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Speaker’s Statement
Mr Speaker
I must draw Members’ attention to the fact that the book for entering the private Members’ Bill ballot is now open for Members to sign in the No Lobby. It will be open until the House rises today, and while the House is sitting on Wednesday 11 June. The ballot will be drawn on Thursday 12 June. An announcement setting out these arrangements, and the dates when ten-minute rule motions can be made and presentation Bills introduced, is published on the Order Paper.
Business before Questions
Spoliation Advisory Panel
Resolved,
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, That she will be graciously pleased to give directions that there be laid before this House a Return of the Report from Sir Donnell Deeny, Chairman of the Spoliation Advisory Panel, dated 10 June 2014, in respect of three Meissen Figures, now in the possession of the Victoria and Albert Museum.—(John Penrose.)
Oral Answers to Questions
(9 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)
1. What recent assessment he has made of the role of the Prime Minister’s challenge fund in improving access to GP services.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
Mr Speaker, it is a pleasure to see you again so soon.
The Prime Minister’s challenge fund will be rolled out over 1,100 of the 8,300 GP surgeries in the country. It will improve access out of hours, at weekends and electronically, and it will benefit up to 7.5 million people.
Mr Walker
I am glad that this Government, unlike the previous one, whose disastrous contract negotiations led to a decline in GP access, is making sure that out-of-hours care is as widely available as possible. Will the Secretary of State assure me that he will do whatever he can to ensure that places, such as Worcester, that have not yet been reached by the challenge fund will also see the benefits of this approach?
Mr Hunt
My hon. Friend is right to say that some bad changes were made. What will most benefit his constituents, whether or not they are part of the initial tranche of the Prime Minister’s challenge fund, is the reintroduction of named GPs for the over-75s. For people with complex long-term conditions, continuity of care is extremely important, and every single one of his constituents aged 75 or over will now get a named GP.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
We are very pleased in Old Trafford to have secured funding for 80 extra care beds for one of the most deprived parts of my community. We also hope to be able to bring health care services, including GP surgeries, on to the same sites, but we are experiencing difficulty in unblocking funding via the NHS area team. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss this issue and how we might be able to move forward?
Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for his recent visit to Erewash. He has kindly offered to come back another time. We welcome the Prime Minister’s challenge fund being allocated to Erewash. May I reassure my right hon. Friend that our excellent GPs are working very hard to make sure that services and support are appropriately allocated in our community?
Mr Hunt
I thank my hon. Friend for her work to promote good health care in her area. I very much enjoyed meeting her local GPs. I was disappointed that it was only for about five minutes. I very much hope to go back and have a proper discussion. They were very enthusiastic about the Prime Minister’s challenge fund, and are making some very innovative changes.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
May I push the Secretary of State on this matter? What my constituents want is to be able to get to see a GP when they really need one; they do not want to turn up in A and E just because they cannot get an appointment for a week. Is not poor management of GP surgeries—poor management from top to bottom—at the heart of this problem?
Mr Hunt
Actually, I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I think that we do have a problem. We have some fantastically good GP surgeries and some brilliant GPs, but we have not in the past had structures in place to make sure that we deal quickly with underperforming GP surgeries and, indeed, underperforming GPs. We need to have much more transparency of data so that we can see where the problems are. We have introduced a rigorous new inspection regime, with a new chief inspector of general practice, and I hope that that will go some way to addressing the issues he raises.
Andy Burnham (Leigh) (Lab)
People ringing their surgery this morning only to be told that no appointments are available for days will be listening to the Secretary of State’s answers today and thinking that he is living in a different world. People’s real experience is that it is getting harder and harder to get a GP appointment under this Government, but for some it could get much worse. I recently visited a practice in east London that faces closure in October because of this Health Secretary’s changes to GP funding. NHS England says that 97 other practices are in the same position, affecting thousands of patients. Will he today give a guarantee that no practice will have to close?
Mr Hunt
Let us address this issue head on. The right hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that it is totally wrong to have a system in which two neighbouring GP practices can be paid different sums of money for doing the same amount of work. We must have an equitable funding formula for GP practices, which is why we are phasing out the minimum practice income guarantee. That is a sensible decision. We are also taking measures to ensure that we do not affect patient care in the process. Of course we are looking at the individual cases carefully, but I am sure that he would agree that we have to fund GP practices equitably.
Graeme Morrice (Livingston) (Lab)
2. If he will commission a review of the safety of polypropylene transvaginal mesh implants.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)
The Department of Health, NHS England and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency—the MHRA—have been working collaboratively with the clinical community to address the serious concerns that have been raised about transvaginal mesh implants. A working group, chaired by NHS England, has been set up to identify ways to address them. The group will also have patient representation.
Graeme Morrice
Last week, I attended the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee to hear from and support women who have suffered from the horrific adverse effects of mesh implants. Women spoke from wheelchairs or on crutches and were in constant pain. They could not possibly have been told about the risks of TVM implants because there are simply no accurate data available. Will the Minister or the Secretary of State meet me and mesh campaigners from across the country, so that they can fully understand the urgency of the situation and the kind of action that is required to end this scandal once and for all?
Dr Poulter
I would be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman. It is important to note that work is under way to collect better data on urogynaecological procedures generally and on mesh implants, because the complications that occur post-surgery are often multifactorial. An NHS England-funded audit on urogynaecological procedures for stress urinary incontinence is currently taking place, which covers all procedures, not just mesh implants. I am sure that we can discuss that and what the working group will do to review the procedures when we meet.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
3. What progress his Department has made in introducing a cap on care costs.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
Everyone will be protected against catastrophic costs by the insurance the cap provides from April 2016, in line with the Dilnot commission’s recommendations. We are working through the detail of how it will operate in partnership with stakeholders. We will publish draft regulations and guidance for consultation towards the end of the year.
Andrew Bridgen
I thank the Minister for that statement. I have constituents who are very concerned about how they will continue to fund ongoing care costs in the interim period, when the proceeds of an asset or house sale have dissipated. What reassurance can my hon. Friend give my constituents?
Norman Lamb
I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Another reform that we are introducing is universal access to a deferred payment agreement for everyone who would otherwise be forced to sell their home to pay for care—something of which we should be very proud. That will be introduced in April 2015 and it will mean that no one has to sell their home during their lifetime to pay for their care.
Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)
For the avoidance of doubt, will the Minister list the care costs that will not be included?
Norman Lamb
The amount that will count towards the clock running to reach the cap will be based on what the local authority determines will be the cost of meeting a person’s eligible care needs. That is exactly the model that Andrew Dilnot recommended, and we are implementing it as he recommended.
Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)
Last Thursday, the first ever care home diabetes audit was published. It showed a significant lack of support for the 37,000 people with diabetes who live in care homes. Will the Minister confirm that when a person in a care home has diabetes, there will be no lack of funding to help them?
Norman Lamb
I pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman for his tireless campaigning on diabetes. He has played an essential role in ensuring that it is brought to public attention. It is critical that people who require care for diabetes get access to the care they need, whether they are living in a care home or in their own home.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
4. What assessment he has made of the role of the comprehensive delivery dashboard in holding clinical commissioning groups accountable for their one-year cancer survival rates.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
NHS England uses a range of data, as my hon. Friend will know, including data from the delivery dashboard, to assess the performance of CCGs. That includes the data from the composite cancer one-year survival indicators. NHS England will take action— it has quarterly assurance meetings between area teams and CCGs—if there are concerns about CCGs’ performance.
Mr Baron
May I suggest to the Minister that if the Government are to meet their target of saving an additional 5,000 lives a year and to promote diagnosis, we need to hold underperforming CCGs to account. Why is it, then, that the one-year survival rates, which are designed to promote earlier diagnosis, are not in the delivery dashboard, which, unlike the outcomes indicator set, has teeth, particularly given that CCG chief executives have said that they see no reason why the one-year figures could not be included in the dashboard?
Jane Ellison
We will certainly look at that, but I emphasise that all those things are important as part of the conversation between area teams and CCGs. I remind the House that the CCG outcome indicators set for 2014-15 include a range of important indicators for cancer, including one-year survival for all cancers, one-year survival for breast, lung and colorectal cancers combined, cancers diagnosed via emergency routes, and cancers diagnosed at an early stage—something I know my hon. Friend has, quite rightly, championed consistently in this House.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Does the Minister agree that the inclusion of more innovative drugs in the NHS medicine cabinet is essential for improvements in one-year cancer survival rates? Does she also agree that information shared between the devolved Assemblies, such as the Northern Ireland Assembly, is a vital part of that process of improvement?
Jane Ellison
We want people in England to have the best cancer outcomes, and to bring those outcomes up to the best in Europe. We know we are not there yet, but we have done a range of things to try to make that happen, including putting a lot of money into early diagnostics. In my area of public health there are award-winning public campaigns such as Be Clear on Cancer, and I know that the cancer drugs fund has been appreciated by many people. I hear what the hon. Gentleman says about the Northern Ireland example.
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)
High-quality data will play an essential role in improving cancer outcomes. Will the Minister confirm that NHS England has addressed the concerns raised about the care.data programme, and that we are on track for a successful roll-out?
Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)
Last month, for the first time ever the NHS missed a target for beginning cancer treatment within 62 days of patients being urgently referred. Cancer Research UK stated:
“This isn’t just a missed target—some patients are being failed,”.
We know that the key to ensuring that more people survive cancer is to start treatment as soon as possible after diagnosis. Is it not shocking that cancer charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK, now say that cancer is being overlooked in this Prime Minister’s national health service?
Jane Ellison
We all appreciate the wonderful work done by cancer charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK, and the Department works closely with those charities. We want outcomes for cancer patients in England to be among the best in Europe. As I said, we know we are not there yet, but a great deal of effort and money is going into getting there. The NHS is treating more cancer patients than ever. Since 2009, we have seen numbers rise by 15%—that is 1,000 more patients with suspected cancer referred to a specialist every day. That is the success of some of the early diagnosis and awareness raising activity. Of course we want any local dips in performance to be addressed, but let us give credit where it is due to clinicians who are diagnosing more cancers and catching them earlier, because that is the key to treating cancer successfully.
Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)
5. If he will meet the chair of the College of Emergency Medicine to discuss A and E units.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
I met the chair of the College of Emergency Medicine four times in the last six months and I will meet him again next week.
Ms Ritchie
I thank the Secretary of State for his answer. Will he tell the House what progress has been made by Health Education England, along with the College of Emergency Medicine, to recruit trainee doctors from India in an attempt to address the serious staffing shortages in emergency medicines departments? Will he work with Ministers from other devolved regions to address the serious shortage in A and E doctors, which is having an impact on waiting lists in hospitals the length and breadth of the UK?
Mr Hunt
The hon. Lady is right that operational pressures on A and E are happening throughout the United Kingdom. We have made good progress in recruiting 50 A and E doctors to help relieve pressure this year in A and E departments, but that is a short-term measure. The long-term issue is to get more doctors going into A and E from training, and we are looking at contract structures and at what we can do with training schedules to make that more attractive. We will certainly work with colleagues in devolved Administrations and tell them what we have learned.
Chloe Smith (Norwich North) (Con)
I welcome the fact that waiting times have halved under this Government, but the Norwich walk-in centre should stay in its city centre location to continue to move people away from A and E when they do not need to go there. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss urgent and primary care provision in Norwich?
Mr Hunt
I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend, and she is right to say that the long-term solution to pressures in A and E is to find alternatives in out-of-hospital care that are easy for people to find. That means improving GP access and any other alternatives, and I am sure we can find a good solution in Norwich.
Mrs Linda Riordan (Halifax) (Lab/Co-op)
There is not one person in my constituency who does not want to see the accident and emergency unit stay open. If this is made clear in any consultation, will the Secretary of State commit today to scrapping the callous closure proposals?
Mr Hunt
As the hon. Lady knows, local service changes are the responsibility of the local NHS, but when they get referred to me, through local authorities, I will never take a decision that is against the interests of patients, including her constituents. Were such a proposal to come to me, I would indeed listen to any representations that she makes.
David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that a critical problem that A and E units will face in the future is antibiotic resistance? Is he aware that the Science and Technology Committee, of which I am a member, has been looking at this issue, and it also interests the Health Committee, of which I am also a member? Can he assure me that he is talking to the Prime Minister about how to stimulate new antibiotic research, and will he also remember that nature has its own remedies, such as tea tree oil?
Mr Hunt
My hon. Friend is right about the seriousness of the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Some 25,000 people die in Europe every year as a result of the failure of antibiotics—more than die in road traffic accidents. I raised the issue at the World Health Assembly and I have discussed it closely with the Prime Minister.
John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)
The Health Secretary will be aware that the chair of Morecambe Bay trust has stood down today, ahead of what is expected to be another critical report from the Care Quality Commission about services. What guarantees can the Health Secretary give the worried people who are served by the Furness general hospital that its A and E department will be protected and the vital national industries that depend on its services will continue to be able to rely on them?
Mr Hunt
First, I thank the hon. Gentleman for the work that he does locally, in particular with people such as James Titcombe, who has campaigned extensively to improve the quality of care at Morecambe Bay. I assure the hon. Gentleman that whatever the problems are at Morecambe Bay, we will be transparent and open, and we will make sure that we deal with them promptly. That is why we have had these independent inquiries. We will look closely at what the report says and make sure that we act quickly.
Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)
The College of Emergency Medicine says that the use of agency doctors has become endemic in the NHS, and that hospitals are increasingly relying on more expensive agency nurses, just as Labour warned when jobs and training places were cut. It is clear that NHS finances are going backwards under this Government. Will the Minister now confirm Monitor’s latest figures, which show that annual spending on agency staff in foundation trusts has soared to £1.4 billion, a staggering 150% higher than trusts planned at the beginning of the year, and will he explain how that makes any financial sense?
Mr Hunt
Let us look at why the number of agency nurses has increased. It is because trusts have responded to the Francis report, published just over a year ago, and are seeking to end the shocking under-staffing of wards that was endemic under the last Labour Government. Of course we want people to recruit full-time nurses on proper contracts, and that is happening. That is why we have 3,000 more nurses—not agency nurses, but proper full-time nurses on proper NHS contracts—than when the hon. Lady’s Government were in power, and we will continue to make progress.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
6. What recent assessment he has made of the performance of the A and E department at Kettering general hospital.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
We are aware that the trust did not meet the four-hour standard for a period, and obviously Monitor took action and worked with the trust. In the week ending 1 June 2014—the most recent period for which data are available—99.7% of patients who attended Kettering A and E were treated, admitted or discharged within four hours, continuing a recent improvement in performance. I am sure that the staff are justly proud of that, and I know their local Member of Parliament will want to champion it.
Mr Hollobone
In April 2013, Kettering general hospital was one of the worst performing acute hospitals in England on the A and E target, admitting only 74% of patients within the four-hour A and E target time. Now, as the Minister has said, it is almost 100% and the hospital is one of the best performing trusts in the country. Will the Minister congratulate all involved at the hospital on that rapid turnaround, and tell the House how the lessons learned at Kettering might be applied elsewhere?
Jane Ellison
I absolutely join my hon. Friend in congratulating everyone involved in turning that performance around—it is really, really impressive. He is right to say there are lessons to be learnt everywhere from people innovating, joining up services and the various things that have gone on in the background. I know that the local Members have been involved and engaged in the process and I congratulate them on that. That is really valuable and I urge everyone to get involved. We should congratulate A and E staff everywhere on dealing with the pressures they are under. We know they are considerable, but they do a great job.
Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)
May I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) on the work he has done to help with this amazing turnaround? The Minister is aware of the plans to have a community urgent care centre at Isebrook hospital in my constituency, which will mean that my constituents will not have to go to Kettering hospital. Is this not another way forward to improve A and E results?
Jane Ellison
My hon. Friend highlights that there are a lot of different approaches to reducing the pressures on A and E. The great thing is that we are seeing real innovation from local clinicians, supported by local Members of Parliament. That shows what can be done when we address these problems with an innovative approach, and think about how we can reduce these pressures and ensure that as many people as possible are served in the right way and treated outside A and E, if that is not the place they should be.
Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)
7. What discussions he has had with NHS England on the future of the cancer drugs fund.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
We have committed to continuing the cancer drugs fund until the end of March 2016. We will consider carefully with NHS England how, in the longer term, we can support patients in accessing cancer drugs that could benefit them, at a cost that represents value to the NHS.
Grahame M. Morris
I thank the Minister for that answer, but is it not true that last year the cancer drugs fund was again underspent—funds that could be used to pay for advanced radio therapy? Every MP has received a letter from the England rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio asking for a meeting to highlight this problem. Why is the Secretary of State refusing to meet Mr Dallaglio, along with top cancer clinicians in Cancer Research UK?
Norman Lamb
First, if only it was underspent. More than 50,000 patients have now benefited from the fund, which is fully spent. More than £1 billion will have been committed in the full period of the fund. I have confirmation from the Secretary of State that he has already met Lawrence Dallaglio. I hope that will reassure the hon. Gentleman.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)
8. What steps his Department is taking to improve access to and standards of dental care.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)
Between May 2010 and December 2013, 1.5 million more patients were able to see an NHS dentist. We are committed to reforming the current contractual arrangements to promote improvement in oral health and to increase access to dentistry services.
Jason McCartney
What specific advice would the Minister give to my constituents who are trying really hard to access good quality, local dental care on the NHS?
Dr Poulter
A recent HealthWatch report highlighted this issue in west Yorkshire, where access to dental services has been a long-standing challenge. NHS England is looking at the financial arrangements in west Yorkshire and will report back soon. I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and representatives from the local NHS to take this issue further forward and ensure that local patients get the service they deserve.
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)
9. What steps he is taking to ensure that whistleblowers in the NHS are protected from (a) dismissal and (b) other punitive measures by their employers.
Mr Speaker
If the Secretary of State needs encouragement I am happy to give it to him.
Mr Hunt
I am most grateful for any encouragement I can get.
The NHS needs to change its culture to be much more open to whistleblowers. That is why we have banned gagging orders in contracts and funded a whistleblowing helpline and website, and why we are working with brave whistleblowers, such as Helene Donnelly from Mid Staffs, to reform the training of NHS clinicians to make it easier.
Michael Fabricant
I am grateful for that answer. About 10 years ago, two people, a nurse and a consultant surgeon from the same hospital, came to my surgery and showed me evidence of filth—mouse droppings—in even consulting rooms and the operating theatre. They were frightened to leave the documentation with me, because they thought they would be sacked if it was found that they were the whistleblowers. Will they now have the assurance that they could give me or others evidence without fear of retribution?
Mr Hunt
I hope so, but I want to be honest with the House. It takes time to change a culture, and that is the big change we have to make. Whistleblowers are now coming forward from Coventry, Cambridge, Ealing and all over the country. That is why I am afraid that I profoundly disagree with the shadow Health Secretary, who said that the lessons of the Francis report were about a local failure. This is about a systemic problem and we have to change it across the NHS.
Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)
Given there are so many emerging cases of whistleblowers—both current and historic—being treated with injustice, a precedent will not be set for accountability until these injustices are actually faced. Will the Secretary of State set up a truth and reconciliation committee to look at historic and current cases so that accountability becomes a reality?
Mr Hunt
First, I commend my hon. Friend for her campaigning on this issue in the House and on the Health Committee. We have not done everything we need to do to change the culture within the NHS, and we are looking at what more needs to be done to get a culture change profound enough to make it easier for people to speak out. This is not just about whistleblowing. If it is whistleblowing, we have failed because it means that someone has had to go to the press or outside their organisation when they were worried. We need an NHS where people within their own organisation are listened to when they have concerns, and we are looking at what we need to do to take that forward.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
10. What statistics his Department keeps on babies damaged by alcohol consumed in pregnancy; and if he will make a statement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
Hospital episode statistics include finished admission episodes where there was either a primary or secondary diagnosis of a foetus or newborn affected by maternal use of alcohol or foetal alcohol syndrome. I have supplied some detail on that in parliamentary answers this week. These records cover both patients treated in NHS hospitals in England and by independent providers whose services are commissioned by the NHS.
Kelvin Hopkins
The Minister has confirmed that thousands of babies are born every year damaged by alcohol, and yet there is still no statutory requirement for all alcoholic drinks containers to display specific health warnings about the dangers of drinking in pregnancy. When will the Government introduce the necessary legislation?
Jane Ellison
Before I respond to the substantive point, it is worth saying that there is a spectrum of disorders and some of the diagnoses on certain parts of the spectrum are quite difficult. We have statistics on foetal alcohol syndrome and there is no evidence that that is increasing, although we seem to be diagnosing more in younger children. Also, the women to whom this tends to happen are extremely difficult to reach through public education campaigns as many are subject to additional, complex factors.
On bottling, through the responsibility deal, there was a commitment to get 80% of alcoholic drinks on the market labelled. That is being independently audited and is something we champion, not just with messages about drinking in pregnancy, but through guidance from the chief medical officer on drinking generally.
Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)
Prevention is of course better than cure. What is my hon. Friend’s Department doing on better guidance and support for midwives and other groups such as the National Childbirth Trust to discourage expectant mothers from drinking alcohol?
Jane Ellison
One of the slight challenges in this area is that quite a lot of pregnancies are unplanned and people have sometimes been drinking alcohol before they know they are pregnant. However, a lot of advice is available. Along with health visitors and midwives—we are putting more resource into those areas—Public Health England’s “start for life” campaign provides advice to pregnant women. There are National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, including for those women to whom I referred earlier with complex social factors. A lot of information is available, and the chief medical officers are reviewing the guidance to people generally. The simple message to women who are hoping to conceive or who are pregnant is that it is best to avoid alcohol.
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
11. What assessment he has made of the potential effect on health outcomes of phasing out minimum practice income guarantee funding from GP practices in England.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)
The minimum practice income guarantee payment is unfair because practices serving very similar populations are paid very different amounts per patient. The payments are being phased out over a seven-year period to allow practices time to adjust. The money released by doing this will be reinvested in the basic payments made to all general medical services practices, which are based on numbers of patients and key determinants of practice workload, such as the age and health needs of patients.
Paul Blomfield
The minimum practice income guarantee was introduced to meet the specific needs of specific practices. Those needs have not changed. NHS England has drawn up a list of 100 practices across the country that will be threatened by its withdrawal. Five are in Sheffield and two are in my constituency. Will the Minister give a guarantee that no practice will close as a result of the withdrawal of the minimum practice income guarantee, and will he provide the funding to achieve that?
Dr Poulter
The point is this: the funding system set up by the previous Government was based on historical funding and did not necessarily recognise the needs of patients. One practice might have been paid more for historical reasons than another practice next door that might have been treating more patients. That was unfair; we have changed it. NHS England is working at local level with practices that are, for whatever reason, in financial difficulties to make sure that it can help them get to the right place.
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
The GP practice in Watton in my constituency is struggling with the recruitment of GPs and is now two short, which is putting pressure on services. Today I heard of the proposal from NHS England to deregister 1,500 patients and transfer them to neighbouring practices in the constituency, raising a whole series of issues. Will the Minister agree to meet me to talk about what should happen, including whether NHS England could fund some sort of locum service?
Dr Poulter
Yes, I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend. It is important to see, where possible, collaboration between GP practices on back-office services and other savings that could be made—something the public sector needs to do more generally so that more money can be invested in patients. The Government are training more GPs; in future, we will see 50% of postgraduate medical training taking place in general practice, leading to a big increase in the number of GPs.
Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)
Will the Minister look at the decision by clinical commissioning groups in north-west London to move funding away—contrary to what NHS England has proposed—from GP practices and primary care in deprived areas such as Hammersmith to areas that have much better health outcomes?
Dr Poulter
I do not believe that that is the case. In looking at the changes, we need to factor in the point that the minimum practice income guarantee, which was a historical payment and not based on patient need or patient demand, is being phased out in order to achieve a more equitable solution. As a result, we can see that the global sum payments to GPs have risen from £66.25 per patient in 2013-14 to £73.56 per patient in 2014-15. Clearly, the global sum payment to GPs per patient has increased, which is a good thing for patients and the equitability of services.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)
Historically, there used to be a payment for the distance GPs or their patients travelled. The removal of minimum practice income guarantee funding may make certain rural practices unviable. Will the Government address that issue, and will the Minister look particularly at rurality and sparsity in order to address what is a very real issue for rural GPs?
Dr Poulter
My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and we know that rural practices have unique challenges. The point is that because the money from the minimum practice income guarantee is going to be reinvested in a global sum payment, and because the global sum payment per practice is increasing, one of the key determinants of that payment is, in fact, rurality, so that should be of benefit to many rural practices.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
The situation is far more urgent than the Minister’s complacent answer suggests. One practice in a deprived part of London has said that it is weeks away from laying off staff and just months away from closure. The Royal College of General Practitioners says that 1,700 practices could be affected, with over 12 million patients potentially facing even longer waits for appointments. Is it not the case that until we have a Labour Government, GP services are going to be marginalised and patients are going to face ever-longer waits?
Dr Poulter
I am afraid that the distance between the real world out there for patients and the Labour Government’s record is very clear. Under the Labour Government’s record on general practice, 20% of patients were routinely unable to get a GP appointment within 48 hours, and a quarter of patients who wanted to book an appointment more than 48 hours in advance could not get one. That was what happened under Labour; that is Labour’s commitment to general practice and GP patients. Under this Government, we are making sure that there is equality of finance per patient according to patient need, and that is how health care decisions should be made.
Mr Speaker
Order. I encourage the Minister to learn to provide more succinct answers. They are always too long.
Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)
12. What the planned timetable is for his Department’s congenital heart disease review.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
The review is being undertaken by NHS England, which has been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, of whom my hon. Friend is one. He is a doughty champion for his city, and for these services. I understand that NHS England will consult on draft service standards later this year, but will not do so in July as was previously expected. All information relating to the review can be found on the organisation’s website, which is updated fortnightly. I spoke to officials yesterday in order to update myself, and I know they will post another update very soon, if not today.
Stuart Andrew
According to the mortality case section of the Secretary of State’s review of the closure of services at Leeds, many of the recommendations could apply more widely to other units throughout the NHS. Given that no other unit has received anything like as much scrutiny as Leeds, will my hon. Friend ensure that any continuing audits take place in the other units as well, so that standards can be maximised?
Jane Ellison
That is a very good point. This Government and this Secretary of State have championed transparency more generally, because we all believe that it is essential to our ability to build on the success of the health service and maximise its service to patients.
Mr Nicholas Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East) (Lab)
Am I right in understanding that the Minister has just announced a further delay? The key recommendation to the Government on children’s heart surgery, which was made in 2001, was that fewer units should be centres of excellence, because that was in the best interests of patients. Now, 13 years later, none of that has actually happened. Do the Government still accept the premise that fewer units should be centres of excellence, and will the Minister tell us what accounts for the delay?
Jane Ellison
I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s frustration, but the review is very important. NHS England has confirmed that it will not be able to consult quite as early as it had wished, but it should be appreciated that this review is more comprehensive than the last one. For example, NHS England has developed a comprehensive set of commissioning standards which have never existed before. For the first time, the whole patient pathway will be covered, from foetal detection through childhood, into adult services and all the way to palliative care—on which one of my hon. Friends led a debate relatively recently—and bereavement.
It is always frustrating when things do not happen according to schedule, but what really matters is getting this right and being as transparent as possible. The level of engagement with stakeholders has been much more satisfactory than before, and we continue to make progress.
Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)
13. If he will bring forward proposals to widen the range of services and treatments available in community hospitals in rural areas.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
Responsibility for the commissioning of local NHS services lies with clinical commissioning groups. Community hospitals have an important role in achieving more integrated care across health and social care services in rural areas by providing better out-of-hospital care, particularly for frail older people and those with long-term conditions.
Sir Alan Beith
A new community hospital is to be built in Berwick, which is 50 miles from major hospitals. Will it be free to offer a wider range of services, along the lines envisaged by the NHS chief executive in his recent comments?
Norman Lamb
I know that my right hon. Friend has been campaigning for that hospital. I welcomed the comments of the chief executive of NHS England, who has argued for a much more flexible and adaptable NHS, and for ensuring that GPs locally, working with community services, can offer the maximum range of health services to the local community as close to them as possible.
Sir Edward Garnier (Harborough) (Con)
Two and a half years ago, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns), then Minister of State, opened the St Luke’s hospital day care unit in Market Harborough, which serves a large rural area in my constituency. During those two and a half years it has been open for only 131 days, which is a huge waste of public money. I wrote to the Secretary of State yesterday. He will not have had a chance to read my letter yet, but will my hon. Friend and his colleagues look into the matter, and ensure that we do not waste public money on opening hospitals that do not provide a service?
Norman Lamb
My hon. and learned Friend has raised an extremely important point. It is essential that the maximum possible use be made of investment. I know that the Secretary of State will look into this issue when he has received the letter, but we must ensure that all such facilities are properly used.
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
14. What steps he plans to take to improve the provision of health services in the east midlands.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
Decisions about local services should be made as close to patients as possible, by those who are best placed to work with patients and the public to understand their needs. Clinical commissioning groups commission the majority of health services, working with health and care professionals to design services for local populations.
Sir Edward Leigh
In large rural areas like Lincolnshire, the air ambulance can make the difference between life and death, particularly for car crashes where roads are blocked. What plans does the Minister have to strengthen the services of the East Midlands air ambulance service?
Norman Lamb
I will be very happy to discuss the issue with my hon. Friend, if he would like to do so. I pay tribute to the extraordinary work the air ambulance services undertake across our country. I have witnessed that in my own community and I would be very happy to talk further about what more can be done to strengthen the work they do.
Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)
15. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of child and adolescent mental health services.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
We know that there is a varied picture of services across the country, where decisions on spend and allocation of resources are made by local commissioners. NHS England is preparing to publish a report based on its recent analysis of tier 4 child and adolescent mental health services, along with a service improvement plan. We expect these to be published in the coming weeks.
Heidi Alexander
A recent survey conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that over a quarter of trainee psychiatrists have had to send a child or young person more than 200 miles away from their family in order to access an appropriate bed. What is the Minister going to do about this totally unacceptable situation?
Norman Lamb
I agree, and that is why NHS England undertook the work to analyse exactly what the position is across the country. In fact it is very varied. There are some regions where it is fine, and others where it is not acceptable. I think we would all agree that it is completely unacceptable for children to be sent sometimes hundreds of miles away from home. When it publishes its report, it—[Interruption.] If the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) would just listen, when it publishes its report, it will be publishing an action plan of the steps it will take very soon to meet any shortfalls in provision.
Dr Phillip Lee (Bracknell) (Con)
Although I supported the Health and Social Care Bill at every stage, I have always harboured some concerns about the ability of GPs to commission mental health services. Mental health is a fast-growing problem and a challenge to the NHS for the future. What assurances can the Minister give me that GPs will receive the appropriate specialist guidance, if required?
Norman Lamb
I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and it is a legitimate one. A lot of work is being undertaken by NHS England and the national clinical director Geraldine Strathdee, a highly regarded individual, to strengthen the quality of commissioning of mental health services. It falls short in many areas at the moment and it is essential that it is improved.
Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
Ministers say that they are committed to parity of esteem between mental and physical health, yet we have already learned from an NHS England report that three quarters of children with anxiety or a diagnosable depression are not receiving the treatment they need. This is plainly unacceptable. It would not happen to children presenting with a broken arm or asthma, so can the Minister please tell the House when he will translate his rhetoric into reality?
Norman Lamb
Absolutely, and we are doing it. One of the problems we are having to confront is that when the Labour Government introduced the 18-week waiting standard, unbelievably they left out mental health. When mental health is left out from a standard of that sort, that determines where the money goes, and ever since then mental health has lost out. We are committed to changing that.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)
Almost a year ago, following the Keogh report, we put 11 NHS trusts into special measures, the first time such a large number of trusts have been put into special measures. Yesterday I was pleased to report to the House that the first trust, Basildon, has come out of special measures. I am pleased to tell the House today that across all the trusts in special measures, an additional 1,202 nurses and an additional 118 doctors have been recruited. The programme is making good progress, and the whole House will want to commend the efforts of all the staff in those hospitals on the tremendous efforts they are making.
Mr Baron
I join the Secretary of State in commending the management and all the staff of Basildon hospital for their excellent work and a great team effort. The hospital is now no doubt on an upward trajectory. I should like to raise with him the matter of the human papilloma virus vaccination programme for young women. It has been a success, and there is mounting evidence that is should be extended to young men. Will the Government now look into the feasibility of doing that?
Mr Hunt
My hon. Friend is right, and I am grateful to him for mentioning how proud we are of the HPV vaccination programme for girls and women. It is one of the best in the world, and we are getting an 86% take-up rate among eligible 12 to 13-year-old girls. He is also right to say that we now need to look at whether the programme should be extended to men and boys. A decision was taken at the time that it did not need to be, but we are now reviewing that decision. We will shortly be getting advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation—which, as he will know, gives us independent advice on these matters—and we will take its advice seriously.
Andy Burnham (Leigh) (Lab)
I am sure that, like me, the Secretary of State will have been shocked to the core by the serious case review into the Orchid View care home. It spoke of institutionalised abuse and of residents dying of sheer neglect. This is just the latest case of appalling abuse in care homes, following that of Winterbourne View and the recent “Panorama” programme on Oban House. People are asking how many more times we must see abuse of this kind in our care homes before we take decisive action to stop it. Will the Secretary of State give serious consideration to the central finding of yesterday’s review, which was that the same principles of patient safety that apply in the NHS should now be applied to the care home sector?
Mr Hunt
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. He is absolutely right to suggest that the lessons of Francis need to be applied to the care home sector, to general practice and to all out-of-hospital care every bit as much as they are applied to NHS hospitals. That is why we have legislated in the Care Act 2014 not only for a chief inspector of general practice but for a chief inspector of adult social care, Andrea Sutcliffe, who has made an excellent start. She is going around all the care homes, and she is bringing back the rigorous Ofsted-style analysis that was unfortunately taken away by the last Government. That will mean that we have proper transparency in standards. Going back to an earlier question from my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant), we also need to do more to help whistleblowers working in care homes. Because there are so many care homes, we cannot depend solely on the inspectors to get this right. We have also introduced the ability to prosecute offenders, which did not exist before.
Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)
T3. The fears of the people of the Ribble valley that the old Clitheroe hospital would be closed and not replaced were allayed when the new hospital was built. It recently opened with 32 in-patient beds, radiology, diagnostics and other facilities. Will the Secretary of State come to Clitheroe to have a look at this brand-spanking-new hospital, which is being welcomed by the local community, and to say thank you to the staff there for all they do? If he does so, I promise to take him for a pint of healthy real ale afterwards in the Campaign for Real Ale pub of the year in Pendleton in the Ribble valley, to celebrate the opening of the new hospital.
Mr Hunt
Well, I must say that that sounds like a pretty irresistible offer, and I will give it careful consideration. Local community hospitals have an important role to play in our NHS because of the high standard of compassionate care that they deliver, and because they are easy for relatives to get to. I am delighted to see my hon. Friend campaigning for his local hospital, and delighted that it is doing so well.
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
T2. A Birmingham trust has recently announced that it will be possible to cut 1,000 beds across the city by setting a maximum stay of seven days for most patients. Not surprisingly, this has caused some alarm. Are Ministers aware of that proposal? What guidance, if any, can they offer in regard to such proposals?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr Daniel Poulter)
As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, patients need to be treated according to clinical need, and bed stays should not be determined by anything other than that. So if what he describes is actually the case, it would be very disturbing. If he would like to raise the issue further with me, I would be happy to look into it for him.
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con)
T5. Like other rural communities, Herefordshire has long suffered from chronic underfunding in health care. Does the Secretary of State share my view that setting clinical commissioning group allocations should be an evidence-based process that takes into account factors including sparsity and old age? Also, will he ignore the calls from the shadow Health Secretary, who was seeking to cut the previous NHS allocations in areas such as Herefordshire?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I agree with my hon. Friend that it has to be done on the basis of evidence. Part of that is an important change that the Government have made, which the Labour party criticised a great deal. We have depoliticised the process by giving it to NHS England, where it is decided at arm’s length from Ministers on the basis of need. It is challenging to do it fairly. There are some historical imbalances, and we have to do what we can to address them, but we have to do it in a way that is fair and is not tarnished by party politics.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
T4. Health inequality on Teesside is a major issue, but the Government axed plans for our new hospital four years ago. I am told that Ministers now accept that a new hospital to replace the two hospitals at North Tees and Hartlepool is the right way forward. When will they remove the barriers to the project and give the support that is needed?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)
That is certainly something that we will look into.
Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed) (LD)
T6. The new specialist emergency hospital is nearly 60 miles from Berwick. Given the serious delays in ambulance attendance in recent cases in Northumbria, how can we be sure that serious cases will get paramedic attendance and delivery to the hospital within the critical hour?
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
My right hon. Friend is right to raise concern. The North East ambulance service has traditionally been a good performer, but any deterioration that has been identified needs to be addressed very speedily. I urge him to monitor this closely, and if he wants to talk about it further with me, I will be happy to do so.
Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)
T10. Last October the Secretary of State said that Hammersmith accident and emergency would be closed when it was safe to do so. Imperial proposes to close it on 10 September, when on its own admission there is insufficient capacity at St Mary’s and it is not safe to do so. Will he keep his promise and ensure that Hammersmith A and E does not close, especially when there is not sufficient capacity in the system?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I keep my promises, but may I point out to the hon. Gentleman that the way in which he has campaigned on those issues has been totally irresponsible? He put out leaflets in the local election campaign saying that Charing Cross hospital would be demolished. He failed to mention that it was going to be rebuilt as a brand-new hospital with an A and E department. I hope that he will not be invited to it when it is reopened unless he apologises to his constituents for the way he has presented this issue.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
T7. The Government can be rightly proud that there are fewer managers and more doctors in the NHS than in 2010. However, recent research by the TaxPayers Alliance shows that in the Greater East Midlands commissioning support unit more than £1 million a year is being spent on 26 administrative jobs of dubious value such as communications managers, communications officers, three communications and engagement leads, and two equality and diversity managers. The list goes on, Mr Speaker, but I will not. What further steps can my right hon. Friend take to ensure that the NHS budget is spent on front-line medical services?
Dr Poulter
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the fact that as much money as possible always needs to be put into front-line patient care. Under the previous Government, spending on managers and administrators more than doubled from £3 billion to £7 billion, and we have seen the number of administrators fall by 20,000. There is clearly work to do in his area, because as much money needs to go on front-line patient care as possible, and I hope that local commissioners will be looking to share back-office services as much as possible with other commissioning groups to reduce costs and put money into front-line patient care.
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
Earlier the Secretary of State and his Minister said that the minimum practice income guarantee was unfair. What is unfair is that so many practices in Hackney and east London are set to close, in an area where there is great deprivation. What are they going to do to make sure that patients still have practices to go to?
Dr Poulter
We have had this discussion. A payments system that is almost 20 years out of date and is not funding patients according to clinical need or is not per head of population will not deliver good care. The payments system needs to be changed and NHS England is working with practices that are facing challenges to address those challenges and ensure that high-quality patient care can still be delivered locally.
David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)
T8. Following the recent speech by the new NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens about the important role of local hospitals, can my right hon. Friend confirm that district general hospitals such as Macclesfield will continue to play a vital role in delivering local health services in the years to come?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I can confirm that. What my hon. Friend said was profoundly important. There is not an automatic link between size and quality. We know that for certain types of treatment, there is huge benefit in centralising services, as has happened for stroke services in London, but other services can be delivered extremely well at smaller units, and we will continue to support those.
Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
The Minister has just talked rather piously about spending NHS money on front-line services, but the NHS is spending £300,000 on a university secondment for a staff member who has left. How does he justify that sort of abuse?
Ian Swales (Redcar) (LD)
T9. My constituent, Beth Charlton, recently lost her father to pancreatic cancer and notes that patients have only a 3% chance of surviving five years. That is much lower than the survival rates for other cancers and has not improved in 40 years. Will the Minister invest more in early detection and diagnosis of this silent killer?
Dr Poulter
Spending on health care research, including cancer research, has considerably increased under this Government, and much of that funding is allocated independently. It is important to note that pancreatic cancer is, as the hon. Gentleman says, a silent killer, because presentation is often very late in the disease process. Patients can present suddenly with painless jaundice and are often only three months away from death. It is therefore important that we look at the causes of pancreatic cancer and focus on primary prevention and on helping people to develop a healthy attitude to alcohol.
Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)
In the last hour I have heard the Secretary of State and his Ministers complain about the problems with A and Es; I have heard them talk about the problems with GPs; now we hear that they have lost control of care of the elderly. Instead of continuing to blame the last Labour Government of four years ago, why does the right hon. Gentleman not admit that the NHS is not safe in his hands? Let us have an election and get a Labour Government.
Mr Jeremy Hunt
Because we are making the NHS safe. We are taking action to deal with the issues that the hon. Gentleman’s Government swept under the carpet. The NHS is getting safer and more compassionate. It is delivering more care to more people than ever happened under the Labour Government. We are proud of our record on the NHS, and we will not make the NHS better by pretending that problems do not exist when they do.
Sir Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove) (LD)
Stockport Mind reports that it takes on average 12 months to receive the first appointment for cognitive behavioural therapy after diagnosis. What action can be taken to improve that standard in Greater Manchester?
Norman Lamb
I mentioned earlier that when the last Labour Government introduced the 18-week waiting time standard they left out mental health. That is at the heart of the problem. We are committed to changing that and to introducing access standards in mental health, and we plan to start next year.
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
The Stitch project in Bristol has contacted me with concerns about the number of overdoses by people on prescription medication and suggested that allowing medication to be dispensed in instalments would be a better way of handling those vulnerable patients. I was disappointed in the response that I got from the Department, and I urge the Minister to think again on this issue.
Dr Poulter
I am very happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this further and see what we can do because it is important that the vulnerable patient groups she highlighted are looked after in the right way.
Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)
As he heralds an era of transparency, can the Secretary of State update us on what steps he has taken to ensure that private providers in the NHS are every bit as transparent and accountable as public ones?
Mr Jeremy Hunt
I think they absolutely should be, and the changes that we introduced in the Care Act 2014 relating to the transparency of the inspection regimes apply to private providers supplying services to the NHS just as they do to NHS providers. Let us be absolutely clear: poor care is poor, whether it happens in the public sector or the private sector, and we must clamp down on it wherever it happens.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
The Minister said that he was dealing with the chronic shortage of staff who help vulnerable children and young people, who cannot get access to mental health services. Will he tell us when there will be enough staff delivering those services to that important group?
Norman Lamb
I mentioned that NHS England will very soon publish a report following its analysis of existing facilities across the country, so the hon. Gentleman will get the answer in the next few weeks.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
When will the public health Minister publish the regulations for the plain packaging of tobacco products, on which she proposes to consult?
Jane Ellison
As my hon. Friend knows, Parliament has already granted us the regulation-making powers in the Children and Families Act 2014 and we have said that we are minded to proceed with those. We are still committed to consult. The regulations are being drafted. I had hoped to publish them before the end of April. We were caught by the pre-election purdah period, but I hope to publish them soon.
Mr Speaker
Order. We are very pressed for time, but I want to accommodate a couple of remaining colleagues.
Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)
I am grateful, Mr Speaker. In Brent we have the highest incidence of TB and of type 2 diabetes in the country. We have just received a cut of £450 million in the money allocated to the CCG. The Secretary of State says that this is fair, but my constituents want to know whether it is in accordance with need.
Jane Ellison
The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the problem of TB in London. As a London Member myself, I know what he is talking about. I encourage him to participate in the current consultation on Public Health England’s comprehensive TB strategy. It is a very important document which marks a step change in the way we confront the problem. That will help us to allocate resources to need and to address serious problems.
Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)
Will the Minister give us an update on the proposed licensing of e-cigarettes by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency? Does her Department believe that e-cigarettes could be used in smoking cessation programmes?
Jane Ellison
When I brought the regulations before Parliament, we were clear that those e-cigarettes for which a medicinal claim is made must be subjected to medicinal licensing arrangements. Once they are licensed as medicine, they can be prescribed as part of NHS smoking cessation services.
Point of Order
Mr Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Many will think it odd that the Prime Minister’s choice for Britain’s next EU Commissioner will be scrutinised by the European Parliament, but that there appear to be no plans to allow the British people, through this House, to examine their suitability. Have you had any indication that Ministers might support such parliamentary scrutiny on this occasion?
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order, of which I did not have advance notice. The short answer is that I am not aware of any intention for arrangements to be different on this occasion from those which have applied in the past. However, the point has been aired. It will have been heard at any rate by the Government Chief Whip, who sits impassively and in languid fashion on the Treasury Bench, but I feel sure that it can be the subject of a private conversation between the hon. Gentleman and the Government Chief Whip if both are so minded. The latter part of that sentence is at least as important as the former.
Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker
I do not think there is a “further”, but because I am a generous soul and the hon. Gentleman’s brow is more than usually furrowed, we will give it a go.
Michael Connarty
As I understand it from the last meeting of the European Scrutiny Committee, it is the Committee’s intention to write to the Government on that very point and to suggest that the Committee might be given the facility to do that interview before the appointment is made.
Mr Speaker
That is a helpful observation. Whether it is a point of order I do not know, but it is a helpful observation from somebody who is familiar with the workings of the Committee. I had better leave it there. There has been a kind of conversation through attempted points of order. Where it will end I know not.
bill presented
Modern Slavery Bill
Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)
Secretary Theresa May, supported by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary Chris Grayling and Karen Bradley, presented a Bill to make provision about slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour; to make provision about human trafficking; to make provision for an Anti-slavery Commissioner; and for connected purposes.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow; and to be printed (Bill 8) with explanatory notes (Bill 8-EN).
Debate on the Address
Home Affairs
(9 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May)
The Gracious Speech that we heard last week included a comprehensive programme of legislation on home affairs and justice. Since coming to power, this Government have implemented far-reaching reforms of which they can be proud. We have introduced a programme of radical police reform, and crime has continued to fall—it is down more than 10% since the last election. We have reformed the immigration system, and net migration from outside the EU is down by almost a third since its peak under the last Government. We are transforming the criminal justice system, improving support for victims, rehabilitating offenders and making prisons more effective, while reducing the burden on the taxpayer. On counter-terrorism, the police and security agencies continue to rise to tough new challenges, working tirelessly to keep us safe. Our reforms and our legislative changes are working.
Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
One of the major problems facing my constituents is the time spent trying to get their passports. I have heard the right hon. Lady say that she is reforming the Passport Office, but she has reduced the number of staff to such an extent that those that are left are not able to perform as they should. What is the turnaround period for a passport application now?
Mrs May
The hon. Gentleman’s intervention gives me an opportunity to tell the House that it is not true that the number of staff at the Passport Office has gone down; the number has gone up. In the first few months of this year, we saw a significant increase in the number of applications for passports, both renewals and new passports, and I am pleased to say that even given the unprecedented levels of applications, we are still meeting the service standards of 97% of straightforward applications being returned within three weeks, and 99% being returned within four weeks. We are not complacent. We continue to consider whether further contingency measures need to be put in place, should the significant increase in applications that we saw in the first few months of this year continue. I recognise the importance of this issue for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents and for mine.
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
Surely the Home Secretary will know from her own constituency experience that there has been a big increase in such problems in the last few weeks. Has she not seen that in her constituency?
Mrs May
All Members of the House will have had comments and inquiries from constituents on this matter. That is why during the last few months we have been increasing the resource that is available in the Passport Office to deal with applications, and increasing the resource available to deal with queries from Members of Parliament on this issue. As I just said in my response to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe), we continue to ensure that the resource available will be sufficient to deliver the service that we require, and that the public require when they are renewing or applying for a passport.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
I am surprised that the rising number of renewals took the Passport Office by surprise. Surely renewals at least are something that could be reasonably reliably predicted. Will the right hon. Lady assure the House that as we approach the busy summer holiday season, there will be sufficient resources to ensure that applications can be turned round in time for families to go on their annual holidays?
Mrs May
I can absolutely assure the hon. Lady that we are very aware of the major period of summer holidays coming up and the need for us to ensure that the facilities and resources are there in the Passport Office to deal with this matter. I do not know whether it is appropriate to give a plug for a debate that is due to take place in the House, but tonight’s Adjournment debate will be on this matter. My hon. Friend the Minister for Security and Immigration will be responding, and he will be able to go into some of these matters in more detail.
Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)
On a very simple point, I have many cases similar to those of my colleagues, but people are being told that the target cannot be met, so if they want a passport they should pay £70 to have it express delivered. Will those people now be given their money back? If the Passport Office has failed to meet the standard set by the Department, those people should not be charged for that service.
Mrs May
I have indicated that even given the unprecedented levels of demand during the first few months of this year, we have been able to meet our service standards. People can pay for the premium service, but there has been good news in relation to passport fees: the Government were able to reduce the regular fee for passports, partly owing to changes in the Passport Office that resulted from our decision to scrap the identity card proposal of the last Government.
Overall, we see that our reforms and legislative changes are working. Now, in the fourth and final Session of this Parliament, we are bringing forward legislation to ensure that more organised criminals can be brought to justice, and to further the significant and far-reaching reforms of our criminal justice system.
The Gracious Speech included a Modern Slavery Bill to tackle the appalling crime of modern slavery. In few other crimes are the effects of organised criminals and gangs more pernicious than in the trade of human beings for profit. In towns and cities across the country, behind closed doors and hidden from plain sight, there are men, women and children who endure a horrendous existence of servitude and abuse. forced to work inhumane hours in terrible conditions, forced to live a life of crime and forced into degrading sexual exploitation. The misery and trauma experienced by victims are immense. Held against their will and with no means of escape, they often endure rape, violence and psychological torture.
In 2013, 1,746 potential victims of trafficking were referred to the national referral mechanism, but modern slavery is largely a hidden crime, so in reality this figure most likely does not represent or reflect the true number of people enduring slavery in Britain today. Slavery is a crime that includes not only those trafficked into the UK but vulnerable British nationals who are preyed upon and exploited by people living here.
Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)
My constituents, in particular the voluntary organisations and charities, will welcome the Modern Slavery Bill. Will my right hon. Friend outline in more detail how it will stop the exploitation of so many innocent people?
Mrs May
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. I am sure he is right that his constituents will welcome this Bill; indeed, I hope that it will be welcomed, as it has been in the Joint Scrutiny Committee, by Members of all parties. If he will indulge me, I will say a little bit about what is in the Bill, which will explain to him how we are going to deal with this crime, particularly by toughening up sentencing and enabling the law enforcement agencies to be in an even better position to deal with it.
Michael Connarty
There have been many criticisms of how the national referral mechanism works, and the Government promised six months ago that there would be a review of it. Will there be detail of how this review has been carried out or how it will be carried out? What will we do with people when they leave the NRM? Once they have been in it for a certain time, they are pitched out into what would appear to be oblivion.
Mrs May
The hon. Gentleman makes a point that is often made about people coming to the end of their permitted period within the NRM. In fact, a lot of work is done with other providers to ensure that people are able to move on to other facilities at the end of that time, but crucially that will be one of the issues that of course the review of the NRM will look at. That review is ongoing. Yesterday, I saw the individual who is undertaking it. He said that he is getting on well with it; and of course we will bring the results of the review into the public domain, so that we can show what issues have been identified and what our response to them will be.
I said that I would come on to exactly what is in the Bill. If we are to stamp out this crime and expunge it from this country, we must arrest, prosecute and imprison the criminals and organised groups that systematically exploit people and that lie behind the majority of the modern-day slave trade.
Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)
Yesterday my hon. Friend the Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Stephen Barclay) facilitated a meeting with the Lithuanian ambassador. Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree that it is extremely important that we have cross-country and pan-EU working on this issue, because criminals from overseas are prevalent in this particular area?
Mrs May
Yes, it is absolutely crucial that we both work across borders and countries to deal with the organised crime groups. There are issues with how those who are being trafficked from source countries are dealt with, and trying to ensure that they do not become victims of this particular crime. We can also look at how other countries deal with this issue and with people being returned to their countries.
The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Karen Bradley), who is the Minister with responsibility for modern slavery and organised crime, has already visited Albania to talk to people there about how they deal with this crime. I was able to appoint Anthony Steen, a former Member of this House, as my special envoy in this regard; he was the chairman of the all-party group on this issue and has done a lot of work on human trafficking. He visited a number of countries, including Albania, and others such as Israel, to see how they were dealing with these issues. That work will inform the action plan that we will produce in due course alongside the legislation, because this process is not just about a legislative response; it is about some wider issues too.
Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)
We all support action on modern slavery, but unfortunately within the past two months the Home Secretary has withdrawn face-to-face advice for asylum seekers in my constituency, which is a dispersal area, so victims of modern slavery now have to call a phone helpline in order to seek advice. Actions speak louder than words. Why has she withdrawn that advice?
Mrs May
The hon. Gentleman is right that the service provided is now under a new contract. A greater range of facilities is now available to individuals— for example, the advice phone line.
Of course, one of the key issues in dealing with modern slavery is being able to identify those who have been subject to it or to human trafficking. That is why it is so important to train our Border Force officials to spot people who may have been trafficked when they enter the country, and it is why the national referral mechanism review will crucially look at identification. At the moment we know, in a formal sense, who is referred to the NRM, but we fear that there are many more victims of slavery and/or trafficking, as I said earlier.
Crucially, more arrests and more prosecutions will mean more victims released from slavery, and more prevented from ever entering it in the first place. At the same time, we must improve and enhance protection for victims and give them the support they need to recover from their ordeal. The Modern Slavery Bill—the first of its kind in Europe—will substantially strengthen our powers to tackle this crime. It will do so by doing three things. First, it will ensure that measures are in place so that law enforcement agencies and the judiciary can crack down on offenders and give them the punishments they deserve. Secondly, it will provide vital new policing tools to help prevent further cases of modern slavery. Thirdly, it will ensure that victims receive the protection and support they deserve during the judicial process and in accessing vital victim support services.
Currently, modern slavery and human trafficking offences are spread across a number of different Acts. The Bill fixes that by consolidating and simplifying existing offences in one single piece of legislation, providing much needed clarity and focus and making the law easier to apply. Punishments will now fit the crime, with the maximum sentence available increased to life imprisonment. Slave-drivers and traffickers will have their illicit gains seized and, wherever possible, used to make reparations to victims. A new anti-slavery commissioner will drive an improved and co-ordinated response. The Bill will also introduce a statutory defence for victims who are compelled to commit a crime as a direct consequence of their slavery, alongside other measures to enhance protection and support for victims.
The Bill has benefited considerably from pre-legislative scrutiny and the detailed evidence heard during that process. I am enormously grateful to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) and other members of the Committee for their unstinting dedication and I share with them a determination to see an end to modern slavery. We have listened to the Committee’s findings and, where practicable, have put forward proposals to address its key concerns. A detailed response to its work has been published today. However, as I indicated earlier, stamping out modern slavery in Britain will require more than legislation alone. Law enforcement must play a robust and effective role in tracking down, arresting and prosecuting offenders. That is why I have made tackling modern slavery a priority for the National Crime Agency, and at our borders I have established specialist teams to help identify and protect victims being trafficked into the country.
Victims must be at the heart of everything we do, so I have ordered a review of the national referral mechanism, as I indicated in response to the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty). Recognising the particular needs and vulnerabilities of child victims, I am putting in place trials for child advocates. The Bill gives those advocates a statutory basis and the status they need to support and represent the child effectively. We are also encouraging businesses to look at their supply chains and ensure that they are free from trafficking and exploitation.
Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)
Will the Home Secretary clarify that point about child guardians? Will the Bill include statutory provision to bring in child guardians, or simply the permissive power to do so depending on the trials, the length of which we do not know?
Mrs May
The Bill will provide the enabling legislation that we undertook to provide when the Immigration Act 2014 was going through this House, following an amendment made in another place. We are doing it that way because we want to see what the best model is for child advocates; there are differences of opinion over which model will work best. We are therefore including an enabling power to ensure that we adopt the best model when that becomes clear from the trials.
Michael Connarty
Is the Home Secretary proposing a separate and more serious crime of trafficking or exploiting children? She has not made that clear.
Mrs May
The hon. Gentleman raises a point that the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee looked at. It was keen that we should change our approach to the whole question of offences in the Bill by having a wider offence of exploitation. We have decided not to go down that route because we believe that such a broad and wide-ranging offence could make it more difficult for law enforcement agencies and that it could, through the law of unintended consequences, encompass behaviour that is otherwise entirely innocent. We have changed some of the definitions in the offences in order to make it absolutely clear that where they involve a child, which might make it harder to identify when coercion is taking place, there is specific reference to that in the overall offences of slavery, servitude and labour exploitation.
Taken together, the Modern Slavery Bill and these measures provide a comprehensive programme of action that will help to make a real difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
Has the Home Secretary had any discussions with the devolved Assemblies, particularly the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly, which have both brought in anti-trafficking legislation that relates specifically to Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively, as I understand that that legislation takes care of the point about specific child exploitation and guardianship?
Mrs May
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. We have had considerable discussions with the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. We have also had discussions with the Welsh Assembly, because most of the Bill’s provisions cover England and Wales. We are still in discussions with the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. The Scottish Government made it clear a few months ago that they wanted to introduce their own legislation in this area. As he says, there are also legislative proposals in the Northern Ireland Assembly. We are talking about how we can ensure that they all mesh together so that we have a comprehensive approach. As a result of further discussions, it is possible that I might wish to bring forward amendments relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland, but detailed discussions are still ongoing on what legislative arrangements will work best.
Moving on from the Modern Slavery Bill—
Michael Connarty
I think that the Home Secretary might have mentioned the fact that the biggest problem in Scotland—I am sure that the same is true in Northern Ireland—as has been said in public by the Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, is the criminalisation of victims by the UK Border Agency, which treats people as criminals because they have broken immigration laws. Rather than being treated as victims, they are taken to court for breaching immigration laws. Will that be resolved? Will the UK Border Agency stop victimising people by criminalising them for breaches of immigration laws?
Mrs May
I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that the UK Border Agency will not be doing anything, because I abolished it over a year ago. He has taken a great interest in the issue over the years and has developed a great understanding of it, so he will know that one of the issues raised about the national referral mechanism is precisely the operation of immigration officials in relation to it. However, I think that the largest numbers of referrals made to the NRM still come from people within the immigration system who have spotted people who might have been trafficked. This is not an either/or issue; it is one that we have to explore very carefully, to ensure that all those who come into contact with people who might have been enslaved or trafficked can spot the signs and know how to refer, so that a case can be dealt with appropriately. Indeed, the Bill will include a clause about a duty on first responders to report a case when they see someone who has been the victim of slavery or trafficking.
For justice to be done, we must have a criminal justice system that properly punishes offenders and protects the public. The Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, carried over from the third Session, is the next stage in the Government’s significant reforms to the justice system to make sure that offenders receive suitable sentences, to improve court processes and to reduce the financial burden on the taxpayer. It includes a package of sentencing and criminal law reforms aimed at ensuring that the public are kept safe from serious and repeat offenders.
Once this Bill gets Royal Assent, no one convicted of certain serious violent and sexual offences, such as the rape of a child or a serious terrorism offence, will be entitled to automatic release at the halfway point of their sentence, and they will get early release only if they no longer present a risk to the public. The Bill will ensure that when offenders are released on licence we can properly monitor their whereabouts using modern technology. It will also crack down on those who abscond after being recalled to custody by creating a new offence of being unlawfully at large. In addition, it will ensure that anyone who murders a police or prison officer in the course of their duty faces a whole life sentence, and it will introduce tougher sentences for those who cause death or serious injury by driving while disqualified.
While the proper punishment of offences is important, so too is rehabilitation. This is particularly true of young offenders. We are therefore putting education at the heart of youth custody and ensuring that young offenders are given an opportunity to turn their lives around. The Bill will provide for secure colleges to be created, so that we can trial a new approach to youth custody that gives young offenders the skills, support and qualifications that they need to turn their backs on crime and become productive, hard-working members of society.
Kate Green
Has the Home Secretary had any discussions with ministerial colleagues about provision for young women and girls in these secure training colleges?
Mrs May
Over the past few years, I have had a number of discussions with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice about how women are dealt with in the whole prison estate and in the criminal justice system in terms of custodial sentences. The Ministry of Justice is still looking at the issue, aware that there may well be particular concerns that need to be taken into account.
Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)
Would the Home Secretary be prepared to revisit the report produced by Baroness Jean Corston, and perhaps talk to her, about the crucial issue of how we treat people in our communities, as well those coming into them, in relation to the conditions they live in?
Mrs May
The report by Baroness Corston was indeed significant in its findings on the treatment of women and girls, particularly in the criminal justice system in relation to custodial sentences. I have had a number of discussions with Baroness Corston on this matter in the past, especially when I held the women’s brief, when I was considering it particularly. I have also had discussions with the prisons Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Jeremy Wright). I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that the Ministry of Justice is aware that the matter needs to be considered. I am sure that it will be looking at Baroness Corston’s report—although it was done a few years ago, of course—to see what she proposed.
We must ensure that modern courts run efficiently and effectively without undue costs to the taxpayer. We are therefore introducing criminal court charges to ensure that criminals contribute to the cost of their cases being heard through the courts system. It is only right that criminals who give rise to those costs in the first place should carry some of the burden placed on the taxpayer. We will also introduce reforms to judicial review to ensure that it is used for the right reasons and not merely to cause unnecessary delays or to court publicity. Judicial review is vital in holding authorities and others to account, but this must be balanced to avoid costly and time-wasting applications and abuse of the system.
The Modern Slavery Bill will ensure that law enforcement and the judiciary have effective powers available to put slave drivers and traffickers behind bars, where they belong.
Jim Shannon
Can the Secretary of State confirm that the Government will introduce a non-criminalisation and detention clause, so that children who are prosecuted for crimes that they were compelled to carry out by their traffickers have some flexibility in the system to ensure that they are not penalised for that?
Mrs May
We will absolutely do that. The Bill includes a statutory defence that an individual who has been coerced into committing a crime will be able to rely on, except for certain very serious crimes that will be excluded, where, however, the Crown Prosecution Service guidance will still require that prosecutors consider the circumstances of the individual when the crime was committed.
