Education and Skills Bill

The Learning and Skills Council currently has a duty to ensure proper provision for all 16 to 19 year-olds, and for all 16 to 25 year-old learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. This role covers all the aspects set out by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, in her opening remarks. Under Section 2 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, the Learning and Skills Council is required to secure the provision of proper facilities for, "““education (other than higher education) suitable to the requirements of persons who are above compulsory school age but have not attained the age of 19 … training suitable to the requirements of such persons … organised leisure-time occupation connected with such education, and … organised leisure-time occupation connected with such training””." It defines facilities as proper if they are, "““of a quantity sufficient to meet the reasonable needs of individuals””—" including, of course, individuals with learning difficulties and/or disabilities— "““and of a quality adequate to meet those needs””." Therefore, when the LSC undertakes its planning responsibilities, it already takes account of the elements that Amendment No. 61A specifically mentions; that is to say, it draws up commissioning plans at a regional level, recognising the need for a diverse range of academic and vocational provision, and ensuring suitable provision for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The Bill seeks to strengthen the assessment provisions for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. We will spell out in statutory guidance to local authorities that every young person with learning difficulties who is likely to benefit from an assessment should receive one under Clause 65. Local authorities will be legally required to have regard to this guidance, and we believe that it will ensure that provision in this area is sufficient. As I said, it is our intention that responsibility for funding and commissioning 16 to 19 provision will be transferred from the LSC to local authorities from 2010. Local authorities will be responsible from 2013 for making a reality in their area the national entitlement to a new, wider choice of options. Drawing on the plans drawn up by their local 14-19 partnerships, local authorities will be required to analyse demand from young people and ensure that choices are informed by good information, advice and guidance. They will compare the pattern of demand to the existing pattern and performance of local provision, and work with schools, colleges and other providers to assess the best way of filling any gaps and promoting quality. This analysis and these decisions will lead to a commissioning plan agreed within and outside the area, either as part of, or closely aligned to, the local authority’s children and young people plan. Local authorities will work together in subregional groups in their commissioning, in order to analyse and understand demand from across the travel-to-learn areas of all their learners, to consider gaps in provision and to share judgments of quality. Local authorities need to plan for all young people up to the age of 25. For some, including learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, provision may be highly specialised and costly. Planning across a wider area for such provision will be particularly important. We intend to legislate for these aspects in the next parliamentary Session. Subject to such a legislative slot being available and the Bill being passed, by the time the policy to raise the participation age comes into force, local authorities will have duties to secure sufficient appropriate provision, including provision for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. They will also have duties to keep that provision under review. We therefore do not believe that it would be appropriate to legislate here for these new duties. However, I hope that I have given sufficient assurances to the noble Baroness for her to be confident that the existing planning duties on the Learning and Skills Council meet the points that she has raised, and that we will transfer and strengthen those duties when local authorities take them over, under legislation to be forthcoming in the next Session.