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Education and Skills Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. This landmark Bill has rightly benefited from considerable and enthusiastic debate in Committee and today on Report. I thank right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the House for their considered and largely informed scrutiny of the Bill's contents. The debate has ranged far and wide, from Proust to the origins of Liberalism to the inevitable discussion of the intricacies of legal drafting. This evening, we discussed the difference between aptitude and ability. If it helps the House to define the difference, we saw that although the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) has the aptitude to deliver clever parliamentary rhetoric, it is doubtful that he has the ability to run the country. The Bill is about ensuring that the young people of today do not find themselves in search of lost time when they reach adulthood, that they do not look back on their youth and their education as a wasted opportunity, and that they do not find themselves without the skills, training and prospects to secure for themselves a satisfying and fulfilling job in their chosen career. The Government have made considerable progress in removing the historical glass ceiling on aspiration and achievement for the most disadvantaged young people in our society.