Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

In our view the proposals in the Bill will enhance the role of local authorities in identifying and meeting local skills needs. The transfer of responsibilities to local authorities of 16 to 19 funding will of itself enhance their position in skills locally and regionally. Local authorities will also play a key role in the development and agreement of skills strategies at a regional level. We intend to give regional development agencies responsibility for developing a skills strategy for their region which the Skills Funding Agency will be expected to deliver. In developing its skills strategy the RDA will be required to take account of the national priorities identified by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and sector skills councils—to reassure the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, that we are not ignoring the vital role of sector skills councils—as well as the skill requirements of local areas and any sub-regional multi-area agreement partnerships or employment and skills boards. The regional skills strategy will form part of the single integrated regional strategy which will be signed off by the local authority leader boards, thus making sure that local authority needs are fully reflected. It is not a question of the RDAs developing in isolation a regional skills strategy which they then impose on local authorities. It is a process of them working together. They will be gathering information from local authorities and will consult employers, reflecting two sides of the equation. We see it as a positive development, not one that undermines the role of the sub-regional group, which I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, also has a key role to play. These proposals reinforce the key principles of the demand-led system, with the RDAs and local authorities articulating the skills requirements within their regions and the Skills Funding Agency ensuring that this new system operates effectively, so that individual learners and employers are able to access the courses of their choice. Amendment 198 would alter the scope of Clause 88. Although I recognise the amendment’s positive intention, some of the detail in this clause is important. First, by removing all references to Section 84(1), this amendment undermines the very clear separation of responsibilities that we are seeking to put in place between local authorities and the Skills Funding Agency. Secondly, it would have a number of unintended consequences, such as removing 18 year-olds subject to adult detention from the scope of the duty to promote participation. I should not have thought the Committee would want to do that in the light of previous remarks on adult detention. Thirdly, on parliamentary accountability, I can reassure the Committee that the requirement in Schedule 4 for the chief executive to produce an annual report and for the Secretary of State to lay this before Parliament is intended to ensure that robust monitoring and reporting takes place. Before concluding, I want to address some of the questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, and the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley—such as whether Clause 88 applies to all adults over 19, to which the answer is unequivocally yes.