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PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee DRAFT LIVERPOOL CITY REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY (ADULT EDUCATION FUNCTIONS) ORDER 2018 DRAFT TEES VALLEY COMBINED AUTHORITY (ADULT EDUCATION FUNCTIONS) ORDER 2018 Tuesday 16 October 2018 No proofs can be supplied. Corrections that Members suggest for the final version of the report should be clearly marked in a copy of the report—not telephoned—and must be received in the Editor’s Room, House of Commons, not later than Saturday 20 October 2018 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2018 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1 Fifth Delegated 16 OCTOBER 2018 Legislation Committee 2 The Committee consisted of the following Members: Chair: DAVID HANSON † Allan, Lucy (Telford) (Con) † Kyle, Peter (Hove) (Lab) † Bacon, Mr Richard (South Norfolk) (Con) † Marsden, Gordon (Blackpool South) (Lab) † Brereton, Jack (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con) † Mercer, Johnny (Plymouth, Moor View) (Con) † Clarke, Mr Simon (Middlesbrough South and East † Milling, Amanda (Cannock Chase) (Con) Cleveland) (Con) † Milton, Anne (Minister for Apprenticeships and † Cunningham, Alex (Stockton North) (Lab) Skills) Daby, Janet (Lewisham East) (Lab) † Streeting, Wes (Ilford North) (Lab) † Ellman, Dame Louise (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/ † Swire, Sir Hugo (East Devon) (Con) Co-op) Fitzpatrick, Jim (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab) Dominic Stockbridge, Committee Clerk † Fletcher, Colleen (Coventry North East) (Lab) † Johnson, Dr Caroline (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con) † attended the Committee 3 Fifth Delegated HOUSE OF COMMONS Legislation Committee 4 has its own needs and circumstances. Local authorities, Fifth Delegated Legislation including combined authorities, are fantastic enablers Committee and facilitators.Weare working with combined authorities, businesses and learning providers to establish how skills provision and reform can be best shaped to fit the needs Tuesday 16 October 2018 of local areas. The orders will transfer certain adult functions of the Secretary of State in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children [DAVID HANSON in the Chair] and Learning Act to the combined authority in relation to its area and enable the transfer of the relevant part of Draft Liverpool City Region Combined the AEB to the combined authority. In particular, the Authority (Adult Education Functions) following functions will be exercisable by the combined authority in its area instead of by the Secretary of State: Order 2018 section 86, which relates to education and training for persons aged 19 or over; section 87, which relates to the 8.55 am learning aims for such persons and the provision of The Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills (Anne facilities; and section 88, which relates to the payment Milton): I beg to move, of tuition fees for such persons. That the Committee has considered the draft Liverpool City Conditions are set in relation to the transferred functions, RegionCombinedAuthority(AdultEducationFunctions)Order2018. in particular that the combined authority must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State and must adopt eligibility rules in accordance with any The Chair: With this it will be convenient to consider direction of the Secretary of State. The Department for the draft Tees Valley Combined Authority (Adult Education Education will transfer the relevant part of the AEB to Functions) Order 2018. the combined authority to undertake the functions. It will be the responsibility of each area to manage its Anne Milton: I apologise if I sound slightly out of overall AEB allocation effectively and efficiently, to breath, Mr Hanson. meet the needs of its residents. The orders, if approved and made, will provide for Prior to this, the Department considered business the transfer of certain adult education functions and cases from the combined authorities for implementation associated adult education budgets to the Liverpool funding in preparation for the transfer of functions. City Region and Tees Valley combined authorities. They After evaluating the cases, the Department agreed to provide an opportunity for the authorities to help their provide appropriate implementation funding to support residents fulfil their potential. Although I made many the combined authorities’ preparations and ensure that of the same comments in yesterday’s Fourth Delegated each area was able to prepare effectively to take on the Legislation Committee sitting, I will repeat them for the functions. record. From the 2019-20 academic year, the Liverpool City In 2015 and 2016, through a series of devolution Region and Tees Valley combined authorities will be deals agreed between the Government and the combined responsible for providing funding for statutory entitlements authorities, we made the commitment fully to devolve for eligible learners in maths