Clause 23
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill
1:15 pm
Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills; Birmingham, Erdington, Labour)
The clause does not authorise or enable the Secretary of State to vary any of the conditions. Rather, it enables the Secretary of State to direct the chief executive of Skills Funding to modify the specification of apprenticeship standards for England and to make an order bringing the modified specification into effect, provided that the requirements in clause 25 are met. This clause is important in that it gives us the flexibility to change the specification of apprenticeship standards for England. Without such flexibility, we would be unable to make changes, to respond to employers’ needs, which might change over time, or to adjust the bar in the specification so as to better reflect the rising quality of the programme that we expect to deliver. We intend to consult on the content of any modifications, even though that is not a requirement for a statute.