This afternoon the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) published the “2011/12 Percentage of SFA funds that are drawn down for the subcontracted provision that is passed onto the subcontractor through the contract in a PDF formatted list”. Click here to download the spreadsheet. There is also a related FAQ document here.
The release of the data follows an FoI request for the information, made by FE Week in February.
The SFA said: “We have a statutory duty to make best use of the Agency’s resources when securing the provision of education and training. Funding provided should be used for the benefit of the learner and spent on their learning programme or provision. The amount of funding retained by a lead provider for programmes and provision delivered in whole, or in part, by a subcontractor must represent good value for money and reflect the actual costs incurred by each party in the delivery of that provision.
The data reflects the direct costs incurred by the lead provider; however the diversity in the range of costs that have been recorded and reported by lead providers means it is difficult to separate fees and direct delivery costs.
To enable the Agency to accurately report and differentiate the different types of fees and charges, we are working with our External Advisory Group, including the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and the Association of Colleges (AOC) todevelop criteria to accurately report how funding is being used. In the meantime we do not”.
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