Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Earl of Effingham

Consideration of Commons amendments and / or reasons
Wednesday 30th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister and all noble Lords who have been involved in the passage of the Bill. His Majesty’s Official Opposition remain concerned that the Government have removed the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lady Barran. Other noble Lords also expressed concerns that Skills England will be overly focused on administration, resulting in it being unable to prioritise its central strategic tasks. By allowing a year to pass between the creation of Skills England and the abolition of IfATE, we would create sufficient time for the effective transfer of functions and ensure that Skills England could take on its role successfully.

We would suggest that it is a mistake for the Government to ignore these concerns. In both your Lordships’ House and the other place, there has been cross-party support on this issue, and we cannot hide our disappointment that the Government remain unconvinced on this focal point. We on these Benches are worried that the transition period as planned will have a damaging impact on apprentices.

At the same time, we recognise that this is a manifesto commitment. We will, of course, while challenging constructively, work with His Majesty’s Government to progress their skills programme, and we do not intend to push this issue any further. We will continue to remain vigilant on the transition to Skills England and ensure that it is working for the very people it aims to help. Should our concerns increase, we will endeavour to raise them in your Lordships’ House. It is now up to the Government to ensure that Skills England is able to run effectively and does not become overwhelmed with the weight of the accreditation and assurance process.

We are indeed grateful that His Majesty’s Government have listened to some of the key points that have been raised across your Lordships’ House, and the Bill has been strengthened accordingly. A report on the exercise of functions conferred or imposed on the Secretary of State has now been included, which is important for accountability. The Government have listened to the concerns about the Secretary of State preparing apprenticeship plans and assessments, and will, as such, publish information about the relevant matters that have been taken into account.

We thank the Minister for her engagement throughout consideration of the Bill, and we thank all noble Lords who have made such valuable contributions and worked constructively on its scrutiny.

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the support of noble Lords and the continued challenge of those who have made the Bill better during its passage through this House.

On whether Skills England is ready, I reassure noble Lords that it is ready to take on the functions currently exercised by IfATE, where appropriate. Detailed transition plans are in place to ensure continuity throughout the transition. There will be continuity in staff and team structures, which will ensure a smooth operational transition and maintain vital links to employers. Staff are eager to contribute their expertise and valuable insights, to feed into Skills England’s broader purpose from day one.

Universities: Free Speech

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Earl of Effingham

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The relationship between the functions that the noble Baroness outlines is not necessarily unusual for regulatory bodies. I am sure that the Office for Students in particular thinks carefully about it. Obviously, there has been a lot of thought on the role of the Office for Students with respect to freedom of speech, and I am sure that it is continuing to consider that.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, His Majesty’s Government have rightly acknowledged the importance of increased defence spending. Given media reports of intimidation towards defence industries and the Armed Forces at higher education recruitment events, we must ask the Minister this: what steps are the Government taking to ensure that such events take place without issue?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

It is wholly wrong if those events are not able to take place on our campuses or if there is interference in the very important research that our universities are taking part in. That is primarily the responsibility of the higher education institutions themselves, but I am absolutely clear that that is an important part of what should be happening in our universities.

Primary Schools: Swimming Lessons

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Earl of Effingham

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is right. I have already identified the decrease in the number of public pools, as others have. He also makes an important point about ensuring that there is access to public leisure facilities on a fair basis. The responsibility for that lies at the local authority level. We are continuing to encourage local authorities to invest in leisure facilities, notwithstanding the considerable pressures on their funding that they have faced over recent years.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, unfortunately, sport in schools has been described as in “crisis”, with a “Covid cohort” of children not returning to physical activity. The neglect of sport is leading to catastrophic effects on childhood obesity and mental health, and evidence suggests that many children are now addicted to their phones. Can the Minister please deliver on what her Prime Minister said, which was that children are being

“locked out of emulating their heroes”

because of a lack of PE provision? Will she commit to focusing on there being no mobile phones in schools and more physical education in the curriculum?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I am trying not to be grumpy in answering this Question today, as I was a bit grumpy yesterday. However, the noble Earl has a bit of a cheek talking about the crisis in PE provision in our schools. This Government have acted quickly, but have been in government for only six months. The 6.7 percentage point decrease in those able to swim 25 metres unaided, compared with 2017-18, cannot be laid at the feet of this Government.

Having said that, there is a range of ways in which we want to reinvigorate sport, PE and other opportunities for children in our schools, whether by increasing the number or teachers, by increasing the funding that we have provided or by ensuring that the capital funding is there for provision. We take seriously the responsibility to ensure that every child has access to the sporting activities that are so important for both their health and their future opportunity.

Higher Education Reform

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Earl of Effingham

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right in his demand and his expectation that universities need to improve the information that they provide for students about the course and about potential progression. That is an important area that we will want to work with the sector on improving.

On international students, I would strongly support anything that enables international students to maintain their contact with the university and with the country. One of the big benefits of our ability to attract international students is precisely that, for example, nearly 60 world leaders are former students at UK universities. That is an enormous amount of soft power, as well as very strong relationships that have been built up, and I would support any initiative that ensures that continues.

On the noble Lord’s final point, one of the first things that we did in government was to ask the Office for Students to focus more clearly on identifying the financial situation of universities. I cannot say that, at this point, we have the metrics around the value for money that the noble Lord is asking for, but that is one of the areas where, in terms of the efficiency work, we need to have much better transparency within the sector about how money is being spent, how it is being allocated, for example, between research and teaching and how that then results in student experience. That will be one of the things we expect to see.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, the Statement said:

“We have paused the commencement of the last Government’s freedom of speech legislation”.


It also said that

“universities must be home to robust discussion and rigorous challenge”.

How will the Minister guarantee appropriate freedom of speech, robust discussion and rigorous challenge in those universities?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Yesterday’s Statement was less about freedom of speech than about the funding of universities but, to reiterate the point I made when we covered this issue previously, I and the Government are absolutely committed to ensuring freedom of speech and academic freedom within our universities. That is why we continue to consider the way forward, to ensure that this can happen without some of the disproportionate burdens and impact on minority groups that the Act in its totality would have brought to our higher education sector. I will return to the House with a way forward on that in the near future.