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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

Clause 1(7) states: ""An ‘English apprenticeship agreement’ … is an agreement under which a person undertakes to work wholly or mainly in England"." As no reference was made in the Explanatory Notes to this restrictive condition, I wondered why it was there. If it were not there, and an amendment had been tabled to put it in, the proposer would risk being told that such an amendment was unnecessary. How about Scotland? Are the Welsh to be confined to Wales? Things may be more serious than that. It is not in our interests to be any more restrictive or controlling than we need to be. All skills initiatives should be welcomed. If I were running a United States textile company with subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and in three or four other European countries—perhaps a textile company interested in supplying Italian design fabrics to George Davies—I would not welcome this subsection. What does "mainly in England" mean? Is my budding apprentice capable of giving me an undertaking that I do not really want? Who would enforce it if the undertaking were not kept? Is it lawful anyway? I thought that there was freedom of movement and employment in Europe. In our proceedings so far, the Minister has given us well argued examples of top-down control whereas we need bottom-up diversity with the minimum of so-called coherence. Subsection (2)(e) of proposed new Section 63E on the subject of study applications states that study, ""would be undertaken within or outside the United Kingdom"." Why the difference? I beg to move.