Commentary on Sections of the Act Part 2 – Additional Learning Needs Functions relating to securing additional learning provision Section 50 - Welsh Ministers’ duties to secure post-16 education and training
124.The Act amends provisions of the 2000 Act dealing with post-16 learners who have ‘learning difficulties’. That Act places functions on the Welsh Ministers relating to: undertaking assessments for post-16 learners with learning difficulties (section 140); securing boarding accommodation for post-16 learners in specified circumstances (section 41); and more generally, securing facilities for post-16 education or training (sections 31, 32 and 34), but in doing so, the Welsh Ministers must have regard to the needs of persons with learning difficulties and to learning and skills assessments (section 41).
125.Section 50 amends the 2000 Act to remove functions related to securing boarding accommodation and undertaking assessments for post-16 learners with learning difficulties, as these matters are superseded by the ALN system provided for in Part 2, which includes duties to determine whether a young person has ALN, to prepare and maintain IDPs and to secure board and lodging for young persons in specified circumstances.
126.Section 50 also amends the 2000 Act so that the Welsh Ministers, when planning the provision of post-16 education or training, take into account the capacity of the further education workforce to deliver ALP in Welsh and the availability of facilities for assessing whether persons have ALN through the medium of Welsh. It also amends what remains of section 41 to reflect the terminology in this Act. Paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 makes further consequential changes to terminology in the 2000 Act.