We are determined to disrupt all those who engage, support and profit from all forms of organised crime. Organised crime costs the UK at least £24 billion a year. The financial sector spends about £10 billion a year on protecting itself from serious and organised crime, and the cost to the UK from organised fraud is thought to be around £9 billion. The impacts of organised crime reach deep into our communities, shattering lives, inflicting violence, corroding society, damaging businesses, stealing people’s money, robbing people of their security and causing untold harm in the sexual exploitation of children. To deal with this threat, the Government are taking comprehensive, wide-ranging action. The powerful new crime-fighting body, the National Crime Agency, has been launched to ensure the effective and relentless pursuit and disruption of serious and organised criminality. On the same day as it was launched, we published our serious and organised crime strategy to drive our collective and relentless response. We have legislated to break down barriers to information sharing between law enforcement agencies and toughen up penalties for those trading in illegal firearms.
Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)
I apologise for missing the earlier part of the Home Secretary’s speech. I warmly welcome what the Government propose in respect of organised crime. As she knows, half a billion pounds remains unpaid by the Mr Bigs and Mrs Bigs who manage to finish their sentence but then leave the country without paying their fines. Will she consider the strongest possible measures to ensure that they pay up before they leave the country?
Mrs May
The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I am about to come to the provisions on asset recovery.
Organised crime evolves, and we need to keep pace. Under this Government, approximately £746 million of criminal assets has been recovered. However, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is under sustained legal challenge from criminals who are constantly seeking new ways to avoid its reach and frustrate asset recovery, as the right hon. Gentleman said. The Serious Crime Bill referred to in the Gracious Speech will close loopholes used by criminals to get round confiscation orders—for example, through attempts to hide money with spouses, associates and other third parties. The Bill will ensure that assets can be frozen more quickly and earlier on in investigations and reduce the time that the courts can give offenders to pay. It will also significantly increase the time in prison faced by criminals who fail to pay confiscation orders, to deter offenders from choosing to serve time in custody rather than paying up.
Targeting and convicting those in the wider criminal group, such as corrupt and complicit professionals, can prove difficult under current legislation. The Bill will close this gap by creating a new offence of participation in an organised crime group. That will allow the National Crime Agency and the police to go after those who knowingly turn a blind eye to organised crime from which they profit, and it will send out a strong signal that no one should be beyond the reach of the law. Those convicted could face up to five years in prison and be subject to further civil measures.
The Bill will also close a gap in our current legislation in relation to terrorism, which is particularly pertinent in the light of the ongoing crisis in Syria. The UK faces the very serious threat that British nationals travelling to Syria are exposed to terrorist groups there, become radicalised, and on returning may be prepared to radicalise others or carry out an attack here. The Bill will therefore extend extra-territorial jurisdiction to offences under the Terrorism Act 2006, so enabling the UK to prosecute individuals who prepare for terrorist acts and train for terrorism abroad in the same way as though they had carried out those activities in the UK.
Those who act for the good of society and for the benefit of others play a valuable and often largely unrecognised role in this country. Good works and good deeds are to be encouraged. There is some evidence, however, that people are put off from volunteering or going to help in an emergency owing to fears of being held liable if something goes wrong.
The social action, responsibility and heroism Bill will reassure the public that if they act for the benefit of society and demonstrate a generally responsible approach towards the safety of others during an activity or when assisting someone in an emergency, the courts will always consider the context of their actions in the event they are sued for negligence.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
When I used to do voluntary work, my understanding was that, essentially, that was already the case. Could the Secretary of State explain whether the Bill will change what the law means or how confident people can be in terms of how they act, or will it change both?
Mrs May
The hon. Gentleman is right that there has always been an understanding, but the problem is that, sadly, people do not see enough clarity in legislation to give them the confidence that that is the case. Indeed, they sometimes see reports of cases where the opposite has been the case. It is, therefore, important to give greater clarity in the law and that is what the Bill will do.
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)
I spend a lot of my time as a community first responder with the ambulance service in Yorkshire, and when I turn up at emergencies, I often find that people are unwilling to involve themselves because, although the law may well protect them, they do not feel that it will do so. Therefore, I wholeheartedly welcome the Bill and offer the Home Secretary my experience as an example of why more clarity is needed.
Mrs May
I am very grateful to my hon. Friend, who has hit the nail on the head. The social action, responsibility and heroism Bill will, I hope, send a very clear message to everyone that they should have the confidence of knowing that they can go to help others and not fear the consequences for themselves.
Although not specifically referenced in the Gracious Speech last week, the Government intend to introduce a draft Bill to modernise the way in which compensation is paid to individuals and businesses that experience loss or damage to property caused by riots. The Riot (Damages) Act 1886 has not been updated since it was introduced. Consequently, it does not properly reflect modern society—for example, it does not cover damage to cars.
The precise detail of the draft Bill will be determined following the public consultation that I launched last week. This will build on the findings of the independent review of the Act, which was published in November 2013 and is part of our substantial work since the riots of August 2011 to ensure that compensation arrangements keep pace with modern life. It is right that we continue to protect vulnerable people and businesses from the financial impact of riots.
This Government can be proud of the reforms and legislation that we have put in place. These Bills will build on that work. They will ensure that we can hunt, prosecute and lock up the criminals behind the appalling crime of modern slavery; that we have a criminal justice system that properly punishes offenders, while being fair to the taxpayer; that we can better disrupt those who support and benefit from all forms of organised crime; and that we continue to encourage good works and good deeds.
On crime and on justice, this Government’s legislative programme is working to ensure a safe and secure Britain in which honest, hard-working people can prosper. I commend it to the House.
Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)
The Home Secretary has set out the Bills and measures announced in the Queen’s Speech, including measures on modern slavery and on tackling organised crime and helping, we hope, pay back the profits of crime—which we have called for before—as well as action on female genital mutilation, child neglect and terrorism abroad. All of those measures will have strong cross-party support and I want to address some of them. I also want to talk about what is missing from the Queen’s Speech, because the Home Secretary’s proposals are not sufficient to address some of the challenges that Britain faces for the future.
I will start with the Bill that we welcome most—the Modern Slavery Bill. I pay tribute, as the Home Secretary has done, to the members of the cross-party Joint Committee, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) and my hon. Friends the Members for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) and for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), who have argued for changes and improvements to the Bill.
The Home Secretary was right to talk about the torture, rape and persecution of those who see no way out. The gangmasters, traffickers and slave drivers are not just stealing vulnerable people’s money; they are stealing their freedom and stealing their lives. Tougher laws and penalties are needed, and I also hope the Bill will go further in providing more support for victims by making sure they are not punished in the immigration system or sent back to those who sold them in the first place. It also needs to make sure that there are child guardians, which we have been calling for since 2010, because it is chilling that two thirds of children rescued from trafficking in Britain just disappear. They are betrayed by their abusers only to be betrayed for a second time by the authorities, which fail to protect them when their abusers and traffickers steal their lives and freedom all over again.
The Home Secretary also needs to look again at the domestic workers visa and the risks to those forced into domestic slavery, unable to escape. The charity Kalayaan has found that since the Home Secretary changed the visas, 60% of those on the new visa were paid no salary at all, compared with 14% on the original visa. That is slavery, and the evidence suggests that the Home Secretary’s visa reforms have made it worse. We will also press her to support joint action on supply chains, as the Joint Committee has suggested.
I am glad that the Home Secretary is doing more to recover the proceeds of crime. She will know that less has been recovered in recent years. The amount collected by the police and the volume of confiscation orders have fallen, yet we know there is still £1.5 billion-worth of outstanding orders—ill-gotten gains that criminals are still stashing away. We have already called on the Home Secretary to end early release with regard to default sentences where organised criminals refuse to pay, and to stop loopholes whereby criminals transfer assets to families. I hope those measures will be in the Bill.
We welcome further action on organised crime and those aiding and abetting criminals, and we certainly need stronger action against those who are mutilating the bodies of girls and young women. It is a stain on our country that so many young women are at risk and no one has yet been successfully prosecuted.
More action is also needed against online child abuse. We are glad that the Home Secretary is looking at new offences, but what is she doing to reverse the fall in Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre arrests and the drop in the number of chid abusers being caught?
I am also glad that the Home Secretary is looking at terrorist offences overseas, but after all the noise yesterday about the Prevent programme she needs also to recognise that there is a significant gap in her policies on preventing terrorism and extremism. She claimed yesterday that it was okay for the Home Office to narrow the work it does and to stop funding work by communities themselves to prevent extremism, because, she said, the Department for Communities and Local Government is doing that instead—but it is not.
The reality is that neither the Home Secretary nor the Communities Secretary—nor even the Education Secretary—are taking seriously enough the need to work with communities on preventing young people from being seduced into going to Syria. Some of the strongest voices and most effective people in counteracting the ideology of the jihad are those within the communities, in faith groups and friends in social media, yet not enough work is being done with those communities or to give them support. I hope the Home Secretary will make sure that that happens.
Keith Vaz
May I endorse what my right hon. Friend the shadow Home Secretary has said? In my constituency, 52% of the people are from ethnic minority communities and there are more than 27 mosques, 35 Hindu temples and five gurdwaras in Leicester. It is important to bring communities with us. Of course, a tough strategy is very important. We did not get it absolutely right under the previous Government and Prevent had to be modernised, but without those communities we cannot make change.
Yvette Cooper
The Home Affairs Committee has done some important work on this issue and my right hon. Friend is right that we will always have to keep reforming the programmes and learning from things that do not work, because preventing extremism is a difficult area. However, experts in countering extremism and preventing terrorism have raised concerns with me that some of the work done previously with the Somali community to ensure that it got the support it needed to prevent people from going to Somalia to fight is not being replicated to prevent people from going to Syria.
Kate Green
I also represent a constituency with a highly diverse population and many families from minority communities. They tell me of a deep sense of bubbling anger and that they are no longer being made to feel welcome or respected in the community as a whole. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is important that the broader strategy engages the whole community and respects and honours everyone’s contribution as members of our country?
Yvette Cooper
My hon. Friend is right. She knows that many of the strongest advocates of fighting extremism or preventing extremism—for example, preventing Islamist extremism—are those in the Muslim communities themselves, such as Muslim community leaders who have done excellent work on preventing extremism. The Government should do more to support those communities in the work that such communities are often better at leading.
A lot is missing from this Queen’s Speech. There is no serious action to tackle domestic violence or rape, of which reported cases are going up, but prosecutions and convictions are going down on the Home Secretary’s watch. There are no national standards, and no commissioner on violence against women to make sure that such standards are enforced. I still fail to understand why the Government will not do more to prevent violent relationships among young people. Where is the proposal for the compulsory sex and relationship education that all our children should get to ensure that they are taught zero tolerance of violence in relationships from the start?
What about immigration? The Home Secretary’s approach is failing. She set a net migration target, and the Prime Minister promised—no ifs, no buts—that he would get immigration down to the tens of thousands. The Home Secretary said that she would meet the target by the end of the Parliament. Yet net migration is now at 212,000, which is hardly less than the 222,000 at the time of the last election. Despite all her rhetoric and four years’ worth of legislation, the public are more worried about immigration now than when she started as Home Secretary. However, universities and businesses are concerned that they cannot attract the best international talent, which they need. In the past year alone, the number of people saying that immigration is their biggest concern has doubled. It is the worst of all worlds, so why does she not stop pretending about meeting her failed target and act to address some of the practical concerns that people have about the impact of immigration on wages and jobs?
Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP)
Will the right hon. Lady tell me what the Labour party is going to do? It seems to me that there are only two ways to deal with UKIP’s agenda: either to accommodate and pander to it, or to challenge the very assumptions on which it is based. Labour cannot look two ways on this matter—will it challenge or pander?
Yvette Cooper
UKIP is exploiting people’s fears and concerns, and it needs to be challenged every step of the way. We need to set out the practical reforms that would address people’s concerns about the impact of immigration on their wages and jobs when employers exploit immigration to undercut local wages and jobs. I do not understand why the Home Secretary will not take such measures—we could support them—in a new immigration Bill.
Andrew Percy
The shadow Secretary of State came to my constituency recently. She did not give me notice of her visit, but she may have heard from residents in Goole of their concerns about immigration. The visit did no good: the Labour vote completely collapsed in the Euro elections. Will she now take this opportunity to apologise to residents in Goole for what happened in 2007, which led massive numbers of immigrants to come to our town and put huge pressure on schools, housing and our public services?
Yvette Cooper
I must tell the hon. Gentleman that, unfortunately, public concern about immigration is much higher now than it was at the time of the general election. I hope that he will apologise to his constituents for backing a net migration target and promising that it would be met by the time of the next general election, but utterly failing to meet it.
The Government are not setting out the practical things that they could do. For example, they could stop agencies recruiting only from abroad, close loopholes in the minimum wage, go much further on unfair zero-hours contracts and make serious exploitation a crime. All those are things that the Government could do.
In response to my hon. Friends’ questions, the Home Secretary commented about the Passport Office, but I must say that her answers were incredibly complacent and simply do not reflect the experience of MPs right across the country. She claimed that all the targets are being met. From what she said, we would think that everything was absolutely fine. Tell that to James Bowness from Cumbria, who nearly missed his chance to qualify for the Commonwealth games because his passport did not arrive in time; pensioner Eileen Shepherd from Darlington, who missed her dream cruise because her passport did not arrive; or the Vernon family from Coventry, who missed their first family holiday abroad. They all applied in time, but the Passport Office let them down.
Mr Donohoe
One of the problems faced by Members of Parliament and their staff is that when they phone the ministerial hotlines, they do not get an answer for two or three days, and when they do it is incomprehensible and does not help them with the particular case.
Yvette Cooper
My hon. Friend is right. Many of us have had the experience of trying to ensure that our constituents get their passports in time to go on the holiday that they have put all their savings into, or to go on a business trip abroad. We are told that there is a backlog of 500,000 cases. We all know that people are now in a state of panic and, for fear of losing their money, are putting extra money in to pay for fast-track services or rushing across the country to Durham or elsewhere to pick up their passport.
Keith Vaz
For my right hon. Friend’s information, the Home Affairs Committee has called the head of the Passport Office to appear before us on Tuesday. We have heard that the real problem is that 80 members of staff have been moved off passport fraud duties to help with the backlog, meaning that they are not doing the very important work of checking fraud that they are required to do.
Yvette Cooper
My right hon. Friend is exactly right. I know that he and the Committee will scrutinise this matter in great detail. It is deeply troubling if important security measures have been dropped simply because there is a crisis in the Passport Office and the Home Secretary has taken her eye off the ball.
We know that the delays are even longer for Brits living abroad, such as the family who cannot come home from Qatar with their baby because they cannot get him a passport to fly. With expats stuck abroad and unable to come home, keeping Brits out of the country seems to be the Government’s only chance of meeting the net migration target. This is a shambles.
There are some sensible measures in this Queen’s Speech, but too much that is not in it. Frankly, from our debates over the past week, people would not have known even about the measures that are in it. The Home Secretary was not talking about them on the day of the Queen’s Speech. In fact, no one was talking about them, and even the fainting page-boy struggled to get a look in. We had the headlines, “Cabinet at war over extremists in schools”, “Angry Cameron rebukes rivals as Tory rift widens”, and “Tory bloodbath over Muslim schools fiasco”. We had to pity the poor Prime Minister, who was standing on the sidelines and desperate to talk about pensions or fracking, and even the Deputy Prime Minister, who was trying to get noticed and madly waving his plastic bags. No one heard about the slavery Bill or the crime Bill on Queen’s Speech day, because the Home Secretary had started her own plot to cause a parliamentary explosion on the day the Queen came to Parliament.
Yesterday, the Home Secretary told the House that she did not authorise the publication of the letter on the website or in the media. Presumably, she woke up on Wednesday morning to be as shocked by the headlines as everyone else. Presumably, she was as horrified as the Prime Minister that the Gracious Speech we should have been talking about was overshadowed. Presumably, she rushed into the Department and said, “Oh, Fiona, what on earth have you done? Take it down. Quick—rush across and make nice to the Education Secretary. Get me the Prime Minister on the phone, and I’ll apologise for this dreadful departmental mistake on such an important day.” Except that she did not; there was no contrition, no rush to limit the violence and no punishment for the culprit in her Department.
Yesterday, the Home Secretary got terribly touchy about the ministerial code. She said that she had not breached it, but let us see what it says. Under section 2.1, ministerial correspondence should be confidential. Yet she kept the letter on her website for three days. Under section 3.3, she has responsibility for her special adviser. Is that why she will not tell us who leaked the letter? These are blatant breaches of the ministerial code and she knows it. If she wants those charges against her to be dropped, she should answer these questions. Who agreed to put the letter on the website? Who agreed to give it to the press? Why did she write it after she had heard about the briefing from The Times, and did she write it knowing that it would be leaked? When did she find out it was on the website, and why did she not take it down?
The Home Secretary launched a sabotage attack on the Queen’s Speech, even though her own Department had some perfectly reasonable measures that she should have wanted to include. The Queen’s Speech just does not do enough to tackle the serious problems in the country. There is not enough on crime, immigration or violence against women, and the Home Secretary has taken her eye off the ball. She has been too busy in briefing wars with the Education Secretary to keep her own house in order, and too busy worrying about her next job to get her day job right, and the country is being let down.
Sir Paul Beresford (Mole Valley) (Con)
That was quite an extraordinary speech. It did not focus on the Queen’s Speech. It did not focus on the Bills that were listed. Incidentally, the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) should recognise that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre does not arrest—it passes information to individual police forces to deal with.
I was impressed with the list, and the Home Secretary, for the sake of the rest of us who want to speak, went through it quickly. She did not touch on everything; there is more there than she mentioned. I am here to say a personal thank you to the Ministers—
Sir Paul Beresford
I will meet him on the rugby field and we will see.
I am coming to the point. After 12 or 14 years of working to try to bring legislative changes, with considerable success on, among other things, dealing with paedophiles, there is a tiny element—that last element, which has taken me 14 years—included in the Serious Crime Bill. It is little. The Home Secretary did not mention it. My specific interest is in part 5, clause 63. It has not been noticed by many. It is a change to help prosecute child sex abusers. The clause is headed simply, “Possession of paedophile manual”, and as I read the measure, the definition is broader than the sort of straight manual that one would see on car repair. That said, in the past much of this kind of material has been similar to a repair manual.
Two of my ten-minute rule Bills have effectively been on the same subject—I was supported by Paul Goggins, whose name has been mentioned several times. Such material has also been the subject of my continual pressure on Ministers of the previous Labour Government—including one who is present—and of this Government. The problem was first highlighted by the Home Office taskforce of which I was a member in 2001-02, which preceded the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Along with a few senior Met officers—particularly retired DCI Dave Marshall, who is highly respected in this area—I have persistently raised the issue ever since. Recently, CEOP has swung heavily behind the need for legal changes.
The existence of real manuals and their effect came to the fore when BBC 2 broadcast a three-part programme called “The Hunt for Britain’s Paedophiles” in 2002. It involved Bob Long of the BBC following the Metropolitan police paedophile unit for two years. The first of the three parts involved hunting down a group of individuals who, if my memory is correct, were members of a paedophile ring that had been abusing children in London since 1957—not quite 50 years. One of the more active members was a Julian Levene, who produced a manual on the grooming and abuse of children for the use of the members of the ring, and any others who were interested.
Many paedophiles write, either in hard copy or on a computer, guidance or descriptions of their abuse activities, whether real or imaginary. They are, in effect, manuals, and can clearly be seen as guidance. The Bill looks broad enough to catch such material. For many, the written word is more effective than child pornographic photographs, pseudo-photographs and so on.
I would like to give a simple example from CEOP. A man from Kent recently wrote describing his wish to kidnap an early-teenage girl, strip her, sexually abuse her and then, in an appalling way that I will not detail, slowly kill her. It is horrific, especially as his writings inspired him to carry it out. He is now in prison, hopefully for ever, but the teenager is lost. With this legislation, perhaps the early discovery of the writings could have helped, especially given that the police will have the power to act.
Having pondered, with legal help, over quite how to phrase legislation to cover this problem, I congratulate the Secretary of State and her Ministers on the ingenious approach that they have taken. It is broad, it is clever, it will do the job, and lessons have been learned from the Terrorism Act 2006. I also congratulate Ministers on following the approach of much of the child protection legislation. The change will be able to be used actively, proactively and retrospectively. I thank the Ministers again.
Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)
I have a declared interest that relates to higher education, which might crop up in my speech.
I thank the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) for his reference to the work of my late friend, Paul Goggins, who was referred to by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition on the day of the Queen’s Speech. I appreciate that reference, because Paul would have been proud that his work, like that of so many in this House, has borne fruit in the form of legislation.
Before I turn to the substance of the Queen’s Speech and the related issues that my right hon. Friend the shadow Home Secretary has deliberated on very effectively, may I reflect on the nature of last week’s events? Having been the Home Secretary at the time of the 11 September attack and the subsequent dangers, I am mindful of the need for security. However, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the way in which we operate the closures in central London around the Queen’s Speech. To close substantial portions of the area around Westminster from Monday to Friday is, in my view, unnecessary. We should protect the Queen—the royal personage—in any way we can, but there has been an extension in what happens over recent years. I mention that only because it is damaging to the London economy and extremely frustrating for the populace, and it does not necessarily do Parliament any good.
Secondly, as we have seen in the debate over the past few days and way beyond, a fixed-term, five-year Parliament can be seen to run out of steam. If we are to continue with fixed-term Parliaments, I think that it is time to re-examine whether they should last for four years, rather than five. Irrespective of whether a coalition is still required, which I sincerely hope it is not, it is clear from history that Governments need to refresh themselves. That is part of our democracy and considering such a change would be a positive move in responding to the changing needs of the population and the political debate. Four-year Parliaments might allow us to have two Queen’s Speeches: one at the beginning of a Parliament and one two years in, which would allow time for substantive debate and measures that have been carefully planned and thought through. I commend the idea of returning to those issues to Front Benchers on both sides of the House.
We face a moment of rapid change that is unprecedented in our history. There is economic, social and cultural change, some of which we touched on yesterday afternoon during the urgent question and the statement. We face an explosion in communications that brings globalisation and issues on a moment-by-moment basis not just into people’s front rooms, which we used to say in relation to television, but into their hands as they use mobile technology. The immediacy of such issues has changed how people see the rapid change in the world around them.
When we were in a position of economic success, with continuing growth, continuing substantial falls in unemployment and rises in wages, and it was possible to invest in improved public services, globalisation appeared to be benign, if not somewhat bewildering, to the populace. The same is not true at a time of deep austerity, with the results of the global banking meltdown—and it was a global banking meltdown; the previous Labour Government were not responsible for the collapse of the sub-prime market in the United States or the recession across Europe. It is risible that people still repeat that calumny over and again, particularly members of the junior partner in the coalition, who were enthusiastically in favour of the public spending that we were engaged in before 2010 and suddenly changed their mind. Indeed, so was the Conservative party, because until autumn 2008 and a change of mind at the Tory party conference, the main thrust of public expenditure was supported by the Conservative Opposition.
I mention that because the confusion, bewilderment and sense of powerlessness that affects so many of our constituents has a knock-on effect on the way they see the political environment around them, and on whether they trust or believe that traditional politics can meet their needs—hence the rise of the UK Independence party and its temporary, God willing, success in the European Union elections and some local government contests.
Old certainties have gone and people are unclear who they should blame for what is happening around them. Is it a change in the world situation and the insecurities that drive asylum seekers and movements of people across the world? Ten and a half million people have been moved outside their homeland either compulsorily or through fear of the danger of death and torture. People are desperately looking for a better life, and hearing about it in the way I have just described and in a fashion that was not present years ago. Bewilderment and a subliminal fear come from those uncertainties, and people are looking to someone to find answers.
We have the chance to debate these issues today, but that rarely happens any more on television or radio, and certainly not in the print media or through the inanity of many bloggers. We are not reaching, talking to or having a dialogue with—never mind listening to—the fears of people, but there is nothing new about that.
One great advantage of being a Back Bencher is that one has the chance to read. I have been reading the biography of Roy Jenkins that came out a few months ago. He was not a favourite politician of mine, not least because he was paraded as one of the most liberal and radical Home Secretaries in history, whereas most of the legislation he took credit for was promoted by Back Benchers. My irritation at that has been overwhelmed by going back and reading extracts of speeches and articles that he wrote. Fifty-five years ago, he was talking about the challenge of whether we should enter what was then the European Economic Community. He talked about a bigger issue of people living in an atmosphere of illusion or reality, and the unwillingness to address Britain’s position in the world. He spoke about a challenge of living in a sullen and incomprehensible environment in which people looked only to the past.
I fear that we are in that moment once again. People hanker for a past that did not really exist, and they look for certainties that are no longer there. They fear that politicians do not have answers to their questions, and they lash out at anyone near them. I think we must try in our own way across all three major political parties to provide answers that are credible. Nobody can underestimate the bewilderment, and no one should belittle the cry for help from our constituents, above all in a constituency such as mine.
People will be aware of the considerable tensions that have arisen after a large influx of people from Slovakia of a Roma background. They are fleeing unbelievable persecution and standards of living that are third world, to say the least. Incidentally, Slovakia managed a turnout of only 13% in the European Union election—I do not think that is a functioning democracy. People come to the UK from that background and those norms of living, and as part of the debate about British values and a society that can address those challenges, we need to invest in and help people through those difficulties. That applies to both the host community, which suddenly finds its way of life affected dramatically, and incomers who need to learn quickly how best to adapt to and adopt the standards of behaviour and norms that we take for granted.
Those big issues require us not to provide simplistic soundbites but to address the underlying complexities. This afternoon I appeal for us all to come together to address those things that are practical and can be addressed. In essence, we are dealing with the transitions of life—transitions that are brought about by economic, social and cultural change globally, and those that affect people in their daily lives as the language and the vista and nature of the community around them changes. We must consider how best the Government, and therefore politics, can assist in that endeavour.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) mentioned immigration, and the importance of getting a grip on things that are possible within the current powers of the Westminster Parliament. There are many pressures outside and many changes we all want, and people can collaborate and work together at local level. There are also global changes that need to be dealt with by a proper debate in a reformed European Union and on the transnational scene. As my right hon. Friend rightly said, many things that could be dealt with at a local as well as national level would assist. I want to touch on some of those today and suggest that in doing so, we might politically give people hope that not only will they be listened to, they will be talked to realistically, be respected, and be told the truth about what we can and cannot do.
For instance, it was never going to be feasible to get net migration below 100,000 unless, as has been pointed out, we rapidly changed the passport system and encouraged our own people to leave the country. We could achieve it that way but that is nonsense. We could never achieve net migration of under 100,000 unless we remove from the statistics those who come here to study as graduate and postgraduate students. The commonsense of doing that has been pressed on the Government over the past four years, and I think it would have got all-party support and told people the truth. If we do not tell people the truth, and if we pretend that we can achieve targets that are frankly unachievable, when we do not achieve those targets we undermine confidence in all the other measures that have been taken.
We have a tendency at the moment to rewrite history—I imagine there is nothing new about that. We all like to paint what we are doing as day zero, and that what came before as either inadequate or totally deniable.
Pete Wishart
I am one of the people who think that Labour got it just about right on immigration when they were in government. Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in not being bullied by the Tories and UKIP who want Labour to apologise? Labour should stand up for what it did because it did the right thing. Will it say to the Tories and UKIP, “We got it right on immigration and we will not be bullied out of our former position”?
Mr Blunkett
The truth is that we did not get it entirely right because no Government get everything entirely right. That is another part of rebuilding trust in the political system.
I mentioned day zero because the tendency to suggest that nothing that came before was satisfactory, adequate or even addressed the issues undermines fundamentally people’s belief that we know what we are doing, or that what happened in the past can be recorded as at least partially successful.
Mr Blunkett
I will give way but I first want to tell the House about Peter Kellner, the president of YouGov. Earlier this year he pointed out that if the five major retailers in this country acted like political parties, nobody would shop at Tesco, Asda or Morrisons ever again. Although they compete—and rightly make offers to people, as part of the market—they do not trash the idea of supermarkets. If they did, people would turn, as they do with UKIP, to the corner shop. I will give way before I go too far on the analogy between corner shops and Nigel Farage.
Mr Field
Perhaps if I represented a Scottish constituency I would hold the same view on immigration as the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart), given that very few of the newcomers wish to go to Scotland—they wish to settle elsewhere. Would my right hon. Friend accept that the ball is in the court of the vice-chancellors? They all have tough policies that students must pay outstanding fees before they get their degrees. If the vice-chancellors ran a similar system—refusing to award degrees until students fulfil their promise to go home—perhaps the Government would have a different attitude to the number of students coming here. It would not be a problem if they actually went home.
Mr Blunkett
There are all sorts of practical ways in which we could assist universities to ensure that people in those circumstances leave the country after graduating, such as the possibility of returning part of the fee. My right hon. Friend has strong and, I think, reasonable arguments to make on this issue, but I do not agree with him on some issues.
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)
The right hon. Gentleman mentioned targets and suggested that, in principle, they are not wrong, but that the Government’s target—of reducing net migration to tens of thousands—was wrong. I think he mentioned a figure of 100,000. If he agrees with targets in principle, but disagrees with the target set by the Government, what does he think is the right target for net migration?
Mr Blunkett
I did not actually say that I agreed with targets, but in one perverse way I do. The points system that I started to introduce before I left the Home Office at the end of 2004, and how it is used now to bring in the skills that we need from outside the European Union, are themselves targets, by the very nature of the way in which they are set, the advice that is taken from the independent commission and the way that we respond. Part of the difficulty that we have been debating—and it gets tangled up with the issue of whether we should be in or out of the European Union—is the nature of free movement.
Mark Pritchard
The Leader of the Opposition has apologised to the British people, who want to see net migration come down. It is not just the policy of the coalition Government: it is the British people who want to see net migration come down. Non-EU migration has come down. EU migration is still a challenge, and it is one that the Government will face as the Prime Minister renegotiates power back from Europe—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. The hon. Gentleman has been a Member for a long time and he knows that interventions are not an opportunity to make a speech—he can always add his name to the list—but are supposed to be brief.
Mr Blunkett
I mentioned a moment ago that there were things that we did not get right. For instance, we did not do anything like enough to work with host communities to prepare them for integration. We did not do enough to expand the gateway programme for entry into the UK under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which would have provided a sensible, planned process—as the small experiments we indulged in did achieve—for giving people the chance to escape from horrendous circumstances. I pay tribute to the Home Secretary for introducing the anti-slavery legislation, which builds on the modest progress we made 10 years ago, including the sexual offences legislation. It raises, of course, the issue that people face death and torture, organised criminality and slavery, and we need to deal with that. Expanding the gateway programme would have reduced the fear of a massive influx of asylum seekers. Incidentally, the number was reduced from 110,000 in 2002 to under 30,000 by the time I left the Home Office, and it is much lower today. The asylum issue was paramount in people’s minds 12 years ago, but now the issue is movement within the European Union.
Incidentally, before that, when we were not doing so well as an economy, British workers went to other parts of Europe. Those of us who are old enough—as my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) and I are—remember the television series, “Auf Wiedersehen, Pet” about British workers working in Germany. There is nothing new about this—the question is the volume, the flow, the preparations made and the measures taken. Some—indeed, all—of the measures outlined by my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford are reasonable, and we could add others.
First, we could include conditionality in relation to entitlement to benefits, toughening that entitlement substantially, and ensuring that people cannot draw benefits for family who live abroad, including child benefit. In 2007, I talked at length to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer about this, and his officials were adamant that proper checks were made—but I doubt it. We need clear, enforceable rules that give people confidence that we know what we are doing. We also need points systems and clarity about the need for particular skills; tough benefit rules; tough conditionality requirements; action to avoid exploitation, by working with employers to enforce the minimum wage; and action to ensure that people return to their country of origin if they do not find a job, because they are not holidaymakers or visitors. Those are all practical steps that all three major parties could support.
What would not be practical—and I say this honestly to some of my good friends with whom I agree on many other issues—is to withdraw the right of free movement. We could go back to the time we joined the European Union, or to 1958 and the treaty of Rome, and pretend that everything should have been different, but we are where we are. If we have freedom of movement, we should not prohibit people from working legally. If we did that, they would work in the sub-economy. They would be here, and they would undercut British workers, their conditions and their wages. In 2004, at a time of substantial economic growth and when we needed people to work—and the offer was on the table for young people in our country to gain the skills and take up the jobs—the vacancies were filled by people from what are now the central and eastern parts of the European Union, the E8 countries. We found that when we allowed—and I take total responsibility for this—people to register, work legally and pay tax and national insurance, 40% of them were already in the country. It is the same now for the Romanian and Bulgarian entry, which was not a calamity as people in UKIP predicted. Some of the people now working openly were in the country before January and had been to and fro from Bulgaria and Romania under the existing limited scheme.
We need to tell people the truth: there are things we can do and things we cannot do. There are targets that can be met and targets that are foolish. If we tell people the truth we might get their respect. The Office for National Statistics needs to be very careful in the assumptions it makes—I have had correspondence with Andrew Dilnot on this—from very dubious source evidence.
I am sorry to keep going back into history, but we have to learn from history rather than live in it. In 1968, Anthony Crosland, who was a very radical, free-thinking moderniser at the time, made a speech at a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference which was then written up into an article. In it, he said there was a real fear that by the year 2000 there would be a population explosion of between 15 million and 20 million. Between the census of 1971 and 2001, the actual uplift was 3.2 million.
I do not underestimate the bigger challenge that we face now, but I simply say to the House—one does not get this opportunity very often, Madam Deputy Speaker; in all the recent debates I have spoken in I have had between six and 10 minutes to speak, so forgive me—that we need to have a serious, open, non-partisan, non-knockabout debate on immigration, otherwise the issue will corrode people’s confidence in the political system. It will erode any kind of sensible debate on our future in Europe. It will undermine people’s belief that we can do things sensibly on their behalf and that we are listening to their cry for help; not patronising them by simply mouthing whatever it is that they want to hear, but suggesting practical measures we can carry through. If we do that, we might be able to calm the debate and deal with the issues thrown up in recent weeks. What are British values? What do we expect from people in our communities? What can we demand of people who come in from the rest of the European Union or the rest of the world in terms of their response to the norms of our society? Getting those questions right might do all of us a favour.
Above all, it might restore confidence in the democratic political process, which is so crucial to getting people to vote and to take seriously the one other thing that is offered to them—hope. At the moment, so many people in the most deprived parts of Britain, who are facing the most severe aspects of the austerity programme, lack hope. Above all, in the general election next year we must give people that aspiration and hope for the future. If we do that, they might respond with a belief in becoming engaged as active citizens and backing their party of choice by voting, and above all with a belief that democratic politics is something they want to espouse and support; that might come to fruition.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett). He said a number things that I agree with and made a number of points I disagree with. The idea that we should have a more sensible, rational debate is one I completely support. I cannot let go the comments made by the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field). The idea that we would say to students that they have to leave the country before they can graduate strikes me as profoundly damaging.
Dr Huppert
If the right hon. Gentleman would like to change what he is saying, I would be delighted to hear him clarify his remarks.
Mr Field
I will not change what I am saying, but I will say it more slowly and clearly so that the hon. Gentleman actually understands it. My right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) suggested that one way to modify the immigration figures is to take students out of them. One of the problems with doing that is that we have a large number of students coming here. They say they wish to study here, but continue to stay here and work. The change I would like to see is to challenge vice-chancellors to have as many students as they want, provided they undertake, on behalf of the Home Secretary, to ensure that those students fulfil their promise to come here, graduate and leave. The universities do—
Madam Deputy Speaker
Order. I am not having interventions that are speeches. Interventions are exactly that, and I think the right hon. Gentleman has got his point across.
Madam Deputy Speaker
He spoke at a reasonable speed; there were just too many words.
Dr Huppert
I understand what the right hon. Gentleman is saying and I continue to disagree with what he suggests. One issue he raises, on whether students would have to leave before they graduate, concerns the process of graduation. There is also the question of post-study work visas, which are incredibly valuable. If he talks to the vice-chancellors of Cambridge university and Anglia Ruskin university—two universities in my constituency—he will hear that there is demand. We want people to come here; it makes sense. Once we have trained some of the brightest and best people here, we want them to contribute to the economy. We want them to set up companies that will employ people here locally. I have to say that what he suggests would be incredibly damaging to the economy in my constituency and in many other areas. I hope that is not somewhere we will go.
There are issues around immigration, and huge issues around the rhetoric used. There is far too much negative rhetoric that is, frankly, xenophobic. That is something we have to try to avoid. It has no place in the discussions we are having.
We benefit massively from immigration. We benefit financially—there is a lot of evidence of that—and culturally and socially. It is a good thing for us to do. There are, however, associated downsides and the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough was absolutely right to highlight them. The solution is to try to fix those problems. Where people coming in means that we run out of school places, the correct solution is not to throw people out of the country, but to create school places so they can be educated and to make sure there is housing. The correct solution is to deal with the problems. The right hon. Gentleman is right to say—many people have pointed it out—that there are problems with the violation of the national minimum wage. That is why we should ensure that people are paid the national minimum wage and why the Government have acted. We have just had the first naming and shaming of people who have been failing to pay it. Immigration is a good thing and we should tackle the problems associated with it.
It frustrates me that so many people are following the concerns raised by UKIP and trying to tack towards them. That is self-defeating. The more that Conservative and Labour politicians chase the UKIP line, the stronger UKIP becomes, because that tells people that it is even stronger.
Mr Stewart Jackson
Does the hon. Gentleman agree—he probably does not—or concede that he sounds terribly out of touch, given that 77% of the public say that immigration is a huge problem? His arguments would carry more conviction if he were prepared even to look at the free movement directive. I have some sympathy with him on non-EU migration, particularly in the higher education sector, but he cannot have it both ways. People want immigration to be reduced, so he must look at—
Madam Deputy Speaker
Order. We have got the point. I am going to keep on saying this: interventions are not speeches. The hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) is waiting patiently to make his speech.
Dr Huppert
I think it unlikely that the hon. Gentleman and I will ever reach agreement on this issue—we certainly have not yet. There are concerns but we have to fix the problems it causes, not attack the fundamental basis. The hon. Gentleman can have a look at studies—I do not have the reference immediately to hand—by University College London, for example, that show the fiscal benefits from EU migration. The trend is badly wrong and is being followed by far too many people.
Mark Pritchard
The hon. Gentleman is an academic; he deals in facts. He mentions tacking to the right because of UKIP. Is it not a fact that there was a manifesto commitment by the Conservative party to reduce net migration to tens of thousands? That was in 2010 when UKIP was at 3% in the national poll. It is now at 12%. I am afraid the facts do not bear out his comments.
Dr Huppert
The hon. Gentleman is correct on that point: it is true that the Conservative party had a commitment to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands. I did not think that that was a good idea at the time. It is very hard to see how it can be implemented. Part of the problem is that the only way to implement it—the Select Committee on Home Affairs has criticised this specifically —is to adjust some of the measures until we see very disproportionate changes in some areas. He is right that the Conservatives have been consistent. We saw a larger number of Conservative Members signing amendments to try to stop Romanians and Bulgarians coming into the country than we saw Romanians and Bulgarians flooding into the country, which seems to be the wrong way around.
It is not just Conservatives. I was interested to see that even the National Union of Students specifically passed a motion that called on the Labour party to stop pandering to “anti-migrant politics.” That is something I hope the Labour party will live up to.
I was not planning to spend all my time talking about migration because I wanted to talk more broadly about the Queen’s Speech and where we are four years into this Government. The Government started in a difficult position. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough was keen to say that the finances were not the fault of the last Government. We can have that interesting discussion, but there is no doubt that in 2010, this country was in a difficult situation. One pound in every £4 the Government spent had to be borrowed. Whether we accept the right hon. Gentleman’s case that everything was fantastic and it was just unfortunate, or whether we take the view that it was in some sense the fault of the Labour Government over 13 years, it was a difficult time. I would not have chosen the first opportunity for my party to be in government to be at a time when, as the former Chief Secretary said, there was no money left.
Where are we now? We see a growing economy with unemployment substantially reduced. In my constituency, unemployment has gone down by some 40%. I welcome that; more people in employment, and in full-time employment. That is a great success and there are successes in other areas, such as renewable energy. Relevant to home affairs, the main subject for today, crime is down consistently. I welcome that. Every year that we debate police funding there has been a suggestion that crime is about to start shooting upwards. Every year it continues to go down.
We have made some progress on something very dear to my heart: civil liberties. That was what got me involved in politics. Before I came here, I was on the national council of Liberty. We have dealt with the Government’s storing of the DNA of innocent people on central databases. We have got rid of authoritarian identity cards. It is a great pleasure to see the Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims in his place. The first Bill from the Government passed by the House got rid of identity cards, which were expensive, intrusive and unnecessary. [Interruption.] We see that the Labour party continues to want to bring in identity cards at great expense. It is a shame, as the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) said, that the only thing Labour has apologised for is their immigration policy and not many other measures.
We have got rid of control orders and the idea of internal exile without trial. Even yesterday, however, we heard the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden) complaining that the Government have stopped people being exiled inside this country without having a trial. We have improved libel laws, provided same-sex marriage and ended child detention as a standard thing for immigration purposes, putting that into law recently. We have ended discrimination against illegitimate children who used not to be able to inherit their citizenship if they were unfortunate enough to have been born too early. We have done many things. But there is more still to do. I look forward to doing much of it.
The right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), in her address on the Gracious Speech, said that the Conservatives had been held back by their coalition partners. I am very proud that we have stopped many things where we have disagreed. There are a number of things that we have simply not allowed to happen: for-profit schools; firing at will; the removal of housing benefit from the under-25s. There are a number of things that we have stopped.
However, it is not just a question of the things the Conservatives have been prevented from doing. There are things we have done, and things we would like to do that we have been prevented from doing because of the Conservatives. These include the mansion tax, to make sure that the richer in society pay more towards our finances, electoral reform and House of Lords reform. They also include getting more housing built, and environmental measures have been blocked. On reviewing surveillance post-Snowden, we have seen very little movement from the Home Office; indeed, we have no idea what the status is of the data retention directive rules. We would like to go further: to strengthen the Information Commissioner’s office and extend freedom of information. We want to have more evidence-informed policy so that when the expert advisers to the Government say that something is inappropriate and disproportionate, we do not see the Conservative party interpreting that to mean that it should go ahead with it or, indeed, the Labour party backing it. There is much more that we would like to do.
But there is good stuff coming. There is very good stuff in the Queen’s Speech where we have been able to agree and show that coalitions can work, and that two very different parties can find areas on which we agree.
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman’s flow as he sets out all the things that he thinks are so good. Perhaps he could say when the Government are going to do something about the fact that most people in poverty now are in work. Perhaps he will say something about people affected by the bedroom tax and by having to pay council tax for the very first time, or about the thousands and thousands of people who as a result of his Government’s policies are having to rely on food banks. How proud does he feel of those?
Dr Huppert
I do not in any sense think that the economy is in a perfect place. The hon. Lady did not mention the fact that the last Government tried to suppress people getting help from food banks. I am very pleased that there are food banks to help people. The problem is not people getting help from food banks; it is people who are unable to get help from food banks because they do not know about them or because there is not a food bank available for them. The hon. Lady should have a look at why it was that under the last Government, whom she presumably supported for 13 years, inequality increased. Why did the richest pay less of the share of taxation? This Government have changed that. Why did unemployment go up under the last Government? I have a lot of sympathy for many of the stated aims of the Labour party on equality, but the problem is that they simply did not deliver it.
Let me return to the Queen’s Speech, which contained very good things. There was a shared agreement that we needed to do much more to help small businesses to thrive, something which we can agree will make a big difference. Small businesses make a huge difference to our economy, and will build our prosperity. I have been working hard on issues to do with local independent shops in particular, and this will be very helpful.
I am particularly pleased by the announcement on pub reform, which will make a big difference to people who have tied pubs across England and Wales. It is a great tribute to the fantastic work by a number of people who have campaigned. The statutory code and the independent adjudicator will make a big difference to keeping pubs open. My constituents have been able to open pubs again. We have been praised by everybody from the Campaign for Real Ale to the Labour shadow Minister for our work to try to save pubs. This will help us to do it.
We are also helping people who have any sort of income to be able to spend money in those pubs, businesses or anywhere else by increasing the personal allowance to £10,500. That is 26.6 million people who have had their income tax cut, making them better off and allowing those on low incomes to pay no income tax at all. The hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) prompts me to point out that the last Government increased the tax on the very low-paid when they got rid of the 10p tax rate; they doubled the tax rate paid by some of the lowest earners. I am proud that we have reduced it instead. That is a much fairer and more progressive system, and I am proud that somebody on £10,000 a year will not pay anything. I am proud that we managed to persuade the Prime Minister, who originally opposed it, to go ahead with the proposal.
We are also making a difference on apprenticeships, something my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills is very proud of. We should aim—this is a shared aspiration—for 2 million apprentices by the end of the Parliament. In my constituency I am seeing the difference that that is making, with the fantastic Cambridge regional college now having something like 5,000 apprentices studying. I have gone to see many of them to see how much of a difference it makes to their lives. It is helping them to get on.
Dr Huppert
If the hon. Gentleman would like to congratulate my regional college, he is very welcome to do so.
Michael Connarty
I would congratulate anyone who introduced proper apprenticeships, particularly the 5,000 in his constituency. How many of those people are doing three-year courses that will be recognised by City and Guilds to make them tradesmen, which we are very short of? How many are bogus apprenticeships with people doing short-term courses that are basically work experience?
Dr Huppert
I am very sorry to hear the hon. Gentleman attack these people. I look forward to his meeting some of the apprentices he thinks are bogus. He can come to see them and the programmes that they think are making a difference in enabling them to get training, to set up their own businesses and to make money, and tell them that he thinks what they are doing is bogus. I do not have the exact number of how many apprenticeships are for three years. I am sure that he can find out, but I find it depressing that he is so obsessed with attacking what the Government are doing about apprentices that he will attack the people who are making something of their lives by doing apprenticeships. Unfortunately we saw for many years—this predates the last Government—that apprenticeships and vocational education were simply not given the importance and standing they deserve. That is something we absolutely have to change.
Let me move on to some of the Home Office Bills. We have a Serious Crime Bill. Serious crime costs us something like £24 billion a year, so it is essential that we make more progress in dealing with it. We have huge problems with our confiscation legislation. Matrix Chambers has said:
“The confiscation legislation of the United Kingdom is complex and difficult to construe.”
That is absolutely right. We should be making sure that we can recover more money. That has been a weak link for a long time.
It is right to clarify the Children and Young Persons Act 1933—something for which Liberal Democrat Members including my hon. Friends the Members for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) and for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) have long campaigned—to make it clear that emotional cruelty that is likely to cause psychological harm to a child should be an offence. The current law on neglect is outdated and goes back to Victorian times. It is right to transform it.
Extending FGM-related offences to acts done outside the UK by UK nationals and residents is also very much welcome. My hon. Friends the Under-Secretary of State for International Development and the Minister for Crime Prevention have been working very hard on this issue. We should finally take action on female genital mutilation.
We also see progress on a sensible drugs policy aimed at reducing harm, which should be our aim for all of what we are trying to do through our drugs policy. We see decisive action on trying to deal with the cutting agent. A huge amount of the harm caused by illegal substances is, in fact, caused by the cutting agent with which they are mixed. By taking action against them, we will make a difference to people’s lives and stop the harm. I hope we can go even further. I am looking forward to the international comparative study on drugs policy and on new psychoactive substances, on which my hon. Friend the Minister for Crime Prevention is also working hard. We should do what works, and what will reduce the harm caused to thousands of people around the country—not do just what sounds as though it is tough. We need to do things that actually make a difference.
That is also the case with modern-day slavery, on which I hope we will see cross-party agreement. We are definitely not dealing well enough with trafficking at the moment; we have to get it right. UNICEF estimates that something like 10 children a week are being trafficked into the UK, which is simply unacceptable. It is right that the Government face scrutiny by the Joint Committee. I wish all Bills could go through a proper scrutiny process because I think this House is at its best when it discusses things rationally, rather than there being two sides having a row.
I was pleased that there were various things we did not see in the Queen’s Speech. We did not see another immigration Bill. We have already had some discussion of this, but immigration, like many issues, is not always about passing more legislation; it is about getting things right. To my mind, the biggest problems surrounding immigration are not about our laws; they are about whether the right decisions are made—by what used to be the Border Agency, but is now back in the Home Office—correctly and promptly. Bringing back exit checks will, I think, make more difference to public certainty and the control of our borders than any piece of legislation we could propose in this area.
There is much more I could say about data retention directives and cybercrime, but I would like to raise one issue about which I have been concerned. I have spoken to a number of colleagues about it—my hon. Friends and also, for example, the hon. Member for Guildford (Anne Milton). I was approached by someone about the issue of revenge porn, which is happening more and more often. People take naked or indecent images of partners and then, once the relationship ends, they share them online, publishing them very widely—to the great mental torment of the people concerned. It is mostly but not always women who have agreed to have an explicit photo taken, but never agreed for it to be broadcast to all and sundry on the web as a means of revenge. It destroys people’s lives because of the psychological effect, the shame and the great humiliation caused when these images can be seen by anyone. The problem is getting worse, as Women’s Aid, the National Stalking Helpline, UK Safer Internet Centre and everybody increasingly accept.
Talking recently to a constituent of the hon. Member for Guildford, I was shocked to discover that there is currently no sanction to deal with this problem. At the moment it is not a criminal offence to share the image because the photo was taken legitimately. Consent was given for the photo or the film, but not for it to be shared. Typically, the problem is not covered under the harassment legislation, which requires something to have happened more than once, but once the image has been published online, it is broadcast for ever more. Reputable websites will take down these images when asked, but the person involved has to ask each website to do so, and for that to happen they normally have to prove that it is them in the photo, which means going through the rather humiliating process of taking a photo of oneself with a sign and sending it off. That makes the whole process much worse.
I do not often call for new criminal sanctions—it is not my natural style. In this case, however, I think we need to make a criminal sanction available when people share indecent images in the knowledge that consent would not have been given. I hope that the House will look further at this. It will need careful work to get the details right, ensuring that we do not accidentally criminalise activities that should be allowed, but we do need to take action in this area.
It will be an interesting year. I do not think this Parliament is over. If it focuses on scrutinising what is happening and ensuring that we look carefully at legislation rather than rushing it through in an effort to pass more and more Bills, that would be helpful. Over the last four years, we have contributed to a more liberal and fairer Britain, but there is much more to do. Some of it will happen this year; some of it will happen in later years.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. It would be advisable for Members to aim to deliver their speeches in between 10 and a maximum of 15 minutes, including interventions; otherwise, all the Members who wish to speak will not be able to. If everyone speaks for 20 minutes or more, there will simply not be enough time. I am not going to impose a time limit, but I hope Members will be respectful of each other and ensure that we move on comfortably to the winding-up speeches.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
First, it is a pleasure to contribute so early on to today’s debate. One of my favourite events at Westminster is without doubt the opening of Parliament and the Queen’s Speech. Many of my constituents tell me the same thing. There are some things in this world that no one can do as well as we British can. When I say that, I very much have in mind the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It reinforces what a privilege it is to be a Member of this House.
I welcome the proposals put forward by Her Majesty’s Government, and I anticipate their execution in the coming year. While many positive steps have been taken to improve the situation of the hard-working people of this country, I cannot help but point out where some policies are conspicuously absent or lacking punch. I will pose some questions in my contribution.
Reports from some medical analysts have shown that the health service faces a bill of an extra £1 billion every year to treat immigrants and asylum seekers. Analysis by Migration Watch UK has found that the cost to the NHS of treating new arrivals with AIDS alone threatens to amount to some £900 million a year. What do the Government intend to do to cut this exorbitant drain on taxpayers’ money by those who are not entitled to free health care and should be paying into the system? What proposals do the Government have to put a halt to the increasing trend of health tourism? Perhaps the Minister could outline in his reply what discussions have been held with his counterparts in the Department of Health to ascertain how the outstanding bills can be paid.
The Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr Clare Gerada, has expressed similar concerns about the Health Secretary’s initiative, saying doctors
“must not be the Border Agency”,
and she is right. The Border Agency must be the Border Agency, and the health service must be the health service. The question she poses is how the policy can be enforced. Perhaps the Government will give us some indication of that. What measures, for instance, do the Government have in mind not just to limit health tourism but to retrieve the money spent by the NHS on immigrants not entitled to our free medical care, while not placing an extra burden on our hard-working health workers? Have the Government considered stricter visa applications for those with pre-existing medical conditions, or the reintroduction of embarkation checks to pick up patients leaving with a debt to the NHS? Those are just two steps that could have been taken to address the problem. We must not, of course, create an atmosphere detrimental to our openness to foreign business or hard-working legal immigrants, but we cannot allow the abuse of the system to continue.
Let me provide an example from Northern Ireland, whose Health Minister Edwin Poots has done a fantastic job in alerting the Government to the problems of health tourism in our Province. His findings, which have been reported on “ConservativeHome”, show that up to 80,000 more people could be registered to use the NHS in Northern Ireland than actually live in the Province. Is that possible? If those statistics are true for Northern Ireland—and they are—we clearly have a much greater problem when it comes to the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. What steps will the Government take to address this issue? In Northern Ireland alone, this has the potential to cost the NHS some £250 million.
What do the Government intend to do to prevent citizens from the Republic of Ireland, for instance, travelling to the north of Ireland to use the NHS for free? Are rules and regulations in place? Can this be stopped? Has the Home Office reconsidered the border issue with the Republic, which has numerous facets—not simply health tourism, but education and smuggling?
The Chairman of the Committee for Education in Stormont, Mr Mervyn Storey, has drawn attention to the issue of those who take advantage of the education system without making any contribution to it through their tax or employment. He has expressed his concern about how much this education and health provision to immigrants is costing Northern Ireland.
Nor is it only in Northern Ireland that the education system is being exploited by poorly regulated immigration. Education is one of the most important public services provided by the Government, and it costs the UK over £88 billion a year. Not only are illegal immigrants taking advantage of our primary and secondary education, but Migration Watch UK has highlighted how thousands of foreign students are not leaving once their education visas for university expire. In her first major speech on immigration, the Home Secretary committed herself to restoring faith in the immigration system, but—as some Members have already said, and as others will probably say later—the level of net migration remains unacceptably high. According to MigrationWatch UK, £5 billion was spent on the education of immigrants in 2009. What plans have the Government to prevent immigrants from coming to our country to avail themselves of our world-leading education system and then leaving?
An even more worrying statistic comes from the National Audit Office, which has found that 50,000 bogus students came to the United Kingdom in 2012. By “bogus students”, I mean immigrants who apply for UK student visas but come here to work rather than to study. While praising the efforts of the Home Office, which has closed 600 bogus colleges, I must ask what further measures are being taken to ensure that immigrants who have no intention of studying cannot abuse our visa system, and to track down further bogus colleges. Students are currently departing at a third of the rate at which they are arriving: for every 100 who come here, 66 stay and 33 return.
I welcome the Government’s pledge to introduce a modern slavery and human trafficking Bill. A similar Bill was introduced in Northern Ireland by Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley, and provides a sterling example of how seriously the issue of human trafficking needs to be taken. I respect what the Home Secretary said earlier about how she intends to deal with it, and we will take an honest approach to any measure that the Government introduce. I believe that if it is anything like our Bill in Northern Ireland, which is very specific, it will go a long way towards addressing these matters.
I particularly welcome the clauses in the Bill that will give better protection to child victims, but I feel that more could be done. I think it imperative to ensure that children are fully protected, and that the Bill should have referred explicitly to all the most common possible forms of child trafficking and exploitation. The EU trafficking directive sets out the issues for us. I intervened on the Secretary of State earlier to ask about the prohibition of child exploitation, which is often not recognised by the judiciary. I think it crucial for the Bill to make it clear that children do not need to be coerced or deceived, or to have violence used against them, to be victims of trafficking as set out in internationally agreed definitions. There are definitions throughout Europe, and indeed throughout the world, which we can use as guidelines.
While the provision of personal advocates for trafficked children is welcome, I feel that the Government could do more to protect victims by legislating for all unaccompanied and separated migrant children to have access to independent legal guardians. Language and cultural barriers mean that separated migrant children are less likely to be aware of, and know how to access, their rights as children. Access to guardians could make the position much more acceptable, and could make it easier to help those who need help most at the time when they need it.
I was pleased to note that the Government would introduce a Serious Crime Bill. It is particularly pleasing that the Bill includes a clarification of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 to make it explicit that emotional cruelty which is likely to cause psychological harm to a child is an offence. Our current law on neglect is shamefully outdated and inadequate. Embarrassingly, the United Kingdom is one of the only countries in the world that fails to recognise emotional neglect as the crime that it is. Do the Government intend to remedy our country’s shortcomings swiftly and satisfactorily? I hope that the answer will be yes, but how will that happen? The current legislation states ambiguously that cruelty to a child must be “wilful” to be considered a criminal offence. Will the Government ensure that neglect is not too narrowly defined, and replace “wilful” with “intentional”?
While the Serious Crime Bill recognises emotional neglect as a criminal offence, I urge the Government to take further steps to provide earlier and more effective interventions for neglected young people, and to secure the prevention of neglect in general. I should also like to know what steps the Government have in mind to ensure that adolescents who have experienced neglect are adequately supported, and enabled to overcome their earlier experiences and become successful adults.
The issue of borders between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has highlighted a surge in the number of people who fly to the Republic, cross the border into Northern Ireland, and then take the boat to Scotland carrying cigarettes and other untaxed goods that rob customs, and hence the taxpayer. Last week my hon. Friend the Member for South Antrim (Dr McCrea) commented on the loss to the Exchequer of as much as £100 million as a result of that border issue. Perhaps the Minister will tell us what steps are being taken to deal with that.
This is not strictly relevant to today’s debate, but I welcome the Government’s commitment to dealing with the issue of plastic bags. Northern Ireland has been very successful in that regard. The Executive has given £6 million to the Department of the Environment for various projects, and plastic bag use has declined by 80%. That is another example of what happens when good proposals are implemented.
However, I was disappointed by the lack of proposals to implement the Government’s promises of legislation for plain packaging for cigarettes, a subject that arose during Health questions today. There is clear evidence that such a move would greatly help the fight against cancer, and would reduce the number of children who take up smoking—an issue about which I feel very strongly. I do not pose this question directly to the Minister, but I should like it to be recorded in Hansard: why are the Government dragging their heels? I hope that a fear of the tobacco industry has not got the better of them.
I should also like to know what plans the Government have to regulate the new e-cigarette industry. That is an issue that arises every day, and we feel some concern about it. The new product has not yet been subjected to the rigorous tests undergone by other approved nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gum, which could ensure its safety and effectiveness. An estimated 2.1 million adults in Great Britain use electronic cigarettes. We need regulation, and we need the product to be tested.
I must observe the time limit that you suggested, Madam Deputy Speaker, so that others will have an opportunity to speak. I am anxious for well-deserved praise to be given to the Government for measures such as the solidification of the married tax allowance, which my party has supported along with the Conservative party, but I must also emphasise that much more can and must be accomplished during the coming year.
Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)
The debate has been very interesting so far. In my speech, I shall take up the theme of immigration, which I think has been the central issue today. Let me say first, however, that I do not consider this to be a zombie Parliament. I think that some very important pieces of legislation are being introduced. There are some with which I do not agree and for which I will not vote—such as the recall Bill, which undermines parliamentary sovereignty—but others are fantastically important, such as the Serious Crime and Modern Slavery Bills.
I am inordinately proud of this Government’s achievements, in view of the very difficult financial inheritance and legacy that we were left by the last Government. That was touched on by my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert). We are building a sustainable economy, and moving 5 million people from out-of-work benefits into meaningful work. In my opinion, the fact that more than 1,000 people in my constituency were parked on incapacity benefit in 2010 constitutes a badge of shame. We are now developing university technical colleges for technical and vocational education, all over the country. We are opening new free schools and academies, and creating new apprenticeship programmes.
Mr Jackson
They are not bogus, as my hon. Friend said. I think it unfortunate that the hon. Gentleman should denigrate young people who are, in good faith, seeking to improve their life chances and skills by taking worthwhile courses. If he can suggest any alternative, let him do so, but in 13 years the Labour party did very little to tackle the issues. It was happy to leave thousands, if not millions, of young people innumerate and illiterate when they left secondary school, and primary school, too.
We are focusing on infrastructure; we are reforming welfare; and we are reducing the deficit, which is the major imperative for the nation. I pay tribute to the Liberal Democrats for being far-sighted enough to join us in our efforts to do what was right for our country and our constituents, rather than aiming for short-term, partisan party advantage.
Listening to the shadow Home Secretary’s speech was a pitiful experience. Rolling out examples of Passport Office failures does not speak of a party which, in 11 months’ time, will seek to govern this country. It is bandwagon jumping, and it is pitiful that it does not have a more coherent home affairs programme to put before the House, not least because it is the party that told us 15,000 Polish people would come to the UK after 2004, and it was only out by a factor of about 100. It completely underestimated the numbers that were coming to this country. It is the party that is not believed on immigration. Some 77% of people say that it is a very important concern to them, and the only reason the Labour party is interested in it now is because of the election results in places like Doncaster and elsewhere across the country, where its own core blue-collar, working-class vote does not believe it and does not believe that it has the solutions to deal, long term in a sustainable way, with the problem that it created when in government, which was open-door, unrestricted, unfettered immigration. Incidentally, we will not take any lectures from a party that lost both a Minister of State and a Home Secretary because of its cack-handed mismanagement of the immigration system when it was last in government.
I am not wholly critical of the Labour party, however, because we heard a very considered, erudite and typically thoughtful speech from the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett). He touched on an important point. The issue of immigration can be almost directly linked to a feeling of a crisis of authority and to the estrangement of ordinary people—voters who are not that interested in the minutiae of politics—and the lack of faith and trust that they have in the political system. That is a function of the European Union and of how distant and unaccountable it is, but it is also a function of the fact that they do not believe in the institutions of our country to get things done in a timely way that affects their lives for the better. The right hon. Gentleman was right to make that point.
