Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, I add my voice very briefly to those of the noble Baronesses, Lady Wilkins and Lady Finlay, in support of Amendment 330A, which provides that health and well-being boards should include a representative of education providers in the area. The noble Baroness, Lady Wilkins, has spoken to the amendment very fully and ably; however, perhaps I can underline the point to which she has already alluded. When we considered the Education Bill in Grand Committee earlier in the year, there was great concern that the Government wished to remove the duty on schools which had only recently been laid on them, to co-operate with other services in pursuing the welfare of children. We were particularly concerned about this at the time of the riots, when people were emphasising the role that schools had to play in combating exclusion and disaffection among children. I am glad to say that the Government took the force of our point and withdrew the proposal to remove this duty from schools. I hope that the Minister will agree that a joined-up approach would suggest—as the noble Baroness, Lady Wilkins, has argued—that there should be a reciprocal duty on health and well-being boards, at least to include a representative of education providers on the board.