5.1 Investment in community learning
In general, there was as yet little evidence of resources being re-targeted to address assessed learning needs. Most CLPs had not reached the stage where they could impact on investment of resources. In a substantial number of partnerships, the authority's current staffing levels and deployment were fully stretched. In these cases the authority was unable to guarantee further investment of time to meet increased demand for provision arising from the CLP.
However, the planning process had led to positive developments, often building on existing collaboration. It had engaged a range of providers, agencies and community groups, some of whom were working together for the first time. There were examples of new joint work resulting from the planning process. In a number of cases, local authority staff were aligning their own planning cycle and format with that of the CLP to facilitate allocation of time against its priorities. All partnerships had carried out some form of audit of current provision of community learning and development within their area. In some partnerships, the exercise was thorough and comprehensive and provided a valuable planning resource. Other partnerships had carried out a wide-ranging audit, but the relationship between the breadth of data collected and national priorities was unclear.
Completed plans evaluated by HM Inspectors showed that partners planned to achieve the objectives of the plan by complementing their current resources with funding from a range of sources, for example, the European Union. Some partnerships were concerned that they had no additional funding to co-ordinate the planning process and to fund the additional learning opportunities to meet the assessed learning needs of the community. Many partners perceived the lack of dedicated additional resources to co-ordinate CLPs and to meet the emerging learning needs of communities as detrimental to the success of the initiative.
All community learning strategy partnerships had worked on a short timescale to prepare action plans to implement the national literacy and numeracy strategy in their area and submit them to the Scottish Executive. The context for these action plans differed from community learning plans generally in that new money was available to each partnership for the purpose. A number of partnerships were implementing the literacy and numeracy strategy through a thematic community learning plan which covered the entire local authority area.
5.2 Impact on learning opportunities
There was no evidence of significant impact of the planning process on learning opportunities at this stage. It was too early in the stage of development of most CLPs to evaluate the impact of community learning plans on the number, quality and range of learning opportunities offered by community learning partnerships. Completed plans identified learning opportunities, which were targeted at priority groups and issues. However, the process of bringing organisations and community groups together as partners, was showing results ranging from growth in trust and awareness on the part of members to the emergence of informal partnerships of two or more members. It was providing a good basis for improvements in provision.