HL Deb 28 November 2000 vol 619 cc1260-1

3 Clause 4, page 8, line 11, after ("full-time") insert ("further or").

Lord Burlison

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 3 and I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 4 to 6. This Bill is all about improving life chances for young people who have been in care. Education is the best way to do that—helping them into jobs, careers and a fulfilling and productive role in society. That is why the Bill is assiduous in creating duties to help with education and training even beyond the point at which young people leave care.

The new duties for qualifying care leavers aged 18 and over specifically include a duty on councils to assist with education and training to the end of the agreed course, even if that takes a young person past the age of 21. The Bill has always backed that up with a new duty to provide vacation accommodation for care leavers in higher education. This was introduced because we were aware of cases where a young person who had left care was unable to take up a university place simply because he would not be able to find somewhere to live during vacations. That is why it applies to all care leavers, not just to those to whom the rest of the Bill applies.

Since the Bill has been making its passage through Parliament, we have been made aware of the fact that vacation accommodation can be an issue for some further education students as well. For the most part, students take FE courses near to home, at their local school or college, studying from home. Those students do not have special accommodation needs during vacations and the amendments do not affect them.

However there are some courses—agricultural, horticultural and some arts courses—which are run at residential colleges and those students are in the same position as many university students during vacations in needing to find alternative accommodation. So we have decided explicitly to extend the duty to provide vacation accommodation to care leavers who require it to cover these FE students as well.

Amendment No. 6 allows the Secretary of State to make regulations defining "further education" for the purposes of this Bill and the intention is to define it in terms of the kind of residential FE courses which I have described. Amendment No. 4 adds the qualifier, because his term time accommodation is not available to him then to establish the reason why a student would need to call on that duty. Most students have the option open to them to return to their family home during vacations—an option which is not available to care leavers. These amendments are intended to create a more level playing field by making sure that care leavers are not left with nowhere to go during vacations. I commend the amendments to the House.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 3.—(Lord Burlison.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.