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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 13: 13: Clause 2 , page 3, line 6, at end insert— ““( ) In preparing the guidance, the Council must take account of any strategy prepared by any local authority under section 4 of the Local Government Act 2000, if the area of the authority falls within the area of the regional council.”” The noble Baroness said: It seems to be a double act between my noble friend Lady Walmsley and me at the moment. I will speak to Amendments Nos. 14, 20 and 21, which seek to reinforce the duty of the regional learning and skills councils to work in co-operation with the relevant local authority partners. Amendment No. 13 seeks to reinstate the idea of learning and skills councils working in line with the broad strategy developed by local authorities. At present, Section 22(4)(c) of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 requires that, in developing its plan for the following financial year, the local learning and skills council should have regard, first, to any guidance issued under the previous section, secondly, to the strategy of any RDA and, thirdly, to, "““any strategy prepared by any relevant local authority under section 4 of the Local Government Act 2000 (strategies for promoting well-being)””." The Bill no longer talks about plans, but about guidance for the regional councils as to how they should set priorities. The amendment suggests that given that local authorities have a duty to prepare plans relating to well-being, it is only reasonable that regional LSCs should have to have regard to those strategies. Clause 3 effectively repeals Sections 19 to 24 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, so the relevant section I quoted from will be repealed. Further, local learning and skills councils will no longer exist as they are to be replaced by regional bodies. Amendment No. 14 is in a similar vein, but this time in relation to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill currently before the House of Commons. Under Clause 82 of that Bill local authorities are required to put in place local area agreements, and again it is both reasonable and logical for the regional LSC to be required to have regard to those agreements. Amendments Nos. 20 and 21 relate to Clause 4, which inserts a new section in the Learning and Skills Act 2000 enabling the LSC to work with city region councils which develop their own labour market strategies, as in the case of London, which is covered by new Section 24B being added by Clause 4. Amendment No. 20 asks that any such strategy being developed on an area basis should take account of local area agreements and/or local improvement targets agreed between local authorities within the area concerned. Likewise, Amendment No. 21 relates to consultation being carried out when formulating strategies and asks that consultation should include both responsible local authorities and partner local authorities where responsibilities are shared with partner boroughs or districts. The current wording of Clause 4 allows the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to appoint new strategic bodies apparently without having to have any regard to existing economic development, skills or further education plans and partnerships. Therefore, in line with current local government legislative proposals, the amendment suggests that the Secretary of State should ensure that these new strategy-making bodies have a duty to adhere to existing and developing strategies within local area agreements. If this is not the case, there is a danger that conflicting strategies could emerge, leading to confusion at the local level. These amendments therefore seek to prevent such confusion from arising. I beg to move.