The Government have done a good job in very difficult circumstances. They were right to concentrate on reducing the net migration figure as a policy priority. I hope they achieve that, and at least they are trying. Interestingly, when the shadow Home Secretary was grilled by John Humphrys on the “Today” programme a few weeks ago, she was big on motherhood and apple pie, saying we should reduce immigration, but she was not specific on whether Labour would adhere to any target number. It is incumbent upon a responsible Opposition to offer proper alternatives, and she was somewhat remiss in that respect.
We have clamped down on bogus colleges; we are doing something about health tourism; and we are also looking at access to benefits, English language skills and the income earnings threshold—all policy issues that could have been looked at and acted upon in the previous Parliament.
I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field). He has been largely a lonely voice over a number of years in voicing these issues. Some people came close in the past to as good as calling him and others xenophobic or racist for doing so, but he has been proved right. It is important that we have a proper, balanced and reasonable debate on the level—the unprecedented scale—of migration. Between 2004 and 2011, 34,000 people came to my constituency and were granted national insurance numbers. In two schools in my constituency no children speak English as their first language, and there are over 40 schools where the rate is well over 50%. That is an issue of resources and resource allocation, and it is very important. It is nothing to do with xenophobia or racism. It is about keeping the bargain of trust and faith with our constituents.
That brings me on to my European Union Free Movement Directive 2004 (Disapplication) Bill, a ten-minute rule Bill that I put to the House in October 2012. I think that in many respects I was ahead of my time. I will put my cards on the table: I am a member of Better off Out and I will campaign actively to leave the EU, but I will respect whatever decision the British people take when we have a referendum under a majority Conservative Government in 2017. However, I respectfully say to the Government that they need to look at what I was proposing in that Bill 18 months or so ago, which was not to rip up the free movement directive. It is not a tablet of stone; it is not a holy grail. It is a piece of living European law. The Spanish looked at registration controls—registration when people entered the country, when they changed jobs, when they married, when they had children—as a way of reducing the pull factor, and we should be looking at that, too, complementing and building on the announcements we have already made and the regulations we have laid on matters such as welfare tourism and access to social housing.
I ask the Prime Minister to look at that again and perhaps to introduce further regulations that finesse and nuance the free movement directive, not because we are xenophobic—not because we do not want decent, hard-working Polish citizens, Lithuanians and people from the Czech Republic coming to our country, contributing and adding to the variety and diversity of the country—but because many of the people we represent are concerned about large-scale immigration and the length of time that it has been going on.
Pete Wishart
I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern about inward migration, but does he have any concerns about outward migration? Should there be a limit on the number of UK people who go to Spain for a happy and contented retirement?
Mr Jackson
That is a fair question, but many of them are older and are very unlikely to need to go to accident and emergency or their maternity unit. Many of them are unlikely to be putting their grandchildren in primary schools, too. There is a balance to be struck between the use of public services and the resources needed.
I accept that the hon. Gentleman might have touched on an important issue in that there are hot spots in respect of such demands, however. In my constituency we have food processing, agriculture, horticulture, packaging and logistics, and younger people will come over with their partners and have children and there will be a big strain on schools, but I accept that might not be the case in the west country or the south of England. It will only be the case in hot spots. One of the things that the Government need to do is reboot the migration impact forum, specifically to assist local authorities. One issue is the number of children who come into a school but are gone at the end of the academic year, for instance. The Government need to look at this.
The Government also need to ensure that everyone who comes to this country is properly exercising their treaty obligations. That is all we are asking. We need to do some work on contributory pensions with the Germans and other key partners.
Mark Pritchard
Is it not clear today that, should there be a breakaway Scotland, it would have to endure uncontrolled immigration while England, post a renegotiation with Europe under the Prime Minister, would have controlled immigration?
Mr Jackson
My hon. Friend makes a pertinent point, although it is a hypothetical situation, as I think the people of Scotland are sensible enough to vote the right way on 18 September and reject the narrow chauvinistic nationalism of the Scottish National party. They know which side their bread is buttered on, and they will remain part of our great United Kingdom.
I strongly welcome the Modern Slavery Bill. We in Peterborough and the fens have seen some very unpleasant, distressing and nasty cases of modern slavery around agriculture and horticulture. We have seen the ghastly conditions some people have been forced to live in, the way they have been physically maltreated and assaulted, the way they have been lied to and traduced and cajoled into a terrible lifestyle—a twilight world of abuse—by some pretty unscrupulous criminal gangs. One of the enduring legacies of our Government, which we will proudly defend our record on next May, is this Modern Slavery Bill, because we believe politics is in many respects a moral imperative, and, for us, if we rescue even one person from this ghastly twilight world, we will have succeeded.
I therefore think it is right that we are targeting individuals, but we need to look at the poor conditions that some of those individuals are housed in, too. We need to look at section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which some local authorities are using to tidy up neighbourhoods that are affected by these slum houses.
I pay tribute to Anthony Steen, the former Member for Totnes, for the fantastic work that he has done over the years. He was leading, encouraging and proselytising on this issue eight years ago, before it became fashionable. He has done a great job, and I hope that the Bill will be a testament to him. We have made good progress in this area, but there is more to do. The watchwords of the legislation should be “tough but fair”. We need better collaborative working with other European Union countries and better inter-agency working. The Bill represents an excellent start, and the Ministers involved should be very proud of their efforts.
Jim Dowd (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)
I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson), as we are both alumni of the London Nautical school, albeit a few years apart. I leave it to Members to judge what has happened to the educational standards there since I left, but it is a pleasure to follow him. This is the first time that I, like my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett), have spoken in the Chamber in the past couple of years in a debate without a time limit on Back-Bench speeches. Nevertheless, Madam Deputy Speaker, I am aware of your exhortation and I shall attempt to be as brief as I can.
I am not sure whether this Queen’s Speech is the final act of this Government or the epilogue. It is patently clear that it is not designed for a full Session of Parliament; it is not a full programme at all. Given the provisions for five-year Parliaments, this Parliament will be dissolved at the end of March, so this is a programme for little more than nine months, including the times when the House is in recess.
The Queen’s Speech contains some welcome measures—I cannot think of any Queen’s Speech introduced by any Government that did not contain some welcome measures—although the devil will be in the detail, and more information needs to be obtained. The Modern Slavery Bill, which the Home Secretary and others have mentioned, commands universal support across the House, and we can only hope that it will have the desired effect.
The measures relating to child care costs will also be welcome, provided they do not merely translate into increased prices from the providers of child care, as has been the case in the past. I also welcome the further reforms to pensions, although we should tread warily, given the history of mis-selling of pension products once that market had been liberalised. I also note that the Government intend to introduce a more collective approach to pensions, along the lines of the system currently operating in the Netherlands. My understanding, however, is that the Netherlands Government are considering changing their scheme. We must also bear in mind the fact that the contributors to that scheme pay substantially more than people in this country are used to contributing to their pensions. None the less, I am sure that we can make progress in that regard.
Other measures are more contentious, even though this Queen’s Speech is very thin. The infrastructure Bill will contain measures on fracking, and the Government are engaged in a three-month consultation period on that at the moment. There are those who are opposed to fossil fuels, full stop, and who would never accept the case for fracking, even if it were totally safe for the environment and for residents. However, there is always a conflict in which the broader national interest is set against legitimate local concerns. Everyone will be keen to see the results of the Government’s consultation.
Further controversy might arise over the proposed levy on plastic carrier bags, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said. I would have thought that such a proposal would have registered as one of Lynton Crosby’s barnacles, yet it still seems to be in the Queen’s Speech. We must assess the environmental impact of 7 billion bags being used each year. If the Bill’s objective is achieved, I am not sure who will get the income from the levy. I suspect that it will simply save the supermarkets an awful lot of money and increase their sales of bin-liners, because that is what most people use their plastic carrier bags for, but we shall have to wait and see how events unfold.
Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)
It was a delight to hear Her Majesty say the words “plastic carrier bags”, but I am sure that that is not the reason why they were put into the Queen’s Speech. Money will be raised from the levy initially, although I believe that it will deter people from using such bags in the longer term. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this will provide the supermarkets with an opportunity to direct that money towards some kind of social networking or community action groups within their areas, in order to support local communities?
Jim Dowd
The charitable and philanthropic activities of the supermarkets are of course to be welcomed wherever they occur; most supermarkets have community schemes of some kind. There is a paradox involved, however. If the aim of this tax, levy or cost—whatever we care to call it—is to reduce demand, very little income will be generated by it. I was as amazed as everyone else to hear Her Majesty utter the words “plastic carrier bags”, as I am not sure how often she comes across such things, but it was not clear whether the objective of the measure is to depress demand or to raise revenue. We will discover from the details whether it will be beneficial. I openly confess that the first job I ever had was in my local supermarket. In those days, we had nothing so glamorous as plastic carrier bags. We had brown paper bags with handles that almost invariably came off when anyone put more than a couple of tins of beans in them.
The hon. Member for Peterborough mentioned the proposed recall provisions—the so-called recall provisions. I think they are inadequate; they do not command a wide degree of public trust. I have also seen early-day motion 25, tabled by the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), and that does not make much sense either, even though he is a stern critic of the Government’s proposals. Far more consideration needs to be given to this matter. We need to reach a conclusion that will be workable and viable, and that will command public support.
I am deeply disappointed by the absence of one measure from the Queen’s Speech, despite a previous indication from the Prime Minister that it would be included. The absence of a commitment to ban the use of wild animals in circuses is extremely disappointing, especially as the Prime Minister pledged that action would be taken when he met a delegation from various animal welfare charities in April this year. This measure might well be one of Lynton Crosby’s barnacles that the Government have rejected, but it is undeniably extremely popular with the public and I cannot understand why the Government do not just introduce this simple measure, given that it has such widespread public support.
In the light of that, I have today tabled the following early-day motion:
“That this House is deeply disappointed that the Gracious Speech did not contain measures to ban the use of wild animals in circuses, despite repeated pledges from Ministers that action would be taken; notes that since the House of Commons voted unanimously in favour of a ban in 2011 big cats have returned to Britain and is concerned that the continued delay may lead to other wild species being forced to perform in circuses; further notes that the draft Wild Animals in Circuses Bill has already been scrutinised by the Environment and Rural Affairs Committee; supports Animal Defenders International and other animal welfare organisations in their ongoing campaign to end this outdated practice and calls on the Government to introduce legislation to ensure a ban can be introduced during the current session.”
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
I agree with my hon. Friend that it is a great shame that the Government have not included such a measure in the Queen’s Speech. Will he join me in encouraging Government Members present today to take back the message that the Government should at the very least provide a hand-out Bill to a Member who has been successful in the ballot for private Members’ Bills? In that way, we might just get this into legislation.
Jim Dowd
My hon. Friend’s suggestion sounds as though it has the virtues of brevity and simplicity, but unfortunately, given the technicalities of such a Bill, I do not think that it would get through the private Members’ Bill procedure. I speak as one who was responsible for the Government’s private Members’ business for a number of years. If that were the only route that could be adopted, however, such a Bill would deserve as much support as possible and the Government should give an undertaking to give it whatever support they could, perhaps along the lines of the support that they gave to the European Union (Referendum) Bill last year. The signatories to my early-day motion come from all parts of the House, and I am sure that it will generate support.
Although it does not feature in specific legislation, the economy features prominently in the Queen’s Speech and it would be churlish not to admit that the recent narrative on the economy has moved in the Government’s favour. It is easy to forget, however, that the Chancellor’s original five-year plan said that by now the deficit would have disappeared and we would be paying off debt. Of course we are not doing either. Debt is growing at an unprecedented rate; the Government are now borrowing more money than the Labour Government did in the previous 13 years. The old five-year plans in the Soviet Union were rewritten every year, and that is rather what the Government have done.
Even what economic good news there is has been based on a couple of questionable propositions, not the least of which is quantitative easing, as it is now called. It used to be called printing money. It has robbed savers of millions of pounds, the full effect of which we will not see for some time. These are unorthodox fiscal measures. The housing bubble is not an unqualified good either for people in London and my constituents or people in other parts of the country. It is a huge problem for the children of my constituents who are trying to buy property in London for the first time, and it is skewing the economic recovery.
Beyond the measures that I have mentioned, the Queen’s Speech is thin, bordering on anorexic. That is because the most significant political developments in the next nine months or so will take place not just outside this Chamber but outside this building. I highlight just three. The first is the referendum in Scotland. However it turns out, I am certain that there will need to be a major reconsideration of how the United Kingdom is organised. If the result is against the nationalist case, we will need as a minimum to resolve the West Lothian question in a durable and sensible fashion. I do not wish to intrude, but my position is rather similar to that of David Bowie and Barack Obama, although as the President said the other day, it is a matter for the folks up there.
The second political development is EU reform. I am glad that all three major party leaders in the House have agreed that Mr Juncker is not an appropriate appointment as President of the EU. My fear is that he represents a strain of Eurocrats—I am never sure whether the phrase is derived from bureaucrat or aristocrat, which is certainly how they behave—who fail to understand the feeling of a large swathe of people right across the nations of the EU. They have the gravest disillusionment and doubt about the efficacy and efficiency of the organisation, and those who simply swing on as if nothing has happened and behave as if the project has an inevitability and momentum entirely of its own fail to understand what we need. I hope that we will have a candidate who will more readily reflect those priorities.
I will be candid, Madam Deputy Speaker; I am a member of the Labour for a referendum campaign. I do not accept the artificial timetable that the Conservatives have instituted of 2017. I think there should be a reform process and once it has reached a decision, whenever that might be, a package should be put to the British people for their approval. After all, the only referendum we have ever had on membership of what was then the European Economic Community was provided by a Labour Government.
Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)
The hon. Gentleman refers to the artificial timetable. When would he want to have a referendum on our membership of the EU?
Jim Dowd
Once the process is complete; once progress has been made and it has been established that there is no further progress to be made. Putting down the finishing line before you have described the course is a ridiculous proposition and it was designed wholly and solely—I sat on the European Union (Referendum) Bill Committee—to keep Conservative Back Benchers happy. That is all it was.
As everyone knows, the other facet of the coalition Government is that the Prime Minister has spent more time rowing with his Back Benchers than he has ever done with the Liberal Democrats. That is the point that I want to come to now—the separation of the coalition. It has already unravelled so we will just see how the parting of the ways occurs.
In the European and local elections of the week before last, the biggest losers by a mile were the Liberals. I am delighted to say that in my constituency we also resisted firmly, as they did across London, the blandishments of UKIP. There are no Liberal councillors now in the London borough of Lewisham or the London borough of Bromley, and no Tory councillors in the London borough of Lewisham for the first time in history, but that is another consideration. So we feel that we did quite well in our small corner.
The reason why the Liberal Democrats were almost wholly obliterated in large parts of the country is that people do not know what they stand for any more. They used to be the party of “a plague on all your houses”. UKIP has supplanted them in that, so what purpose do they have? The answer in most people’s estimation is precious little. I heard a defeated Liberal councillor say, “We need to get out and get our message across more clearly.” I think it is the other way round. I think they went out with their message and people understood it and rejected it. That is the truth of where they are. There is no automaticity about recovery between now and the election. I shall miss some of them, though. There was a fabulous anti-war song by Roy Orbison back in the ’60s called “There won’t be many coming home.” When I look at the Liberal Benches now, I think to myself that after the next election there won’t be many coming back.
Jim Dowd
No, I wouldn’t.
A lot of people said that the coalition would not last. I always thought that it would, and so it has proved, but the most intriguing question was always going to be how it disengaged. The Conservatives have worked themselves into a position in which they will get the credit for anything that, rightly or wrongly, is perceived to have gone right, and the Liberals will get all the blame, and that bodes ill for them.
We are exactly where we are, but the position is exacerbated by the Liberals promising to do one thing before an election and doing the total reverse afterwards. They cannot get away with behaving in that fashion and people do have memories and will exercise their judgment in the light of that. It will be hugely entertaining in the next few months to see how the coalition parties defend the coalition but attack each other. They will do so more and more ferociously as next May beckons.
Lord Ashcroft has embarked on an expensive round of weekly polls, principally on behalf of the Conservative party, although to give him his due, he makes them freely available to anyone who wants to read them. The polls have shown a number of changes just in the past week between the three parties. Perhaps we are in three or perhaps we are in four-party politics. I think that we may be in three-party politics in so far as UKIP has supplanted the Liberal Democrats in the national political scene. We will wait for it all to unravel. We are in for an intriguing and exciting time, but one thing is certain—this coalition will end with a whimper, not a bang.
Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me in this important debate. Often in this House we debate matters that self-evidently divide us, but I wish to focus my remarks on two aspects of Her Majesty’s Gracious Speech that are likely to unite us.
The Modern Slavery Bill represents the first of its kind across Europe and it sends a strong message internationally that the UK is leading the way in putting an end to modern slavery. Others in the House and outside have been far more involved than me in the journey to bring this important legislation before the House. I see sitting across the House the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) and I would also mention the former Member of Parliament Anthony Steen. Both of them are notable individuals who have done so much in this area. The matter goes right through Government—from the Minister for modern slavery who has been appointed, to the Home Secretary. The Prime Minister himself feels strongly and passionately about the importance of progressing this Bill. It is a credit to all that we see it included in the Queen’s Speech.
It is, of course, impossible for any of us here to imagine how deeply traumatic the experiences must be for the many victims of modern slavery and what they have endured. I have read accounts, as I am sure many others have, of young women and children being drugged, beaten and forced into prostitution and taken to a land a long way from their home. Those stories are compelling and deeply moving.
Turning to the details of the Bill, which I warmly welcome, I think that progress has been made since it was published in December 2013. The first development is that slavery victims who are vulnerable witnesses will automatically have access to support in giving evidence. There is a wider debate about how victims more broadly are supported when giving evidence in criminal cases, and the passage of this Bill will be very timely and enable us further to explore that important aspect. The last thing anybody wants is for a victim of slavery, who has already been through so much, to find the trauma of giving evidence any more difficult than it needs to be.
The second point is about ensuring that victims get reparations from the trafficker or from their slavemaster for the abuse they have suffered. The justice that we all seek in the case of traffickers must, in a modern, compassionate society, be balanced by the need to help victims rebuild their lives. Obviously, that is not just a financial point—far from it—but we need to stand up as a country and a society and support those victims in the difficult passage they will have in rebuilding their lives and moving on.
Thirdly, there must be connections between agencies in the work that will be required. The Bill now includes a requirement for public authorities to notify any information they have about potential victims of modern slavery. That responsibility to share information is very appropriate and takes us further along the path towards improved contributions by and work across agencies. Finally, the creation of an anti-slavery commissioner has to be right. It is an important development and will ensure that investigations and prosecutions are as effective and progressive as possible. It creates the leadership necessary to implement these changes.
With world leaders having gathered on the beaches of Normandy last week to commemorate the D-day landings and mark the bravery and sacrifice of so many for future generations, it is worth reflecting that the whole purpose of the landings was to ensure the future freedom of this country, so it is quite poignant that, in the Queen’s Speech debate, we seek to support and bring freedom to those victims in our society who are held against their will and who suffer so much at the hands of others. The Modern Slavery Bill is legislation of which the Home Secretary and the whole House will in time, I am sure, be extremely proud.
I turn now to the proposed changes to the law on child neglect. I disclose my interest as a family law barrister who has spent over 12 years representing and working with vulnerable families, often at times of crisis. It has been a sad feature of the family and civil courts that, until now, when severe neglect and emotional harm suffered by children is an aspect of a case there has been no prospect of the perpetrators being pursued in the criminal courts. Once the changes come into effect, that will change. Society has moved on a great deal since the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and the law needs to reflect that. I have no doubt that by extending the criminal law to cover not only physical but emotional harm to children, we will not reduce the seriousness of the crime. It is the just and right thing to do.
To clarify, this is not about children who are a bit unhappy or who have fallen out with their mum and dad. Child neglect is far more serious and has to do with a long-term emotional impact on children living in an environment where they have been subjected to physical violence, perhaps sexual violence or suffered extreme neglect, such as malnutrition, inadequate living conditions or a lack of medical care. Many MPs and charities have campaigned for the change. I note, in particular, the work of Action for Children, a charity with which I have worked for many years on different topics and which has led the campaign extremely effectively.
Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)
The hon. Lady is making a very thoughtful and interesting speech. Will she put it on the record that she shares our disappointment, as I am sure she does, that the number of convictions for child cruelty has fallen in recent years? It was 720 in 2009 and only 553 in 2013. Although, of course, the changes are to be welcomed, the overall conviction rate has gone down.
Jessica Lee
I am grateful for that intervention. What we have before us is the means to change things and at last bring criminal law into line with civil law—a change that is due and that will be effective, and I have no doubt that prosecution rates will reflect that.
The proposed changes do two important things. First, as I said in response to the hon. Lady, it allows the criminal law to catch up, if I can put it that way, with civil law, where the definition of emotional harm is well accepted, and the test of significant harm includes emotional abuse. Secondly, there will be consistency between our civil law and criminal law as to the definition of child neglect, which is of great importance. Society’s understanding of child development and the impact on children of harm by those who care for them has come on leaps and bounds since the 1933 Act. By implementing this change in the months ahead we can be confident we are taking a positive step to assist vulnerable children across our country.
Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Erewash (Jessica Lee), who may have one of the most unusual-sounding constituencies. She must be commended for her work on modern slavery and on children in particular.
I want to address what we now refer to as “the Scotland bit” in the Queen’s Speech. We are always grateful to Her Majesty for acknowledging Scotland in her Gracious Speech; it usually comes about two thirds of the way through, and again this year we were not disappointed. In the Queen’s Speech Her Majesty confirmed that her Government will
“make the case for Scotland to remain a part of the United Kingdom.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 4 June 2014; Vol. 754, c. 4.]
No surprise there; that is what we would expect her to say. In fact, it would have been quite remarkable had she said something else. Imagine if, for example, she had said, “I look forward to my subjects in Scotland securing the normal powers of an independent nation. I look forward to them enjoying the resources that will make their country one of the most dynamic and prosperous in the world.” Of course, she did not say that. Her Majesty knows, as we all know in Scotland, that the whole range of facilities available to this Government and this House will be pitted against Scotland in the next few months to try to influence the vote.
All the donors and cronies down the corridor will be engaged in trying to make sure that Scotland remains in the United Kingdom. All the resources available to all the Opposition parties will be engaged in ensuring that Scotland remains part of the United Kingdom. All of Whitehall, all Government Committees and all Select Committees will be engaged in trying to ensure that Scotland remains a part of the United Kingdom. I am one of six Scottish National party Members, so I am very much aware of the range of forces pitted against us. Out of 650 Members of the House there are maybe 10 of us calling for Scottish independence, and thank goodness for the hon. Member for Leeds East (Mr Mudie), who has now joined the call. If we add the 800 Members from down the corridor, there are 1,400 Westminster parliamentarians who are against Scottish independence versus the six of us. That seems like reasonable odds to me. It is reasonably fair. What we have to do now is recognise, as the Queen did in the Speech, that the entire resources of Westminster—the whole of the House of Commons and the whole House of Lords—will be ranged against Scotland. Last week they even enlisted Lego figures in their fight to stop Scotland becoming independent, to much laughter and ridicule.
In the Scotland bit of her speech, Her Majesty confirmed that the Government
“will continue to implement new financial powers for the Scottish Parliament”.
These are not the new financial powers that the Prime Minister apparently signed up to only last week. These are the remaining consequential issues from the Scotland Act 2012 that need to be tidied up.
More devolution is all the rage in Scotland. We cannot walk around one of our big cities without tripping over some Unionist or UK commission looking into the issue. It is like the proverbial buses all turning up at once. It has got me and all the other people in Scotland wondering why they are doing it now. Is it anything to do with the prospect of a referendum on independence? Surely not. Yet that is almost certainly the case. It is curious because our Unionist friends did everything to keep a “more powers” option off the ballot paper for the referendum in September. They would give us anything else, such as the right to administer the referendum. They even allowed us to frame the question. It is we who were in charge of the franchise. The one thing they did not want was a “more powers” option on the ballot paper. Now we are expected to accept that they are sincere in delivering all these shiny new powers, when they did so much to keep them off the ballot paper. There are two things that we say about that: “Aye. Right. Fool us once and we’ll blame you. Fool us twice and it’s our fault.”
Michael Connarty
Might not the logic be to expose the fact that what has been offered by the Scottish National party was the lunacy of independence, as against staying within the Union where we could negotiate changes, and to expose the paucity of the hon. Gentleman’s argument that independence might be better for the people of Scotland, whereas we know that it would be a disaster for them?
Pete Wishart
The hon. Gentleman has his own view, but why not offer the option on the ballot paper? There was accommodation with the Scottish Government about that. We were quite happy and relaxed about a third question being put forward. The Scottish people should always get what they want. That is my view and I am sure it is the hon. Gentleman’s view, so the question could have appeared on the ballot paper, but it was rejected. It was the one thing that the Government did not want included.
We have been here before. The hon. Gentleman will remember this. It was in my own constituency—Alec Douglas-Home trooping up to Perth city hall in 1979. What did he say to the Scottish people? “Vote no and we’ll give you something better. We’ll give you a better Parliament” than was on offer in 1979. What did we get? Eighteen years of Thatcherism, the destruction of our industrial base, and Tory obscenities like the poll tax. We will not be fooled by that again.
One of the funny consequences of all this—it is quite ironic—is that the party that so defiantly opposed the Scottish Parliament in any form of Scottish devolution is now the party of more devolution. It has made a more substantial offer than the party of devolution, the Labour party. We might be in the ridiculous situation whereby in the next Parliament, Labour Members oppose a Conservative Government offering many more powers than they ever intended to offer. Incredible, but that may be the case.
There is only one way for the Scottish Parliament to get more powers. There is only one way to ensure we get the powers that Scotland needs, and that is to vote yes in the independence referendum. If we do not, we leave it up to this House. We leave it up to the largesse of predominantly English Members to give us more powers. I know lots of English Members. Some of them are very good friends of mine. I do not detect a mood around the House that if Scotland votes no, they will rush in to give us more powers to reward us. I get the sense that they are much more interested in issues such as the Barnett formula. They believe their own propaganda and are concerned that Scotland gets more than the rest of their English regions. They are more concerned about that than about giving us power over income tax or more powers over welfare.
The other thing that consumes English Members is the West Lothian question about what Scottish Members could do here. Maybe it is just me, but I do not see a groundswell of English Members of Parliament queuing up to reward Scotland for turning down the prospect of independence. They are more likely to be thinking, “Scotland’s had its chance. It’s time for my region for a change.”
Other than the Scotland stuff, there were no other constitutional issues in the Queen’s Speech. That means that we will leave this Parliament with the House of Lords commanding the same position in our democracy as when the great reforming Liberals took part in government. What a disgrace. That unelected, crony-stuffed, donor-inhabited affront to democracy will remain in the same condition as when we came into Parliament.
The Liberals had lots of red lines when it came to the constitutional debate. I am not blaming the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) personally, although he is looking at me as though I am. They could have made much more of reforming the House of Lords. They went for AV—the inconsequential mouse of a reform measure—when they could have done something about that place, so we are left with it. In his parting shot, the Liberals’ Lord Oakeshott hinted that cash for honours is still very much a feature of securing a place next door. It is an absurd place and I hope that the next Queen’s Speech will enable us to do something about that affront to democracy. This Government this time round have done nothing.
Some have described the Queen’s Speech this year as a speech for a zombie Parliament. If it is a zombie Parliament, it must be a phantom Queen’s Speech, because it does not address the political dynamic that exists throughout the United Kingdom, what is going on and what should be debated. A few Members have said that. I think I am the only Member to raise the subject of UKIP. The party won an election a couple of weeks ago and made significant gains. Nobody wants to talk about UKIP here. Nobody will address the issue of what it has done. UKIP is pulling the strings of this Government and they are responding in the only way they know how—pandering to UKIP’s agenda instead of challenging it.
I am much more interested in what Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition are going to do. I challenged the shadow Home Secretary on that today. They are at a defining point. They are at a critical and crucial moment. The Labour party has two choices in relation to the immigration/UKIP agenda. It can challenge the assumptions that it is based on, do something about it, take it on, risk not being the favourite of the right-wing press and maybe alienating a few voters who have bought into this pernicious agenda; or it can pander to it and accommodate it.
I have seen the letters from Labour Members encouraging the party leadership to accommodate the UKIP agenda and saying that it could be addressed. They must reject it, stand tall and do the right thing. I know it is difficult sometimes for the Labour party to do this but it must offer leadership. If the Opposition offer leadership on immigration and challenge UKIP on its agenda, they will get my support. I will help them out. But they must not give in to it. They are in a critical position on the immigration/UKIP question. Don’t blow it, Labour. The nation is watching. Labour cannot face two ways on this—it either takes UKIP on or accommodates it. I very much hope Labour does the right thing.
Labour has let itself be bullied by the Tories and UKIP. It is appalling. Labour has been bullied into apologising for its years of immigration. That is one of the best things the Labour Government did and I cannot believe that the Opposition have been bullied like this. Stand up to them, for goodness sake! They should not be afraid to say that they got it right on immigration. It has been fantastic for the whole of the United Kingdom. It has made the city we are in one of the greatest cities in the world. Only about 30% of the people who live and work in London came from this place; the rest are from overseas. What has immigration done for us, as Monty Python might have asked? Look at this place and see what it has achieved, then try and argue that immigration is not good. Come on, Labour. Get on with it. Stand up to them and do the right thing.
I shall deal quickly with Home Office issues, few of which affect Scotland. We are practically independent when it comes to policing and judiciary arrangements. Thank goodness for that. When the Home Secretary turns up to the Police Federation for their annual meeting, she is booed, jeered and shouted down. Then I see our Cabinet Secretary turning up to the Scottish Police Federation and being cheered to the rafters for what we are doing for police officers in Scotland, compared with what this lot are doing here.
I welcome the Modern Slavery Bill. Even though it is for England and Wales only, I hope it is successful and I pay tribute to the many Members who have spoken in support of the measure. In Scotland we have our own people-trafficking Bill and we will continue to work with the UK on the matter, particularly in areas such as extra-territorial intervention and maritime policing.
Legislative consent motions will be required for some of the measures in the serious crime Bill, and I know that again, my colleagues in the Scottish Government will work closely with the Home Office to ensure a co-ordinated response to serious crime. But Scottish National party Members want more than that. Grateful as we are to Her Majesty, we want more than the Scotland bit. It is great that in every Session of Parliament it is included, and we look forward to it, but we do not want the insignificant wee bits here and there, the bits of Bills that apply to Scotland. We want a legislative programme for Scotland in the interests of the people according to our agenda and our priorities. We do not want to be dictated to by a Government for whom we did not vote. That is what we will get on 18 September. That is what the Scottish people will vote for.
David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)
It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart). I have been desperately trying to think of something that I could agree with him on at the start of my remarks, but we will just have to let that pass.
I support the provisions in the Queen’s Speech. There is a great deal in it about modern slavery, about child protection, on which we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Jessica Lee), and about trafficking. In particular, there is a great deal about cybercrime and strengthening the legislation around disabling IT systems. We need a reorientation in the criminal justice system to address that issue, which is a massive and growing problem that threatens not only financial loss but organisations’ economic stability.
Of the 11 Bills in the Queen’s Speech, I want principally to address my remarks to those on pensions tax and private pensions, and the Bill on infrastructure and what it means for our energy security and for fracking. The pensions legislation was described by the Prime Minister as the centrepiece of the Queen’s Speech, which in many ways it is. It is hard to think of an issue that affects so many people so much as what they will have to spend in retirement. We have systematic under-provision of retirement income throughout the country. There is a rule of thumb that says that pensioners are divided into three slugs of a third each. One third broadly has some kind of public sector pension, possibly not enough, but nearly always more generous than the next third, who are broadly in some kind of private sector scheme. Increasingly, the gold-plated private sector schemes have been closed, but even those people are better off than the final third who have no provision at all. The pension reforms in the Queen’s Speech, and lately in Parliament, have addressed those last two-thirds.
In the comparison between public and private pensions—this is not a dig at public pension provision; we need good and generous provision—it is worth reflecting on the fact that a pension that is inflation-proofed at around £15,000 per annum would cost £400,000 to purchase in the private sector. Virtually no one can do that. The average pension pot in the private sector is about £35,000. A problem is about to hit us.
The structural issue in the UK comes of a policy point versus the EU. We have chosen to pay relatively low pensions to people on the assumption that they will be topped up by the private sector. Nearly every other country in Europe has chosen not to go down that route but has higher provision. The Pensions Minister has made some progress in addressing that. We have paid £40 billion per annum tax relief into the pension system to mitigate this problem, but it has not worked and it is not working. There is a massive distrust of the pension system among the punters out there. I have lost count of the number of people who have told me that they would rather bite off their right arm than invest in a pension. Typically, that is because there is a view that so much goes in charges. There has been a market failure. For a pension pot, about 30% or 40% can go on charges, and the provisions need to address that.
The same is true of annuities. Until quite recently, pensioners have been buying annuities without going on the open market. There have been inconsistent and inappropriate products. In my constituency, about 1,200 people per annum are buying an annuity, of whom more than a half are buying the wrong product. That is just wrong. This is compounded by the auto-enrolment initiative and its success, making the need for action even stronger.
The Government have introduced legislation to allow small pots to be combined; they have provided a cap on pension charges at 0.75%, half the amount the Opposition had in terms of stakeholder provisions; they have dramatically and structurally changed the annuity rules so that annuities no longer need to be taken out, which has burst the whole market wide open; and they have removed many of the abusive features of pension funds, such as active market discounts whereby pensioners who remain in a pension fund having left the company pay more in charges. Most interestingly, in this Queen’s Speech they have brought forward a collective defined contribution idea, which is a paraphrase of the Dutch solution, to try to make progress on costs. Broadly, the assumption there is that there is a collectivisation of risk with pension schemes coming together with the idea that costs will be reduced, which I very much hope happens. There is evidence that in Holland the average pension is 20% to 25% higher than in the UK. The collective schemes may be one reason for that, and another is a much higher propensity to use passive investments. I very much welcome what is going on in that area.
It is worth pointing out that in Holland these collective schemes, which are brought forward in the Queen’s Speech, tend to be industry-specific. Pensioners share the risk, but there is also an element by which pensioners can be penalised, even after they have retired, something which is not currently allowed in UK law. There is therefore an intergenerational issue to be fixed there, but it is an important first step, which I support.
In summary, the Government have addressed some of the issues in the pensions industry, including under-provision in the private sector, but there will remain a massive problem, which I have not talked about at length. The £40 billion of tax relief that we have put into the pension system is to a large extent misdirected, and at some point some Government will have to address that and make progress on it.
The Infrastructure Bill, and the encouragement it gives to the exploitation of unconventional gas, either coal gas or shale gas, is important in relation to the three tenets of our energy policy—decarbonisation, lower cost and security of supply. We hear a lot about whether we should frack. Is it important that we do so? We talk as though it is an option, as though no one else is fracking.
The world has changed when it comes to fracking. It changed about five years ago when the United States went into the industry at great velocity. That changed our entire energy supply market. It is now a net exporter of energy and gas, as opposed to an importer. That has implications for its foreign policy—what it does in the gulf of Arabia and all that goes with that—but even more important in terms of how it relates to us is the fact that now its chemical feedstock and electricity costs are one-third of what ours are in the UK. That is a massive competitive change; it is a game-changer. The consequence of that is not necessarily whole businesses immediately moving from here or from Germany to America; it is rather that a new unit or distillation plant in Teesside or the north west will now be built by global companies in America to take advantage of costs that are one-third—not 10%—cheaper than ours. We have to address this situation.
Daniel Kawczynski
I do not know about my hon. Friend’s constituents, but this week alone I have received more than 100 letters from mine who are concerned about fracking. Does he accept that the Government need to do more to convince British people of the need for fracking, and what is his constituents’ perception of fracking?
David Mowat
I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I accept that we need to do more to convince people that we need fracking; that is one of the reasons I am making a speech about it. It is a little bit about leadership—if we think something is the right answer, we go with it.
I do not want to say that there are no environmental issues associated with fracking, and of course it is important that we frack in the right areas; there will be some places where we should not frack and some places where we should. All that is true, but it is not a reason to turn our backs on this industry. The case that I am putting to my hon. Friend and to other Members is that the world is already fracking. This week, Germany gave the go-ahead for fracking; it had been reluctant to do that, but did so under pressure from its industry. We need to decide as a country how competitive we wish to be, but one of the vehicles of being competitive is cheap prices for energy and chemical feedstock, and fracking is one of the ways in which those cheap prices will be delivered.
There are three tenets of energy policy, the first of which is decarbonisation. Fracking—or gas, I should say—is an element of any decarbonisation strategy that we seriously wish to pursue. In this country, something like 50% of electricity comes from coal and oil. Replacing that coal and oil with gas is the single quickest and most effective way of reducing our carbon footprint. Indeed, of all the countries in the OECD, the one that reduced its carbon by the most in the last five years is the USA. It has done that because it has reduced its coal expenditure and usage, and instead used gas.
The UK—perhaps slightly counter-culturally—already has one of the lowest amounts of carbon per capita and per unit of GDP in the EU. A strategy based on replacing our coal with gas, and doing so more quickly, would lead to even more progress in that regard.
I have talked a little bit about cost, but it is self-evident that there is a correlation between GDP and energy usage. We cannot rebalance our economy on differentially high energy prices, particularly if we are rebalancing it towards manufacturing, and part of the solution is cheaper gas prices.
It has been said that our having unconventional shale gas in the UK does not necessarily reduce prices, and to an extent that is true. However, it is rather like saying we should not have exploited North sea gas or oil 30 years ago because there is a world market for North sea oil and we cannot guarantee that lower prices would—
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)
The hon. Gentleman is doing a very good job in answering the question that his colleague, the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski), put about selling the whole idea of fracking. Does he agree not only that there are environmental benefits to fracking but that when one way to tackle fuel poverty, provide fuel security, make UK industry more competitive and even attract some industries that have gone overseas to come back again is to have our own supply of gas from the shale gas available to us?
David Mowat
I agree with the hon. Gentleman on all those points, and he made them succinctly and well. Fracking is not something that we can turn our backs on, and I am very pleased that it is in the Queen’s Speech. The point I was making was on the relative cost of energy. I have heard it said in this place that just because we produce shale gas, that will not necessarily reduce our gas prices by 60% or 70%, to the level they are in America. Of course, there is some truth in that; there is a worldwide market in gas, in the same way that there is in oil.
That said, the gas market is a little bit less mobile than the oil market. The European gas hub, which would be affected by gas prices, is smaller than the global market for crude oil. One of the reasons that we in this country cannot benefit from US gas in the way the US benefits from its gas is that the cost of the US sending it to us would probably double its price; it would still be cheaper, but it would be double the price that we would pay vis-à-vis the US. The summary of all this is that we need to get on with it.
The final point, which was mentioned by the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), is that of security of supply. Whether we like it or not, North sea production is coming down. There may be many things that we can do, either with an independent Scotland or with Scotland within the United Kingdom, to keep that supply going for as long as possible, but gas production in particular is considerably down; it is now something like half what it was at its peak.
Although we in this country have not up till now had to use Russian gas—most of our imported gas has come from Norway—I think I saw a report last month saying that Gazprom and Centrica have signed their first deal, so there is an element in all this of security of supply vis-à-vis the geopolitics of Europe as well.
I hope that the provisions in the Queen’s Speech to make it easier to exploit shale are proceeded with. What the legislation is really saying is that someone’s property rights do not necessarily extend to stopping people drilling a mile under their house or land. That seems to me as logical as saying that someone’s property rights do not extend to preventing aeroplanes from flying over their land. I believe that that was an issue in the USA at one time, and it had to be legislated away in much the same way as we are legislating here for fracking.
Mr Frank Field (Birkenhead) (Lab)
I cannot say how pleased I am to follow the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat). On both the topics that he centred on, the Government pay much attention to him. On pensions, he sketched out the areas where the Government really have to face the issues that he raised, because they are important not only to the House but to our constituents.
I will talk on one topic, which is the Modern Slavery Bill. I apologise that I was not present to hear some of the opening comments and the kind comments that various Members made. I will begin by making the roll-call of those who should have credit for this measure. The hon. Members for Erewash (Jessica Lee) and for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) quite rightly said that slavery would not be a topic in the House or in the country if not for the work of Anthony Steen. It was Anthony Steen, through his Human Trafficking Foundation, who first made me interested in this topic, and it was Patrick White in my office who said how important it was, which led to my commitment to it. The hon. Lady was absolutely right that without the work of Anthony Steen—first, towards the end of his period as a Member, and then in the work that he has done to extraordinary effect with the HTF—we would not have had a Modern Slavery Bill included in the Queen’s Speech.
As I say, it is slavery on which I wish to comment, and I wish to continue to draw attention to those who should rightly claim credit for the Bill. The idea for a modern slavery Bill was set out in a report published a little over a year ago by the Centre for Social Justice, so the Government have responded extraordinarily quickly by presenting the Bill. I do not think that we would have had that report had it not been for Philippa Stroud, who now works at the Department for Work and Pensions, and Fiona Cunningham, who worked at the Home Office. Had they not been working carefully to ensure that this moved up the Government’s agenda, I do not think that it would have been on the list of topics that the Home Secretary thought should command her attention and, more importantly, her departmental time. The Bill therefore has three immediate heroes: Philippa Stroud, Fiona Cunningham and the Home Secretary.
My purpose in speaking in this debate is to draw attention not only to a glaring omission in the Bill, but to a provision in it that I do not think we would now see had it not been for the work of the Joint Committee on the draft Modern Slavery Bill and, in particular, the contribution that my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) made to it. The glaring omission, as he knows—he piloted a private Member’s Bill on this very topic—concerns supply chains. Although the Bill will deal much more effectively with countering the horror of modern-day slavery in this country, the plain and brutal fact is that most of the slaves on whose labour our standard of living is supported work in other countries, producing the goods and services that we buy.
For all the reasons that were given to the evidence review for the Bill, to the Joint Committee and for my hon. Friend’s private Member’s Bill, I hope that Members will table amendments that persuade the Government that supply chains must be included in this measure. We know what the Home Secretary’s opinion is, because before she began talking about a Bill in detail, she said that she wished it to cover supply chains, so clearly there are other forces at work that overruled her in that respect. I think that we need to come to her aid and ensure that she wins the argument, not some officials in No. 10 who are against it. I hope that all those employers, large and small, that publicly support extending the measure to supply chains will now front up and lobby No. 10 to ensure that the Bill is complete in that important respect. If the Government still have some doubts about that, I hope that Members here and in the other place will ensure that the Bill is complete when it goes for Royal Assent.
Sammy Wilson
Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that businesses in the United Kingdom have a duty to check that their supply chains do not use labour that is tantamount to slave labour to produce cheap goods that can then be sold in this country?
Mr Field
I am immensely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but I would take his argument a stage further. I think that the Prime Minister has a duty to protect British business men and women from undertaking activities that are deemed to be heinous crimes. I think that the Prime Minister needs to develop a level playing field, so that not just the good businesses ensure that their products are not tainted by slavery; those that are slower in coming up to the plate must also make their contribution.
Emily Thornberry
My right hon. Friend was not here when the shadow Home Secretary raised her concerns about the new domestic workers visa and the fact that 60% of people on it have no salary at all. Will he comment on that?
Mr Field
All the Joint Committee’s recommendations were unanimous, and they certainly were on that. However, to be honest, in listing the things that I hoped the Government would do, I did not think that they would jump to attention on that one, given that they deliberately made a change in policy. We did not include it in the Bill because changing it does not actually require an Act of Parliament; it requires the will of the Home Secretary. If this Home Secretary does not see her way to changing it, I hope that a future Home Secretary will.
One of the impacts of the evidence review on the Joint Committee has been for the Government to include in the Bill a section on victims. It is morally right that the Bill will be victim-focused. However, even if we cannot do it for the right reasons, we ought to do it for another reason: that the Government are serious about escalating the number of successful prosecutions. We will not increase the number of successful prosecutions unless those victims of slavery feel that they are secure in this country. I am immensely grateful to the Government for listening to the arguments put on that front and for including a major section of the Bill that transforms the position of victims of slavery in this country. I commend them for doing so.
For all the good measures in the Bill, it is still incomplete. Victims of slavery came to give evidence to us at all our evidence sessions before and during the Joint Committee. It is impossible for any of us in the Chamber to describe the horrors that people go through when they realise they have been trapped and now have a slave existence. How anyone recovers from that train of events, God only knows, but many do so, and we wish many more to do so. This crime is probably one of the most heinous in the world today. We now have an opportunity to make this not just a good Bill, because it is already good, but the very best in the world—a world leader. I hope that that will ring in all our ears when we start the parliamentary process in this place and, perhaps more importantly, in the other place, where it is easier for reason to prevail on a Government than it is here.
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)
It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), who, as ever, made a thoughtful and important speech on an issue that generally unites the House rather than divides it.
I apologise to the House for being away for a short time while I was attending the Health Committee, but of course I was here for the opening speeches and the first few contributions. I want to focus on a number of areas related to home affairs, including policing in my constituency, immigration and criminals in our jails, including several issues that have arisen following a visit that I recently made to a prison near my constituency.
As I said in my earlier intervention on the Home Secretary, I welcome the social action, responsibility and heroism Bill. Some people might not think that it is necessary, but those who try to do good as volunteers or just as passers-by in society often feel that the law is against them and they are not protected, as may well be the case, and anything that gives a nod in that direction is important.
I have mentioned my own experience working as a first responder with the ambulance service every weekend. One of my staff members—they are all trained as first responders as well—recently came across somebody who was in cardiac arrest, and had sadly died, but was laid out on the side of the road. He was the first one on the scene who was prepared to do anything to try to assist that person. There is not only the fear of getting involved, which is very difficult to get rid of, but the fear in the backs of many people’s minds that if they do something they may make the situation even worse and then end up being sued for it.
This applies not only to such experiences. Whenever it snows in my village, I clear the section of the path between the old people’s home and the pub, and people say as they are going past, “Be careful or you’ll get sued.” Thankfully, I have not been; I think some of the residents of the old people’s home have enjoyed being able to get to the Percy Arms. Although I have not faced any legal action, a lot of people have the perception that, if they try to do right, they will fall foul of some legal issue and end up being arrested or sued in the courts. I very much welcome this Bill as a nod in the right direction in that regard.
I want to say a little about crime and policing locally. I have never been a particular fan of the reductions in the police budget, which is why I always try to speak every time that we agree the police estimates, but I will not rehash my previous speeches on that subject. An awful lot more needs to be done on partnership working with the police. Whenever I meet the police locally, they outline the financial savings that they have to make, and I am fully conscious of the difficulties involved in that. However, I still get the impression—I will give a practical example in a moment—that the police have not fully embraced proper partnership working and engaging with other agencies such as local authorities and other emergency services. When they talk about partnership working, they seem to mean that they are prepared to work with other police forces, but when it comes to working with others there is still something of a silo mentality. More needs to be done by the leadership nationally, to drive the issue forward and make sure that some of the savings can be realised. I am concerned that when it comes to back-office costs and senior management, not enough is being done at the top to share work between agencies other than police forces.
My constituency is represented by two local authorities: the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. North Lincolnshire council has been very forward thinking in playing its part not only in helping the police and crime commissioner to achieve his crime plan, but in reducing crime and the fear of crime locally. The council has funded a number of CCTV projects, including in Epworth and Winterton in my constituency, for which I and the ward councillors were pleased to secure the funding.
The council has also funded police community support officers for rural communities. Crime mapping and the allocation of police service resources focus on crime hot spots, which tend not to be in rural areas, so in my own area, North Lincolnshire council worked with me on a project to find funding for five police community support officers—two on the Isle of Axholme, one in the Burton and Winterton policing team, one in the Brigg team and another in the Barton team. They are now in post and are having a real impact.
Unfortunately, the area in which we are having trouble with the police force locally relates to the need to go further and expand the project with even more council-funded PCSOs. It is not often that one public body tries to throw money at another, only for the intended recipient not to want it, but that is a problem in my own area at present. The council is not able to shovel more money at the police force to employ more PCSOs, and none of the various reasons for that are acceptable either to myself as a local representative or to local people who tell us strongly that they do not believe that policing in our rural communities is being prioritised, because the crime rates mean that resources are not being allocated to them. When the local authority steps up and says, “We will buy in that extra provision to make people feel safe,” and the police say they do not want it, something is obviously going very badly wrong.
I am not criticising Humberside police, who have done a fine job of handling the significant financial challenge that they face. Their officers are dedicated and they have a good chief constable and senior officer team, but their intransigence on this issue is a cause of deep concern and regret. A lot more needs to be done regarding partnership working, and the police need to change some of their practices to properly embrace that.
It was interesting to hear the pro-immigration speech of the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) and I suppose we should respect him for that. I expect him to be pro-immigration, given that he wants to make very large numbers of Scottish people immigrants in England. Perhaps it is no wonder that he is so pro-immigration.
What concerns me about the immigration debate is that since the Euro election results, too many people seem to want to jump up and say that we should respond by informing people that they are wrong to think what they think about immigration. I find that deeply patronising and insulting to my constituents. I have seen that happen in my own area. When the migrant support grant went, I was summoned to a meeting to discuss it. There has been significant immigration from the European Union to the town of Goole since 2003. When I intervened on the shadow Home Secretary earlier, I asked her to apologise to the people of Goole, who have seen up to between 20% and 25% of their town come from eastern Europe. She chose not to apologise for that or for visiting my constituency recently without informing me. That is the context of why people in Goole are very concerned about immigration, and they should be listened to.
I was called to that meeting to talk about that fund by people, none of whom live in the Goole area, who wanted to tell me how awful it is that the people in Goole think the things they think. Yes, people sometimes do not use language that we might like them to use, but I find it wrong to brush aside their concerns in a patronising way and to talk down to them, saying, “Oh, Mrs Smith, you really mustn’t use language like that. How dare you.” Mrs Smith is not a racist. She is concerned about her community when her street in Goole—in many cases, a street of terraced houses—is suddenly peopled by large numbers of young males from eastern Europe. That has changed the dynamic of her street, and her concerns are legitimate.
This is not about rounding on Mrs Smith to make her better understand why immigration is good for this country and why she should put up with it, but about responding to her concern. She is concerned not about people who want to contribute coming to my constituency to work, but about the uncontrolled nature of the numbers and, in some cases, the types of people. Some of the large number of young people behave in a way that many in our area do not understand and do not consider acceptable, and they want that behaviour to be challenged. It very much concerns me that, since the vote in Europe, the debate seems to be all about how awful it is that people think such things, as opposed to trying to address their genuine concerns.
In my constituency almost half, if not more, of the intake of some schools are children—mainly Polish and Latvian—for whom English is their second language. Some of our GP lists have been closed, so there is a mad situation in which people whose children return to Goole after having temporarily moved away now cannot register with the GP who was their family GP when they were growing up. To use the example of Mrs Smith, she would of course look at that and think, “How is it that my son or daughter, who was born and bred in this town, cannot now go to the doctor who has cared for them all through their life, while someone can suddenly appear from another country and register with that doctor, with no controls on their ability to do so?” The anger comes from such a perception, and until we start to recognise that people have legitimate concerns—I have mentioned housing issues—we will get nowhere.
I am sorry to say that none of the current responses of any of the parties is acceptable or goes far enough. To try to get tough on non-EU immigration and all the rest of it in order to bring down the numbers is fine as far as it goes. However, the situation in my constituency is not about non-EU immigration, but EU immigration. We have to do something about the free movement of labour across Europe. We are losing people and losing the country on this issue, and until we address that fact, UKIP or other fringe parties of that nature—I would not necessarily call UKIP a fringe party now—will gain traction. I hope that in the next year or two, if we get a renegotiation on Europe, this issue will be addressed. Uncontrolled EU immigration is no longer acceptable and is not working.
Jim Shannon
The hon. Gentleman has mentioned housing, employment opportunities and health. The same also applies to education, in that school places have been lost to those living in such areas because of the level of immigration.
Andrew Percy
Absolutely. In fact, I mentioned schools in relation to their intake. We have had the problem of people living just outside the catchment area of the school that they went to as a child, but finding, because of this massive pressure on places, that they cannot get their child into their old school. All that feeds into a perception of unfairness and of immigration being bad, which I do not think people at the top have necessarily understood.
Sammy Wilson
Not only have we not put in the infrastructure to facilitate the huge increase in the number of people, but even when concerns are legitimate, people who wish to discuss them are immediately silenced by being dismissed as racist. They are not racist and do not intend to be racist at all, but they have genuine concerns that need to be addressed. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that is half the problem?
Andrew Percy
Absolutely. Because I had criticised the uncontrolled nature of immigration into my own town, when I was dragged to the meeting with various agencies, I was told that the things I had said were unacceptable. Needless to say, that meeting did not last very long or end very well when I robustly thanked the people for coming from their lovely villages in the richest parts of the East Riding of Yorkshire, where they do not have to live with large amounts of uncontrolled immigration. I thanked them for sharing their views, but the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that when people raise legitimate concerns, they are patronised and spoken down to by people who, all too often, do not live in these communities.
Mr Frank Field
Were any of the people who came to the meeting, other than the hon. Gentleman himself, elected?
Andrew Percy
Absolutely none of them were elected; the right hon. Gentleman makes a good point.
I would like to conclude on two small points. The second issue that I hope the Home Office will address, and about which it can do something practical, is foreign-registered vehicles, which feed into people’s perception of unfairness. I asked a couple of parliamentary questions in the previous Session about foreign-registered vehicles overstaying the six-month limit, and found that on one occasion there had been four prosecutions in the whole of the United Kingdom for vehicles staying beyond the period permitted. When I asked a similar question on another occasion in the previous Session, I believe that precisely zero vehicles had been prosecuted.
The issue is one of vehicles not being recorded when they arrive at the United Kingdom border, or when they leave. People in my town see the same vehicles and report them to my office, and we report them to the police. They see vehicles that have been here a year, possibly even two, that are still in our town and are not registered, paying tax or subject to UK insurance. The Government must take a lead on this issue. The only way to solve it is through better control at the border.
Finally, I want to discuss prisons, although I am perhaps stretching a debate on home affairs, given the Ministers present. I recently visited HMP Lindholme in Doncaster on the edge of my constituency. I was staggered when the governor told me about the problem there with mobile telephones and how much crime is being directed from inside the prison. Something must be done about that. We were told that for about 1,300 prisoners they had recorded 600 or 700 mobile phone signals coming from inside the prison. The blockers are not in place, although the technology is catching up.
The Government could take a strong lead on something that the governor and her team raised with me: when they identify the contracts of the phones being used inside the prison, the mobile phone operators are not very keen to terminate the numbers. That could be achieved relatively simply, so I hope that Ministers will look at that and seek to take a lead on it. It seems to me, as it would to my constituents, incomprehensible that people can direct criminal operations from behind bars. Something really must be done about that.
Having danced around some issues that are important to my constituents, I will leave it there and look forward to the Minister’s response.
Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)
May I just say to the hon. Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) that I am told the police are so good at monitoring calls from mobile phones in prisons that if a criminal does not have one, they will throw him one over the wall, because they will then know what crimes are going on. I was told by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, before it disappeared, that it used such monitoring to trace people’s criminality, their money and criminal attachments outside prison when they leave. The hon. Gentleman should therefore not worry about mobile phones, as long as the police have the numbers.
I turn to the Queen’s Speech and issues relating to the Home Office and, partly, to the Ministry of Justice. The debate has focused on two main Bills, but there is a context. I was disappointed when the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) mocked those who raised the question of the passports fiasco. The reality is that that fiasco demonstrates to people that there is something wrong with the Government’s policy on cuts if they are affecting people’s ability to get passports in the normal time frame.
It irritates my constituents greatly when they have given plenty of time and are told that if they pay more, they can still meet the deadlines. In the case of one of my constituents, the process started in March, and eventually they had to pay £70 to get their passport sent to them. There is something wrong with that. The Government must accept that in that context people see the Home Office as failing in the delivery of a day-to-day service—it is often the day-to-day things on which people will make judgments. It is a sign of a Department that is not coping.
Another issue that, sadly, is brought up regularly in my constituency is the abuse of the marital route for residence in the UK by people applying for spousal visas. Then, when they eventually get through the process and claim to have the documents—I have documents here that seem to have been bought rather than won by endeavour; people can buy documents to say that they have passed the test—unfortunately, young men appear just to abandon their spouse and child or children, and head for the big city. I know the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) would love them to stay in Scotland, but in reality they head for the conurbations of England. I have a case at the moment where that is happening and someone has recently abandoned their wife and child. It is a member of the Pakistani community, so I hope they take as dim a view of that as I do.
I also think there is something wrong with a Government who promise again and again that they will do something about the use of wild animals in circuses, and then abandon that in the last phase of their government. Many people have campaigned on that issue in my constituency for a number of years, but I think that those who claim to be Conservative voters will not be doing that in the next election, given that betrayal.
In reality, the context in which the Government are acting is one in which they are falsifying their credentials. Violent crime has risen and is up from 607,000 offences in England and Wales to 614,000, whereas the number of prosecuted criminals has gone down from 141,000 convictions to 134,000. That does not give the public any sense that the Government are serious about looking after people’s safety. Reports of rape, domestic violence and child abuse are up, but again, convictions are not matching those rising reports.
I wish to mention something that is not specifically this Government’s remit, but that of all Governments including the Scottish Government. At midnight last night in Glasgow there was a march of women to reclaim the streets. There have been three serious rapes in the public streets of Glasgow in the past week. I heard the police officer—just as we often hear from the Government—come on and give statistics, stating that numbers of crimes were higher last year and that clear-up rates are higher in percentage terms than in the year before. However, that does not convince people that they are safer on the streets, or convince women that we are changing society and policing it properly for them. If crime is not prevented entirely, the streets are not safe, and if all perpetrators are not convicted, the trauma and sense of betrayal remains.
The unacceptable fear of walking in the streets of a city cannot be endured in 2014. I know that because we are, unfortunately, a much blighted extended family. My young cousin, Agnes Cooney was murdered in 1981. They have never solved the crime; they have never found out who did it. One reason is that Strathclyde police lost the evidence box or the production box, and therefore could never use the modern technology of DNA. That trauma has never gone away from my family. My mother died with a photograph of Agnes on the mantelpiece, and her sisters berate me regularly for the failure of Governments, the police and the authorities to deal with that crime. That is what the women of Glasgow feel at the moment. It is not safe to walk in the streets of Glasgow, and all the statistics and all the little pledges will not be accepted. The Government have to accept that when they are not clearing up serious violent crime at that rate, something is wrong.
I have been involved with the Modern Slavery Bill for some time—[Interruption.] I see the Minister flapping on the Benches, but if the Government stand up and tell people that they are doing better on crime but statistics show they are not, they are clearly trying to mislead the public.
The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green)
The hon. Gentleman accuses the Government of misleading the public, but I gently point out that, as I think he acknowledged, policing in Scotland and Glasgow is not the responsibility of the UK Government; it is the responsibility of the Scottish Government. Drawing conclusions from that that the UK Government are misleading anyone is itself pretty disingenuous.
Michael Connarty
In fact I drew the conclusion from the statistics for England and Wales, which I quoted to the Minister and he will read in the record. Those are not statistics that the Government like to put out but they are the facts. Violent crime is going up in England and Wales, and convictions are going down. There is something wrong with policing under the Minister’s watch.
I would like to thank a number of people who put in so much effort on the Modern Slavery Bill. We have heard about Anthony Steen, and when he becomes Sir Anthony Steen I think he will be adequately rewarded for his amazing efforts in making this an issue that we all accepted. We all know about anti-slavery day in the UK, which everyone recognises.
There are many others I wish to thank. My hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) asked me to give her apologies because she arranged a study visit to another country before she knew the subject for debate today. She has done amazing work on this issue, including tabling the first ten-minute rule Bill on the supply chain issue, and she chairs the all-party group, which has now become much more inclusive.
I also wish to mention Andrew Wallis, who has not so far been mentioned, although my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) mentioned the Centre for Social Justice. Andrew and the centre have done a lot of work to pull together the issue to make people in all parties realise that we cannot deal with slavery in a UK context; it must be dealt with in an international context. If the Wilberforce legislation had freed all the slaves in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales, it would have freed only a couple of hundred. It was freeing slaves across the nations with which we traded—using slaves as barter—that changed the face of slavery from Africa.
I also wish to thank two colleagues, Jenny Marra, the MSP from Dundee, who has tabled a Bill on this issue in the Scottish Parliament, and Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley, who has made similar proposals in Northern Ireland. I also commend my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead, who took on the task of chairing the Joint Committee of both Houses and all parties—including the Cross Benchers—that considered the draft Bill. I hope that the Bill has been improved by our proposals.
I am pleased that we will have legislation on human trafficking and modern slavery, but it must be measured against what we aspire to see after 10 weeks of evidence-gathering, as set out in the Joint Committee’s report. Our proposals included a reoriented definition of the crime of slavery; a focus on children, with a specific offence of enslaving and exploiting children, and the introduction of guardianship for children; support for victims; and decriminalisation. The latter is important in the context of Northern Ireland and Scotland. The big criticism made when the draft Bill was launched in Scotland was that it could not deliver on its promise as long as the Border Force—it used to be called the UK Border Agency—criminalises people who are trafficked to this country and commit no offence other than breaking the laws on immigration.
The Committee went to meet a group of people who had been trafficked and were now being looked after by the POPPY Project. One young woman had been brought here in a ship without knowing where she was going. She landed in Liverpool and was forced into prostitution. She ended up in London, where she ran away. She went to a police station and told her story, but she was locked in a cell and accused of lying about how she came to Britain. Eventually she ended up in Yarl’s Wood to be deported. One of the people there knew someone from POPPY and introduced the young woman. POPPY investigated her story and found it to be true and undeniable, but the police treated her as a criminal. As she said, she thought she would get justice in the United Kingdom, of all places. People in her country, in Africa, thought of the British police as not corrupt, but they turned on her and she was traumatised by that experience. But people who work in the field say that experience has been repeated thousands of times.
