Policy Watch is our regular policy update service, covering national and international developments in the world of education. We try to keep things simple, sharing the latest news and information with you through weekly updates, monthly summaries, papers and events.
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The Second Reading of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill took place in the House of Lords. Although the Bill was largely well-received from all sides, opposition parties made it clear there was a lot of work to be done to make sure it’s fit for purpose. The question of choice at age 16 was raised, as were the new powers for the Secretary of State and IFATE.
The Government’s plans for education catch-up, following the COVID pandemic, continued to dominate.
In its report looking the support for children’s education in the dace of the pandemic, the Public Accounts Committee said that the Department for Education had ‘no plan’ for the challenges of COVID-19, despite being involved in a 2016 cross-government pandemic exercise. When closing schools in 2020, the DfE ‘set no standards for in-school or remote learning’. Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said that the pandemic ‘has further exposed the ugly truth about the children living in poverty and disadvantage’.
We saw the Skills and Post-16 Bill begin its passage through Parliament, starting life in the House of Lords. The aim of the Bill is to bring greater parity between further and higher education and deliver the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee set out earlier this year.
This week saw the State Opening of Parliament and the Queen present the government’s legislative programme for the coming session.
