He told the audience that his priorities are:

    * Devolution of power within the learning sector and removing barriers so that providers can offer what their customers want
    * Eliminating waste and inefficiency, including refocusing the Train to Gain programme
    * Placing the informed, empowered individual at the heart of the learning process, rather than targets and numbers.

Mr Hayes said:

“I see the Government’s primary role as being to create a framework which helps individual people and their employers to get at the learning they want or need.

"An indispensable part of achieving that goal is removing the barriers that get in the way of learning providers’ efforts to respond to what their customers are asking for.”

Click here for the full speech.