Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I very much hope that I will be able to offer the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, the reassurance that she is looking for. It might be helpful to say for the record that we expect to open more than 60 academies in September. Only four of those will not have sixth forms, so I would like to quash in one move the impression that academies do not have sixth forms as a norm. The coming year will see the opening of our 200th academy, and we can join in celebrating that when it comes around. It is a shame that the noble Lord, Lord Baker, is not in his place to hear that comment. Work undertaken by noble Lords in this House has contributed greatly to that achievement, and we are very grateful to them for that. We are particularly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bates, who is in his place. Just to be clear, the Secretary of State, as noble Lords are aware, funds academies directly, including their sixth-form places. In future, the Young People’s Learning Agency will act on behalf of the Secretary of State in carrying out academy functions, including funding academy sixth-form provision. When the YPLA acts on academies, it is acting as the agent of the Secretary of State. So the Secretary of State still holds the powers, but through an annual remit letter, the Secretary of State will be delegating to the YPLA the work of funding academies. Local authorities do not, and will not, provide funding to academies and there is no need for them to do so. The local authority’s role will be to secure provision that meets the needs of learners. In doing so, they must, among other things, act with a view to encouraging diversity in both provider type and curriculum, and so increase opportunities for young people to exercise choice. This is a new process and I understand academies’ nervousness about how it will work and how it might impact on their sixth forms, in particular. However, there are a number of safeguards built in for academies which carefully balance those concerns alongside what must be the overall aim, which is to ensure that the commissioning of post-16 places puts pupils first. I would like to emphasise that local authorities will not be responsible for approving or funding post-16 provision in academies. For a new academy, the Secretary of State will continue to decide whether it will open a sixth form, having consulted the local authority. This is what happens now. Academies are understandably curious as to what influence a local authority might have at that stage. In establishing a new academy, the Secretary of State must make a sensible decision about what is in the best interests of learners. He cannot do that unless he has some understanding of the academy’s impact on other local providers. That point needs to be taken into account if he is to make a sensible decision. He must, therefore, consult local authorities. In fact, nothing is changing in that respect from what happens now. The Secretary of State currently consults on these matters with local authorities before opening academies. That obligation has existed since the academies’ programme began and is written into primary legislation. I do not actually have the reference here and I apologise for that. That consultation has not led to a high proportion of academies without sixth forms and that will not change. As I have said, of the 60-plus academies opening at the beginning of the next academic year, the vast majority will have sixth forms. An existing academy wishing to establish a sixth form, or increase the number of post-16 places, would naturally engage with the local authority, as you would expect, and other local partners through the local 14-to-19 partnership and look at feeding into the local authority’s commissioning plans through that partnership. However, if there is a disagreement locally about the number of academy places to be funded, the matter would be referred to the Young People’s Learning Agency, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State under the proposed agency arrangements, for consideration. Any decisions on academy sixth form places must have regard to the views of local providers, the local authority and the policy guidance provided by the Secretary of State. Again, I understand academies’ concerns because I am very careful to listen to them, but again, there are safeguards. First, the Secretary of State will make the final decision on any change of age range in an academy, including where this involves a new sixth form. In doing so, he will take into account the views of all stakeholders as he does now. The obligation on academies to consult before they open is in Section 482(3)(a) of the Education Act 1996. I am having difficulty reading the note. I will therefore write to noble Lords to clarify that because I am not sure that that is right. In relation to the funding of additional sixth form places, if an academy felt that the YPLA had acted unreasonably in reaching its decision, it could complain directly to the Secretary of State, who would investigate. In order to make things as transparent as possible, I can today commit to ensuring that whenever the YPLA makes a decision which prevents an open academy from increasing the size of its sixth form it must publish its reasons for that decision and why it was in the best interests of pupils. Obviously, in terms of the academy’s ability to challenge any decision, that transparency is very important. Secondly, we must remember that the Young People’s Learning Agency will be acting under a remit letter, as I stressed at the start of my remarks, from the Secretary of State in respect of academies. Each year we will issue a new remit letter, which may contain guidance as to how the YPLA should act in relation to sixth forms. So, again, I can commit that before we issue a remit letter we will consult academy sponsors so that their views on how the Young People’s Learning Agency is operating can be taken into account. This is a very important part of the process between the Secretary of State issuing the remit letter to the YPLA and, in the lead up to the issuing of that letter, the Secretary of State will consult academy sponsors. We want to work with all stakeholders, including academies. In response to earlier stakeholder events, we will set up a new academies’ reference group to work with the Secretary of State on the detail of the YPLA academy arrangements. The group will meet termly and the first meeting will take place before the end of September. Noble Lords may have seen the announcement on 30 June of the appointments of Les Walton as chair of the Young People's Learning Agency and Peter Lauener who will be its first chief executive officer, subject to parliamentary process and Royal Assent. Les and Peter are extremely keen to work with stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements. To conclude this slightly longer contribution than I had planned, these new arrangements for academies and local authorities must ultimately put the needs of learners first, as I am sure noble Lords will agree. However, we have put in place sufficient protections to ensure that academies can be assured that decisions will be taken fairly and in a transparent manner. On the basis of these reassurances, I hope that the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw her amendment.