We need to improve asset recovery, and we want an independent assessment of the performance of the Government under the legislation. We want an anti-slavery commissioner who is independent and not the Home Secretary’s poodle—I wrote that phrase myself. We also want something done about supply chain legislation. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead said, protection for migrant domestic workers does not need legislation, but it must be addressed. We want sentencing strengthened. Of those measures, five are in the Bill—I read a draft of the Bill while I was waiting to speak.
The evidence in the 2014 Human Rights Watch report “Hidden Away”, on what happens to people who are domestic servants in this country, often in very rich houses or with people involved in an overseas ambassadorial role, is unassailable. The report states:
“Most of the migrant domestic workers…described at least some of the elements that constitute forced labour under international law.”
The report makes a number of recommendations that it appears the Government want to ignore, for example, to
“Ratify the ILO Domestic Worker Convention and bring national laws and practices into compliance”
and to include a provision in the Modern Slavery Bill to amend immigration rules to defend these workers:
“Amend the visa rules to allow all migrant domestic workers, including those working in diplomatic households, to change employer.”
That is not allowed. Workers can be locked up and treated like a dog and go back to their own country, but they cannot seek a better employer in this country, which they used to be able to do under the visa arrangements we made.
What is missing from the Bill, and what it will be judged on—we will be able to debate in detail what is in the Bill on Second Reading—is, for example, the omission of independence for the proposed anti-slavery commissioner. Reading the clauses, it is clear that the commissioner is likely to be the Home Secretary’s poodle. The Home Secretary can decide what can be reported on and how it can be reported. There is no question of independence. Basically, the Bill will appoint a civil servant to work for the Home Secretary, who will decide what can be reported. The reports have to go through the Home Secretary before they can be published. There is no structure for independent assessment of Government performance—there is nothing at all on that in the Bill.
There is a failure to address slavery in the supply chains of UK companies. Luis CdeBaca, the US ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, said:
“We can’t prosecute our way out of this crime.”
Luis CdeBaca has prosecuted more traffickers than anyone else in the world. In his evidence to the Committee, he told us that he saw more benefit in the California law—statutory auditing and statutory reporting by companies in California of the whole of the supply chain—than in prosecution. Another supporter of that, and of my private Member’s Bill, was Andrew Forrest, who I understand is one of the richest men in Australia. He set up Walk Free when he found trafficked children in his own quarries in Nepal. Walk Free now has more than 2 million members and campaigns on this issue across the world. David Arkless of ArkLight, who was the former international president of the Manpower company, audited to the third level millions of suppliers to that company. He offers training to anyone who wants to do that for their own company.
The Joint Committee will recommend what I think is a very moderate clause—the Committee did not recommend everything that was in my private Member’s Bill. It is a simple recommendation that should have been accepted and included in the Bill. Section 414C(7)(iii) of the Companies Act 2006 should be amended:
“Before ‘social’ insert ‘modern slavery’.”
The five elements of the California Act should be taken on by companies. They should: verify and evaluate supply chains; audit suppliers to certify goods and services purchased from suppliers; maintain accountability with regard to distribution; and train staff. That is not too burdensome, but none of it appears in the Bill.
That moderate move was not supported by everyone. My very good friend—I hope he remains my very good friend—and respected campaigner Aidan McQuade, the director of Anti-slavery International, argued, and still champions the idea, that we should use the Bribery Act model, so that knowing about and allowing modern slavery at any point in the company’s supply chain should be a criminal offence for the chief executive of the company. He stands by that as the solution that he wants.
But what is interesting is the people who now supported the proposal when it came before the Joint Committee who did not support the Bill that I put forward. The number of supermarkets that were reluctant to come forward was amazing. In fact, the chief executive of Sainsbury’s wrote to me to say that it was really a matter for the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, and it was not for his company to audit the supply chain. Now Amazon, Ikea, Marks and Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have all written to tell us that they would support legislation if it was not unduly burdensome. That is an amazing step forward from those companies. I hope that the House will commend them for doing that and encourage them to lobby the Government to get legislation that they can use.
I encourage our friends on the Government Benches and in the House of Lords; I assume the support of people on the Labour Benches. But if we really do want to modernise the anti-slavery principles of William Wilberforce’s legislation of 200 years ago, we should adopt the auditing and reporting of supply chains as a minimum. Slavery does not just happen in the UK; it happens for the UK in other countries.
Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), who has campaigned assiduously on the issue of modern-day slavery. I pay tribute to him for the work he has done and for the attention to detail he has shown, which is so important when it comes to landmark legislation such as this.
My experience of modern-day slavery stemmed from my own professional contact with people who at that time were still being treated as defendants, but whom we now know increasingly must be treated as victims. It first manifested itself when I started to see a number of cases involving young Vietnamese people who had come into this country unlawfully, having spent tens of thousands of pounds to get here through many different member states of the EU and further beyond, and who were now in effect the prisoners of those who had brought them here, press-ganged into work as gardeners looking after cannabis or other crops, or press-ganged into prostitution and other crimes. These people were treated as defendants; it is clear that they are as much the victims of the crimes of their gangmasters as wider society.
That increasing realisation on my part—as somebody playing a small role in the criminal justice system—has been added to by people from all parties and none and by people from outside this place with great knowledge and understanding of the experiences of those who are trafficked, culminating in us dealing not just with the issue of trafficking, but with the more general issue of slavery. The definition of what that means in the modern age is an important one. Unfortunately, the criminal mind moves very quickly and as soon as existing types of abuse are found and stamped out, new and ingenious ways to continue that criminality emerge. That is why, when the Bill has its Second Reading and goes into Committee, it is important that we make sure that the definition of slavery does not in any way end up being a victim of a lack of foresight. In other words, it has to be future-proofed so that the examples given within the statute are non-exhaustive and allow prosecutors and the police to take action to deal with developing forms of that criminality. That is vital. We in this place are pressed for time and we do not have the resources to continue to return to the criminal law. The best criminal laws in my opinion are those that stand the test of time and prove up to the task of fast-moving developments in criminality.
That brings me to a more general point. It is clear from my examination of Professor Jonathan Shepherd of Cardiff university’s annual study of accident and emergency admissions that, while violent crime seems to be declining in society, crime is increasingly taking place online. That online criminality is now entering the experience of thousands of our constituents—day in, day out—and they come to us with problems that sometimes seem to be beyond the police’s ability to deal with. That, to me, is the greatest challenge we face in the modern era. We are patting ourselves on the back about a society that seems to be becoming less violent, but at the same time we ignore the online risks at our peril.
I know that the Government understand the problem and that the police understand it, as the need for more training and greater expertise of police officers in dealing with online criminality becomes ever greater as the years pass. I see a role not only for this House in framing legislation to combat online criminality, but very much one for our police and crime commissioners and all those charged with the responsibility of meeting the needs of the people we represent.
I commend the Queen’s Speech in respect of measures on home affairs and justice. As a humble Back Bencher, I am particularly encouraged to note that my pleas are being listened to. I perhaps sound a little surprised when I say that, but it is encouraging to know that the ideas of Members of Parliament can find their way through the process and result in some action. To my mind, that certainly restores some of the faith I have in the ability of individuals in this place of whatever party to try to influence the process for the better.
I am particularly encouraged, too, by the fact that the Government recognise the challenge they face regarding the recovery of confiscation assets. It is disturbing that only 18% of confiscation orders worth over £1 million are, in fact, recovered. That is a huge amount of money. It is not only a huge resource that we are missing; it is a standing affront to the justice system itself. Why pass court orders at all if they will have no meaning in reality? Why do we go through the rigmarole of applying the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and its strong measures without clear results—not only for the taxpayer, but for society as a whole?
The justice of the situation is important, but it is also about good old-fashioned efficiency. That is why the package in the Serious Crime Bill to increase from 10 to 14 years maximum sentences for those in default on orders over £1 million, together with an increase in sentencing powers for orders worth over £0.5 million, is a wise one. The issue of automatic early release—we have heard it mentioned in other contexts—is particularly relevant when it comes to those who are serving sentences in default of payment. It has already been rightly established by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 that the liability to pay the order is not extinguished by the service of a term in default, but to allow an automatic early release for those in default seems to me not only an affront to common sense, but hardly any incentive whatever for the wrongdoer or criminal to pay the compensation made out in the confiscation order. In other words, we need more of a stick approach when dealing with offenders who are consistently in default of important court orders and think that they can just while away their time and hope that all will be forgotten. That is not good enough.
The 18% figure has to rise. I will carefully watch out in the years ahead to see how it improves and how we can change the law, while improving the way in which we undertake confiscation. I urge all prosecutors and those charged with this important responsibility to use their judgment carefully and not constantly seek huge theoretical figures of benefit, but to look for what is realisable and discover what can be converted into cash or an asset that can be confiscated for the purpose of further law enforcement.
I also want to see an end to the rather depressing catfights that I have sometimes observed between different arms of law enforcement in relation to their particular roles. For example, a certain type of forfeiture has required money to go into one pot rather than another. Division of that kind is unhelpful, and does not lead to a properly co-ordinated approach to the confiscation of criminal assets.
I was interested and stimulated by some of what has been said about immigration. I think it incumbent on all of us to show leadership when it comes to such issues. We hear a great deal on the doorstep, and read a great deal in the newspapers, about the myths of migration, but we do not hear or read enough of the facts and the truths. Over the centuries, this land has benefited from migration. We are a land of migrants. We are a rich mosaic of people whose blood comes from all sorts of lands, and we should rejoice in that. We should remember that it has made this country truly great.
At the same time, leadership demands that we listen carefully to those who have justified concerns. When people are scared, we should not fan the flames of fear; we should offer the hand of reassurance, the strong arm of guidance, and the leadership that I believe will take us through these difficult years and demonstrate that, as a country, we are not only tolerant, but welcoming and accepting of people who want to come here, to play their part in our nation story, to make their contribution—whether through work or by other means—and to be a responsible part of our communities. That is what we want. That is what everyone with an understanding of what it is to be British wants. We have heard today about British values, and I believe that a sense of acceptance and a rejection of separation are very much part of what it is to be British.
We cannot go far wrong if we start on that basis. Then we can talk about the issues here: then we can make proper distinctions between non-EU and EU migration, and talk in a reasoned way about what the free movement directive actually means. It is not an unqualified right for people to come here, fold their arms and do nothing, and it never was. It applies to people who fall into certain categories—who are workers, or are self-sufficient—and who have a right to remain here. That is the reality, and it is a far cry from the nightmare scenarios being painted by those who wish to whip up the flames of separation and to profit in some way from fear. The vast majority of the people whom I see coming here want to work and to make a contribution, and many, after they have done their work, will return home to their countries of origin.
Let us not forget that while 1 million people or more are coming here from other EU countries, an equivalent number of UK citizens are going to other EU countries. Where is the mischief in that? What can possibly be wrong with a free-market system that allows such movements?
Andrew Percy
I will tell my hon. Friend what is wrong with it. It means an uncontrolled influx into towns such as Goole, in my constituency, which has not been planned or prepared for properly, and which places a massive strain on public services. My constituents are very welcoming: they will even accept folk from Lancashire. We simply want to know how many people are coming, and we want the resources that will enable us to control the numbers properly. Unfortunately, the free movement directive does not allow us to control them at all.
Mr Buckland
My hon. Friend has made a fair point, but I am afraid that he is in error. The directive provides a power that allows member states to have a registration system for people who wish to stay here for longer than three months. Let us not propagate the myth that the directive is an open door. It is not, and, with domestic enforcement, it can be better managed.
My hon. Friend makes a proper point about planning and public services, but we must also remember that without some migration some of the jobs that need to be done in our economy are not going to be done, and the question we have to ask is, who will do that work?
I am a great campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities, and I passionately believe they have their role to play in our growing work force. I know that is what they want, and that is also what they deserve, but getting to that ideal stage takes time. It takes time for employers to start to understand the benefits of employing people who perhaps have more challenges than others. While I want to get there, I understand the pressure on employers who, for example, cannot collect their crop or who cannot find a suitable person to fulfil a care role. Working with employers to encourage more employment locally—more indigenous employment, as it were—is a laudable aspiration and is the right thing to do, but to try artificially to close a door is bad news for our country and our economy and is not a realistic approach to a problem that has deeply complex origins and should not be viewed through the prism of cheap headlines and political slogans. That is what happens far too often in the debate on migration, and it is time we stopped that misleading and unhelpful approach. Let us show leadership on that issue.
Turning to issues relating to the UK passport agency, may I thank it for having helped a constituent of mine reach the beaches of Normandy last week? Mr Harry Prescott is now 92 years of age. The last time he was in Normandy he was a 21-year-old Royal Marine in Operation Overlord. By an odd quirk, he was not classified as a British citizen. He was born in Canada to UK parents, and for various reasons never ended up with a British passport. He wanted to play his part in the 70th anniversary commemorations, however, but when the time came for him to apply for a passport, he encountered a number of blocks to his application—the sort of bureaucracy that I know drives Members of this House quietly round the bend and which was certainly causing him a degree of frustration. I was contacted by 47 Royal Marine Commando Association about his predicament, and together we were able to prevail on the passport service to pull its finger out and get on with the job of issuing him with a passport. He was therefore able to join his comrades and colleagues and play his part in commemorating the momentous events that took place in Normandy 70 years ago. I therefore offer my genuine thanks, via my hon. Friend the Minister, to those in the passport service who made that possible.
With the help of Action for Children, one of our leading children’s charities, and other parliamentarians, I have been campaigning for a number of years now for a reform to the criminal law of child neglect. Paul Goggins has been referred to in many other contexts, but it would be wholly wrong of me not to pay tribute to him for the work he did on this important issue. The Crime and Courts Act 2013 was in Bill form when Paul presented an amendment in his and my name which will, in effect, be the basis of a provision that will appear in the Serious Crime Bill. The argument is a simple one. The criminal law of child neglect was drafted way back in 1868—some 150 years ago. It served an important purpose in its time, but times move on. Just because a law is old does not mean it is a bad law—far from it—but with the knowledge and understanding we now have about the full effects of all types of abuse of children and young people, I think it was remiss, to say the least, that we had not before now updated the criminal law to keep pace not only with developments in science and understanding, but with the developing civil and family law that already recognises varying types of abuse, including emotional abuse, when considering issues of family protection and whether or not a child is at risk or has experienced significant harm.
Very often, emotional abuse does not come alone. It will be accompanied, sadly, by physical and sexual abuse. Daniel Pelka is one of many well-known cases in which the signs of emotional abuse were emerging before the physical abuse took its toll on that poor young lad. It pains me to think that the police, the prosecuting authorities and all those with responsibility for child protection did not have that extra tool in the box when it came to dealing with emotional abuse. I am not saying that it might have changed the course of young Daniel’s life, but it could have made a difference to his life and it certainly will make a difference to the lives of hundreds of children and young people in this country if and when we amend the law to include emotional abuse. The criminal law is an interesting thing for those who have been imbued with it for the past 20 years, as I have. I believe that a lot of people would have been shocked to realise that section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 covered only physical harm, but it was made crystal clear in a House of Lords case back in 1981 that that section was limited to the
“physical needs of the child and does not cover other aspects such as moral and educational”.
That meant that the door was firmly shut on emotional abuse.
A lot of people have asked me in the past few months how one defines emotional abuse and whether the new measure will not be a problem when it comes to parenting. Are we in danger of criminalising the firm but fair parent who deprives their child of an Xbox if there has been a misdemeanour in the household? Not a bit of it. It is not about firm but fair parenting. It is not about people who administer reasonable chastisement on their children. It is not about the millions of decent men and women who, like many of us in this Chamber, learn every day what it is to bring up a child. It is about the systematic abuse of children by people who either should know better or in some sad cases do not know better.
Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)
My hon. Friend has touched on an important point about this measure to protect children from neglect. Does he agree that it will be exceptionally important that the guidelines for the Serious Crime Bill define emotional abuse carefully so that statutory agencies are able to understand what they will be enforcing and parents understand the new legislation? Safeguarding sections on school websites will be a valuable resource to help parents to understand exactly what it is intended to protect against.
Mr Buckland
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Her point about guidance will be key to all this. While we may be good at passing a law, it is for the prosecuting authorities and child protection agencies to enforce it, so we would be failing in our duty if we did not explain through debates in the House what we mean.
Empirical research shows that emotional abuse may be the most damaging form of child maltreatment because those who are responsible for administering it almost invariably are those responsible for enabling children to fulfil their developmental milestones. What do I mean by emotional neglect? It can include forcing a child to witness domestic violence, scapegoating a child, inflicting systematic humiliation and enforcing degrading punishments.
The effects of emotional neglect have been shown to be potentially lifelong and as profound, if not more so, than some of the physical effects on children. They can include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorder, aggression, dissociation, mental illness and even suicide. Children who experience rejection or neglect are less able to learn and achieve good educational outcomes than their peers, so in addition to the psychiatric evidence that we have of the harm caused by emotional neglect, there is growing evidence from neuroscience that brain development is inhibited as a result, which itself leads to significant harm. We cannot ignore the developing science; we would be failing in our duty if we did.
The language of section 1 of the 1933 Act is antiquated. It uses words such as “wilful”, which has been defined by the courts as meaning “reckless”. Well, why does the Act not say that? It would be so much easier if we amended the law to make sure that people given the task of interpreting it did not misunderstand “wilful” as requiring specific intent or as being more intentional than the law requires. Why should we put people through their paces in that way by relying on archaic language?
Similarly, terms such as “unnecessary suffering” were good for the time of Dickens, but are not necessarily appropriate now. The term “significant harm” is the one that I strongly advocate. It replicates the term already used in civil law and it is the threshold test used when child protection issues are dealt with. Why not just streamline the system by bringing the language into line with that already used? The term “significant harm” can be understood but still sets a high threshold, and it goes a long way towards allaying some of the concerns of those who say that this will open the floodgates to prosecutions of the firm but fair parents about whom I was talking earlier.
The police and those involved in social work welcome the proposed reform. As I said, there was concern about the inability of the police to intervene in cases of non-physical harm, and the dislocation between criminal and civil law was leading to problems in enforcement and in interpreting the role of the police. We are making the law clear not only for members of the public but for those in the law enforcement agencies who have to do this difficult and sensitive work.
We should look at what is happening overseas. Action for Children commissioned research from 31 jurisdictions across Europe, Asia, north America, Africa and Australia, including common law jurisdictions with which we can draw direct parallels. In 25 of those 31 jurisdictions, the criminal law explicitly encompasses emotional abuse. We can see from that trawl of other countries’ legislation that emotional abuse is already recognised in other parts of the world.
How emotional abuse is defined will obviously be important when it comes to presenting evidence in court, and assistance will be gained, as it is now, from experts in the field who are trained in understanding the intellectual and psychological capacity of children. There is concern in the community of expert witnesses that, with pressure on resources, their job will become more difficult. I understand that, and it will be important to acknowledge that during our debates and to work out ways in which the criminal justice system can accommodate expert testimony. It must do so in a way that is fair to all parties while serving the interests of justice and allowing objective expert evidence to be relied on by juries when discharging their duties and applying the high test of the criminal standard of proof. The combination of significant harm and the criminal standard of proof is protection enough for those who say they are worried that the floodgates will be opened upon responsible heads.
We therefore move away from words and phrases such as “neglect”, “wilful” and “unnecessary suffering” to the term “maltreatment”, which covers the gamut of different types of harm that are caused, sadly, to our children. At a stroke it makes clear the options available to the courts. It allows sentencers the ability properly to reflect criminality by those responsible for the care of children in sentencing them appropriately. Finally, it deals with a long-standing anomaly that I am surprised we allowed to continue for so long.
This law will not apply retrospectively. We cannot, and it is right that we do not, make something criminal that was not criminal at the time it happened. I know that for those people who contacted me and other colleagues in recent months about the enduring effects of the emotional abuse that they suffered that may come as a bitter pill, but it would not be right to try to change a well known and well respected principle of law, a principle that is recognised internationally. We have to look to the future, but in doing so we should not forget the victims of the past who until now have had to suffer in silence and who have not had the justice that they deserve.
I am proud to support a Government who listened to a consultation that was conducted in recent months and who listened to the calls from my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams), who had a private Member’s Bill in the last Session, to my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Jessica Lee), to me and to Members of the Opposition and former Members, such as the late Paul Goggins. Let this stand as one of his epitaphs. Let it stand as an acknowledgement of the power of politics when people come together, recognise a wrong and seek to make it good.
I have said a lot about child neglect. It is something that I saw in my own working life, and I found those cases some of the most difficult to deal with. Hon. Members who have been in practice well understand what I say. However, I do not stand here on an emotional basis; I stand here on the basis of evidence, a sense of responsibility that we as legislators must always do what is right in terms of developments in science, and a genuine and steadfast belief that when it comes to the criminal law, not only must we try to keep pace with developments, but—to use the phrase that I used earlier in another context—we must do everything we can to future-proof it. I thank my hon. Friends on the Front Bench for listening and taking appropriate action.
I have mentioned human trafficking and slavery, but I want to finish on a positive note. Unless every town, city and village in this country wakes up to the reality of human trafficking and slavery in its midst, we are not going to solve the problem. We have an increasingly aware police force, which increasingly understands the challenge and is sourcing important training and support.
Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)
Is my hon. Friend interested to know that Churches Together in west Cheshire, part of Weaver Vale, held a conference attended by churches from the whole of Cheshire West, as well as the police force and the local authority, to make sure that all the villages and all the communities throughout Cheshire are aware of human trafficking?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. Before the hon. Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland) resumes his speech, I gently point out that he has now been speaking for 33 minutes, it took the Home Secretary only 34 minutes to launch the debate, and other Members are waiting to speak. We are grateful for his tour de force across an area in which he has great expertise, but not necessarily over the entire Queen’s Speech.
Mr Buckland
I will bear your exhortation very much in mind, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am still a minute behind the Home Secretary so I will take that as a target and I will do my best.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans). I just wanted to make the point that in Swindon we are doing exactly the same. The 100-plus people who came to St Joseph’s Catholic college to see the films about child slavery and trafficking shown by ECPAT UK, one of the leading charities, showed that there is a real interest, understanding and concern. It is through the work of local organisations, together with our police and crime commissioners, who are increasingly becoming involved in encouraging the training of police, that we will start to see a rolling back of the almost systematic blindness that we have had to the reality of trafficking in our midst.
Before I sit down, I pay a warm tribute to the Wiltshire police and crime commissioner, Angus Macpherson, who is recovering in hospital in Bath after a serious heart attack last week. He has been doing an outstanding job for the last several years as our PCC, and on behalf of everyone who cares about crime and policing in my neck of the woods and generally, I wish him the speediest of recoveries.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to follow what was a tour de force from the hon. Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland). Opposition Members appreciate his comments about the late Paul Goggins, and it goes without saying that most Members here will recognise his contribution to the new Bill. I will try to limit my speech to under 15 minutes, which was your original instruction—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman may well gasp in horror, but his speech was a tour de force and it was interesting, so I think we can live with it.
This is a Government programme lite—what is not in it is as interesting as what is. Where are the measures designed seriously to address the concerns that were all too evident in the run-up to the last set of elections—concerns about the lack of affordable homes, especially in the south-west where the income to mortgage ratio is only just below that of the south-east, but where the incomes of people living full time, not in second homes, can be very low? The south-west is jam-packed full of second homes. Fewer new homes were started in the south west in 2013 than in 2012. Where are the measures to tackle the undercutting of wages and the need to ensure that people working regular hours, month after month, get a regular contract? People in Plymouth have on average £19 a day less disposable cash than a Londoner. Taking into account some variations in food and prices, but without including mortgages and rents, those people feel a little aggrieved about life in general. They feel out of the loop. London and the big metropolitan centres are where it is happening, and some of the dissatisfaction is feeding into the mood that we are sensing on the doorstep.
There is nothing in the Queen’s Speech to ensure that victims of domestic violence are not left in an unsafe property because of the bedroom tax rules, or to protect those in rental properties from landlords who do not provide adequate fire protection and fixed smoke alarms. On that point, I draw the attention of the House to my indirect interests in those of my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford). The draft wild animals in circuses Bill has been dropped; people feel very strongly about that, and I have received a vast number of e-mails. They are deeply disappointed and we will need an explanation for that decision.
Some proposed Bills are to be welcomed, including, finally, one to provide some action to end the misery of human trafficking. Some hon. Members who have already spoken have played a key role in that, as did the former Member Anthony Steen, who represented a south-west seat and was a constituency neighbour of mine. He will be very pleased at last to see some of his hard work over many years leading to a measure on modern slavery, which I think will be interesting and have cross-party support.
I also welcome the changes on pubcos and on plastic bag use, although the changes on pubcos do not go quite far enough for some of my publicans. I also welcome the introduction of a power of recall, unlike some of my colleagues.
I was pleased to see that the Government have accepted the need for an ombudsman for the armed forces. The case for that was previously well made by my hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State for Defence, and the Government listening to Opposition proposals is naturally always welcome.
However, the nitty-gritty of people’s lives has largely been ignored. When times are hard, I think we all look for somebody to blame, or something that explains why we feel we are walking through treacle and getting nowhere: it might be immigrants, who are blamed for taking jobs; it might be people who are overweight, who are the butt of troll-like comments on social media such as, “They should go on a diet and save the NHS money”; or it might be people claiming benefits, who are vilified by the media and described as “scroungers”. Deep, underlying concerns are voiced in difficult circumstances, but of course rationally we know that people with weight issues cannot all simply go on a diet and everything will be fine. We know from the issues thrown up by the bedroom tax that not everybody claiming a benefit is feckless and that instead the majority of them are low-paid, hard-working family people or those with disabilities, who genuinely need the state’s safety net.
Equally, immigrants are not to blame for all our ills but actually contribute significantly to our country. We are a trading nation; we have been a trading nation for centuries. I was recently reminded of that by a member of our armed forces—somebody who is resident in Plymouth. He pointed out that we have travelled from these shores for centuries to colonise and conquer other nations, all in the economic interests of Great Britain, and that we have depended for our success as a nation on the movement of people to and from our shores.
Nowadays, we see students coming here from overseas but they are viewed as immigrants, despite the fact that they are paying for their courses, paying rent to a landlord, paying for goods and services in our local shops, and paying tax on most of those purchases. They are also supporting our higher education sector and essential research needs. Recent changes in their status have been damaging to the higher education sector, and notwithstanding the need to tackle the foreign students who overstay and the bogus colleges, we need to regard students generally as a positive and not as a negative in our cities. In Plymouth, we have two universities with a significant number of overseas students, and it is quite disheartening that those students are sometimes seen as more of a problem for our city than a benefit to it.
Of course, we should also remember that British people themselves have made up significant waves of immigration to other countries over generations and for a range of reasons. Some moved through choice; some to pursue an education in an international university; some because of persecution; and others for economic reasons. Indeed, I spoke today to a group of people from Plymouth, Massachusetts, as part of the plans for the Mayflower 2020 celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers heading out from Plymouth. Why did the Pilgrim Fathers leave this country? They chose to travel to somewhere else because they were being persecuted here in England. Movement of people to and from these shores has happened historically, and for a whole range of reasons.
None of the Bills being introduced addresses people’s concerns. It is particularly important to target those who bring workers into the UK and undercut local workers in terms of salaries and conditions. They are the agents and others who are actively recruiting people, and dishonestly telling them that they have a job and accommodation. Quite frankly, too little is known about where these people operate, where they are coming from and where they are housing and employing some of the people they ship into this country. Some of those who bring people into this country will fall under the human trafficking Bill, but a lot of them will not. I have been told that in Plymouth and the south-west there is a taxi firm that employs drivers in the EU. We would think, “Okay, that’s fine, they’re from the EU. That shouldn’t be a problem.” However, that firm is training those drivers in the EU and then bringing them to the UK. It is not clear how and where the vetting is done or what is the source of the information, which is vital for the safety of passengers, particularly women. Would it be considered adequate in the UK?
Frankly, I find it extraordinary that an employer would have to go overseas to find cab drivers, because there are people here who would very willingly do the work. Of course, the reason is startlingly simple: they can get the labour cheaper. That is the root of the problem that many people see with immigration. We need the measures proposed by the shadow Home Secretary to put a stop to this type of practice, which convinces people that all immigrants are here to take their jobs. If we can deal with the undercutting of wages, we will go a long way towards cutting out the benefits that some employers see in harvesting people from overseas and bringing them here to work.
My constituents are very clear that we also need an effective mechanism to tackle a problem that we have had for centuries but not yet resolved: monitoring who comes into the country and who goes out. We still have no reliable system for ensuring that people are properly chased when their visas expire. In my view, and that of my constituents, it is important that even those coming from the EU should be properly counted in and out. We need exit checks, even allowing for free movement. Clearly that should also apply to the movement of vehicles, as other hon. Members have said.
It is all the unknowns—the areas where information is not fully available and the facts are unknown—that naturally fuel people’s fears and insecurities. Why should the people of Plymouth have to rely on vague and inaccurate information about what is happening in their area? My hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) is right that we need practical measures of the type she described, not platitudes. We need truthfulness and reliable facts, as has been said on both sides of the House.
I will move on from immigration and talk about domestic violence. Women’s groups such as Women’s Aid, Paladin and the Sara Charlton Charitable Foundation have flagged up the need for legislation specifically to tackle coercive control and behaviour in difficult relationships. The issue cuts across two pieces of legislation in the Queen’s Speech. One is the Modern Slavery Bill, because many of the people unfortunate enough to find themselves in that situation are undoubtedly subjected to coercive behaviour. The other is the Serious Crime Bill. I ask the Government to look very closely at the work being done by Women’s Aid and other groups to see whether there is any scope for bringing forward a measure that would make emotional cruelty a criminal offence. Such behaviour is often a precursor to violence and other types of abuse, and there is a strong belief that if we can tackle it in some way, we will prevent worse behaviour further down the line and save money. I ask the Minister to look at that in due course.
I did not agree with everything the hon. Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) said, but I agreed with his comments on the social action, responsibility and heroism Bill. Having been a lifeguard for nine years, I used my skills mostly when people had heart attacks in the street or on trains. The hon. Gentleman’s assessment is that people find it difficult to intervene. I once stepped off a bus and found a lady lying on the pavement in front of me. There was a group of people around her, but none of them had done anything. Some of them said, “I don’t want to be sued.” I am afraid that our very British values of not crossing the road in such circumstances have been subsumed beneath an Atlantic, American, litigious attitude to everything. If, through this Bill, we can make people feel a little more confident, that could make a difference in their acting to save lives and take action where appropriate.
The biggest failure in the Queen’s Speech is in not bringing forward measures to reward hard work, to ensure new homes are built, to stop privatisation of the NHS, or to freeze energy bills. That says a lot about the ability of this lame-duck coalition Government to really deliver for the people of this country.
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
Before my main comments, I want to say a few words about the crisis in the Passport Office, about which some hon. Friends have already spoken. I was disappointed that at the start of the debate the Home Secretary did not seem to take this issue very seriously. It has attracted considerable media attention in the past few days, but I—and, I suspect, practically every other MP—have been grappling with it for weeks, as we have dealt with more and more people whose holidays and work have faced disruption and cancellation because their passport applications have been delayed and who are making inquiries but are unable to find out what has been going on, with the whole process causing great stress and worry. I could refer to many examples, but I will not go into them in detail given the pressures of time.
I have had more problems with the Passport Office over the past three weeks, as a Member of Parliament, than in the previous 13 years. Bluntly, the Government need to take action to sort this out, or lots of holidays will be ruined and business opportunities lost. This mess should have been sorted out months ago. If management and Ministers had been on top of their jobs, they should have realised there was a problem long ago and taken the necessary action. Let me be clear: this is not the fault of the front-line staff in the Passport Office, who have clearly been overwhelmed by a situation not of their making. They have been very courteous and helpful when my staff have made inquiries. The source of the problem is clearly at the very top, with, I suspect, cutbacks being a major contributory factor. I suspect that it is also the result of a Secretary of State whose focus, to put it kindly, has been directed elsewhere. I hope that the Minister will give some indication of taking this more seriously and ensuring that action is taken to deal with the problem and the backlog.
The main thrust of my comments is on the wider issue of immigration policy. I welcome the clear commitment given by my party leader and my Front Benchers to reject anti-immigrant rhetoric and promote policies that deal with the real issues of migration. Many people have concerns about immigration; I hear them frequently in my constituency. Some of those concerns can be well-founded, and they must be addressed. This debate should be based on facts, as many Members have said. The fact is that the many people who are immigrants, or descended from immigrants, make, with only few exceptions, a positive and beneficial contribution to our society and our community. They make a direct contribution through the taxes that they pay. They often provide key workers in sectors of the public service, such as the health service, and have proved vital to many private sector businesses as well. They have made, and still make, important contributions to our culture and our sporting life, to the academic world and research, and to much else besides—even, indeed, to our political life in this Chamber and beyond. That is not surprising, because, reflecting our history, our country has always been a country of migrants, whether from Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean or many other parts of the world. That is the nature of our society and our country, and it is a source of strength, not weakness.
Inevitably, the arrival in any part of this country—in any country of the world—of large numbers of incomers over a relatively short period, whether migrants from other countries or people moving from elsewhere in the same country, will have an effect on society and is likely to put pressures on social infrastructure and the employment market. The way to respond to those pressures and concerns is not to ramp up anti-immigrant rhetoric—or to set unworkable targets, as this Government have tried to do time and again—but to provide a real solution to real concerns and a positive response where possible. That can be done by recognising the need to improve social infrastructure and taking the necessary steps to put it in place, while challenging those myths and rumours that are not well-founded. It is also important, as my Front-Bench colleagues have emphasised today and elsewhere, to stop the exploitation of workers—UK citizens and those from elsewhere—which lies at the heart of many of the concerns raised by constituents.
One aspect of immigration policy—not just in the UK, but worldwide—needs to be considered as part of the backdrop to any debate on the issue. Given that the world population has been doubling over a relatively small number of decades and that many countries are suffering from war and conflict, it is not surprising that people seek to come to countries that are relatively wealthy, stable and secure. The UK is clearly too small to have an open-door policy, which is why it is right to have a firm immigration policy, but it is worth bearing in mind the overall context, because if we do not also do as much as we can to solve some of the underlying reasons that people want to migrate, we will, bluntly, always have pressures on migration, no matter what policies we or any other Government of any other country adopt. That is why we should be working to reduce conflict in the world and why we should seek to do what we can to support international development, to try to reduce the pressures on migration to the wealthier countries, of which we are one.
Perhaps the starkest indication of those pressures is the fact that, perhaps at this moment, somewhere on the southern shore of the Mediterranean a boat is setting off and over the next few days its occupants may well drown and die horribly in those waters. Thousands die each year on that journey, as do others on journeys across the sea to more attractive parts of the world, such as north America and Australia. Over the past 10 to 15 years, 25,000 people are known to have died in the Mediterranean sea when seeking to travel to the shores of Europe. That small number is probably only a proportion of those who have died making that journey, because many more will have died without anyone knowing anything about it, except for their grieving relatives back home.
Of course, people should not seek to cross borders illegally in the Mediterranean or elsewhere, but the fact that so many are in such desperate circumstances that they are prepared to take the risk should demand recognition from us of the forces that lead them to make the journey and of the need to tackle some of the underlying causes of migration. The situation also requires a humanitarian response from us as fellow human beings.
I understand that a European Union institution—probably the Justice and Home Affairs Council—will meet in the next few weeks to discuss the future direction of EU policy on borders and asylum. Amnesty International has made a number of proposals on the approach that the UK Government should take at that meeting, including:
“Safe routes to Europe for refugees from countries like Syria so they are not forced to take dangerous journeys, for instance, through resettlement quotas”.
The Government have made some moves on that, but they should do a lot more. Amnesty International also suggests:
“Increased search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean to identify boats in distress and save lives”,
and
“Human rights at the heart of migration control agreements with neighbouring countries”.
Those seem to be a set of reasonable policies that not only reflect humanitarian concerns, but are practical.
I should like the Minister to tell the House in his closing comments how he and the Government will respond to the calls for a European-wide policy to tackle the crisis in the Mediterranean and off the shores of southern Europe. That tragedy is an issue not just for the countries involved, but one that must also be addressed in our national interest. The fact is that people who take that route to southern Europe may, in due course, also seek to travel to the UK. The situation requires a coherent response across the European Union, and I should like to hear what our Government are doing to make that coherent response possible.
Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
It is a great privilege to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) and the many other speakers. In many ways, the Queen’s Speech debate is the panorama of all debates, with so many different themes raised. Even within the framework of home affairs, a huge range of issues come into play, as they have today, such as human trafficking, immigration and much else. I totally understand why many hon. Members want to cover a range of themes in their speeches in such a debate, but I want to restrict my comments to one area that is very important for us as legislators—the crime of online paedophilia and how we handle it as a society. The crime is immensely serious, and we should reflect that in our laws and sentencing.
It is totally right, in the words of the summary of the Serious Crime Bill in the document issued with the Queen’s Speech, that
“we can continue to effectively and relentlessly pursue, disrupt and bring to justice serious and organised criminals, guard against the threat of terrorism and protect vulnerable women and children.”
If we cannot do that, there is precious little point in having a Government at all. I welcome the fact that the Bill will create a new offence of possessing paedophilic manuals and, critically, that it will clarify the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 to make it explicit that cruelty likely to cause psychological harm to a child is an offence. Several hon. Members have already expanded on that.
It is important to introduce measures to tackle child abuse and emotional neglect and, moving on from that, to recognise the growing dangers of online paedophilia. Legislation is necessary if we are to tackle how we deal with those who use the internet to target children. I want to propose that Ministers listening to the debate today should consider toughening still further the law in this area. We may need to use primary legislation to bring in mandatory custodial sentencing in certain cases for which at present there is no such requirement.
I want to share with the Minister and the House a recent case in my constituency in which, in my view and that of many of my constituents, what took place was an absolute travesty of justice. Members may not be aware of the case of Dennis Igo from Bronington in my constituency. So appalled was I about the outcome that I have referred the case to the Attorney-General and asked him to review the sentence awarded.
For seven years, Mr Igo viewed and made well over 250,000 indecent images of children. Some of the images were of children as young as five. Many were of children being abused, and some were category 5 images. One national newspaper has stated in print that he had 99 of the most serious level 5 images. The collection included 834 films. The police were able to retrieve 255,667 images, and they have been quite clear that there were many more images, but the sheer quantity made it impossible to retrieve any more from the computer. There were also extreme images of bestiality.
For this catalogue of the most heinous crimes, Mr Igo was sentenced on 23 May—in our country—to a grand total of 300 hours of community work, with some specialised counselling and a two-year prison term suspended for two years. He was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years, and he was given a 10-year sexual offences prevention order to restrict his future conduct. Before sentencing, he was not put on remand, but was out on bail. The view was taken that he could be managed in the community; the community he lives in does not share that view, and neither, most certainly, do I.
The mitigating circumstances were that the accused was depressed, his wife had been ill and he allegedly had financial problems, although I do not know whether the latter point was independently verified or whether there is evidence of his having sold any assets to deal with that if it was the case. Nevertheless, I do not believe that depression, a wife who has been ill, alleged money problems and, I suspect, a very clever lawyer, add up to mitigating circumstances for a non-custodial sentence in such a case. That is why I have asked the Attorney-General to review it.
It is no wonder that Claudia Knights, the chief executive of the child protection charity Kidscape, said of this case:
“The sentence does not reflect the severity of the case. It must not be forgotten that each indecent image involves real children. We have to ask what message such apparently lenient sentences send out to both abusers and victims of such crimes.”
By comparison, let us take another case, the sentencing for which took place in Peterborough Crown court two days before Mr Igo was sentenced in Mold Crown court for the offences that I have listed. In the Peterborough case, the court heard how the accused made indecent images of children available for distribution via a file-sharing software programme. Officers discovered 242 indecent images and 495 films. In the case that I have been describing, Mr Igo was sentenced on 16 separate charges; in the Peterborough Crown court case, the accused was sentenced on 10 counts. Igo and the accused in the Peterborough case were put on the sex offenders register for an identical length of time: 10 years. However, in the Peterborough Crown court case, the accused was also jailed for 16 months. After sentencing in the Peterborough Crown court case, a detective constable said:
“I hope this sends out a clear message that anyone who thinks they can access and share such images will not get away with it… We will find out and we will catch up with you.”
I recognise that there are differences in the two cases, but there is also clearly a massive discrepancy when 242 indecent images and 495 films mean jail for one person, yet, in the same jurisdiction, more than 255,667 indecent images and 834 films do not mean jail for another. That is why I hope that, following this debate, Home Office Ministers will look at the need for new primary legislation. Do they honestly believe that online paedophiles, especially those who have made and viewed such a huge number of indecent images, should seriously be out on bail before sentencing?
I believe that it is crucial that we look seriously at mandatory custodial sentences. Recently, we have heard many accounts of child abuse in the 1970s and 1980s and about how a previous generation of abused children went through hell. Sometimes, they spoke out and no one believed them; many times, they did not even feel that they could tell anyone. Whether it is true or not, we like to think that things like that belong to a past era and that they could not happen in quite the same way today. However, as we have that debate and as we debate the Queen’s Speech, let us not forget the world of online child abuse, where images are taken, used and abused; images of real children, wherever they may happen to live; images that are viewed and manufactured electronically.
The issues involved are serious for Governments and for us as legislators. As we speak, as we have done today, about paedophilic manuals and the emotional and psychological abuse of children, I hope that Ministers will seriously review and consider the need for new primary legislation in this area.
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
It is a privilege to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones), who spoke so eloquently and passionately on a vital issue of deep concern.
Last week, my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition said that one of the tests for a Queen’s Speech is whether it responds to the anxieties people feel in their communities. Many of us will recognise that one such anxiety expressed by some of our constituents is about immigration. We should be able to debate immigration, both in Parliament and with our constituents, because it has a vital place in the history of our country. Our success as a nation was built on being outward-facing and welcoming, and over centuries, immigration has made Britain the country we are proud of and it has an important role in our future. However, it must be controlled and managed to ensure that the system is fair and works in the interests of everyone, and of course that it has public confidence and support.
Despite its importance, immigration did not get a single mention in the Queen’s Speech. This Government’s policies over the past four years have not promoted an open and honest debate, or delivered the progressive and fair approach that this country needs. Instead we have seen the use of irresponsible “Go Home” vans and heard a lot of tough talk, while at the same time the ill-conceived targets for net migration that the Government set have been missed by a mile. The Prime Minister promised to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, but it has actually risen to 200,000.
Indeed, it is worse than that. Not only are the Government failing to tackle some of the very real issues affecting our communities—such as the way some employers exploit cheap migrant labour to undercut local pay and conditions, or the impact of cuts to our vital public services—but their policies on immigration are damaging the future prosperity of cities like Nottingham by discouraging bright overseas students from coming to study at our universities. Back in March I met the pro-vice-chancellors with responsibility for international students from Nottingham Trent university and the university of Nottingham. They were extremely concerned about the impact that Government changes to visa applications and post-study work entitlements are having on the recruitment of international students, and about the implications of that for the economic success of our city.
Higher education is one of the UK’s most important export industries. There are currently around 11,000 international students in Nottingham across our two universities, and there is monetary value to their being there. Nottingham Trent university estimates that the total spend of their international students—fees plus accommodation and living costs—is around £60 million. The corresponding figure for the university of Nottingham is £160 million. Those universities estimate that when we take into account the multipliers—the extra value of that expenditure for the local economy—the combined value of international students to the Nottingham economy is somewhere in the order of £374 million per year, supporting hundreds of jobs in our city and the wider east midlands region.
The concern for our universities, which are operating in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, is that the Government’s rhetoric and policies are putting students off coming to the UK to study. Higher Education Statistics Agency data show that the total number of international students studying at higher educational institutions in the UK has declined for the first time since records began in 1994. The biggest drop off in visas is for students from the Indian subcontinent, with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh seeing reductions in the year to March 2013 of 38%, 62% and 30% respectively. That is particularly alarming as those are among the countries forecast by the British Council to have the biggest increase in outbound student mobility up to the year 2020.
The ability to work in a country after study is one of the most significant factors that students consider when deciding where to study. A recent survey by Universities UK found that 56% of respondents cited the possibility of obtaining post-study work experience as a factor they considered when applying to the UK. According to a 2011 survey by the UK Council for International Student Affairs, the abolition of the post-study work route has had the greatest negative impact of all recent visa changes on students’ decisions to study in the UK, especially at postgraduate level. If the Government do not think again—I hope the Minister will respond to these issues in his closing remarks—Nottingham and other UK cities could face an immediate impact on their local economies, risk missing out on some of the brightest overseas students, and lose the wider cultural benefits of hosting students from across the world.
There is also a longer-term impact because we know that young people who study here are the Government, business and cultural leaders of the future, and therefore we are also losing out on the opportunities for international influence and inward investment that educational opportunities in the UK can foster and encourage.
Let me turn to the issues that the Government are simply failing to address and which concern many of my constituents. The Government have said that a key priority is to
“continue to build an economy that rewards those who work hard.”
Unfortunately, for many people in Nottingham that does not reflect their experience of the last few years. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) noted last week, 5 million people in Britain—one in five workers—are low paid, and for the first time ever most of the people in poverty are in work. Yesterday, the Nottingham Post reported that 16,000 people a year rely on food banks in our county, and charities tell us that low wages and insecure contracts are contributing to the huge increase in that number. That is why I raised the need for financial security in employment with the Prime Minister last week. Unfortunately, he failed to address the concern I was expressing on behalf of my constituents about the quality and security of the new jobs being created and about their ability to earn a decent living wage.
As we are a trading nation, a “close all the doors” approach to immigration cannot work, but neither can a laissez-faire right-wing approach to free movement that allows employers to exploit cheap labour. It is bad for the migrant workers being exploited, it is bad for local workers whose wages are undercut and it is bad for responsible employers who want to offer fair rewards. Labour is the only party offering practical solutions to stop this exploitation in the workplace. Instead of remaining silent, the Government should have included an immigration Bill to stop workers being undercut.
In a Labour Queen’s Speech there would be measures to strengthen minimum wage enforcement by giving councils a new role and increasing the maximum fine to £50,000.
Nicola Blackwood
In the light of the hon. Lady’s comments, does she welcome the fact that the Government have raised the minimum wage, and will legislate in the small business Bill to help enforcement of the minimum wage and remove exclusivity from zero-hours contracts?
Lilian Greenwood
Of course I welcome the measures that the hon. Lady mentions, but they are not enough. Banning exclusivity from zero-hours contracts does nothing to help people who are working regular hours week in, week out but never have the security of a proper contract. That is why we are asking the Government to go further.
A Labour Government would ban employment agencies that only recruit workers from abroad and would make serious exploitation a crime, to prevent dodgy gangmasters exploiting migrants to undercut jobs and wages. We would also strengthen border controls to tackle illegal immigration and stop abuse, but welcome overseas students coming to the UK and immediately remove them from the net migration target. We would act where the Government have not and strengthen checks on short-term student visitor visas which are open to abuse.
We would also introduce a “make work pay” Bill to reward hard work, raising the national minimum wage to a higher proportion of average earnings and guaranteeing a regular contract to those on zero-hours contracts who work regular hours month after month but have no security for themselves or their families.
Fifteen years ago I worked as a trade union officer in Derbyshire. Many of the low-paid home care workers had a small number of contracted hours but regularly worked many more hours. We reached a deal under which those hours were gradually incorporated into their contracts. I recognise that employers and employees sometimes need flexibility, but people also need financial security, and we are proposing a workable option that would provide that.
Labour would encourage businesses to pay the living wage with “make work pay” contracts. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Labour local authorities that are leading the way on this, ending poverty pay among their own staff and only contracting with those employers who pay a living wage. I also pay tribute to organisations such as Nottingham Citizens, which is working in our city to demonstrate the value of a living wage to employers and holding us politicians to account.
The message that we heard loud and clear in the recent elections is that people want politicians who listen to their concerns, talk to them and are not afraid of debate. People are worried but we should not stoke those fears. Hostility and division are not the way forward. Britain needs fair and practical solutions. That is what a Government should offer. The coalition is not offering what people need, but a Labour Government will.
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
One of the pledges I made when I was elected was to put local people first; to listen to my constituents all year round and to take what they say seriously. I was grateful in that election for the help of my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) and it is a pleasure to follow her. Many of the issues she will have heard when she campaigned in Corby and East Northamptonshire are the same as those raised by her constituents, as she illustrated in her speech in which she made incredibly important remarks on immigration.
Every Friday, I send out an e-newsletter that is read by thousands of people across Corby and East Northamptonshire. I asked recently what my constituents would like to see included in the Queen’s Speech. I received nearly 100 responses. I wish that I could put all the contributions on the record. I assure my constituents that I have read and taken on board their views. I offered three priorities that I wanted to see in this year’s Queen’s Speech: an end to the abuse of zero-hours contracts, a guarantee of GP appointments within 48 hours and a freeze on energy bills. I was pleased to see mention of zero-hours contracts in the Queen’s Speech, but I agree with my hon. Friend that the Government will not take the action that is really needed to stop the exploitation that is so prevalent in my constituency. I was disappointed that there was nothing in the Queen’s Speech on the NHS, and that there was nothing on tackling the rip-off gas and energy prices that my constituents face, when bills have gone up by £300 a year under the coalition Government.
My constituents told me that they want action to build more houses, and action on skills training and better quality apprenticeships. They told me they want help for families, particularly action to make child care more affordable.
Nicola Blackwood
The hon. Gentleman is aware that apprenticeships have more than doubled under this Government.
Andy Sawford
What my constituents want is real quality apprenticeships. They want level 3 apprenticeships and beyond. They want real pathways into employment. They want people to have the opportunity to become skilled tradespeople.
My constituents want more rights for fathers. They want to look at the impact of the abolition of crisis loans. They want action to support the wider implementation of the living wage. I, too, welcome the leadership that has been shown by Labour local authorities around the country, but I want to see a much more widespread take-up of the living wage, including by the private sector. They want the bedroom tax to be scrapped, because they recognise it is unfair. They want action on care for the elderly and more support for people with dementia. They want a more progressive tax system and the reversal of the tax cut for millionaires. My constituents told me they want a Bill that will allow for votes at 16. They want to end the use of unqualified teachers in classrooms. They want investment in green energy. They want to close the loopholes used by large corporations to evade tax. They want more scrutiny of the defence cuts that are being pushed through. They want to end the dogma-driven privatisation of public services. They want to really get banks lending, particularly to small businesses. They want to improve the condition of roads and they want a Bill on street lights.
Some of my constituents told me that they want a balanced and practical debate on immigration. Migration plays a big part in the history of Corby and East Northamptonshire. Over the generations, people coming from across the UK and around the world have mixed with Northamptonshire people to create a distinctive, incredibly strong and proud community. People coming to the area have contributed enormously both economically and culturally, and they will continue to do so: Scottish people, people from Ireland and Wales, Serbians who came and helped to build the pipeline under the ocean that got the fuel across to the allied troops landing on D-day, the Bangladeshi community that has become established in the past 20 years or so—I was very proud of our first Bangladeshi Muslim mayor last year—and the recent development of the Zimbabwean community. There has also been significant migration of people from countries new to the European Union who, like migrants before them, have brought new ways of life, new languages and new shops on our high streets.
All of these changes can be unsettling. They can cause anxiety and they do raise questions about the impact on local services and the labour market. Part of the issue is that people feel that the Government are just not working for them. People in my constituency are being exploited at work, they are struggling to access housing, they are facing problems accessing health services and they are finding it difficult to get a school place for their child. The problem is partly about demand, with a growing population—people coming to Corby and us having the highest birth rate in the country—and people living longer.
When the Scots arrived in the inter-war years, there was a need to ensure that the effect on existing residents was managed, that tensions were overcome and that new services and facilities were provided to meet the needs of a growing town. That challenge has been met by each generation. It has been met by those determined to make our community work, not by those who want to channel people’s anxiety and concern into blaming people who seem different—who sound or look different, maybe worship a different god or speak a different language.
In my constituency, everybody comes from somewhere else—including me. I can trace my family on my father’s side back eight generations, but what of the ninth? On my mum’s side, my nan is of Irish descent and my granddad Scottish. People in Corby remember the discrimination. They remember the signs saying “No Blacks. No Irish. No dogs.” When the Government sent around vans saying “Go Home”, I found graffiti outside the mosque in my town that said “Go Home”. I felt ashamed of my Government. When I hear about the bullying of children in school because they look or sound different, I wonder where those attitudes come from and why our Government have given them succour.
We should debate the changes in our society, including the effects of immigration, in a way that actually helps us positively to address the issues. I have pushed for practical policies to deal with people’s concerns, such as the way the local labour market is being undermined by the exploitation of migrant workers. We need more action to enforce the minimum wage; we should double the maximum fine. I want councils to be given the power to enforce the minimum wage and I am pleased that that commitment has been made, in the event that there is a Labour Government next May.
I want to see the scope of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority extended, not necessarily to regulate in ever more sectors or to license, because those things can be costly and may not be necessary or practical. But where the authority recognises problems in other sectors—for example the car wash industry—it should be able to take action and to follow the intelligence. We should strengthen the law so that recruitment agencies cannot discriminate against UK workers in applying for jobs. We need housing laws to stop migrant workers being exploited and crammed into beds in sheds, undercutting local workers. A Polish constituent came to see me recently to describe his experience of arriving in Corby, his passage having been facilitated by an agency. When he got here he found that the house he was promised was appalling and the job he was promised amounted to a few days’ agency work.
We need to make sure that we give people here the skills they need for the future by ensuring that large companies offer apprenticeships for local workers when they are at the same time bringing in workers from outside the UK. We need more stringent border checks, which is why I have opposed cuts to border control. On these critical issues of access to services and housing, when my constituents say from time to time—other hon. Members will have heard this—“Migrants are given the housing,” I say, “Well, it is very difficult for anybody to access housing. The waiting lists are incredibly long. The issue is that we simply have not been building enough housing for a long time.” The real issue is housing supply, not the recent wave of migration into my community.
Concerns about crime have come to the fore in my constituency recently. After a long period when crime has been falling, it is deeply worrying to hear of an increasing number of violent crimes. I am concerned that there is complacency in Corby and East Northamptonshire about the level of crime and the challenge we face. I know that the police based locally—operating in East Northants from their base in Thrapston, and in Corby—do their absolute best. I also know, because they tell me, that they have been diverted away to other areas.
Crime has been falling over recent years. I am concerned that the police commissioner is now taking resources from Corby to put them into Northampton, Kettering and other towns. I would ask him directly about this but I have not found him open to a proper and honest dialogue about the impact of his policies. It is proving difficult to hold him to account. This has been part of the weakness of the police commissioner model. I have concerns about the costs and the politicisation that we have seen. The first act of the Northamptonshire police and crime commissioner was to appoint his campaign manager and three other political allies to the posts of deputy commissioner on salaries of £65,000 a year, the equivalent of 11 constables on the streets of Corby and East Northamptonshire.
A special report published recently by the Northampton Chronicle and Echo found that the number of staff employed by Northamptonshire’s police and crime commissioner has almost trebled and the wage spend nearly doubled in the 18 months since he started his job. He now employs 34 staff at a cost of £1.4 million. The office of the police and crime commissioner in Northamptonshire has 10 more staff than the West Midlands commissioner, who covers an area five times as large. Will the Minister look into this spending and whether it represents value for money? It does not give me confidence that the police force in Northamptonshire has the leadership it needs.
The police commissioner intends to close Corby police station. I recognise that the Elizabeth street station is ageing, but the answer is to improve it or to look for a new operational base in Corby. The police commissioner has already begun downgrading the station. The cells are now no longer used. That has not been made public but I know this from police officers and, in fact, had it confirmed in a letter from the chief constable about a month ago. The police now have to go out of the area when they make an arrest or to take people into custody, wasting valuable time and resources by going to the opposite end of what is a large county to travel across. When the commissioner talks about a “police presence” in Corby when the police station goes, I hear alarm bells. A shop window is okay, but it is not a replacement for an operational police base. The House of Commons Library figures show that Corby will be the largest town in the whole country without a police station if the Elizabeth street station closes in a few years’ time and is not properly replaced with an operational base.
High-profile crimes in Corby, such as the recent sexual assault on Oakley road and the two violent attacks in successive weeks on the land behind Stephenson way, have caused widespread concern. I recently attended a big public meeting in town and found that people were appalled to hear that the police station was being downgraded and could close altogether. They want a fair share of policing resources and they want street lights turned back on, because they feel unsafe as a result of this short-sighted policy by the Tory county council.
There are concerns, too, in the rural areas about acquisitive crime and antisocial behaviour in some of the small towns. Some brilliant PCSOs are doing good work. I recently attended the JAG—joint action group—team about crime across East Northamptonshire, but resources are again a challenge.
We now have in Northamptonshire the highest reported number of rape cases, which leads to the concern in my community about recent sexual attacks. We have issues about referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service. We have a cloud hanging over the future of Corby magistrates court. Our probation service—one of the best in the country—is being closed down because of another of this Government’s dogmatic privatisations. We have cuts to resources for dealing with domestic violence and to women’s refuges as a result of cuts arising from the reorganisation of the PCT and probation. I want to pay tribute to the campaign led by Sally Keeble in Northampton and Corby councillor Mary Butcher to save the refuges. They won a temporary reprieve of six months, but the future still looks uncertain and I hope that the Home Secretary shares my concern and will look into it.
I hope that Ministers hear the warning alarm I am sounding about police and crime issues in Northamptonshire. I really hope that they will look further into them and will in due course make a proper response to the concerns I have raised.
Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)
It is indeed a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Andy Sawford) who speaks with such great passion about his home area of Northamptonshire.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, who can start again in a moment. Let me explain the practice relating to speakers. Where Members have notified the Chair in advance, they will obviously participate in the debate. If Members wish to contribute once a debate is a good way through, they may approach the Chair, but take a lower priority. The hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood) was unable to be present earlier and has indicated that she would like to speak. I intend to call her at the end. I hope that that is clear to Ministers. I am not being unfair to the hon. Lady; I am following normal practice.
Chris Evans
Thank you for your patience this afternoon, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have had to be in and out of the Chamber, trying to balance my attendance with my duties on the Finance Bill.
The Queen’s Speech contains three new Bills that relate to criminal justice. For a Government who argued while in opposition that the Labour party over-legislated in this area, these Bills join seven others on criminal justice since they came to power in 2010. The previous seven Bills have created in total 619 new criminal offences, many of which carry custodial sentences.
With our prison population stretched to maximum levels, now is the time to question the role that prison and criminal justice play in society. In the past year, the prison population in England and Wales has reached record levels and stands today at 85,228 prisoners—a 90% increase since 1993. In 2012-13, the overall resource expenditure on prisons in England and Wales was just under £3 billion. Each inmate costs the taxpayer an average of £36,808 per prison place a year—money that the general public would no doubt think better spent on health, education, improving the roads and many other projects that hon. Members have mentioned.
With the UK having the second highest incarceration rates in western Europe and the prison estate suffering from overcrowding since 1994, we are facing a crisis that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. There is no doubt that prison works for some people. For the victim of crime and those who live in fear of it, prison gets criminals off the streets, reducing the risk they pose to the rest of society because they cannot commit an offence when they are locked up. Sadly, we all know that some individuals pose such a threat to other people that there is no option other than keeping them under lock and key for a very long time. However, prison is not the answer in all cases, and I want to concentrate on that in my speech.
According to the executive summary of the latest figures on releases, about 590,000 adult and juvenile offenders were cautioned, convicted or released from custody between July 2011 and June 2012, and 25% of them reoffended within a year. According to the “proven reoffending” tables, the reoffending rate among persons released from a custodial sentence was 45.5% for adults and 67.4% for juveniles. Those statistics should be balanced against the fact that between 1997 and 2010, under a Labour Government, crime fell by 43%, and violent crime fell by 42%.
Although I represent the Labour party, I will say that it seems that when in government we were very good at locking people up, but did not address the inherent problem of reoffending. Now, as more criminal justice Bills appear before Parliament, I see that we are still not tackling that problem. If Governments have a duty to society to protect their citizens from criminals, that means they also have a duty to ensure that those who are released from prison do not drift back into a life of crime.
The National Offender Management Service manages 17 public prisons in England and Wales and the contracts of 14 private sector prisons, and is responsible for a prisoner population of about 86,000. However, it must make cuts of £650 million in its £3.4 billion budget by 2015. Now, with the prison population reaching almost unmanageable levels and the Government intent on making cuts in the resources available to prison staff, it is of the utmost importance that rehabilitation be looked at seriously. That approach needs to begin in the prisons themselves. Just 36% of people leaving prison go into some type of education, training or employment.
People often leave prison ill equipped to deal with day-to-day life. Statistics show that 43% of offenders have numeracy skills below GCSE standard, while 37% have reading skills below the same measure. Moreover, no one can agree on the number of offenders who have learning disabilities such as dyslexia. For many prisoners who are released, unemployment is a familiar scenario: 67% of the prison population were unemployed before being locked up, and many will face the same situation when they are released.
Alison Seabeck
My hon. Friend is talking very sensibly about the problems faced by people in prison and the work done there, but will he acknowledge that some of the changes in the probation system will not help, given that there are already signs that they are not bedding down easily?
Chris Evans
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There have been many severe cases in which the probation service has been stretched to the maximum. I am thinking of one in particular, in which an extremely violent crime had been committed. I do not want to mention it, but it was reported in the national press. That violent individual was released, and the probation officer never reached him because of the extent of the work load.
Is it any wonder that people who leave prison only to be faced with the unemployment that they experienced before should return to the way of life that sent them to prison in the first place? I think that that problem is more acute in the case of short sentences, which many of the 600-odd new offences will attract. At present, 60% of prisoners serving sentences of less than 12 months are reconvicted within a year, which is a sad reflection on society. Those who are in prison for less than a year have no access to offender management programmes, and are not subject to supervision by the probation service following their release. The Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 seeks to address that by ensuring that all offenders are supervised in the community for 12 months after their release. Given that the probation service is already strained, we must await the outcome of the Act, but in the light of my experience of membership of the Justice Committee, I do not hold out much hope. [Interruption.]
Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)
Order. I hesitate to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, but it would be unfair to allow him to continue when there is a noise going on. There is something wrong with the speakers. I have asked for it to be fixed, and I hope that neither the hon. Gentleman nor those who are listening to him will be too distracted.
Chris Evans
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was aware of it, but I was trying to block it out—but that sort of thing happens a lot in this job.
The lack of education available in prison to short-term offenders makes gaining employment after prison difficult. Having a criminal record is an obvious stumbling block for someone trying to get their life back on track. The Institute of Leadership and Management published an article in April 2014 on employing ex-offenders. It states that fewer than 50% of businesses would interview someone with a criminal record, despite 80% agreeing that ex-offenders should be given a second chance. Those going into prison often suffer from the disadvantage of a lack of any formal qualifications. Over half of men in prison have no qualifications. Upon release, the situation is often unchanged, despite the availability of prison education. Even those who serve longer sentences and gain well-recognised qualifications while inside are damaged by the perception of prison education. How can we expect somebody with no previous work experience and no formal educational qualifications outside the prison environment to turn up to work on time every day and conduct themselves appropriately? It is my belief that a prison education system designed in conjunction with businesses and employers may help to change the perception employers have of the worthiness of education inside prison, and in the process reduce the likelihood that people will reoffend.
Of course, even talking about this issue will leave any politician open to the charge of being soft on crime. On particularly slow news days there is always a journalist with a case up their sleeve, telling the world how criminals are again living the life of Riley. However, as I said at the beginning of my speech, we are at crisis point, with a prison population that is simply running out of control. With public finances stretched, it is obvious that the increasing prison population, together with high reoffending rates, means something has to be done urgently.
This is not an easy debate to have, especially when we have a media intent on peddling the myth that criminals get away with it. In this age of austerity we now find ourselves living in, we have an opportunity to talk candidly about the future of crime and punishment, and I hope we will begin to do so in the coming months and years.
Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans), and I hope he will not spend the next few minutes trying to block me out. I want to welcome certain measures in the Modern Slavery Bill and the Serious Crime Bill, and I apologise for being late, but I was coming from the Select Committee on Home Affairs.
As many Members have mentioned, trafficking and exploitation is a despicable crime whereby organised criminals prey on the most vulnerable in our community for profit. It is important to recognise that the victims are not just those who are trafficked as migrants, but also include British citizens, who are perhaps vulnerable due to learning disabilities or poverty. It is exceptionally important that, as we raise awareness of trafficking and exploitation, we do not stereotype either the perpetrators or the victims and thereby risk making certain types of criminal or victim effectively invisible to our criminal justice system or the wider community. For that reason, I hope the anti-slavery commissioner will have a role in both commissioning accurate data-gathering and raising awareness of the true nature of trafficking and exploitation in the United Kingdom.
I also welcome the measures that increase the tariffs for trafficking and introduce trafficking prevention orders. They mirror the sexual risk orders that we have already legislated for as part of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to tackle child sexual exploitation. I have spoken to police officers up and down the country and they have made it clear to me that these orders will be invaluable tools in disrupting the deeply destructive activities of child sexual exploitation and trafficking gangs.
I also ask that we look at reforming abduction warning notices. At present they are split into two different orders: victims in care are protected up to the age of 18, but victims who are not in care are only protected up to the age of 16. This is discriminatory and unacceptable and it would be a perfectly simple reform for us to equalise the warning notices so that all children were protected up to the age of 18 and any breach of such an order carried a penalty.
As the relevant Minister is in his seat, I also ask him to consider court reforms for victims in all these areas. We should not force victims who have been abused in such appalling ways, even if they have managed to have the bravery to come forward and go through the trauma of a police investigation, to suffer our current adversarial court system and the indignity and anxiety of its procedures. I particularly suggest that we consider the pre-recorded evidence pilot and extending the age limit up to 24, as many victims do not get to court until they are much older, even if they are abused as children. We should also consider mandatory training not only of prosecutors but of all judges and defence barristers in cases involving sexual abuse and exploitation.
Similar measures have been included in the Serious Crime Bill, with gang injunctions and serious crime prevention orders. The Home Affairs Committee inquiry that I have just come from is part of an inquiry into gang and youth crime. It is disappointing that robust data on gangs and gang-related crime are sparse. In 2012 the Metropolitan police identified 259 violent youth gangs in 19 gang-affected boroughs. The Children’s Commissioner has estimated that 12,000 children are at risk of gang-related violence. The conclusion is that urgent work is needed to improve data gathering so that we are able to assess properly where progress has been made as a result of the Government’s strategy. Despite a strong commitment from the Government, demonstrated by the ending gang and youth violence strategy, which has made progress in many ways, it is difficult to assess progress when the database is not robust enough.
A recent Centre for Social Justice report on girls and gangs found that
“the daily suffering of girls goes largely unnoticed. They live in a parallel world where rape is used as a weapon and carrying drugs and guns is seen as normal.”
Those giving evidence this afternoon to us were clear that more progress needed to be made in protecting the most vulnerable girls and on utilising better the expertise of the voluntary organisations working in this field. To that end, can I ask that, along with the reforms of stop and search, which will help to build confidence among gangs and in the community, the measures in the Bill should include steps to integrate the ending gang and youth violence strategy with the ending of violence against women and girls strategy and the new action plan on child sexual exploitation? If those are not properly integrated, we will fail to leverage the improvements that we should be able to achieve.
Finally, in our Committee session we heard that such was the fear and hostility to the establishment among many who were caught up in gang life that many who suffered domestic abuse, rape and violent assault never sought formal help. The natural consequence of this and the extreme trauma that they experienced was high levels of mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder among gang members. One study conducted by Professor Coid found that 85.8% of gang members had antisocial personality disorder, 25.1% had psychosis, 58.9% had anxiety disorder and 34.2% had attempted suicide. I hope that Ministers will consider what steps can be taken to address these truly horrifying statistics, each of which represents an individual living in truly desperate circumstances.
The Serious Crime Bill and the Modern Slavery Bill together do much to offer hope to some of the most vulnerable victims of crime in the United Kingdom today, but I hope that as they progress through the House they can get even better and improve the lives of those vulnerable victims even more.
Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)
We have had a very interesting debate this afternoon. I have been sitting here for most of it and have learnt a great deal and been very glad of the opportunity to hear the contributions.
The hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) put it on record that he is not a creep, something that Members in all parts of the House know in any event and which he really did not need to do. My right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) gave a very interesting analysis of UKIP in which he talked about the financial meltdown, saying that many people felt there was no control of such major issues by traditional politics. He felt that the public are looking for answers and that that had a lot to do with the rise of UKIP. He put some interesting matters before us, including a discussion of the biography of Jenkins.
The hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) made a bold speech on the benefits of immigration and started listing all the things that the Liberal Democrats would like to have done if the Tories had not stopped them. In doing so, he ran the gauntlet of the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) and his friends, but he kept going. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about the pressure on services created by immigration and the fact that Dr Clare Gerada had said that doctors should not be a type of border agency, a sentiment that he supported. He was concerned about how we can ensure access to services for the right people.
The hon. Member for Peterborough seemed to be unclear about whether he believed there should be a limit on the number of Brits going to Spain, and he accused the Scottish National party of narrow chauvinistic attitudes. My hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd) gave us the benefit of his 22 years’ experience and told us that no matter how slim the Queen’s Speech is, even those who find it bordering on anorexic may find something worth welcoming. However, he regretted the fact, as did many Members, that the Government seem to have dropped the Wild Animals in Circuses Bill, as it was not included in the Queen’s Speech, although legislation on plastic bags was.
The hon. Member for Erewash (Jessica Lee) gave a very thoughtful speech about the Modern Slavery Bill. The hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) treated us to one of his best “Braveheart” speeches. It seems that the rest of us in Westminster are picking on him. The hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) spoke knowledgably about energy policy and in favour of fracking, telling us that the rest of the world was doing it and that we need to do it to be competitive. My right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) paid a worthy tribute to Anthony Steen and the work he has put into the Modern Slavery Bill. I know that Members of the House would want to thank Anthony Steen and all those who have put so much work into the thinking behind the Bill.
The hon. Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) spoke about police cuts and a great deal about immigration. My hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) talked about crime rates and how reported crime is going up but conviction rates are not matching that, which has a particular impact on women. He spoke very movingly about his relative, Agnes, who was murdered, and how the rest of his family remain to this day victims of that crime. He talked about the Modern Slavery Bill and his thinking on it, listing what he had been expecting, or hoping, to find in the Bill and explaining how it fell short of expectations by saying what was missing. I commend to the Home Secretary the Hansard report of many of the contributions about what else should be included in the Bill.
The hon. Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland) made a welcome appeal for political leadership on immigration, asking that we do not fan the flames of prejudice. He also gave the very powerful example of a 92-year-old constituent who had struggled to get a passport to go back to the Normandy beaches that he had fought on as a 21-year-old. My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Alison Seabeck) talked about job insecurity, low wages and the house crisis in the south-west, and asked where the measures were to address those core problems for her constituents.
My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) made an intelligent and thoughtful contribution to the immigration debate and expressed concern that the Home Secretary seems not to be taking seriously the concerns expressed by many Members about backlogs at the Passport Office. My hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones) spoke with great passion about a case which she believes has been a travesty of justice, and showed her real campaigning zeal on that matter.
We then heard from my hon. Friends the Members for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) and for Corby (Andy Sawford) who made important speeches, particularly on immigration issues. They had clearly listened to the concerns that their constituents have expressed over the past few weeks and months when my hon. Friends have been knocking on doors and standing on doorsteps listening. They had given the issues thoughtful consideration, particularly in relation to what we should do about gangmasters, problems with housing and undercutting of wages. They proposed solutions and again drew the comparison between the ideas that are bubbling under among Labour Members and the lack of any solutions in the Queen’s Speech.
My hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans) made a passionate speech about prison overcrowding and penal policy. He showed himself to be a consummate professional, and despite being heckled by rattling speakers, kept going and silenced them. Finally, we heard from the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood), who talked about data gathering and about gang and violent crime. She said that the daily suffering of girls who were on the edges of crime seemed to go unmentioned and ignored. It is important that she raised the issue in the House, and that girls who are the victims of crime and are on the edges of these gangs are not ignored. We need to address the relevant policy issues.
The Queen’s Speech contains a number of Bills relating to home affairs which are linked by themes. My concern is that although they sound marvellous and can be talked up beautifully in the press, the Bills often disappoint when we look at the nitty-gritty. For example, on the confiscation of criminal profits, the National Audit Office report was a call to arms as it showed that only 26p of every £100 of profits a criminal makes is confiscated. Some £1.5 billion has eluded the authorities because the assets have been hidden, siphoned away overseas or eroded by third-party claims.
The report focused our minds as never before on what we should do. Labour has pledged to introduce a raft of measures which would strengthen the confiscation regime. Although on the whole we welcome the Serious Crime Bill, we wonder whether it will deliver everything that is promised. Will it live up to its rhetoric or will it ultimately be disappointing? We will look carefully at whether there are serious measures in relation to the disclosure of third-party claims. We particularly believe that they should be at the restraint order stage and not too late. We are quite happy to share our ideas if Ministers will listen to, for example, our proposals that costs should be recoverable by defendants in freezing order applications, and that when defendants ask for their costs in freezing order applications, the amount they get back should be only at legal aid rates. We are happy to share our ideas on how to put pressure on defendants to bring their assets back to the United Kingdom.
The Home Secretary was so busy fighting with the Secretary of State for Education that she may not have noticed all the details that I put into my speech at the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association annual general meeting. If she has not seen the speech, I would be happy to send it to her. It went into some detail about what we believe should be done so that criminal assets can be confiscated properly. We wish to give the Home Secretary some advice. One of the most important ways of seizing the profits of crime is to foster better relations with overseas jurisdictions, because once those assets are overseas, they are very difficult to get back. We need to foster better relations to ensure that overseas jurisdictions will co-operate with us.
It is extraordinary that since 2008, £200 million-worth of assets have been frozen by the UK courts in response to overseas requests for legal assistance, but not a single penny of that money has been repatriated to the countries that asked us to seize and freeze those assets. If we do not co-operate with overseas jurisdictions, how can we expect them to co-operate with us? This is not something that requires legislation, but it needs clear policy drivers and it needs to be led on.
On professional organised crime, we will be watching carefully to see whether the measures announced with such trump will be a rehashing of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. We are concerned that David Thomas, the former head of the Home Office financial intelligence unit, recently told journalists that too often the Government dragged their feet in responding to foreign freezing requests, if they responded to them at all, because they consider them too much of a headache. We really need to be serious about reciprocity if we want to seize criminal assets.
As for the child abuse provisions, the extension of the definition of child cruelty is welcome, but it must be seen against the background of child cruelty conviction rates having fallen. In 2009, the rate was 720, and in 2013 it fell to 553. It is important to extend the offence, but it is also important to use the current law and ensure that there are proper prosecutions and convictions. With regard to the law on female genital mutilation, we ask the Government to consider the call from the Director of Public Prosecutions for anonymity of victims. We do not believe that that is in the current legislation, but it needs to be considered.
The Bill that has perhaps been praised the most is the Modern Slavery Bill. It is generally to be welcomed, but, again, we must look at the enforcement record. We know that the law on human trafficking has a bad enforcement record. In 2013, there were just 28 prosecutions for trafficking for sexual exploitation, and only 11 convictions. In relation to child protection, 300 children who had been trafficked were rescued from their traffickers and placed in care but then went missing. We have been calling since 2010 for legal guardians, and we are impatient that the legislation contains only enabling powers and that we must await the results of trials. We welcome statutory defence of victims of trafficking to ensure that they are not prosecuted for crimes that they are forced into, and we welcome the fact that there will be statutory guidance on victim ID and victim services, but we are concerned that the national referral mechanism is not working properly and needs review. Again, I discovered recently in a freedom of information request from the Crown Prosecution Service that it usually does not go to the national referral mechanism until after someone has been prosecuted and sentenced. In those circumstances, the data base is hardly doing the job it is supposed to be doing.
Nicola Blackwood
As I understand it, the NRM has been under review since April, and it is well known that that was a necessary process. Does the hon. Lady not welcome the prevention orders that are proposed in the Modern Slavery Bill, which will be a key tool for police in disrupting the very trafficking networks that she is talking about?
Emily Thornberry
There are measures in the proposed legislation that will work, but it does not go far enough. We are quite happy to work with the Government to ensure that it does. For example, on supply chains, we do not want products in our country that are the result of slavery. We are concerned that the Bill will not address that specific issue. There may be some disruption, but it will not happen to the extent that is necessary, so we need to work together on this. We give a partial welcome to the legislation, but we cannot welcome it wholeheartedly because it does not go far enough. We are also concerned that the domestic workers visa means that 60% of those on the new visa have no salary at all.
The worst piece of legislation, however—the one that seems to promise so much but really we do not know what on earth it means—is the social action, responsibility and heroism Bill. According to the Lord Chancellor, it will protect
“the responsible employer who puts in place proper training for staff, who has sensible safety procedures, and tries to do the right thing.”
When
“someone injures themselves doing something stupid or something that no reasonable person would ever have expected to be a risk”,
that employer is sued. I have some news for the Lord Chancellor. Under the present law the employer would not be sued. A person would be sued only if there had been negligence. Our concern is that the Bill may be only a piece of fatuous and confused legislation, which will waste parliamentary time. If that is all it is, fine, but our concern is, to coin a phrase, that it may be a Trojan horse. And it may be a Trojan horse that will in fact be yet another attempt to limit access to justice. This Government have form on that. It may be a piece of legislation that claims to do one thing, but in fact it will mean that people injured at work through no fault of their own end up being unable to take their case to court, and yet again it will be another piece of assistance to the insurance industry. We are concerned that it will be sold on one basis while the nitty-gritty of the legislation will show something else.
In the end, the part of the Queen’s Speech on home affairs will be about what we all believe—that is, it will be about the difference between Labour and the Government in terms of what are British values and what are not British values. We believe that we should do more than simply try to legislate by way of headlines. In this country, there is still a great deal of unfairness and injustice. We have legislation that needs to be passed urgently, but it needs to have real substance and it should be more than simply spin.
The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Damian Green)
I, too, thank all those whom the shadow Attorney-General, the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), thanked for participating in this debate. Even by the standards of debates on the Queen’s Speech, it has been wide-ranging and instructive in a number of fields. We have covered fracking, pensions, parliamentary recall and—at some length—plastic bags. However, I hope that the House will be happy if I seek to respond within the limits and scope of the debate on home affairs and justice matters.
There is a good deal of important legislation in this area, covering both the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. The Modern Slavery Bill, which is the first of its kind in Europe, will substantially strengthen our powers to tackle this appalling crime, by ensuring that perpetrators can receive suitably severe punishments, creating an anti-slavery commissioner and enhancing protection and support for victims.
The Serious Crime Bill will disrupt all those who engage in, support and profit from all forms of organised crime, guard against the threat of terrorism and protect vulnerable women and children.
The Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which is carried over from the previous Session, is the next stage in this Government’s significant reforms of the justice system, to ensure that serious and repeat offenders receive suitable sentences, to improve court processes and to reduce the financial burden on the taxpayer.
The social action, responsibility and heroism Bill will reassure the public that if they act for the benefit of society, demonstrate a generally responsible approach towards the safety of others, or assist someone in an emergency, the courts will always consider the context of their actions in the event that they are sued for negligence.
In the first four years of this Parliament, the Government have made great strides to transform and strengthen the country’s justice system, improve support for victims, rehabilitate offenders and make prisons more effective while reducing the cost to the taxpayer.
I should pause on the point about prisons to address what I thought was an interesting and thoughtful speech by the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans), and assure him that the Offender Rehabilitation Bill, which was introduced in a previous Session, is precisely designed to transform the system and address the point that he rightly identified about reoffending and particularly those reoffending who had only short sentences in prison. For the first time, they will now have rehabilitative help both while they are in prison and when they come through the prison gate. He was absolutely right to have identified that weakness in the previous system, and the Bill will address precisely that weakness.
At the same time as making those reforms, we have strengthened the immigration system, making it fairer for British citizens and legitimate migrants but tougher on those who abuse it.
Crime has continued to fall. We continue to implement our programme of bold police reform, and we have set up the National Crime Agency to tackle the evils of organised crime and further protect our country.
Let me turn to the substance of the debate and the details of the legislation that we intend to introduce this Session. I am glad that the Modern Slavery Bill was broadly welcomed, not least by the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) and the hon. Member for Lewisham West and Penge (Jim Dowd). We all agree on both sides of the House that modern slavery is an appalling crime. It is completely unacceptable that traffickers and slave masters are able to operate in this country, coercing and deceiving individuals into a life of abuse, servitude and inhumane treatment.
This Government are determined to take action against modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Bill will give law enforcement agencies the tools that they need to tackle modern slavery. It will ensure that perpetrators can be severely punished for these awful crimes, and it will improve support and protection for victims. Clearly, we will need to address a number of detailed points, some of which are very important, as the Bill passes through the House and the other place.
The right hon. Member for Birkenhead and others, including the shadow Attorney-General, talked about the importance of transparency in supply chains. Of course we are committed to tackling exploitation in private sector supply chains, and we support businesses to tackle the issue. Indeed, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is meeting business leaders tomorrow as part of the Government’s commitment to work with business to develop the most effective approach, because it is clear that businesses that take no action risk both their reputation and, in the long run, their profits. I do not think that that should divide us in this House. We would prefer to persuade businesses that it is in their interests to take action, rather than placing additional legal and regulatory burdens on them. Clearly, that will be a matter for continuing debate.
Michael Connarty
I just wonder whether anyone in the Home Office has read the evidence that was put before the Joint Committee. Everyone, including the people running the California rules, said quite clearly that it is not enough to have a voluntary code and that statutory obligations are needed, because otherwise it will not work.
Damian Green
The hon. Gentleman, who follows these matters closely, will be aware that changes to UK company reporting arrangements that require disclosure on human rights issues came into force last October. It is sensible to look at the effect of that change before coming to a firm conclusion. It is also sensible to let such reforms bed down before reaching a firm conclusion, which he seems to have reached already.
The shadow Home Secretary and several other hon. Members talked about domestic workers and visa abuse. The Government are taking action to help stop practices that exploit vulnerable workers and undercut local businesses that play by the rules. Various provisions in the Modern Slavery Bill will help to end that kind of exploitation, which frankly runs into slavery.
Mr Frank Field
The Minister might suggest to the Home Secretary, who is sitting next to him, that when she meets business leaders tomorrow she brings the article that she wrote in The Sunday Times in which she stated that she wished supply chains to be included in the Bill. A large number of people in both Houses of Parliament will support her wish.
Damian Green
I do not feel the need to transmit that message to my right hon. Friend, who has no doubt heard it. I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman.
I am grateful that there is broad support for many of the provisions in the Serious Crime Bill. It will make a significant contribution to the Government’s continuing fight against serious and organised crime, of which the National Crime Agency is perhaps the most visible manifestation.
Several hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and my hon. Friends the Members for Erewash (Jessica Lee) and for South Swindon (Mr Buckland), both of whom have great records of campaigning in this area, talked about the child cruelty clauses. I am sure that the whole House recognises that child cruelty is an abhorrent crime that needs to be punished. Every child should be able to grow up in a safe environment. The changes that we will take forward in the Serious Crime Bill make it absolutely clear that cruelty likely to cause psychological suffering or injury is covered under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. We are modernising the language used in that section to help the courts to implement it more effectively.
A number of other matters have been raised, including the fact that the Serious Crime Bill will create a new offence targeting people who possess any items containing advice or guidance that could be useful to someone committing or preparing to commit a sexual offence against a child—so-called paedophile manuals. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) not just for his kind remarks about ministerial action on this, but for the long-running and extremely effective campaign that he has carried out in this field, of which, as he said, this is one small step forward. I am delighted to have his support in this matter.
The Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which is a carry-over Bill, delivers the vital next stage in this Government’s mission to deliver a more credible justice system. Much has been achieved to date. Prisons are now places of hard work and discipline; we have implemented fundamental reforms to transform rehabilitation by bringing together the best of the public, private and voluntary sectors; and all community sentences now contain an element of punishment. The Bill builds on those achievements, by ensuring that criminals are properly punished, young offenders turn their lives around through education and modern courts run efficiently and effectively.
Mr Blunkett
Will the Minister acknowledge that the probation service faces a very serious position with the changes from 1 June? Will he, with the Home Secretary, make representations to the Justice Secretary to take a look at exactly what is happening on the ground?
Damian Green
As the right hon. Gentleman would expect, the Justice Secretary and the prisons Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Jeremy Wright), take a close interest in what is happening on the ground. I hope the right hon. Gentleman would acknowledge that the purpose of the changes in probation, as I explained to the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans), is to make rehabilitation more effective than it has been in the past. Reoffending rates have not fallen despite the great efforts made by the National Offender Management Service and those who work in the probation service. We need change to get those reoffending rates down. The vast majority of crime is committed by a very small number of people, so if we can get the reoffending rates down, we can continue to get overall crime down. That is the most effective thing we can do.
As I said, this is a carry-over Bill. I am grateful for the work the House has done to progress this important piece of legislation. There has been very thorough and lively scrutiny of the Bill during its Commons stages, and I am sure that the quality of debate will continue as it completes its second day on Report. I should inform the House that we have today tabled an amendment to introduce an offence of police corruption, because it is untenable that we should be relying on an 18th-century common law offence of misconduct in public office to deal with serious issues of compliance in modern policing. We tabled the amendment to establish a statutory offence of police corruption to supplement the common law offence and to focus on those who hold police powers.
A number of references have been made to the social action, responsibility and heroism Bill. I am particularly grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) for his speech, not least because he was reporting from the front line as a first responder and, as he told us, a regular snow clearer in his constituency. He knows what these situations are like, and he said precisely why this Bill is necessary. [Interruption.] The shadow Attorney-General is expressing some cynicism—or, to be fair, scepticism—about the Bill. My hon. Friend knows that legislation is necessary, because people are worried about doing something that their conscience wants them to do. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter) is chuntering from a sedentary position.
Damian Green
The hon. Gentleman is yelling rather than chuntering—I shall take the shadow Attorney-General’s word for it. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman should talk to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole, who knows what he is talking about, whereas the hon. Gentleman does not, as is, regrettably, so often the case.
Damian Green
I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows what he is talking about, so of course I will give way to him.
Mr Donohoe
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. My intervention has nothing to do with what he has just said. He is more than halfway through his speech, but he has not said anything about the enormous dissent across the country about the problems in the Passport Office. Just this afternoon, I was told of another problem, so will he give a commitment that he will beef up that department so that Members of Parliament can at least get answers for their constituents?
Damian Green
I will say two things. First, the department has been beefed up, as the hon. Gentleman puts it: there are now more people working there than ever before. Secondly, if he can contain himself for less than 10 minutes, he will be able to listen to and contribute to the Adjournment debate, which is on that very subject and will be responded to by my hon. Friend the Minister for Security and Immigration.
A number of points have been made about immigration, which is worth addressing even though it is not in the legislative programme. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) made a very thoughtful contribution about the need for a sensible debate about immigration. I agree that we need a rational debate, but I disagree with Members from both sides of the House who say that we need a Bill in this Session, because, first, we had a Bill in the previous Session.
The Leader of the Opposition has apologised for the immigration problems under the previous Administration, so we now appear to be in the slightly perverse position where the only party still defending Labour’s immigration policy is the Scottish National party. The hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) is hanging on grimly to the previous immigration policy, even though at least part of the Labour party, including its leader, is seeking to move beyond it. The second reason why we do not need another Bill is that if there is one lesson we can all draw from the previous Administration’s problems—whichever position we occupy on immigration—it is that legislation is not always the solution.
The previous Government passed eight immigration Bills in 13 years. If legislation were the solution to immigration problems, we would have had the most secure borders and the most controlled immigration in the world by 2010, but everyone—even the Leader of the Opposition—admits that, palpably, we did not.
Jim Dowd
I accept that legislation is not always the answer and that this is about the way the system operates. Obviously, as the representative of an inner-London constituency, I have a large volume of immigration cases and see many replies to people who clearly have no grounds to remain in this country. The reply from the Department or the agency says, “You have no grounds to remain and should make arrangements to leave. However, you can also make arrangements to regularise your stay in this country.” That is an open invitation to those who have no grounds to stay simply to go through the whole cycle again. Will the Minister look at the situation, ask why we are doing that and arrange for a system whereby we say to people, “You have no right to be in this country. Please leave”?
Damian Green
I would hope that that is precisely the message—in fact, I am pretty sure it is from my own experience—a ministerial letter would send. My hon. Friend the Immigration Minister does not write letters saying, “Please make efforts to regularise your stay.” He writes letters saying that people should leave, and we have beefed up enforcement. Indeed, our reforms have cut non-EU net migration to close to its lowest level since 1998. There are now 77,000 fewer people arriving annually from outside the EU than when we came to power.
Many Members on both sides of the House have mentioned employment and jobs. It was certainly the case a few years ago that the majority of growth in employment was taken up by foreign nationals, but over the past year 76% of the growth in employment has been accounted for by British citizens.
Another point that is worth making in this debate is that work is the most common reason for immigration to the UK. The main reason used to be study, but the fact that it is now work, as well as the fact that the vast majority—three quarters—of jobs are taken up by British citizens, suggests that the balance is much better than it was.
The other very serious issue that needs to be addressed is EU free movement. I can only repeat the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon that freedom of movement is an important principle, but not an unqualified right. Freedom of movement is not and cannot be a freedom to claim benefits; it must be grounded in the freedom to take up work in another member state, to contribute to our economy and to integrate into our society. That applies across the board to people who come here as students or to work.
Let me deal with some of the many individual issues that came up. My hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert)—he has sent his apologies, because he cannot be in the Chamber for the winding-up speeches—raised revenge pornography. Such behaviour is despicable and unacceptable. I make the point that something illegal offline is also illegal online. Legislation is in place to tackle harassment and malicious conduct of this kind. The Director of Public Prosecutions has published guidelines for prosecutors considering cases that involve social media networks. We continuously review the use and effect of legislation to ensure that it is fit for purpose. I assure my hon. Friend that legislation is in place, and that we look very carefully at its effectiveness.
The hon. Member for Strangford mentioned health tourism, which is indeed important. I assure him that a system of NHS overseas visitor charges for secondary care already applies to short-term visitors and illegal migrants. The Department of Health is taking forward a programme to reform and strengthen the arrangements, including the recovery of costs related to European health insurance card reciprocal charging for European visitors and students. In parallel, we are implementing a provision in the Immigration Act 2014 to introduce the immigration health surcharge, which will ensure that temporary migrants make a financial contribution to the NHS commensurate to their immigration status.
The hon. Member for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones) raised the very important issue of online child abuse. We already have robust legislation to deal with the creation and dissemination of illegal images. With the US Attorney General, I jointly chair a taskforce that is already galvanising the industry to develop technical solutions for it to apply in relation to child online sexual exploitation. Early signs from the work done by the industry are very encouraging. I absolutely share the hon. Lady’s concern about the issue, which is a very high priority.
The hon. Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Alison Seabeck) asked about having an offence of domestic abuse. In its review of the police’s response to domestic abuse, Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary did not highlight any problems with the current legal framework, but it made it clear that delivery against the recommendations will be critical in driving the sort of sustainable and systemic culture change in the police’s response that is the best long-term solution.
My hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood) mentioned vulnerable witnesses in court. She will know about the pre-recorded evidence pilot that we are conducting in three courts. It has been running for the last couple of months, and I am happy to assure her that it is running very well, with witnesses being protected in a way that they have not been protected before.
This Government clearly have many challenges ahead during the final Session of this Parliament, and we will address all of them with the same vigour and determination that we have shown since we were elected. That is why crime is 10% lower, non-EU net migration is down by a third, victims’ services are better than ever, rehabilitation of offenders is being transformed and human traffickers are now being confronted as never before. We will build on that record in the months and, I hope, years ahead. I commend this programme to the House.
Ordered, That the debate be now adjourned.—(Mr Gyimah.)
Debate to be resumed tomorrow.
Business without Debate
Passport Office (Delays)
(9 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West) (Lab)
I would like to speak on behalf of the hundreds of people in my constituency who are suffering as a result of the Government’s incompetence in the issuing of passports and, indeed, on behalf of all Back Benchers for whom this debate is a useful opportunity to voice discontent about a major public service for which the Home Office is responsible. I am therefore pleased to welcome the Minister for Security and Immigration, who will respond to the debate. We know that the Home Secretary currently has many things on her mind and is doing many things other than running the Passport Office. Nevertheless, it is regrettable that ministerial neglect has led to the dire situation that has given rise to this Adjournment debate.
I would like to provide some context. The passport delays now number 500,000. We can call them delayed, or “in process”—whatever the Minister wants. I see him shaking his head already, but he leaves the whole House incredulous with his simple, naive belief in the numbers presented to him. Why are we having this debate? Why have so many Members lobbied me to intervene? It is simply because people in their constituencies are not getting passports anything like on time.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on bringing this issue before the House, because not one Member present is not bothered by it. In the Belfast passport office, 30,000 people are waiting for their passports to be processed. That is an astronomical number bearing in mind that Northern Ireland’s population is 1.8 million. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that contingency money should be made available to recruit extra staff to clear the backlog and get the problem sorted out?
Mr Robinson
I will come to that point in a minute. If the situation could be sorted out in that way, I would wholly agree with the hon. Gentleman. I am not sure that it can be because one of the problems, which I will deal with later, is that the Government have left it so late to react to this burgeoning problem that there is probably no time left to deal with it in the relatively short period before the holidays. That is one of the tragedies of the situation.
The nub of the problem lies in the cuts that the Government have made. They have cut 700 personnel who are directly concerned with processing and examining passports before they are issued. Those are not back-office jobs, but people who are directly involved in the process. There has been a 20% cut, with no plans to retrain, reskill or build up alternative resources for the key periods. We all know that businesses have to plan for such key periods.
Mr Robinson
I will give way in a moment.
As we all know, in the early summer months, people take advantage of cheap flights and hotels, and need a passport to make their bookings.
Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. Has he, like me, encountered cases involving expatriate British citizens who are having trouble coming back for the summer holidays to visit family and friends? There are cases in my constituency of newborn children not being able to see their family because they are not able to get passports in time.
Mr Robinson
Indeed I have. I am grateful for that intervention. Seldom have I known a problem that is so multifaceted. There is a problem with expats. I have a slightly different case that involves a gentleman who is a naturalised British subject, but who has not had occasion to travel abroad before. He is a professor at a prestigious local university who wants to travel abroad. He is going to get married in Berlin and has an important lecture to give in Japan. He has been waiting for two months for a British passport and now thinks that he will have to get—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)
Order. I trust that the hon. Gentleman will turn around and address the House.
Mr Robinson
I will—I meant no disrespect, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am trying to get round the number of interested Back Benchers who have key constituent complaints to register. The Minister might not have time to reply to them all, but at least he can take on the extent and depth of the problems he is dealing with, about which I think he is in some state of denial.
Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
My hon. Friend will know of my interventions earlier in the day. Is it time for the Government to address one important matter for Members of Parliament? Our ministerial hotline is not working and needs to be beefed up. I asked earlier whether there is any real commitment on that, but I have not received an answer. Does my hon. Friend agree that that line needs to be beefed up?
Mr Robinson
I agree with my hon. Friend, but sadly it is not just that line that needs to be beefed up; the whole Passport Office needs to be brought under control. This is crisis management and management by panic only, and at the moment—I will come on to some illustrations—things are totally out of control.
Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)
When the service is up and running it is pretty good, but the problem is that the depth of the cuts has taken its toll. Although people are being brought in for a temporary period, we need to resolve the problem with a longer-term solution because this is unfair on families.
Mr Robinson
Exactly. My hon. Friend has similar problems in Coventry South to those in Coventry North West, although they appear to be more acute in my area. I will refer the Minister to an acute problem regarding the Durham office and child passports being issued for the first time.
Mr Robinson
I will give way in a moment. If I turn round to give my right hon. Friend any further indication, I will be called to order by Madam Deputy Speaker.
A family of five in my constituency, the Vernons, and mother Amy, saved up and the whole family chipped in for their first ever holiday as a family together. Because one passport out of the five was not available—if I am correct, it was the first issue of a child’s passport—they drove 200 miles to Durham, leaving at 4 o’clock in the morning. They got nothing but hassle when they got there and further delay. They got the passport, but after driving all the way back to Coventry to fly out from a local airport, they missed their flight by 15 minutes. If that does not ring a bell with the Minister about the state of chaos in the Passport Office, I do not know what will.
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
The Minister said earlier that measures have been taken to deal with this problem. I raised the issue in the previous debate, went out of the Chamber, and within two minutes I received an e-mail about yet another passport problem. We get them all the time. The Government are not taking action or making a difference yet.
Mr Robinson
I am willing to take even more interventions as I think they are nearly as effective as this couple of photographs—I will not display them, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I will draw Members’ attention to them. They show interview rooms being used not for interview purposes but to store unprocessed files of passport applications in the course of being processed. They say that a good picture tells 1,000 words, so I refer the Minister to those photographs, which I am sure will soon be in circulation.
Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)
On that point, my hon. Friend will be aware that the Scottish school holidays start about a month earlier than in England, and therefore within a couple of weeks. I am sure he shares my concern that when people make applications for passport renewals, they do so on the basis of advice on the forms and website that it will take three to four weeks. Given that passports are not being processed in that time, should advice at least be given for people to allow more time while the chaos is dealt with?
Mr Robinson
I take my hon. Friend’s point, but it is not good enough—this is quoting the ineffable Mr Paul Pugh, who has already been referred to—to say that people should not book their holidays until they have their passports. At the present rate of progress, some might not get their passports for a year, and could not book their holidays. Anyway, how could people book now when all the best package deals are gone and the best hotels booked? It shows how out of touch the Passport Office, the Government and Ministers are with the real world of our constituents.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
The Home Secretary earlier stood by her figures and maintained that the targets were being met, but I have had nine cases in the last fortnight. If we multiply that by all the hon. Members in the Chamber, we realise that those figures, which represent only the tip of the iceberg, cannot be right.
Mr Robinson
We understand that the Home Secretary has other things on her mind, but people want to go on holiday. They have pre-booked and when they have to cancel there is no offer of compensation. Mr Pugh said that the economy is picking up and lots of people are booking holidays. He forgets to mention the catch—they cannot get a passport.
The problem has not arisen just this year: it has been building up over four years of successive cuts—amounting to 20%, as I said, and 700 key staff—and the effects are now apparent in the delays that people face. We are told that all is well and under control at the Passport Office, but staff are working seven days a week, from 7 am to midnight—a 17-hour day. Staff on administrative grades 6 and 7 are being paid up to £60 and £70 an hour overtime for the high-level job of sticking on labels with names and addresses. If that is not evidence of a crisis of mismanagement, I do not know what is. If the Minister remains deaf to the many complaints from my right hon. and hon. Friends this evening, he is not fit to hold office.
The Government make much of the £70 million profit that the Passport Office has made in the last year, but what is the purpose of that? The purpose of that public service should be to ensure, in a timely manner and at reasonable cost, that every citizen of this country enjoys their inalienable right to a passport. We hold our passports dear, but unfortunately people have been caught up in this mess, which is not of their making. The Government appear to be ignorant of or plain indifferent to the problems.
Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)
My hon. Friend has secured a very timely Adjournment debate and he has hit the nail on the head. The Minister will doubtless claim that the problems are the result of unusual demand, but they are not. They are the result of the changes the Government have made to the Passport Service and the cuts and structural changes made in the last three years. The Minister needs to explain how they will now get a grip.
Mr Robinson
I agree with my hon. Friend that we need to hear what the Minister proposes to do. The problem has been building up since the Government made the cuts. They failed to do any retraining or to provide for what was coming with a moderate level of overtime. Any service should be able to meet peak demands—that is what management is about.
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend agree that asking someone who is in China—such as one of my constituents—to ring up every 72 hours is very poor management, not only of his time but of staff time?
Mr Robinson
It is bad for business all round. We hear complaint after complaint, but the Minister sits there as if he is happy for the chaos to carry on all around him. It is amazing how late Ministers have reacted to this issue. The chaos has been mounting, as my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) so perceptively pointed out, but Ministers did not intervene with panic measures—which should not have been necessary—until the backlog had reached 350,000. Will the Minister confirm that he would normally seek to intervene when it reached 150,000?
The Minister for Security and Immigration (James Brokenshire)
indicated dissent.
Mr Robinson
That is what I was told. Ministers intervened when the backlog reached 350,000, which was clearly too late to do anything about it in the narrow window before the holiday period.
Keith Vaz
May I join other hon. Members in congratulating my hon. Friend on securing the debate? One real problem is that staff deployed to look at passport fraud have been moved to try to process passports, meaning that important work to protect against fraud is not now being done. That is a real problem with this situation.
Mr Robinson
The new UK Visas and Immigration department is feeling the pinch as much as everybody else. Staff are being moved from there, as my right hon. Friend points out—but not just from there. They are being moved from other departments, too. It is all hands to the pump, but it is too late. They have let it build up. It is a crisis and there has to be some accountability.
The interview rooms are filling up with the backlog of passport applications. Mr Pugh, chief executive of the Passport Office, has, I think been unconfirmed in his job for some 12 months now. He said:
“During this busy period we have processed more than 97% of straightforward passport renewal and child applications within the three week target turnaround time.”
I just do not believe it. I think the figures are plain wrong. I do not want to get into statistics, but I ask the Minister to look at them again. They just do not correspond with reality as we all know it. We are here tonight at the end of a long day because we are concerned about the situation affecting our constituents.
Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)
I am very grateful to my hon. Friend and I congratulate him on securing this timely debate. If 20 passport offices are closed and hundreds of staff are shed, is it not inevitable that there will be a problem that has to be managed? This has built up over time. Is it not incompetence on behalf of the Minister and the Government? This has not just appeared in the past two weeks; it has been building up over a long period.
Mr Robinson
Again, I could not agree more. My hon. Friend’s intervention is apposite. That is exactly what it is about: the incompetence of the Government machine, compounded by the indifference of Ministers, has let this situation come about. They owe an apology to the hundreds upon hundreds—tens of thousands, I think—who have had their whole summers ruined, life savings wasted and children bitterly disappointed.
What can we say to Mr Pugh? I do not know who is going to be called to account for this mess, but knowing this Government it will be nobody. It will be everybody’s fault but theirs. It is clearly the fault of the Department. We would not expect the Home Secretary to be here to reply to the debate, but we know that she has not been paying any attention to the Passport Office in recent weeks. What I think Mr Pugh should do is clear a small corner in one of the interview rooms where the whole floor is covered with unattended files. One has to smile because it is so comical. He should ask himself, “What am I doing here?” He should then make as graceful an exit as he can, because it is clear that this job is well beyond him.
I have not mentioned those who have suffered in Coventry, in my own constituency. Many of them do not want to be mentioned, because they feel that they might come off even worse if they are. However, I would like to draw the attention of the Minister to the Vernon family. They drove 200 miles to the Durham passport office. There were further delays there and they missed their flight. It was their first opportunity to have a holiday abroad as a family of five. The other case I want to mention is Professor Cooter, who has been waiting for a passport for two months. He will miss his lecture tour in Japan and his marriage in Berlin unless the Government pull their finger out. I could mention many other examples, but I do not want to as it will take up unnecessary time. All the cases are with the hotline, which was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe). The hotline needs to up its act, and the Minister has to up his. One basic question has been posed to the Minister by each successive intervention: does he accept there is a big mess? Does he accept there is a problem? What is he going to do about it?
The Minister for Security and Immigration (James Brokenshire)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Coventry North West (Mr Robinson) on securing the debate. At the outset, may I say to him that there is no indifference on the part of Ministers? I recognise how important passports are, as is securing people’s renewals. As he highlights, behind the statistics lie a multitude of personal stories. Passports are not just dry official documents. They are the key to once-in-a-lifetime trips, eagerly anticipated holidays and visits to loved ones. That is why it is important that applications and renewals are processed in an efficient manner, particularly at this time of the year when hard-working families are making plans for their summer holidays. Therefore, I recognise the importance and significance of the points that he makes.
It is important to understand the context of passport renewals and the work of the Passport Office. I will go on to address each of the specific points he has raised with me in terms of overall numbers and the steps that have been taken, and will be taken, to ensure that the Passport Office functions efficiently and delivers for his constituents and those of other Members in the Chamber this evening.
Each year around 5.7 million of us apply to have our passports renewed or replaced, or make an application for the very first time. The demand for passports is spread out across the year, but the highest volumes of demand by far come in the summer months. Since January this year, Her Majesty's Passport Office has seen a significant surge in demand for passports. Between 1 January and 31 May 2014, HMPO received 3.3 million applications—350,000 more than the same period last year, and the highest volume of applications received for this period over the last 12 years. Indeed, in both March and May this year, HMPO recorded the highest level of applications received in any month over the last 12 years.[Official Report, 7 July 2014, Vol. 584, c. 1MC.]
Of course, it is recognised that there is always a surge in demand for new or renewed passports as people look forward to their summer holidays. But this year the surge began—
James Brokenshire
I will not give way for now. I would like to make some progress and put some points on the record. I will then be happy to give way to hon. Members.
This year the surge began much earlier and was sustained more than normal; an indication that, as the economy is improving, more people are understandably planning to travel abroad. I can assure the House that this high demand was identified by HMPO early this year. As a result, it has put in place a system of measures to deal with it and to see that people receive their passports in good time. A number of steps have been taken, including existing passport examination and customer service staff working seven days a week to process the higher number of applications. Non-operational staff have been re-deployed to support examination and customer service functions, whilst ensuring that the necessary security checks are still properly undertaken. I recognise the issues raised about fraud and counter-fraud and I can assure the House that those security checks are still being undertaken.
Additional staff have been deployed to work on HMPO’s parliamentary and diplomatic helpline for Members who wish to raise cases on behalf of their constituents. I heard the point raised by the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe) about the response he received. I shall take that away and investigate further as it is important that Members receive timely responses for their constituents.
James Brokenshire
I will, but I would like to deal with these points and then I will happily give way.
HMPO has introduced process changes to speed up the handling of applications made in the UK and overseas. As we enter the traditional peak season of demand, further steps are being taken to strengthen front-line resources further. By the end of June, HMPO will have deployed 250 additional passport examination staff and a further 65 staff to support customer contact. Teleperformance, which runs the passport helpline, has over 1,000 staff to deal with customer enquiries, a significant increase on its normal complement of 350. While the number of applications is up significantly, HMPO has increased the number of staff dealing with applications.
Before I give way, I would like to reassure the House on some points that have been inaccurately represented. First, on allegations of backlogs in passports applications, it is important to state to the hon. Member for Coventry North West, who raised the issue of what counts as a normal throughput, that at peak periods the Passport Office will issue over 150,000 passports a week. During peak season, it would be expected to see several hundred thousand applications within the system. Although demand is greater than in recent years, HMPO has deployed more staff to deal with it.
Secondly, the overwhelming number of straightforward applications are dealt with within the three-week service standard, and HMPO is working tirelessly to improve performance still further. As I have explained, even in the busy months of January to April this year, 97% of straightforward applications were processed within the three-week service standard, and 99% within four weeks.
Thirdly, the hon. Gentleman mentioned cuts in HMPO staff, but the numbers have gone up in recent years. On 31 March this year, HMPO had 3,444 full-time equivalent staff—up from 3,260 in 2013 and from 3,104 in 2012. Clearly, then, there have been increases in staff—
James Brokenshire
The hon. Member for Coventry North West is catching my eye, and I would like to give way to him first, as this is his debate.
Mr Robinson
If I heard the initial figures correctly, in comparison with last year—the recent increase in manpower relates to the same period—we are up about 10%. If there are broadly 10% more staff, as the Minister says there is, to deal with increasing numbers of applications, surely the problems come down to mismanagement and incompetence. He is condemning himself for the malfunctioning of his Department.
James Brokenshire
It will not surprise the hon. Gentleman to hear that I do not accept that characterisation. We have seen 350,000 additional applications in the early season—a time when that level of increase would not normally be expected. That is why HMPO has deployed additional resources and is deploying further resources as we speak.
James Brokenshire
I give way first to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire.
Mr Donohoe
Will the Minister guarantee that when my staff phone up tomorrow, asking for some response to the problems of my constituents, they will get an answer? Will he give that commitment to giving them that kind of service?
James Brokenshire
As I have said to the hon. Gentleman, I am happy to investigate the issue of the response he is receiving. I will speak to him afterwards about whether he is contacting HMPO directly or whether he is referring to the MP hotline. I want Members to receive timely responses to their constituents’ inquiries, particularly at this time of year when people are seeking to make bookings and need their passports.
Sheila Gilmore
One issue raised by my constituents is that nothing appeared to have been flagged up to suggest there was any problem. If the Department was aware that the increase was coming in the early part of the year, it would have been helpful to make MPs and relevant websites aware of that. Will the Minister explain why there has been such a problem with first passports for children—in a way there has never been before?
James Brokenshire
The Passport Office has obviously indicated its performance. It has clearly stated that 97% of straightforward applications—and child applications fit within that—were dealt with within the three-week period, and that 99% were dealt with within four weeks. I say to the hon. Lady that HMPO is prioritising those who have waited longest, and has policies in place to deal with urgent and compassionate cases. A passport can be issued at very short notice, but such discretion is reserved for emergencies such as ill health or death, and is not a stand-by provision for someone who has perhaps forgotten to renew until the last minute, or for similar circumstances. This sort of compassionate approach is reserved for certain cases.
James Brokenshire
I am conscious that I have only a minute left and I want to make a few more points.
Hon. Members will be aware that delays can occur for a whole range of different reasons, so it is important to underline the check and send facility. Hon. Members will also know that the responsibility for processing overseas applications was recently transferred to HMPO from the Foreign Office. This move was made to improve our response to security and fraud challenges and to provide a more consistent service for customers that can be reflected in the fees they are charged. Indeed, as Members will know, the cost of an adult overseas passport was cut by £45 in April this year. While the volume of overseas applications is smaller than that of domestic applications, specific issues are associated with them.
The Passport Office has faced an unusually high level of demand above forecast demand, but since January it has taken steps to deal with the situation by raising its level of output to meet that demand, while maintaining its focus on public protection. We have not compromised on our checks, and will not do so. I hope Members will agree that maintaining the security of our passports is paramount, along with ensuring that we process applications as swiftly and as safely as possible. The British passport has a gold standard reputation, both domestically and internationally, and I am determined that that will continue. My focus on the performance of the Passport Office will certainly be my main priority.
Question put and agreed to.
Written Statements
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Counter-Terrorist Asset Freezing Regime
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Nicky Morgan)
My noble Friend the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Deighton, has today made the following written ministerial statement:
Under the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 (“TAFA 2010”, the Treasury is required to report to Parliament, quarterly, on its operation of the UK’s asset-freezing regime mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
This is the 13th report under the Act and it covers the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2014. This report also covers the UK implementation of the UN al-Qaeda asset-freezing regime and the operation of the EU asset-freezing regime in the UK under EU regulation (EC) 2580/2001 which implements UNSCR 1373 against external terrorist threats to the EU. Under the UN al-Qaeda asset-freezing regime, the UN has responsibility for designations and the Treasury has responsibility for licensing and compliance with the regime in the UK under the Al-Qaeda (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011. Under EU regulation 2580/2001, the EU has responsibility for designations and the Treasury has responsibility for licensing and compliance with the regime in the UK under part 1 of TAFA 2010.
Annexes A and B to this statement provide a breakdown, by name, of all those designated by the UK and the EU in pursuance of UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
The following table sets out the key asset-freezing activity in the UK during the quarter ending 31 March 2014:
TAFA 2010 | EU Reg (EC) 2580/2001 | Al-Qaeda regime UNSCR1989 | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assets frozen (as at 31/03/2014) | £100,000 | £11,0001 | £58,0002 |
Number of accounts frozen in UK (at 31/03/14) | 40 | 10 | 25 |
New accounts frozen (during Q1 2014) | 19 | 0 | 0 |
Accounts unfrozen (during Q1 2014) | 35 | 0 | 13 |
Number of designations (at 31/03/14) | 29 | 374 | 279 |
(i) New designations (during Q1 2014) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
(ii) Delistings (during Q1 2014) | 12 | 1 | 5 |
(iii) Individuals in custody in UK (at 31/03/2014) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
(iv) Individuals in UK, not in custody (at 31/03/2014) | 1 | 0 | 3 |
(v) Individuals overseas (at 31/03/2014) | 13 | 11 | 213 |
(vi) Groups | 8 (0 in UK) | 26 (1 in UK) | 61 |
Individuals by nationality (i) UK Nationals5 (ii) Non UK Nationals | 7 14 | n/a | n/a |
Renewal of designation (during Q1 2014) | 14 | n/a | n/a |
General Licences (i) Issued in Q4 (ii) Amended (iii) Revoked | (i) 0 (ii) 0 (iii) 0 | ||
Specific Licences: | |||
(i) Issued in Q1 (ii) Amended (iii) Revoked/Expired | 7 0 14 | 0 0 0 | 2 0 0 |
1This does not duplicate funds frozen under TAFA. 2This figure reflects the most up-to-date account balances available and includes approximately $64,000 of funds frozen in the UK. This has been converted using exchange rates as of 31/03/2014. 3One unfrozen credit card in credit of £10.65. 4This figure is based on ex-designations where the UK freeze forms the prior competent authority decision for the EU freeze. 5Based on information held by the Treasury, some of these individuals hold dual nationality. |
Legal Proceedings
1. An appeal against designations made under the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2009 and TAFA 2010 was ongoing in the quarter covered by this report, brought by Zana Abdul Rahim.
2. Two civil claims for damages relating to formerly designated persons are ongoing, one brought by Gulam Mastafa against a number of Government Departments including the Treasury, and another brought by an individual, “M”, against the Treasury.
3. In the quarter to 31 March 2014, no criminal proceedings were initiated in respect of breaches of asset-freezes made under TAFA 2010 or under the Al-Qaeda (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011, though we have worked closely with the police and CPS on a number of investigations that may result in prosecution.
Annex A—Designated persons under TAFA 2010 by name6
Individuals
1. Hamed Abdollahi
2. Bilal Talal Abdullah
3. Imad Khalil Al-Alami
4. Abdelkarim Hussein Al-Nasser
5. Ibrahim Salih Al-Yacoub
6. Manssor Arbabsiar
7. Moazzam Begg
8. Usama Hamdan
9. Nabeel Hussain
10. Hasan Izz-al-Din
11. Mohammed Khaled
12. Parviz Khan
13. Musa Abu Marzouk
14. Khalid Mishaal
15. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
16. Sultan Muhammad
17. Abdul Reza Shahlai
18. Ali Gholam Shakuri
19. Qasem Soleimani
20. Gerrie Tahari
21. Mouloud Tahari
Entities
1. BASQUE FATHERLAND AND LIBERTY (ETA)
2. EJERCITO DE LIBERACION NACIONAL (ELN)
3. FUERZAS ARMADAS REVOLUCIONARIAS DE COLOMBIA (FARC)
4. HIZBALLAH MILITARY WING, INCLUDING EXTERNAL SECURITY ORGANISATION
5. HOLY LAND FOUNDATION FOR RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT
6. POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE—GENERAL COMMAND (PFLP-GC)
7. POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (PFLP)
8. SENDERO LUMINOSO (SL)
6For full listing details please refer to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/current-list-of-designated-persons-terrorism-and-terrorist-financing.
Annex B—Persons designated by the EU under Council Regulation (EC)2580/20017
Persons
1. Hamed Abdollahi*
2. Abdelkarim Hussein Al-Nasser*
3. Ibrahim Salih Al Yacoub*
4. Manssor Arbabsiar*
5. Mohammed Bouyeri
6. Sofiane Yacine Fahas
7. Hasan Izz-Al-Din*
8. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed*
9. Abdul Reza Shahlai*
10. Ali Gholam Shakuri*
11. Qasem Soleimani*
Groups and Entities
1. Abu Nidal Organisation (ANO)
2. Al-Aqsa e.V.
2. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade
4. Al-Takfir and Al-Hijra
5. Babbar Khalsa
6. Communist Party of the Philippines, including New People’s Army (NPA), Philippines
7. Devrimci Halk Kurtulu Partisi-Cephesi—DHKP/C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army/Front/Party)
8. Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army)*
9. Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)*
10. Gama’a al-lslamiyya (a.k.a. Al-Gama’a al-lslamiyya) (Islamic Group—IG)
11. Hamas, including Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem
12.Hizballah Military Wing, including external security organisation
13. Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)
14. Hofstadgroep
15. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development*
16. International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)
17.Islami Büyük Dogu Akincilar Cephesi (IBDA-C) (Great Islamic Eastern Warriors Front)
18. Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF)
19. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) (a.k.a. KONGRA-GEL)
20. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
21. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
22. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—General Command (PFLP-GC)*
23. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—(PFLP)*
23. Sendero Luminoso (SL) (Shining Path)*
24. Stichting Al Aqsa
25. Teyrbazen Azadiya Kurdistan (TAK)
7For full listing details please refer to: www.gov.uk.
*EU listing rests on UK designation under TAFA 2010.
Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (Schedule 7)
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Andrea Leadsom)
My noble friend the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Deighton, has today made the following written ministerial statement.
Paragraph 38 of schedule 7 to the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 requires the Treasury to report to Parliament after each calendar year in which a direction under the schedule is at any time in force. This report provides details of the Treasury’s exercise of its functions under schedule 7 during the calendar year 2013.
The schedule 7 powers
Schedule 7 provides HM Treasury with powers to implement a graduated range of financial restrictions in response to certain risks to the UK’s national interests. The risks it addresses are those posed by money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.
Direction given under the powers in schedule 7
The Financial Restrictions (Iran) Order 2012 (“the 2012 order”) was made and came into force on 21 November 2012, immediately on expiry of the 2011 order. The 2012 order contained a direction by the Treasury in the same terms as in the 2011 order. The decision to give the direction in the 2012 order, in effect maintaining the restrictions in the 2011 order, was made because of the continued risk to the national interests of the UK caused by the activity of Iranian banks in facilitating the development or production of nuclear weapons. The direction mitigates the risk to the financial sector of being involved in proliferation financing.
Licensing
Under paragraph 17 of schedule 7, the Treasury can exempt acts specified in a licence from the requirements of a direction requiring the cessation or limiting of transactions or business relationships between UK and Iranian banks.
Six general licences were issued by the Treasury exempting certain activities from the requirements of the 2011 order. All six licences have since been revoked and on 22 December 2012, HM Treasury issued a new General Licence 1 under article 30(2)(c) of Council regulation (EU) No. 257/2012 (“the EU regulation”). This licence permitted actions authorised under the Financial Restrictive Order 2012 to remain valid.
Specific licenses
In January 2013, three specific licences were issued, one specific licence revoked and one specific licence amended.
Two of these newly issued licenses were issued in connection with payments due by an agreement or contract concluded before the prohibitions;
One newly issued licence related to humanitarian action;
One revoked licence concerned the repayment of a loan; and
One amended licence allowed a UK bank to receive funds from a UK designated bank, amended to add the ultimate beneficiary into the licence.
Government Chemist Review
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts)
The 17th annual review of the Government chemist has been received. The review will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses plus those of the devolved Administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland. The review will also be laid before the Scottish Parliament.
Housing and Planning
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
I would like to update hon. Members on the actions that the coalition Government have put in place on housing and planning, as part of our long-term economic plan. We have implemented a range of measures to get Britain building again, to fix the broken housing market and to help hard-working people get the home they want.
Key achievements
Under the Labour Government, house building fell to its lowest peacetime levels since the 1920s. They pledged an “end to boom and bust”, but presided over a housing crash and a great recession. However, now:
Planning permission was granted for 216,000 new homes in England in 2013-14 (source: DCLG analysis of Glenigan data);
New orders in residential construction have risen to their highest level since 2007 (source: Office for National Statistics);
Housing starts in England are at their highest since 2007 and we have already delivered over 445,000 new homes since April 2010 (source: DCLG);
The number of first-time buyers is at its highest since 2007 (source: Halifax);
Repossessions are at their lowest since 2007 (source: Council for Mortgage Lenders) the number of new mortgage arrears is at the lowest since the Bank of England’s data series began in 2007.
New home registrations rose by 30% in 2013 in England, the highest since 2007; and are up 60% in London, the highest for over two decades ; this is in contrast to Wales which has a Labour Administration, where new home registrations are falling (source: NHBC).
More council housing was started in London last year than in the 13 years combined of the last Labour Government (source: DCLG); and
The number of empty homes in England have fallen to a 10-year low, and the number of long-term vacant properties has fallen by around a third since 2009 (source: DCLG);
A locally-led planning system
The coalition Government have reformed planning so it can deliver the homes and infrastructure people want and need, by working with, not against, local communities. Our planning reforms and the locally-led planning process are delivering real results and speeding up the system.
We have abolished the Labour Government’s unpopular and ineffective regional strategies. Instead, the duty to co-operate introduced by the Localism Act requires local authorities and other public bodies to work together constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis when they are planning for strategic cross-boundary matters in their local plans.
We have safeguarded national green belt protection and other important environmental designations, and given councils new powers to protect assets of community value, prevent unwanted garden grabbing and safeguard valuable green open spaces. The level of green belt development (land changing to residential use in the green belt) is at its lowest rate since modern records began in 1989.
Neighbourhood planning was introduced through the Localism Act, devolving down planning power to local people and helping them play a much stronger role in shaping their areas. Neighbourhood planning is proving very popular and over 1,000 communities have now applied for a neighbourhood area to be designated and 17 neighbourhood plans have passed referendum (with an average turn out of 32%) and an average “yes” vote of 87%). Eleven of these plans are now fully in force, forming part of the statutory local plan, and giving communities real power to shape planning decisions.
The coalition Government introduced the new homes bonus, which rewards housing growth through grants based on the council tax raised from additional homes and long-term empty homes brought into use. To date, over £2.2 billion of new homes bonus has been given to local councils. This has ensured that growing areas have had resources to meet the needs of new and existing communities. Local neighbourhoods with a neighbourhood plan will also benefit directly from the community infrastructure levy.
The local plan making process was overhauled through the Localism Act. These reforms simplified plan-making, giving local authorities more choice in how they developed their local plans, and ensured that plan-making is more transparent. They also made it clear that a planning inspector may only propose modifications to a local plan where requested to do so by the local authority, underscoring this Government’s commitment to localism in practice.
Some 77%) of local planning authorities have now published a draft local plan compared to only 32% of authorities in May 2010.
Streamlining the planning system and removing unnecessary burdens
The national planning policy framework replaced over a thousand pages of national policy to around 50, written simply and clearly. The planning guidance review streamlined planning guidance and reduced it from over 7,000 pages to a simple accessible online guide. This has made the planning system more accessible to local residents, local firms and local councillors, rather than it being the preserve of lawyers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and town hall officials.
To help deliver the new homes that families want, we have abolished Whitehall minimum density requirements and maximum parking standards, and stopped gardens being classified as brownfield land. This will ensure that the market can build more homes with the gardens and parking spaces that people want to buy.
The Localism Act abolished the Infrastructure Planning Commission and returned decision making for the biggest developments back to accountable Ministers. At the same time, we expanded the scope of the nationally significant infrastructure regime to allow the developers of certain business and commercial projects to take advantage of a fixed timetable and obtain many of the necessary non-planning consents at the same time.
We have reduced the number of applications that must be accompanied by a design and access statement and simplified their content. Changes to the civil procedure rules have reduced the time period for submission of judicial review applications against planning decisions to six weeks. A new planning court is speeding up the handling of such cases.
The Growth and Infrastructure Act introduced legislation to designate poor performing local planning authorities. This power has intentionally been rarely used: two councils have now been designated in this way and one application has now been made directly to the planning inspectorate. This has significantly improved performance with latest figures showing that 74% of applications for major development were processed on time.
