Meeting of the Parliament 25 October 2023
I genuinely welcome Labour bringing this debate, although it is brief, to the chamber because it gives me an opportunity to outline the work that has been undertaken in response to the Withers report thus far, ahead of my giving a fuller update to Parliament, subject to the agreement of the Parliamentary Bureau, in the coming months.
Like Daniel Johnson, I welcome James Withers’s report, which makes a compelling case for change and is an important moment in moving us towards an education and skills system that delivers for our future needs. Not long after the report was published, as Daniel Johnson highlighted, we published “Purpose and Principles for Post-School Education, Research and Skills”, which was clear about the outcomes that we want to see from the system in the short, medium and long term.
In that document, we welcomed the direction of travel that was presented by the Withers report and set out some of our initial priorities for reform. However, we were also clear that we needed to take time to consider the practicalities and implications of implementing change, and to listen to constructive and knowledgeable views. I therefore do not accept the idea that the Government has not moved quickly. It has moved at the right pace and with purpose, and it will continue to do so. When James Withers has appeared before committees, he has welcomed the measured approach that has been taken to considering his findings.
We must also be clear that we do not start from scratch. There is already much that is positive, but Withers was a review about future needs and how we meet them.