Queen’s Speech - Children, Skills and Learning Bill

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Wednesday 3 December 2008

Queen’s Speech - Children, Skills and Learning Bill

“My Government will bring forward a Bill to reform education, training and apprenticeships, to promote excellence in all schools, to improve local services for children and parents and to provide a right to those in work to request time for training.”

The purpose of the Bill is:

To reform education, training and apprenticeships for young people and adults, and to provide new powers to strengthen children’s trusts, improve standards in schools and increase confidence in qualifications.

The main benefits of the Bill would be:

· raising standards in all schools;

· equipping people with the skills they need to realise their full potential, including a new right to request time for training;

· enabling schools to tackle disruptive behaviour;

· making education and skills provision more accountable locally and more responsive to local needs;

· a slimmer national infrastructure which is more responsive to local and individual needs.

The main elements of the Bill are:

School standards

Ensuring every school is a good school by reducing burdens on the best while strengthening the powers to intervene where schools require support, and continuing the development of a world class school workforce.

· Local Authorities will be required to consider taking earlier action where school performance continues to cause concern.

· The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) intends to move to a more flexible school inspection cycle under which successful schools will benefit from less frequent inspection. The Bill will support this by enabling Ofsted to publish a statement about the progress of those schools in-between inspections so that parents and others continue to benefit from up-to-date information.

· The Government will have stronger powers to enforce compliance with the Standard Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) which amongst other things ensures teachers have time to properly prepare for lessons.

· Support staff will be further recognised as a vital and integral part of the workforce by the establishment of a new negotiating pay body.

Tackling poor behaviour

Strengthening collaboration between schools giving them the powers they need to improve standards of behaviour.

· All secondary schools will be required to work in Behaviour Improvement Partnerships. Since September 2007 nearly all secondary schools have been working in such partnerships to improve behaviour and tackle persistent absence. These partnerships have enabled schools to deal more effectively with challenging pupils by sharing expertise, resources and facilities. Amongst those schools that took part in early pathfinder projects there was a reduction in the need for permanent and fixed period exclusions and a downward trend in persistent absence. ¼br /> · In response to Sir Alan Steer’s recommendations on school behaviour, schools and colleges will be given powers to search pupils for alcohol, illegal drugs and stolen items.

Realising potential

Giving people new rights to apprenticeships and training and improving the support to children and young people outside the mainstream sector will help them to realise their full potential and will provide employers with the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century economy.

· The Bill will introduce an entitlement to an apprenticeship place for each suitably-qualified young person from 2013. The Bill would also establish a statutory basis for the apprenticeship programme.

· The changes to 16-19 funding will ensure that Local Authorities (LAs) have all the tools at their disposal to make a reality of our proposals to raise the age at which young people are required to participate in education and training, to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015. LAs will then have responsibility not only for promoting young people’s participation and for supporting them to find appropriate high quality education and training opportunities, but for securing these opportunities for 16-19 year olds in their area.

· The Youth Justice Board’s 2004 report –The Role of Education in Enhancing Life Chances and Preventing Offending - found that young offenders who participated in education projects were less likely to re-offend. The Bill will improve the quality of education to young offenders by both bringing young offenders under the education legislative regime, so that they receive education which is more closely aligned to the mainstream, and also by placing a duty on local authorities with juvenile establishments in their area (the ‘Host’ local authority) to secure appropriate education provision for young offenders in them.

· To ensure that those who are in work are able to get the time needed to go on a course of study to advance their careers and realise their potential, employees will be given a right to request time off for training, and employers must consider it properly.

Local involvement

Ensuring that delivery of learning and skills provision and other support to children and their families is locally owned, locally integrated and also accountable and responsive to individuals’ needs and choices.

· Parents will have a clearer and more streamlined route to have complaints about schools heard and dealt with, hence enhancing their ability to hold schools to account.

· Responsibility for the funding and organisation of 16-19 learning will be transferred from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to local authorities which will then be a single point of accountability for all 0-19 Children’s Services. LAs will therefore be better positioned to plan and co-ordinate provision across all institutions in their area so that it is joined up and responsive to local circumstances, local economic demand and learner’s individual needs and choices.

· Children’s Trusts, which bring together key agencies in co-operation to improve children’s wellbeing through integrated services, will be strengthened by establishing Children’s Trusts Boards as statutory bodies responsible for producing the Children and Young People’s Plan and making it compulsory for schools and colleges to cooperate within these.

· The latest report from the National Evaluation of Sure Start (March 2008) showed that Sure Start Children’s Centres (SSCCs) are having a positive impact on the life chances of children, and providing the support parents want. The Bill will ensure that all children and parents can benefit by establishing SSCCs as statutory bodies and requiring LAs to establish and maintain sufficient SSCCs in their area to meet need.

Slimmer National Infrastructure

Establishing a slimmed down, lighter touch national infrastructure which is driven by customer choice and exists to support local delivery, promote excellence and increase confidence.

· A new light-touch national body, the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), will provide support to local authorities to carry out their new duties to 16-19 learners and ensure LAs are working together to ensure that provision is coherent where pupils are travelling across LA boundaries.

· Responsibility for adult skills will transfer to a new Skills Funding body, which will be established as an Executive Agency of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). It will ensure that funding is based on the choices of individuals and employers; whilst at local level, self-organised networks of colleges and other learning providers will engage much more directly with learners and employers to ensure that provision is better tailored to their needs.

· To increase confidence in standards of qualifications and tests, the Bill will transfer the regulatory functions of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to a new independent regulator for England, the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual), with strengthened powers to safeguard standards and regulate the qualifications market. Ofqual will be accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. The QCA will evolve into the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA). This will be completely separate from the regulator, with advice, development and delivery functions in relation to the curriculum, related qualifications and assessments.

The main legislation that the Bill will amend is as follows:

· The Education Acts

· Children’s Act 2004

· Childcare Act 2006

· Schools Standard and Framework Act 1998

· Employment Rights Act 1996

· Audit Commission Act 1998

· Children Act 2004

· Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986

· Employment Act 1988

· Freedom of Information Act 2000

· House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975

· Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007

· Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967

· Public Records Act 1958

· Race Relations Act 1976

· Sex Discrimination Act 1975

· Superannuation Act 1972

· Value Added Tax Act 1994

Devolution:

The Bill will have a number of implications for Devolved administrations, in particular the Welsh Assembly Government, but will not include any framework powers for the latter. There are only two Wales-only parts of the Bill – extending Foundation Degree Awarding Powers to Welsh Further Education (FE) institutions and making minor changes around the provision of parental complaints. There will also be provisions for Wales around policy areas including: apprenticeships; young offender learning; student loans and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs); enforcing STPCD compliance; and the creation of Ofqual and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA). The Bill will have a significantly smaller impact on Scotland and Northern Ireland than it does on Wales, however Legislative Consent Motions will be sought on certain areas.

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