---

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

Perhaps I might pursue the matter under discussion. Inability to communicate effectively in English is not the exclusive domain of people whose first language is not English. Many young people have grown up speaking English right from the start, but their vernacular is so dense that many of us cannot understand a word they say. I recently had the experience of reading—not just listening to—a transcript of a conversation between two or three young people. I do not think they knew at the time they were being recorded, but that is by the by. I could not understand a single word they said. The words they used for commonly understood objects and actions were so different from the ones with which I am familiar that it made their conversation totally dense to me. I could not understand a word of it. We need to consider those young people as well. About a year ago I came across an initiative that took place in prisons. Actors went in to work with young people on a Shakespeare play. To many people the language of Shakespeare is also rather dense. That exercise got the young people to consider the language and its richness. They began to use language which the majority of the population would understand. They became more confident in themselves in so doing, particularly because they could communicate their feelings to not just each other but also other people who had some power over them. I submit that this is an important factor to bear in mind, too.