To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what final estimate his Department made of the amount of money lost to fraud during the Independent Learning Account scheme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what final estimate his Department made of the amount of money lost to fraud during the Independent Learning Account scheme.

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, for her expression of sympathy for our central point in the debate. I think she said that she had not put her name to the clause stand-part Motion, but I am delighted to say that my version of the...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, for her expression of sympathy for our central point in the debate. I think she said that she had not put her name to the clause stand-part Motion, but I am delighted to say that my version of the...

I am extremely grateful to the Minister and to noble Lords, including my own Front Bench, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, for their support. I hope very much that I am wrong and that the Minister’s officials are right and that this is not a necessary amendment. In...

I am extremely grateful to the Minister and to noble Lords, including my own Front Bench, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, for their support. I hope very much that I am wrong and that the Minister’s officials are right and that this is not a necessary amendment. In...

My Lords, from these Benches we support this amendment. The whole purpose of the education is to provide people with second chances, and funding only up to the age of 25 seems to be a curious limitation on this. Thirty would be a slightly more generous age to have in...

My Lords, from these Benches we support this amendment. The whole purpose of the education is to provide people with second chances, and funding only up to the age of 25 seems to be a curious limitation on this. Thirty would be a slightly more generous age to have in...

My Lords, my name is attached to this amendment, along with that of the noble Lord, Lord Low, and I heartily endorse what he has said. I will speak briefly about one category of students about whom I am particularly concerned—disabled students who do not have a learning disability assessment...

My Lords, my name is attached to this amendment, along with that of the noble Lord, Lord Low, and I heartily endorse what he has said. I will speak briefly about one category of students about whom I am particularly concerned—disabled students who do not have a learning disability assessment...

My Lords, I very much support these amendments, particularly Amendment 186, which has been well explained, and Amendment 187, which, if anything, is a little tame. I would rather go along with the approach taken by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp: we should be looking at an entitlement to appropriate...

My Lords, I very much support these amendments, particularly Amendment 186, which has been well explained, and Amendment 187, which, if anything, is a little tame. I would rather go along with the approach taken by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp: we should be looking at an entitlement to appropriate...

My Lords, at least we are closer to a starting point. The Minister says that classes of college can be allowed. As I said, if the class of college is sixth-form colleges in Winchester, that is a class of one, so the Secretary of State is thereby giving a direction...

My Lords, at least we are closer to a starting point. The Minister says that classes of college can be allowed. As I said, if the class of college is sixth-form colleges in Winchester, that is a class of one, so the Secretary of State is thereby giving a direction...

My Lords, the clause gives the Secretary of State powers to direct the YPLA. He may give the YPLA directions containing objectives at any time when it has either failed to discharge a duty imposed under this or any other Act or has acted or proposes to act unreasonably with...

My Lords, the clause gives the Secretary of State powers to direct the YPLA. He may give the YPLA directions containing objectives at any time when it has either failed to discharge a duty imposed under this or any other Act or has acted or proposes to act unreasonably with...

What the noble Lord has said agrees exactly with what is in the Explanatory Notes, but it does not seem to agree precisely with what is in the Bill.

What the noble Lord has said agrees exactly with what is in the Explanatory Notes, but it does not seem to agree precisely with what is in the Bill.

But, my Lords, I think that paragraph 59 of the notes covers the corporate as well as the individual use of person.

But, my Lords, I think that paragraph 59 of the notes covers the corporate as well as the individual use of person.

It could do.

It could do.

My Lords, when Hansard comes out tomorrow, I shall cut out the speech made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, and pin it on my wall so that I at last have an explanation of how the system is proposed to work. Listening to her, not being a historian, I...

My Lords, when Hansard comes out tomorrow, I shall cut out the speech made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, and pin it on my wall so that I at last have an explanation of how the system is proposed to work. Listening to her, not being a historian, I...

My Lords, before we get into the general debate, it was not just Gosplan that had a system like that. It was the same under the ancien regime in France. De Tocqueville has in almost his first chapter an illustration of how that went wrong, by giving an account of...

My Lords, before we get into the general debate, it was not just Gosplan that had a system like that. It was the same under the ancien regime in France. De Tocqueville has in almost his first chapter an illustration of how that went wrong, by giving an account of...

It is rather difficult to follow those four speeches. It has been an interesting journey through the history books and the cookery books. I agree with my noble friend Lord Eccles that in many ways we all agree with the noble Baroness, because she has given the Government a real...

It is rather difficult to follow those four speeches. It has been an interesting journey through the history books and the cookery books. I agree with my noble friend Lord Eccles that in many ways we all agree with the noble Baroness, because she has given the Government a real...

My Lords, briefly, I will come back to Amendments 156, 157 and 158. I strongly support what the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said. The YPLA is an entirely inappropriate body to have the power of direction. It is doubly inappropriate because it would be an unelected body giving directions to...

My Lords, briefly, I will come back to Amendments 156, 157 and 158. I strongly support what the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said. The YPLA is an entirely inappropriate body to have the power of direction. It is doubly inappropriate because it would be an unelected body giving directions to...

My Lords, I particularly support Amendment 160, although the other amendments reinforce the considerable concern that there is on the matter. The Association of Colleges has informed a number of noble Lords about its concerns, and has done so in a very reasonable and tolerant way, particularly with regard to...

My Lords, I particularly support Amendment 160, although the other amendments reinforce the considerable concern that there is on the matter. The Association of Colleges has informed a number of noble Lords about its concerns, and has done so in a very reasonable and tolerant way, particularly with regard to...

My Lords, I, too, have enjoyed the journey through history. The YPLA was gaining in powers as the debate went on—a mixture of the Supreme Soviet and the ancien regime. I can reassure the House that the Supreme Soviet disposed of its ancien regime, which solved that problem. Of course...

My Lords, I, too, have enjoyed the journey through history. The YPLA was gaining in powers as the debate went on—a mixture of the Supreme Soviet and the ancien regime. I can reassure the House that the Supreme Soviet disposed of its ancien regime, which solved that problem. Of course...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply, but, if I may say so, in both cases he misses the point. The key issue expressed in the first four amendments is not that there is any objection to the fact that there may be an intervention process—we recognise that...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply, but, if I may say so, in both cases he misses the point. The key issue expressed in the first four amendments is not that there is any objection to the fact that there may be an intervention process—we recognise that...