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Mr. Lewis: We have made it absolutely clear to the Learning and Skills Council that we do not have a one-size-fits-all national solution. What we want in every community is the most innovate and imaginative ways of supporting the maximum number of young people to progress and achieve in learning. We have also made it clear to the LSC that it has responsibility to engage with Members of Parliament, local councils and councillors to ensure that its decisions have the maximum possible support within local communities, and to tackle some of the fundamental structural problems that, over many years, have got in the way of achieving the aspirational agenda that we want. I urge my hon. Friend to join local learning and skills councils in ensuring that high-quality provision is made available in his area.
Mr. Allen: May I press my hon. Friend on site-specific or on-site provision at schools where children normally leave at 16? People want not to be told what should happen, but to have options. There seems to be a degree of reticence in respect of school sites with further education, university or other possibilities. Many children will not travel to an FE college and may feel inhibited about leaving their school and going to a sixth-form college, for example, but they could be nurtured from 16 into 17 and 18-year-old education by a teacher who knows them. If they go to an FE college, they may be one of several thousand sloshing through the doors who, although I mean no disrespect to FE colleges, are not given enough personal attention. Children will be one of many, which can lead to the sort of drop-out rates that were mentioned earlier.
Mr. Lewis: Let me be clear to my hon. Friend: there is a range of options to meet the objectives that I have set out. We have school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, distinct provision within FE colleges, and post-16 provision located in the environment of a school where it is felt to be the most appropriate solution. We do not impose a one-size-fits-all model, but we do believe that it is right that local communities, in considering post-16 progression, reflect seriously on all the options.
Mr. Lansley: In the course of our discussions on the role and performance of regional development agencies, we examined their relationship with learning and skills councils. It seems clear that there is a discontinuity between the national governance of the Learning and Skills Council—and the sub-regional deliverers, the learning and skills councils in counties or unitary authorities—and the regional development agencies. The skills strategy published by the Minister's Department talked about the integration of learning and skills councils and regional development agencies. We can see joint working on the ground, but not how
integration will happen. How can the local partnerships that the Minister describes determine the shape of local provision in practice?
Mr. Lewis: I agree with the hon. Gentleman. By the end of this year, each regional development agency will be expected to produce proposals for an integrated approach to skills, with local learning and skills councils, Business Link and Jobcentre Plus. That is one response. I also believe that the new chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council is considering, as we speak, the appropriate relationship and structures to ensure that the council engages to maximum effect with RDAs. The concerns that the hon. Gentleman articulates are being addressed, and they need to be addressed if we are to stimulate the demand among employers and individuals for the skills that we want.
Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North): My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) raised the question of choice and variety at the age of 16. Does my hon. Friend the Minister agree that the dilemma is that in many parts of the country—if not most—colleges have better facilities for vocational education, but the schools have the advantage of loyalty from students? The key is the provision of comprehensive and objective advice about all the options available, so that young people are not influenced unduly by their attachment to their school, where the curriculum may not be appropriate, or by the attraction of the facilities at college, which might not provide the right context for their studies. What we need is good educational advice before the age of 16.
Mr. Lewis: I always agree with my hon. Friend from Bury—for obvious reasons. We are moving from a culture of competition to one of collaboration. That brings with it new challenges and dilemmas for policy and professional relationships, but it is the right direction to take. The impartiality of the advice, information and support given to young people about curriculum and career choices is important. That has to involve a partnership between the Connexions service and careers advice in schools. Increasingly, it must also involve employers going into schools and young people going out into the world of work. That will help to ensure that choices are made for realistic and practical reasons, rather than an outdated view of what certain industries can offer.
One concern in the past was that young people were steered in the wrong direction, which led to dropout and disillusionment and those young people never returning to education. Supporting young people to make the right choices is essential, but ensuring that we have the right provision is equally important to local communities.
