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Education and Skills Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Baronesses for their response and support for the amendment. I offer the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, the reassurance that I think she is looking for. Having said that, I do not think that I will ever be able to reassure her until we have finished the review, which we are absolutely committed to undertaking for exactly the reasons that she espouses. We are confident that a tiny number of young people, if any, will reach the stage where they incur a criminal sanction. When the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act provisions are reviewed, which the Government have committed to do, we will work closely with the Ministry of Justice on disclosure. We recognise that there is a strong case in the disclosure period for fines for these offences to be reduced. We will be working with the Home Office on using these offences as an example in its guidance on disclosure when it is reviewed. I can assure the noble Baroness that we will be answering her concerns through guidance and taking great care to make sure that all the professionals who work with young people through the administrative and then the youth justice enforcement regime have proper, full and appropriate guidance. This is about raising participation in education and training for young people. We know that it is through participation and progression in education and training that young people are best served by this Government and by the education system. On Question, amendment agreed to.