Update from Westminster 20/02/2025

IfATE Bill Reaches the commons

Next Tuesday, the IfATE Transfer of Functions Bill, or the Bill that introduces Skills England, will have its Second Reading in the Commons. The purpose of the Second Reading is for MPs to debate the general principles of the legislation. No amendments are made to the legislation at this stage, although MPs will typically hint at the types of changes they would like to see in the Bill during their remarks.

We’ve produced this briefing in advance of the Second Reading, which highlights the background and general context of the Bill, the progress it made in the House of Lords, some outstanding issues we would like to see addressed in the Bill and some general information about FE which helps provide context. We are asking that members share this briefing with their MP and have produced this template email for you to help share it with your parliamentarians (please note you will have to download and attach the briefing).

Due to the technical nature of this Bill and Labour’s large majority, we are not expecting many changes to be made to the face of the Bill during its passage in the Commons. However, this is a perfect opportunity to raise further education and skills in the chamber, including some of the challenges faced by the sector and the need for additional investment in the upcoming spending review, so please do share this briefing with your local MP if you can.

Less than two weeks until Colleges Week!

Colleges Week is in less than two weeks. From Monday 3 March to Friday 7 March, we will be celebrating Colleges Week. The week will celebrate the impact colleges have both in their local communities and across the country.

Using the government's five missions as a framework, the week will focus on one mission each day, highlighting the fundamental role colleges have in building brighter futures for their students, their staff, and their communities.

There are a number of ways that your college can get involved during the week and we encourage colleges to be active on social media using the hashtag #CollegesWeek2025 and #LoveOurColleges.

It also isn’t too late to invite your local MP to come and visit the college if you haven’t already. We’ve produced this template invitation that you can use. You could also host a ‘skills share’ with your politicians, with them leading a session where they share practical skills with students, reflecting on the professions they had before they were politicians. We know lots of you will have brand new MPs, many of whom will have had interesting previous careers that would make for a really good ‘skills share’ session. If you would be keen to hold one of those sessions and would like some support, please contact your local Area Director or the AoC public affairs team (public_affairs@aoc.co.uk ) who will be very happy to help.

We are also hosting a webinar each day focusing on one of the five missions, which will be sharing expertise and best practices from colleges around the country. You can find more about the webinars and how to register for them here.

Finally, we do recommend checking out our competition that we are holding this Colleges Week. Called the Building Brighter Futures competition, this offers an opportunity for college students and staff to demonstrate how their college builds brighter futures.

To enter your college needs to post a video to social media (either via X or LinkedIn) showing how your college builds brighter futures (through a musical performance, culinary creation, sports skills or building skills – it’s up to you!). You should also highlight both @irwinmitchell and @AoC_info in your post and email comms@aoc.co.uk with a link to your entry. Videos should be no longer than 1 minute and 30 seconds and we ask that you provide subtitles for any speaking, full terms and conditions of this competition can be found here.

Upcoming dates in Parliament

• Tuesday 25 February – IfATE Bill has its Second Reading in the House of Commons
• Monday 3 March – Friday 7 March – Colleges Week 2025
• Tuesday 4 March – Treasury questions
• Monday 10 March – Education questions
• Wednesday 26 March – AoC giving evidence to the Security and Net Zero Committee