Clause 12
Education and Skills Bill
3:30 pm
David Laws (Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Children, Schools and Families; Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
I shall not detain the Committee long, but we tabled an amendment to delete the clause, so I need at least to register my concerns, which are broadly in line with those expressed by the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. The Minister said, quite rightly, that there is a similar duty now covering pre-16s, as one would expect. However, the clause sets out a new duty, which presumably will have large costs associated with it and is completely tied in to the duties regarding compulsion in the Bill. That is why we tabled our amendment to delete the clause, which is one of the parts of the Bill that we oppose.