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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

My Lords, I have given that assurance. We believe, based on our regulatory impact assessment, that these proposals will help us to save £40 million in the administrative costs imposed on the FE sector. Having made that dangerously political point, however, I agree with the five key principles for action that the noble Baroness set out at the end of her speech, which she wanted to present as differences from government policy; I do not believe that they represent differences from government policy at all. In my mission to forge the strongest possible consensus, let me show how we agree with the principles by responding to each one The noble Baroness’s first principle was that there should be serious investment in skills and training. Well, there has been a real-terms increase of 48 per cent in the FE budget since 1997, so our bona fides in that respect are clear. That includes massive investment in particular areas, raised so properly by the noble Lord, Lord Moser. Those areas arethe foundation of all that we have to do in thismatter, which is to improve the basic skills of the adult population—particularly the younger adult population—so that they reach that basic skills level without which it is almost impossible to function in the labour market today. That has all been made possible by this big increase in investment. I gave the figures in my opening speech. That investment will be sustained in future, too. The second principle outlined by the noble Baroness was that we should seek to break downthe rigidities that currently exist between further education, higher education and schools. We are seeking to do that in a very profound way. As I abstract it from this debate, I take it as a great tribute to the work that has been done in the collaboration between higher education and further education in recent years that such concerns should be expressed that anything could happen that might weaken that collaboration. I take to heart the comments made by my noble friend Lady Blackstone about the work that Greenwich does with its collaborative partnerships; the comments of my noble friend Lord Sawyer, who talked about the work of the University of Teesside in that area; the words of the noble Lord, Lord Plumb, on the work of Coventry University, which does excellent work with FE colleges, too; and the comments of my noble friend Lady Morris of Yardley about Sunderland. I particularly noted what was said about King’s College, London, so we are talking not just about the post-1992 universities, but about older, established universities as well. This is all a tribute to the huge progress that has been made in collaborative work between universities and FE colleges, in an area, if we are frank, where there was all too little collaboration in the past. We have been seeking to break down that divide and we are very much seeking to break down the divide between further education, higher education and schools, too. That issue was mentioned by the noble Baroness and taken up as a theme by the noble Lord, Lord Baker, with his interesting remarks about vocational education in secondary schools and the need to institutionalise progression beyond 16. Although there are obviously difficulties in creating new institutions for pupils at a starting age of 14, given the pattern of our current secondary provision, the emphasis that he placed on students’ ability to progress in a predictable way at the age of 16, whether within a school with sixth-form provision or through much stronger, established collaborative links between further education and schools, was well made. That is, indeed, at the heart of government policy in this area. Thirdly, the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said that we should have a system that ensures that learners and employers have confidence in the quality of vocational education. We are definitely seeking enhanced confidence in the quality of such education. That is precisely why, for example, we are seeking to introduce, as the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, said, "““coherent, valuable and high-standing””," vocational qualifications for 14 to 18 year-olds, which simply have not existed before. Work is taking place to develop the 14 specialised diplomas, the first five of which will be available from 2008, precisely so that high-quality vocational education is embedded in the work of schools, where, alas, it has been absent ever since the Education Act 1944, and we are seeking to unite both the school and the further education sectors. My noble friend Lord Jones made a very interesting speech but, alas, we are leaving the Welsh to take care of their own policy in this area, so I cannot tell him what their policy is—he needs to speak to his colleagues in the Welsh Assembly Government. However, he raised an important point about encouraging female apprentices and about progression in this area. That is, indeed, important if we are to have the high-quality vocational provision that we want to see. Interestingly, the Box has told me that 47 per cent of apprentices now starting training are female and that the number of women apprentices has increased steadily in recent years, particularly—this is crucial—as more apprenticeships are offered in non-traditional sectors. So I believe that we can take heart from some of the progress that has been made in this area, and my noble friend is right to raise it as an important and continuing priority. Fourthly, the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said that we needed a system driven by choice on the part of learners. However, that is substantially the case within the constraint of places being available. I defy the noble Baroness or any other Member of the House to start telling 16 year-olds these days where they have to study, what sort of courses they are expected to follow, and so on. This is increasingly driven by choice on the part of young people and also by older students. In recent years, that has been a strong move, and it will continue. Fifthly, the noble Baroness emphasised the need to cut down on bureaucracy and regulation, but then, alas, her next move was to commit herself to a policy that involved more bureaucracy and regulation than we are proposing. But her five principles of action are ones that we share, and they go to the heart of the reforms set out in the Bill. