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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, too, am concerned that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Front Benches have chosen to continue with their opposition to intervention. When the amendment was sent back to the House of Commons, a powerful argument was made on all sides that the Association of Colleges, the powerful national representative body of colleges of further education, had serious reservations about intervention. These issues were well debated, and this House expressed the strong view that this needed to be considered. The amendment went back to the House of Commons, which gave it due consideration, and we hear today that the Association of Colleges is now happy with the Government’s proposals. That should satisfy this House that, because of our work on these issues, they have been dealt with adequately. I hope that this House will now feel, as the Association of Colleges does, that justice has been done and that we should give the Bill a fair wind. This legislation can then go forward to improve the lot of colleges of further education and those 3 million students in further education who need the support of this House and the House of Commons.