My Lords, I have Amendment 107A in this group, which is intended to be an entirely helpful amendment for the Government, allowing them

to put nine months on the face of the Bill but preserve all the flexibility they have there at the moment. I think that would be a...

My Lords, I have Amendment 107A in this group, which is intended to be an entirely helpful amendment for the Government, allowing them

to put nine months on the face of the Bill but preserve all the flexibility they have there at the moment. I think that would be a...

My Lords, I have Amendment 113A of this group, which is a very minimalist amendment designed to deal with circumstances in which, for instance, the company needs to change its registered address. That does not in any way affect the employee, but in the current wording of the Bill it...

My Lords, I have Amendment 113A of this group, which is a very minimalist amendment designed to deal with circumstances in which, for instance, the company needs to change its registered address. That does not in any way affect the employee, but in the current wording of the Bill it...

To ask His Majesty's Government, for each of the postcode areas BN20, BN21, BN22 and BN23, and for the BN postcode area as a whole, for pupils who did their GCSEs in each of the summers of 2022, 2023 and 2024, what number of pupils at state schools progressed to...

To ask His Majesty's Government, for each of the postcode areas BN20, BN21, BN22 and BN23, and for the BN postcode area as a whole, for pupils who did their GCSEs in each of the summers of 2022, 2023 and 2024, what number of pupils at state schools progressed to...

My Lords, I share many of the concerns expressed by noble Lords. The Bill should by no means leave the House in the state in which it entered it. It is important that whatever body Skills England occupies has a great deal more status than the Government have proposed. I...

My Lords, I share many of the concerns expressed by noble Lords. The Bill should by no means leave the House in the state in which it entered it. It is important that whatever body Skills England occupies has a great deal more status than the Government have proposed. I...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

17: After Clause 8, insert the following new Clause—

“Review: Chief Skills Adviser

Within six months of the day on which this Act is passed, the Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a review of the impact of this Act on the case for creating the role of Chief...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

17: After Clause 8, insert the following new Clause—

“Review: Chief Skills Adviser

Within six months of the day on which this Act is passed, the Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a review of the impact of this Act on the case for creating the role of Chief...

My Lords, I acknowledge that a great deal of the thinking behind Amendment 17 comes from the Edge Foundation. Skills England is a big change and a big opportunity. The Government’s ambitions to unify the skills landscape and respond to the skills need, which is very large and well acknowledged,...

My Lords, I acknowledge that a great deal of the thinking behind Amendment 17 comes from the Edge Foundation. Skills England is a big change and a big opportunity. The Government’s ambitions to unify the skills landscape and respond to the skills need, which is very large and well acknowledged,...

My Lords, I am very grateful for that reply. I completely understand that this is a direction in which the Government do not want to take at the moment, but I cannot recall, in my unexpectedly long time in this place, seeing any structure like that of the chief scientific...

My Lords, I am very grateful for that reply. I completely understand that this is a direction in which the Government do not want to take at the moment, but I cannot recall, in my unexpectedly long time in this place, seeing any structure like that of the chief scientific...

My Lords, I declare my interests in the Good Schools Guide and as a member of the council of City & Guilds.

It is good to see a skills Bill here so early on and being tackled with such impetus—it gives me great hope for what this Government might achieve—although I...

My Lords, I declare my interests in the Good Schools Guide and as a member of the council of City & Guilds.

It is good to see a skills Bill here so early on and being tackled with such impetus—it gives me great hope for what this Government might achieve—although I...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, for the chance to have this debate.

I work very closely with the Better Hiring Institute, an organisation I recommend to noble Lords. A trend that we are increasingly seeing is for skills-based hiring. That is where, rather than listing qualifications or...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, for the chance to have this debate.

I work very closely with the Better Hiring Institute, an organisation I recommend to noble Lords. A trend that we are increasingly seeing is for skills-based hiring. That is where, rather than listing qualifications or...

