Learning and Skills Council
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| Abbreviation | LSC |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 31 March 2010 |
| Legal status | Non-departmental public body |
| Purpose | Further education in England |
| Location |
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Region served
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England |
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Membership
|
Regional LSCs |
|
Chief Executive
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Geoff Russell |
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Main organ
|
National Council |
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Parent organization
|
BIS and DCSF |
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Budget
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£12.07 bn (2008–09) |
| Website | LSC |
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in England. It closed on 31 March 2010 and was replaced by the Skills Funding Agency and the Young People's Learning Agency.
The LSC was established in April 2001, under the Learning and Skills Act 2000. It replaced the 72 Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council for England. In 2006 it had an annual budget of £10.4 billion. It was described as Britain's largest Quango.
Until June 2007, it was sponsored by the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
In July 2009, the Public Accounts Committee described the LSC's handling of its college building programme as 'catastrophic mismanagement'. It resulted in a £2.7 billion debt, with 144 college building contracts having to be terminated abruptly, and leaving many colleges with huge financial penalties for breach of contract with civil engineering companies. 23 colleges have debts of more than 40% of their annual income, with some facing possible financial collapse. The re-building programme had renovated over half of England's colleges since 2001.
On 17 March 2008 the abolition of the LSC was announced; funding responsibilities for 16- to 19-year-old learners were to transfer to Education Funding Agency and the new Skills Funding Agency was to distribute funding for adult learners in Further Education colleges.
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