To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the changes to staff numbers and structures which will result from the reorganisation of the learning and skills councils proposed in the Further Education and Training Bill. (139274)

[holding answer 4 June 2007]: The Further Education and Training Bill makes provision to streamline the non-executive structure of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) by removing the requirement to have local learning and skills councils (of which there are 47) and replacing them with new regional committees (to be known as regional councils, of which we intend there to be nine). It also removes the requirement to have an adult and young people's learning committee and reduces the minimum size of the LSC's national council. Overall the number of non-executives will reduce from around 750 to around 150.

The LSC has also been undergoing a restructuring exercise which will result in some 1,100 fewer staff posts across the whole of the organisation. This exercise is expected to be completed later this summer, and is important preparation for the LSC's role in implementing the reforms set out in the Further Education White Paper “Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances”, and for taking forward the skills challenges identified in the Leitch Report.