The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill, which is currently being debated in the House of Lords, proposes that the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) should manage academies, instead of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
But Conservative peer Baroness Verma accused the government of pushing academies under the YPLA in an attempt "to avoid a difficult thought process".
She claimed the YPLA is not qualified to oversee academies and suggested a separate agency, solely dedicated to academies, could be established instead.
"The YPLA is being set up to lead local authorities in their education functions in relation to those aged between 16 and 19. It therefore seems entirely inappropriate that it should also have functions relating to academies, most of which have pupils between the ages of 11 and 18," she said.
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