Q & A
Below is a list of questions and answers that will give you a clearer insight into
the information authority.
What is the information authority?
Why was it established?
When was it established?
What does it do?
How does it fit with other further education initiatives?
What powers does the authority have?
Who does the information authority work with?
Who is the authority accountable to?
Is it truly independent?
What is its structure?
What does the board do?
What does the secretariat do?
For what standards is the information authority responsible?
How will the information authority make things better?
What is the information authority?
The information authority was established as an independent body to set and regulate data and collection standards for all organisations involved in further education and training.
The authority board is made up of high-ranking representatives from all areas of further education and training, and is making far-reaching decisions to reform data standards and to streamline and improve the way information is collected and shared.
The information authority is working in partnership with the Data Service, which has been set up to handle and disseminate information across further education and training and make representations to the authority on its behalf.
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Simplification and improvement to the supply and use of data is a key element of Government reforms for further education. A streamlined data system will reduce the burden of collection placed upon post-16 education and training providers and raise the quality of information available to drive better performance.
The creation of an independent information authority is the prime component of the Further Education System Data Programme to streamline and improve the way information is collected and shared across further education.
The information authority was established by the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to act as a single gatekeeper for information standards and data reporting requirements across the further education sector.
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The information authority board met for the first time in October 2006. It has agreed its Terms of Reference and a draft protocol governing signatories from across the further education and training sector.
The authority board is chaired by Graham Jones, Principal and Chief Executive of Sutton Coldfield College in advance of the appointment of a permanent independent chair. Its membership comprises representatives of:
BIS; DCSF; LSC; Ofqual; National Training Resources; Ofsted; HEFCE; AoC; Asset Skills; HOLEX; LLUK; Alliance of Sector Skills; and LGA.
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The information authority has responsibility for:
- Appraising and ruling upon requests for the collection of new data.
- Agreeing the definition of reports, sets of data and their dissemination cycle.
- Setting standards and definitions for all data collected from learning providers.
- Incorporating relevant existing and emerging data standards into those for further education.
The board's Terms of Reference state that it will take decisions on:
- The data standards that will be used in collection and reporting.
- What data items will be collected.
- What information will be reported, how it be made available and disseminated and what the rules are for its use, e.g. the use of 'early findings' reports, the purpose of data sharing, and how data might be shared.
- How frequently data will be collected and reported.
- To what quality data will collected and reported.
- The cycle, timetable and processes for changes to collection and reporting - including receiving, assessing and ruling on bids for new data items and reports.
- Incorporating relevant existing and emerging data standards into those for further education.
In making those decisions, board members will:
- Champion the principles of the information authority to ensure that the use of data is maximised and the burden is minimised.
- Represent the wider interests of the further education sector as a whole - and not just the interests of their own organisations.
- Receive representation from this sector, through the secretariat, and provide a route through which data user and data provider stakeholders can influence board decisions.
- Introduce stability and appropriate notice of change to FE data standards.
The main scope of the board's decisions will be:
- Post-16 learning across the English further education system - including FE colleges, FE learning through other institutions, work-based learning, PCDL - but not including higher education.
- Initially (a first year priority) data about learners and their learning - but eventually other types of data (for e.g. data on staff) and data covered by the Framework for Excellence may be in scope. The board will have an interest in, and influence on, data standards, collections and reporting about and in school sixth forms, higher education and in other UK countries.
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The authority’s creation supports recommendations contained in the FE White Paper ‘Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances’; the Learning and Skills Council’s agenda for change programme of reforms; and the Foster Report.
It is complimentary to other cross-sector data streamlining initiatives including the MIAP (Managing Information Across Partners) programme, Framework for Excellence and Demand-Led Funding.
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The information authority board receives its authority from government Ministers. It is empowered by further education and training organisations through the signing of a protocol. This protocol requires signatories to commit to:
- Reducing the quantity and variation of different data requests to learning providers by working through an independently-chaired information authority as a single gatekeeper for setting information, collection and reporting standards.
- Abiding by a set of data standards, collections and reports collectively negotiated and resolved with, and through, the information authority, to the wider benefit of the sector.
- Championing the principles of the information authority to ensure that use of data is maximised and burden minimised.
By signing the protocol, signatories have established the authority of the information authority. Ministers have asked organisations across the sector to work together to reform further education data. That Ministerial remit, the appointment of an independent Chair to the information authority board and agreement to the protocol, give the information authority the authority to deliver reforms to data systems.
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The information authority works within existing standards and structures. These include those set by the Office for National Statistics; the Information Standards Board; the MIAP (Managing Information Across Partners) - notably the Common Data Definitions component - and the Schools Star Chamber. The authority also recognises the reciprocal arrangements governing Further Education in Higher Education and Higher Education in Further Education.
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The authority is accountable to government Ministers and all organisations across the sector for balancing the demand for data against that needed by providers to run their businesses.
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Yes. The independence of the organisation is vital if it is to make balanced decisions on standards and data collection affecting all organisations across the further education and training sector. The recruitment of an independent Chair and the protocol which sector representatives of the board will sign, reinforce the independence of the authority.
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The information authority comprises a strategic board with an independent Chair and members representing different areas of the further education and training sector.
This is supported by an operational secretariat, which prepares information for the board and ensures that its decisions are acted upon.
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The board makes far-reaching decisions to reform data and information and will require all stakeholders to abide by them. It does this by:
- Appraising, approving and rejecting requests for the collection of new data.
- Agreeing the definition of reports, sets of data and their dissemination cycle.
- Setting standards and definitions for all data collected from learning providers about learners, the derived variables generated from that data and standard reporting to all stakeholders.
- Incorporating relevant existing and emerging external data standards into those for further education.
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The secretariat prepares information for the information authority board and ensures that decisions of board members are acted upon.
It is working closely with the Data Service in administering the specification and publication of standards.
The role of the secretariat is to:
- Assess new requests for data and balance need against burden before making recommendations to the information authority board.
- Receive representations from further education organisations on the practicality and workability of standards, collection and dissemination processes.
- Publish and promote all of the standards agreed by the information authority board.
- Support the board in communicating decisions.
- Work with the Information Standards Board on common standards.
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The standards for which the information authority will be responsible will be determined over time. The authority has already taken over decision-making for the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) from the Learning and Skills Council. The authority ruled in January 2007 on proposed changes to the 2007/08 ILR specification.
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The information authority, working in tandem with the Data Service, will improve the quality and use of data; reduce bureaucracy and increase accountability to users and sponsors. The authority’s creation supports recommendations contained in the FE White Paper, the Learning and Skills Council’s agenda for change programme of reforms, and the Foster Report.
The authority will:
- Improve the regulation of data – establish clear and stable data definitions.
- Reduce bureaucracy – implement the approach of ‘collect one, use many times, use by all’.
- Improve the timeliness of information for all – implement an effective data collection and dissemination timetable that balances the needs of data users against the burden placed upon data providers.
- Improve the consistency of reporting – implement standard methods for calculating derived variables and reporting upon data.
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