Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning

The Bill introduces a wide range of measures covering apprenticeships, learning and skills and educational provision.

Key areas

• Provides for a statutory framework for apprenticeships and creates a right to an apprenticeship for suitably qualified 16-18 year olds
• Introduces a right for employees to request time away from their duties to undertake training, and places a corresponding duty on employers to consider such requests seriously and to be able to refuse them only for specified business reasons
• Dissolves the Learning and Skills Council
• Transfers the responsibility for funding education and training for 16-18-year-olds to local authorities
• Makes provisions with respect to the education of offenders
• Creates the Young Person’s Learning Agency, the Skills Funding Agency, a new regulatory body for qualifications (Ofqual), and a new agency to carry out the non-regulatory functions currently performed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
• Strengthens the accountability of children’s services
• Amends intervention powers in respect of schools which are causing concern
• Establishes a new parental complaints service
• Changes the school inspection arrangements
• Creates a new negotiating body for pay and conditions for school support staff
• Makes provisions in respect of pupil and student behaviour.