Section 1: Introduction
1. The Individual Learning Account (Scotland) scheme ( ILA Scotland) was launched in December 2004. It has now been operational for three years during which various changes have been made to the scheme to improve service delivery.
2. External evaluation has gathered feedback on how the scheme is working and management information has been collected to track progress. With the recently announced further changes to ILA Scotland it was decided that this is the appropriate time to share the gathered information with interested parties.
3. The external evaluation of ILA Scotland was completed in March 2008 with the Final Learning Provider and Intermediary Report being published in December 2007 ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/12/13151715/0) and the ILA Scotland Learners Study being published on 26 March 2008 ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/03/18111243/0).
4. This publication aims to draw together the various information sources and provide an insight into how in the future ILA Scotland fits within the new Skills Strategy. This covers management information from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland ( SAAS) and Skills Development Scotland ( SDS) and learner survey data from the ILA Scotland Learners Survey report. This is not a National Statistics publication. It presents a summary of the data available to date on ILA Scotland.
5. Information on ILA Scotland registered courses, learning providers and how to apply for funding can be found at: http://www.ilascotland.org.uk/ILA+Homepage.htm