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Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, we shall debate next the amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, on science. The noble Lord may wave his hand but he asked me a question which I seek to answer. On the previous day of Report, amendments on modern foreign languages were discussed. The noble Lord, Lord Dearing, whom I am glad to see is present, is considering that issue. There is strong support from a wide spectrum for a more prescriptive regime. Every time I meet my colleagues representing the history and geography communities there are calls, including in debates in this House, for those to be statutory and compulsory subjects up to age 16. While I completely understand the strength of the argument for PSHE and I do not seek to reduce its force, it is fair to say that those representing many other subjects make strong and pressing cases for—