Clause 20
Education and Skills Bill
6:15 pm
Jim Knight (Minister of State (Schools and Learners), Department for Children, Schools and Families; South Dorset, Labour)
Clause 20 requires employers to check that a young person has made arrangements to participate in accredited part-time training. Requiring them in addition, as the amendment would, to check the number of hours that a young person spends in education or training would significantly increase the burden on employers. Such detailed checks would be complicated and time-consuming, and the Government do not think it appropriate to expect employers to do it.
We want provision to be of quality, but we do not think that that should be policed by employers. Young people in full-time employment have a duty to participate in sufficient part-time training, meaning for at least 280 hours a year. Employers of those young people have a duty to check that they are participating, but they do not have to check that they are doing enough hours. The amendment would put an unnecessary burden on employers and, potentially, stop a small number of young people getting a job because of the extra burdens.