Education and Skills Bill
5:00 pm
David Lammy: Absolutely, it is a fundamental point and there are two bits of activity that are central. Behind the clauses in the Bill are our 25 sector skills councils, and their work is relevant to adult skills and apprenticeships. Each of those 25 sector skills councils, which will be relicensed and refocused, is involved in the business of articulating the necessary qualifications in their sector and representing that sector in discussions with the QCA. That means explaining what is no longer necessary and what has been duplicated, but also what is absolutely necessary; that is the first tranche of work.
The second tranche is the work that we are doing with the qualifications and curriculum framework. We are the piloting work on units and increased modularity. We are also looking at accreditation and what employers are doing—obviously you will have seen the headlines about McDonald’s. That is about portability. I worked at McDonald’s and KFC, so I feel strongly about this. Young people who stay on in that sort of employment and make their way up should be able to demonstrate the levels that they have acquired if they wish to move on to other areas. Those are the two tranches of work that meet that need. You can move from one region or area of the country to another area and people will understand the level that you have reached.