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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

I was glad to hear the supportive remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, about the membership of the London Skills and Employment Board. As she knows, the arrangements for appointing the board are set out in the draft regulations, which say that the Mayor of London shall appoint the other members of the board—that is, besides himself—with the approval of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has sent a letter to the Mayor of London setting out the groups that we believe it would be appropriate to be represented. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of that letter to hand, but I undertake to send it to the noble Baroness and circulate it to the Committee so that she can come back to me if she still has concerns. However, although we want there to be consultation on the formulation of the strategy that the board follows, we believe it is right that the Mayor of London should be able to appoint the members, and we do not think it necessary to require the Mayor of London to appoint one or more representatives from the assembly, the boroughs or the Common Council to the membership. When the noble Baroness has seen the letter that the Secretary of State has sent, I will be happy to discuss it further with her. There may be a difference of opinion between us on whether there should be a requirement to appoint members of those bodies, but I believe that we are at one on the need for a broad and diverse membership that reflects the range of organisations that need to be fully engaged in the development of a skills and employment strategy for London. As she said, the membership of the non-statutory board, as it is at the moment, meets that requirement.