Agenda item

Debbie Scarborough (Service Manager, Adult and Community Learning), Cristi Gonzalez (Ealing Adult Learning Manager), and Eamon Scanlon (Head of Adult Learning and Skills Service, LB Hammersmith and Fulham) were present to provide information as part of the second witness session for the review into the Hillingdon Adult and Community Learning Service.

The report included with the meeting papers detailed a summary of the service’s planning for the next academic year. In addition, a forthcoming bid to the GLA for an additional £200k over 2 years was to be submitted in the coming days. This funding was confirmed to be in addition to the current levels of GLA funding which had been set many years ago, and which provided some authorities with significantly higher or lower funding. The Committee was advised that this historic GLA funding could potentially be reviewed, but that lobbying of the GLA would likely be required.

Neither Ealing nor Hammersmith and Fulham received direct funding from their councils, with all funding received via grants from the GLA or ESFA. Fees were charged where appropriate, with lower fees or concessions provided for learners receiving benefits or from certain socio-economic backgrounds.

On learning venues, Hillingdon was confirmed to use schools, children’s centres, libraries and other venues, including Brookfield, a dedicated venue.

Regarding mental health of learners, Hillingdon provided support free of charge to all learners. Fees received were used to support those learners who did not pay for courses. Attendees advised that interdepartmental working had increased, for example via referrals to the social care teams. External organisations such as MIND were also being engaged. Officers were proactive, with targeted outreach involving GP’s, neighbourhood care teams, public health etc. It was recognised that further work could be done to promote the services available. Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham highlighted additional engagement with partners such as MENCAP, housing associations, Holex, and the educational training foundation, among others.

Changes to the services as a result of the pandemic included continued provision of ‘blended learning’ with a number of courses remaining online, alongside an increased focus on courses linked to health and wellbeing. The importance of providing face to face learning to allow for social interaction and engagement between learners had been recognised, as well as for those learners who were unable to use remote learning technology. Internal working practices between departments had also been strengthened.

Partnership working between Hillingdon and other authorities included a regular online meeting to discuss how to overcome challenges or share best practice. Joint training sessions and the sharing of resource materials was also carried out, while authorities often submitted joint bids for funding, where appropriate. Each authority in an attendance also drafted an annual self-assessment of their service, which was then peer reviewed by the other councils.

Regarding the rebuilding of Harlington school, it was confirmed that classes would continue to be run in the school while the rebuild was underway. However, once complete, the new site would have lower available space for in-person classes, and officers were working to identify long terms solutions to address this.

The Committee thanked the witnesses for their time and noted the information provided.