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Mr. Malcolm Wicks (Croydon, North): I welcome my right hon. Friend's announcement in the White Paper. It throws an encouraging light on an area of public policy that has been much neglected, albeit at some expense. May I ask my right hon. Friend about the approximately 160,000 boys and girls aged 16 to 18 who are neither in work or in education? That is about one in 11 of that age group. Will he say more about his plans for that important group, bearing in mind that some of those youngsters will have had a bad experience in their own schools and that in some parts of the country some of them may have older siblings who are out of work and dads who have recently been made redundant? How do we persuade and enable that group to take up the opportunities of a second chance--a second chance that they need and the country needs for them?
Mr. Blunkett: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We need to do so by connecting them with the education and potential employment of the future at a much earlier stage. In many cases, we need to reconnect them with the education service that they have left through truancy or disaffection. We need to do so by building the new service connection from 12 and 13 upwards, so that it links mentoring in school with a gateway and support service for those in the transitional stage between school, post-16 and adult life.
We need to create a careers service and a 14 to 16 curriculum that relates those young people to the world of work, and ensures that they appreciate that only
through qualification will they be able to earn, secure and hold a job in the knowledge-based economy of the future. Through education and maintenance allowances, on whose pilots we are engaged, and through the other proposals that we are introducing, we shall be able to sustain them through that critical period. I hope that the report of the social exclusion unit, which will be published shortly, and the further detail that we shall publish with it, will enable the House to see that we are at last putting together the jigsaw. From sure start in the earliest years, we shall develop the needs of children from the moment that they are born until they enter adult life--giving them the opportunity of learning and work.
Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough):
We welcome the broad thrust of the White Paper. I do not know whether the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) has completed the school of charm at Smith square, but we have only to look around us, in all our cities, to see how past policies have failed. We welcome particularly the idea of co-ordinating both the planning and the resourcing of post-16 provision. We welcome the setting up of local, sub-regional councils, although we should have liked the regional development agencies to have played a more significant role, as I am sure the Secretary of State is aware.
We have some concerns as to the structure, especially whether, for example, the careers guidance will be only for 16 to 19-year-olds. Will it follow the Welsh model of a careers guidance service that is inclusive of all adults as well? We are concerned about the part to be played by the university for industry--it seems to have a separate identity, with its own structure. It may be complementary, but will the right hon. Gentleman explain why it is not part and parcel of an inclusive programme?
We were promised that we should have standards not structures. However, apart from the new inspection regime, which I am sure will be welcomed by all, there is little about standards. Why has the Secretary of State not taken this opportunity to deal with the tremendous problems relating to the professionalism and career opportunities of our further education staff? One in five full-time staff, and six in 10 part-time staff, have no teaching qualification. Is not this the place to start by giving them their own equivalent of a General Teaching Council or an institute of teaching and learning? This was an opportunity to grasp the nettle and say that ourFE lecturers must have increased status and professionalism if we want this agenda to be delivered.
Mr. Blunkett:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his broad welcome for the White Paper. I assure him that the points that he makes are dealt with. May I take this opportunity to say that I delivered the White Paper to Opposition Members an hour earlier than was traditional before we took office? I am not having a go at Liberal Democrat Members; I refer to the comment made by my opposite number on the Conservative Benches, the hon. Member for Maidenhead. I want to assure the hon. Lady that her colleagues used not to do that, although, obviously, I shall be happy to try to do better in future.
The White Paper deals with the question of separating the funding regime from the delivery mechanism. The university for industry, which is a provider and a facilitator of learning, will play its part in the same way as do further education colleges and private providers.
In relation to training and quality, it is not only infurther education that it is important that the new further education and national training organisation gets a grip on the needs of part-time and full-time employees; it is also important in private training provision, where almost no qualification system exists at all. We need to set up mechanisms to introduce that as quickly as possible. We share that agenda. The concordat that has been reached between the unions and the Association of Colleges and the rebuilding of industrial relations offers real hope that we can lift the morale and motivation of those in formal further education, and that we can improve quality for those in private providers.
Mr. Derek Foster (Bishop Auckland):
I warmly welcome the broad thrust of my right hon. Friend'sWhite Paper, which is so important to enhancing the competitiveness of the nation and of regions such as mine and his. But may I say, as someone who has lived through many such reorganisations during the past 30 years, that the acid test of his success is whether he really will devise an employer and learner-driven system rather than one which is for the convenience of organisations, training providers and further education institutes?
Mr. Blunkett:
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. It is clear that the provider-purchaser separation will enable us to put the learner at the heart of what we are doing, through the development of individual learning accounts and the focus on individual learners, and through the involvement of employers who will, for the first time, not only locally but nationally, be able to drive the system. Getting that partnership working and getting people collaborating in a way that overcomes past divisions and conflicts rather than emphasising them will be crucial to success.
Mr. Stephen Dorrell (Charnwood):
Does the Secretary of State agree that the whole history of taxpayers' support for post-school training in Britain, going back over many years, has been a history of substantial sums of public money, committed for the best of motives but failing to deliver its objectives, in large measure because of inadequate voice from employers and inadequate influence by employers on the way in which that money is used? If the right hon. Gentleman agrees with that analysis, can he tell the House now what single change he is proposing this afternoon that will make more effective the voice of employers in the training system and, thereby, make the training system itself more efficient?
Mr. Blunkett:
I accept a great deal of what the right hon. Gentleman says about the investment of past resources. We have not succeeded in developing our productivity, competitiveness or qualification levels to anything like those of other developed nations. The greater involvement of those who have an immediate interest and who are closest to the needs of delivery are critical, not simply in this new structure in terms of their involvement nationally and locally, but by engaging the new national training organisations, of which there are now 70 since the general election, dealing with particular sectors and, therefore, needs within the economy. We wish to engage them and individual employers, including small employers, and, linked to the Small Business
Mr. Barry Jones (Alyn and Deeside):
I welcome my right hon. Friend's statement, which may well turn out to be historic. Does the statement in any part refer to Wales and does it presage more apprenticeships to service our manufacturing industry, with particular reference to steel and to aerospace? Will my right hon. Friend say a little more about further education colleges, which have been having a tough time and need a boost?
Mr. Blunkett:
A separate consultation has been undertaken in Wales, which the Welsh Assembly will be taking forward. We are keen to develop and build on the excellent modern apprenticeship programme. During the past two years, we have had 100,000 modern apprenticeships, and many young people are entering the programme. However, with the development from the old youth training scheme into the new national traineeships and the modern apprenticeships at level 3, there has been a real problem in terms of those finishing their training and, therefore, of retention. We need to examine with employers why that is happening and what sorts of rights of appeal and support young people can be given so that they have the same rights and investment that they would have in full-time education. As I mentioned a moment ago, we want to invest heavily in further education--as we are with the £725 million during the first two years of the comprehensive spending review--lift morale and ensure that the job can be done.
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