Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I, too, have put my name to this amendment. I do not want to say too much more because most of what needs to be said has already been said. This is one of those rather unusual occasions where there is complete and absolute agreement across the House from everyone who has spoken so far. As the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, said, 11 Peers from different parts of this House have agreed that Clause 35 simply will not do as it is currently worded. I am very grateful to the Minister and to the two departments involved in this Bill for the voluminous information that they sent me in order to persuade me that this clause does not need changing. But I remain completely unconvinced by all this information, which I have read very carefully. I strongly agree with what my noble friend Lord Layard and the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, have said. It is not sensible to rely on two earlier pieces of legislation—the 1997 Act and the 2008 Act—when here we have new legislation which is specifically about apprenticeships. It needs to make it clear to those out there who are operating the system that there is a requirement to be completely impartial. I think that that is what the Government want to achieve. I do not think that there is any difference between us in terms of objectives, but the route that they are taking to get to that objective is wrong. It will not work if it is left as it is. I hate to say this, but there is an element of naivety on the part of the Government in imagining that, if this clause is left as it is, everyone who teaches in our secondary schools will be impartial. They do not have to be because they are not required to be. As my noble friend Lady Morris said, there are vested interests; schools always want to maximise the size of their sixth forms. That is a legitimate objective from their point of view but it is not a legitimate objective from the wider educational world’s point of view, nor from the point of view of the Government, who are trying to introduce another route in that we are going to have compulsion for all young people between 16 and 18 to take part in some education and training. In the light of what has been said, I hope that my noble friend the Minister will make a concession today, go away and come back with an agreement that the amendment we have put before the Committee today is acceptable; or, if there is something slightly wrong with the wording, come back with a revised version.