In this Session of Parliament, we will augment these successful reforms to look at practical ways of removing excessive red tape, while ensuring environmental safeguards and continuing our locally-led approach.
The Infrastructure Bill will speed up the way that planning conditions are handled, so homes granted planning permission can start on site more quickly. We will seek to improve the engagement and performance of statutory consultees; and we will tackle the gold-plating of EU directives.
Building more affordable housing
Over 170,000 affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010. Our affordable homes programme will deliver 170,000 homes over the current spending review period (2011-15), levering in £19.5 billion of public and private funding.
We have announced a new “Affordable Rent to Buy” scheme which will deliver affordable homes through a recoverable fund. The new affordable homes programme for the next spending period will lever in up to £23 billion in public and private funding to deliver 165,000 homes from 2015 to 2018. This will be the fastest rate of affordable house building for 20 years.
The affordable housing guarantee scheme is worth up to £3.5 billion (with further lending capacity held in reserve according to demand) and supported by up to £450 million grant funding in England. Up to 30,000 additional affordable homes will be under way by December 2017.
The first eight housing associations to be approved to borrow through the scheme were announced in January 2014, with a further eight announced on 30 May, which together will raise over £630 million of debt to facilitate the delivery of over 5,900 new affordable homes.
We also announced a European Investment Bank loan facility worth £500 million. On 30 May 2014, the first bond of the affordable housing guarantees scheme was issued by our delivery partner. Affordable housing finance, backed by a full faith guarantee from DCLG. The bond is worth £208 million and has achieved the lowest priced for debt in the affordable housing sector’s history.
The right to buy scheme, allowing eligible social tenants to buy their homes at a discount, has achieved almost 27,000 sales since April 2010. Since the discounts were increased in April 2012, right to buy sales have risen from 2,638 in 2011-12 to 11,238 in 2013-14.
The reinvigorated right to buy ensures, for the first time, that the receipts from the additional sales, that is those over what was forecast prior to the change, are reinvested in helping to fund new homes for affordable rent. This has generated £420 million in receipts for new additional housing.
A new generation of council housing
In 2012, the coalition Government reformed the council house finance system, introducing self-financing for those local authorities that still own and manage their own housing. This system of self-financing has given local authorities greater freedoms and flexibilities to manage their housing and many are now starting to use those freedoms to build new council housing.
To further increase the supply of housing locally, we have also made available £300 million of additional housing revenue account borrowing as part of the local growth fund to help those authorities that need additional borrowing and want to deliver new affordable homes quickly. We are looking to local authorities, who need additional borrowing, to bid for that increase by 16 June 2014 and for schemes that would help to deliver 10,000 new affordable homes.
We have also commissioned an independent review to examine the scope for further reforms and changes to help promote local house building.
Supporting home ownership
The Help to Buy programmes have been actively supporting home ownership and new house building across all parts of the country, especially outside London.
Since April 2013, the Help to Buy: equity loan scheme has offered buyers a 20% equity loan that can be used towards the cost of buying a new build home, allowing people to buy with a 5% deposit. There were over 33,000 reservations and 20,548 completed sales across England by the end of April 2014, with funding for up to 74,000 sales by March 2016. To assist hon. Members, I have today published on my Department’s website and placed in the Library a breakdown of Help to Buy: equity loan sales by postcode.
Alongside this, the Help to Buy: NewBuy scheme, launched in March 2012 has also supported a further 5,173 households to purchase new build homes by the end of March 2014. The Help to Buy: equity loan scheme was extended through the 2014 Budget announcement to 2020 to help 120,000 more households purchase a new build home.
The FirstBuy scheme was announced in the Budget 2011 to help support 10,000 first-time buyers on the property ladder. The scheme was replaced in April 2013 with Help to Buy. There were 11,590 FirstBuy sales to the end of March 2014; moving forward, this is now effectively part of Help to Buy.
Since the end of last year, the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme is providing up to £12 billion of Government guarantees to support people to buy with a 5% deposit. Over 7,300 homes have (by the end of March 2014) been bought through this route. The three Help to Buy schemes complement each other, and their success can be taken together.
To help reduce costs for buying a home, the coalition Government scrapped the Labour Government’s home information packs which duplicated costs and were not trusted by buyers.
Building more homes to rent
The £1 billion Build to Rent fund provides development phase finance to large-scale private rented sector developments. The fund is supporting new high-quality development purpose built for private rent and is on track to create up to 10,000 new homes.
The fund received £1.4 billion of bids under round 1—this bidding round is currently expected to support up to 15 developments, providing around 2,550 homes across England in locations that include Durham, Liverpool, Manchester and London.
Five projects to the combined value of over £74.5 million are already in contract, delivering over 1,000 new homes for private rent; and construction has already started in Southampton (Centenary Quay) and Manchester (Three Towers). More contracts will follow.
Bidding for round 2 of the Build to Rent fund was significantly oversubscribed receiving 126 bids to the value of around £3 billion. Thirty-five projects on the shortlist from round 2 are now undergoing a competitive due diligence process, with successful bids receiving funding to deliver thousands of new homes. A list of all shortlisted bids has been placed in the Library.
Sixteen projects, with a combined value of circa £625 million, are already in detailed due diligence. Due diligence is a competitive process and the Homes and Communities Agency will continue to negotiate with projects until exchange of contracts in order to ensure value for money for the taxpayers.
In addition to direct funding, the coalition Government’s private rented sector task force is continuing to build the private rented sector as an investment market and has helped to generate aspirations to invest over £10 billion of domestic and foreign investment in the private rented sector.
The private rented sector housing debt guarantee scheme will provide a Government guarantee for up to £3.5 billion debt (plus an additional amount held in reserve) for borrowers investing in new build private rented sector homes across the UK. Specifically, the guarantees use the UK Government’s hard earned fiscal credibility to reduce the cost of borrowing and incentivise investment in the sector. My Department is open for business to issue direct private rented sector housing debt guarantees and continues to progress discussions with a number of borrowers looking to invest in large-scale developments.
Following extensive pre-market engagement, on 18 March 2014 the Department also launched a procurement exercise for a delivery partner for the private rented sector housing debt guarantees scheme, with the aim of increasing access for smaller borrowers and maximising take up of the guarantees. My Department is currently evaluating bids to perform the role and expect the delivery partner to be in place in autumn 2014, approving its first borrowers in early 2015.
We are taking a range of action to tackle the small minority of rogue practices in the private rented sector, while avoiding the disproportionate regulation that would increase rents, reduce choice and supply for tenants, and choke off the increase in institutional investment.
Providing infrastructure and development finance
The £500 million Get Britain Building investment fund is providing finance to unlock smaller stalled sites. So far, it has helped kick-start nearly 12,000 new homes on stalled sites.
The Growing Places fund is providing £770 million to deliver the infrastructure needed to unlock stalled schemes that will promoted economic growth, create jobs and build homes. The fund has been fully allocated to local enterprise partnerships and the devolved Administrations to fund local projects. Progress updates in June 2013 reported that £652 million of capital funding had been allocated to 305 projects across England. local enterprise partnerships expect these projects to create 4,900 businesses, 94,000 jobs and 27,000 houses. A further update will be published in due course.
The Growth and Infrastructure Act also introduced legislation unblocking stalled sites for development and reconsideration of unrealistic section 106 agreements: such unviable requirements mean no housing, no regeneration and no community benefits.
The £474 million Local Infrastructure fund is helping to unlock large-scale housing developments. To date we have helped find bespoke solutions bringing forward around 80,000 new homes. We are currently working to unlock further stalled schemes capable of delivering up to another 35,000 new homes. In addition to the capital investment, we have made available £13 million of capacity funding to support local authorities in fulfilling their local housing ambitions.
We have also published:
“Builders Finance Fund prospectus”—This £525 million fund will provide development finance for smaller sites to support the construction of up to 15,000 new homes; the prospectus has also recently been published.
“Large sites infrastructure programme prospectus”—This £1 billion fund provides a programme of support over a six-year period designed to address these barriers and help accelerate and unlock housing developments of at least 1,500 housing units that have slowed down or stalled completely.
“Local Growth Fund (Housing Infrastructure) prospectus”—This sets out the detail on how to access the £50 million part of the local growth fund in 2015-16. It is designed to help speed up and restart housing developments between 250 and 1,499 units that have slowed down or stalled.
“Locally-led garden cities prospectus”—This invites local authorities to put forward their ideas for how they wish to develop garden cities, how they wish to make use of the existing central Government funding and support, and what other freedoms, flexibilities and support they need to make ambitious new garden cities a reality.
We are creating an Urban Development Corporation for the Ebbsfleet area to accelerate the construction of a garden-city style development which will unlock up to 15,000 homes—with up to £200 million capital being made available. We have scrapped Labour’s failed, top-down eco-towns programme which built nothing but resentment.
A new estate regeneration fund of £150 million of recoverable investment will help kick-start and accelerate the regeneration of some of our most deprived estates. We are also working with the Greater London authority to support the regeneration of Brent Cross and unlock 11,000 homes at Barking Riverside.
Promoting self-build and custom-build
In contrast to the Labour Government, we are actively supporting the self-build and custom-build sectors, helping people design and build their own home.
We have also exempted self-build from the community infrastructure levy and we have recently consulted on a similar policy change for section 106 tariffs. The £30 million investment fund for custom-build homes has so far approved or is currently considering loan funding of £20 million.
At the 2014 Budget, we announced that we will consult on a new “Right to Build” to give self-builders a right to a plot from councils and we will shortly be identifying a small number of councils to act as vanguards to test how the Right to Build model will work in practice. We also announced a new £150 million investment fund to help provide up to 10,000 serviced building plots, and announced will we look to extend help to buy equity loan to self-builders.
Getting empty and redundant land and property back into use
We have introduced a range measures to help get empty and surplus land and property back into productive use. We have abolished the Labour Government’s controversial pathfinder programme which sought to demolish homes and instead we have focused on refurbishment.
We are investing £160 million specifically to bring empty homes back into use. The new homes bonus rewards long-term empty homes being brought back into use and we have given councils the flexibility to remove tax subsidies given to empty homes, and use the money to keep the overall rate of council tax down.
The Public Sector Land programme has identified land with capacity for over 100,000 homes which we aim to release to the private sector by March 2015. At the end of December 2013, we had released land capable of delivering 76,000 homes to be built.
Through the Strategic Land and Property review we have identified scope to generate £5 billion of receipts from Government land and property between 2015 and 2020. This will put land and property into the hands of those who can exploit them for commercial purposes, supporting deficit reduction and creating opportunities for housing and economic growth.
The national planning policy framework makes it clear that planning should encourage the effective use of land by reusing brownfield land provided that it is not of high environmental value, and that local councils can set locally appropriate targets for using brownfield land. We have also amended planning guidance to stress the importance of bringing brownfield land into use.
The new Right to Contest builds on our existing community right to reclaim land, which lets communities ask that underused or unused land owned by public bodies is brought back into beneficial use. This new right applies to sites currently in use, but which are not vital for operations. It gives businesses and members of the public an opportunity to challenge Government on the best use of its estate.
Changes to community infrastructure levy rules now provide an increased incentive for brownfield development, through exempting empty buildings being brought back into use. We have also published proposals to lift section 106 burdens on vacant buildings being returned to use.
We have reformed permitted development rights to free up the planning system and encourage the conversion of existing buildings. The changes help support town centres, the rural economy and provide much-needed homes. These include:
Changing offices to homes to bring underused offices back into effective use and provide new homes;
Change of use from existing agricultural buildings to a range of new business uses giving rural communities more opportunity and incentive to diversify their operations and contribute towards rural prosperity;
Change of use to a state-funded school or registered nursery from a range of premises. A new temporary change of use also allows buildings in any use class to be used as a state-funded school for one academic year to ensure that the opening of new schools is not delayed by the planning system;
Change of use from shops to banks and building societies making best use of existing premises, promoting a diverse and vibrant high street;
Change of use from shops or financial and professional services to homes and limited associated building works to make best use of existing premises, provide new homes and revitalise the high street;
Change of use from agricultural buildings to up to three homes and limited associated building works giving rural communities opportunity to bring forward new homes and make best use of existing buildings;
Larger extensions to homes, offices and shops allowing homeowners and businesses to invest in their homes and premises to adapt to changing circumstances without having to move. These larger home extensions are subject to a light-touch neighbours’ consultation scheme to protect the amenity of neighbours.
To assist extensions and home improvements, we have also exempted them from community infrastructure levy, stopped plans for a so-called “conservatory tax”, stopped any council tax revaluation which would have taxed home improvements, and introduced a new national council tax discount for family annexes.
We will consult in the summer on a package of proposals including:
Change of use from warehouse to residential, from light industrial to residential, and from some sui generis uses to residential;
A wider retail use class—excluding betting shops;
Relaxations for change of use from retail use to restaurant use and assembly and leisure uses, and larger mezzanines in retail premises where it would support the town centre;
Greater flexibilities to erect ancillary structures in car parks and reconfiguration of loading bays within existing car park boundaries, to help local shops; and
Consolidating the general permitted development orders into a single new order.
We will announce further proposals to help regenerate brownfield land shortly.
Conclusion
There is more to do, but I hope this illustrates how this Government’s long-term economic plan is building more houses, giving more power to local communities, helping people move on and up the housing ladder.
School Teachers' Review Body (24th Report)
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)
The 24th report of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is being published today, responding to the remit I issued in October 2013. The report contains recommendations on how to apply the pay award for teachers that is due to be implemented from September 2014. Subject to the views of consultees, I intend to accept the STRB’s recommendations in full.
The STRB has recommended a 1% uplift of the national framework for teachers’ pay from September 2014. The uplift will be applied to the minima and maxima of all the pay ranges and allowances in the national pay framework, including the:
unqualified teachers’ pay range;
main pay range;
upper pay range;
leading practitioner pay range;
leadership pay range;
head teacher groups;
teaching and learning responsibility (TLR) allowance pay ranges;
special educational needs (SEN) allowance pay range.
The STRB has also recommended that those teachers and school leaders who currently sit on the maxima of the pay ranges should receive a 1% uplift. For all teachers who are paid other than on the minima and maxima the STRB has recommended that schools should determine locally how to take account of the uplift.
In addition to the uplift, the STRB has made a number of recommendations about advice that my Department should issue, including that the discretionary reference points in departmental advice should be uplifted by 1%. A full list of the recommendations is attached as an annex.
My officials will write to all of the statutory consultees of the STRB to invite them to contribute to a consultation on my acceptance of these recommendations, and on the text of the 2014 school teachers’ pay and conditions document. The consultation will last for six weeks.
I am grateful for the careful consideration which the STRB has given to this important matter. Copies of the STRB’s 24th report are available in the Vote Office, the Printed Paper Office and the Libraries of both Houses, and online at www.gov.uk
Annex to written ministerial statement
School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB’s) remit and recommendations
1—In October 2013, I referred to the STRB the following matters for recommendation:
a) What adjustments should be made to the salary and allowance ranges and scales for classroom teachers, unqualified teachers and school leaders to reflect the 1% pay award for public sector workers;
b) What adjustments should be made to salaries and allowances in payment;
c) How to provide a simplified and flexible framework for ensuring school leaders’ pay is appropriate to the challenge of the post and their contribution to their school or schools;
d) How the current detailed provisions for allowances, other pay flexibilities and safeguarding could be reformed to allow a simpler and more flexible STPCD; and
e) How the framework for teachers’ non-pay conditions of service could be reformed to raise the status of the profession and support the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, and raise standards of education for all children.
2—In making its recommendations, the STRB was asked to consider:
a) The need to ensure that the proposals reflect the Government’s policy that public sector pay awards average 1% for the two years following the pay freeze;
b) The affordability of any recommendations within the existing budgets of individual schools;
c) The need to ensure that any proposals are not difficult or onerous for schools to implement;
d) Evidence of the national state of teacher and school leader supply, including rates of recruitment and retention, vacancy rates and the quality of candidates applying for qualified teacher status (QTS);
e) Evidence of the wider state of the labour market in England and Wales;
f) Forecast changes in the pupil population and consequent changes in the level of demand for teachers;
g) The Government’s commitment to increasing autonomy for all head teachers and governing bodies to establish pay arrangements that are suited to the individual circumstances of their schools.
3—In its 24th report, the STRB has recommended:
A 1 % uplift to be applied to the minima and maxima of all the pay ranges and allowances in the national pay framework—unqualified teachers’ range, main pay range, upper pay range, leading practitioner pay range and the leadership pay range, including the minima and maxima of the eight head teacher pay bands, the three levels of teaching and learning responsibility (TLR) allowances and the special educational needs (SEN) allowance.
That, for those on individual pay ranges1 schools determine locally how to take account of the uplift to the national framework in making individual pay progression decisions and consider how individual pay ranges should be uplifted.
The pay2 of teachers on the minima and maxima of their range and of head teachers on the minima and maxima of their pay band be uplifted to the new minima and maxima in September 2014.
DfE makes clear that, in revising its pay policies for 2014-15, schools should consider, and set out, how any pay decisions for those on the maxima of pay ranges in September 2015 will take account of performance in applying any uplift to the national framework.
DfE uprates by 1% the reference points in its advice to schools. For the purpose of guiding September 2014 pay decisions.
That schools who have not adopted the reference points set out in DfE advice consider how to apply the 1% uplift to the national framework to their local policy.
That reference points should be removed from DfE advice following the September 2014 pay decisions.
That DfE makes clear that all schools should revise their pay policies for 2014-15, and set locally determined arrangements for performance-related progression as a basis for decisions on pay in September 2015.
That DfE makes clear in advice to schools the scope for the most able teachers to progress rapidly through the main and upper pay ranges, where justified by consistently excellent performance, to the leading practitioner and leadership pay ranges.
1. Leading practitioners and teachers in leadership posts
2. Base pay excluding any allowances. The treatment of allowances is covered by separate recommendations.
Common Agricultural Policy in England
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Owen Paterson)
Growing the rural economy and improving the environment remain two of my absolute priorities. On 19 December, Official Report, column 125WS, I announced an initial range of decisions about how we will distribute £15 billion of funds in England over the next CAP period from 2015. Today, I am announcing some further decisions about how we will implement two key aspects of last year’s CAP reforms: greening and cross-compliance.
One of the three components of the new greening measure under the CAP requires farmers with more than 15 hectares of arable land to maintain 5% of that arable land as “ecological focus area” (EFA).
The European regulations provide a range of options which member states can choose to offer their farmers for the purpose of meeting the 5% EFA requirement. The more EFA options we offer, the more complex and difficult it will be to deliver and control those options in accordance with the EU rules.
While I would like to give our farmers the widest choice of EFA options, I have assessed that the complexity of introducing all the necessary controls to manage them in accordance with the EU regulations would place a high risk on the Rural Payments Agency to the extent that it would jeopardise our ability to make all CAP basic payments to farmers on time.
I am therefore announcing today that the options that we will make available for farmers to choose from in order to meet their EFA obligations in 2015 will be as follows:
land lying fallow
buffer strips
catch and cover crops
nitrogen fixing crops
hedges
I fully acknowledge that some farmers may be disappointed that we are not able to offer a wider list of EFA options. This is not a decision I have taken lightly. The EFA rules are the most complex single aspect of the new CAP given the associated verification, control and mapping requirements.
We must learn from the lessons from the past. We know from previous experience about the difficulties which can arise from introducing new CAP measures and systems, particularly those reliant upon mapping. I do not want to jeopardise the successful delivery of the basic payment scheme for all our farmers.
I am pressing the European Commission hard to clarify what flexibility exists for adding additional EFA options to this list in future years. If the Commission can confirm that such phasing-in is possible, then we will look to add further options to our EFA offer once they have been mapped and digitised on our new system. So I am urging the Commission to look closely at the greening rules to ensure they operate as pragmatically and flexibly as possible in a way that suits our needs in England.
Allowing hedges to count towards the EFA requirement will have implications for those claimants who wish to take up this option. This may include work by people having to map their hedges. Farmers taking this option will be encouraged to submit claims earlier and may expect payments towards the end of the payment window.
I have decided that we will make maximum use of the weightings and coefficients provided for in the EU regulation for the EFA options we are offering in England. This will make it easier for our farmers to comply with the regulatory requirements. I have decided that we will not take up the option within the regulations to make additional designations of environmentally sensitive grasslands in England where a no-plough rule would operate. I have also decided that within the nitrogen fixing crops option in EFA we will allow the broadest range of qualifying crops and will not impose any additional restrictions on the cultivation of these crops.
We have been mindful of the assurances given at the start of the CAP reform negotiations that those farmers in existing agri-environment agreements should not be disadvantaged by greening. I can also announce that only a small proportion of ELS agreements—including uplands and organic variants—which started on or after 1 January 2012 will have to have their payments reduced to account for double funding with greening. Affected agreement holders will have the choice to make good the shortfall through an amendment or exit the scheme without penalty.
I am also announcing my intentions for how we will implement the cross-compliance requirements of the new CAP from 2015. Last year’s reform package resulted in limited changes to existing EU regulation on cross-compliance, so our flexibility to move from our current approach is constrained. However, I am determined to ease the burden of regulation on farm business while maintaining environmental protection and we will be streamlining the implementation of cross-compliance.
Overall, the number of requirements placed on farmers to keep their land in good agricultural and environmental condition (GAECs) will reduce by a third from 17 to 11. I am also ensuring that our new rules reflect existing legal requirements so that we avoid adding complexity for farmers by implementing new or alternative rules. The deletion of some statutory management requirement rules will lead to a reduction in burden on farmers compared to the current situation.
I am removing the requirement for farmers to keep a soil protection review and to focus inspections on outcomes rather than paperwork. This is a key ask of farming organisations and was a recommendation in the MacDonald farming regulation task force.
I am retaining and rationalising existing GAECs on water, boundaries, public rights of way, trees, sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and scheduled monuments.
I am extending the hedge trimming ban by one month—to end August—in order to provide protection throughout the bird breeding and rearing season as required by the EU legislation. There will also be extra protection for earth and stone banks.
I have also asked my officials to review the implementation of the penalty system for cross-compliance with a view to making it more proportionate.
Today, I can also announce that we will now be submitting our draft new rural development programme to the European Commission for approval. Under our plans, we will be investing at least £3.5 billion in rural development schemes from 2014 to 2020. This money will improve the environment, grow the rural economy and create jobs.
Throughout the EU negotiations on CAP reform, the UK has argued for simplicity and flexibility. It is clear that some aspects of CAP implementation will be difficult and complex to deliver. The announcements I am making today build upon those already made and will deliver better value for taxpayers, fairness to English farmers, and support the Government’s continued commitment to improving our natural environment.
Mental Capacity Act 2005
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Simon Hughes)
Following the Committee’s enquiry into the Mental Capacity Act, the House of Lords Select Committee published its report on 13 March 2014. We welcome the report, which contains 39 recommendations.
The Mental Capacity Act is an important piece of legislation, but we recognise more needs to be done to raise awareness and make sure it is more widely understood. I am pleased to announce that the joint response of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health will be published today.
The response contains our plans to realise the full potential of the Act. We want to make sure that we achieve our ambition of valuing every voice and respecting every right when caring for and supporting individuals who may lack capacity either now or at any time in the future.
Access to Work
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
Access to Work helps over 30,000 disabled people to take up and remain in employment each year, providing support such as specialist aids and equipment, travel to work and support workers.
This Government have expanded and strengthened this important programme by increasing the budget and implementing a wide range of improvements. As a result, volumes and expenditure on Access to Work have increased over recent years, meaning more disabled people are now being supported to fulfil their potential in the workplace. This progress has been shaped by important reviews undertaken by Liz Sayce and an expert panel chaired by Mike Adams.
I want to continue to build on this success so that Access to Work can support more claimants per year. That is why I have asked that over a three-month period, we now look into Access to Work, focusing on how we can support more disabled people and further improve customer service. I will set out further details on next steps shortly.
While we undertake this work I am also suspending Access to Work’s 30-hour guidance for new claimants. This operational guidance stated that if a support worker is required full time, for example 30 hours or more a week, Access to Work will normally provide funding on the basis of an annual salary rather than a freelance rate. Having listened to concerns about its practical effect, notably on the ability of some deaf customers to source appropriate British sign language support, this guidance will not be applied to new cases pending the completion of this work.
Work Capability Assessment
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mike Penning)
Today the Government will publish a call for evidence as part of the fifth independent review of the work capability assessment (WCA), carried out by Dr Paul Litchfield.
The first three independent reviews were carried out by Professor Malcolm Harrington, and published in November 2010, November 2011 and November 2012. The fourth independent review was published in December 2013. This was the first independent review of the WCA carried out by Dr Litchfield. In the fourth review Dr Litchfield confirmed that the Government had made good progress in implementing Professor Harrington’s recommendations, and also made a number of recommendations of his own. The Department has accepted, or accepted with caveats, all but one of the recommendations, demonstrating our commitment to improve the WCA even further.
This call for evidence will be one of several methods used to gather information during the review. Evidence submitted will be used to inform Dr Litchfield’s report to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which will be laid before Parliament before the end of 2014.
This is the fifth and final statutory independent review. This year’s call for evidence focuses on the impact of previous reviews, seeks new evidence about the employment and support allowance work-related activity group and support group, and individuals’ experience of the WCA process. There is also a focus on people who have mental health conditions or learning difficulties.
The call for evidence runs until 15 August 2014.
I will place a copy of the call for evidence in the Libraries of both Houses. It will also be available on the Government’s website: www.gov.uk/DWP later today.
House of Lords
Healthcare Professions: Regulation
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to modernise the regulatory framework for the healthcare professions.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con)
My Lords, we asked the Law Commission to undertake a major review of professional regulatory legislation, which reported in April this year. The report is complex and needs thorough consideration, which we are currently undertaking. We are committed to legislating on this important issue when parliamentary time allows. In the mean time, we are already using secondary legislation to make urgent changes necessary to make sure that patients can continue to be confident they are receiving safe care.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Earl will recognise that the Law Commission work has been extremely valuable. The outcome is potential legislation to modernise all the regulatory bodies in the health service, which has the full support of all the regulatory bodies. The noble Earl cannot be serious in suggesting that a lack of time prevents Parliament considering that Bill. It was widely expected to be taken in this Session, and I am sure that we could come back a week or two earlier to help the noble Earl get this through. Is the real case not that the Government are so worried about their stewardship of the NHS that they dare not bring a Bill on healthcare in this Session?
Earl Howe
No, my Lords. We understand the frustration felt by the regulators that this has not been taken forward yet, but other government priorities have had to take precedence. That is the reality that we must accept. As I have said, we are committed to legislating on this important issue when time allows. With that in mind, we are currently working hard in consultation with key partners, including the professional regulators and patient and professional representatives, on our response to the Law Commission’s work. The complexity of that exercise cannot be overemphasised.
Lord Willis of Knaresborough (LD)
Would my noble friend agree that, after the very challenging Bills that went through the House in the first two Sessions, this Bill would have support right across the Chamber, across both Houses and across all the professions in terms of patient safety? Would my noble friend also agree that this would be a wonderful opportunity for us to tackle the appalling situation whereby 1.3 million healthcare support workers are not regulated and do not have standards, and no one can judge fitness to practise? A draft Bill would at least give us an opportunity to frame that legislation.
Earl Howe
My Lords, as my noble friend will know, we have debated the regulation of healthcare assistants on a number of occasions. The Government’s view is well known. However, I agree with him that the content of the Law Commission’s draft Bill is welcome to many parties—indeed, the Government are keen to see it progress. Much of the proposed legislation is already law in one form or another. The review is about pulling together all the different bits of legislation, introducing consistency across the professional regulators where practicable, making sure legislation is fit for purpose and, importantly, introducing flexibility for the regulators to respond to changing situations.
Lord Patel (CB)
Will the Minister confirm that the Department of Health intends to bring in an urgent amendment via a Section 60 order to allow the GMC to implement the urgent reforms that it needs to protect patients and bring doctors to account?
Earl Howe
Yes, my Lords, we are working with the GMC to develop secondary legislation that will strengthen and protect the separation of the GMC’s investigation and adjudication functions by establishing the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in statute, as well as modernising the adjudication procedures, and to address a number of lacunas in the legislative framework. We are seeking to have the Section 60 order on the GMC’s fitness-to-practise processes in place before the general election.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, there are many with an interest but it is the turn of the Opposition.
Baroness Pitkeathley
I declare an interest as chair of the Professional Standards Authority. The authority has already done preparatory work for the Department of Health on which changes to Section 60 orders would be in the interests of public protection and cost-effectiveness. Can the Minister say that the Government will take account of this work and the views of the regulators as they consider their next steps?
Lord Walton of Detchant
Yet again I shall declare an interest as a past president of the GMC from 1982 to 1989. To follow up a point made by my noble friend Lord Patel, I spoke recently to the current chair of the General Medical Council, Sir Peter Rubin. He and his colleagues are very concerned about the introduction of a number of important changes in the interests of improving medical treatment and medical education, and to protect patients, which will require amendment of the Medical Act. What are the prospects of seeing any such amendments introduced in this House and debated before the next election if the Bill introduced by the Law Commission is to be long delayed?
Earl Howe
My Lords, I have already said that we will introduce a Section 60 order amending the powers of the GMC, as it has requested and as we agree should happen. There is a range of changes that we hope to incorporate in that Section 60 order and I hope to have further news on that quite soon.
Lord Winston (Lab)
My Lords, I draw the Minister’s attention to the regulation provided by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which is allowing entirely unvalidated experimental treatments, such as pre-implantation genetic screening, for patients who then have to pay to experiment on themselves. Many clinics are also advertising on the Underground and some have relationships to do work that is not allowed by British regulation in other clinics overseas. Is the noble Earl prepared to respond to that really burning issue and the exploitation of infertile women?
Baroness Masham of Ilton (CB)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that clinical physiologists desperately need full registration? They have had voluntary registration for some years and they say it does not work.
Sudan: Meriam Ibrahim
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Alton of Liverpool
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they have taken to secure the release of Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to death for apostasy in Sudan, and to promote the terms of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Baroness Northover (LD)
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister and other senior Ministers have condemned the sentence against Meriam Ibrahim in the strongest terms. We have raised our concerns with Sudanese Ministers and formally summoned the Sudanese chargé d’affaires in London. We urge Sudan to uphold its international obligations on freedom of religion by reversing this decision.
Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. In a week in which we are focused on violence against women, is not the cruel treatment of Meriam Ibrahim—sentenced to 100 lashes to be followed by execution, and shackled while giving birth—emblematic of a regime which, from Darfur to South Kordofan, systematically murders and mistreats its own people? While I greatly welcome the Prime Minister’s condemnation of those medieval and tainted laws, is it not time that we exposed the hypocrisy of countries such as Sudan that sign up to the 1948 declaration of human rights, especially to Article 18, yet honour it only in its breach and treat their citizens in this barbaric way? Should we not be offering Meriam Ibrahim and her two little ones immediate refugee status, unequivocally demonstrating the value of a civilised country and a humane society?
Baroness Northover
The noble Lord is absolutely right to highlight this case, and I thank him for highlighting the global summit taking place this week. This case shows how important that summit is.
As I mentioned, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister condemned the sentencing. He stated that he was absolutely appalled by the decision and called her treatment barbaric. The Foreign Office has called on the Government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion and belief, a right which, as the noble Lord said, is enshrined in international human rights law, as well as in Sudan’s 2005 interim constitution. My honourable friend Lynne Featherstone also raised this case on 20 May with the Sudanese Foreign Minister. It is a case, above all, about freedom of religion and belief, and the noble Lord is quite right to highlight it.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
Would it not be appropriate if Muslim leaders in this country—perhaps throughout Europe—who benefit from our freedom of religion, were to make an appeal to the Sudanese authorities, perhaps with international organisations such as the OIC? Have the Government encouraged British Muslim leaders to make such an appeal?
Baroness Northover
One of the features about this case—there are others—is the international outcry. A striking thing is the way that it has affected the Government of Sudan, who were taken aback by it. That shows that this kind of campaign—as the noble Lord will know, a lot is going on through social media—can be effective, and that all voices need to contribute.
Baroness Berridge (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for giving way. The UK taxpayer gives millions of pounds each year to fund work in Sudan, including specifically funding the education and training of 20,000 young people. What assurances can my noble friend give to the UK taxpayer that such education and training by NGOs enhances freedom of religion and belief, pluralism and the right to change one’s religion in Sudan?
Baroness Northover
Education is extremely important, and my noble friend is right to highlight our commitment to it. The United Kingdom Government raise human rights with the Government of Sudan. We are very much involved with human rights lawyers and organisations. We are training the human rights commission and trying to ensure that the majority of people in Sudan can follow their chosen religion and have freedom of religion and belief, and that those who are in minorities are not discriminated against.
Baroness Cox (CB)
Is the Minister aware that Meriam’s firstborn son, Martin, only about 18 months old, has been kept in prison with his mother because the authorities regard him as a Muslim and will not allow him to be raised by his Christian father, and that, if her death sentence is upheld, custody of her children will be granted to the Government because her husband is a Christian? Therefore, will Her Majesty’s Government raise with the Government of Sudan the issue of what is being done to assess the well-being of Martin, the little boy, while he is in prison, whether it is true that the children’s father will not be allowed custody of the children and whether that is in accordance with Sudanese law or an imposition of Sharia law?
Baroness Northover
We are keeping a close eye on the welfare of not only the mother but the children—I asked about this as I was being briefed—and we are in close contact with the defence lawyers. One of the striking things in this case is the application of an older law, which is not in keeping with the 2005 interim constitution or what Sudan has agreed under international human rights obligations. We are urging the Government of Sudan to undertake a comprehensive review of their penal code in the light of this, so that they now keep not only to what they have agreed within Sudan but to their international obligations. What is important is that the majority should be protected. We have an individual case here which highlights things; we must not forget the other cases, too.
The Lord Bishop of Norwich
My Lords, can the Minister inform the House what conversations Her Majesty’s Government have had with Mr Barroso and Mr Van Rompuy, who are meeting international faith leaders in Brussels tomorrow to press for united action in this case?
Baroness Northover
I will have to write to the right reverend Prelate in this regard to fill him in on that. However, I can tell him that we are keeping this case under close review and working with a number of different people.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, this is a matter of great concern to the whole House but, because we have now had a contribution—naturally—from a Member of the Bishops’ Benches, on my reckoning we should return to the Labour Benches. I appreciate the disappointment of my noble friend Lord Chidgey, who has been very patient.
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead
My Lords, is the Minister aware that a number of courageous and remarkable Sudanese women will be in London this week to attend the summit on ending sexual violence? These women have dared to speak out against widespread sexual violence, the near total impunity for its perpetrators and cruel and degrading treatment such as the public flogging of women. Can the Minister therefore assure the House that, as well as continuing to press for the release of Meriam Ibrahim, the UK will work to ensure that a review takes place of the Sudanese criminal code, which permits torture and the denial of fundamental rights?
Baroness Northover
As I mentioned just now, we are seeking to have the Government of Sudan review their penal code in the light of the obligations that they have made. The noble Baroness highlights the global summit this week and we are very pleased that women from civil society in Sudan are there. There is also a faith meeting there and, in answer to an earlier question, it is highly likely that this case will come up during that.
European Union: Reform
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Davies of Stamford
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their specific objectives for the reform of the European Union.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
My Lords, the UK’s chief objective is to reform the European Union so that it is more competitive, flexible and democratically accountable, and works fairly for those both within and without the eurozone. As Her Majesty said at the State Opening of Parliament, the Government are working to promote these reforms together with other Governments, including strengthening the roles of the national parliaments of member states in the functioning of the EU.
Lord Davies of Stamford (Lab)
My Lords, that is a very nebulous and unspecific response. Will the Government be guided in these negotiations by an honest and evidence-based assessment of the national interest? If so, is it not the case that such an assessment might well throw up opportunities for repatriating powers but equally well throw up areas where it would be better in the national interest for more powers to be concentrated or given to the Union at the Union level? Will the Government remain entirely pragmatic and open-minded about that or will they reject out of hand, or shy away from, conclusions of that kind?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
I thank the noble Lord for his complimentary response, as usual. I merely emphasise that reform is a process. We are negotiating with other like-minded Governments. I am sure that the noble Lord has seen the reports from the Dutch and Danish Governments on EU reform. As you know, the Prime Minister is in Sweden talking with his Dutch, Swedish and German counterparts today about a reform agenda. We are therefore working with others to change the EU so that it faces in the sort of direction that we need. Of course we are not spelling out exactly what we would want and what we will say no to unless we are given everything we want, because that would lock us into the sort of negotiation that would be one against 27 rather than a collective multilateral negotiation, which is what we need.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine (LD)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the danger that the noble Lord, Lord Davies, is tempting us into with regard to specifics is the drawing up of wish lists and red lines that would automatically lead to Brexit should they be unfulfilled, and that the more pragmatic approach that my noble friend talks about is to see what the composition of the institutions looks like, to see what happens after May 2015 in this country and then to devise a negotiating strategy in pursuit of those practicalities?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, if one looks back to the Prime Minister’s Bloomberg speech, now over a year ago, it is clear that we have already been making progress on reform. We have seen the quite remarkable reform of the common fisheries policy, for which we have been working for years, and a budgetary agreement that for the first time reduces the EU budget in real terms. Reform, I repeat, is a process in which we work with other like-minded Governments, and on which we are already making progress.
Lord Kinnock (Lab)
The Minister is absolutely right to try, as he said, to avoid locking in Britain’s position in the EU because of the way in which that would compromise the possibilities of negotiation and influence. That being the case, and I entirely agree with him, why was the Prime Minister foolish enough to declare his position regarding Mr Juncker way before there was any possibility of a context, thus surrendering the kind of influence that is essential on the top Commission job?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, this question was addressed yesterday in the House, and I am very happy to say that the Labour Party has expressed its agreement with the British Government’s position on it.
Lord Garel-Jones (Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the principle of subsidiarity, which is already enshrined in the treaty and is supposed to ensure that the Union shall not act in areas where the member states can do so, whether at government or regional level, has in many ways been neutered by the bureaucratic procedures built around it—for example, the green card system? Will he give assurances that Her Majesty’s Government will try to convert the green card system into a red card system?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, green cards, yellow cards and red cards are all floating around at the moment. The only one that is in the Lisbon treaty is the yellow card; the green and red card proposals are on the table and I think that they are mentioned in the House of Lords EU Committee report. With regard to subsidiarity, this is acquis—it is agreed. It is what the Dutch Government were talking about; the phrase in their report, as I recall, is, “European where necessary, national where possible”. That is something that the Danes, Swedes and a number of others agree on. The new Italian Prime Minister talked in terms that my own party leader, the Deputy Prime Minister, used many years ago when he was an MEP: “Better Europe, not more Europe”.
Lord Bach (Lab)
My Lords, we all agree that the European Union needs reform. However, the Prime Minister seems reluctant, maybe for internal party reasons—of course I exclude the Minister from those internal party reasons—to set out any specific reforms that Her Majesty’s Government want to see, in marked contrast, if I may say so, to my party, which has set out specific proposals. Will the Minister assure the House that the Prime Minister will set out specific proposals in time for discussion at the next EU Council meeting on 26 June?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, I am very sorry that I have missed the specific Labour proposals; I look forward to receiving them from the noble Lord. The Prime Minister has made it quite clear that in terms of a stronger role for national parliaments, a much clearer definition of the areas that the Commission should be leading on and those where it should be much more cautious, a number of other Governments have already agreed that those are the directions in which we should now travel. However, every week Ministers from Britain are going to different European Councils of Ministers in which negotiations of this sort are under way. Actually spelling out a checklist, all of which had to be achieved or we would leave, would be absolutely the wrong way forward. In this respect I am absolutely at one with the Prime Minister.
Iran: Human Rights
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Maginnis of Drumglass
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken to co-ordinate international representations about the execution of Mr Gholamreza Khossravi Savadjani, a political prisoner in Iran’s Evin Prison, and about the use of capital punishment and the human rights situation in Iran.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
My Lords, we are aware of the execution of Gholamreza Khossravi on 1 June this year. The right to life is a fundamental human right and the UK opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances. The UK continues to call on the Iranian Government to implement a moratorium on the death penalty and to guarantee the rights and freedoms of all Iranians.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Answer. It is quite disappointing in so far as what seems to dominate is the relationship that his Government want to have with Mr Rouhani. Will he acknowledge that since President Rouhani was elected there have been more than 550 executions? They are running now at the rate of two a day. The influence of Rouhani across the frontier in Iraq has led to killings running at the rate of about 1,000 a month with 4,000 Iraqis being injured. All in all, since we intervened in Iraq not so many years ago, do we not have a responsibility to Iraq and Iran to make amends by standing up and publicly and internationally exposing the injustice to the people we left behind?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, I think the noble Lord’s last remark is a reference to the PMOI. I recognise that it is a linked issue. The UN rapporteur’s most recent report on human rights in Iran demonstrates that human rights in Iran continue to be awful and that Iran is the second most frequent executor of prisoners in the world after China and indeed, in terms of size of population, the largest. We have no illusions on the quality of prison life, the use of torture or the absence of an adequate rule of law within Iran. Nevertheless, Iran is a complex political structure. It is not as simple a dictatorship as some of the states with which we have to deal. We think it is worth while pursuing an opening with the new president, and we are cautiously and carefully negotiating to see what is possible. The noble Lord shakes his head, but I think we have learnt from our experience in Iraq that blundering into a country with a large army and overthrowing the regime does not always lead to a much better outcome. Evolution is better than revolution.
Lord Eden of Winton (Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend recollect that when the present president was elected, there was widespread expectation that he would introduce a more humane and moderate regime in Iran? In the light of the disappointments—to put it mildly—which have since been evidenced in that country, what recent discussions have Her Majesty’s Government had with the Government of the United States of America who share jointly with us some responsibility for what is going on?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, we have close and continuing discussions with the United States on Iran, as on other Middle Eastern questions. I am conscious that one of my colleagues was talking to his American opposite number yesterday. We deal with many states across the world whose record on human rights is imperfect, if not awful. Nevertheless, we have to deal with them and try our best to improve their record.
Lord Dholakia (LD)
My Lords, will my noble friend bring some pressure to bear on the Iranian regime to ensure that the UN special rapporteur, Mr Ahmed Shaheed, is admitted and granted a visa so that he can examine precisely what is going on in some of the penal establishments in Iran?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, we are doing so and recognise that that is an enormous problem. That issue was flagged in his most recent report.
Baroness Afshar (CB)
My Lords, it is important to emphasise that Islam has accepted all preceding religions and has absolutely denounced killing. Therefore, what they are doing in Iran is un-Islamic and abhorrent, as is the case in Saudi Arabia and many other countries. For a country that is ruling in the name of a religion, it is crucial to point out in the discussions that what they are doing does not adhere to the faith that they claim to support.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, I entirely agree with that. We have to remember that there is something of a civil society in Iran, in spite of the current regime. Iran has an ancient civilisation and much pride in that ancient civilisation. The persecution of minorities—both religious minorities such as the Baha’i and ethnic minorities such as the Ahwazi Arabs—is also a stain on the current Iranian regime. We know that there are many people in Tehran and elsewhere who likewise disapprove of that. We continue to make our case.
Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)
My Lords, has the Minister had a chance to look at the letter sent to him at the Foreign Office by his noble friend Lord Carlile of Berriew last weekend? It concerns not just the death of Mr Savadjani, but a number of members of the Iranian resistance who are currently scheduled for execution. In the light of what the Minister has just said about the plight of the Baha’is, would he like to make some further comment about the execution of Baha’i believers in Iran?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, we have condemned extremely strongly the persecution of the Baha’i. There are still, as the noble Lord knows, a large number in prison. I have not seen my noble friend Lord Carlile’s letter; I will look at it and will write to the noble Lord.
Duchy of Cornwall Bill [HL]
Employment Practices Bill [HL]
Voter Registration Bill [HL]
Online Safety Bill [HL]
Armed Forces Deployment (Royal Prerogative) Bill [HL]
Queen’s Speech
(9 years, 11 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Livingston of Parkhead) (Con)
My Lords, it is a privilege to open this debate on Her Majesty’s gracious Speech. We will be considering the Government’s priorities for business, employment, pensions, welfare, agriculture and the environment for the year ahead. The Government are committed to fostering and assisting the entrepreneurial spirit which thrives in the UK today. The measures in Her Majesty’s gracious Speech will open up new opportunities for businesses to innovate, compete, grow and, of course, to export.
The Government plan to introduce a small business, enterprise and employment Bill. This will contain a number of specific measures to better ensure a business environment that is supportive of small businesses, as well as further enterprise and employment measures. There has never been a better time to start, grow and operate a small business in the UK. Small businesses, as noble Lords know, make a huge contribution to the UK, accounting for around half of jobs in the UK and a third of private sector turnover.
In December last year, the Government published Small Business: GREAT Ambition, which set out our commitment to make it easier for small firms to establish and grow in the UK. The small business, enterprise and employment Bill will help deliver on that commitment and will further enhance it. Furthermore, the Bill will ensure that the UK continues to be recognised globally as a trusted and fair place to do business. It will deliver on the UK’s G8 commitment to introduce new rules requiring companies to obtain and hold information on who owns and controls them, which will encourage trust and growth within the UK.
The Bill will make it easier for small businesses to access finance. It will help improve payment practices between small businesses and their customers, particularly through greater transparency. It will provide small firms with better access to the £230 billion spent each year in public procurement contracts. The Bill will also aim to cut red tape by ensuring that there are frequent reviews of regulations which impact on business in particular.
The changes proposed to UK Export Finance’s powers will make it easier for small businesses to access export finance, which they so often need. The Bill will widen the powers of UK Export Finance, enabling it to support exporters itself, rather than, as is currently the case, only in relation to specific export contracts. UKEF will also have more flexibility when providing support for small businesses, such as instances where they are part of a wider and larger supply chain. The Bill will also enable UKEF to support exports of intellectual property rights and other intangibles. All this means that UKEF will be able to increase the number of small companies it can help.
The Bill will also introduce a number of measures to reduce unfairness. There will be tougher rules to make sure that public sector workers do not get high payouts if they are re-employed in the public sector. It will tackle misconduct by directors and unfair employment practices and will provide reforms to increase the efficiency of the employment tribunals system and further reduce its burden on businesses. It will increase the penalty for failure to adhere to the national minimum wage and prevent abuses of zero-hours contracts. Honest, hard-working businesses can be more confident that they will not be disadvantaged by those who do not play by the rules.
The Government are already playing a key role in supporting the success of small businesses. Last year alone almost 500,000 new businesses were created in the UK, a testament to the business environment that we have created. The measures outlined will help them prosper in a UK that prides itself on being very much open for business.
The Government’s long-term economic plan is working. We are seeing more people in work than ever before and unemployment is falling rapidly. To confound our detractors, it is the private sector that is providing these jobs, the number rising by more than 1.7 million since the general election. Government should be about creating the right environment for jobs, not about being the employer. We are committed to building on this outstanding progress and continuing our work to reduce long-term and youth unemployment.
The Work Programme is growing and transforming lives. Nearly 250,000 people have been helped into lasting jobs, but we are determined to improve the results still further. We are rewarding better performing providers and expecting weaker providers to improve. Nearly 200,000 young people have benefited from our work experience and pre-employment training. We are trialling new types of help for young people, including intensive support for 16 to 17 year-old NEETs—that is, those not in employment, education or training, and not in receipt of benefits.
We are piloting new day-one help for unemployed 18 to 21 year-olds to help improve their maths and English skills and thereby their employability. We are requiring some young people to undertake work-related activities at the six-month point of their claim. We are committed to supporting young people to expand their skills and long-term employment opportunities through apprenticeships and newly introduced traineeships. At the same time, the Government are delivering the biggest welfare reforms in 60 years. The Government have brought in universal credit, personal independence payments and the new Child Maintenance Service, alongside employment initiatives such as the Work Programme, Help to Work and Disability Confident.
We have capped benefits so that households no longer receive more in out-of-work benefits than average earnings. At the same time we have delivered employment programmes that have seen record numbers of people in work. We are delivering programmes that make work pay, encourage personal responsibility and deliver a fairer deal for the taxpayer.
In the past, welfare spending was not subject to firm controls and we saw the benefit bill rising under the last Government, even at a time of economic growth. We are determined to ensure that this does not happen again. The Government have already taken significant action since 2010 to bring welfare costs under control. To build on this programme, we have for the first time introduced a welfare cap that will bring over £100 billion of welfare spending under control. This cap will ensure that welfare spending remains on a sustainable footing for the future.
On pensions, we want very much to build on our achievements so far. Around 12 million people are not saving sufficiently to achieve their desired level of income in retirement, especially given—we hope—longer life expectancy. It is therefore vital that we ensure that there are high-quality, value-for-money pension schemes to encourage people to save sufficiently.
We have already made significant pension reforms: the new single-tier state pension from April 2016; automatic enrolment which will see millions more savers joining pension schemes; capping charges on default funds in defined contribution schemes; and setting minimum quality standards to ensure that savers get value for money. However, we are planning to do more still. Defined benefit schemes, where the employer bears all the risk and the employee is promised a specified pension, are, of course, in decline. On the other hand, defined contribution schemes, which are more flexible for employers but have no promise for the employee, are on the rise.
The best employers, of course, still want to offer good pensions, and for some, defined benefit or defined contribution schemes may still be the right pension arrangement. However, for those who want an alternative, our pensions Bill will allow a greater range of options. It will give employers and pension providers the opportunity to create defined ambition pensions, which will encourage greater risk-sharing between parties and allow savers to have greater certainty about their pensions. The Bill will also allow for new collective pensions, recognised in many countries as providing high quality, and enjoying support across the political spectrum.
The Budget announcement on new flexibilities in how savers can access their defined contribution pensions has been warmly welcomed. A Treasury consultation on this, named Freedom and Choice in Pensions, is due to close very shortly. The necessary changes to the tax regime will be via a Finance Bill later in the year. Those with a defined contribution pension will be offered free and impartial guidance on the options available to them at retirement. We will implement related measures through the pensions Bill.
I turn to environmental matters. The Government will publish a draft national parks Bill, which will enable the composition of national parks authorities and the Broads Authority to be widened in future, by an order of the Secretary of State. The main purpose of the draft Bill will be to provide for holding local elections to the authorities to improve local accountability.
We are also committed to reducing the use of plastic bags to help to protect the environment. Discarded plastic bags blight our towns and countryside; they are a waste of resource and a very visible form of littering, and can cause injury to marine wildlife and harm the marine environment. Over 7 billion single-use plastic carrier bags were given out in England by supermarkets alone in 2012; that is 133 bags per person. I am sure that noble Lords will consider that next time they stand in a Tesco self-service queue and they are asked the question, “Are you using your own bag?”. I hope that the answer will be yes, next time. In October 2015, the Government intend to introduce a 5p charge on all single-use plastic carrier bags in England. In another measure, the Government will allow for species control orders to control the invasive, non-native species that pose serious threats to biodiversity.
The measures in Her Majesty’s gracious Speech will help make the UK the most attractive place to start, finance and grow a business. The Government’s pension reforms will allow for innovation and give greater control to employees, and the Government will introduce measures to help protect the environment. I am most grateful for the opportunity to introduce this part of the debate on Her Majesty’s gracious Speech and I look forward to listening to the contributions to the debate from all around the House. I know that I speak for the whole House in saying how much we look forward to hearing in particular from the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham and my noble friend Lord Bamford, who will make their maiden speeches today. They have contributed much to the spiritual and economic welfare of this country.
Baroness Sherlock (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that introduction to today’s debate. We have many interesting speakers to come and I, too, am looking forward to the maiden speeches. I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, with his wealth of experience in business, will have much to share with us. I am particularly pleased to be here for the maiden speech of my own bishop, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham. I know that he has a strong interest in many of the subjects that we are discussing today, and I look forward to hearing what he has to say about them.
Although the Minister’s presentation was very enthusiastic, I confess that I struggle to share the enthusiasm that he has displayed for this Queen’s Speech. The 11 Bills announced here contain some things that are welcome, as far as they go, but, taken as a whole, I find the programme a bit underwhelming. I realised early on that two of the 11 Bills are actually about private pensions, at which point I had a strong sense of déjà vu, as it feels as if the noble Lord, Lord Freud, and I have spent most of our adult lives talking about pensions in this very Chamber. I went back to my diary and found that the last Pensions Bill got Royal Assent only four weeks ago. I understand that things move on—but that quickly? In practice, most of the measures in the pensions tax Bill were flagged up in the previous Budget while the Pensions Bill was still going through this House. In fact, many of us started debating the annuities market while having no idea that the Government were about to unveil measures which would totally change the context. I completely exempt the noble Lord, Lord Freud, whose integrity is beyond reproach. Frankly, I do not think that he knew any more about it than I did: I think that it was all done on the hoof. However, I struggle to conclude that a strategic approach to reforming pensions needs three Bills just on private pensions in one year, but perhaps I lack imagination. I look forward to hearing more about them.
We have had the headline—namely, that the pensions tax Bill is aimed at people who are 10 years below retirement age with defined contribution pension schemes. In future they will no longer have to buy an annuity with their pension pot to give them a guaranteed income during retirement; instead they can access the money and spend it as they choose. At the time this caused speculation that people might take the whole pension pot and blow it on a cruise or a Lamborghini. Indeed, the Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, said that he was relaxed about the prospect of Lamborghini purchases. I confess that I had no idea how much a Lamborghini cost, so I googled it. I do not want to disappoint some people but, as the average pension pot is about £30,000 and you can easily spend £300,000 on a Lamborghini, I do not want anyone listening today, at least those at home, to get too excited. As I googled this information, it occurred to me that in future the targeted advertising that pops up on Google might be directed less at discounted filleting knives and more at Lamborghinis. What a disappointment I will be to those advertisers, that is all I can say.
For some people the idea of taking out their savings will be very attractive but others, especially those on middle incomes, might be better off with an annuity which gives them a guaranteed income throughout retirement provided that the charges are reasonable and the returns are good. We support giving people more flexibility but there have to be real options from which they can choose. I regret that the Government have failed to meet the challenge that Labour laid down during the debates on the Pensions Bill to sort out the dysfunctional annuities market once and for all. All they have done is to sidestep the issue by letting people take their money out, but that does not solve the problems so we will return to that issue as the Bill goes through this House.
Most importantly, these reforms have to meet three crucial tests. First is the advice test. It is essential that people get good independent advice. It cannot be a 20-minute chat over a cup of tea, as some in the industry fear. The Government need to provide a comprehensive and costed plan for delivering robust, high-quality advice and Parliament must be able to scrutinise those proposals to make sure that we do not end up in the midst of another mis-selling scandal. I remind the House of my registered interest as a senior independent director of the Financial Ombudsman Service, and mis-selling scandals and PPI are ringing in my ears as I say this.
The second test is the fairness test. The new system has to be fair to all savers, ensuring that those on middle and low incomes can still get the products they need to get certainty of income and that the billions we spend on pensions tax relief do not benefit just the very rich.
The third test is the cost test. We need to be fair across generations and to be careful that costs are not passed on to the state—for example, if somebody spends their pension pot and then the state is asked to pick up the tab for social care or for means-tested benefits such as housing benefit, which then falls back on taxpayers. Incidentally, when this measure was announced, the Telegraph pointed out that if everybody over 55 took their income as pension contributions it could cost the Treasury £24 billion a year. Obviously, that will not happen but, if just 10% did that, that is £2.4 billion in lost tax and NI receipts. The Government have a serious risk assessment to do first.
Then there is the private pensions Bill which, as the Minister explained, provides for new collective pension schemes, something called for repeatedly by Labour. The Dutch and Canadian models have shown that those kind of schemes can outperform individual defined contributions by some 30%, so in our view the potential for lower charges and the benefits of a pooled investment strategy can be desirable. As we have pointed out in previous debates, they also offer the potential for addressing the pension challenges in industries which have a high staff turnover and lots of small stranded pension pots. We on these Benches support the principle of the proposals on collective pension schemes but we will look for decent caps on charges and other measures to make sure that they deliver secure returns on the pensions in the future.
Labour is determined to ensure that the pensions market works for everyone. To that end, my honourable friend Rachel Reeves set up an independent taskforce to be chaired by Professor David Blake from the Cass Pensions Institute to look at how we can ensure that low and middle-income savers can get good value products in retirement and avoid mis-selling scandals. I call on the Government to provide a full impact assessment of the costs and risks of all the pension reforms together. I ask the Minister to assure the House that the Government will do both those things and also publish a distributional analysis of the reforms, including pension tax relief. Labour has said that we would lower the rate of tax relief for the top 1% of earners. I hope that the Government might agree to that. If they do not, we should at least expect the House to have all the details of the impact of the reforms before being asked to assent to them.
Moving on, reluctantly, from pensions, of the other nine Bills, most are not relevant to today’s debate but I should mention those that are. I will not detain the House on the Defra front with the draft governance of national parks Bill and the Broads Bill but would like to touch on the 5p charge for carrier bags. I am pretty sure that I do not use 155 bags a year so somebody else is using an awful lot—I will talk to them later. I certainly agree that far too many plastic bags are made and used in Britain and that a charge on all plastic bags is the best way to control their use. However, I worry that the policy announced by the Government is actually not quite that and, arguably, is an unscientific mess that could do some damage to the environment. The reason for that is that the Government decided to exempt biodegradable plastic bags, against all the best available scientific advice and despite repeated requests from the Environmental Audit Committee to explain their position. I think that Defra has now accepted that there is no such thing as a really biodegradable plastic bag. There is not: the bag may degrade but the plastic does not. If the bags get washed into rivers they produce microplastics which absorb marine pollutants, are then ingested and work their way up the food chain. Could the Minister please explain why the Government ignored the scientific advice and decided to exempt biodegradable plastic bags from the charge?
There are plenty of other areas Defra could have acted on and I am disappointed not to see any in the Queen’s Speech. There is nothing for those whose homes are blighted by flooding, and nothing on sorting out rural broadband or protecting the health of children in high pollution areas. There is nothing for the 2 million households in England and Wales which spend more than 5% of their household income on water. Defra has responsibility for food banks. Food aid charities are handing out a record number of food parcels to people who are poor. Why could Defra not take the opportunity to investigate and do something about the underlying causes that drive people into food banks, including those in working families?
Next is the Childcare Payments Bill. Any help with the eye-watering costs of childcare is welcome but it does not begin to make up for the losses that working families face. Childcare costs have gone up 30% since the last election but these proposals would have nothing on the table until autumn 2015. Even then, just one in five families would receive enough help through tax-free childcare. It is welcome but not enough.
Finally, there is the small business, enterprise and employment Bill. My noble friend Lord Stevenson will talk about this more—and with considerably greater expertise, I am relieved to say. However, I want to touch on the principles behind it. It contains some measures that are welcome if rather late and a bit half-hearted. That makes me think that one of the themes of this Queen’s Speech—and of much government policy-making of late—is that, in a number of areas where the Government are acting, they have belatedly realised there is a problem and that something needs to happen, often provoked by a Labour announcement. We adopt a policy, it is popular because it is badly needed, then the Government rush out a cut-price version to try to counter it. It is always flattering to be copied but the danger is that these rip-off versions of our original designs look okay at first glance but you should not look too carefully at the seams. We have already seen the position with energy pricing. There are two more today in housing and zero-hours contracts.
Even more importantly, taken as a whole this programme does not do what is needed for the country. The Queen’s Speech seems to be predicated on an analysis that we have had a tough time but it is all getting better so we do not need a major legislative programme. I could not disagree more. The biggest problem is that the Government’s approach is still predicated on the assumption that a rising tide will lift all boats and that wealth will trickle down to all. If that was ever true, it is certainly no longer a safe assumption. The Government’s own record makes that clear. Working people have seen their pay fall by £1,600 a year on average. By the end of this Parliament, people will be worse off than they were at the start. Something very serious has happened to the British economy: the link between our national wealth and the state of family finances has been broken. It is no longer safe to assume, if we see recovery, that it will benefit most working families in Britain. If anyone doubts that, talk to the people out on the doorstep. That has real implications for the way we go about the challenges ahead: restoring real growth, tackling debt and getting the economy working for working people. Low wages, insecure work and the hope of some wealth trickling down is not the way forward; it is actually part of the problem. A Labour Government would take action to correct that and drive us towards the sort of higher skill, higher wage economy we need.
This Parliament unfortunately has seen a rising tide of insecurity. A record number of people are on zero-hours contracts. I am delighted the Government have woken up to the issue—slightly late, despite the best efforts of my noble friend Lady Hollis, who pushed the Minister very much on this during the passage of the Pensions Bill. What is being offered is not enough. As well as ensuring that those employees have greater clarity on their terms and conditions and can work for other employers, Labour would give them the right to demand a fixed-hours contract if, in practice, they had been working regular hours for the preceding six months. After a year they would have an automatic right to a fixed-hours contract. Labour would also ensure that employees on zero-hours contracts are not obliged to make themselves available outside their contracted hours and that they have the right to compensation if shifts are cancelled at short notice.
A Labour Government would then tackle the scandal of low pay in Britain. The Government have previously dangled the possibility of a £7 minimum wage, but nothing has ever materialised. Labour would set an ambitious target to increase the value of the national minimum wage and would drive up much more robust enforcement, including penalties of £50,000 for failing to pay the minimum wage, and new powers for local authorities. We would incentivise employers to pay the living wage through “make work pay” contracts. This makes straightforward economic sense. For every extra pound employers pay to raise a worker from the minimum wage to the living wage, the Treasury saves 49p in lower social security payments and higher tax revenues. It is win-win.
Thirdly, Labour will tackle the problem of youth and long-term unemployment. I disagree with the Minister. I accept that he cares about youth employment—however, the Government’s record has not been good at all. The youth contract has been an absolute disaster. Labour, by contrast, has pledged to create jobs for six months for all young people who have been out of work for more than a year—proper jobs—and for every other person after two years.
Finally, Labour will address the failures of our social security system, on which there is nothing in detail in the Queen’s Speech. We will make the system fit for purpose by reforming the tests for disability benefits, by abolishing the disastrous bedroom tax and by introducing a basic skills test for the newly unemployed, so we intervene early to avoid further long-term unemployment.
