2008
The information authority makes ‘good start’
Published:
31 August 2011
Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, recognised the good start the
information authority had made to its job of setting and regulating data standards for further education when he addressed an audience in London last month.
In a pre-recorded video introducing new services for improving information for education, he highlighted the important roles that the authority, the new Data Service and the MIAP service had to play in improving standards and efficiency.
“I recognise the good start the
information authority has made to its task of reducing burdens and increasing the efficiency of data collection and reporting,” he said. “I want to take this opportunity to reinforce awareness of the importance of the work of the
information authority and provide an incentive to move forward with even greater determination.
“The Data Service, which is due to be launched in April, will act as the central collection point of information in further education.
“We want to give greater autonomy to colleges and other learning providers, coupled with greater responsibility for their own improvement. That will allow them to focus on delivering more effectively to learners and employers rather than on unnecessarily complex requirements from other organisations.
“A self-regulating and more streamlined sector will release more of providers’ energy to focus on meeting the needs of learners and employers. In short, it will let everyone in further education spend more of their time doing what they do best.”
Graham Jones, Chairman of the
information authority, was a keynote speaker at the event in Central Hall, Westminster, to launch the MIAP Learner Registration Service.
“Let me say how encouraged we were to hear the positive statements from the Minister, Bill Rammell, and how gratified we are that he keeps so closely in touch with the work of the body which was set up by him and which derives its authority, chiefly, from him,” he said.
“I did also detect in his words an important expectation that we should not let too much grass grow beneath our feet and I am pleased to be able to reassure him that we intend to move quickly and with determination through what can sometimes be politically sensitive territory, with many vested interests and many legitimate but competing claims for the supply of new data alongside an understandable reluctance to inflate the bureaucratic burden still more.
“Both the
information authority and MIAP are only part of a wider government strategy to reduce bureaucracy and alongside other initiatives, not least the notion of self regulation, the aim is to free up the sector’s energy to tackle the vital task of improving standards and raising the nation’s skill levels.
“We know that our arrival on the scene was welcomed by the sector which saw us as a long overdue regulatory necessity. We are confident that we shall have the whole of the sector with us as we untangle some of the complexities of systems which have grown unwieldy over time. Indeed, we cannot succeed unless we have the support and co-operation of the whole sector and all those involved with data in general.”