and English up to and the adult education budget. The orders will deliver including level 2, first full level 2 and level 3 qualifications— on that commitment. They are made under the Local learners aged 19 to 23—and the forthcoming digital Democracy, Economic Development and Construction skills entitlement. Wetalk about the northern powerhouse, Act 2009 and will transfer certain adult education functions and I think we can agree that skills are an essential set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and driver for economic growth in the region. I have a Learning Act 2009 from the Secretary of State to the number of examples that I am happy to provide if hon. combined authorities. Those functions will relate to the Members would like to hear them, but I will not detain area of each specified combined authority for the academic the Committee now. year 2019-20 and thereafter. The transfer does not The scale of the challenges faced by the combined include the functions in so far as they relate to authorities is significant. Liverpool City Region Combined apprenticeships or those subject to adult detention. Authority has one of the highest rates of economically In the 2015 spending review, the Government made inactive residents of any combined authority area—that £1.5 billion available annually until 2020 for the adult is from an Office for National Statistics source—and education budget. Across England, that support to help this is most pronounced for residents in receipt of sickness adults with skills and learning is vital in equipping them benefit. The figure is in the region of 93,720. Similarly, for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. It acts despite employment levels rising at a rate higher than as an integral stepping-stone, particularly for many who the national average, Tees Valley Combined Authority have suffered disadvantage. In 2016-17, the adult education still has claimant unemployment above the national budget supported adults to study courses in English, average—4.2% compared with 2.2%. In both authorities, maths, English for speakers of other languages, full the proportion of residents without formal qualifications level 2 or level 3 qualifications and a wide range of is higher than the national average of 7.7%, with Liverpool community learning provision. City Region at 11.3% and Tees Valley at 12.1%. Combined authorities, and indeed all local authorities, Through the orders, the combined authorities can have a role to play in supporting the introduction of deliver a step change, to support their residents into T-levels, including working with employers to provide good jobs with opportunities to progress and develop, high-quality industry placements.Each combined authority to improve the earnings potential of their low-paid, 5 Fifth Delegated 16 OCTOBER 2018 Legislation Committee 6 low-skilled workers, to deliver a thriving and productive transit from the current situation to the future situation. economy and—critically for me—to harness the collective We all sit in a Westminster bubble from time to time. We enthusiasm of business, local authorities, the third sector assume—no doubt this is as true of officials as it is of and the public sector. I commend the orders to the Members of Parliament—that the moment something Committee. is signed on the dotted line, that is the end of it, but of course it is not. The implementation process is as important The Chair: The Minister has moved the motion and as passing the orders that we are debating. has initiated the debate on both orders. At the end of Having made those generic comments, I will make the debate, I will ask her to move the second order one or two comments about the impact in the two areas formally. that we are looking at. The Liverpool City Region covers an area that is historically and geographically 9.3 am diverse. It contains areas that were once part of historic Lancashire and Cheshire. It is at the very cusp of Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab): It is a identities, accents and origins in the north-west. It great pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairmanship, encompasses places like Sefton, where Anthony Gormley’s Mr Hanson, and it is a particular pleasure to see the statues look out to sea; it encompasses the Beatles, and Minister in her place, after some of the logistical issues everything we owe to the rich culture of the city of that she must have faced this morning. Liverpool— I want to take my lead, slightly, from the Minister, but I will not detain the Committee long. The Minister The Chair: Including your Chairman’s birthplace. reminded us both—and the Whips—that we were all sitting discussing a similar, but never the same, set of Gordon Marsden: Including the Chairman’s birthplace. issues yesterday afternoon. The Minister has laid out It also encompasses the Wirral, and apart from other her stall in that respect and she will be relieved to hear things, as a medievalist I have to make the observation that I do not propose to repeat everything I said yesterday.