Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

The short answer to the hon. Gentleman is yes. The children's trust should have the responsibility to assess need, decide on the appropriate mix of services, secure the appropriate resources, commission the services and facilitate their delivery, and judge the quality of the services. There should then be the potential to refine or significantly alter the provision. I say to the Government and the House that we have had a panoply of important Government statements on commissioning. We now need to move on from those statements to a framework for improvement. We have had the joint commissioning framework, the commissioning framework for health and well-being, world-class commissioning, the operating framework for the national health service and the children's plan. Each and every one of those important documents bangs on about the need for, and potential benefits to be derived from, joint commissioning. Yet in many cases—most, I fear—such commissioning has stalled on the ground. The Government are right to take the step that they are taking. Children's trusts can be the vehicle for the very improvement that we all want.