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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 18: 18: After Clause 2 , insert the following new Clause— ““Sector Skills Council After section 17 of LSA 2000 (use of information by Council) insert— ““17A Sector Skills Council The Council must have regard to the Sector Skills Council when preparing guidance or publishing a plan relating to the needs of employers regarding education and training of their employees and potential employees.”””” The noble Baroness said: This is a probing amendment which I hope will give us an opportunity to explore the role of employers in the provision of further education. I have spoken already today about the baffling complexity of the further education sector and the difficulty of establishing exactly who is responsible for what. This is certainly true when it comes to finding a clear, constructive role for employers. I would like to emphasise the importance of this role and to establish whether sector skills councils are being used to their full potential in providing it. The involvement of employers is crucial to the long-term success of further education. We do not live in a command economy and the Government are not equipped to decide how many plumbers should be trained next year. Nor is the LSC staffed by skilled workers who know what a plumbers’ course needs to teach. Without significant business input, we risk detaching further education completely from the real world. Instead, we should be searching for ways in which businesses can make a positive and significant contribution to further education. Business involvement at the highest strategy level is necessary for ensuring that course content is accurate, up to date and, above all, relevant. Its involvement at the local college level in the provision of apprenticeships and practical experience adds enormously to the value of a vocational course. The current situation, where 50 per cent of apprentices in a Merseyside career guidance programme have not had any contact with an employer, is one which benefits neither students, who miss out on an essential part of their vocational education, nor business, which must then employ those who are not fully prepared for the job. The amendment deals only with the sector skills councils, but there are many other ways of involving employers. I have not tabled amendments on them because I believe that it would be entirely wrong for the Government or even the LSC to pronounce on which interactions should be approved and which not. The sector skills councils need to be given clear powers to do what they can to allow this potential to be fulfilled. Employers need to be given a clear voice at the highest level, while colleges need to be given the freedom to explore options at the most local level. I beg to move.