Clause 7
Education and Skills Bill
1:00 pm
Jim Knight (Minister of State (Schools and Learners), Department for Children, Schools and Families; South Dorset, Labour)
What a delight it is to see you in your place, Mr. Bercow, and to be serving under your guidance this afternoon.
Clause 7 defines the relevant period, and says when it starts and finishes. We had a fascinating discussion about that. In particular, we explored the scenario posed by the hon. Member for Yeovil about what happens when a course collapses, in his phrase, and whether that would lead to a decision from an attendance panel and whether the collapse of a course would be a reasonable excuse. I do not intend to detain the Committee, suffice it to deal with that scenario. Hopefully, we will then decide on the clause, which I obviously recommend to the Committee.
If a person’s part-time training collapsed while they were in full-time work, the case would not of course go anywhere near an attendance panel, because support would kick in at that point—enforcement would be inappropriate, assuming that no other appropriate course was available. The relevant period stops when the young person stops participating in full-time education or an apprenticeship, or when the next academic year begins. It would not be suspended if a course is withdrawn. If that happened, the learning provider or Connexions would help to provide an alternative. While a person is receiving help or waiting for the identified alternative course to begin, they would not be subject to enforcement action, because they would have a reasonable excuse and because the local authority cannot take any such action unless a young person has been given adequate opportunity to participate voluntarily. Clearly, the absence of an alternative suitable course would mean that a person has not been given adequate opportunity to participate voluntarily, so no enforcement action would be taken. I hope that that satisfies the hon. Gentleman and the rest of the Committee.