Contribution
My Lords, I will speak also to two linked instruments: the East Midlands Combined County Authority (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2025.
I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments for the scrutiny provided for these instruments. These draft statutory instruments were laid in Parliament on 24 February 2025. If they are approved, the Department for Education will transfer adult education functions and associated adult skills funding to these three areas for the start of the new academic year, 1 August 2025. This will give them freedom to use their adult skills funding as they see fit to help their residents fulfil their potential and contribute to the growth of their region.
The adult education functions being transferred are under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. The specific functions are: education and training for persons aged 19 or over; learning aims for such persons and provision of facilities; and payment of tuition fees for statutory entitlements for certain individuals. These relate to Sections 86, 87 and 88 of the 2009 Act respectively. These functions will be exercisable by these local areas instead of by the Secretary of State. They are subject to an exception in relation to apprenticeships training, persons subject to adult detention or any power to make regulations or orders.
Other specific functions being transferred are the encouragement of education and training for persons aged 19 or over, the provision of financial resources and the provision of financial resources in connection with technical education. These relate to Section 90 and Section 100(1) and (1B) of the 2009 Act respectively. These functions will be transferred to the local areas so that they are exercisable concurrently with the Secretary of State.
The Adult Skills Fund supports millions of adults across England to develop the skills they need to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. The Government usually allocate around £1.4 billion annually to deliver this provision. This includes national statutory entitlements to free English, maths and digital courses, level 2 and 3 qualifications for 19 to 23 year- olds who do not yet have them, and free courses for jobs for adults aged 18 or over who do not have a level 3 qualification, are unemployed or earn less than £25,000.
If these statutory instruments are approved, Cornwall, the East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire can apply their devolved powers to identify adults with the greatest skills needs in their region, invest more funding to support those groups, work directly with employers, providers and other local partners to commission provision to meet local needs and set funding rates to incentivise the delivery of provision that will have the greatest positive impact in their region. This will help to deliver the Government’s mission, set out in the English Devolution White Paper, to give local areas the powers and freedoms to decide how they spend their funding to deliver opportunity and growth and make a real difference to people’s lives.
The Department for Education has worked closely with each area to ensure that they are ready to take on these functions. Each local area has carried out the relevant local consultations, received the consents required for the transfer of these powers and the making of these statutory instruments, met the Department for Education’s readiness criteria and published a strategic skills plan setting out how they will use their devolved adult skills funding.
The Secretary of State for Education has judged that all three areas have met the relevant statutory tests set out in legislation, such that conferring these functions to the local area is: first, likely to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of some or all the people who live or work in the area or areas to which the order or regulations relate; and, secondly, appropriate to the needs to secure effective and convenient local government and to reflect the identities and interests of local communities.
I thank the partner organisations, colleagues and constituent authorities of Cornwall, the East Midlands, and York and North Yorkshire for their work to get to this important milestone.
To conclude, these statutory instruments will give three new devolved areas the opportunity and freedom to directly shape their adult education provision, address local barriers, focus provision to meet local needs, enhance economic growth and bring greater prosperity to their regions. I beg to move.