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, the noble Lords, Lord Baker and Lord Dearing, and both noble Baronesses on the Liberal Democrat Benches mentioned the importance of links with local authorities and of established links penetrating further down than the nine regional councils. I stress that the structure that we envisage comprises thenine regional councils which have a statutory footing, but integral to the proposal is that there should be150 local area partnerships. Although they are non-statutory—we want to attain flexibility; we do not want to over-regulate again, making something of the mistake that we made in the past in over-regulating what was a bureaucratic structure—these 150 local area partnerships are intended for the most part to mirror local authority boundaries. In that way, you get the advantages of both regional partnership and strategic leadership. I take to heart the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston, that it is a great advantage for the voluntary sector and charities to be able to deal regionally with the further education bureaucracy, compared with having to deal with 47 separate institutions at a local level. So, with the 150 local area partnerships, we get the benefits of regional planning, strategic leadership and decision-taking in respect of skills needs, while we retain local flexibility and the feedback loop, which is so important in relations with local authorities. This means that, for example, instead of the local learning and skills council that currently covers the whole of Greater Manchester, there would be 10 local LSC partnership teams. Each one would cover a local authority and they would be grouped into three areas: the city of Manchester, Greater Manchester north and Greater Manchester south. Those sorts of arrangements would be replicated elsewhere. A lot was made by the noble Baronesses, Lady Sharp and Lady Walmsley, and the noble Lord, Lord Norton, about powers of intervention as though what we were proposing here was some affront to natural justice that would not be properly regulated. Perhaps I may first stress, in order to further our debates before we go into Committee, that the proposals we have set out in the White Paper and the Bill follow closely the proposals that were made by Sir Andrew Foster in paragraphs 105 to 109 of his report. Those specifically cover interventions, including bringing in new partners who could take over failing provision and having to make proper arrangements for students, which is essential, as the noble Lord, Lord Norton, said. They also include another college provider being empowered to take over the management of a college and the closure of a college. Many of these proposals were already set out inSir Andrew Foster’s report. The exercise of these powers by the Learning and Skills Council could take place only if stringent conditions are met and with evidence of failure being demonstrated. They are not arbitrary powers. We also have an Ofsted inspection regime and other means of analysing the performance of colleges. In order to exercise powers which, as the noble Baroness rightly said, are draconian, there would need to be a demonstration, which could withstand a legal challenge, that this was a reasonable thing to do in all the circumstances. That is set out in the Foster report. The Learning and Skills Council will very soon publish its intervention strategy, which will set out its approach and the responsibilities of the LSC, the Quality Improvement Agency and colleges in dealing with poor performance. The intervention strategy will be published soon. I will ensure that it is made available before we go into Committee so that it can be a basis for our discussions on those particular powers. Indeed, in many respects, the proposals are quite closely mirrored by what takes place in schools, where again intervention follows Ofsted reports and has to be based on strong evidence. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Salisbury raised the issue of the spiritual and moral needs of pupils, which is an important area. I echo what the noble Baroness said in the best wishes we send to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth, who we are sorry cannot be in his place today. We believe it to be important that colleges consider how best to meet the spiritual and moral needs of their students. We emphasised this point in the White Paper where we said that the governing bodies should consider how their pastoral arrangements meet student needs, including faith needs. I know that the Church of England has done excellent work with the National Ecumenical Agency in Further Education in developing guidance and support materials to help colleges deliver on this role. We have given strong encouragement to that work. However, we are not at the moment persuaded that a new statutory duty to promote spiritual and moral development would be a sensible step. We see further education colleges in the sector in a different position from schools in terms of the age range of their students. We do not believe it to be appropriate to impose