Lord Ravensdale (CB)

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that very detailed response. I should have declared my own interest in the cost of childcare, as a father of twins; it is a subject that is close to my heart too. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, for their support on this group. I will certainly reflect on the detail of the Minister’s response, but I hope she will also reflect and have some further engagement with me between Committee and Report. A lot of this comes from the comprehensive work that your Lordships’ House has done on social mobility over the past year through the Social Mobility Policy Committee. We have done a thorough investigation into this with many stakeholders and there are many areas that are not working or are working in a haphazard way, as the various local authorities and combined authorities are not joined up, which is why these amendments have tried to get a partnership approach going. This is of such importance that it needs to be driven through primary legislation. We come back to that debate we often have on what should be guidance and what should be legislation. I look forward to engaging further with the Minister and her team between now and Report. With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.