I beg to move amendment No. 172, in clause 22, page 11, line 30, after ‘has’ insert ‘knowingly’.

Borrowing from the style of the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings, I start by reminding everybody, from the explanatory notes, that clause 22

“provides for a local education authority to serve a penalty notice on the employer and sets out the circumstances in which the notice can be given. It provides for the amount of the financial penalty to be determined by regulations, and sets out the requirements for what is included in the notice.”

Our amendment No. 172, which is modest but succinct, in case the Minister chuckles too much, would insert “knowingly” at line 30, and require that the imposition of a financial penalty against the employer depend on them knowingly having contravened section 21—in other words, knowingly having taken on a young person aged 16 or 17 without them being in education or training.

Let me refer back to my comments on clause 21. As the Minister has acknowledged, the employer is asking for relatively modest confirmation from an employee of their education and training status. Arguably, in exceptional cases, a young person might forge a letter from an education or training provider to demonstrate that they are compliant with the legislation, and the employer might be completely unaware of that fact, or might not be able to check. The implication of the Minister’s statement is that they will not be required to do so and it will all be terribly easy, with a nod and wink over a cup of coffee and a letter passed across a desk, or some other easily given assurance.

My concern is whether, if a young person forges a letter, gives incorrect information, or is on an education or training course when they first take up their employment, but ends up not being on that—perhaps because it collapses or for some other reason—the employer will be penalised even though they cannot have reasonably or knowingly been aware of that young person’s circumstances. That is the issue on which we seek clarification from the Minister.