§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if local authorities will have designated representation on the proposed national and local learning and skills councils. [109083]
§ Mr. WicksWe have reiterated during the Lords Committee Stage of the Learning and Skills Bill that we would certainly expect national and local LSCs to include members who understand the needs of local communities through current local authority experience. But we also said it would be wrong to go further than that and specify a particular proportion of places for local authority representatives. It would be difficult then to ensure representation for all the other national partners and stakeholder organisations with an interest in post-16 learning.
We also made it clear that Local authorities will be central partners in the new post-16 arrangements—not just in providing and securing learning opportunities in schools and through adult and community learning but also as organisations which are uniquely placed to provide vision and leadership for communities. The new arrangements will mean that local authorities have a greater influence over the whole range of post-16 provision since local LSCs will be required to consult local authorities on their plans and set out in them the post-16 learning provision which LEAs will secure.