Learning and Skills Council (Hansard, 2 December 1999)

§ 2. Mr. Ben Chapman (Wirral, South)
What representations he has received on proposals for a new Learning and Skills Council. [99341]

§ The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett)
We have received more than 1,100 responses to our White Paper, "Learning To Succeed". More than 90 per cent. were in favour of our proposals.

§ Mr. Chapman
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the system he inherited from the Conservatives was wasteful, bureaucratic and incapable of producing high standards across the board and that what he has introduced is not simply an administrative change, but a step change that will provide a coherent, high quality system of support for skills and knowledge that will generate real savings and benefit directly those involved?

§ Mr. Blunkett
Not only do I agree with what my hon. Friend says about the importance of those changes, but so do the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce and the national council of the National Training Organisation, which has said that it sees the reform of the delivery of post-16 education and training as a golden opportunity to put right the legacy of individual under-achievement and business under-performance.
Major companies have underlined that, including BP, which has said: We agree strongly with the need to change. The bureaucracy of the existing system makes it very difficult for a national employer like us to access funding on a national basis for NVQ assessment. All those organisations are in the business of business. They know what they require and they will now have a much clearer directive to assist in making the changes work on the ground.

§ Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry)
Would not the Secretary of State accept that the devil is not only in the detail of his proposed changes but in the principle of them? With further education colleges warning about the threat to their autonomy and their ability to deliver in response to local needs, with local education authorities worried about the threat to their budgets from top-slicing for the Secretary of State's pet projects, with business concerned about being marginalised in decision making and with the threat to school sixth forms whitewashed but still unresolved, is not there a real danger that the Secretary of State may run out of friends?

§ Mr. Blunkett
Given the lack of investment in repair and maintenance in schools around the country, whitewashing would be a positive gain for some of the schools that we inherited. The business community is very satisfied with my announcement of 28 October, and it supports the changes, for the reasons that I read out a moment ago.
The business community believes that coherent investment, the purchaser-provider split and the involvement of business in decision making are crucial to making the changes work. That is why it supports the changes that we have announced, which are long overdue. The era of confusion, bureaucracy and top-slicing, when 415 money went anywhere except into training, is coming to an end. I am pleased that we have been able to take this step in this Parliament, rather than in the next.

§ Mr. Hilary Benn (Leeds, Central)
Would my right hon. Friend say what role he sees for the lifelong learning partnerships in the new arrangements? Does he share my view that they are central to identifying local need and to encouraging local collaboration? Will he ensure that they have the support and the resources that they need to do that very important job?

§ Mr. Blunkett
Not only will we ensure that they have sufficient resources this year, but we will allocate resources for next year to ensure that their continuing work can be developed. My hon. Friend is entirely right: those partnerships are very important in pulling together providers, thus giving a coherence that prevents gaps in local provision from emerging while dealing with the questions raised by the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell).