COUNCIL cabinet member for Education, Councillor Don Rule, is a driving force behind improving access to learning and skills for 14 to 19-year-olds in Herefordshire and nationally.

Councillor Rule, who has held the post for four years, also serves as deputy chairman of the Local Government Association, Education and Lifelong Learning Executive.

He said: ''The LGA sees the community leadership of 14-19 learning and skills as paramount to the success of meeting these challenges and carrying out the necessary reform. The local learning and skills agenda is central to improving economic and social well-being. Local government is a major employer and, as such, has a key role to play.''

The road to better learning and skills access for young people is nationally driven and breaks down into a number of categories:

Transforming Learning, Building Skills (14 - 19)

1. The Local Government Association (LGA) has developed a broad debate over the last six months about how we can revolutionise the way people learn post 14, including where they learn, what they learn and the recognition this is given. Integral to this project is the belief that local government has an essential role to play in leading the improvement of 14-19 provision across its communities and with its partners.

Context for reform of 14-19

2. We start from the premise that young people are not getting what they deserve currently and that employers are not getting the young people with the skills they need. There is overwhelming statistical and anecdotal evidence to support this including:

Only 40% of students gaining 1-4 grades D-G at GCSE going on to further education;

UK being 27th out of 30 developed countries for the participation of 17 year olds in education and training

Over 5% of young people leaving school with no qualifications

An unequal spread across social classes. A young person from a professional background is 5 times more likely to go in to Higher Education than a young person from an unskilled background

Poor skills contributing to a productivity gap between the UK and its competitors of 20-25%

Only 55% of employers being satisfied that school leavers are equipped with basic literacy and numeracy and only 39% being satisfied that they have key skills such as communication, team work and problem solving.

Balanced-style learning

3. We have welcomed the DfES 14-19 Reform (Tomlinson-led) Report that makes recommendations for the reform of the curriculum and assessment of 14-19 year olds and has made proposals for a balanced diploma style of learning and assessment. This is one essential element of the package that needs to be in place over the next 10 years to ensure young people's success. The next phase of the Tomlinson-led review is to look at how these reforms could be implemented. This has been at the heart of the LGA's Transforming Learning, Building Skills project.

Broad consultation

4. The LGA has consulted with partners from the public, private and voluntary sectors about what the problems are with the current system and what needs to be done to address them. A series of seminars have been held and a discussion paper was sent to all partners and all councils in January seeking views on what the barriers to improvement are currently and testing out suggestions for the immediate and longer term. We have had a good response rate.