---

Education and Skills Bill

My Lords, I give strong support on behalf of the Opposition Front Bench to the amendment of my noble friend Lady Perry whose suggested annual progress reports succinctly encapsulate a number of the points that my noble friend Lady Morris and I made in Committee. The amendment covers three areas. On the issue of practical support for firms, we pointed out in Committee that if conditions on firms are too onerous they will simply avoid employing the very people that this Bill is designed to help. Small and medium-sized enterprises are concerned that the additional costs incurred by implementing the provisions in the Bill will be considerable when set against their profit margins, especially now as we head into recession. If the Government are determined to press ahead, red tape and costs must be kept to a minimum, or the consequence will be a reluctance to employ young people. We said in Committee that qualifications must have relevance to what the young person is trying to do. There must be a good provision of qualifications, so that he or she is not unable to follow his or her chosen path because there is only a limited number of courses open to them. Employers are more likely to find young people employable if they trust the standard of the qualification and see that is has accorded the young person some relevance to their business. These matters are crucial to the success of the Bill. My noble friend Lady Perry is right that progress on them must be reported annually to Parliament.