My Lords, I wish to move this largely technical amendment briefly. It does not alter practice very considerably.
The Government have tabled seven amendments to Schedule 13. Schedule 13 gives effect to Clause 49 of the Bill, which deals with the abolition of the statutory office of chief executive of skills funding, as established by Part 4 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. The chief executive of skills funding is the head of the Skills Funding Agency, which is an executive agency of BIS.
As a result of the abolition of this office, the powers and functions that are currently exercised by the chief executive of skills funding in respect of education and training for adults aged 19 or over and all apprenticeships will in future be exercised by the Secretary of State. I hope noble Lords are aware that we are now approaching 2 million apprenticeships, with which we are extremely satisfied.
Schedule 13 therefore removes the provisions of the 2009 Act that create the office of chief executive, and transfers or amends the current duties of the chief executive so that these duties will in future apply, as
appropriate, to the Secretary of State. The majority of responsibilities are transferred, with any necessary modifications, to the Secretary of State, including the funding powers set out in the 2009 Act. These amendments deal in detail with the transfer of the duties relating to the provision of facilities for education and training, and remove redundant provisions.
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Amendments 63 to 67 deal with Sections 86 and 87 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, which relate to the provision of facilities for adult education and training. The effect of these amendments is to ensure that these duties are appropriate to the Secretary of State and to make consequential changes. In practical terms, the duties to secure the provision of facilities for education and training will continue to apply. However, in transferring the duties formally to the Secretary of State, these amendments recognise the wider remit and discretion of the Secretary of State and seek to reflect this more appropriately in the wording of the statute. By contrast, the current wording is appropriate to the chief executive, whose role as a creature of statute needed to be more closely specified.
Amendment 68 leaves out paragraphs 35 and 36 of Schedule 13, which are now unnecessary following the passage of the Further and Higher Education (Governance and Information) (Wales) Act 2014—with which I am sure all noble Lords are entirely familiar.
Amendment 69 inserts new paragraph 67 into the consequential amendments. These all relate to the Education Act 2011 and simply remove provisions that will become redundant with the passage of Schedule 13 and the amendments outlined above. I hope that provides sufficient information for this, as I say, largely technical set of amendments. I beg to move.