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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the noble Lord’s amendment to put progression in the Bill. I was glad to see the Minister’s assurances in his letter of 2 March. We have had extensive discussions on these matters already, so I will keep my remarks brief—though not quite as brief as those of the noble Lord, Lord Dearing. On these Benches we have always been in favour of giving further education colleges more responsibility and independence, to allow them to develop their full potential. The powers in this clause, however, were in danger of causing so much contention and bad feeling that further education would have been damaged rather than strengthened. We feel that this safeguard, confirming foundation degrees as a route to higher education as well as being a valued qualification in their own right, will ensure the higher education involvement in foundation degrees that has contributed so much to their development and success. I was also happy to see that the Government have taken on board concerns about the independence of the report on the success of these new powers and on franchising. Instead of falling into the trap of political point-scoring and an unhelpful refusal to engage in constructive debate, your Lordships' House has worked on these and other points to improve the Bill considerably. I am delighted to say that working with the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, has been a pleasure. Once again I thank the noble Lord and Bill Rammell for the genuine efforts they have made to find a way forward. I also acknowledge the sterling efforts of the Association of Colleges, the 157 Group, Universities UK and the CMU in keeping us fully informed on the relevant issues and abreast of opinion among the colleges and universities. I am aware that there is much which needs further qualification, and I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, will speak in a moment on exactly what ensuring progression will entail. I regret that we have run out of time to discuss the matters in this House before the Government have been able to iron out these details. However, I look forward to reading the debates as the Bill passes through another place, and feel considerable satisfaction at what we in this House have achieved.