Education and Skills Bill

Does not the debate reveal that a coach and horses has been driven through the Minister's policy? The White Paper, ““Back on Track””, to which he referred, was published in May 2008. At that point, I understand that he had no idea that local authorities were using 1,100 private sector alternative education providers, but he had already formed what he thought would be the policy to improve alternative provision in local authority areas. In his letter of 4 September, he said that his telephone survey was carried out between early June and early July, but he had already formulated his policy in May, before he acquired that crucial piece of information about alternative education in this country.