Community learning in Somerset will return to the control of the county council later this year in a government U-turn following a decade of upheaval.
Somerset County Council’s training arm Somerset Skills & Learning (SS&L) transferred as a “community interest company” in 2015. It was part of a social enterprise experiment under the coalition government to consolidate skills and resident support funding streams from various government departments.
However the wheels quickly fell off after Vince Cable, business secretary at the time, lost his seat at the 2015 general election and the Conservatives won a majority.
The then-Skills Funding Agency put the community learning contract out to tender. Other departments followed, leaving funding for SS&L at jeopardy for every funding cycle.
