Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I think that I will be able to reassure the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, as he requests. Noble Lords may recall that we debated the introduction of this entitlement during the passage of the Education and Inspections Bill in 2006. It was something that the House took a great interest in, as I understand. Clause 44 merely restates the requirement in the 2006 Act to secure the core entitlement and, as the noble Lord says, the additional entitlement for 16 to 18 year-olds, and it places the duty on local authorities instead of the Learning and Skills Council. I am happy to confirm that our intention is that the additional entitlement will relate to diploma lines, as the noble Lord describes. Our intention is that this entitlement will be delivered from the 2013-14 academic year. As for this representing undue pressure on young people to pursue diplomas, as opposed to other qualifications such as A-levels, BTEC or apprenticeships, there are strong duties in the Bill that would guard against that, such as those about the importance of delivering education that is appropriate to the individual learner. I am trying to give the noble Lord the clarity that he was looking for that this reference is about diploma lines and that our intention is that this entitlement, as he is aware, will be delivered from 2013-14 onwards. I could go on at length about how fantastic diplomas are and how we have a strong take-up by local authorities already pursuing diplomas, but I see that I may not have to do that now. I hope that, with that reassurance and clarification, the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment.