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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

Apart from the worrying change of gender that I achieved during that contribution, I never felt a thing. I did something similar to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, last night, so it may be something in the water. We think that we have the balance right but we want to address the concerns. We will reflect on the point that has been made as I hate being described as totally inadequate. The noble Lord, Lord Elton, raised two points. We believe that the detail of the process is appropriate for the national commissioning framework. In relation to his second point on the stages, I am assured that some of the processes will take place in parallel. Rather than trying to explain the parallel process we shall include it when we write to noble Lords. We have to address the genuine concerns. We do not want a process that is overcomplicated or one in which authorities cannot meet the deadlines, with the impact that that will have on colleges. We have to bottom it out, and when we write to noble Lords, we hope to give some reassurance on the nature of the process which will not reflect Gosplan or even the Ancien Regime. With those assurances, I hope that the noble Baroness will withdraw the amendment.