Member

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to Amendment 1, and rejoice that, after so many years of seeking consensus with the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, we are at one at last. She is certainly right in not wanting to remember the Schools Bill, but I remember the last technical education Bill. The problem from all sides of the House on that occasion was that we began to realise that we were doing anything except actually dealing with policy, so the House could debate the Bill so long as it did not affect the ongoing development of the policy. I fear that we are back here again with this legislation. It is not, as was described in the debate on the first group, that anyone is against Skills England and the development of a co-ordinating body that can do the job of pulling together all the players and ensuring that policy and delivery can be aligned; it is about whether Parliament has any part to play in development post the framework document.