We will get serious about housebuilding. By 2020 we pledge to be building another 200,000 houses a year at least. We will protect renters by legislating for longer-term tenancies and by stopping letting agents charging them fees. The lack of housing supply is causing so many problems, from asset bubbles to huge housing benefit bills, overpriced and poor quality rented accommodation, and the inability of so many first-time buyers to get on the ladder. What does the Queen’s Speech offer? I am sorry to say it offers nothing at all for families renting, and a plan for a one-off new town with 15,000 homes, when we need at least 10 or 12 times that.
There is so much more I could say: about the need for reform of banking, finance for SMEs, but most of all a recognition that we need serious action to get the British economy fit for purpose. We are at a point in this extraordinary economic cycle where we have a chance to think about what kind of economy we really want and what kind of country we want to be. I want to live in a country where the economy works for everybody—not just the gilded few at the top—where the welfare state functions properly and where people who are working all the hours God sends can feed their kids without having to resort to food banks. That is the kind of country Labour wants; that is what we will build, and that is what the Queen’s Speech should have done.
Lord Stoneham of Droxford (LD)
My Lords, in 2010 the Governor of the Bank of England warned the negotiators of the coalition Government that anybody who was going to be in government for the next five years was likely not to be in government for another generation. Anybody coming into government in that situation knew it was very serious. I am too modest to predict now what this will mean for my party, but at least I can take comfort from my noble friend Lord Ashcroft’s poll today, which shows the Conservatives and Labour neck and neck, fighting for 60% of the electorate. That suggests that the governor’s prediction was too pessimistic and that, in reality, hope springs eternal for everyone.
It is easy to forget just how severe the problems were in 2010. I think that some of the solutions for the future put forward by the preceding speaker should be put in the context of the crisis in business confidence and the shattered financial economy that we found in 2010. The coalition has provided—and provided at the time—much needed stability and certainty. It is important that we recognise that it has retained its determination to get the deficit under control. It has also provided a fixed-term Parliament, which means that we have five years to do the job. It is worth recalling how things were at a similar stage four years ago. We spent most of the last year of the preceding Parliament trying to anticipate when the general election would come. Now, if we did not have a fixed-term Parliament, we would undoubtedly be trying to predict whether the election would be in the autumn or next May. At least we now have the certainty of knowing that we will not have an election until a year’s time, which is good for the economy.
We have also had continuity in ministerial appointments. I note that the Business Secretary has now served for the second longest time in that position since the war. He has just beaten the three years and 11 months of Patricia Hewitt but has yet to beat the record of Peter Thorneycroft, the longest-serving DTI Minister in the 1950s, who served for five years and three months. In 13 years, Labour had eight appointees. In the previous Conservative Government of 18 years, there were 11 appointees, averaging 1.6 years for each appointment to the equivalent Business Secretary position. At least longer, more stable appointments and better experience provide for consistency, determination and the time to bring about real achievements in office.
Today, I cannot talk about the whole range of matters covered by the debate. I should like to talk about this Government’s radical proposals for pensions under the leadership of my honourable friend Steve Webb, the Minister for Pensions. However, in the short time available to me, I want to concentrate on the business area. When we look back on the coalition, there have been two real achievements in that area. The first has been predominantly in apprenticeships, of which we have created 1.6 million. We built on the foundations left by the Labour Government and have doubled the number of apprenticeships being created each year throughout the coalition Government. Certainly, we hope that by the end of this Government we will have created more than 2 million apprenticeships. These have been linked to a renewed interest in the whole area of technical education to perhaps counter- balance an overemphasis in the recent past on academic success and investing in universities.
The second area where there has been great achievement is jobs and the role played by business in creating jobs. Back in 2010, everybody thought that unemployment was going to go through the roof. That is what the Governor of the Bank of England almost certainly expected as the economy restructured and public spending had to be cut. After four years, we are now seeing the lowest level of unemployment since 2009 at 6.8%, or 2.2 million, plus a reduction in youth unemployment. It has to be said—I say this to the opposition Benches—that all recessions are painful: unemployment hits disproportionately the less skilled, the more vulnerable and the poor in the labour market. If the predictions had been forthcoming in actuality, I am sure that there would have been a threat to social cohesion in this country. What we have done in the employment field has at least relieved some of the pressures on the poorest in society, who would have suffered if the real ravages of the recession had taken hold.
One of the outstanding contributors to jobs growth has been the role of small businesses, and I will say something in a moment about how they are going to be very important to the ongoing recovery of the economy. However, although there are encouraging signs that good economic growth will come, in the final year of this coalition we have to ensure that it becomes sustainable growth which lasts and that it does not just lead to an overheated economy and a return to the renowned stop-go situation.
Two indicators need to pick up in the economy. The first is business investment and the second is labour productivity, which has performed poorly. Since 2007 it does not compare well with our competitors: the USA, France and Germany. There are signs of a pick-up in business investment and certainly surveys have shown that bigger companies are now beginning to use their cash reserves to invest as confidence returns.
The Government have put in place a number of welcome schemes to counter the reluctance of banks to lend to small businesses, which I hope will now play a crucial role in stepping up our capacity to innovate and develop new markets, and will support growth in the economy. There are encouraging signs in pharmaceuticals, aerospace and the motor industry, but we have to recognise that although manufacturing has to play a major part in recovery, it is not sufficiently broadly based in this economy now as it is in Germany. Therefore, we have to look for other areas to provide growth and jobs.
There are good opportunities still to strengthen links between universities and small businesses and to build on their research innovation and scientific developments. For a nation that is the second biggest exporter of services in the world—behind the USA—there remains huge potential for export growth. Services exports are still restricted by national regulation and competition imperfections. Stepping up our initiatives on trade liberalisation, not least in the European Union, will open up huge opportunities for service companies.
There are three further important considerations for growth. We must not be satisfied with just making improvements in our education system. We are not just in the business of catching up, which we are trying hard to do; we need to strengthen our technical education and battle hard to do better so that we are ahead of other countries in improving competitive advantage. We have to be vigilant on the supply side of business and we also need a stable outlook for the economy and consistent government policy towards business which strengthens confidence and encourages investment in facilities, jobs and apprenticeships in the UK. That will be the task for the coalition Government in the coming year.
Lord Tugendhat (Con)
My Lords, I believe that every so often an event occurs that should lead Governments to reconsider well established attitudes and policies. Recently one such event has occurred in the area of responsibility covered by the Minister and his department. In fact, there have been two: one is the annexation of Crimea and all that Mr Putin has done in Ukraine and said about how Russian policy in its near abroad is likely to develop; and the other is the Pfizer bid for AstraZeneca.
Let me take Russia first. In recent years, all EU member states have done business with Russia as if it is a country much like ours and becoming more so. Little or no thought has been given to the extent to which deals and relationships that EU member states regard as part of the normal course of business may become hostages to fortune in diplomatic, strategic and even military disputes. The most obvious example of this vulnerability is the massive dependence of Germany and some other member states on Russian gas supplies. It is hard not to conclude that this plus of course Germany’s massive industrial exports to Russia have not played a part in determining German responses to recent Russian actions in Ukraine. However, Germany is only the most obvious, as distinct from the only, major EU member state in this position. Has not the French contract to supply warships to Russia, including one aptly named “Sevastopol” influenced French attitudes? Has not the British attitude to possible financial sanctions been influenced by the massive Russian involvement in London’s financial and other markets?
In the time available to me I cannot deal at length with these issues but in the light of recent Russian actions and statements, our own policy and that of the European Union as a whole should change. A set of criteria within which economic and commercial relations with Russia should be conducted must be developed. Whether in relation to imports and exports or inward and outward investments, account must be taken of our political and strategic interests and the possible risks as well as purely business considerations. With vital imports, such as gas, this means not becoming overdependent on Russian supplies and ensuring that there are alternatives available. With exports, it again means avoiding overdependence and not supporting Russia’s armed forces. With financial investments, it means ensuring that sufficient is known about them to enable whatever action might be required in an emergency to be taken with the minimum disruption to other market operations.
We, the EU in general and Britain in particular, should also bear in mind our experience with Russia in our dealings with that other great autocratic power, China. As it has demonstrated on many occasions, China does not hesitate to use whatever leverage it has in relations with other countries in pursuit of its diplomatic and strategic aims. Her Majesty’s Government have had experience of that when they were frozen out by Beijing after the Dalai Lama incident. Now I am very much in favour of doing more trade with China and encouraging Chinese investments in the United Kingdom. We are a long way behind our EU partners, notably Germany, in developing economic links with China and we should try to catch up. However, we must also be aware that in China commercial and financial relations are always subordinate to diplomatic and strategic considerations and that Chinese companies are instruments of the Chinese state, not free-standing, independent entities.
So, as with Russia, and in conjunction with our EU partners, we need to develop a framework of rules and criteria within which to conduct our economic relations with China. As with Russia, the aim must be to ensure that we do not lay ourselves open to pressure and blackmail. Unfortunately, I feel that we are at the moment tilting in the wrong direction. I refer in particular to the bending of the rules to enable Chinese banks to set up branches rather than subsidiaries in the City of London. We have offered Chinese nuclear power station suppliers the inducement of high, guaranteed returns. It is difficult to think of an industry more sensitive than the supply of nuclear power stations and it seems strange that we should particularly invite investment into that area by a state with the characteristics of the Chinese People’s Republic.
I conclude with some thoughts arising from Pfizer’s abortive approach to AstraZeneca. Over the years, Britain has derived great benefits from foreign direct investment—the auto industry being the classic example. However, we have also seen too many great and successful British companies disappear—including two with which I was once connected, BOC and Blue Circle—because the German and French companies that took them over wanted them for their long-term value whereas the shareholders were more interested in short-term gains. Both those companies were world leaders, they were not bailouts, and they were bought precisely because they were world leaders. Since then, I am afraid, with the rise of hedge funds, shareholders have become even more short-termist. Other factors unrelated to the underlying soundness and long-term interests of the target company and its employees, suppliers and customers have also arisen.
The Pfizer/AstraZeneca incident illustrates this very well. Whereas the companies that took over BOC and Blue Circle were driven by long-term industrial goals, Pfizer was, above all, driven by tax planning—or, should I rather say, by plans to minimise taxation. In these circumstances, the Government need to take a much broader view rather than simply letting the market decide. They must recognise that the interests of shareholders who trade shares are not, and cannot be, coterminous with the interests of the target company’s employees, suppliers, customers, research programmes and all the rest of it. The long-term national interest needs to be taken into account in a very important way.
The Government should also recognise that, given shareholder pressure on managements, and the fact that this year’s predator can very well be next year’s victim, no assurances, however well meant, about future employment and research can be binding for more than a very short time. I must say that the way in which government Ministers appeared to react to the assurances that Pfizer was making showed a certain unawareness of contemporary industrial realities. As a representative of the Government, will the Minister look again at the public interest test in relation to takeovers of all kinds, with a view to strengthening it as necessary?
Baroness Drake (Lab)
My Lords, employment is up, the growth rate is up but, still, too many ordinary people are not getting fair access to the benefits. Regional imbalances have increased, household debt is rising and income uncertainty abounds. The real- life experience for too many is declining labour productivity, increasing casualisation, growing low-wage self-employment, zero-hours contracts, part-time working and low pay.
Self-employment accounts for 44% of all employment growth since 2010. Between March 2013 and March 2014, the number of employees increased by 351,000 and the number of self-employed by 375,000. Of the active workforce, 15% is self-employed, twice as much as in the US. The Resolution Foundation concluded that self-employment growth is not correlated with strengthening labour markets—rather, the link is between self-employment growth, a falling number of employee jobs and rising unemployment at the regional level. London has experienced the lowest proportionate growth in self-employment, while the highest has been in the north-east and the West Midlands, where unemployment is highest. In January, there were some 2.7 million zero-hours contracts, of which 1.4 million provided work to people and 1.3 million did not. The problems go beyond the exclusivity clauses that are the focus of the Government’s consultation, to low pay and changes without adequate warning. ACAS chief executive Anne Sharp said about zero-hours contracts that,
“we know from calls to the Acas Helpline that … Employee callers in particular identified strong concerns about their terms being changed at short notice”.
Insecure employment brings insecurity of income, no pension savings, restricted access to the national insurance system and difficulties with mortgages, tenancies, personal credit and debt. The Resolution Foundation found that 15% of self-employed people were prevented from accessing credit or loans because of their status and one in five were prevented from getting a mortgage—difficulties echoed in the Bank of England’s NMG survey. The Council of Mortgage Lenders stated that it is,
“difficult to determine how lenders will be able to continue to lend”,
to self-employed borrowers.
The employment rights of those on casualised contracts can be ambiguous. Do they have continuity of employment? Should they be paid for being on standby? Are they employees, or workers with no rights to notice periods or protection against unfair dismissal and so on? The single-tier pension will improve the position of the self-employed but not of those in mini-jobs. Auto-enrolment will widen the gap in private pensions between the self-employed and employees.
There is a need for a far greater focus on how public policy on welfare, pensions, employment protection, the minimum wage and access to finance is responding to these fundamental labour market changes. There are still too many British businesses operating on the basis of low wages and low productivity, whose wage bills are subsidised by the taxpayer through the benefits system. People want economic growth but most of all they want a vision that makes them feel hopeful about their family’s future and their employment.
The Government introduced fees for access to unemployment tribunals. In the debate in this House on 8 July 2013, the noble Lord, Lord McNally, said:
“It is important that noble Lords understand that introducing fees into these tribunals is not an attempt to deter individuals from bringing claims … we do not believe the provisions of this order will do so”.—[Official Report, 8/7/13; col. 74.]
It took just six months for the Government to be proved wrong. The number of claims received in employment tribunals between October and December 2013 was 79% fewer than in the same period in 2012. This massive drop will have contained many meritorious claims and bad employers will witness that workers have been deterred from claiming.
When the Chancellor announced that people could access their defined contribution pension savings as they saw fit, it was met with acclamation in the media, not least because savers were not getting a fair deal on annuities. As the Treasury has not published an analysis of the impact of these reforms, there are many unanswered questions. The Government are simultaneously introducing freedom for people to withdraw their savings as they see fit while promoting the principle of pooled risk through collective DC schemes, where workers’ savings are pooled with those of others and accessing savings will be subject to rules and restrictions. Is it not possible that the individual freedoms in the former reforms will undermine building the collective schemes?
The tripartite relationship in private pension provision between the Government, the worker and the employer appears subtly to be changing. Historically—and integral to the original auto-enrolment reforms—the deal was that workers saved and the employer contributed, supported by state tax and national insurance relief, because pensions delivered an income stream for the pensioner that benefited the pensioner and society. If we are now building a national savings scheme rather than a pension scheme—and we hear calls to go even further, such as integrating ISAs and pensions—successive Chancellors will take a very different approach not simply to the distribution of relief but to the principle of tax incentives, and employers will feel increasingly remote from any tripartite responsibility to pensioners. Yet for many millions, who are the future generations of pensioners, choice is important but the biggest—and huge—challenge remains building up a pot of pension saving in the first instance.
The consensus now seems less clear. Giving greater choice to pension savers has been applauded but has protecting ordinary savers been sufficiently addressed? People need to know that they can trust the industry and those looking after their money. People will now have a combination of choices: take the cash and pay the tax; stay invested; draw down income; or buy an annuity. The gracious Speech says:
“My Government’s pension reforms will also allow for innovation in the private pensions market”—
the same dysfunctional market that delivered poor-value annuities, hidden charges, complexities and conflicts of interest. What will be the nature and quality of the new products? Will they be subject to the new quality standards and transparency requirements? Will people understand what they are buying? Will there be new presentations of the pensions liberation abuse? Unrestricted choice may change the potential for savers to make better decisions about their retirement lump sum but it also increases the potential to make worse decisions.
The Government intend achieving engagement with the saver by providing everyone accessing their savings with free, impartial, face-to-face guaranteed guidance, but we have yet to see how realistic that is and to understand what is proposed. We do not have a definition of what the guidance will be, the detail of the requirements, who will receive it—whether it will be everyone aged over 55 or 65—who will deliver it, how it will be paid for and the extent of provider involvement, but a delivery system must be built in time for the April 2015 changes.
My further concern is that many people with modest pension pots cannot afford regulated financial advice. I hope that, in trying to engage consumers, the Government will not push thousands of ordinary people into inappropriate, expensive advice, so depleting their modest pension savings.
Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)
My Lords:
“And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing”.
That perhaps gives a somewhat overstated sense of the pastoral idyll, but may give some glimpse of what retirement can be. And yet, how little and how often do any of us think about our pensions—how much, when and in what product to save—in our 50s, never mind in our teens and 20s?
I must confess at this stage that before joining your Lordships’ House not only was I a lawyer, I was a pensions lawyer. I understand people’s problems with pensions: they are complicated, they make your head hurt a lot. Generally, there is a cycle of disinterest, boredom, trying to grapple with it, confusion, disappointment and panic—and then you go round the track again. But it matters. It matters now and it has always mattered—particularly, as has been mentioned, as we enter what could certainly be seen as a post-defined benefits world.
Before turning to the measures in the gracious Speech, I should like to say how much I am looking forward to the maiden speech of my noble friend Lord Bamford. As a six year-old, coming from the Midlands, I was lucky enough to drive one of those iconic diggers and not crash it. The memory will certainly stay with me for the rest of my life. What a fantastic brand that is: what a fantastic British success story built by my noble friend and his father before him.
The gracious Speech contained two Bills concerning pensions: two opportunities to create increased focus, involvement and potential engagement with the whole issue of pensions. To take the pensions tax Bill first, it is about liberation, not Lamborghinis—other makes of sports car are also available on the market. I do not believe that it is about whether somebody takes all of their pension in one slug; it is more about whether people will understand the tax implications of their actions, because this is not a free hit. If someone goes above the 25% tax-free lump sum, the additional income will be taxed at the marginal rate. For many people, that may well not be in any sense the most efficient way to access their pension pot. A year by year, drip-drip release may well be better. Some form of annuity product may well be the best bet for an individual. I certainly think that the much talked of death of the annuity has been dramatically overstated to date.
Now to the advice. It is likely to be generic, with 300,000 people a year potentially requiring it. I believe we will need to do more than that. Pre-2014, the majority of people indulging in significant drawdown at retirement would have had more significant pension pots and taken bespoke, paid-for advice. Alongside that generic advice, no matter how good it will be, we should consider an obligation on providers to at least try to gain some assurance from the member that they understand the tax implications of the decision that they may be proposing to take. What plans do the Government have to consider such an obligation on the provider in that respect?
I turn to the second Bill, the private pensions Bill. Much has already been said on CDCs. I will not go into that issue in detail, as others will no doubt unpack it later in the debate. The key there will really be about scale and levels of interest, both of which are largely unknown at the moment. However, it is the beginning of the process and is a useful vehicle to provoke and further open the debate about kinds of provision and types of scheme, and about whether there is the potential to drive efficiencies and secure better returns for scheme members. On that point, all we can say at the moment is that collective DC schemes may do that.
All the issues within the Queen’s Speech are to be analysed in incredible amounts of detail—which is why pensions hurt our heads so much. There is a lot more to be laid out but it is opening up the debate. That has to be a good thing for such an important aspect of what it is to live in a western liberal democracy and have a level of retirement that enables people to live for years with some sense of comfort and dignity, once their working life has come to an end.
This is a post-defined benefit era, but I would like to look at the provisions in the private pensions Bill concerning defined benefits and the proposal to ban transfers out of private-funded and unfunded public sector defined-benefit schemes. On the face of it, this seems a sound move, but is it coherent or consistent to have a ban on DB transfers out at the same time as we are liberalising the market for DCs? Nobody wants to see a mis-selling scandal or anything of that nature and people may well determine, in conclusion, that their DB benefits are better. They may decide to stay with the DB pension promise. But should we ban those transfers as a matter of law? Consider, for example, someone who may have built up a tiny DB provision and a number of DC schemes but who wants to consolidate all their pension provision into one block. That surely makes sense, so what plans do the Government have to consider how that will be taken account of in their current plans?
In short, anything which provokes more discussion in the pensions arena has to be a good thing. In the words of Robert Frost:
“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected”.
In terms of pensions, perhaps some pre-lunch if not breakfast conversations around the whole issue would be gratefully received across the country from the earliest possible age at which someone enters the labour market—because pensions matter, and grey matters.
Lord Liddle (Lab)
My Lords, I cannot possibly match the knowledge of the noble Lord, Lord Holmes of Richmond, on the subject of pensions, nor that of my noble friend Lady Drake in her wonderful speech. I would like to talk about what I see as the central problem in the Queen’s Speech and the Government’s policy, which is a woeful inadequacy in addressing what I think is the central challenge facing Britain: how our nation earns a living in this harshly competitive global age. Unless you answer that question there can be no decent jobs, no fairness at work and no opportunity for the many.
The gracious Speech had a few glancing nods in this direction—we are promised a small business and enterprise Bill, and we wait with interest to see what it contains—but to my mind it is a disparate group of nods on the competitiveness agenda: a deregulation target here, an infrastructure initiative there and a bit of licence for fracking as long as it is not in too many people’s back gardens in Sussex. What is lacking in the Speech and in the coalition’s policy is a comprehensive agenda for partnership between Government and business, a partnership that would address the major problems of stagnant productivity and the quite terrible balance of payments deficit that the nation now faces, that would pursue the rebalancing of our economy, which was promised in 2010 but on which we have yet to see any significant result, and that would build a new progressive capitalism that tackled the fundamental flaws in our economic model that were exposed in the 2008 crisis.
I believe that the coalition had a huge opportunity to build such a partnership in 2010. It could have done more to develop the agenda of industrial activism that, in a lowly capacity, I worked with my noble friend Lord Mandelson to develop. The coalition could have taken advantage of the widespread consensus in business that fundamental reform of our economic model was necessary, not least to rebuild public confidence and trust in business itself. The speech of the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, was an example of how we need to think again about many of the assumptions that we have taken for granted in the past three decades.
Yet despite the best efforts of the Business Secretary, the Chancellor never seems to have been very serious about this bigger agenda. Yes, he made some speeches, but essentially Mr Osborne took a bet on a “business as usual” recovery, created by a quite unprecedented monetary stimulus and supported by a fiscal deficit that remains unsustainably high. What we are seeing is a lifting of the economic boats that have run aground on a rising tide of mortgage, household and public debt, and that will not go on. I remember that Mr Osborne used to make great fun of Gordon Brown’s hubristic boast that he had abolished boom and bust; my fear is that the coalition is creating the conditions for a return of boom and bust on an epic scale, which will once again weaken the productive base of our economy.
I hope that on this side of the House we can develop this kind of critique of the coalition in the coming year. In my view, Labour now has a great opportunity to restore its reputation as the party of business. Part of that is because of politics. In the recent elections UKIP did well, but not so well as all that; it may have reached its ceiling in Newark, and I suspect that it may be downhill all the way for UKIP now. However, the impact of UKIP will be to push the Conservative Party in a UKIP direction, both on immigration and on Europe. On both of these issues, that is contrary to the vital interests of both business and our nation.
With business and the Conservatives drifting apart, Labour has now to show that it has credible policies to back up the call for a more responsible capitalism that Ed Miliband made in 2011. I emphasise the word “capitalism” there. We need flesh on the bones of how we are going to reform corporate governance. What are going to be the new rules for mergers and takeovers? How are we going to get greater transparency in the way our savings are managed, less extravagant fees extracted and more responsibilities of ownership exercised? How are we going to rethink our financial system, because there is a real problem of finance for growing companies when banks struggle to satisfy capital adequacy requirements and to meet prudential limits on their operations? Labour has got to have answers to these questions and put them forward.
We have also got to build on the many positive initiatives that the coalition has taken, such as the Catapult centres, which actually come from the Mandelson era, to help research discoveries turn into marketable products and services. I also believe that the expansion of higher-level apprenticeships should enable us to create a non-conventional ladder of opportunity to technician status and university degrees. Labour has to demonstrate how it can break the terrible confusion and deadlock at present holding back essential infra- structure investment.
So there is a golden opportunity to build a partnership with business, but Labour has to show that it understands the world in which business leaders operate, how their survival depends on making a profit, where often the bulk of those profits are not made in Britain, and where the world is awash with alternative investment opportunities to investing here. Of course, business cannot escape criticism where its actions are contrary to the public interest, and it is right that it should be so criticised, but Governments cannot force private businesses to invest. They can only create the framework conditions in which business can respond.
I see this as a great opportunity, a great moment. All my political life, I have believed in a Britain that works together, in a party of the centre left that reaches beyond the confines—now outdated, I think—of class in order to work with business and construct a social and industrial partnership for the good of the whole country. That sense of urgency and partnership is totally absent from the coalition’s policies, and it is the ground on which I dearly hope Labour will stand in the 2015 election and beyond.
Baroness Parminter (LD)
My Lords, as someone who has campaigned on the issue of plastic bags for many years, I strongly welcome the commitment in the gracious Speech to reduce their use. Discarded plastic bags are iconic symbols of waste, be they catching the wind in high streets or flapping in rural hedgerows. However, the issue is bigger than just the visible litter on our streets and in our countryside; it is about the dangers that plastic bags pose to our wildlife—if they are discarded on the beach and into the sea they can choke or poison fish, animals and birds—and about the contribution that they make to our carbon emissions. Their creation and transportation consumes non-renewable resources, including oil, and their disposal contributes to our greenhouse gas emissions, taking 500 to 1,000 years to degrade.
As the Minister reminded us in his opening remarks, supermarkets in England gave out 7 billion single-use carrier bags in 2012 alone, and that figure has been rising here year on year, but not elsewhere in the United Kingdom. In the Republic of Ireland, plastic bag use fell by 90% following the introduction of a plastic bag charge in 2002. An equally dramatic drop in usage of 76% came after Wales introduced a charge for single-use plastic bags in 2011, and a charge of 5p in Northern Ireland introduced last year resulted in £1 million going to local environmental projects.
The coalition Government are therefore to be applauded that next year a 5p charge on single-use plastic carrier bags will be introduced in England. Given that Scotland is bringing in a minimum 5p charge this October, shoppers will have an incentive not to use plastic bags wherever they shop in our—we hope—still United Kingdom.
There have been mutterings about this initiative outlined in the gracious Speech. At a time of tight budgets, should we really be asking people to pay more when they go shopping? If shoppers take their own bags, however, they do not have to pay—and they are already paying in their council tax the huge hidden costs of disposing of these bags in household waste. That is not even counting the cost of cleaning up littered carrier bags on our beaches, which Keep Britain Tidy estimates costs us taxpayers in England around £10 million every year.
What is really good news is that our Government’s plans to charge 5p for our carrier bags will result in vital funds going to local good causes. The proceeds of this charge will stay with the organisations that collect them and not come back to the Treasury. To that end, I make a plea today to fellow Peers who sit on the boards of supermarkets, or who have influence within them, to challenge them to think now about how they can donate the profits of these schemes to local good causes.
Politics and legislation are sometimes about big-picture, sweeping changes which revolutionise our country, like the same-sex marriage Act. However, politics is also about changing everyday life in small ways that actually make a big difference. I firmly believe that a charge on plastic bags has the potential to make all of us think a bit more about our impact on the planet, raising the national consciousness about the role that each of us can and must play if we are to tackle collectively the problems of a wasteful society and respond to the challenges of climate change.
Baroness Wilcox (Con)
My Lords, following the gracious Speech, it is a privilege for me to take part in the debate today. I am delighted to start by congratulating our Government on the measures they have taken to bring our economy firmly back on course, and delighted to have heard those measures so well outlined by the Minister, my noble friend Lord Livingston.
We now know that education, training, business and the industries and services of the future are what will provide the wealth that is so necessary for the safety, social provision and happiness of our people. It was therefore a disappointment to me that our space industry was not mentioned at all in the gracious Speech. I shall take this opportunity to encourage the Government to press forward with their work of identifying space as one of Britain’s great eight technologies.
Those eight great technologies are—as I am sure your Lordships know, but I will name them—big data, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine, agriscience, advanced materials, energy and space. By supporting the British capacity for brilliance and invention, and by encouraging our vibrant small businesses to develop their ideas much further and drive into this new sector, in which we are already enjoying great success, there will be a great opportunity for our country. Our space industries already support 95,000 full-time jobs and generate over £9 billion for the economy each and every year. The Government are planning to achieve a £40-billion UK space industry by 2030, a coherent approach to protecting the UK’s space assets and—I must add, because it is an area in which I am very interested—to look carefully at protecting our intellectual property, our field of gold.
The outlook for the UK space industry is extremely positive for us, a fact which cannot be better illustrated than by the recent achievements of two UK companies: Astrium and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. Astrium was selected by the European Space Agency as the prime contactor for the Solar Orbiter mission in its close-up observations of the sun. Astrium UK will lead the European companies making the spacecraft parts; it is one of the largest ever contracts between ESA and a UK company. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, with OHB System, will work on the construction of eight navigation payloads for the European Galileo programme. Those two companies will co-operate to build the 14 satellites under the supervision of the ESA.
Britain is surely open for business. Space is a global market, international collaboration is the norm, and we must encourage inward investment, creating jobs and opportunities for the wider UK supply chain. Here lies excitement and adventure for our next generation of apprentices and graduates, to fire their imaginations, to lead them to wonder and dream, to work, think and discover. I am with the Royal Society of Chemistry, which urged that we must have qualified science subject leaders in our schools, particularly for the young.
We all have and need our heroes. We are remembering those of D-day even now. Andy Green is preparing to drive the Bloodhound, a jet- and rocket-powered car designed to travel at 1,000 miles per hour, which his team hope to do in South Africa in 2016. I have promised my seven year-old grandson, who is a supporter of that great venture, that he and I will go there to see it happen. It is time for people like Tim Peake, who will be the first British ESA astronaut on a mission to the international space station in November 2015. I am with David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, in encouraging businesses and schools to follow these space heroes and to find other heroes where they can.
In recent times we have so often heard that British industry is in trouble, that it is finished, that we do not make anything any more and there is nothing for us to do. Here in this short speech, however, are new horizons. We should embrace them and rebuild our confidence as manufacturers again, reaching for the skies.
Lord Northbourne (CB)
My Lords, I will speak briefly this afternoon about one very important aspect of employment: employability. Today too many of the nation’s young people are failing to develop, as they grow up, the social skills they will need. Those are the soft skills—self-confidence, social and interpersonal communication skills and character capabilities—which in today’s labour market are very important indeed. That the Government are proposing a new law to make emotional abuse of children a punishable offence is symptomatic of the problem which our society is experiencing as regards children growing up in the family.
I have a letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, in which he says that it is almost impossible to overstate the importance of a child’s early years in setting the pattern of their education, achievement and success in later life. Of course, who looks after those children in their early years? In most cases it is their parents. So many of those parents who are emotionally damaging their child today are, unfortunately, themselves emotionally damaged; often they have been overwhelmed by drug or alcohol addiction, domestic violence or other emotional challenges, or by poverty or lack of hope. Many have themselves been abused as children, which is a major problem.
I suggest to the Government that another, perhaps more effective way of protecting children from emotional abuse might be to prepare their parents better, while they are still teenagers in school, for the parental responsibilities which may lie ahead of them. There is much evidence that, as they grow up, young people and teenagers are very keen to learn about what adult life means. That is the moment when we have to take advantage, to help them. Should we not be doing more to help those future parents during their teenage years in school to develop the self-confidence, the social and emotional skills and the character they will need as they grow up into adulthood, both in the workplace and as they become parents? Incidentally, those skills are essential for social mobility.
In many of the best secondary schools today these soft skills are being learnt through a wide variety of extracurricular activities such as team games, music and drama, adventure journeys, challenges such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, appropriate involvement in school discipline, debates, visits and guided reading. The best schools are doing these things already but too many schools are not, and the role of schools in preparing their pupils for the challenges of adult life is not clearly set down in law. Today secondary schools are required by law only to teach the national curriculum, which involves a small core of academic subjects, and to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. Noble Lords will notice there is no mention of building pupils’ self-confidence, developing personal and social skills, or character development, yet these soft skills are the qualities and capabilities which are so important today, in the workplace and in raising a family.
Many recent statements by the Government suggest that they are interested only in raising academic standards to the same level as, or to be superior to, those in Hong Kong, Tokyo or wherever it may be. Surely education is about more than that. I accept that the Government’s early years programme is a good start, but it kicks in only when the baby is born, which is far too late to build the social and emotional skills of the parents. For genuine change to happen, the Government will have to make it absolutely clear to all secondary schools that they are responsible for developing the self-confidence and the social and emotional skills of their pupils. I recognise that this would cost money.
The Centre for Social Justice—I do not know how it did it—quite recently brought out a very carefully calculated figure to show that the cost today of family breakdown to the taxpayer is £46 billion a year, which is more than the defence budget. I cannot guarantee this; I have not seen how it was worked out, but it is a figure that has been widely accepted. A very small percentage of that reinvested in schools could make a great difference.
Ofsted should have to factor the dimension of emotional and social development into its inspection reports when it inspects schools.
Lord Bamford (Con) (Maiden)
My Lords, I am an engineer and a manufacturer—a manufacturer of construction and agricultural machinery. I have spent my whole life making things—things that enable other people to make still more things. On this occasion, I am happy to be making a speech, my maiden speech to your Lordships’ House. I am happy for many reasons, not least because it gives me an opportunity to thank publicly my sponsors, the noble Lord, Lord Lloyd-Webber, of Sydmonton, and the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit, of Chingford, for their support, advice and friendship during my introduction to this House. They deserve all our thanks for their contribution to the national fabric, to British industry, to British culture, to British business, to British exports and to British life. They are an example to us all. To my great and noble friend Lord Shrewsbury and Waterford I extend my heartfelt thanks, not just for our lifelong friendship, but for his wise counsel as I enter this noble House. Indeed, I am looking forward very much to contributing to the work of this great House on behalf of the country whose success and well-being matter so profoundly to me.
Membership of this House is an extraordinary opportunity and a great privilege. My sense of gratitude is equalled only by my sense of responsibility. It reminds me of how I felt when, nearly 40 years ago, I had the good fortune to take over the reins of the company, JCB, to which I owe my presence here today, and so much else. That was in 1975. I was 30 years old and, as it happens, so, too, was JCB. It was founded on the day that I was born, in 1945, just after the war, by an engineer and inventor of genius—my father—in a 12 foot by 15 foot garage, in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. The Bamfords were blacksmiths in Uttoxeter in the 1820s; two centuries on, we are still there, only we do not shoe horses any more. We make diggers—lots of diggers.
Britain has changed since 1975. It has changed for the better in countless ways. It is a freer, happier and more prosperous country. However, some changes sadden me, and would indeed sadden and disturb any lifelong manufacturer. In 1975, manufacturing represented over 27% of our GDP; today, it represents just 11%. In 1975, manufacturing employed over 7 million people, more than 30% of the total workforce; today, it employs 2.5 million, less than 8%. In 1975, manufacturing contributed to a healthy balance of payments; sadly, this has been in deficit since 1984. These are concerning numbers for those of us who want a strong, vibrant, stable and balanced economy.
But I believe that there is much to celebrate about UK manufacturing. Britain has many world-class manufacturers, making innovative, high-quality and high value-added products. We have companies, in other words, that make products that the world wants to buy—small, specialist and world-class businesses, as well as much larger industry leaders, such as Rolls-Royce, GKN, BAE, Jaguar Land Rover and, yes, JCB, which exports 80% of its UK-manufactured products. So manufacturing still matters to the British economy. In fact, it matters a great deal. Financial services account for just 12% of UK exports; the figure for manufacturing is 46%. So manufacturing is neither dead nor dying. On the contrary, it is showing every sign of life, with clear potential in value-added industries.
I applaud the fact that manufacturing and engineering are back in favour with Ministers. I would simply emphasise that the support needs to be far-reaching and substantial. The Government are right to set their sights high; they are right to seek to double exports to £1 trillion by 2020. We must reverse the trade deficit that we have been carrying for over 30 years, but we will not get there without manufacturing or without a coherent, long-term industrial strategy.
The year 1945 was not just the year of my birth and that of JCB. It was also the year of Germany’s rebirth. Today, Germany is the world’s largest net exporter—not China, as you might expect. Is it any wonder that Germany has enjoyed a healthy balance of payments for many years? How did they do it? They did it in part by having a coherent, long-term industrial strategy and by focusing on high value-added products. They did it by spending more on R&D than we do—70% more. And they did it by backing their exporters. Over the past 10 years, Germany’s export credit agency backed 10 times as much export business as ours did. Germany did it by supporting family businesses under its Mittelstand model. We should do likewise in Britain, where family businesses provide more than 9 million jobs—far more than public companies.
Finally, and crucially, Germany did it by showing a real commitment to technical education. Technical education is a subject especially dear to my heart. I believe that we have a duty to identify and nurture young talent. That is why, in 2010, we opened the JCB Academy in Staffordshire. The academy is now giving 500 14 to 19 year-olds a hands-on technical education: 40% of their curriculum is devoted to engineering. They spend half the day in overalls working with state-of-the-art equipment, not just for the benefit of JCB but for British industry as a whole. Many of our leavers are now choosing higher apprenticeships as a sensible and practical alternative to university. We are creating real opportunities in industry for our young people. In recent years there has been much progress in the field of technical education. We need, however, to do more—much, much more.
I started my career as an engineering apprentice at Massey Ferguson in France. It was then that it first hit me that behind every product there is an army of talented creators, makers and engineers. Somebody somewhere designed, engineered and made these red Benches on which we sit, the lights by which we see each other, the microphones which help us to hear each other and the telephones in our pockets which keep us in touch with each other. We need more such people. We need more people like my father—more inventors and makers. We need their brains, hands, knowledge, creativity, design and technical skills and, most importantly, we need them to know that they are valued by society as a whole.
As a young man at JCB I came to realise how deeply rewarding it is to turn an idea into something that you can touch, something with form and texture which works and does things, and to use the best of yourself—your energy, know-how and talent—to make things that shape the world in which we live and, yes, even to contribute to human progress. Fifty years on, I am as excited by the making of things as I was at the very beginning of my career. I end where I began. It has been, and continues to be, a real privilege to call myself an engineer and a manufacturer and to be heard in this House.
Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (Lab)
My Lords, it is my privilege to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, on such an attractive and authoritative maiden speech. His mastery of business is evident in the outstanding global success of his family business, JCB, which I think is now the world’s third largest construction equipment manufacturer. His expert report, commissioned by the Prime Minister in 2012, argued persuasively for improvements in the Government’s engagement with business. One recommendation was for a better system of training and education for young people in technical fields, which I shall advocate today, although not so eloquently as the noble Lord. Like him, I was an engineering apprentice, so I particularly look forward to him championing the cause of manufacturing in future debates in your Lordships’ House.
The Queen’s Speech stated that the Government would increase the total number of apprenticeship places to 2 million by the end of this Parliament. Provisional figures show that under the coalition there has already been a total of 1.7 million apprenticeship starts in the past four years. However, with the annual number of starts now running at half a million a year, getting from 1.7 million to the target of 2 million in the next year should not be too challenging.
That said, I welcome the cross-party consensus we now have on the need to improve vocational training and revive apprenticeships. From the 1970s, under successive Governments, traditional craft apprenticeships collapsed. When New Labour took office in 1997, the number of apprenticeship starts had fallen to only 65,000 a year. Although priority was given to boosting student numbers, the Labour Government also worked to improve vocational training including apprenticeships. By the time Labour left office in 2010, new starts had risen from 65,000 to 280,000 a year. However, the unsatisfied demand for vocational training was highlighted in a recent debate in your Lordships’ House. My noble friend Lord Layard said that in 2012-13 some 800,000 young people between 16 and 18 registered as applicants for apprenticeships and only one in seven was successful. Surely priority should be given to putting school-leavers into jobs, especially into apprenticeships.
The concern is that the coalition has for the past four years markedly increased apprenticeships but for the over-25s, in part perhaps to boost annual totals. The Local Government Association worries that more than 80% of the recent increases in apprenticeships has been in sectors generally associated with low skills while starts in key engineering sectors remain low. Indeed, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in response to the gracious Speech that hitting the 2 million target was not enough when the UK needs to double its intake of engineering apprentices to keep pace with demand.
There is real concern, too, about skills in the construction sector. Recently, a group of cross-party parliamentarians published some alarming figures in their report, No More Lost Generations: Creating Construction Jobs for Young People. The report said that this £100 billion industry would create 180,000 extra jobs and need to hire 400,000 building workers to replace those retiring over the next four years. By contrast, the number of completed apprenticeships in construction last year was 7,000. That was half the number of the year before. Can the Minister tell us if construction training will get the urgent attention it clearly needs in the last year of the coalition Government?
There is also concern about the estimated 30% of apprentices who are not paid the minimum wage to which they are entitled. The welcome news is the legislation promised in the gracious Speech to impose higher penalties on employers who fail to pay staff the minimum wage.
Since 90% of employers do not train any apprentices, popularising apprenticeships with employers is surely our biggest challenge. The Labour Party has an independent skills task force whose reports reinforce the view that employer groups must take more control over how public funding for apprenticeships is deployed and how skills standards are set. Another key taskforce recommendation is to increase further the number of higher apprenticeships with progression to degree-level status—a policy that also deserves to be embraced in cross-party consensus.
The fact that almost 50% of young people are now in higher education generally is to the credit of successive UK Governments. A challenge for schools, though, is, through better career advice and curricular reform, to make the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics—the STEM subjects—more attractive to more pupils. However, it should also be emphasised that the UK benefits greatly from the more popular subjects in the arts and humanities, which attract the talent driving the growth of our world-class creative industries. These are expanding at an encouraging rate and offer exciting career prospects. Despite that, the number of apprenticeships in arts and culture jobs seems strangely stunted. If I read the figures correctly, only 1,000 of that total of 500,000 apprenticeship starts per year are in the arts and culture subset of the creative industries. Does the Minister agree that employers in the creative sectors should, as a priority, create more apprenticeships, so that those from less privileged backgrounds can better compete with well connected graduates and those able to work on unpaid internships while also opening up entry to a range of craft roles?
Finally, it is surely regrettable that half the UK’s large companies do not offer apprenticeships. We can no doubt change that if we sustain the cross-party consensus and support for vocational training. We should also look again at the proposal that the Government use the leverage of their billions of pounds spent in public procurement of goods and services to boost apprenticeship opportunities by requiring companies bidding for larger contracts to offer apprenticeships. Regulators could also be asked to assess what scope there is to add apprenticeship training to the contractual obligations of their large companies. Does the Minister agree that that approach deserves further consideration as parties prepare their manifestos for next year’s general election?
Baroness Greengross (CB)
My Lords, as chair of the all-party group on responsible business practice, I look forward to being involved in legislation related to business and enterprise. However, today I will confine my remarks to the two Bills related to pensions. I welcome any changes designed to improve the circumstances of people in later life. However, I am not sure that these two Bills will achieve exactly what the Government want, as they are rather contradictory in their aspirations: one seeks to bring flexibility, the other certainty. It can be very difficult to provide both.
The pensions tax Bill will let older people with defined contribution pensions withdraw their savings and spend them as they wish. No one will be required to buy an annuity. We all hope that any funds so withdrawn will not be included in the means test for publicly funded care provision. Can the Minister clarify the position regarding the non-inclusion of any cash withdrawn in the care fees means test?
The private pensions Bill will encourage people into new defined ambition group schemes, where members’ contributions are pooled and, rather than any form of annuitisation, the pension will be paid as income from the collective fund. These schemes are still a long way from the defined benefit guaranteed gold standard, as the payout on retirement remains uncertain. Critics complain of a loss of control for the individual investor. Others have warned that with DA schemes the benefits of scale are rather exaggerated. What is certain is that there are no guarantees—not even the certainty of a fixed income you get with an annuity.
How does such a scheme decide how much pension to pay each member? It would be obliged to maintain records of each individual entitlement, just as it would for conventional DC schemes. I hope the Government will be able to tell us where they anticipate any DA scheme operational savings will be made. Also, how do the Government propose to ensure take-up of the DA schemes, given the support for DC schemes implicit in auto-enrolment? DA relies on scale, but achieving scale may be challenging, given that DC schemes are now the main vehicle for the occupational pensions market. Who will provide the DA schemes? Perhaps we can also learn about that from the Government.
Bearing in mind the low level of financial capability in the UK, many commentators might argue that, for individuals to benefit from these new freedoms and minimise their exposure to risk, the degree of advice surrounding DA and DC schemes and pension fund transactions may need to be very extensive. If the Government agree, do they have any proposals as to who will provide and pay for such provision?
On this contradictory point, and underpinning the major emphasis on DC schemes, under the pensions tax Bill the Government want pension savers to have unrestricted access to the money in their DC schemes. This could not work with defined ambition pooled funds because no set sum of money is assigned to each member, who has no personal pot. Can the Minister clarify remarks attributed to the Government which imply that significant cash sums can indeed be withdrawn from DA schemes?
Finally, there is no mention of the coherence of DA schemes with care fees funding, which is very important, and the absence of a personal pot could make such compatibility difficult to achieve. How are the Government going to achieve that compatibility? I hope that the Minister can enlighten us.
Baroness Hollis of Heigham (Lab)
My Lords, the Queen’s Speech promises Bills on pensions and on zero-hours contracts, or ZHCs. With regard to pensions, I favour a lifetime savings account, combining ISAs and pensions. Many people want and need some limited early access to their savings—a 25% slice perhaps, equivalent to the tax-free lump sum—for divorce, disability or debt. However, in my view, allowing full access at 55 is not about pensions but about easy wins for HMT. Why? As the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, said, proceeds are taxed as income. The standard rate taxpayer with an annuitised £100,000 pot may pay no tax in retirement, but cashing it in he donates £30,000 to HMT. That is justified as the right to do what you want with your own money—making a donation to the Treasury.
Yet we have just abolished the identical right of someone who deferred their state pension for two years to take it as a lump sum of £14,000. Now, they can take it only as an annuitised addition to their state pension, and that was justified because people could not be trusted with their own money. What is the real reason? HMT has paid out that £14,000 lump sum up front but it no longer has to.
With a private pension, you are trusted and HMT gets the extra income tax; with a state pension, you are not trusted and HMT keeps the extra money following the abolition of the up-front lump sum. I suggest that that has nothing to do with pensions policy but everything to do with short-term and, in my view, cynical gains for HMT.
More generally, however, the Queen’s Speech poses wider questions of how we harmonise a flexible labour market with an inflexible social security system. The daughter of a good friend works for McDonald’s. She does not know until the previous Friday what her hours on Monday may be. She cannot plan her life, budget or study, and she cannot in practice take a second job. She cannot rent a flat as she has no reliable income and she cannot plan childcare. She is on a zero-hours contract. A call centre worker told Unite that she has worked for a multinational firm for five years. Her hours range from 48 to 0. She worries,
“whether I will be able to pay the rent and put food on the table”.
She is paid nothing while she waits for the phone to ring. She is on a ZHC. A cinema attendant works 30 hours one week, 10 the next. She, too, is on a ZHC.
In a 24/7 economy, we need people working non-standard hours: shift work, agency jobs and part-time jobs. The flexibility suits both employer and employee. However, what are new and too often exploitative are zero-hours contracts—those ZHCs that guarantee no hours and no income. As my noble friend Lady Drake said, the ONS calculates that 1.4 million or even 2 million workers in cleaning, retail, fast food, hotel work, domiciliary care, construction, call centres and customer service are on ZHCs, often at or around the minimum wage. More than half earn less than £500 a month—below the NI level—with no right to a state pension, or their employer avoids paying his NI. These are not entry-level jobs—two-thirds of the people who hold them are over 25—and they do not lead to better jobs. Half stay for two years or more and more than a quarter stay for five years or more. They are low skilled, low paid and dead end, and 75% find that their hours vary every week. Two-fifths of ZHC staff—40%—are not allowed to work for anyone else. They are on call and unpaid until required at perhaps one hour’s notice. Labour—that is, people; my friend’s daughter—is hoarded, not used or employed, so not paid. A sort of just-in-time stock control is applied not only to tinned tomatoes but to staff as well.
Inevitably, debt smooths their income. The Resolution Foundation reports that 870,000 households are spending more than half of their disposable budgets on debt repayment. Three and a half million are spending more than a quarter of theirs. When interest rates rise those numbers will soar. Social security is 15 years behind the new labour market. It assumes you are in work or not—either/or.
The lone parent on a ZHC who works for Boots, Cineworld, Sports Direct or Burger King may in a month work for 20 hours in her first week, 15 in her second, 10 in her third and 22 in the final week. In weeks one and four she will get working tax credit—WTC—to top up her wages; in the middle weeks, working for fewer than 16 hours, she may get JSA. Each week she has different earnings to report to HMT for her WTC and to DWP for her JSA. Benefits are, of course, paid in arrears, so the money does not come when she actually needs it. Each month she has different earnings to report to her council for her housing benefit and for her council tax reduction. Those take weeks to process and payments are made in arrears. Her rent arrears grow and her fear of eviction deepens.
It gets worse. If she works for one of the 40% of exclusive employers who tie her into working only for them, she may that week get six hours pay from him, but cannot work in any other job and cannot get JSA either as she does not meet work conditionality. What does she live on? More debt. She is carrying all the risks of the flexible labour market without a social security system able to help her and to underpin it. It is a nail-biting struggle that we should not ask of her. Understandably many lone parents prefer the security of a low but reliable benefit income to the snakes and ladders—mainly snakes—of ZHCs.
In a 24/7 economy we need a flexible labour market, but fluctuating demand, according to the Pickavance report, can be largely predicted. Why does Lloyds apparently need ZHCs but not Barclays? Why Boots but not Marks & Spencer? Why Sports Direct but not Halfords? Why Cineworld, I am told, but not Center Parcs? Why McDonald’s and Burger King but not Pret a Manger?
Leaving aside the need for occasional cover, or in arts or education, permanent ZHCs are lazy management at best and exploitative management at worst. How then can an inflexible social security system support this flexible labour market? To put it another way, how can we use social security to de-risk the dangers and difficulties of this just-in-time labour market to suppress its snakes and strengthen its ladders? UC which integrates in and out-of-work benefit could and should help. It has real-time information and is owned by just one department. But it will not de-risk this labour market as it should unless it changes its processes. Why not? UC pays a month in arrears. The Minister says that is to prepare people for the real world of work—steady, monthly paid jobs. I wish. Twenty-seven per cent of the jobs advertised in Jobcentre Plus offices are for ZHCs.
UC must, on request, therefore pay fortnightly, otherwise she will always be needing loans to smooth her income in the middle of the month. Currently, if she refuses a ZHC she may be leaned on but not officially sanctioned. Under UC, she will be sanctioned if she refuses. Yet a ZHC with unpredictable hours cannot allow her to sustain childcare arrangements as the child carer, in turn, cannot afford unreliable income either. It is like dominoes tumbling. No sanctions should happen.
UC pays HB to the tenant. It must, on request, be paid direct to the landlord, otherwise delays caused by constant changing of claims lead her to arrears and risk of eviction. Council tax reductions must be brought into UC to reduce parallel means testing.
UC is digital. Many in your Lordships’ House do not even want that to pay utilities. Her entire income will depend on her not making any mistakes in assessments which vary in almost every respect every week. Forty per cent of tenants affected by welfare reform have no access to the internet. How can she be sure she gets it right? I know I could not. There has to be parallel paper systems until the computer is secure and digital is inclusive. DWP has ditched the Social Fund. It must expand to offer budgetary loans for safer credit.
The flexible labour market is here to stay and we, as customers and consumers, want it. However, none of us wants a low pay, low skills, low productivity economy—and yet that is what ZHCs’ fluctuating hours and earnings offer and what social security finds so difficult to support. Unless we eradicate the abuses of ZHCs and reform the processes of UC, unless we read across and work across the shared landscape of BIS and DWP, we will still be making the call centre worker, the McDonald’s cook, the domiciliary care worker carry all the risks of both the flexible labour market and an inflexible benefits system so that we can enjoy their services. BIS and DWP have to get their act together. They are not doing so and your Lordships must help to ensure that they do.
Lord Patten (Con)
My Lords, sometimes the socially and economically desirable clash head on with the environmentally undesirable. Today’s debate links business and the environment, explicitly and implicitly, whose activities are intertwined with and crystallised by the effects of housebuilding or, for that matter, road and rail building. This is because such construction activity is, by definition, indelible; it is pretty irreversible in most cases. By comparison, some changes in the natural world as opposed to the built world are reversible—happily, as we now see, for example, in the population explosion of the otter, once thought 50 years ago in the United Kingdom to be heading straight for extinction. Once built, however, changes to urban and rural land are permanent. I can think of very few examples in which the clock has been turned back to some silvan or rural idyll, outside of the airfields of East Anglia where the nissen huts have vanished and the concrete airstrips have reverted to the ploughland of pre-World War II times.
One of the ways that more housing, more building, will be made more acceptable—this is a great political challenge for the age—and less prone to protest and thus delay, is if those concerned with the social need for more roofs over heads and the economic need for more growth contributed to by the building industry pause to reflect that these rightful ends make indelible marks on the landscape of our country—“No turning back”, to borrow a phrase. It is critical, therefore, that the irreversible is well designed, well landscaped and well lit in the interests of those who are to live there and of those who live nearby and perhaps have a new housing estate in their view. It should also, for example, inform the mind of a passing motorist, whose rapid glance produces a “Dearie me, look at those brick boxes—that blot on the landscape over there” reaction.
The reverse should be the case in order to promote a new consensus that new housing is needed just as much on some greenfield sites as on some brownfield sites. Good design is not a matter for limp-wristed aesthetes but a matter for political concern. It is practical politics, as we are going to find in the run-up to the next election. It is a vacuous cop-out by those who—like me, I have to admit—wish to see brownfield built on first, and greenfield sites only when necessary, to say that everything will be solved if only all new housing is on brownfield sites. We see this most tellingly when we look at the new building that surrounds us in the capital, which is going so slowly, in an area where brownfield or renewal and rebuilding are the only options. That is the case for London itself, but certainly not for the rest of the country.
Land is owned by central government—noble Lords will know the old refrain—and by the NHS and local government that is at least brownish-tinged and could be built on. There is a mass of sites that must be called brownfield in other forms of ownership. However, I have absolutely no idea, as there is an information blackout, of exactly how much brownfield land there is in this country. The debate on “brownfield building” would be so much better informed and so much more realistic if we had, à la William the Conqueror, a Domesday Book of brownfield land. I do not know whether that exists in some ministerial cupboard or other, but if the Minister responding to the debate—my noble friend Lord Freud—has any idea of the amount of such land, and whether there is a definitive map of it, might he kindly let your Lordships know? It would better inform our debates and, unless we have it, nimbyish arguments about there being no need to build on greenfield sites because there is so much brownfield land will continue to dominate the debate. That said, because of such arguments and the need to build more houses—which I of course recognise—I strongly support proposals in the new Infrastructure Bill contained in the gracious Speech to end the unfortunate delays caused by local authorities blocking progress on projects already granted planning permission.
However, the argument about building seems to be a competitive bidding war now between the major political parties. My own has made a pledge to have so many more houses built as soon as possible. The noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, in her feisty speech, gave a clear commitment to see that 200,000 houses a year will be built by 2020 if there were a Liberal Government—
Lord Patten
A Labour Government. That was a deliberate mistake—you never know how these coalitions will be formed. As for their possible coalition partner, the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham of Droxford, did not give quite such a ringing endorsement of his leader’s new pledge yesterday that 300,000 houses would be built per year. What fun it will be in Liberal party meetings when they discuss the implications of, “Vote Liberal, vote concrete”. I am sure that shortly after that has sunk in, we will see our fun-filled Nigel Farage produce a pledge of probably 500,000 a year. We are all in this together.
The noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, who is not in the Chamber at the moment, called for a new consensus on getting more people into higher forms of apprenticeship. I agree with him entirely. Equally, I think that we all have to speak honestly and outwardly about the effects that new building can have and about our determination to have new-build houses and flats of a high quality. I am afraid to say that sometimes the quality is very poor. It is legendary in my area of the south-west. In a housing estate that has just sprung up quite close to me, one of the new house owners put a three-pin plug into a socket and nothing happened. She asked the builder, who came round to the freshly built and quite expensive house and said, “We seem to have forgotten to put any wires up to the socket” into which the plug went.
I also think that builders themselves sometimes pay scant attention, and local authorities even less, to high-quality design. It tends to be the rolling out, in this housing bonanza that we have, of four or five different sorts of houses, which they stick a porch on the front of—if it is in a half-timbered area, the porch is half-timbered; if it is in a stone area, it is built in stone; and if it is in a plaster area, it is covered in plastering—but we get the same low-quality, very often cramped housing across the land. I remember someone in the building industry telling me some years ago, “One of the best ways, son, to sell a house is to make quite sure that in your show house you take all the doors off inside so it looks much bigger”. The dimensions, we have to say, are rather limited.
None of us in the political world, including my noble friends in government, can get away from the fact that we need to use our bully pulpit to promote among the building industry and others involved the need to build the sorts of houses that improve the landscape and do not diminish landscape quality. The newly built can be landscape enhancing, not destroying, as it all too often is, whether it is on a brownfield or greenfield site.
In his introductory speech, my noble friend Lord Livingston of Parkhead, when referring to the role of government in job creation, said quite rightly that it is not the state’s task to create new jobs; it is the state’s task to provide the framework and the environment in which more jobs are created. I urge my noble friends and noble Lords in all the other political parties represented here to be absolutely clear that one of the critical ways of persuading people to accept new housing is if it is well built, environmentally responsible and nothing more than that.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, it is one of the essential roles of any Government to ensure that the conditions are right not just for economic growth but for economic growth that is sustainable, long-term and provides high-quality jobs for as many as possible. This requires the Government to invest in infrastructure, whether concrete or intangible, because much of that infrastructure would simply not be built if it were not for government investment. Other agents lack either the financial clout or the incentives to ensure that this infrastructure is in place.
The Infrastructure Bill announced by Her Majesty deals in part with one such major project, the second phase of high-speed rail, but as the UK increasingly becomes a knowledge economy, the infrastructure we need is not just rail, bricks and mortar but world-leading research facilities to conduct basic research and conditions to support the conversion of that research into innovative projects and businesses.
I want to talk about the research base but first, in declaring an interest as a non-executive director of the Pension Protection Fund, I want to make a brief comment about pensions and about stable long-term funding. Pension funds and other long-term institutional investors represent a potentially major source of long-term funding for illiquid assets such as infrastructure. Indeed, the Government have supported initiatives such as the Pensions Infrastructure Platform. However, recent OECD survey results show that there is still a low level of investment in infrastructure, which can only mean that there are considerable barriers and disincentives that limit such investments. There is an opportunity with the Infrastructure Bill to remove some of those challenges and I hope that the Government will do so to make Britain a world leader in this area.
The strength of our science and research base has been responsible for so much of our economic success as a country. In a globalised labour market, a research sector that maintains that strength is surely an essential element of an economy that grows sustainably and provides high-quality jobs. It is essential that the Government bolster that research strength, particularly to provide the infrastructure on which it relies: laboratories and other research facilities, which only government funding can support. They must also ensure that the conditions are right for businesses and universities to collaborate effectively so that the research can benefit the economy as a whole.
We start from a position of strength. The UK is one of the world’s top research nations, second only to the USA on most measures. But although we are rated second in terms of output, when ranked on level of investment we fall to 21st in the world. I hope that the Minister took note of the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, about Germany’s greater investment in R&D, and I congratulate the noble Lord on an inspiring and wonderfully robust maiden speech.
The Government have made a welcome commitment to an increase in capital spending of just over £1 billion per year for each of the next five years. If well directed, it will make an important contribution towards ensuring that we have the research infrastructure necessary for the decades ahead.
The critical matter now is to ensure that it is well directed. On this point, I suggest that the Haldane principle is still a good one: in other words, that the academic community is best placed to make decisions about research priorities and funding. That means that the Government and Ministers should resist the temptation to fund eye-catching announcements of large-scale trophy projects at the expense of ensuring the quality of our broader research infrastructure.
Indeed, investment in large-scale projects should be modelled on the Crick Institute: targeted, strategic initiatives that add value to the research base but do not divert resources away from wider investment. It is essential that government funds are used to ensure that our wider research infrastructure is up to scratch, because although universities have become increasingly adept at working with charities and businesses to fund research, that is often not an option for capital spending. Quite reasonably, most charities or businesses want to ensure that they get as much for their money as possible. They want to be sure that it is not being spent on merely maintaining the research infrastructure but is directly contributing to research that otherwise would not occur.
The higher education innovation fund, or HEIF, supports universities in working with businesses—in particular, SMEs. That funding leverages additional resources. The Government have recognised that for every pound spent via HEIF, about £6.30 is generated in total. Just as importantly, businesses benefit from their knowledge exchange activities with universities as a result of that funding. That facilitates the development of exactly the kind of innovative products and businesses that will help the UK to compete in future.
The Minister kindly wrote to me when I last talked about HEIF in this House, but only to communicate the decision that HEIF funding would not be increased—despite recommendations in Andrew Witty’s report that the Government should do exactly that. That is short-sighted, and I hope that it will be reconsidered. Whether that happens or not, there is an urgent need for a commitment to the long-term security of the hypothecated HEIF funding stream for, say, at least three to four years, so that universities do not now need to dismantle the infrastructure that they have built, which has delivered substantial economic benefit. I urge the Government to give that commitment today.
Universities are a major UK industry in their own right, directly and indirectly providing employment for more than 600,000 people. Much of that employment relies on the fact that international students can study at our universities. With the public concerned about the level of immigration and its effects on the country, fuelled by UKIP’s rhetoric, it is understandable that the Government are looking at ways of addressing it.
However, let us remember that the largest group of those entering the UK—and also the largest group leaving again—are the students who have come to study at our universities and colleges and, in doing so, support a world-leading export industry. Not only are international students a particularly attractive category of migrant in economic, social and cultural terms, they are also a category of migrant that the public is not generally concerned or alarmed about.
