Cornwall Council (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Lord Shipley
Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (Lab)
My Lords, I will speak also to two linked instruments: the East Midlands Combined County Authority (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2025.
I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments for the scrutiny provided for these instruments. These draft statutory instruments were laid in Parliament on 24 February 2025. If they are approved, the Department for Education will transfer adult education functions and associated adult skills funding to these three areas for the start of the new academic year, 1 August 2025. This will give them freedom to use their adult skills funding as they see fit to help their residents fulfil their potential and contribute to the growth of their region.
The adult education functions being transferred are under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. The specific functions are: education and training for persons aged 19 or over; learning aims for such persons and provision of facilities; and payment of tuition fees for statutory entitlements for certain individuals. These relate to Sections 86, 87 and 88 of the 2009 Act respectively. These functions will be exercisable by these local areas instead of by the Secretary of State. They are subject to an exception in relation to apprenticeships training, persons subject to adult detention or any power to make regulations or orders.
Other specific functions being transferred are the encouragement of education and training for persons aged 19 or over, the provision of financial resources and the provision of financial resources in connection with technical education. These relate to Section 90 and Section 100(1) and (1B) of the 2009 Act respectively. These functions will be transferred to the local areas so that they are exercisable concurrently with the Secretary of State.
The Adult Skills Fund supports millions of adults across England to develop the skills they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. The Government usually allocate around £1.4 billion annually to deliver this provision. This includes national statutory entitlements to free English, maths and digital courses, level 2 and 3 qualifications for 19 to 23 year- olds who do not yet have them, and free courses for jobs for adults aged 18 or over who do not have a level 3 qualification, are unemployed or earn less than £25,000.
If these statutory instruments are approved, Cornwall, the East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire can apply their devolved powers to identify adults with the greatest skills needs in their region, invest more funding to support those groups, work directly with employers, providers and other local partners to commission provision to meet local needs and set funding rates to incentivise the delivery of provision that will have the greatest positive impact in their region. This will help to deliver the Government’s mission, set out in the English Devolution White Paper, to give local areas the powers and freedoms to decide how they spend their funding to deliver opportunity and growth and make a real difference to people’s lives.
The Department for Education has worked closely with each area to ensure that they are ready to take on these functions. Each local area has carried out the relevant local consultations, received the consents required for the transfer of these powers and the making of these statutory instruments, met the Department for Education’s readiness criteria and published a strategic skills plan setting out how they will use their devolved adult skills funding.
The Secretary of State for Education has judged that all three areas have met the relevant statutory tests set out in legislation, such that conferring these functions to the local area is: first, likely to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of some or all the people who live or work in the area or areas to which the order or regulations relate; and, secondly, appropriate to the needs to secure effective and convenient local government and to reflect the identities and interests of local communities.
I thank the partner organisations, colleagues and constituent authorities of Cornwall, the East Midlands, and York and North Yorkshire for their work to get to this important milestone.
To conclude, these statutory instruments will give three new devolved areas the opportunity and freedom to directly shape their adult education provision, address local barriers, focus provision to meet local needs, enhance economic growth and bring greater prosperity to their regions. I beg to move.
Lord Shipley (LD)
My Lords, I am extremely supportive of these three statutory instruments and thank the Minister for her detailed explanation. The consultation that took place on the three proposals supported what the council in Cornwall and the combined authorities of East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire proposed, so it is right to transfer responsibilities to those bodies.
As the Minister said, it will mean that decisions on adult education provision, including skills training, reflect the needs of the combined authority or council areas. However, I would like the Minister to clarify two issues. In the consultation in the east Midlands on the transfer of functions, 1,534 people were against the proposals, with 2,504 in favour. Can the Minister explain, if only for the record, why so many people were opposed to something that seems entirely sensible? Was there a problem or had there been some misunderstanding about what was being proposed?
More importantly, there is going to be an issue, given that these three proposed transfers of functions are adding to quite a number that are already in existence. How will the Government assess outcomes and success? Devolution is supposed to improve services and outcomes. There are tests that the Government could apply: I would like to think that one of those is a reduction in the rate of NEETs—young people who are not in employment, education or training. Do the Government identify a reduction in the NEET level as something that devolution should deliver, given that local people are best positioned to assess how skills, training and educational opportunity can be improved?
A second test might be about the number of young people with disabilities who are employed. That is important, because we should use all the talents of young people that we can, and the NEET figures are simply too high.
The third test I suggest to Ministers is to reassure Parliament in future, first, that the structure that will be put in place will link effectively with employers in identifying future skills needs; and, secondly, that the providers of adult and further education—and, indeed, those of mainstream education in the school system—are all talking to each other, as well as with the council and the combined authorities, to ensure that effective decision-making is happening. This is because it is very difficult to identify future skills needs. It is comparatively easy to identify current skills needs, but identifying skills needs five or 10 years from now, say, is a great deal more complicated. I am interested in what feedback systems the Government have in order to enable all the bodies with devolved powers and responsibilities to teach each other and learn from each other, so that we do not have skills shortages and so that future planning for our skills needs is as effective as it possibly could be. Will there be a regular report to Parliament on outcomes?
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Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Lord Shipley(7 months ago)
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Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
My noble friend hits on a very sensitive and important issue. Value for money must be driven throughout any scheme that we come up with, and that is one of the top priorities of the work that is happening as we speak.
Lord Shipley (LD)
My Lords, the Minister said that the department was working very hard to get a solution to this important problem. Can she put a better timescale on that, given that there are only a few weeks to go before the current funding scheme comes to an end? Are the Government holding this for a nice, hopeful announcement on Budget Day?