About the Data Service

The Data Service is an independently managed organisation, established and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and supported by the Learning and Skills Council to act as a single, central point of information for further education.

We have been created to deliver initiatives of the information authority by managing the collection, transformation and dissemination of all further education data and to be responsive to the changing data needs of the sector.

We will work with and report to the information authority, which has been established through the reforms as an independent body to set and regulate data and collection standards for all organisations involved in further education and training in England.

The Data Service will have extensive data analysis capabilities and some reporting capability, including the appropriate tools and technology. We will also offer dedicated support for customers which includes account management; a central help desk; and training for providers.

Through our governance arrangements, we aim to be an exemplar of progress towards sector self-management and sector self-governance.

The Data Service will be supported by the Learning and Skills Council in its formative stages through the transfer of historic data collection, data use and data dissemination information; the provision of technical infrastructure and systems; and HR and other corporate services.

By 2011 we will have evolved into an independent organisation acting in the interests of the further education sector as a whole.