Supplementary Memorandum by the Association
of Colleges (AoC) (DRA 47(a))
During the summer the Association of Colleges submitted
written evidence as part of the Committee's inquiry into the Draft
Regional Assemblies Bill. After further consultation with our
members we would like to make further comments (below). I hope
the Committee will be able to consider these as part of your inquiry.
We have the following comments on specific clauses
of the Draft Bill:
Clause 43
The AoC agrees that the general purposes of a regional
assembly
Clause 44
The AoC welcomes the restriction in clause 44 (5)
on the power of the Assembly to do anything for a commercial purpose.
While we support the role of regional assemblies as strategic
bodies in areas where there is public support for them, we believe
that operations are best carried out by other organisations to
maintain a clear distinction between policy and delivery. The
experience of Training and Enterprise Councils in the early 1990s
was that the lack of such a distinction resulted in some TECs
creating trading businesses in the training area which were given
a favoured position in contracts in a way that detracted from
their ability to plan strategically.
Clause 45
The AoC understands the need for the regional assemblies
bill to create enabling powers for the Secretary of State to add
functions as time passes by secondary legislation to expedite
changes but we are concerned that this power could be used to
add education and training powers without full consideration of
the impact. The purposes and powers of assemblies set out in clause
43 create the potential for a large expansion of the remit of
assemblies to cover many of the functions currently delegated
to the Learning and Skills Council in the Learning and Skills
Act 2000. Clause 45 appears to make it possible for the Secretary
of State to transfer various functions in adult learning and skills
to regional assembles statutory instrument. This is not, of itself
undesirable but consideration would need to be given to the following
issues:
· the
impact that such a transfer would have on other Learning and Skills
Council functions in the same region, for example their duties
and responsibilities with respect to the education and training
of 16 to 19 year olds.
· the
impact that such a transfer would have on adult learning and skills
in other regions. A particular issue would be the impact on colleges
in neighbouring regions where people travel across boundaries
but also where colleges are dealing with national companies or
national specialities. The transfer of functions to a regional
assembly could make funding and planning arrangements more complicated
and less effective.
· the
transfer issues in terms of budgets, assets and liabilities which
could complicate such a transfer, particularly if a transfer took
place at a different time from the end of the LSC financial year
(31st March) or the end of the college financial year (31st
July). A transfer which was financially
favourable to the regional assembly obtaining more functions would
disadvantage other regions.
· future
arrangements to ensure that adult learning and skills are planned
in a coherent and consistent way across England.
In the view of AoC it is not sufficient for these
matters to be actioned simply through the mechanism of a statutory
instrument. We believe an extensive process of examination of
the implications would be essential, including full consultation
with the learning and skills sector, with implementation through
primary legislation.
Clause 46
The AoC have the same comments about additional duties
that the bill creates as about additional functions
Clause 119
AoC believes it will be desirable for any changes
to the appointment process to be determined only after the investigations
and consultation described above. Were the regional assemblies
to be given a role in the appointment of local LSC board members
in place of the Secretary of State, we believe that the Secretary
of State's guidance should set clear limits on the categories
of appointment to ensure that local LSCs had appropriate knowledge
in areas which fall outside the assembly remit, for example 14-19
education, and to maintain consistency of approach across the
country as a whole.
Clause 120
The AoC supports this clause
Clause 121
The AoC supports this clause
Dr John Brennan
Chief Executive
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