---

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I shall pick up the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp. The current high-level figures show that the Learning and Skills Council has a budget of roughly £12 billion, of which around £5 billion would be apportioned to the SFA and £7 billion to local authorities through the YPLA. What we are looking at in terms of the running costs of the LSC is £205.7 million, which is the ceiling beyond which we do not expect the SFA or the YPLA to go in terms of administration. On the allocation of staff, as the noble Baroness said, we are looking at around 950 members of staff from the LSC, which currently has around 3,300 staff, to go to local authorities. We expect that overall the devolution of £7 billion to local authorities will not by any means put them in a difficult financial position when they receive those staff. I am quite sure about that, but if I can go into more detail for the Committee, I will do so. The noble Lord, Lord Elton, asked about Wales. The YPLA is an England-only body, as is the Learning and Skills Council. As I think I have said before, a lot of the Wales powers are mirror powers. However, because the YPLA is an England-only body, I am not able to point to a place in the Bill that sets out the functions he is looking for.