Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [Lords]: Third Reading

Parliament passed the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill at its Third Reading on 31 March 2025, by 304 votes to 62. The bill abolishes the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and transfers its functions to the Secretary of State, clearing the legislative path for the government to establish a new body called Skills England. The result was not in doubt: the government commanded a comfortable majority throughout the bill's passage. The bill's practical effect is to remove IfATE as an independent statutory body and place its responsibilities for apprenticeship standards and technical education directly under ministerial control, at least temporarily. Skills England, which the government has described as a central part of its workforce reform agenda, is not established by the bill itself. Critics argued that this leaves a governance gap: the functions once held by an independent arm's-length body now rest with the Secretary of State, with no statutory requirement for parliamentary approval before the new agency is created or for independent oversight of how it operates. The vote divided along clear party lines. All 297 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the bill. The Liberal Democrats provided all 62 no votes, opposing the bill on the grounds that it concentrated power in ministerial hands without adequate parliamentary accountability. The Conservative Party had no votes recorded in this division. Reform UK MPs had no vote recorded either. There were no cross-party rebellions. The Liberal Democrats had also voted against the bill at Second Reading in February 2025, and their new clauses aimed at requiring parliamentary approval for the creation of Skills England were defeated at Report Stage earlier the same day, with the government winning those divisions by margins of roughly 135 votes.