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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I strongly support what my noble friend Lord Rix has said. I cannot help but reflect on one word that crops up over and again when one considers the provision of these services: consistency. My noble friend has already mentioned that there is a problem; certainly, in different parts of the country there are different provisions for people with the same need. That is something that I am sure we would all like to see eliminated. As my noble friend has said, Clause 40 says that, ""A local education authority in England must secure that enough suitable education and training is provided to meet the reasonable needs of persons"." However, there is another complicating factor on top of the inconsistency that that will expose between all the local education authorities. Clause 59, which we have not yet come to, says that the Young People’s Learning Agency, ""must secure the provision of financial resources to … local education authorities, for the purposes of their functions in relation to education or training"." So on top of the inconsistency of the local education authority provision, we now have the YPLA responsible for funding. Is there any intention that the YPLA should be directed to make certain that there is consistent funding for all this provision? Otherwise, what is the situation into which we are going to be launched?