Jane Davidson
Minster for Education and Lifelong Learning
|
|
| Our Ref: JD5256/03 |
The Rt. Hon. Lord Richard QC
Chair
Commission on the Powers and Electoral
Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales
Caradog House
1-6 Saint Andrews Place
Cardiff CF10 3BE |
|
7th August 2003
|
| Dear Lord Richard |
| Thank you for your invitation to give concluding evidence
to your Commission and your further issues raised on 2"d
July. I think there is very little I can add to earlier
evidence, oral and written. Turning to the specific issues
you raise, and taking them in the order in your letter: |
| On launching the UK Government White Paper on the Future
of Higher Education in January, Charles Clarke, the Secretary
of State for Education and Skills opened discussion with
the First Minister, myself and Secretary of State for
Wales on proposals for devolving elements of the student
support system to Wales. For the Commission's information,
the existing student support system and proposals in the
DfES White paper are set out at Annex
A. |
| Following discussions between the Secretary of State
for Wales, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills
and myself on 10th March, you will be aware that student
support is to be devolved to Wales. This is a very complex
areaRand detailed work is continuing against the timetable
set by the DfES Higher Education Bill, which subject to
the Queen's speech should be introduced in November. I
attach for your information my most recent
Statement on this area. |
| You will understand that i cannot comment on the timing
or possibility of legislation through the UK Parliament
at this stage until the Government's programme is laid
out in the Queen's speech in November. However, in general
terms, the position is that while our programme for education
and lifelong learning can largely be carried out without
primary legislation there are some areas where only through
primary legislation can our approach be guaranteed. As
I set out in my earlier evidence, the Welsh Assembly |
| Government's is seeking to ensure a cohesive and integrated
approach to the provision of all post-16 education and
training, and -through funding incentives - to bring about
a greater degree of collaboration and co-operation within
the Higher Education (HE) sector. The establishment of
the National Council (ELWa- NC) brought together the planning
and provision of Further Education (FE) and training.
There is no similar planning function for the Higher Education
Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW ). The Assembly did not
cover this in the Education Act 2002 because of it's the
Bill's limited ambit. |
| My earlier evidence covered the issue of the desire
to provide a firmer underpinning for the Assembly Learning
Grant. The powers used to set up the Assembly Learning
Grant Scheme were cumbersome, not least because the Assembly
has no direct powers in relation to Student Support. As
the Assembly had no direct powers to pay grants, we had
to use a combination of LEA powers to pay bursaries and
Assembly powers to support LEA expenditure in the interests
of education in Wales. This might be regarded as unsatisfactory
as if a Local Authority chose not to engage in this there
would appear to be no obvious way of delivering grants
to students in that area. As I said, since it meant that
the scheme would fail without the active support of all
LEAs it can also be regarded as an example of successful
partnership. |
| We covered in our earlier discussions, the extent to
which the development of educational policy is constrained
by the England and Wales legislation. The general answer
has to be that whatever is in primary legislation - on
the specific matters raised by Plaid Cymru or any other
- will constrain the freedom of the National Assembly.
The issue is how well placed the Assembly is to deal with
any constraint which runs counter to the policies the
Assembly wishes to pursue in the interests of the people
of Wales. In the case of parental choice in seeking admission
of their children to school, if the Assembly wished to
move away from that - and it has not considered whether
it would want to make a change - it would have to seek
a change in the primary legislation and demonstrate to
the UK government that such change was justified given
the circumstances prevailing in Wales. In fact, it is
only Plaid Cymru which has raised this issue as a difficulty.
The majority of Welsh children do go to their local school
and the Welsh Assembly Government is actively enhancing
the role of the school within the community, introducing
new Wales-only regulations for partnership between primary
and secondary schools and providing additional funding
to develop community focused schools. I do not feel, therefore,
that the policy development as outlined in the Learning
Country is constrained. As I said in my earlier evidence,
we have not, in the end, been constrained by the lack
of legislative powers to reduce junior class sizes, since
we have secured a partnership approach with the local
authorities, backed by additional resources where necessary.
However, I would prefer to seek permissive legislative
powers which could be used if we judged that it would
enable a key manifesto commitment to be delivered more
effectively drawing on the experiences learned from the
infant class sizes policy. |
| My earlier evidence covered some examples of how our
policy agenda has also been furthered through influencing
Whitehall in respect of non devolved matters. I cited
in particular the role of the New Deal Taskforce which
has continued with its commitment to the issue of addressing
economic inactivity in Wales. As a result the Welsh Assembly
Government was closely involved in the development of
the Department for Work and Pensions' "Pathways to Work:
Helping People into Employment" proposals. This initiative
aims to help those people of working age with work-limiting
health problems who make a claim to incapacity benefit,
to find work. The Bridgend & Rhondda Cynon Taff Jobcentre
Plus district is to take part in the piloting of this
project as one of seven across GB. One area where I acknowledged
that further relationship building was needed was in relation
to the Home Office functions in respect of the Youth Justice
Board. We have taken forward our distinctive youth policies
for young people aged 11-25 under our Extending Entitlement
agenda, which provides a basic universal entitlement for
every young person aged 11-25. However training and education
for young people from Wales within the criminal justice
system has been identified as areas where further work
is necessary to ensure that the interface between devolved
and non-devolved functions does not disadvantage these
young people. We are about to embark on a 12- month project
to identify the scope of these problems in detail and
to put in place measures to tackle them. |
| Your further points of 2nd July asked if HEFCW and the
National Council could act jointly and on each other's
behalf by agreement without legislation. Current legislation
already provides for the two Councils to exercise jointly
any of their functions, subject to tests of efficiency
and effectiveness. However, advice from Counsel regarding
the scope for staff employed by one of these bodies to
undertake work for the other has indicated that this is
not generally possible without additional specific statutory
cover to permit such an arrangement. |
| I hope that this further material is helpful. |
| Yours sincerely |
.jpg) |
|
|
