Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022

1 Local skills improvement plans

(1) This section applies to a relevant provider that provides English-funded post-16 technical education or training that is material to a specified area.

(2) English-funded post-16 technical education or training is “material” to a specified area if it could reasonably be regarded as material or potentially material to the skills, capabilities or expertise that are, or may in the future be, required by employers operating within the specified area, having regard to all the circumstances and any guidance published by the Secretary of State.

(3) If there is no approved local skills improvement plan for the specified area, the relevant provider must co-operate with the employer representative body for that area for the purposes of assisting the body to develop a local skills improvement plan for submission to the Secretary of State for approval and publication.

(4) If there is an approved local skills improvement plan for the specified area, the relevant provider must—

(a) co-operate with the employer representative body for that area for the purposes of assisting the body to—

(i) keep the plan under review, and

(ii) where appropriate, develop a replacement plan for submission to the Secretary of State for approval and publication, and

(b) have regard to the plan so far as it is relevant to any decision that the relevant provider is making in relation to the provision of English-funded post-16 technical education or training that may be relevant to the skills, capabilities or expertise that are, or may in the future be, required in the area.

(5) The relevant provider must have regard to any guidance published by the Secretary of State in connection with this section, including in relation to—

(a) co-operation with an employer representative body under subsections (3) and (4), and

(b) the matters to which the Secretary of State might have regard (including for the purposes of complying with subsections (6) and (7)) in deciding whether to approve and publish a plan.

(6) The Secretary of State may approve and publish a local skills improvement plan only if satisfied that in the development of the plan due consideration was given to, amongst other things, the skills, capabilities or expertise required in relation to jobs that directly contribute to, or indirectly support, the following—

(a) compliance with the duty imposed by section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008 (UK net zero emissions target),

(b) adaptation to climate change, or

(c) meeting other environmental goals (such as restoration or enhancement of the natural environment).

(7) Where a specified area covers any of the area of a relevant authority, the Secretary of State may approve and publish a local skills improvement plan for the specified area only if satisfied that in the development of the plan due consideration was given to the views of the relevant authority.

For this purpose “relevant authority” means—

(a) a mayoral combined authority within the meaning of Part 6 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (see section 107A(8) of that Act), or

(b) the Greater London Authority.

(8) A “local skills improvement plan”, in relation to a specified area, means a plan which—

(a) is developed by an employer representative body for the specified area,

(b) draws on the views of employers operating within the specified area, and any other evidence, to summarise the skills, capabilities or expertise that are, or may in the future be, required in the specified area, and

(c) identifies actions that relevant providers can take regarding any English-funded post-16 technical education or training that they provide so as to address the requirements mentioned in paragraph (b).

(9) An “approved local skills improvement plan” means a local skills improvement plan that has been approved and published by the Secretary of State.