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New legislation for demand-led skills system

8 December 2008

The Government committed to the introduction of new legislation to improve the lives of children and families, drive up standards in schools and to make the education and training system for young people and adults more responsive and flexible in England.

The Children, Skills and Learning Bill will:

• provide new powers to strengthen Children's Trusts
• improve local services for children and parents
• strengthen confidence in qualifications by legislating to establish Qfqual
• provide a right to those in work to request time for training
• establish the skills funding agency which will take over responsibility – in 2010 – for adult skills funding from the Learning and Skill Council
• establish the national apprenticeship service to administer the expanded apprenticeship programme

The Bill will also create a skills system that is more flexible and responsive to the needs of individual learners, businesses and the economy as a whole. The bureaucracy and regulation of the current system can sometimes be frustrating for employers and the Skills Funding Agency will be designed to be demand led. This will include introducing skills accounts for individual learners.

Skills Secretary John Denham said:

“This new Bill will also give every working person a new legal right to request time to train. It is only right that all our people have a chance to have a meaningful conversation about improving their skills and this new right will give them this chance.”

More about the Children, Skills and Learning Bill [External website]