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Education and Skills Bill

If the Secretary of State wishes to object, he should please either intervene or take up my offer and meet representatives of the Bournemouth learning and skills council. They will show him that they do not have the same amount of money to run all the courses that they want to. I am reminded of what my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) said, which sums up the Bill—we require more carrot and less stick. Why are not more children enthused into taking advantage of our education system today? We must look at what is available for 16-year-olds as things stand. I am afraid that if truancy is on the increase, we are clearly not engaging enough with the pupils to be able to say, ““Please stay in school. See the benefits of education and how you can move forward from there.”” I acknowledge that the Government have made inroads, but they have clearly not done enough. Now we are putting obligations on children who may want to get out and work, rather than stay in education—[Interruption.] If Government Front Benchers do not wish to listen to me, they should please listen to those other voices—[Interruption.]