Changes to ESFA to allow it to refocus on funding delivery

A report by the Department for Education has highlighted changes to the ESFA, which will allow it to refocus on funding delivery.

The report is recommending that all post-16 skills policy and implementation within ESFA should move to the DfE. It is also recommending that apprenticeships and professional and technical education should move into the FEHEE Group. Meanwhile, the Further Education Directorate (FED) should also move into DfE.

It also recommends that the functions in Academies and Maintained Schools Directorate (AMSD) not linked to the funding delivery role,  should move to the new pre-16 regional tier in DfE. This covers non-financial regulatory functions for academies and the functions related to school and trust non-financial governance.

The report says: "Moving these functions to the pre-16 regional tier will help the department to think, act and partner much better locally and regionally and will enable more strategic conversations with the schools sector."

See the full changes to the ESFA here.