Education and Skills Bill
10:58 am
Martin Narey: It would be ironic, indeed, if action that had been taken to make sure that a young person’s life chances were transformed by making sure they were given the qualifications to be a member of the work force then damaged those chances by giving young person a criminal record that followed him or her into adulthood. We feel there are steps that could be taken to prevent that happening, with amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and perhaps taking the record from the police national computer. There are a number of solutions that should make it possible to ensure that the slate would be clean at 18 and a young person would not be disadvantaged in looking for a job because of immature actions he had perhaps committed at 16.