Before section 15A of the Education Act 1996 (c 56) insert—

(1)    A local education authority in England must secure that enough suitable education and training is provided to meet the reasonable needs of—

(a)    persons in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, and

(b)    persons in their area who are aged 19 or over but under 25 and are subject to learning difficulty assessment.

(2)    A local education authority may comply with subsection (1) by securing the provision of education or training outside as well as within their area.

(3)    In deciding for the purposes of subsection (1) whether education or training is suitable to meet persons' reasonable needs, a local education authority must (in particular) have regard to—

(a)    the persons' ages, abilities and aptitudes;

(b)    any learning difficulties the persons may have;

(c)    the quality of the education or training;

(d)    the locations and times at which the education or training is provided.

(4)    In performing the duty imposed by subsection (1) a local education authority must—

(a)    act with a view to encouraging diversity in the education and training available to persons;

(b)    act with a view to increasing opportunities for persons to exercise choice;

(c)    act with a view to enabling persons to whom Part 1 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 applies to fulfil the duty imposed by section 2 of that Act;

(d)    take account of education and training whose provision the authority think might reasonably be secured by other persons.

(5)    A local education authority must, in—

(a)    making any determination as to the provision of apprenticeship training that should be secured under subsection (1), or

(b)    securing the provision of any apprenticeship training under that subsection,

co-operate with the Chief Executive of Skills Funding.

(6)    For the purposes of this section a person has a learning difficulty if—

(a)    the person has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of persons of the same age, or

(b)    the person has a disability which either prevents or hinders the person from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided by institutions providing education or training for persons who are over compulsory school age.

(7)    But a person is not to be taken to have a learning difficulty solely because the language (or form of language) in which the person is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which has at any time been spoken in the person's home.

(8)    In this section—

“apprenticeship training” means training provided in connection with—

(a)    an apprenticeship agreement (within the meaning given in section 32 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009),

(b)    any other contract of employment, or

(c)    any other kind of working in relation to which alternative English completion conditions apply under section 1(5) of that Act (meaning of “completing an English apprenticeship”);

“education” includes full-time and part-time education;

“training” includes—

(a)    full-time and part-time training;

(b)    vocational, social, physical and recreational training;

(c)    apprenticeship training.

(9)    The references in subsection (1) to—

(a)    persons in a local authority's area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, and

(b)    persons in a local authority's area who are aged 19 or over but under 25 and are subject to learning difficulty assessment,

do not include persons who are subject to a detention order.

Local education authorities in England must co-operate with each other in performing their duties under section 15ZA(1).”