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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

I shall first deal with Amendment No. 41, where I can meet most of the issues raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, on partnership working with local authorities, which is an important issue. The intervention powers, which are extensive, will not be taken lightly. Given the performance of colleges, we expect action to be taken very rarely. The Learning and Skills Council, where it seeks to invoke those powers, will want to take account of the views of many different local stakeholders. It may well be that by engaging stakeholders to work with the governing body of an institution at risk of failure at an early stage, the LSC will avoid the need to implement any of the most serious measures available to it under the provisions of proposed new Section 56A. Moreover, governing bodies generally include members who have been nominated by local authorities. In those rare cases where action is taken under proposed new Section 56A, the LSC will have as its principal concern the interests of the learners, employers and wider community in the area served by the institution. In that context, consultation is important. It is appropriately addressed in the intervention policy required under proposed new Section 56B. The LSC guidance document, Identifying and Managing Underperformance, states that any policy published will be the subject of consultation with the sector. By taking this approach, a much broader requirement to consult local partners will be built into the policy and the emerging operating procedures to which it gives rise. The second aspect of the amendment is to make it a requirement that any notice that may be issued to an institution should also be copied to the relevant local authority. I undertake that, as members of the LSC’s regional boards, local authorities will automatically receive a copy of any such notification. However, such a routine administrative procedure is again more appropriately covered by the LSC’s policy document than in the Bill. Under proposed new Section 56B(3), the LSC must have regard to any guidance given to it by the Secretary of State in relation to the preparation and publication of the intervention policy and the need to keep it under review. I assure the Committee that the Secretary of State will ask the Learning and Skills Council to ensure that, in developing its intervention policy, it will involve all relevant stakeholders, including the relevant local authority. I hope that I have met most of the concerns of the noble Baroness about the amendment. In respect of Amendment No. 13, which invites us to consider the importance of arrangements for promoting well-being, local authorities already have the power to do anything that is likely to promote the well-being of all persons in their area, which includes social, environmental and economic well-being. Moreover, the LSC plans to work much more closely with its local partners through the 150 new Learning and Skills Council local partnership teams, which I referred to earlier. The noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, asked about the geographical areas that the teams would cover. We now have available a draft list of those areas, and I will write to him and other Members of the Committee to set those out.