To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress has been made on the relicensing of sector skills councils; and if he will make a statement. (308450)

Good progress is being made with the relicensing of sector skills councils. The assessment and relicensing process for sector skills councils formally opened in July 2008 with the launch of the Prospectus, ‘Empowering SSCs—Employer driven skills reform across the UK’. By the end of 2009 18 SSCs had successfully met the performance standard. In the case of Skillfast-UK, the SSC for the fashion and textile sector, Government decided to uphold the UK Commission’s recommendation not to issue a new license. Instead, the intention is for the coverage of this sector to come within the scope of another SSC. The UK Commission expect to make further recommendations to Government early in 2010 in relation to the remaining SSCs.