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Education and Skills Bill

I knew that you were going to say that, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I am not going to be encouraged by the Secretary of State. I am going to abide by your ruling, because that is the right thing to do. The Bill, as currently drafted, would not allow for the learning support contracts that we recommend in our new clause. We believe that they are an important mechanism for intervening earlier in young people's lives, and that they would have a particularly valuable impact on the young people who are the hardest to get at, in terms of engagement. They would provide a framework for a local authority to agree with a young person, and their parents or carer, how that young person was to fulfil their duty to participate, and how that arrangement was to be supported. I am sure that the Government will embrace the new clause, because it would improve the Bill. It in no way contradicts the Bill's proper intent; it simply seeks to make it more palatable, more workable and more effective.