Mr. Allen: My hon. Friend's relaxed and helpful style is creating a genuine dialogue in the Chamber, for which he should be commended. Sixteen-year-olds need advice, but it is also important for them to see their big brother, big sister or the kid down the road staying on at school on the same site. Better provision may be available elsewhere, but students face peer group
pressure. If a student's colleagues all leave school at 16, it may be seen as weird and unusual to stay on. That sort of pressure can be dissipated only by students seeing 17 and 18-year-olds from their street staying on at school on the same site, even if they are doing vocational education.I thank the Minister for his generosity in giving way again.
Mr. Lewis: It is fair to say that I get the message. The causes of low aspirations are significant and deeply rooted. We have to challenge the low aspirations found in many communities in various ways: not least, we have to influence the attitudes of parents and families. We must bring a stronger cohesion to our actions in terms of adult learning and our school standards agenda. In my view, parents and grandparents who have gone back to learning are far more likely to support the educational potential of their children and grandchildren.
Mr. Kerry Pollard (St. Albans): My hon. Friend mentions aspiration, but a key group of Bengali and Pakistani students have lower aspirations than others. Are steps being taken to ensure that aspiration flows right through the system?
Mr. Lewis: I agree that we need a system that can respond appropriately to the needs of individuals in a way that has not been done before. We need that more personalised education response, but we also need a system that is sensitive to people's cultural and religious requirements and aspirations. In every part of the country, we are trying to provide educational institutions and services that can meet the needs of distinct local communities. That is why a national, one-size-fits-all approach is often not appropriate.
I must make some progress now, for fear that some hon. Members might lose patience, despite what my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) generously said about creating a dialogue in the Chamber.
I turn now to the higher education White Paper's relevance to vocational education. It outlines a vision of world-class teaching, learning and research, and places higher education institutions at the centre of innovation and economic regeneration. Throughout all the reforms that I have described, work force development is essential. That will involve the remodelling of the school work force, the professionalisation of lecturers and tutors in post-16 provision and higher education, and the creation of a cadre of excellent leaders and managers across all sectors. Perhaps most significantly of all, we are also committed to the most radical overhaul of vocational qualifications for adults ever. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Learning and Skills Council and the Sector Skills Development Agency are working together to create bite-sized courses and the principle of mainstream unitisation.
If we are to achieve our aspirations for vocational education, however, we cannot focus exclusively on providers. We must also find innovative ways of stimulating demand for learning among young people, adults and employers.
The LSC is working with key members of the new national skills delivery group to develop a common marketing and communication strategy to promote
vocational education. Learndirect has attracted 960,000 learners in only three years. The trade union learning fund and learning representatives have brought members and employers to the "learning table" for the first time. The employer training pilot schemes are offering advice and guidance combined with financial incentives to attract employers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. As I said earlier, local RDAs and LSCs, Business Link and Jobcentre Plus and are working together in each region to minimise bureaucracy and maximise their cumulative impact on demand.In addition, the Government are considering the extent of our influence as an employer, contractor and procurer of goods and services. I am in the process of conducting an internal review of education and business partnerships, and of our links with national voluntary organisations such as Young Enterprise, Business Dynamics and Trident to strengthen the dynamic that joins schools, colleges, employers and young people. Most importantly, we are committed to ensuring that by next year 85 per cent. of the UK work force will be covered by sector skills councils. At the moment, they are the missing piece in the skills jigsaw.
I turn now to Her Majesty's Opposition, and thus move away from the consensus that is beginning to develop in the debate. Last week, the quiet man said that there was no knight in shining armour waiting over the hill to ride to the rescue of his party. He was right about that. The emperor elect says that he has learned
- "that winning the argument is not the same as winning hearts and minds."
Conservative Members advocate the sheep and goats model of vocational education that has been a primary cause of our national failure in this area. They would determine that at 14 middle-class students took the "academic route" and disengaged working-class kids went vocational. They would create a two-tier system in which vocational was perceived as and became the inferior second-class option.
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