It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey.
The draft statutory instruments were laid before the House on 24 February 2025. If they are approved, the Department for Education will transfer adult education functions and associated adult skills funding to local areas for the start of the new academic year on 1 August 2025. The local areas will then have the freedom to use their adult skills funding as they see fit to help their residents meet their skills needs, fulfil their potential and contribute to the growth of their region.
The specific adult education functions being transferred to the three local areas are under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. They will be carried out by the local areas, instead of by the Secretary of State for Education. The functions are: education and training for persons aged 19 or over; learning aims for such persons and provision of facilities; payment of tuition fees for statutory entitlements for certain individuals—those preceding functions are subject to an exception in relation to apprenticeships training, persons subject to adult detention, or any power to make regulations or orders—the encouragement of education and training for persons aged 19 or over; provision of financial resources; and provision of financial resources in connection with technical education.
Devolution of adult skills funding to local areas is a key part of this Government’s mission to improve opportunities for all and to grow our economy. Many adults across England do not have the skills that they need to access good jobs, to progress in their career or to move into a new industry. The adult skills fund supports millions of adults across England to develop the skills that they need to equip them for work, by undertaking an apprenticeship or further learning. The Government usually make around £1.4 billion of funding available each year to deliver that provision, including funding for free courses for adults to deliver national statutory entitlements in English, maths, digital courses, level 2 and 3 qualifications for those who do not yet have those skills, and free courses for jobs.
That funding provides an essential stepping stone towards a better future, especially for adults with the lowest skills or who are least able to help themselves. Local areas, not central Government, are best placed to identify what their local people, communities and businesses need. The Government’s “English Devolution White Paper” sets out how giving local areas the powers and freedoms to decide how they spend their funding is the best way to deliver opportunity and growth that makes a real difference to people’s lives.
Devolution is about giving power back to communities—shifting them away from Westminster and towards the local leaders who know their areas best. Devolving adult education functions and associated adult skills funding enables local areas to shape their adult education provision directly to meet local needs. Local areas will be able to respond in a more agile way to local priorities and emerging challenges to address barriers more effectively, to enhance economic growth and to bring greater prosperity to their regions.
Local areas can apply the flexibility that devolved adult skills funding functions offer to identify adults in their region who are most in need, and to invest more funding to support those groups; to work directly with employers, training providers and other local partners to commission new provision to meet local needs; and to set funding rates that incentivise delivery of provision.
Ten local areas already have devolved powers, and we can see those making a real difference locally. I recognise that the nature of the challenges and the solutions will be different in every region, and I welcome the range of opportunities and priorities for the three proposed new devolved areas, and how they intend to use their adult skills funding to address various matters. For example, the York and North Yorkshire combined authority intends to use its devolved adult skills funding to respond better to local skills priorities and transition to carbon negative by widening access and participation, raising awareness of local adult skills provision to residents, and developing more flexible provision to respond to local economic needs. The East Midlands combined county authority region intends to tackle economic inactivity among specific demographic groups or in areas of highest deprivation, and in priority sectors such as health, retail and manufacturing. Cornwall council intends to improve the wellbeing of local residents, responding to the demographic needs of a rapidly ageing population, and focusing training on priority sectors such as hospitality, adult social care and agriculture.
If the draft statutory instruments are approved, Cornwall, the East Midlands and the York and North Yorkshire local areas will be responsible for managing their adult skills funding allocation efficiently and effectively, to deliver for their local residents. My Department has worked closely with each area over the past two years to ensure that they are ready to take on the functions, and we have provided initial funding to help them prepare effectively and to support a smooth transition. Each local area has carried out the relevant consultations for their region and received local consent to the transfer of the powers and the making of the statutory instruments. They have each published a strategic skills plan setting out how they will use their devolved adult skills funding to meet key priorities, and they have submitted further evidence against readiness criteria set out by my Department, which demonstrates that they have the systems in place to manage the functions effectively.
I confirm that, on the basis of the evidence submitted, we have concluded that the statutory tests have been met. To support future devolution and to identify best practice, my Department will continue to hold constructive conversations with existing strategic authorities, other local areas, and our colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We are confident that devolution can help to shape future skills provision to meet local needs. I take this opportunity to thank all our partner organisations, colleagues and the constituent authorities of Cornwall, York and North Yorkshire, and East Midlands for their time, expertise and input to get to this important milestone.