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Education and Skills Bill

I return to the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, about the rights of employers to appeal against any enforcement action taken. That is the nub of the issue and will test whether a local authority is acting reasonably on a sound evidence base. The noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, wrote to the department on this issue in his capacity as chairman of the Select Committee on the Constitution. I replied to him on 1 July and said that, in the light of his comments on that specific issue: "““I will certainly consider carefully whether there is more we need to do to strengthen the provisions in this area, to make clearer that employers will be able to challenge decisions and local authorities will be able to review the process and that there is a satisfactory appeal route. If necessary I will table government amendments at the next stage in Parliament’s consideration of the Bill to effect changes””." The specific issue of appeal underlies many of the related issues because, if there is a satisfactory appeal process, it will give greater confidence that local authorities are acting on a sound evidence base. I will come back on the issue later and I hope that that will allay other concerns that have been raised on this group of amendments.