The bill lays the legislative foundations for the reforms outlined in the Government’s ‘Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth’ white paper, published in January 2021. These aim to:
- Give employers a greater say in the development of skills.
- Provide higher level technical skills.
- Provide a flexible, lifetime skills guarantee.
- Simplify and reform funding and accountability for providers.
- Support outstanding teaching.
The Department for Education has said the bill’s provisions aim to deliver the following main benefits as part of the agenda set out in the white paper:
- Offer adults across the country the opportunity to retrain throughout their lives through the lifetime skills guarantee, helping them to gain in-demand skills and open up further job opportunities.
- Realign the system around the needs of employers so that people are trained for the skills gaps that exist now, and in the future, in sectors the economy needs: including construction, digital, clean energy and manufacturing.
- Improve the quality of training available by making sure that providers are better run, qualifications are better regulated, and that providers’ performance can be effectively assessed.
Detail on a lifetime loan entitlement (LLE), for which the bill would provide legislative underpinning, is yet to be confirmed. The Government has said it will launch a consultation on the detail and scope of the LLE by summer 2021. Amendments would then be introduced before the bill’s committee stage in the House of Lords. This would be with a view to facilitating secondary legislation in 2024 that would introduce the LLE in 2025.
The Government has published explanatory notes, an impact assessment and policy summary notes to accompany the bill. It has also published memoranda on the bill for both the Joint Committee on Human Rights and House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.
