To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures are planned to be used to assess the performance of further education colleges to determine the basis for intervention by the Learning and Skills Council under Clause 17, Part 2 of the Further Education and Training Bill 2007. (110660)

Further Education Colleges have the lead responsibility for assessing their own performance and identifying what needs to be done to secure continuous improvement.

Clause 17, through the new section 56B, will place an obligation on the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to develop and publish its policy with respect to the exercise of its powers under section 56A. This will include its policy on assessing the performance of colleges to determine any appropriate LSC intervention.

In the meantime, the guidance document “Identifying and Managing Underperformance” sets out an overview of the evidence base currently being used to determine whether LSC intervention is necessary. This guidance is available on the LSC website and a copy has been placed in the House Library.