APPENDIX 5: FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
BILL [HL]
Letter from Lord Adonis, Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State for Schools, Department for Education and Skill, to the
Chairman.
1. Thank you for the Delegated Powers and Regulatory
Reform Committee's Third Report of Session 2006-07, covering the
Further Education and Training Bill [HL]. The Government has noted
your recommendations, and I am pleased overall that you find the
provisions in the Bill to be acceptable. However, I note the report's
comments in relation to two areas of the Bill and I shall respond
to each in turn.
Regional councils - clause 2
2. I am pleased that your report confirms that
the delegation of powers proposed in clause 2 is not inappropriate.
However I note your recommendation that at least the first exercise
of the regulation-making power in clause 2, because of its significance,
should be subject to affirmative resolution. I should take this
opportunity to clarify that, like the present local learning and
skills councils, the regional councils will not be separate statutory
bodies. The Learning and Skills Council will continue to be a
single unitary body with one Chair, one Chief Executive and one
national Council. Regional councils will be committees of the
national Council, exercising only those powers which the national
Council chooses to delegate. Nevertheless, I recognise the Committee's
argument and we have tabled an amendment to the Bill to allow
for the first exercise of the power to be subject to affirmative
procedure. I would also like to confirm that I will be making
available to the House, in time for Grand Committee, a draft of
the regulations which relate to clause 2.
Further education corporations - clauses 13 to
16
3. I am grateful that the report recognises it
is not uncommon for regulatory powers in relation to a particular
services sector to be conferred on a statutory body. Moreover,
is helpful that the report is clear that the exercise of the powers
conferred by clauses 13 to 16 will be subject to requirements
for publication of proposals and consultation. I am confident
that this transfer of powers to the Learning and Skills Council
for England, which has a detailed knowledge about individual providers
and of employers' and learners' requirements in an area, will
support the Government's wish to make sure the necessary powers
to act are placed in the hands of the body best placed to act.
It will also serve to help streamline the system and reduce bureaucracy.
4. The Committee has drawn the attention of the
House to the fact that the LSC orders will not be statutory instruments
and therefore not subject to parliamentary control, and that there
is no constraint on the power of direction conferred on the Secretary
of State by clause 16. It is this second point which the report
considers more striking. It recommended that the existing levels
of Parliamentary control be retained, possibly by providing that
orders be made by the Secretary of State on the recommendation
of the Council.
5. I have considered the report's recommendation
very carefully. Nonetheless, I must conclude that, because of
the maturity of the learning and skills sector and the level of
management accountability between the LSC and the Secretary of
State, it is appropriate for the LSC to exercise the power to
incorporate and dissolve colleges independently.
6. However, I acknowledge the case for restricting
the range of circumstances in which the Secretary of State's power
to direct can be exercised. We have therefore tabled an amendment
which will restrict the Secretary of State's power to direct the
LSC to incorporate or dissolve an institution to circumstances
in which the LSC is acting or proposing to act unreasonably in
relation to its statutory duties. This, I hope you agree, provides
reassurance and satisfies the main point raised in the report.
7. I should also like to take this opportunity
to clarify that clauses 13 and 14 do not transfer the power to
establish and dissolve further education corporations to the Welsh
Ministers. The functions under section 16 and 27 of the Further
and Higher Education Act 1992 were transferred to the National
Assembly for Wales in 1999 by SI 1999/672 in consequence
of the Government of Wales Act 1998 and will as from May of this
year be exercisable by the Welsh Ministers.
8. In order to assist Parliament's consideration
of the Bill, we will be making available to the House, before
Grand Committee, illustrative drafts of the regulations, orders,
guidance and directions we intend to make in order to implement
the Bill.
| 
