Clause 60
12:00 pm
John Hayes (Shadow Minister, Innovation, Universities and Skills; South Holland and The Deepings, Conservative)
The Government’s argument in favour of this convoluted structure and rather clumsy organisational arrangement is that it reflects clumsy thinking. There is no use saying, “We think clumsily about such matters, so we have had to construct a system to match our own failures and faults.” The arrangement is evidence that, rather than reducing the number of bodies with which colleges have to deal, the Government are likely to retain or grow the existing number. In 2005, Andrew Foster, whose report I have mentioned once or twice, identified 17 bodies with which colleges are obliged to deal in respect of inspection, funding, monitoring, planning, and improvement or standard setting. Will the Minister tell us which of those bodies further education colleges no longer have to deal with, or will not have to deal with, as a result of the Bill? What extra bodies will they have to deal with? According to my calculations, FE colleges will have to deal with at least 17, possibly 18, bodies, as a result of this legislation, which directly contradicts Andrew Foster’s call for a slimming down of the structure, a reduction in bureaucracy and a clearing up of what seems to me to be a bit of a mess.