Clause
21Duty
to prepare and submit draft specification of apprenticeship standards:
England
Mr.
Hayes: I beg to move amendment 44, in clause 21,
page 10, line 16, leave out ‘such persons
as the Chief Executive thinks appropriate’ and insert
‘representatives of industry,
employers, sectoral bodies, the further education sector and other
persons the Chief Executive thinks
appropriate.’.
The
Chairman: With this it will be convenient to discuss
amendment 46, in
clause 23, page 10, line 40, at
end insert— ‘(aa) consult
representatives of industry, employers and the further education sector
on the proposed new draft
modifications.’.
Mr.
Hayes: We are speeding along in a determined fashion, but
we are in no sense lacking in our duty to ensure that every aspect of
the Bill is scrutinised carefully. To that end, I am happy to move the
amendment. It is a drafting amendment to ensure that in the
consultation process on apprenticeship standards the chief executive
officer of Skills Funding must consult the representatives of industry
and education, rather than merely “such persons as the Chief
Executive thinks appropriate”, as the Bill currently requires.
The amendment is important for ensuring that apprenticeship standards
and any subsequent modification to those standards are based on what
employers actually want and what educators can deliver. The marriage
between employer need and the role of colleges and other providers is
critical, and the consultation process in those terms is also
important. The
amendment would ensure that apprenticeships will be representative,
responsive and realistic. If the Government accept the amendment, we
hope that it will go some way to allaying the fears of employers and
others about the imposition of arbitrary standards identified in
Committee by the witnesses from both the CBI and, in particular, the
British Chambers of Commerce. The Opposition want to ensure that
apprenticeships are neither developed in a top-down fashion, nor bound
by unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy, but that they are instead
developed in consultation with all those who will deliver and
participate in them, driving up the quality and sustainability of
individual apprenticeships and the apprenticeship brand as a
whole. On
a purely technical note, the amendment will also ensure that
considerably less bureaucracy is involved in the development of
apprenticeship frameworks by ensuring that the standards and frameworks
are developed with employers and educators. The absence of consultation
is likely to make the process more bureaucratic because it will not be
as
responsive. 10.25
am The
Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put (Standing Order
No.
88). Adjourned
till this day at One
o’clock.
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