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1,077 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I beg to move amendment 32, in clause 6, page 7, line 23, at end insert— “(2A) The Institute shall perform a review of the operation of the apprenticeship levy, paying particular…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)Absolutely, and that speaks to the heart of the amendment. The apprenticeship levy has, remarkably, led to a steep decline in those aged under 25 taking on entry-level…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I absolutely agree. There are a huge number of causes, but my hon. Friend is right that one is the abandonment of careers guidance that happened in 2010, when this Government came…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)The hon. Member talks about high levels of employment, but I have people in my constituency who are doing three jobs at once and still cannot pay their bills. The truth is that…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)Absolutely, and I thank my hon. Friend for that point. It is precisely the motivation behind the amendment, which we will get the opportunity to vote on. I think his point is…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I appreciate your iron grip on the debate, Mr Efford. I will confine my contribution to the amendment, as I was doing before I was so rudely interrupted. There is a link between…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I do not see a lot of irony in my speech, but I saw quite a bit in the hon. Lady’s intervention. The truth is that we have had 11 years of a Government that told us that every…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)Let me destroy the intervention that we have just had before I take another. If we accept that there is real value in apprenticeships, surely—given the fall in the number of…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)I absolutely do, which is probably why I teamed up with my hon. Friend to table the amendment. He is absolutely right. We do not oppose the apprenticeship levy, but it is really…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)It is a strange representation of my position to say that because a Minister stands at the Dispatch Box and describe something as poor quality, I am undermining that thing by…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I recognise that point, but this is an area of real worry for me. The Government have said explicitly that they want to reduce the number of people doing university degrees that…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I beg to move amendment 49, in clause 10, page 14, line 17, leave out paragraph (a). This amendment would ensure Ofqual remains able to make a determination under subsection (1)…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)Throughout the Bill we have been calling for greater clarity and understanding of the roles of various operators within the sector, so we are pleased to see that that is the case…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)Given the concerns that we have raised with regard to the creation of the division between Ofqual and the institute, and the fear that that may lead to a two-tier approach and a…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)I have nothing to add to that.02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)As I understand it—from what the Minister said, and from my understanding—it was previously an exit-level requirement. We were arguing against that for some time and we are glad…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting)Well, I am not sure that I would use that phrase—02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Regardless of whether it was by design or not, it was absolutely foreseeable that that was what would happen, and many such criticisms were…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)Absolutely: construction is a great example. As I have said, there are 217,000 too few construction workers. Anyone who has tried to get serious construction work done at their…02 Dec 2021HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)Someone listening to the hon. Gentleman who did not know about the subject might well think that he was talking about a record of success. The figures that I have referred to, and…02 Dec 2021