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. In doing so, I pay tribute to my honourable friend Mark Jenkinson, the MP for Workington, who had the sagacity to choose a Bill that the Government will support—not an easy thing, as various noble...

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. In doing so, I pay tribute to my honourable friend Mark Jenkinson, the MP for Workington, who had the sagacity to choose a Bill that the Government will support—not an easy thing, as various noble...

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken, particularly my noble friend the Minister for that reply. I think that, if today were a baking day for my noble friend Lord Baker, he would have an oven full of hot cross buns. As ever, his was...

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken, particularly my noble friend the Minister for that reply. I think that, if today were a baking day for my noble friend Lord Baker, he would have an oven full of hot cross buns. As ever, his was...

Lords second reading. Agreed to on question. Committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

Lords second reading. Agreed to on question. Committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

My Lords, we had a fair old ding- dong last time we met on this Bill, with the Government proposing that we should destroy an entire suite of examinations in order to improve access to T-levels. Yet here they are refusing to make minor changes to the sight that children...

My Lords, we had a fair old ding- dong last time we met on this Bill, with the Government proposing that we should destroy an entire suite of examinations in order to improve access to T-levels. Yet here they are refusing to make minor changes to the sight that children...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

47: Clause 17, page 20, line 22, at end insert—

“(e) the mental health and wellbeing of persons who undertake a higher education course with the institution is supported.”

Member’s explanatory statement

To ensure that the Office for Students has a sufficiently powerful lever to enforce its policies on student support,...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

47: Clause 17, page 20, line 22, at end insert—

“(e) the mental health and wellbeing of persons who undertake a higher education course with the institution is supported.”

Member’s explanatory statement

To ensure that the Office for Students has a sufficiently powerful lever to enforce its policies on student support,...

My Lords, the origins of this, for me, lie 10 years ago, when one of my work colleagues was rung by a friend of her son to say, “I think you need to come down to Cardiff.” That was the first she knew about her son being suicidal. Fortunately, it...

My Lords, the origins of this, for me, lie 10 years ago, when one of my work colleagues was rung by a friend of her son to say, “I think you need to come down to Cardiff.” That was the first she knew about her son being suicidal. Fortunately, it...

My Lords, I am very grateful for my noble friend’s answer, which included just the words that I was after—that the Government are sure that the Office for Students has the powers that it needs to make progress in this area. I am very happy to leave it at that,...

My Lords, I am very grateful for my noble friend’s answer, which included just the words that I was after—that the Government are sure that the Office for Students has the powers that it needs to make progress in this area. I am very happy to leave it at that,...

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, in such fine form, but I am going to argue with his conclusion on degree apprenticeships and other higher apprenticeships. They have been a great boost to the quality of British management. We have needed for...

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, in such fine form, but I am going to argue with his conclusion on degree apprenticeships and other higher apprenticeships. They have been a great boost to the quality of British management. We have needed for...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

76A: Clause 22, page 26, line 25, at end insert “including academic qualifications, taking into account other provision accessible locally.”

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to make it clear that the role of an institution in the further education sector is to ensure that there are...

Moved by

Lord Lucas

76A: Clause 22, page 26, line 25, at end insert “including academic qualifications, taking into account other provision accessible locally.”

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to make it clear that the role of an institution in the further education sector is to ensure that there are...

My Lords, the question I ask with Amendment 76A is: who is making sure, in this new world that we are creating, that the overall educational provision at sixth form and beyond is as it should be? I hope we are not dividing the world into academic and technical; there...

My Lords, the question I ask with Amendment 76A is: who is making sure, in this new world that we are creating, that the overall educational provision at sixth form and beyond is as it should be? I hope we are not dividing the world into academic and technical; there...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that answer. I would be delighted to entertain her in Eastbourne for a day or two, particularly in this weather; I think she would enjoy it.

I understand that there are processes that are supposed to deliver what a local area...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that answer. I would be delighted to entertain her in Eastbourne for a day or two, particularly in this weather; I think she would enjoy it.

I understand that there are processes that are supposed to deliver what a local area...