Allocation and Need in the Distribution of Training Budgets: The Case of English Training and Enterprise Councils

Abstract

TWOMEY J., TOMKINS J. M. and TOPHAM N. (1994) Allocation and need in the distribution of training budgets: the case of English Training and Enterprise Councils, Reg. Studies 28, 495–510. The Department of Employment in its White Paper, Employment for the 1990s, outlined a series of measures designed to improve barriers to employment and training provision, arising from a more general recognition that the UK was failing to deliver high quality vocational education and training. Amongst these measures was the development of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). This paper examines the allocation of budgets to TECs from the perspective of need. In the first instance, an index of need is established for each TEC area, using the technique of factor analysis. The allocation of per capita budgets is then discussed and comparisons drawn between these and the ranking of TECs produced by the needs index. An alternative budget allocation mechanism is proposed which relates resources more closely to the requiremen...