the same statutory duties on FE colleges as apply to schools educating under-16s but we look forward to continuing this debate in Committee too. The issue of foundation degrees has sparked much interest in the debate. Launched in 2001, foundation degrees were the first new higher education qualification introduced in 25 years and they represent a significant step-change in the design and delivery of degree-level education, bringing institutions and employers together to create a blend of academic and work-based learning. I should stress that they build on the concept of HNDs with distinctive benefits and they are a distinctive qualification in that sense—they build on a qualification which was not itself awarded by universities. The noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, quite rightly stressed that the HNDs are accredited by national awarding bodies. They have always been in a different position and they are foundation degrees—they are sub-degrees, they are not full degrees in the sense of what was understood by the word degree before their introduction. As my noble friend Lady Morgan said, 79 per cent of foundation degrees are delivered by further education colleges, which have close proximity in terms of geography and values to huge numbers of learners and employers. The proposals set out in the Bill are a sensible, incremental step which recognises the significant role that colleges play in teaching for foundation degrees. If colleges were to be accredited to award the foundation degrees in their own right, they would need to meet the QAA criteria. There would be stringent quality thresholds. My noble friendLady Warwick was particularly concerned aboutthat issue. The letter dated 23 November frommy department to a number of interested parties stated: "““No college would be able to obtain powers to award foundation degrees unless the Privy Council was sure that it was equipped to do this. This means that colleges would have to meet specific criteria for Foundation Degree awarding powers, on which we propose to consult. As is the case in the existing degree awarding powers system, the QAA would be invited to report in any case on whether an institution met the criteria or not, and only after receipt of a positive report would the Privy Council decide to make an award””." As my noble friend will know, those QAA criteria are stringent. I am advised that only a small number of FE colleges would be capable of meeting them, but many more would wish to do so—a point rightly made by my noble friend Lady Morris. The nature of the criteria themselves, which are very demanding, would limit the number, and we can debate the desirability of whether even that small number should be allowed to do so. The Government are on the side of deregulation because we believe that that will best serve the needs of students. Based on the criteria on which we intend to consult, our view is that the number able to take advantage of this power would not be large. As I am running out of time, I shall reply in writing to a number of the many points that have been made. I shall deal with the important issues raised by the noble Lord, Lord Low, in respect of students with special needs. It is an absolutely critical area of further education provision. The House responded very strongly to the points he made about the importance of that work being sustained and enhanced. The noble Lord asked whether the composition of regional councils would ensure that the voluntary sector was fully represented. The Learning and Skills Council has set up a Working Together strategy committee which focuses on the council’s work with the voluntary and community sector and we will take full account of its needs when we appoint the membership of the councils. He asked whether due regard will be paid to the representation of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in the development of proposals and policies under Clause 7. I can assure the noble Lord that guidance will reflect learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those not yet in learning. The noble Lord, Lord Low, also asked whetherwe would publish the disability equality impact assessment during the course of the Bill. I can assure him that we intend to publish that during 2007. We have already published the DfES’s disability equality scheme, which was published on 4 December and I shall see that that is forwarded to him and circulated to noble Lords. That will help us to understand the importance we give to this issue before Committee stage. The noble Lord sought assurance that there would be a duty on the council in relation to diversity and choice and that it would extend to encompassing national residential colleges for students with specific learning difficulties as well mainstream colleges. I assure him that the duty will extend to considering all relevant matters. The guidance from the Secretary of State will advise on how learning and skills councils should best engage with groups and persons with learning difficulties and disabilities, including persons not yet in learning. On London—an important issue raised by many noble Lords—I hope we do not get into a debate about ““may”” or ““shall””. We have established the board; indeed, it had its first meeting last week. It was chaired by the Mayor of London and its vice-chair is Harvey McGrath, who is chairman of London First, an organisation close to the heart of the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine. We have no intention of seeing its work being wound up at an early date. Points were made about a future Secretary of State. If the skills board develops the strength, expertise and voice that we expect, I do not think that there will be any question of any future Government seeking to wind up its work.