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National Audit Office reports on Ufi and learndirect

The National Audit Office (NAO) has released a report into the operation of Ufi and the learndirect service. The NAO report says that while Ufi has done a 'good job' in establishing the learndirect service in a relatively short period of time, there are also areas where performance should be improved and savings achieved.

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office said: "learndirect is a major innovative feat that within a few short years has become the largest education provider of its type in the world. It is attracting large numbers of learners who otherwise would not have undertaken learning.

"Management and administration costs have reduced with time but still take up too large a portion of the budget. They need to be streamlined so that more money can go into services for learners, and to increase the emphasis on small- and medium-sized businesses."

The Department for Education and Skills established Ufi in 1998 to deliver learning in new ways and help address the skills gap in the workforce. The NAO reports that Ufi has received £930 million in education funding and that a total of 1.7 million people have taken 4 million learndirect courses. In addition, Ufi has established a national advice line and website that provide around 6 million advice sessions a year on careers and learning opportunities, and established a network of some 2,400 learndirect centres in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The NAO's key findings include:

* Building Ufi and the learndirect network from scratch required significant up-front investment. By 2004-05, marketing and management costs were reducing but £54.2 million was still being spent, 29 per cent of the budget allocated for services to learndirect learners. Ufi has started to cut administrative costs, but its four-tier delivery chain leads to duplication and unproductive administration. As part of its ongoing change programme Ufi should explore the potential for eliminating one tier, thus freeing up more resources for front-line services.

* The long-term sustainability of the learndirect network in rural areas and those centres dealing with disadvantaged groups - where the need for services is high - is in question. Ufi needs to identify those centres at risk and work with the Department and the Learning and Skills Council to develop plans for their viability.

* Nine per cent of learndirect learners have gone on to gain a full level 2 qualification within two years. Ufi plans to increase learndirect's contribution to the Department's Public Service Agreement targets on adult level 2 qualifications and adult literacy and numeracy by increasing its contribution to literacy and numeracy test passes, increasing the number of pre-level 2 learners progressing to level 2 courses with other providers and by delivering level 2 qualifications.

* Ufi has achieved high recognition of the learndirect brand and has developed increasingly high-quality learning materials. It needs to do more to disseminate these materials across the education sector. 180,000 small- and medium-sized businesses have used learndirect services, representing 4 per cent of the sector. There is lower recognition of learndirect among employers than among the general public, and many employers are not aware of the full range of services offered. When Ufi was established one of its objectives was to generate substantial income of its own, but by July 2005 its total self-generated income was only £12 million. Ufi needs to do more to market itself to the small- and medium-sized business sector.

Commenting on the findings, Ufi chairman John Weston said: "From a modest but visionary beginning just seven years ago, Ufi is now attracting half a million adults a year - including some of the hardest to reach in our society - back into learning through the learndirect network of online centres.

"We are delighted that the NAO acknowledges the innovative approach to learning delivery developed by Ufi, and acknowledge the progress we need to make in working with government to exploit learndirect services more widely across public service delivery, develop a service which is uniformly of a high quality across our national network, and increase the proportion of learndirect learners progressing to other forms of provision."

External link

You can access the full report or executive summary of 'Extending access to learning through technology: Ufi and the learndirect service' on the National Audit Office value for money reports page.

For more information on Ufi, visit: www.ufi.com

Training Reference is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.

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