Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I certainly support the amendment, which brings us back to the matter of entitlement. That is what everyone should have, whenever they reach a point in life when something could be beneficial to them. It is a lifelong learning point, again, I suppose. My concern remains with the financial side that a much higher priority should be given, even during this time, to seeing that there are the resources to enable that entitlement to take place. I still worry about those with a learning disability, who should be helped up to the age of 25. Nobody has covered the point, because the noble Lord, Lord Rix, has had all his worries sorted out, but we have heard nothing about them on the Floor of the House. I assume that the noble Lord has sufficient assurances about funding for that, but it would be nice to hear from the Minister that it is the case. I, too, congratulate the Government on a lot of what they have achieved. However, there is a problem with the small and medium-sized businesses, and I am not certain that enough has been done in that respect. Perhaps we could encourage them to act much more as mentors of young people and really get value for that. I remember giving evidence on this sort of subject to an inquiry, and the biggest complaint was from the small or medium-sized employer, which was doing all this training only to have his apprentices, whom he had trained at cost to him, nicked by big employers that were not prepared to pay one penny for the training. I very much support the amendment and hope that we hear encouraging words from the Minister.