Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I thank my noble friend Lord Elton for raising this issue, which he has pursued assiduously throughout many Bills and debates in your Lordships’ House. As he says, there is a link between the decline of key interpersonal skills and the increase in criminality. The issue was referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, in the previous group of amendments. It is also important—my noble friend mentioned this—that Amendment 123 refers to that part of the Bill dealing with persons detained in youth accommodation. There are well proven connections between low academic achievement and a propensity towards criminality, which my noble friend made clear. The Minister will agree with much that has been said. He will say that the Bill is the cure, at least partly, for these ills. That may be the case. We all hope that this Bill, once improved, could play such a part. One of the primary concerns that the Opposition has been raising for a long time is that equipping young people with the skills they need not just to stay in education or training but to embrace them and prosper from them is key to keeping them on the straight and narrow later in life. I do not doubt the sincerity of the Government’s aim to reach the same goals but once again raise our concern that they are dealing with a problem simply by throwing more legislation at it. Has the Minister had a chance to read his Daily Telegraph lately? Has he reflected on the extraordinary broadside upon this Government’s education policies delivered only the other day by the DCSF’s own former director-general of schools? Ralph Tabberer said that under this Government, teaching children the difference between right and wrong had been neglected. That is pretty strong stuff from someone who has seen the education system from close up. This goes right to the heart of the point my noble friend has raised with these amendments. It is not just bald examination results that matter but educating young people in the round. The "disconnect"—if I can used a buzzword—that some young people feel between them and the rest of society is at the root of many anti-social problems. It is a reason for great concern if, as Mr Tabberer suggests, that problem is being exacerbated rather than healed by our education system. I will be interested to hear the Minister’s opinion as it seems pertinent to the debate. I welcome my noble friend’s amendment as a timely opportunity to debate this issue. He may wish to revisit the topic at a later stage, perhaps when, as my noble friend Lord Baker suggested, the Government are rather better represented on their Back Benches. To help him to decide that and noble Lords to consider the matter further, can the Minister furnish the Committee with some statistics? For instance, what are the Government's most up-to-date figures for the number of people who are not in employment, education or training? What proportion of those have a criminal record? How many have a persistent criminal record? What is the proportion of people aged under 25 currently serving a custodial or community sentence who have below average results in their GCSEs? How does that compare with the general population? I realise that the Minister may not have those statistics at his fingertips, but this is an area that deserves close attention. I would be content if he were to write to noble Lords with those figures before Report.