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Advisory Board

Skills Funding Agency Advisory Board

The Advisory Board will ensure that the Skills Funding Agency has direct input from customer groups in shaping and influencing its work. It will advise on the implementation of key policy initiatives and effectiveness of delivery, as well as provide a feedback mechanism for employers, learners and stakeholders.

Terms of reference

• Advise the Skills Funding Agency on any aspect of policy implementation and delivery across the range of its responsibilities.
• Provide a feedback mechanism on the effectiveness/quality of services funded or provided by the Skills Funding Agency as they are experienced by key customer/client groups.
• Act as a sounding board in relation to the implementation plans and timetable for any major new policy initiative.
• Provide a vehicle for the development of new partnership structures/mechanisms and for improved stakeholder relationships across the network of organisations with an interest in the work of the Skills Funding Agency.
• Recommend to the Skills Funding Agency/The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) areas of service delivery and infrastructure which should be reviewed or evaluated.
• Provide a conduit, through the respective individual member organisations on the Advisory Board, for effective and improved communication and dissemination on all aspects of the adult learning and skills funding system.

The Advisory Board will meet five times a year and the minutes from each meeting are available below.

Board minutes

Minutes from 15 February 2012
Minutes from 14 November 2011
Minutes from 14 September 2011
Minutes from 15 June 2011
Minutes from 12 April 2011
Minutes from 17 February 2011
Minutes from 15 December 2010
Minutes from 27 October 2010

Members of the Advisory Board

• Geoff Russell (Chair), Chief Executive, Skills Funding Agency
• Graham Hoyle, Chief Executive, Association of Learning Providers
• Martin Doel, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges
• David Frost, Director General, British Chambers of Commerce
• Ian Pryce, Principal, Bedford College and 157 Group
• Philip Rutnam, Director General, BIS
• Ruth Farwell, Vice Chancellor, Buckinghamshire New University
• James Fothergill, Head of Education and Skills, CBI
• Scott Johnson, Member, CBI SME Council
• Mark Farrar, Chief Executive, Construction Skills
• Jon Graham, Managing Director, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
• Jacinda Humphry/ Isobel Stephen, Strategy, Planning, Employers and Stakeholders Director, Jobcentre Plus
• Ian Forward, Head of Community Learning and Skills, Kent County Council and member of Local Education Authorities Forum for the Education of Adults (LEAFEA)
• Derrick Anderson, Chief Executive, Lambeth Council
• Tim Ward, Chief Executive, Learning Curve and Third Sector National Learning Alliance
• Toni Pearce, Vice-President (Further Education), NUS
• Frances O'Grady, Deputy General Secretary, Trades Union Congress
• Michael Davis, Chief Executive, UK Commission for Employment and Skills
• Les Walton, Chairman, Young People's Learning Agency