Local Government Association briefing on the Learning and Skills Bill
(Printed with permission)
Learning and Skills Bill
Published Friday 17 December 1999
Copies of the Bill (HL 14) can be ordered from the Stationery Office,123 Kingsway,
London WC2B 6PQ, (Tel: 0171-242 6393; Fax: 0171-242 6394). It is available on the
parliamentary stationery website at:
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/pabills.htm
Introduction
This paper summarises the Learning and Skills Bill published on 16 December, and gives
initial LGA views on the proposals. The Bill received its first reading in the House of
Lords.
The scope of the Bill is limited to the establishment of the Learning and Skills
Council and related matters.
The Bill implements the June 1999 white paper, Learning to Succeed – a new
framework for post 16 learning. Linked with the white paper were further consultation
exercises on school sixth form funding and a new Youth Support Service. In parallel, the
DTI is taking forward the establishment of a new Small Business Service. The SBS will need
to be closely linked to the post 16 arrangements.
This briefing should be read alongside the LGA’s briefing on the Learning and
Skills Council Prospectus, published on Tuesday 14 December 1999.
The LGA will be holding a briefing on the Bill for local authorities and other
interested parties on 19 January at Local Government House, Smith Square, London, SW1P
3HZ. For further information please contact the LGA on: 020 7664 3013.
The contents of the Bill
The Bill has 118 clauses and 9 schedules. It is organised in five main parts –
Part I The Learning and Skills Council for England
Part II National Council for Education and Training in Wales
Part III Inspections in England
Part IV Inspections in Wales
Part V Miscellaneous and General – including qualifications, sixth forms and youth
support service
This briefing note deals solely with those parts of the Bill relevant to local
authorities in England, although parallel provisions apply to Wales.
A summary of the main provisions of the Bill is listed below, along with initial brief
LGA comments on each.
Part I – Learning and Skills Council for England
Establishes LSC for England, responsible for the development, planning, funding and
management of post 16 education and training. The LSC will have 47 local arms responsible
for raising standards and securing provision to match local learning and skill needs.
| Key proposal |
LGA view |
| LSC main powers and duties |
| National LSC board to comprise 12-16 members appointed by the
Secretary of State. Appointments to be made on the basis of relevant experience. The LSC
will not be an agent of the crown and its staff will not be civil servants. Schedule 3
of the Bill requires the LSC to set up a young person’s learning committee and adult
learning committee. Members will be appointed by the Board with the approval of the
Secretary of State. |
LGA will continue to press for adequate representation for
local government, recognising local authorities’ roles as community leaders and major
employers – as well as service arrangers and providers. |
| Main duty of LSC will be to ‘secure the provision of
proper facilities’ for the education and training of 16-19 year olds and adults, but
giving priority to the younger age group. The Bill draws no distinction between full and
part time education. It will also have a duty to promote participation. |
The LGA welcomes measures to remove artificial boundaries
between full and part time learning. |
| The Bill gives the LSC powers to fund providers. It may
attach conditions to funding such as requiring providers to charge fees. |
There is no clear rationale for transferring funding for
post-16 and adult provision from local government to the LSC. The LGA will continue to
make representations on funding issues in the Bill. |
| The LSC will have the power to fund LEAs in respect of their
school sixth form provision. LEAs will continue to make allocation decisions for each
school. |
The LGA is disappointed that the government has opted to
route sixth form funding to LEAs via the LSC. Schools with sixth forms will have to cope
with two funding systems for their pupils. Governing bodies’ freedom to allocate
funds as they wish throughout their schools will be reduced. |
| The Bill gives the LSC a range of other powers in relation to
work experience, education-business links, research and persons with learning
difficulties. |
Any extension of the councils powers by the Secretary of
State must relate to post-16 provision – a restriction lobbied for by the LGA. |
| The LSC must draw up an annual financial plan and a rolling
strategy for meeting national objectives. |
The LGA will expect to be consulted on this financial
strategy. |
| Local Councils |
| The LSC must set up a committee (called local council) for
each area of England specified by the Secretary of State (47 areas already published). The
local LSCs will be run by a board of 12-16 members. Members are appointed by the national
LSC and the chairman by the Secretary of State. Details are contained in schedule 2 of the
Bill. The functions of the local councils are set out in the LSC Prospectus. |
The LGA’s view is that the 47 local LSCs are too remote
to discern local needs and wishes without close local authority involvement. Local
government representation will be needed to make the local councils work. |
| Guidance and planning |
| The national LSC must issue guidance each year to the local
LSCs on its objectives, time limits and budget. It must consult LEAs and RDAs before
issuing the guidance. |
The LGA welcomes the decision to include LEAs as statutory
consultee on the national guidance alongside RDAs. This was a key lobbying objective for
the LGA and important victory. |
| The local LSCs must prepare and publish plans in response to
the guidance. The local plan must include a statement of the adult education which the LSC
would like relevant LEAs to secure and the financial resources to be provided to enable
them to do so. LEAs and RDAs must be consulted on the local plan.
