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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

I am afraid that there are several points. I am more concerned about disadvantaged pupils being prepared for the challenges and opportunities of adult life, which is the second half of Section 1 of the Education Reform Act 1988. While I shall not repeat all that I said, I shall briefly cover my remarks. Now that we are looking at 14 year-olds coming into further education because they have fallen out of the school system, I want to stress that nine times out of 10 the reason they have done so is because of problems within their families. They have not had the degree of socialisation they needed in order to be able to cope with the school system. If they come into further education, who is going to support them? Many of these young people do not have solid families behind them. They are alone. After going to class, they go back on to the street. This is a superb opportunity to help these young people and I want to see some provision made in the Bill to ensure that further education colleges will help them.