Clause 12
Education and Skills Bill
3:30 pm
Jim Knight (Minister of State (Schools and Learners), Department for Children, Schools and Families; South Dorset, Labour)
The duty on local authorities is, as I think the hon. Member understands, fundamental. As he says, it is clear that for the local authority to fulfil its duty of promoting participation, and to ensure that everyone benefits from staying on, it will need to know who is not participating and what is being done to re-engage them. That information is necessary so that personal advisers from Connexions can contact the young person and offer them support in finding or accessing provision.
The Connexions service already uses a tracking system, so as far as I am aware, the clause simply restates the existing arrangements, taking into account the transfer of Connexions to local authorities. When Connexions makes the transfer, if the database is not maintained, it will be impossible to track young people and, therefore, to intervene effectively and provide support that is timely and appropriate to their needs. The clause simply strengthens the legal basis for the tracking system, and in so doing, it sets a legal imperative to ensure that, by 2013, local authorities are fully equipped to carry out those functions and to ensure that those young people who are in most need are identified promptly and provided with timely support.
Technically the duty is a new one, but the clause is very similar to section 436A of the Education Act 1996, which deals with pre-16s, so we are only reinforcing an existing system and extending the legal duty from pre-16 to post-16 in line with the Bill. I hope that that is clear enough to enable the Committee to approve the clause.