STEM Preparatory Programme

Staffordshire County Council is advertising this opportunity under the auspices of the Light Touch Regime. This opportunity is voluntarily being advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union and the Council does not undertake to follow the requirements of the procedures described in Chapter 2, Section 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Providers with capacity and capability to deliver provision in the STEM sector are invited to bid for funding to deliver preparatory programmes to engage adults with a particular focus on adults from disadvantaged groups and/or districts within Staffordshire. The programmes should enable the learners to progress to a traineeship, an apprenticeship, an accredited programme at level 1 or 2, work experience or employment in a STEM vocational area. It is envisaged that most learners will have few or no previous qualifications or alternatively hold historical skills and experience and wish to undertake a refresher programme to progress in the sector. The programme content could include the development of basic skills in a STEM vocational area study skills, English, maths and IT, depending on assessed learner need. The suggested programme length for non-accredited programmes is between 30 and 60 guided learning hours. Providers can also bid to deliver accredited programmes which are listed on the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) learning aims database and must comply with the relevant awarding body requirements. Key performance indicators for all programmes will include the percentage of learners achieved and the percentage progressed to a successful outcome as detailed above.

Funding

Non-accredited programmes will be funded at the rate of 15 GBP per learner hour. Funding earned for the delivery of accredited programmes will be in accordance with the funding rates listed on the ESFA learning aims database. A management charge of 15 % will be deducted from the total funding earned from delivery of accredited programmes. Providers can opt to deliver accredited or non-accredited programmes only or a mix of both. In 2017-18 an allocation of 200 000 GBP is available for the non-accredited programme offer and a total allocation of 150 000 GBP is available for the accredited programme offer.

There is a requirement for all successful providers to comply with:

• ESFA funding rules 2017-2018,
• Quality standards set out in the Ofsted common inspection framework,
• Awarding body guidance and regulations (for accredited programmes),
• The Skills and Employability Service's performance and quality monitoring processes and approaches,
• The Skills and Employability Service's data collection and submission requirements,
• The Staffordshire County Council's safeguarding arrangements.

Providers are also expected to have and maintain robust processes for internal quality assurance and improvement. Successful providers will provide a comprehensive and high quality STEM vocational programme for adults with a pa