The reorganisation of funding for 16-19 education has been criticised by the LGA. Schools minister, Nick Gibb, announced measures to ‘simplify' the current funding process to enable local authorities to scrap regional and sub-regional planning groups. The LGA claimed the move would not ‘cut down on middlemen', but defer responsibility elsewhere instead. This was because colleges would now have to deal with two bodies – the Young People's Learning Agency and the Skills Funding Agency. Cllr Shireen Ritchie, chair of the children and young people's board, said: ‘Making changes to who distributes the money to colleges will make no difference if the process isn't simplified. ‘Colleges and councils should not pick up the extra burden of having to deal with money coming from two different government departments.'