Education and Inspections Bill

The noble Baroness said that she was teasing me. I thought that she had accepted that I had responded to the first amendment. We need to read new subsection (2) with new subsection (3), which begins: "““When making arrangements for the provision of facilities or the organisation of activities in the exercise of their powers under subsection (2), a local education authority must””—" I repeat, must— "““in particular, have regard to the expediency of co-operating with any voluntary societies or bodies””." Although I understand that the noble Baroness is trying to tease me, that is my response. We think that local authorities will find guidance in these areas useful, not least because it can highlight best practice, which they usually find useful when the department makes it available. I would not want local authorities to be deprived of the benefit of any wisdom that we might be able to bring to bear in these matters.