ELWa was an Assembly Sponsored Public Body responsible for post-16 learning in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, active from 2000 to 2006. ELWa's functions are now exercised by the Assembly Government's Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.

Formation and activities

''ELWa - Education and Learning Wales'' was the brand used by the National Council for Education and Training for Wales (NCETW), an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB) or

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where N ...

established by the Learning and Skills Act 2000. NCETW merged the functions of the former training and enterprise councils in Wales with the Further Education Funding Council for Wales. The organisation's remit was to plan and fund post-16 learning (excluding

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...

) in Wales, including further education, publicly funded work-based training, adult community learning and

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compu ...

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

s. NCETW/ELWa's main statutory responsibilities were to: * Secure the provision of facilities for post-16 education and training in Wales (with the exception of higher education (covered by the other ELWa partner,

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) is the Welsh Government Sponsored Body responsible for funding the higher education sector. Functions HEFCW distributes funds for education, research and related activities at Wales's hi ...

); * Encourage young people and adults to participate in learning; and * Encourage employers to participate in, and contribute to the costs of, post-16 education and training. The Welsh Assembly Government treated ELWa as a single entity although it was not constituted as one.

Re-organisation

Initially the ELWa brand was used by both the NCETW and the

(HEFCW), and both organisations shared a common executive with some joint staff co-located in Llanishen (NCETW also maintained the former TEC offices in Bedwas, Swansea, Newtown and

St Asaph St Asaph (; cy, Llanelwy "church on the Elwy") is a city and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355, making it the second-smallest city in Britain in terms of population and urba ...

). Following a review in 2002 the

Welsh Minister , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

for Education and Lifelong Learning, Jane Davidson, decided that each Council should have a full-time dedicated

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

and Director of Finance. Around the same time it also became apparent that there was no legal basis for the two Councils to jointly employ staff. Subsequently the brand name ELWa was retained solely by NCETW.

Criticism

During its short history, ELWa attracted criticism for a series of failures in

financial management Financial management is the business function concerned with profitability, expenses, cash and credit, so that the "organization may have the means to carry out its objective as satisfactorily as possible;" the latter often defined as maximizi ...

, poor risk management and organisational restructuring.

Merger with Welsh Assembly Government

ELWa was merged with the

Welsh Assembly Government Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

on 1 April 2006, along with the Welsh Development Agency and Wales Tourist Board. ELWa's functions are now exercised by the

Welsh Government , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

's Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elwa Welsh Government Education in Wales Welsh Government sponsored bodies Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom