Clause 8
5:30 pm
John Hayes (Shadow Minister, Innovation, Universities and Skills; South Holland and The Deepings, Conservative)
According to the explanatory notes, clause 8 provides
“that the certifying authority for apprenticeships in Wales will be persons designated for that purpose by the Welsh Ministers.”
Ministers will be aware that, in its report on the draft Bill, the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee expressed concern about the lack of consultation on powers provided under the legislation with respect to Wales. The Government have tabled a series of amendments to clause 8. The Select Committee concluded:
“As the legislation would apply to Wales, we wrote to the Welsh Affairs Committee and the National Assembly for Wales to invite their views. In reply, both the Welsh Affairs Committee and the Enterprise and Learning Committee of the Assembly asked fundamental questions about the application of the provisions in the draft Bill to Wales. The supporting documentation with the draft Bill did not explain how the proposed provisions would be implemented in Wales—the draft Bill would, for example, impose duties on the Learning and Skills Council but it has an England only remit—and no reference was made to apprenticeships in Wales. The Enterprise and Learning Committee was of the opinion that the UK Government’s legislative approach was ‘unsatisfactory and does not reflect well on the UK Government or the Welsh Assembly Government.’ The content and tone of the representations from the two committees raised concerns that consultation on the application of the draft Bill in Wales was inadequate and that it required further consideration.”
We are concerned, and have raised the matter with the Minister. He will know that when similar concerns were expressed to the Minister for Schools and Learners, he reinforced our concerns with his answer that
“you could take more time in coming up with firm draft where you have ironed out everything with Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government, or you can publish a Bill and have this sort of scrutiny, while we carry on our discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government, and then once it comes into something that is then introduced to Parliament...we will at that point have to be clear with our friends in the Welsh Assembly Government which bits they want and which bits they do not.”
That was not one of his more articulate moments, as I am sure that he would be only too happy to acknowledge.
We have grave concerns that the Department has treated consultation with the Welsh Assembly Government and the National Assembly for Wales as an afterthought. The consultation on the operation of apprenticeships in Wales and the application of draft legislation in Wales have clearly been inadequate and we recommend the Government rectify that deficiency before the provisions in the Bill—