Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I tabled this amendment at the behest of the 157 Group of the larger colleges to emphasise its welcome for the provisions in Clause 248. Last year’s education Act gave schools the responsibility and duty to promote the well being of their pupils. This clause goes somewhat further. The further education colleges are asked to promote, ""the economic and social well-being of the local area"," and in so doing they should co-operate with other local institutions, including schools, colleges and employers. The amendment would add the words "and community cohesion" to economic and social well being. If truth be known it really adds very little: implicitly promoting economic and social well being in a local area must in itself help to promote social cohesion. The 157 Group wished to emphasise its vision of colleges as the vibrant and dynamic centres of activity in their locality, positively reaching out to serve their local communities, going out and finding out about skills gaps and employer needs, but also holding an open door and saying to the local population, "Come and talk to us and we will help you to fulfil your ambitions and aspirations in educational terms". In that respect it is vital to recognise the role that further education colleges can play within their local communities, providing for educational needs from courses in basic literacy and numeracy on the one hand to foundation and honours degrees on the other. The larger colleges have anything between 15,000 and 30,000 students on their books and a turnover of up to £60 million. They are often larger than the local university and much larger than the schools. Increasingly, they are co-operating with both sets of institutions. The amendment seeks to say that they not only accept but positively welcome their role as movers and shakers within their local community. I beg to move.