Commentary on provisions of the Act Section 5: Preparation of apprenticeship assessment plans
Section 5 amends section A2 of the 2009 Act in relation to the preparation of apprenticeship assessment plans.
	Section 5 removes the duty for apprenticeship assessment plans to be prepared by a group of persons and approved by IfATE. It replaces it with the power for apprenticeship assessment plans to be prepared by a group of persons and approved by the Secretary of State or prepared by the Secretary of State where the Secretary of State is satisfied that this is more appropriate.
	In a similar way to the section dealing with standards, this section also enables the Secretary of State to convene a group of persons to prepare an apprenticeship assessment plan if they consider that such a plan should be prepared by a group (approved by the Secretary of State), and that no group would prepare the assessment plan unless the Secretary of State takes the step of convening a group for this purpose.
	In a situation where the Secretary of State does not convene a group of persons to prepare an apprenticeship assessment plan, the Secretary of State will have a duty to provide information about matters that they will take into account when deciding that it would be more appropriate for them to prepare an apprenticeship assessment plan than a ‘group of persons’.