Clause 10
Education and Inspections Bill
11:15 am
Sarah Teather (Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Education & Skills; Brent East, Liberal Democrat)
The amendments are probing amendments to test out who should be consulted and the weight that should be given to their views. Amendment No. 350 seeks to provide that colleges of further education should be consulted by a local education authority when it seeks to establish any new educational institution catering for post-16 education. Amendment No. 251 would go further, requiring the LEA to consider the impact on FE colleges of any new school opening in an area.
Colleges are the largest provider of 16-to-19 provision. Almost twice as many students go to FE colleges as attend school sixth forms. They are also much more likely to provide for the most disadvantaged students. It is notable that 15 per cent. of learners in colleges are from ethnic minorities, compared with 8 per cent. of the general population. Indeed, 64 per cent. of those in receipt of educational maintenance allowances study in FE or other colleges.
FE colleges have a high customer satisfaction rate. They offer high-quality courses in a wide range of subjects. According to a survey by the Association of Colleges, 84 per cent. of the British public believe that their local college is as important to business as any other factor. The Bill’s proposal to allow local authorities to propose new sixth-form schools seems to contradict the FE White Paper, which contains a presumption that there should be sixth-form colleges rather than sixth-form schools. I should be interested to hear from the Minister how that apparent contradiction will be resolved.
The Bill provides for local authorities to propose new sixth-form schools, but not to fund them—that would be for the Learning and Skills Council to do—and it says that the learning and skills council for an area should be consulted about the setting up of new sixth-form schools. However, colleges feel that that body is not best placed to act on their behalf. I suspect that there are many reasons for that, but colleges are independent bodies, not subsidiaries of the learning and skills council.
Colleges are concerned that smaller sixth-form schools tend to have inferior results, quality of teaching and choice of subject and that, as theright hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich(Mr. Raynsford) pointed out on Second Reading, they are more expensive because of the funding gap between themselves and FE colleges.
We are not opposed to the setting up of new sixth-form schools; they might be the best and safest environment for some young people. In that case, it is important that any new sixth-form school be set up in collaboration with others in an area to ensure that choice and quality are not affected. Often, small schools are unable to provide as much choice as might be required.