Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I will not prolong this short debate except to say that two big clauses, Clauses 116 and 117, deal with directions, so I do not seek to take away the whole panoply of the Secretary of State’s ability to give directions to the chief executive. However, I think that we are living in never-never land. An extraordinary piece of advice has come the Minister’s way if what he has told us is how the department really works. It is not how the world of the public sector—which I have been in on a number of occasions—has ever worked. I do not believe that it works this way now. Meanwhile, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.