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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the amendment tabled in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, to which I have added my name. I declare an interest as chief executive of Universities UK. It would be remiss of me not to say that it remains my view that it is a mistake to extend foundation degree-awarding powers to colleges, but the Government have made some very important improvements to the Bill during Report. As the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, said, the Minister has very helpfully provided additional information alongside our debates in the form of draft guidance and an explanation of how the measures outlined in what is now Clause 17 will work. That detail has provided substantial reassurance to those of us who have serious concerns about what the impact of these measures is likely to be. The amendment asks the Government to go further in two respects, the first being to make it plain in the Bill that securing progression arrangements will be a prerequisite for colleges wishing to apply for their own foundation degree-awarding powers. We have debated the importance of this issue at length in this House, and I do not need to rehearse the arguments that the noble Lord has already made. The second issue is franchising. I appreciate the improvements that the Minister has already made to the Bill by giving the Privy Council the power to grant foundation degree-awarding powers without the power to franchise provision. I understand the approach that he has taken, which is to suggest that this power be withheld for the probationary period of six years, set out in the draft criteria for the new degree-awarding powers. I understand, too, that there would be nothing to compel the Privy Council to upgrade the degree-awarding powers after the six-year probationary period if there were doubts about a college's ability to manage the complex and difficult business of supporting quality provision in a third-party institution. However, my own view is that the Government have not yet gone quite far enough. Again, I do not think that this is the time to rehearse the arguments at length, but will the Minister think again about a more permanent safeguard against the very substantial risks to quality and perceptions of quality to which the noble Lord referred? I remind the House that franchising powers extend to international provision, which has significant implications for our reputation abroad. I am convinced, too, that it would not be in the Government's interest or consistent with the policy aim set out when this Bill was first published if foundation degrees became a signature FE qualification, with a small number of large colleges franchising provision in smaller colleges on a large scale, with the possible result that for reputational reasons, higher education institutions no longer wanted to offer the qualification themselves. I add my thanks to the Minister and his colleagues in another place for the way in which they have helped us through this Bill and conducted very detailed consultation with all those of us who remain and have been concerned about the Bill. I add my thanks to those of other noble Lords.