three: Common Inspection Framework 2015 The updated Common Inspection framework for 2015 includes the following notable points: Use of short inspections for providers that were judged good at their last full inspection. These short inspections will be conducted approximately every 3 years. Inspectors no longer grade the quality of teaching in individual lessons and no longer require tutors to produce lesson plans. It should be quite obvious whether the lesson had been planned or not. Providers should be using their own classroom observations to identify both their strengths and weaknesses. Safeguarding is a key factor in inspections and the sub contractor is expected to be able to evidence its staff are trained; induction for learners includes safeguarding, and incidents and logged and acted upon. The document can be found here: inspection frameworkeducation skills and early years from september

19

20 East Berkshire East Berkshire Community Learning and Skills Service Slough Borough Council St. Martin s Place Bath Road Slough SL1 3UF lifelonglearning@slough.gov.uk (adult learning) (moodle)