Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [Lords] Report Stage: Amendment 6

Parliament voted on 31 March 2025 on Amendment 6 to the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill at Report Stage. The amendment would have required Skills England to operate for one year before absorbing the functions of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE). The amendment was defeated by 305 votes to 166. The vote determined whether the government's timetable for transferring IfATE's responsibilities to Skills England would face a mandatory one-year delay. Skills England is the new body intended to identify and address skills gaps across the economy. IfATE currently oversees more than 600 occupational standards for apprenticeships, T-levels, and higher technical qualifications, and transferring that workload is a significant undertaking. Defeating the amendment means the government can proceed with the transfer on its own schedule rather than a timetable set in law. The vote split almost entirely along party lines. All 301 Labour and Labour Co-operative MPs who voted opposed the amendment. Conservatives (95), Liberal Democrats (62), the Democratic Unionist Party (4), Reform UK (3), the Ulster Unionist Party (1), and Traditional Unionist Voice (1) all voted in favour. The Lords had previously inserted a one-year bedding-in period into the Bill, and this amendment sought to reinstate it after the government removed it. The same day, closely related New Clause 1 and New Clause 4, which also proposed transition arrangements, were defeated by similar margins, and the Bill passed its Third Reading 304 to 62.