Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I should send up a puff of white smoke, I think, and give my noble friend Lord Young a chance to recharge his batteries. The noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, is absolutely right when he says that much of the credibility of the quality apprenticeship system that we have been talking about rests on the effectiveness of the consultation concerned with this document. As the noble Lord, Lord Elton, points out, this clause is extremely important going forward. Perhaps I can attempt to explain why a second consultation on the document Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England and the equivalent for Wales is not necessary. Clause 21(2) requires the chief executive, as noble Lords are aware, to consult fully on the draft SASE. Clause 21(4), which removes this requirement in respect of the first draft, was written to reflect the fact that this consultation would already have taken place by the time the section came into force. As noble Lords are aware, we have had a draft apprenticeships Bill and we now have this Bill, so the consultation on the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England has closed. The amendment would require a further consultation on the first draft of the specification. The Committee will know, as we have just discussed it, that the draft specification was out for 12 weeks’ consultation, which ended on 29 May. The draft specification for Wales is out for a 12-week public consultation period, which will end on 17 July. As noble Lords are aware, we drew both consultations to the attention of key stakeholders, a number of whom have been involved in its early development. The SASE consultation attracted many responses: 34 per cent were from training providers; 14 per cent were from FE institutions; 12 per cent were from sector skills councils and standard-setting bodies; almost 10 per cent were from employers; and 2 per cent were from trade unions. As my noble friend has just explained, we have also had meetings with national employers in the apprenticeships programme, the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils and the Association of Learning Providers. I shall not reiterate what my noble friend has just said. The SASE and its Welsh sister document will be revised to take account of the consultations and will be published on a non-statutory basis this summer. Of course, noble Lords will have an opportunity to see the document in plenty of time before Report stage. That will enable the sector skills councils to work on adapting their existing frameworks to bring them into line with the SASE and its Welsh equivalent when, subject to the passage of this Bill, they come into force in 2011. The Bill was drafted to reflect the fact that the consultations were already taking place and the amendment would require a further round of consultation on the same document. The noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, asked how often modification would be needed. The advice that I have received tells me that it would be needed from time to time, in response to employer feedback. My view is that this is not something that would need modification frequently. Given the amount of consultation and work involved, it is important that we get it right so that we do not have to tweak it all the time. In view of these remarks, I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Elton, will feel able to withdraw his amendment.