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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

My Lords, I apologise for not being in the House at the start of this short debate. There were good reasons for that, but they are not sufficiently good for me to detain noble Lords by elaborating. I apologise and hope that I may make two comments. The first is to thank the Minister for the characteristic thoroughness and courtesy with which he listened to points made and dealt with them in discussion outside the Chamber. Secondly, I wish simply to emphasise that Amendment No. 2 is important for the reputation of British degrees. The buccaneering spirit is alive and well in the world of education—further, higher and elsewhere—and as long as that is the case, there need to be tight constraints on the whole business of franchising. The stronger they are, the safer our future heritage.