Post-16 Education and Skills: Funding
Debate between Lord Bishop of Leicester and Baroness Blake of Leeds
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I thank my noble friend, as always, for his continued support from the Benches behind me. As well as that, the frustration I have is that there is no recognition or acceptance from the other side of the mistakes made and opportunities missed in those years. We see this particularly in the awful plight of the nearly 1 million young people who are NEET—not engaged in education and training. That is what we should be focusing on, and making sure that we do everything that we can for young people in this country.
The Lord Bishop of Leicester
My Lords, one way for schools and colleges to get the funding they need is through the pupil premium, and one way to ensure that they get the pupil premium funding to which they are entitled is through automatic enrolment for free school meals. Can the Minister confirm that local authorities wishing to run automatic enrolment schemes in their area would be acting in line with their duties to support the most disadvantaged children?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I was not expecting quite that angle, but the right reverend Prelate raises a very important point. It is absolutely heartbreaking when you know that children are eligible for this funding but, for whatever reason, the family do not come to the attention of people who could support them. I will look into the detail that the right reverend Prelate asked for and get back to him.