Clause 7
Education and Skills Bill
10:15 am
Jim Knight (Minister of State (Schools and Learners), Department for Children, Schools and Families; South Dorset, Labour)
The clause means that some young people in full-time employment, for example those changing routes mid-year, will know how much training they need to do. We recognise that some young people want to go into employment when they leave school at 16 and that they can gain very valuable skills and experience from doing so. At the same time, we believe that they should continue their formal learning, through part-time education or training, to enable them to gain the further qualifications that will help them to progress in their careers and adapt to changes in the labour market.
We must set out clearly for young people and their employers the time period within which they are required to undertake a certain amount of training. The basic requirement is 280 hours, as I am sure we will discuss shortly in respect of clause 8, but we need to allow flexibility for young people to change the way in which they are participating mid-year, and therefore for periods of less than a year. The period should start from whenever a young person starts participating in this way, otherwise they could have accrued enough hours by temporarily being in full-time education at the start of the year and then drop out and work for the rest of the year. The clause defines that time period and therefore must stand part of the Bill.
The hon. Member for Yeovil is looking perplexed. If it helps him, the relevant period begins either as soon as the young person is not participating through any of the other routes—full-time education or training or an apprenticeship—or immediately after the end of the last relevant period, such as when a young person has already been participating through full-time work and part-time training for a year, and the next year begins. The relevant period ends on a date to be prescribed in regulations, possibly the end of the academic year, or when the young person starts participating in a different way—full-time education or training or an apprenticeship—or when they stop being subject to the duty altogether, for example when they turn 18, or achieve level 3, or move out of England.