Reforms to FE system continue with Skills and Post-16 Education Bill

Reforms to FE system continue with Skills and Post-16 Education Bill 21 May 2021

A new Skills and Post-16 Education Bill has started its legislative journey continuing the government’s intention to reform the skills and further education (FE) system.

Focusing on post-16 skills, the reform aims to increase productivity, support growth industries, and give individuals opportunities to progress in their careers whilst improving how the post-16 skills system functions.

The government acknowledges that the skills system delivers considerable value but believes the Bill is needed to address three key weaknesses:

Too many people leave full-time education with low skills – and too few have higher technical skills at levels 4-5
Participation in lifelong learning is low and declining
Too much learning is done in subjects with relatively low economic value.

The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill seeks to:

Place employers at the heart of the system by improving productivity and plugging skills gaps through education and training and helping people into jobs that match the needs of local areas. Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) will give employers a key role in influencing technical education and training. Providers in the statutory FE sector will have to review their provision against local needs and consider what actions they might take.
Implement new technical qualifications: The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) will define and approve new categories of technical qualifications that relate to employer-led standards in various ways, and to have an oversight role for the technical education offer in each occupational route. The Bill will increase collaboration between IfATE and Ofqual for the approval and regulation of technical qualifications.
Better align the FE and HE funding systems so that people can train and learn flexibly throughout their lives. This will be supported by the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).
Ensure that providers and learners are supported by effective accountability, governance and intervention. The measures will extend the powers for the Secretary of State to intervene in the event of failure in the statutory FE sector.

The government believes that the measures in the Bill, alongside the wider reforms set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper and the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, will help to create a strengthened and unified post-16 education and skills system.