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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

We support the amendment. If anyone wishes to access the learning and skills website, they will notice that 17 items were added to it last week, most of which advised members of further education colleges what they should take into account in what they have to do. The amount of verbiage that hits the education sector is quite unacceptable. Last night, I was wading through the draft criteria for foundation degree awarding powers. Having been trained as a civil servant back in the early 1960s, when drafting was quite a skill, I felt I could have reduced them to about three or four pages. The amount of duplication and verbiage is totally unnecessary, and yet one has to wade through it time and again. Plain Words, which I know is issued to every new civil servant, needs to be taken into account. It should be put in practice rather than simply aspired to. I add my voice and those of these Benches in support of the amendment.