BLUNKETT TRANSFORMS SKILLS POLICY FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Radical plans to transform post 16 learning and skills delivery were brought before Parliament with the publication of the Learning and Skills Bill.

Announcing the plans, which cover England and Wales, the Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett said:
" This Bill will transform post 16 learning and skills delivery. It will give us the platform we need for success and prosperity in the knowledge economy. The skills system we inherited was bureaucratic and complex, and failed to deliver consistently high performance. The plans we are publishing today will secure a step change in our learning and skills performance.

"The Bill will create the new Learning and Skills Council, bringing together for the first time into a single national body, responsibility for planning and funding post-16 learning in England. It will cut through red tape, deliver £50 million savings for frontline services, and secure excellence with diversity.

"The Bill also lays the foundations for a new support service for young people in England. All young people - whatever their individual talents, needs or circumstances - will now get appropriate advice and support to keep them on track for achievement. I want every young person succeeding in learning at school and beyond."

The Bill includes:

* a new Learning and Skills Council for England and a new Council for Education and Training in Wales;

* new arrangements for rigorous and independent external inspection of post 16 education and training;

* powers to establish a new support service for young people;

and

* powers to remove obstacles to collaboration between schools, education authorities and Further Education.