LEAs will be placed under a duty to comply with the plan and may be directed to do so
by the Secretary of State. |
Again, the decision to embed LEAs in the consultation and
planning system is strongly supported. The LGA will want to build on this foundation to
ensure that the LSCs plans fully take into account the community strategies –
provided for in the Local Government Bill - of the local authorities in their area. We
will seek cross-reference.
Provided that the planning process is genuinely a joint one, there should be no
circumstances in which the Secretary of State would need to issue directions. The
consultation process will need to be two-way, with LSCs taking full account of local
authorities broader community strategies. |
| The Bill gives the Secretary of State powers to issue
directions to the LSC and to fund the LSC by grant The LSC is required to report annually
to Parliament. |
|
| Key proposal |
LGA view |
| Establishes the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) as a new
Non-Departmental Public Body of nine members. The chair and chief officer will be
appointed by the Secretary of State. The chief officer will be known as the Chief
Inspector of Adult Learning. (NB: This is a different constitution from OFSTED which in a
non-ministerial department of state.) |
The proposals are in line with expectations and are generally
welcome. |
| ALI will inspect further education for people over 19 funded
by the LSC or an LEA; training on employers’ premises for people aged over 16 funded
by the LSC, and training funded by the Employment Service. ALI will report on the quality
of provision, standards achieved and the efficient use of resources including value for
money. ALI is required to have regard to Government policy. Provisions are similar of
OFSTED making reports, and giving advice, to the Secretary of State, on rights of access,
Annual report to Parliament etc. |
|
| A provider of further inspection who is subject to a written
report will have to produce an action plan stating the action to be taken in the light of
the report. |
|
| OSFTED (HMCI) will have powers extended to inspect, advise
and report on FE for people who are 19 years. HMCI has a duty to inspect FE institutions
which educate people under the age of 19. ALI will be responsible for institutions without
young people. There will be an Inspection Framework (similar to the schools one). The
Secretary of State can direct the shape of the framework should HMCI and ALI disagree.
