Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I shall not detain your Lordships for long. I thought for one awful moment that I was going to have to move this amendment on behalf of my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham, as it was due to be heard last week. But he has now been able to move it himself and has done it considerably better than I would have been able to. I commend what we have just heard about the figures, which clearly show that testing should start at an earlier age. It is very good news that Northern Ireland has decided that the age of two is when compulsory testing should start. I very much support these amendments. The Communication Trust has done an excellent job. It has provided these amendments one behalf of some—I think, 30—voluntary organisations. Incidentally, I believe that it gets a grant from a government department, which clearly also approves of its work. I hope that that means that greater notice will be taken of what it says. Above all, I emphasise the point about the importance of communication. If you cannot talk, you are highly unlikely to be able to read and will have all sorts of other problems as time goes on. It is good to know that one of the organisations supporting the trust is I CAN, to one of whose meetings I went the other day. We must never forget that great phrase, "Chatter matters". It does indeed and it matters very importantly in this area. I support the amendment.