Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, while we agree that the number of regulated qualifications available is important, as is required in Clause 126(2)(a), we would argue that the reason it is important is that it should offer sufficient choice for the learner rather than that it should be limited in any way, which the Government’s qualifying use of the word "appropriate" at the end of the subsection appears to contemplate. Our concerns are heightened by the wording of subsection (3)(b), highlighted by my noble friend Lady Perry in her Amendment 242, but unfortunately she is not in her place to speak to it. We need to probe what the Government mean by the use of the words "appropriate" and "excessive" in these respective subsections. I thank my noble friend Lord Lucas for his careful and probing questions on the issue, and I hope the Minister will be able to give us some answers. Can he tell us, for example, how many qualifications he thinks would be considered appropriate or indeed excessive? Can he also explain what this will mean in terms of Ofqual’s functions? Does it mean that at a certain point Ofqual will be able to stop recognising and accrediting qualifications because it feels that there are too many? Surely, as in a market situation, if there is no demand for a qualification, it will simply fall away. City and Guilds has pointed out that it would be, ""inappropriate for Ofqual to be distorting the marketplace through regulating the number of qualifications available"," because, and again I quote, ""it is of the utmost importance that each learner has the correct learning option available to them"." We have spent a great deal of time in our debates on this Bill ensuring that the needs of all learners are met, that suitability of qualification is taken into account and that personal need is catered for. Can the Minister account for a clause that could potentially allow Ofqual to reduce the options available? Ofqual is supposed to be a regulator of qualifications. Employers, learners and universities are the consumers of these qualifications. Surely, therefore, it would make more sense for their concerns about the number of regulated qualifications available to be represented and taken into account? We feel that they, rather than Ofqual, have a greater interest and more appropriate expertise in this area. In this instance, a demand-led approach seems more suitable. I look forward to the Minister’s response.