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Education and Skills Bill

My Lords, I share the concerns of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, about making maximum real choice available but I do not believe that this is the vehicle with which to achieve it. We are dealing with admissions and I shall go on to develop why. As regards Amendment No. 205, we are placing a duty on young people in England to participate in education or training until the age of 18. The duty to do so will be on the young people rather than their parents; therefore it is only right that young people are able to decide for themselves at which school they wish to continue their education. The purpose of Clause 136 is to give young people in England and Wales the same rights as their parents to apply for a place at a particular school of their choice, and Clause 138 gives them a right to appeal against a decision to refuse them admission. The amendment seeks to extend the rights of those stating a preference for a school to include an additional right to specify a particular course of study. This right would apply only in the context of sixth-form education. An effect of the amendment would be to place a duty on admission authorities—which, in many cases, would be the local education authority—to ensure that a particular course of study was available to a particular young person. That should not be the job of the admission authority but should be left to the school, where a discussion can take place as to which course is appropriate for the young person. In addition, where a sixth form does not offer a particular course of study, a young person will be entitled to state a preference for a place in another sixth form where the course of study is available. I am sure that many of us, as parents, have been through the process of helping our children to find the right sixth form college or school. As noble Lords will be aware, the next Education and Skills Bill will propose transferring the funding and responsibility for commissioning 16 to 19 provision from the Learning and Skills Council to local authorities from 2010. As part of this duty, local authorities will be responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient provision available to meet the needs of all learners in their area. That is where we are directing, with due respect, the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp. It will be a duty of the local authority to ensure that there is, from 2010, sufficient provision available to meet the needs of all learners in their area. We will be stressing the importance of ensuring a diversity of provision so that it includes access to a range of provision that will genuinely increase learner choice. This and other changes that we are making to the range of post-16 options will ensure that all young people can access a course of learning that is appropriate and relevant. I echo the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, in relation to this. We should be wary of giving them an almost impossible task of trying to ensure, through the process of admissions, that every course of study that any particular student might wish for will be available at every school or college. I hope that the assurances I have given on the duty of local authorities—to ensure a diverse range of provision from 2010—show that we are cognisant of the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp. On those grounds, I hope that she will withdraw the amendment.