Technical and Further Education Act 2017

Policy background

4. In addition to the below further policy background is included in the commentary on individual provisions.

Technical Education: the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

5. In the government’s view, reforming the skills system is crucial to the economic success of this country and to improving the life chances of millions of people.
   1. An independent panel, chaired by Lord Sainsbury, undertook a review of the post-16 skills system and advised Government on measures which could improve technical education in England. The panel found that, despite a number of improvements made during the last Parliament, serious flaws remain. It also found that the system is over-complex with a confusing array of courses and qualifications that are insufficiently linked to the world of work and the needs of employers. The government accepted the Panel’s recommendations and published a Post-16 Skills Plan setting out its vision for the reformed system.
   2. These provisions extend the remit of the new "Institute for Apprenticeships" to cover college-based technical education in addition to apprenticeships, and rename it accordingly as the "Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education".
   3. The Institute will oversee employer-led reforms and bring together its apprenticeships and wider technical education functions in one place. It is intended to put employers and others at the heart of the skills system, ensuring that technical education courses and apprenticeships undertaken by individuals develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that meet the needs of employers and improve overall productivity.
   4. It is intended that the Institute will support the Government’s commitment to delivering 3 million high quality apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. It will help regulate the quality of standards and assessment plans, ensuring a sustainable, employer-led governance arrangement to uphold high quality apprenticeships.
   5. The Secretary of State will retain strategic oversight of the technical education reforms (see section A2DC) and will have responsibility for the overall national system. The Institute will have wide-ranging autonomy for ensuring that employers agree the content of standards for both apprenticeships and college-based technical education.

Further Education Bodies in England and Wales: Insolvency etc.

6. This Act establishes an insolvency framework for FE and sixth form colleges. Provisions on this are set out through seven chapters in the Act.
   1. The first chapter outlines the contents of the other chapters on the insolvency regime measures, and provides relevant definitions of key terms.
   2. Chapter 2 applies normal insolvency procedures to FE colleges in England and Wales that are statutory corporations, and sixth form college corporations in England. In doing so, it will allow insolvent colleges to be treated in a similar way to insolvent companies.
   3. The third chapter provides restrictions on the use of normal insolvency procedures through its interaction with the education administration. It ensures that the Secretary of State and the Welsh Ministers are given notice of the use of those procedures and can then decide whether or not to initiate an education administration.
   4. Chapter 4 creates a special administration regime for FE bodies, and sets out the main features of the regime including the special objective which is to avoid or minimise disruption to the studies of the existing students of the FE body.
   5. Chapter 5 clarifies that trust property held by certain sixth form college corporations cannot be used by the education administrator to meet the claims of creditors in the event the corporation is wound up under the Insolvency Act 1986 and must instead be transferred to the trustees of the sixth form college.
   6. The sixth chapter places restrictions on other dissolution procedures, by preventing FE bodies from taking action to dissolve the college where either normal insolvency or education administration procedures are already in train, preventing them from disrupting those procedures.
   7. Chapter 7 amends the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 so that it applies to further education bodies that are statutory corporations.

Other Provision to do with Further Education

7. This Act also includes measures concerning information in Further Education, and the inspection of careers provision in FE institutions.
8. It amends existing legislation to ensure that after devolution of further education functions (and the adult education budget) to a combined authority, FE providers and others will continue to submit the relevant information to the Secretary of State.