The Technical and Further
Education Bill 2016-17 was introduced in the House
of Commons on 27 October 2016. Among other things, the Bill
implements proposals set out in the Government’s Post – 16 Skills
Plan, published in July 2016, which were developed in
response to recommendations in the Report of the
Independent Panel on Technical Education chaired by
.
The Bill will:
- rename the Institute for Apprenticeships and extend its remit
to cover college-based technical education in addition to
apprenticeships;
- create an insolvency framework for the further education (FE)
sector and establish a new special administration regime for FE
corporations, sixth form corporations, and companies which run
designated institutions in England and Wales; and
- ensure that the provision of information to the Government by
FE providers will continue following any devolution of the Adult
Skills Budget to combined authorities.
Further background information on the Bill (as introduced to the
Commons) is provided in Library Briefing 7752, Technical and Further
Education Bill.
The Bill was presented in the House of Lords on 10 January 2017
and the Second Reading debate took place on 1 February 2017. The
Lords Committee Stage of the Bill took place over three days
between 22 February 2017 and 1 March 2017. The Report Stage took
place on the 27 March 2017 and the Third
Reading was on 4 April 2017.
Lords Amendments
Three Opposition new clauses were agreed relating
to technical education:
- To ensure that providers of technical education will have a
right to go into schools to inform pupils about technical
education qualifications and apprenticeships. The new clause was
accepted by the Government and had cross-party support. It was
agreed without a division.
- A requirement for Ofsted to take into account the careers
advice available to students when inspecting FE providers. The
new clause was agreed following a division.
- To make Child Benefit payable in respect of young people
under 20 undertaking statutory apprenticeships, and to extend the
Higher Education Bursary to care leavers taking apprenticeships.
The new clause was agreed following a division.
Government amendments were also agreed to ensure that data
sharing arrangements “remain fit for purpose” given that the
bodies that the Institute for Apprenticeships is likely to need
to share information with are expected to change over time.
In relation to part two of the Bill on
the insolvency framework, a number of
Government amendments were agreed at Committee Stage without
divisions, including:
- To provide that there is an accessible public record of
documents relating to an FE body’s insolvency.
- To ensure that the “needs of care leavers are provided for in
the event that the FE body they attend enters educational
administration.”
- To close a potential loophole in the Bill relating to the
disqualification of governors of FE corporations or sixth form
college corporations.
- To ensure that courts in the different parts of the UK can
cooperate if needed in the event of an FE body’s insolvency or
the disqualification of a governor of an FE body.
A non-government amendment was also agreed at Report Stage
relating to the functions of the Education Administrator. The
amendment was intended to remove perceived doubts concerning the
operation of the special objective, under which the primary focus
of an Education Administrator will be on the studies of existing
students. This is in contrast to an ordinary administration where
the administrator’s primary focus is on rescuing the company or
obtaining a better result for the creditors as a whole. The
Government accepted the amendment and it was agreed without a
division.
No amendments were made to the part of the Bill relating to the
provision of information by FE providers to the Government.
The House of Commons is scheduled to consider the Lords
amendments to the Bill on 19 April 2017.
