Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)

My Lords, I recognise that Amendment 1, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Storey, on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed, is a tidying-up amendment, consequential to his previous amendment on school uniform. While I am sure that the debate on the wider issue of school uniform will continue in the other place, we recognise that this amendment simply corrects a now redundant reference created by his prior amendment. For this reason, we are prepared to accept it at this stage, so that his proposed amendments can be considered together at the next stage. I turn to the government amendments. Amendment 2 provides that regulations made by Welsh Ministers in relation to the mandatory meeting scheme for parents wishing to withdraw their child from school for home education will be subject to the Senedd’s approval procedure. This is an important and necessary correction which brings Wales into alignment with the position in England, where regulations made by the Secretary of State are subject to the affirmative procedure. As the Bill currently stands, no parliamentary procedure is attached to the Welsh regulations, and it is essential that this gap is addressed to ensure proper scrutiny and accountability. Amendment 3 introduces legal definitions of “child” and “carer” for Wales. This is a small but important correction to ensure clarity in the provision and enable Welsh Ministers and the Secretary of State to require local authorities to record whether a child is a young carer on children not in school registers. As we discussed, young carers can shoulder responsibilities that impact their education. Understanding when a child is in that position could enable authorities to provide the right support. This amendment does not alter the policy intent of the Bill; it simply ensures that the Welsh legislative framework is complete and coherent. I trust that the House will agree that correcting this oversight strengthens the Bill and supports young carers. Amendments 4, 5, 6 and 7 concern academy trust inspections. They make a small drafting adjustment to move the parliamentary procedure for regulations made under new Chapter 2A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to Section 182 of that Act, which already governs regulations made under the Act. The previous drafting inserted a bespoke section dealing with procedure for regulations into Chapter 2A, which conflicted with the existing Section 182. These amendments resolve a minor technical issue in the legislation, make no policy change and do not alter the level of parliamentary scrutiny that regulations will be subject to.