Most FE institutional inspections will be jointly conducted by HMCI and ALI. Joint
inspections will be under the direction of HMCI. |
The Framework is critical and will look to LEAs being
consulted on the framework given that LEA institutions will be inspected, and the use of
LEA resources will be inspected in area inspections. |
| Area inspections can occur of all education and training
provide for people aged over 16 and under 19 within the area. HMCI will undertake the
inspection and ALI must give advice within its remit. The inspection may assess how the
LSC and LEA have provided resources and whether they provide value for money. |
|
| Key proposal |
LGA view |
| Dissolution of FEFC |
| Provides for the dissolution of FEFC and the transfer of
assets, rights and liabilities to LSC. (Target date is 1 April 2001). |
|
| External qualifications |
| The law on external qualifications is rewritten. For courses
and qualifications for people under 19 years of age, the current position remains the same
and local education authorities will continue to use their functions to ensure that the
schools only preovide courses leading to approved qualifications. Again, the law is
rewritten so that only approved qualifications can be obtained in funded further education
institutions. |
This can be viewed as an improvement and
clarification of the existing law. |
| Individual Learning Accounts |
| The Bill enables the Secretary of State to make provision for
ILAs – referred to in the Bill as ‘qualifying accounts’. Regulations will
set out conditions for who may hold ILAs and how and where they may be spent. |
The LGA welcomes the fact that ILAs will be put
on a statutory footing. Local government will be keen to continue working with central
government on their development. |
| 16-19 schools |
| The Bill amends the Education Act 1996 to extend the
definition of secondary education to enable LEAs to maintain schools for 16-19 year olds
(which previously would have been incorporated as FE colleges). The amendment also
allows pupils to be educated partly at a school and partly at another (FE or HE)
institution. It allows FE and HE institutions to provide secondary education after
consulting the relevant LEA. |
This represents a significant success for the LGA
and local government. The Bill opens the way for many more locally-led collaborative
arrangements between schools, FE and HE institutions to provide learning opportunities to
meet local demand and need. The provision of part-time education in these institutions
will need to be tested. 16-19 schools are an exciting opportunity for local authorities
to improve and rationalise the provision of sixth form education in their areas. |
| Schedule 7 of the Bill gives the LSC powers to intervene
where LEA maintained sixth form provision is deemed as failing by Ofsted (both school
sixth forms and 16-19 schools). The LSC will be able to propose closure of a
school’s sixth form to the Secretary of State which he may do under the SSF Act 1998. |
LGA will want to discuss the procedures and
protocols around the use of these intervention powers in detail. |
| Youth Support Service |
| Clauses 99-108 create a new support 13-19 year olds. The
Secretary of State will have new powers to secure the provision of the new service. He may
– in particular – make arrangements with LEAs for the provision of services, or
direct them to provide or arrange services. He will have a broad power to fund providers. In
exercising his powers, the Secretary of State is under a duty to consult local
authorities, health authorities, probation officers and others. |
The Bill clearly provides only a framework for
the new Youth Support Service and we await the January prospectus filling out the detail. The
emphasis on the central role for LEAs in the new system is welcome however, as is the
requirement for wide consultation. |
The explanatory notes to the Bill describe LEAs as having a
major role in the new service. LEAs are granted new powers:
 | to enter into arrangements with the Secretary of State for the provision of the service |
| to make more extensive provision for services than that planned by the Secretary of
State and make provision outside their area |
| incur expenditure, form companies, employ officers, enter into agreements with suppliers
or do anything else they deem expedient. |
|
These new freedoms are strongly supported. It is
important that the Bill provides for the continuation of local youth support services
outside of the YSS itself. |
| A comprehensive tracking system for 13-19 year olds will be
set up and the Bill requires educational institutions to provide information to youth
support service providers. |
This is supported, subject to an examination of
the data protection issues. |
| The Bill places the Secretary of State under a duty to
arrange for the inspection of the youth support service. In practice the service would be
inspected alongside the careers service by Ofsted. |
Again, the LGA will wish to be consulted on
inspection arrangements. An overload of inspection where local authorities run integrated
adult and youth services should be avoided. |
| Young people with learning difficulties |
| The Secretary of State will be under a duty to arrange
assessments for people with SEN in their last year of compulsory schooling, where they are
about to continue into post 16 education or training. The assessment will set out the
person’s learning needs and provision required to meet them. |
This provision needs to be closely linked into
the new duties proposed for local authorities in the recently published children leaving
care bill. |
| Amendments and repeals |
| The 1992 FHE Act section 1-9 and schedules 1-2 of the Act are
repealed. This removes the current distinction between different types of FE provision. Section
508 of the Education Act 1996 is amended by the Bill to remove their duty to provide FE.
LEAs will instead have a power to provide FE in connection with local LSC plans. The
current duty to provide ‘facilities for recreational, social and physical
training’ ancillary to their FE function is amended to a power. |
LGA welcomes the repeal of schedule 2.
The LGA welcomes the fact that the Bill does not amend LEAs’ duties in the Schools
Standards and Framework Act to promote high standards across the 11-18 age range. |