Question: How does the LSC attempt to use learning and skills in order to play its part in building community cohesion?

Chris Banks: At first glance, the issues of skills and community cohesion may not sound intrinsically linked but for us, it is obvious. A better skilled society leads to more cohesive communities.

Getting a job is the best way out of poverty and getting skills is the best way of getting a good job. Until we are successful in helping all in the community improve their skills, we face the prospect of a two-tier society.

Question: What is the key challenge to using skills to impact on community cohesion?

Chris Banks: We need to work with groups like Jobcentre Plus to ensure those who most need our help understand the importance of skills. We must help them access the training and support they need to be able to fulfil their potential as individuals, compete and progress in the labour market and be active citizens in their communities.

Community cohesion is not just about race, or ethnicity. It is about having the right provision in place across the board. The right provision is that which can engage more people who for a variety of reasons who have not been traditionally inclined to learn and to support their progression onto further learning.

Question: How big a role does English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) have to play in terms of integration?

Chris Banks: The demand for ESOL provision is huge. Since 2001 the funding and learning opportunities for ESOL have tripled.

In order to ensure funding remains sustainable, we are prioritising funding for the most disadvantaged groups. We have an expectation that those who can afford to pay and we need to consider incentives to encourage employers to contribute to their employees' ESOL needs.  

Question: A consultation on ESOL, and its role within Community Cohesion, is currently taking place. But beyond ESOL, what else is the LSC doing in this area?

Chris Banks: We are incorporating more flexible provision, such as the Foundation Learning Tier and ESF funded learning. They can help engage those most excluded.

Question: Do other adult learning programmes play a key role?

Chris Banks: Personal, community development learning, for example, aims to widen participation by all adults, regardless of their prior educational achievement, and supports the wider benefits of learning in the community, including health (mental and physical wellbeing) and community cohesion.

These schemes may not always lead to a formal qualification but they do play a vital role in bringing people into learning in the first place.

There are lots of complex issues here, many of which are under review, but there is one thing that really stands out to me - the role of the voluntary sector. This sector is really important to forging stronger and more cohesive communities. They help us reach out to these groups that are too far removed from our mainstream FE provision.

Question: In light of this, is that why the LSC recently held an event to celebrate the work of the third sector?

Chris Banks: This sector is sometimes seen as marginal to the mainstream, but this is not the case. It is at the heart of it. We have introduced a range of measures to make it easier for third sector providers to access LSC funding.
 
Question: Are further education (FE) colleges also an important element to the mix?
 
Chris Banks: It sometimes feels as if the role of FE colleges in community cohesion is easily forgotten or overlooked.  Colleges are natural microcosms of cohesive communities where people from all races, religions, genders and affiliations come together with a common purpose and a common belonging – to be learners.

They are a place where people meet each other in a neutral setting with a shared ambition and common purpose. Discussion in colleges is not about personal agenda but about sharing perspectives in an environment where discussion is not only promoted but craved, and where it is both acceptable and interesting to have, and to be able to understand, differing points of view.
 
Learning and skills, can help to avoid a two-tier society. Colleges do a fantastic job in bringing together diverse and disparate communities. We know there is more to be done, but we also must be sensible and accept that there are scarce resources and we need to prioritise them.
 
Question: Listening to this it seems the future of community cohesion really could lie in further education and skills?

Chris Banks: With learning neither a prefix or suffix is needed. There is no labelling 'Muslim learners' or 'Christian learners'; or 'black learners' or 'white learners'. Learners are simply learners and we should be spreading this attitude out, far beyond college boundaries.