Member

I am somewhat nervous at the moment—even more than I was at the beginning, and the Bill has made me rather more so. The department is consulting widely on Skills England—I express my gratitude for the fact that I have been at some of those sessions—and indeed so it should be. But given that it is still in listening mode, is this really the moment to introduce a Bill which basically, once it passes, leaves all sorts of things in abeyance? That is the major issue I have. What happens once we have abolished IfATE? Suppose we want a new set of apprenticeship standards. Clearly, we go to the Secretary of State, who is named 51 times in Schedule 1 as having this new responsibility or this being replaced with that. This does not make one feel very confident about the next year or so for the life of improving skills—that is a terrible phrase, but improving skills is what we are about. Is a year, at least, of complete lack of clarity on who does what really the best way to start this off?