The Prime Minister has a particular responsibility to speak up much more forcefully and show that the UK welcomes well qualified students. The continued ability of our universities to recruit international students, with all the benefits that they bring, must not be sacrificed in an attempt to satisfy a public concern that, in the case of student migrants, does not exist. I therefore hope that the Government will relent, after all the arguments in your Lordships’ House, and at least remove students from the net migration target.
Finally, on the new pensions proposals, I echo the words of so many other commentators and Members of this House: without access to good advice, there can be a real risk of mis-selling or some of the other mistakes of the past being repeated. I welcome innovation to improve pensions outcomes. I am aware that the Minister has been looking at models in the Netherlands and Denmark. Scheme members will need a clear insight into what they are signing up to and, specifically, what guarantees and protections they can expect at the end of their working life. When considering what kind of protection regime is suitable for this new structure, I urge the Government to discuss it not only with the industry but with all those concerned, including the PPF and the Pensions Regulator.
Lord Addington (LD)
My Lords, in a long debate such as this, covering so many subjects, it is probably reassuring if you are the first person to raise a particular area. Before I start this speech, I have one or two interests to declare because I shall talk about the changes to the disabled students allowance proposed by the Minister, David Willetts. I have already raised this once but I think I might have to raise it again, or indeed repeatedly over the next few months, because whenever a Minister grabs at something and says, “We’ll change it”, but has clearly not been that well briefed they will get themselves into a bit of trouble. We have a situation where dyslexics or people with specific learning difficulty—I repeat that I have never been a person with specific learning difficulty but am somebody who is dyslexic, as I do not know why we use four words when one will do, even if it is a long one—get a specific mention here, as we did in the Written Statement that came out.
It is true that this fund has expanded dramatically over the years and has not been reformed since it was created in 1990. However, I find it very worrying to be suddenly stating that we are to get rid of lots of it and make lots of savings, when one clearly does not have a hold of its real function or how it works. That is what has happened here. The first interest, which I should put on the record straightaway, is that I am chairman of a company called Microlink, which was one of the first companies to deal with this back in 1990, if not the first. However, I am not totally against any form of change in this field. I can safely say that this is an increasingly small part of that company’s activity; indeed, we would quite happily get rid of it because what we have left has been loss-making in the past couple of years. There is a degree of knowledge there not wedded to the current system.
We have been taking on dyslexics, who are the biggest disability group in the country. They are 10% of the population, to use our definition, but 20% if you use the American one. They are one in five in the United States. It is stated that this group has expanded and is using a computer as standard to get hold of this technology, which will now run on a standard computer, and that everybody has a computer. Just to pull that apart, it is true that access to the software is the vital bit. Without a computer that functions and can handle that software, you do not have access to the software so you cannot use it. The voice-to-text or text-to-voice technology does not work unless the computer gets down there. People will tell you that it is just about okay. We have all had a computer that can just about handle the program—until it gets a bug or is a little old, or a little overloaded with its memory going down. If the software you are using is slightly updated, it is incompatible. You must have something reliable to get the benefit out of it. I do not think there is any great rocket science involved in that; it is just the way it is.
Now we are being told that the universities will provide the software and support, and that if you cannot afford to have that computer there will be other funds, such as hardship funds or bursaries and so on, to meet it. However, those hardship funds or bursaries were not created for this and do not have the capacity. If you meet this cost here, you will inconvenience somebody else. It is true that it has expanded in size and has greater recognition, and that there is waste in it. There is the fact that you get X number of hours of non-medical help, if I remember the term correctly, given to you. If the computer works for a dyslexic properly—let us stick to “dyslexics”—they probably do not need 30 hours a year of extra support, as they might have had in 1990 from an amanuensis acting to get them through, because the computer does it for them. There could have been a change there.
Regarding the assessments, which are expensive and take time, if you have identified somebody in the school system whose brain will not radically change between, let us say, the ages of seven and 19, they will still be dyslexic. They will have learning strategies in place and will presumably have learnt to cope, if they have got through, so they do not need another assessment. However, you do under the current system so changes could be made. Something has to be done to allow these students to access the system. Why? Because if you do not, people will fail or underachieve—or, if they succeed, do so at an immensely high personal cost.
It may be morally wonderful to say to somebody, “You worked twice as hard to get your degree”. I do not think that is in the spirit of the Equality Act or the Disability Discrimination Act in front of me. Why should a person have to flog themselves half to death to get through? Why should they take a greater risk of underachieving or failing? Underachieving at university is probably the great one as if you are two grades down, you miss all the jobs that you are supposed to get afterwards. Does a bad degree qualify you for as much as having done another course? I doubt it, so how are we to make sure that that level of access is provided?
There is considerable room for reform and change in this field but just picking on the computer is ridiculous, as it is about 5% of the total cost but the thing that can guarantee that the technical aspect comes through. It is possibly less than 5%, according to the figures that I have. Other forms of help could be looked at more but please can we rethink this to make sure that the technical assistance that goes through can be used? That applies to all disabilities that use technical aids and assistance. If we cannot get that through, we will be getting people who will not achieve and who, under those circumstances, would not get there when they probably should.
Just to put the cherry on the cake, your Lordships will of course realise that other departments, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, do give assistance with similar types of technology and access to work. So there is school and access to work but the bit in the middle that links it all together is to be changed and probably removed from people. Please can we get some coherence going through this system? It is not too late to change it and get something coherent but it will have to be fairly soon so as to be ready for the 2015 intake. Can we have another look at this? If we do not, we will end up getting people half way through but dropping out or underachieving. This will basically mean saving a little here and wasting a lot somewhere else.
The Lord Bishop of Durham (Maiden Speech)
My Lords, I begin by thanking your Lordships for the way in which I have been welcomed and supported as I have entered this noble House. That support has been full of wisdom, including guiding this Bishop as to how to kneel correctly during Prayers, for which I was extremely grateful.
I am told that I am a rare breed; I am twice summonsed to this House. Last autumn, I was still serving as the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham when I received my summons to enter this House. However, it was just before Christmas and I had stopped actively working in Southwell and Nottingham. By a bit of devious working of my diary and guidance from certain staff in this place, we worked out that I could not accept the summons. I had to leave on 20 January, when I was elected and formally confirmed as the Bishop of Durham.
Now I am here as the Bishop of Durham and I serve a wonderful area, from the Tyne in the north to the Tees in the south. We have the wonderful Teesdale and Weardale in the west and beautiful coastline in the east—at least, it is beautiful now that the coal dust has been cleaned up. We have the brilliance of Durham city with what is—in Bill Bryson’s words, not mine—the world’s finest cathedral. It is a wonderful area in which to serve and I am proud to do so. However, I have to add that 30% of the parishes in which I serve are among the 10% most deprived parishes in England. That is the level of poverty which we also have to tackle in the north-east. I am the 74th Bishop of Durham, and I am very grateful to my friend the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury for being here today.
One of the proudest days of my life happened in the summer of 1977. It was my graduation day from Nottingham University, where I studied English and history. It was not my graduation that I want to point out, though, but my granddad, Granddad Giddy. After the ceremony, he took hold of my mortar board, put it on his head, took my certificate in his hand and pointed to it, saying to me quietly with a tear in his eye, not something that my granddad did very often, “This is why I left Cornwall when I was 17 years old. I left for a better life, not for myself but for my wife, my children and my grandchildren”. I was the first person in my family ever to go to university and get a degree, and this was the fulfilment of my granddad’s hopes and aspirations. It was not a question of what he had achieved in the Metropolitan Police, which he had joined because he believed in public service and serving the common good and in which he had risen to the level of superintendent; no, it was about the wider family and the common good that he was most concerned.
When I talk to young people in the north-east now, I am both inspired and deeply concerned. The vast bulk of children and young people in this country are fantastic; they are brilliant, they work hard, they want to achieve and are polite and engaging. It is a very small number who cause us slight anxiety. However, young people in schools and colleges tell me of their concern that they will never work, or certainly that they will never get work that they believe is fulfilling or is in the area where they want to work. They see their older siblings and friends not finding meaningful work that they really want to pursue. That concerns me deeply. Some have lost all hope and aspiration long before the end of school, and certainly before the end of college or university. They have been told that their value and contribution to the world is in work and their economic contribution. They have been told a lie. Their worth and contribution is in being great human beings, which is not necessarily always worked out in paid employment. We have to help our young people to understand their true value as human beings first and foremost—but yes, we have to help them to find good, meaningful work.
The noble Lord, Lord Bamford, made excellent points in his maiden speech about manufacturing. The north-east makes a massively significant contribution to the life of this nation: £14 billion-worth of exports every year. We are the only region with a positive balance of trade in the export market. Yet I regularly hear people in business, local government and local communities say that they feel not listened to or even forgotten. There is great news on employment: Nissan continues to be hugely significant for Sunderland and the region; we are the world leaders in the developing sub-sea exploration sector; Hitachi’s new train production factory is bringing new jobs; Rolls-Royce has just opened something; and there are other signs of hope. Proposals around apprenticeships and encouraging small and medium-sized businesses are hugely welcome. So, too, is the proposal to be tougher on firms not paying the minimum wage. However, there is much concern in my region that apprenticeships are established in a way that ensures they really do turn into long-term jobs. Small and medium-sized businesses, often family ones, need greater encouragement to take the leap of taking on apprentices, for it is this sector that is really going to create the new jobs that we need.
While the minimum wage proposals are welcome, I hope that in the longer term more serious consideration will be given to implementing the living wage. It was my privilege to announce the new national living wage in Nottingham last autumn. I look forward to the forthcoming report of the Living Wage Commission, and I hope that it will be taken deeply seriously. Assisting people to move away from welfare dependency, which must be a laudable aim, would be greatly helped by ensuring that decent wages were paid to all and by continually helping with the creation of new jobs in every part of this nation.
I have a passionate concern for children and young people; I have had a lifelong engagement with them as a volunteer and now in my calling. I serve as the bishops’ advocate for children and as co-chair of the Church of England and Methodist safeguarding work. I also serve as a patron of the Prince of Wales’s Step Up to Serve campaign, encouraging young people into volunteering. My safeguarding role means that I take a very close interest in all matters relating to safeguarding and child welfare. This work is challenging for us all, and within the church we continue to have to face up to not only our current responsibilities but, in some areas, our serious past failures. It is very uncomfortable work. I welcome the proposals in the Serious Crime Bill to tackle the question of the systematic emotional abuse of children. The impact is horrendous, and I promise to work hard on this. I am grateful that the Government have had the courage in the gracious Speech to tackle this issue at last.
Before concluding, I would fail to introduce myself properly if I did not refer to my engagement in the wider world through the Scripture Union and the Church Mission Society, my time as a vicar in east London and as Bishop of Southampton, of Southwell and Nottingham and now of Durham. I have had the particular privilege of visiting many countries but particularly Rwanda and Burundi. In Rwanda, memorably, there were no plastic carrier bags anywhere; it has banned them completely. They even take them off you as you enter the country.
I have learnt a great deal from Christian Aid and others about working in the aid field. Last summer I was privileged to take three Members of the other place on a visit to those two nations. We learnt a great deal about each other, I can tell you. What impressed us most was local communities taking responsibility for themselves, working hard on reconciliation at every level and seeking to build a better future from the bottom up, not waiting for people to do it from the top down. We have a great deal to learn from the poorest nations of the world.
I look forward to serving with your Lordships in the work of this House. From the person doing their shopping stopping me in the street to local community and local government leaders, head teachers, principals of colleges, university vice-chancellors and key business people all across my diocese, I have been given a very clear message about my role in this House: “Bishop”, they all say, “speak up for us here in the north-east. You can speak up for us in a way that very few can. Please try to help them in Parliament to listen to all the good things in the north-east, and to hear our needs”. They expect me to speak for the whole community, and that is what I will seek to do.
Lord Bhattacharyya (Lab)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to have heard the outstanding speech by the noble Lord, Lord Bamford. It is an even greater pleasure to follow the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham. On his arrival in Durham, he made it a priority to take the church’s message into the most difficult, challenging and inaccessible places. No wonder, then, that he has arrived in your Lordships’ House.
The right reverend Prelate’s history of ministry in our inner cities and deprived communities, his desire to speak for his new home county and his passion for Africa, particularly for Rwanda, remind us of the great value that religion can bring to our public debates. Perhaps his desire to spread the good news explains why he maintains both a blog and a Twitter account, bringing the message of the church into the most virtual, though perhaps not the most ethereal, of spaces. Indeed, it was thanks to his Twitter account that I learned that he was a fan of “Strictly Come Dancing”, and that today he was nearly kept from this debate by a delayed train—another reminder of the need to invest in our national infrastructure. Durham Cathedral is famously,
“Half church of God, half castle ’gainst the Scot”.
Whatever happens in Scotland this year, I am sure that he will focus on the first description, not the second.
The right reverend Prelate’s maiden speech was a fine example of a great tradition with a modern emphasis; the gracious Speech itself was also a fine example of tradition. After all, there is no political tradition greater than a Prime Minister seeking to win an election. I do not judge the speech drafters of Downing Street harshly for this. After all, it is hardly a trait limited to one party. It does pose a challenge, however. How do we debate in a non-partisan way a speech developed more for electoral success than for legislative purpose?
I would like to suggest one or two areas where we might scrutinise the Government’s progress against the ambitions set out in the gracious Speech. First, there is the pledge of 2 million apprenticeships by the end of this Parliament. Declaring my interest as both a former apprentice and the chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group at a Russell group university, the University of Warwick, I can assure your Lordships that big, round numbers are not what we should focus on. For example, we should not be increasing the number of apprenticeships for those over 25, who are already in work, which is where the growth has been over the past few years. Such people are rarely learning a new trade but are simply getting on-the-job training paid for by the state. That is not apprenticeship. Nor should we see apprentices as a way of keeping the unemployment statistics down.
Rather, our objective should be delivering a better skill base for the British economy, just like the German economy. For this, the total number of apprentices matters little, but the quality of skills training each apprentice receives matters a great deal. The truth is that this can vary widely. Young people know this, which is why the best apprenticeships are massively over- subscribed. To improve our skill base, we need better vocational and technical education for school and college leavers and a better integration—that is very important—of higher and technical education, even if that means a smaller overall total of apprenticeships. The Government made a worthwhile step forward here in the Budget by expanding the apprenticeship grant for small businesses for 16 to 24 year-olds.
However, a renewed focus on quantity may lead funding bodies to neglect the importance of quality. It would be better to get our best institutions involved in delivering vocational education. That is why I decided at Warwick that I would set up a university technology college, which was also sponsored by the noble Lord, Lord Baker. We take these people, get them into the automotive sector, because it is designed for the automotive sector only, and while they are getting their higher apprenticeships in the company, we, in a Russell group university, get them into part-time graduate education so that they have a career from school to there. I learnt this entirely from a very big German car company which shall remain nameless. That is what it does because the skills it requires are what make Germany what it is today. We do not have that.
The second area where we should monitor the Government’s progress is how their plans to deliver growth over the long term might conflict with restraining the booming London property market. With property prices up nearly 9% this year, we already hear calls for higher interest rates. The noble Lord, Lord Livingston, is working flat out to help British exports, and I wish him well. However, higher sterling makes his life much harder by sending a chill through our manufacturing sector, just as it finally begins to show signs of vigour. For a British manufacturer in the automotive sector—the biggest in this country—exporting finished goods to fast-growing markets, for every £1 billion of export revenue, a 10% appreciation of the pound reduces income by £100 million. That damages profitability and competitiveness in markets such as China and the US, which have both seen sterling appreciate by more than 12% this year. This reduces the amount that is available to be invested in the UK.
Of course, people tell me that international businesses can mitigate this by sourcing supplies and materials overseas, but that reduces investment in the UK. I have helped bring many industrial investors to Britain, and the largest are here. I know how rising sterling makes the UK a less attractive place to invest, especially when coupled with a long-standing lack of skills. For smaller businesses, too, higher rates and higher sterling limit their ability to invest in the future, leading to a worsening of the British disease, an economy with low business investment. Some people talk about productivity. People do not understand that unless you invest you cannot increase productivity. It cannot be done by workers working harder or more. You have to have the technology to get the productivity up, and if you cannot get that, your productivity will never go up.
These are not partisan points. Indeed, I think the agenda to deal with this is shared right across the House. Ahead of potential rate rises, the Government must press ahead with their plans to support manufacturers and exporters by investing in developing skills. They must make progress on their ambitions for deregulation and deliver on their promises for lending through an expanded British Business Bank, which we have talked about in this House for the past five years. This would represent an excellent programme of scrutiny for the final year of this Parliament. It would not be partisan or electorally divisive but would represent a common agenda for a long-term economy. If a gracious Speech about plastic bags tells us anything, it is that there is little else to occupy us. This would be a worthy programme of work. Surely, on this issue, we can all be in it together.
Lord Plumb (Con)
My Lords, we have been extremely fortunate to hear two of the most outstanding maiden speeches ever heard in this House. Of course, they varied in their content. Noble Lords will not be surprised that I want to relate my remarks on the gracious Speech to the role of agriculture and the food, forestry, farming and fracking industries in the economy of the United Kingdom—a kingdom which I hope will stay united.
There are those among us who are well qualified to talk of industrial growth. We had a very fine example of that this afternoon; I used Bamford haymaking machinery before my noble friend Lord Bamford was born. That is where it all started, as he told us as an engineer. It just proves what can happen and what can develop from those very early stages.
Many might say that in the interests of economic growth agriculture does not even appear on their radar. Let me disabuse them. First, I shall give some potted history. There is a farmers’ club in this Parliament, with joint membership from both Houses. It was created in 1795. In the early 19th century, British agriculture was 2.5 times more productive than that of France, and in 1851 agriculture accounted for 20% of national income. Now it is much less than 7%, but everything is relative.
In the first speech I heard Churchill make, many years ago, he said that,
“30 million people, all living on an island where we produce enough food for say 15 million, is a spectacle of majesty and insecurity this country can ill afford”.
We now produce enough for 30 million, but that is of course less than half of the population. In 2014, we are therefore facing an ever-growing population and our priority must be food security. We need, as we have heard, land for housing and various forms of development, but we need to maintain the beauty of the countryside; we have heard about that in areas such as Durham. It is a difficult balance. There are so many pressures for land. It is becoming so expensive—because they are not making any more.
From that work-bench, which we need to produce food, agriculture’s contribution to the economy increased by a staggering 54% between 2007 and 2012. It held up well during the recession, and increased the value of output from £16 billion to £24 billion during that period. It is obviously the foundation stone for the food and drink industry, with an equivalent of £96 billion and 7.3% of GVA of the United Kingdom economy. Food and farming as a business provides 3.7 million jobs. Add the production of energy and forestry, the work at universities and colleges and thousands of research workers, and that makes it by far the largest industry in the country. For every £1 farming contributes to the economy, food manufacturers contribute a further £5. It is the fourth largest exporting sector, which grew by 5% to £12.8 billion last year. The downside is that we are still slaughtering 90 cattle every day—every day—which react to the bovine TB test.
The dairy trade shows an incredible deficit of £1.27 billion, and in 2013 we imported £40 billion-worth of food and drink overall and exported only around £19 billion, so there is work to be done. That seems crazy economics when we have such potential growth in food production in this country. Many were shocked at the degree of food waste shown so clearly in the report of the sub-committee chaired by my noble friend Lady Scott, which I hope this House will debate in the not-too-distant future.
Today, more farmers and growers are using wind, the sun, farmed by-products and energy crops to produce clean low-carbon energy. A number of farm-based renewables provide electricity for home farm use and supply electricity for local businesses and homes in rural areas. It is estimated that climate-friendly energy produced on farms could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 million tonnes of CO2 by 2020. Agriculture could be the source of more than one quarter of national renewable energy needs. Biogas digesters, wind turbines, solar roofs and fields and biomass boilers are all becoming a commonplace part of the future of the economy, so farming is now a modern industry facing a future of competition and, I hope, closing the gap on imports.
As I think everybody recognises, however, the future depends to a large extent on research. We are only starting to regain our world leadership in food research but, if we can build a car with robotics, picking strawberries or an iceberg lettuce is not beyond the realms of robotic possibilities. Robotic milking plants are increasing, with both man and cow satisfaction, and at least 70% of new farm equipment has some sort of precision farming component. Sat-nav tractors are commonplace, the state-of-the-art combine harvesters have up to eight computers and new technologies are continually delivering cost-effective spraying and fertilising equipment. New technologies will help to improve yields, reduce costs and protect the environment. Sustainable intensification is always dependent on innovation.
Much of the present farming community has the necessary skills, particularly the young farmers who believe that there is a great future in British agriculture and are keen to follow the motto of “practice with science”. I have seen much of this recently. It is still imperative, however, to protect the health and welfare of plants and animals. Excellent work by various organisations continues in our woodlands and forests, for which we should thank Defra and woodland interests.
It is a continuing struggle, particularly after the difficulties of last year with floods in various areas, to control the weeds that are beginning to show this year. The Minister will realise, and I am sure will advise the Government, that we must protect and preserve the work-bench—our land—which can be flooded or suffer from drought, as we witnessed in recent times; but the business of food production is long-term and we must prepare to play our part in feeding a hungry world. Future changes must relate more to growth. We need greater simplification of rules and regulations. We need less red tape and more subsidiarity in order to move forward freely to face the problems the world over.
All the changes before us at the moment, which of course the Prime Minister is pressing for overall, are there for our benefit. I know that the Prime Minister will get support from many other countries in bringing about something that is workable, which people understand and can accept, and which will be of benefit against the overall problems facing Europe.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab)
My Lords, the Queen’s Speech demonstrated the Government being dragged, I am afraid reluctantly, into helping consumers to get a fair deal, whether from their elected representatives, from service providers or from business. Our ambitions, by contrast, are greater. It was Labour—indeed, in this House—which saw an extension of the ombudsman scheme from estate agents to letting agents. It was a Labour Government who introduced the legal services and financial services ombudsmen, and regulators’ consumer panels.
However, there is more to do. We must support consumers, the poor and disadvantaged, by repealing those parts of the lobbying Act that gag rather than enhance the work of those who give voice to the voiceless, and by improving the Government’s apology for a statutory register of lobbyists—of which, incidentally, we have failed to see anything so far. Labour, by contrast, would put power in the hands of consumers, be they tenants, borrowers or people troubled by nuisance calls.
Take “generation rent”, where the number of private renters, now 9 million, has surpassed those in social housing for the first time. Private tenants face an insecurity that few of us would tolerate. They are 10 times more likely to move home per year than homeowners, and a third of them moved last year. Yet surely they deserve the same stability as homeowners. So Labour will legislate to make three-year tenancies with predicable rents the norm. This is not rent control; I am old enough to remember that. This is about certainty and fairness.
Tenants are now paying £1,000 a year more than when this Government came into office. That is great for letting agents, but what is unfair is not letting agents’ legitimate business but double charging, when both landlord and tenant pay for the same service. More than 90% of letting agents impose charges on tenants on top of deposits and rent in advance, and charge them high fees for simple tasks such as renewing a contract. Labour will ban letting agents’ fees for tenants, which will save families up to £500.
I congratulate my honourable friends in the other place, Stella Creasy, Hilary Benn and Emma Reynolds, whose efforts on this got the Consumer Minister in the Commons to announce just yesterday that the Government will amend the Consumer Rights Bill to force letting agents to display their fees, with a civil penalty of up to £5,000 to be paid by any agent who fails to do that. That is a welcome move. However, landlords, not tenants, choose the letting agents, so there is still nothing a tenant can do even if the letting agent is double charging.
Movement for Change’s “Home Sweet Home” campaign in Brighton saw tenants who were stuck with broken back doors, broken bedroom windows, or no hot water or heating over Christmas. Such conditions are unacceptable. In addition, we want landlords to put smoke alarms in all rented houses, and we want to reduce deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. Can the Minister say what the Government’s response is to Consumer Safety International’s call for alternatives to carbon monoxide detector sensors where they have proved unreliable?
We must raise the standards of letting agents. Anyone can set up as an agent, including people with no qualification in landlord and tenant law and, more seriously, people with convictions or even those on the sex offenders’ register. There is not even a requirement for clients’ money to be kept in separate accounts. As I said, thanks to this House we have legislated to require agents to belong to an ombudsman, but the Government held back from enabling repeated poor behaviour to lead to a letting agent being struck off. Will they rethink their refusal over that?
Because individual consumers have little bargaining power when up against business, we will seek to improve the carried-over Consumer Rights Bill, not simply to codify rights but to enhance such rights, to allow for collective redress where consumer law has been breached and to make retailers and service providers signpost access to an ombudsman. Our aim is for consumers to have information, advocacy and redress across all markets. That is good for shoppers but also good for business, as it drives up standards.
Small businesses are already seen as consumers in some areas. The legal services and financial services ombudsmen treat microbusinesses as consumers, as do Ofcom and Ofgem. However, the Government have failed to treat small businesses as consumers in the Consumer Rights Bill, despite calls from the FSB. Will the Government continue to rule out such rights for small businesses?
It is also hard to understand why the Consumer Rights Bill omitted the EU directive on alternative dispute resolution, despite the fact that it has been sitting on the Government’s desk for two years and needs to be introduced next year. Its tardiness will make it difficult for businesses to have time to prepare, to sign up to an ombudsman and to train their staff. Will the Minister tell us when we will see plans to implement the directive and explain why ADR should not be compulsory?
The Government have failed to do much to help charities. They promised that the big society would play a part in the provision of services, but a quarter of public sector outsourcing went to offshore companies, squeezing out UK companies and UK charities. Furthermore, we have only a draft protection of charities Bill in the Queen’s Speech, which means that the Charity Commission is unlikely to get its strengthened powers this Session. We will undertake to work to ensure that voters—in the recall of MPs Bill—get a proper say, that consumers get a better deal, and that charities are helped to do their work.
Lord Aberdare (CB)
My Lords, I shall focus on the commitment in the Queen’s Speech to,
“increase the total number of apprenticeship places to 2 million by the end of the Parliament”.
I welcome that. Good-quality, well designed apprenticeships that meet the needs of employers and apprentices across a wide range of business sectors are surely one of the most effective means of tackling the blight of youth unemployment while increasing the UK’s productivity and competitiveness in the global economy as a whole. In March, the Government published for consultation proposed new arrangements for delivering and funding apprenticeships, which are largely based on the recommendations of the Richard review of apprenticeships. I attended a conference yesterday morning at which both Doug Richard and the Skills Minister, Matthew Hancock, spoke, and was on the whole encouraged by what I heard.
However, there are some concerns, particularly about persuading more small and medium-sized businesses—the importance of which we have heard so much about today—to take on apprentices. Most of the initial trailblazer initiatives being used to pilot the new approach are in sectors dominated by larger businesses such as aerospace, automotive, energy and utilities, and financial services, while sectors such as construction and creative and media, which have a much higher proportion of smaller firms, are unrepresented.
I will enumerate some of the concerns which need to be addressed to ensure that the 2 million target is reached and that it does not exclude large numbers of younger apprentices or specific sectors such as construction. First, under the proposed new rules, employers will have to make a cash contribution of a third of the training cost of their apprentices, with the Government paying the other two-thirds. Apparently no allowance will be made for the extra, non-cash costs involved in taking on apprentices, such as additional supervision, on-site training, mentoring time and the costs of slower work rates and needed rework. Extra incentive payments will be available for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but the overall cost of providing apprenticeships under the proposals seems likely to put off some, and perhaps many, SMEs.
Secondly, there will also be extra payments for taking on younger, 16 to 18 year-old apprentices, for whom until now the full costs of training have been paid. Assuming that those extra payments will fall short of the full cost, that could act as a further disincentive for firms to take on apprentices at those younger ages, as against using either older, more job-ready or more experienced apprentices, or just using the supply of cheap labour often available in sectors such as construction. Given that most of the increase in apprenticeships so far has been among over-25s, with under-19 apprenticeships hardly growing at all, that seems particularly ill advised. It certainly will not do much for those young people who fear they will never work, who were mentioned by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham in his fine maiden speech.
Thirdly, there are significant concerns among SMEs and others that the payment options being considered by the Government, which are based either on using existing PAYE mechanisms or on a new apprenticeship credit model, may prove far from simple for small firms to implement, and unpredictable in terms of the exact amounts and timing of payments. In addition, they are likely to result in serious cash-flow challenges, which are, of course, the absolute bane of all small businesses—as I can vouch from my own experience.
Fourthly, many SME apprenticeships are managed through apprenticeship training agencies—ATAs—whereby the ATA acts as the employer for a group of businesses and undertakes most of the administration and bureaucracy involved, to lift that burden from the small employers for whom the apprentices actually work. It is not clear how the proposed new funding arrangements will affect ATAs, but at least one of them, Building Lives, is concerned that its delivery and funding model may be put at risk by the proposed new arrangements. Building Lives is a community interest company which currently runs six academies across London which offer training and employment for up to 300 apprentices a year, who work mainly in small to medium-sized construction-sector firms. It featured as a case study in the cross-party report No More Lost Generations, which was mentioned earlier by the noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of Tradeston. It has set itself a target of expanding to 10 centres and offering up to 1,000 construction apprenticeships each year. However, despite the fact that its whole raison d’être is to make it possible for small contractors to take on apprentices, it seems that it may in future have to fund a third of the training costs for all those apprentices upfront, without even being eligible for the small employer incentive payment—a double whammy which may jeopardise its entire award-winning operation.
I applaud the intention to increase the number and quality of apprenticeships, but I urge the Government to ensure that there is sufficient flexibility in the funding and other arrangements to meet the specific needs of smaller employers, and of sectors such as construction, and of younger apprentices. The system must be genuinely simple, able to accommodate firms of all sizes in all sectors, and be thoroughly piloted before being rolled out.
Almost as important as providing more apprenticeship places is the other side of the coin: ensuring that there are enough candidates, especially 16 to 18 year-olds, coming forward to take up those places. Schools need to do a much better job of making their students aware of the apprenticeship opportunities available and encouraging those for whom they might be appropriate to pursue them. This seems unlikely to happen unless and until Ofsted inspections include formal assessment of the careers services offered by schools, often deficient at present, and of the range and quality of progression routes followed by their students, including into apprenticeships and other forms of employment, not just into further or higher education.
Finally, I hope that your Lordships will forgive me if I stray from the topics of today’s debate to add a brief welcome to the proposed social action, responsibility and heroism Bill, providing a degree of legal protection for good Samaritans and have-a-go heroes. I declare my interest as a trustee of St John Cymru Wales, which is dedicated to helping people save lives through first aid training and support, and pursues the vision of a first-aider on every street in Wales. It would be even better for the Government to provide more of these potential heroes with the tools to do the job, as it were, by making first aid training a mandatory part of the school curriculum, so that the UK could begin to match the life-saving outcomes of those other countries where that is the case.
Lord Monks (Lab)
My Lords, I start by adding my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham on what I regarded as really excellent maiden speeches.
The gracious Speech has been criticised from the Opposition Benches as something of a fag-end speech, a lowest common denominator programme from a riven Government, a zombie effort with minimal content—in fact, one could say we are competing on this side of the House to find the right compliments to pay. I will content myself with saying that it is somewhat thin gruel given the scale of the problems the nation faces, as my noble friends Lord Tugendhat and Lord Liddle and others spelt out earlier. However, it is not a total non-event and there are important points which will need the close attention of this House.
On pensions, I confess to some confusion in my mind about the direction that the Government are taking. On the one hand, pensioners in DC schemes will be able to extract the cash value of their savings; on the other, collective defined-contribution schemes will be promoted. Are there not two different philosophies at work here—freedom to blow one’s pension savings on a jazzy Italian sports car or whatever, ranged against the collectivism inherent in those Danish and Dutch pension schemes with all their rules and mutual obligations?
I declare an interest. I am a trustee of NOW: Pensions which is part of ATP of Denmark. ATP provides four out of five occupational pensions in Denmark and is a much respected non-profit-making institution. Denmark has lessons for us to learn in terms of low charges, simplicity and generally excellent investment returns. I hope that we now can turn that experience to benefit British pensioners.
I accept that the annuity market has been unsatisfactory in the UK, but we are entering unknown territory when we encourage pension pots to be blown on property, sports cars and the rest. I hope that pensioners will not come to lament as the late great George Best did. When asked about what he had done with his money, he replied, “I spent it on gambling, women and drink. The rest I wasted”—probably on a Lamborghini. We all know in this House what the consequences for the public finances could be of people not having occupational pensions who actually were in a position to have them and the cost that will fall on the taxpayer for that.
Collective defined-contribution schemes are a good idea and a step in the right direction, but perhaps the Minister can bring us up to date on why there is some Dutch pressure to modify its system probably more towards our individualistic direction. There seems to have been a revolt among some pensioners there against what we could call intergenerational solidarity—benefiting one age group against another.
As a champion of auto-enrolment and how that has been developed in the UK, I would not like to see it hampered by too many extra complications and requirements added on to it. We are signing up employers as quickly as we can and there will be an awful lot of employers who are late or would probably never get round to doing it without significant pressure. We have a mountain to climb to build up a strong pensions culture in this country among employers and employees —a mountain made higher and steeper by the fact that, regrettably, we are less inclined as a country to go for mandatory or quasi-mandatory pension savings than, for example, the Dutch or the Danes.
Let us not try to run before we can walk. Can the confusion between more individualism, on the one hand, and a more collective approach, on the other, be cleared up? Can we do this in a consensual way? One of the successes of auto-enrolment has been that generally it has all-party support and all the key players in the country have supported it. Therefore, it feels rather firmly embedded as an approach. I feel these other points, too, should be subjected to a big effort to find consent.
I turn to the proposed small business, enterprise and employment Bill. The Bill certainly needs to recognise that casualised work, offering low pay and poor working conditions, was certainly expanded quickly during the recession we have just been through. It is continuing to grow even as the economy has started to recover. The proposals on zero-hours contracts are rather weak and will not end most of the abuses. There is a thin, sometimes invisible line between the UK’s deregulated labour market and exploitation—and zero-hours contracts often cross it. They are the dark side of the flexible labour market. There are other dark sides, by the way, including low pay, low skills and low productivity. When we are talking about the undoubted successes in job creation, we should remember that if this country is to earn its living properly in the world and not rely on deficit funding, we are going to have to deal with those quickly.
The tougher penalties for employers caught dodging the minimum wage are welcome, but the key question is what resources will be deployed to catch the offenders. At the moment we know the inspectorate arrangements are wholly inadequate.
I note the TUC supports moves to strengthen regulation on the disqualification of directors and to improve transparency on company ownership. However, the Government's proposals as yet do not really scratch the surface of this big subject and do not address the need for others to have a view on corporate governance—voices for long-termism, for investment and for responsibility. That seems to be an important area that is very much underdeveloped at the moment.
My final point is to warn the Government not to use the social action, responsibility and heroism Bill to water down UK safety law. Yet again, we are tending to hear the tired refrain about stripping out unnecessary red tape. Careless employers should not be let off the safety hook, encouraged to loosely hurl charges of a jobsworth culture without being contradicted by people in government. Our laws stand up well to those in other countries; our record on health and safety is good. Very often the people with the best health and safety have the best productivity and the best quality outputs from their businesses. These laws build good practice and are essential protection for the UK’s 30 million people at work.
Lord Higgins (Con)
My Lords, this Queen’s Speech gives us an appropriate occasion to take stock, as we enter the finishing strait for the coalition agreement, ahead of the general election, before we become preoccupied with manifestos, and so on. The central piece of the Queen’s Speech is certainly on the economic side of things. Indeed, it begins,
“my Government’s legislative programme will continue to deliver on its long-term plan to build a stronger economy and a fairer society”,
and to,
“strengthen the economy and provide stability and security, my Ministers will continue to reduce the country’s deficit”.
It is now apparent that the policy that this Government have pursued on the economy was the right one, unlike a number of others advocated by the Opposition, and it is fortunate that we have a fixed-term Parliament so that we will have a period in which the fruits of the improvement in the economy can become more apparent. Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that progress in reducing the deficit has been slower than we hoped. Indeed, the target has been put back. In that context, it would be very important for the manifesto of the Conservative Party and, I would hope, of the other parties, to make it clear that we are determined to reduce the deficit entirely and to get around to reducing debt and reducing the burden on our children and grandchildren. There is still a long way to go in that regard. None the less, we have the fastest-growing economy. We have seen the IMF radically change its view of the British economy and the policy that we are pursuing; it is now very much in favour of what we have been doing and, indeed, have done.
Of course, there are still a number of dangers ahead, not least the rather precarious international political situation, and with regard to the eurozone. We are inclined to think that the eurozone crisis is over. The problem is that the eurozone structure and the extent over which it is operating geographically are fundamentally flawed. They may sort it out for the moment, but inevitably, as time goes on, it will continue to suffer very serious strains. That may jeopardise the future of the UK economy.
I say all this because I see no very clear alternative being put forward by the official Opposition. We have had a number of particular initiatives on fuel prices or whatever it may be, most of them abandoned very quickly after being put forward.
This is also an opportunity for us to take stock of a number of other matters. Perhaps inevitably, I shall mention one constitutional matter and some institutional matters. The constitutional one is, of course, the question of an elected House of Lords. As we approach the election, while the Liberal Democrats will no doubt include something on this subject in their manifesto, both the main political parties would be very foolish to do so. The reality is that the House of Commons has spoken; it now understands this issue, and it is not going to go ahead in agreeing to an elected House of Lords. Therefore, it would be very foolish for parties to endanger the programme that they wish to implement otherwise by including that in a manifesto. We ought to have learnt the lesson on that issue.
I am also slightly concerned about the position with regard to the House itself. I rather despair of hoping that some Members will stop referring to “the noble Minister”, when noble Ministers do not exist. There are noble Lords, but not noble Ministers. Indeed, even in this debate the same thing has turned up. But there are other important issues. We agreed some while ago to the use of iPads in the Chamber, but we have a very clear rule that speeches should not be read. Therefore, I was rather appalled to sit in on a debate recently where I regret to say that a Member of the Bishops’ Bench read his entire speech word for word from his iPad. I do not know whether he was in communication with any higher authority but, at all events, I thought that it was a rather unfortunate development.
It is tremendously important that we do something to adjust the balance in this House between legislation and general debate. My noble friend the government Chief Whip is very clear that the length of recesses recently has not been greater than normal. At all events, they have certainly seemed longer than normal, and there are a number of important issues that we could have spent time debating in that period—not least the crisis in Ukraine and the problems in Europe. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Tugendhat in this regard. It is quite extraordinary that we have not debated Ukraine in this House, and the problems arising with regard to Russia. My noble friend dealt with the issue very clearly. I managed to get a topical Question in the ballot, which came up a couple of weeks ago, but that is the only occasion when we have really tackled this problem. We have to face the fact that there is a change in our relationship with Russia. Whether it is true or not, it is widely reported that Mr Putin’s doctorate was on the use of economic power as a political weapon. We also ought to have a debate on NATO. We seem to have a defence organisation that is concerned with military matters, totally ignoring the fact that economic weapons are being used as well. As a result of that, we have been very ineffective in taking action on the position in international law and the treaty agreements with regard to Crimea. We have been pretty powerless, given the dependence of Germany and other countries on gas supplies, and so on.
Equally, we could have a very important debate on Europe, ahead of any proposed renegotiations. Again, we have not done that. So I would hope that we can have more time given to general debates.
The problem is in part a very fundamental one: we in the House of Lords have suffered from the way that the Labour Government, in a practice unfortunately followed by the Conservative Government, programmed their business. The result is that, as we well know—the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, is not in her place, but she and I know this—Bills came here time and again with much of them not debated at all. There have certainly been a number of very big debates where that has been the case. The result is that we are spending all our time on legislation and virtually no time on general debates that might be of great use in holding the Government to account and informing them, given the level of expertise in this House.
Finally, I want to make a specific point with regard to a proposal in the gracious Speech for a Bill to,
“bolster investment in infrastructure … to improve economic competitiveness”.
I am very worried, as an economist, about the way in which we look at investment proposals. Traditionally, we have done it by raising capital, investing the capital and hoping to get a return on it, using discounted flow and all the other technical issues, with which I shall not burden the House now. Instead of that, we have seen increasingly with infrastructure projects, whether it is the renewal of railway equipment or wind farms, the use of the pricing mechanism to raise the money to make the investment. Those higher prices will very often be paid by people who will not live to see the benefit of that investment. Perhaps one can argue from an intergenerational point of view that this is only fair, given that we are in danger of landing our children and grandchildren with a lot of debt, but we will also give them a lot of infrastructure for which we have paid a far greater sum than is proportionate to the benefit we will derive from it. The Treasury uses the so-called yellow book as the basis for making these investment decisions. I do not think that they are being made correctly at present. I do not think that it is right to raise money by putting the cost on existing suppliers for the reason I have mentioned. This is a Bill that we will have to debate carefully and there are a number of others in the programme. However, I also think the case for having rather more general debates in the run-up to the general election is very strong indeed.
Baroness Donaghy (Lab)
My Lords, a week ago I enjoyed an evening with the Involvement and Participation Association, of which I am vice-president. Employers from top-rank organisations talked about employee engagement, trade unions were respected and HR directors were committed to encouraging a voice for workers whether or not they were in a union. However, I noted that this is an unusual experience in the UK, where the world of work is more likely to witness increasing levels of inequality in our society and no consultation. It was reported at that AGM that an alarming number of employers cited e-mails as the main method of communication and even consultation with their employees. Fairness and dignity at work are not just about money. An example was given of a FTSE 100 company that sent a standardised retirement letter to an employee after 40 years’ service and managed to get the spelling of his name wrong as well. His colleagues were more agitated about this than any other more tangible grievances about pay and conditions.
The world of work is central to all of us, whether it is the 30 million people in the UK who are in work or those who are seeking it. Work provides an income essential for living, helps to place us in society and sometimes provides dignity and enjoyment, but when is it ever discussed as a central issue in this Parliament? It is referred to in terms of statistics to show how successful or otherwise a Government are in providing jobs, when loosening worker protections on the premise that employers will grow their businesses on the back of it and when employers want to make it easier and easier to dismiss workers. You would think that employment tribunals are the only things that matter in the world of work, when they are in fact the rarest element—something that the vast majority of workers never experience and never will. However, the tail continues to wag the dog. Having said that, I believe that the changes to employment tribunals made by the coalition Government are a disgrace and the sooner they are repealed the better.
However, the fundamental issues in the world of work are what kind of society we want to be, why we are less productive in this country, why there is growing inequality and diminishing fairness at work and why the relative pay gap between workers and executives has stretched almost beyond belief. Job insecurity and casualisation have not, and will not, improve productivity. As my noble friend Lady Drake said, that does not help with applying for mortgages, planning for one’s children’s future or saving for a pension. We are building a legacy of long-term poverty and giving future generations a choice between increased state dependency or a return to the dark ages.
I am not saying that casual working should be abolished: it has always been with us. I remember that at the University of London in the 1960s the Senate House had a pool of what were referred to as “call girls” to assist at the busier times. In some industries the workforce prefers to opt for a flexible system which suits both employee and employer—although not necessarily the collection of tax. However, I am talking about the wholesale abuse of casualisation. I applaud the proposals in the Pickavance report, commissioned by Ed Miliband, which calls for a code of practice to be drawn up, in conjunction with ACAS, protecting workers after six months if they work regular hours and banning compulsory standby and exclusivity. An amendment to the Employment Rights Act 1996 to require employers to provide information about basic terms and conditions to all workers within two months of commencing work would also be welcome—in other words, extending the right which employees already enjoy.
The increasing pay gap between worker and executive represents a massive corporate failure in the UK and is a threat to the public’s trust in business. Seventy-six per cent of voters think that big business has too much power over government. In 1980, the pay for a FTSE 100 chief executive was 20 times the national average; in the late 1990s, it had risen to 60 times the national average, and today it is 160 times the national average. The exasperation of the public with our political system, although manifested in our newspapers as exasperation with the failure to deal with immigration or with politicians on the make, may really be about inequality and a feeling of powerlessness. I find it interesting that 80% of UKIP voters are as likely as the wider population to demand government action to reduce inequality.
The Government have no programme to make this a priority or even to tackle increased inequality; instead, they search for ways to deprive people of their rights. For instance, why on earth are they proposing to take the police out of health and safety legislation? Are the police not workers, too? I congratulate the leader of my party, Ed Miliband, on saying that low pay will be a priority for the next Labour Government. It is important to retain the independence of the Low Pay Commission and in doing so and to strengthen it.
Similarly, why not have a statutory requirement for workers to sit on boards? It is only a tiny aspect of worker involvement but it will be resisted as if it was the equivalent of the peasants’ revolt. It was resisted by employers in Germany but is now part of the country’s culture and its successful economy. Relativity should be central to every enterprise. Unfair pay differentials have consequences—more sickness absence and higher staff turnover as well as lower productivity.
It is good news that we have 30.43 million people in work in the first quarter of this year, but then we have more people due to demographics and immigration. However, 2.2 million unemployed is not good news. The number of unemployed women aged 50 and over has increased by almost half since the coalition came to power: 162,000 older women are unemployed. They have talent and experience and they vote. We need an honest appraisal of what kind of jobs will be needed in the future. The Edge Foundation has said that nine of the 10 occupations most in demand in the future will require vocational skills.
Finally, the references to employment in the Queen’s Speech were predictable, with some being good and some bad depending on the detail. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Higgins, said, there is also a reference to,
“work to build a fairer society”.
I have seen no evidence of this yet but, if the Government are sincere, they should come forward with proposals to ensure that workers have a voice, are not treated as commodities, are paid fairly, are given appropriate job security and are not paid 80 times less than their boss. That really would be a fairer society.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford (LD)
My Lords, I start with the sentence in the gracious Speech that,
“Legislation will be introduced to help make the United Kingdom the most attractive place to start, finance and grow a business”.
The legislation that will follow is the small business, enterprise and employment Bill.
For a long time, I have had a considerable interest in science-based small firms. As the noble Baroness, Lady Warwick, mentioned, the UK has a very strong science base. We also have a surprisingly strong record in the development of spinout companies from our universities. Our problem has been that, long term, we failed to grow these small spinout companies into the Microsofts and Googles of this world. A particular problem arises in the bridging of the gap between pilot projects and getting a business up and running. I do not very much like the phrase, “bridging the valley of death”. In the days very long ago when I worked at the National Economic Development Office—NEDO—we called it the pre-production development gap and we had a pre-production development scheme to bridge it. It is the same problem. It has been with us for a very long time.
When I was at the University of Sussex, I belonged to a group that called itself the triple helix group. It maintained that successful innovation required three players all interacting with each other: universities linking up with the private sector, but the Government also had an important role. They all played a part in the process. I was therefore very interested in the complementarity between these three players being emphasised again in a recent report issued by the Campaign for Science and Engineering, The Economic Significance of the UK Science Base. That was written by three economists, including the son of the noble Lord, Lord Haskel—who will follow me in this debate. The report shows very clearly that investing in public sector research helps to stimulate private sector expenditures and that the two are very complementary. As Professor Alan Hughes—another of the three authors —puts it, the two,
“should not be seen as substitutes in the drive to enhance the productivity performance of the UK”.
The report suggests that there is a virtuous circle in which an increase in public sector investment in research leads to an increase in private sector research which in turn increases the capacity of the private sector to benefit from and use public sector research, thus amplifying the overall economic benefit to society as a whole.
I have also been quite interested to see that over time the coalition has come to adopt a somewhat similar philosophy towards innovation. There was a time when my friend in the other place, Vince Cable, who led a working party on industrial policy for the Liberal Democrats, advocated the total abolition of what was then the DTI and is now BIS—his own department. Above all, that working party wanted to see the abolition of all policies of industrial support. Yet, over the past four years he and David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, put together what might be described as a new industrial policy built around the exploitation of the science base and the development of new industries associated with new technologies. That followed very much this triple helix model where the Government play an important intermediary role in helping bridge the gap between early and late-stage development. Measures announced in the Queen’s Speech seem to take this one stage further. The Government set up, through the Technology Strategy Board, Catalyst and Catapult centres, influenced by the German and US models. Opening up access to public procurement for small and medium-sized businesses is something the Americans have done for a long time and which the Science and Technology Committee of this House has long urged upon the Government. That is a new, important and very welcome step.
However, I also urge the Government to think further about the implications of the triple helix model of complementarity between Government, universities and the private sector in promoting innovation. In our report last year on regenerative medicine, the Science and Technology Committee examined the role of the cell therapy Catapult centre set up in May 2012 as one of the then seven TSB technology and innovation centres that aim to help businesses adopt, develop and exploit innovative products and technologies. It was described as,
“a new approach to bridging the investment ‘valley of death’”.
The Technology Strategy Board put £200 million into the seven Catapult centres—approximately £30 million into each centre. This contrasted with the $3 billion put into the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. It is not surprising that one of the report’s main conclusions was that the Technology Strategy Board funding was insufficient and that the Government could not rely upon the private sector and venture capital to fill the gap.
In both Germany and the US, the state or regional level of government plays a substantive role in helping fund applied research, often putting together a package of private and public funding and mobilising local financial intermediaries. This level of funding is largely absent in the UK but the committee suggested that the Technology Strategy Board and the Economic and Social Research Council get together and fund an evaluation of innovative funding models in this and other countries to see if more effective methods could be found. This suggestion was welcomed by both the research council and TSB, and by the Government. That was last autumn. Is it proceeding? I realise that the Minister will not have the information to hand but could he write to me with the answer on what is happening with that suggestion?
I finish by endorsing the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, about the new apprenticeship proposals coming forward from the Government. Like him, I find myself very worried about the sheer complexity of the payment mechanisms, the five different levels of apprenticeship that will be created and the sheer impossibility of small and medium-sized companies handling these new apprenticeship positions. I have just been reading and enjoying the book by Professor Anthony King and Ivor Crewe, The Blunders of Our Governments. It seems that we may be replaying two of those blunders: the individual learning accounts and the tax credit accounts. I recognise that there are currently pilots and trailblazing. I hope very much that we will learn the lessons that can be learnt from them.
Lord Haskel (Lab)
My Lords, when opening this debate, the Minister said that his proposed legislation would encourage trust. I am very glad he said that because during April there were two popular polls about people’s trust in business, one for the BBC and one for the Financial Times. Both said that 61% of us did not trust business. I am not making a political point. Half of those who felt this way identified themselves as Conservatives. The Minister is right: there is a warning there that it would be wrong of us to ignore.
Most of us know why this is happening. My noble friend Lady Donaghy just said that it was to do with conditions of employment. For years, some of us have been victims of mis-selling by the banks. We have not been getting a square deal from energy companies. As my noble friend Lady Hayter told us, we have not been getting a square deal from landlords. We have not been getting a square deal from rail operators or pension managers and suppliers of public services from the private sector have been disgraced. This is in contrast with booming executive pay and a long line of companies which arrange their affairs so that they almost cease to pay corporation tax, leaving the rest of us to foot the bill.
My noble friend Lady Sherlock reminded us in her opening speech that for years there has been little alignment between the financial markets, our long-term interest, jobs and the common good. This dissatisfaction applies to Government too. As problems arise, so they are dealt with on an ad hoc basis, reacting to events—or to labour policies. This is what my noble friend Lord Liddle called a disparate agenda. This fiddling only adds to uncertainty. It also contributes to the complexity and inefficiency of our public finances. Noble Lords can read the whole depressing story in the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies paper, Tax Without Design.
What can we do to help bring back public trust in business? The answer lies in an intellectually coherent strategy that provides a framework for all of these activities. In his memorable maiden speech, the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, called it a coherent industrial strategy, and I agree. It provides a basis for long-term decision-making. BIS likes to think that we have a long-term strategy, but that is news to everybody else. To succeed, this strategy has to be respected. To make sure it is adhered to throughout government, I would like to see it enshrined in law. We have laid out a strategy in law for health, for climate change, for education and for austerity for our public finances, so why not for business?
What should this business strategy—a strategy with teeth—contain? In part, my noble friend Lord Liddle told us when he called for a comprehensive ethical agenda. We know that most business leaders are committed to high ethical standards: they know that this builds trust. The problem is to convince and communicate this to everybody else in their organisations. Well, there are UN global guidelines that respond to this. Those guidelines, as part of a business strategy in a legal framework, will help rebuild trust in business. We are virtually having to do this with the banking industry.
Quite rightly, business organisations call for certainty so they can plan for the longer term. This means that long-term institutions, such as the Technology Strategy Board, which is so important in developing the technology that the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, told us about, have to be given protection of law so that, like the RDAs, they cannot just be abolished on a whim. Part of the answer is not just to regulate, but to rebalance.
Whatever the outcome of the Scottish referendum, surely significant to all of us is the need for more local accountability, which means getting away from the culture of doing deals with central government. I join the Public Accounts Committee in asking why, of the £309 billion set aside by the Government since 2010 for promoting growth in the regions, only £400 million has been allocated. The noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, in his paper, No Stone Unturned, speaks to this. We see many contributing to economic progress, but fewer benefiting. A proper, legal industrial strategy will help us break free from markets that work only for themselves. The noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, spoke about this. Read the speeches made by the Governor of the Bank of England to the recent inclusive capitalism conference: that will convince noble Lords, even if I do not.
Public investment must also feature, as the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, just told us. After all, we know, on very good authority, about the benefits of public investment in science. Of course, the strategy must also protect the public interest, by, for instance, stating clearly that tax allowances and incentives are for investment, not for financial dodges. The gracious Speech mentions fair pay and job security, and yes, the Government are trying to stimulate manufacturing, which is so important to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham. However, all of this is insufficient, random and, most importantly, it lacks coherence.
What about the politics of this? A strategy of this kind reflects the politics of hope. It challenges the insecurity created by blanket austerity. It connects with Europe 2020 and completing the single market. It puts immigration into a non-racial context. Most importantly, it faces up to the huge scale of the challenge facing us, instead of just tinkering with it. Of course, no law will build economic revival and growth—business will. However, the task will be infinitely harder if we fail to win back that 61% of the population who no longer trust business. I am certainly content with the Motion to thank Her Majesty for the gracious Speech, but like many noble Lords—some of whom I have mentioned—I regret that it does not contain an industrial strategy. That will obviously have to be left to a Labour Administration.
Lord Howe of Aberavon (Con)
My Lords, I follow the noble Lord, Lord Haskel, with a similar approach to the problems we are all trying to face. He started off by saying that there was no agenda. I would add something that is almost more serious, where, for our society and for our economy in particular, there is no forum or framework and where we have a double shambles. I have a particular emphasis on the absence of any coherent, comprehensive system of weights and measures.
British weights and measures are in a universal mess: litres for petrol and fizzy drinks; pints for beer and milk. We use metres and kilometres for athletics and miles per gallon for cars. The metric system is used in schools, yet all too often pounds and ounces are still used in the market. It is impossible to argue that this chaos does not matter. The fact is that it increases costs, confuses shoppers and managers, leads to serious misunderstandings, causes accidents, wastes our children’s education and, quite bluntly, puts us all to shame.
Almost 800 years ago, Britain’s first charter of human rights, Magna Carta, proclaimed that there should be,
“one measure of wine throughout our whole realm … one measure of corn … and one width of cloth”.
Before then, and ever since, every civilised society has recognised the need for one set, and only one set, of standard measures. How did we get into this curious mess? We have been dithering for almost 150 years. As long ago as 1862, a Commons Select Committee unanimously recommended the adoption of the metric system. A century later, in 1965, the decision was finally taken to go metric over the next 10 years. However, it is still shambling along beside the old system. Alas, the Government then, of whom I was a member, foolishly accepted the recommendation to go that way. We are still stuck half way, while the rest of the world sensibly and quickly moved on. Australia, Kenya, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Jamaica—members of what we used to call the British Commonwealth—have long completed the entire change, and Ireland, our neighbour, completed the process as quickly as those countries did.
Quite frankly, the proposition that I wish to emphasise to the House is that plainly we cannot stay where we are, with two confused, competing systems. It would be madness to go backwards. The only solution is to complete the changeover to metric as swiftly and cleanly as possible. It is long past time for us to summon up the will to get ourselves out of the present wasteful, untidy mess.
Lord Desai (Lab)
My Lords, it is a great honour to follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe of Aberavon. In the short time that I have, I want to do two things. The first is to try out a somewhat novel idea, and maybe it will be one for the Government to take away and work on, and the second is to talk a little more about the manufacturing strategy that has been discussed.
We have now had four years of austerity. By and large, the deflationary move has been successful inasmuch as the economy has now revived. However, there is a particular anomaly which I want to point out and which has not attracted much attention. Our debt is about £1,300 billion, give or take £100 billion here or there. The surprising thing is that the policy of quantitative easing followed by the Bank of England means that the Bank owes £385 billion of that debt. Therefore, we are in the peculiar situation of the Government paying interest to the Bank of England, which the Bank of England returns to the Government with thanks.
Nobody has said this yet, although my noble friend Lord Myners mentioned it in the debate on the Budget, but the Government could take that £385 billion of debt owed by the Bank of England and cancel it. However, there is a snag: against the £385 billion of assets, the Bank of England has created a liability—that is, it has printed money. Therefore, I think that the best thing for the Government to do would be to sell the Bank of England £385 billion-worth of zero-interest bonds so that the books could be balanced and the Government could say what interest should be paid on the £385 billion. This is a very simple, effective device which nobody has thought about but I offer it to the Government out of the goodness of my heart.
By and large, monetary policy has not worked. At best, you could say that it has prevented things getting worse, but only active fiscal policy can do things which monetary policy cannot do, and a device such as that would release funds for fiscal policy to do more than it has been able to do so far. In a sense, it would give the Government a clever escape hatch through which they could save £30 billion or whatever, depending on how much interest they pay on the debt. That is something that I hope somebody will think about.
It may be said, “You can’t do that because you’ll have to print money against this debt”, but the money has been printed and is out there. With QE, the Bank of England bought £385 billion-worth of debt from the market. One alternative would be for it to sell it back and withdraw the money, but we do not need that. Inflation is very low. The central banks are competing with each other to raise the rate of inflation up to 2%. I thought that I would never live to see it, having lived through the great monetarist days when the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, was cracking the whip with his policy. So we already have a situation where the money is out there. We want the money to go out and stimulate the economy. The Government are paying too much interest— about a quarter of it to the Bank of England, which makes no sense—but if they think slightly outside the box, they could improve the prospects for the economy.
I shall now get a little more down to earth. When I came to your Lordships’ House roughly 23 years ago, on 18 June 1991, my maiden speech was on manufacturing and why there was no future in manufacturing at all. We ought to stop getting obsessed about manufacturing because it diverts attention from the economy. In his brilliant maiden speech, the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, pointed out that manufacturing is very valuable. Of course it is very valuable—there is no doubt about that—but it does not need to be expanded. Over the past 23 years since I made that speech, manufacturing has shrunk and the economy has become more prosperous.
The point is that in manufacturing we have concentrated on genuinely high-value-added jobs in high tech, which is the only place where we can survive in international competitive business. The UK economy cannot survive in labour-intensive manufacturing. You cannot create millions of jobs in UK manufacturing—there are people in China, Indonesia and Malaysia who will beat us at that—so we have to concentrate our manufacturing on high-value-added, high-tech products. It is a very competitive business which requires as a minimum, as noble Lords have said, a lot of research on the triple helix and so on. A good higher education sector is also required. Along with that, we have to be quite ruthless about eliminating non-competitive business and not subsidising it.
If we are to have a prosperous economy, we need a small highly valuable manufacturing sector whose contribution to national income in percentage terms is way above its contribution to employment in percentage terms—that is, we have to have the most productive people going into manufacturing. That is why this song and dance about apprenticeships surprises me. In around the 1880s, there were government reports that we were falling behind Germany. It was asked why the Germans were ahead of us. It was said that they had apprenticeships and we did not. Some 130 years later, we are still talking about apprenticeships. Nobody needs 2 million apprentices—certainly not in manufacturing.
Talking about apprentices produces a false concreteness —it looks as though people are doing something useful and highly skilled. We need a lot of people in healthcare, for example. Our real labour needs are going to be in what we might call the soft industries: healthcare, education and the arts. The arts are a very valuable and profitable part of the economy and one in which we have a comparative advantage. Therefore, when thinking about apprenticeships or the economy, we should not think too much about expanding manufacturing. Economic prosperity depends on doing what we do best, and very often that is not the concrete but the abstract. Britain is very good at abstract things—one has only to think of Shakespeare. We can sell good, expertly made products abroad. Let us stick to that and not get into metal bashing.
Lord Mitchell (Lab)
My Lords, I was going to apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Higgins, who I see is just leaving his place. As he will hear, my speech is indeed on my iPad but I promise him that I will try to interact with the Chamber as I am giving it. Anyhow, as an ageing geek, I have to show my younger colleagues that I am still cool.
Your Lordships’ House is always at its best when it is fortunate to hear outstanding maiden speeches. To have heard two in one day from two giants in their field, such as the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, is a very special treat.
This evening I want to talk about a huge British business success story—or I was going to before the screen went blank; it is how you react under fire that matters. It is a story which in fact started under the previous Government and has flourished under this one, and it concerns an industry with which I have been personally associated for nearly 50 years. I refer, of course, to the digital economy.
When I started all those years ago, it was all about massive computers costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Input was by way of punch cards or paper tape and storage was on massive disks and whirring tape drives. It has changed just a tad. I remember reading a book in the 1990s on the projected winners and losers in the data processing industry, as it was then called. The only names it got right were IBM and Hewlett-Packard. Not included were Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter. Most of them did not even exist. Google, the third-largest company in the world by capitalisation, is only 16 years old. Has there ever been such a dramatic structural change in such a massive industry?
The UK—which, to be honest, used to be a small participator—has now become a major player in the new digital economy. For evidence we can do no better than to look here in London and, in particular, at Tech City in Shoreditch. Of all the new jobs in London, 27% are in the tech and digital sector; 600,000 people in London work in this sector. Between 2009 and 2012, the number of digital tech companies in London grew from 50,000 to 88,000—a growth of 76%. Tech City took hold during the Labour Government and it has blossomed during this Government. It was not planned by government; it was not financed by government; it simply happened.
Throughout the UK, the digital economy is also world-beating. It has a value of £121 billion, which is equal to 8.3% of GDP. It is expected to grow at a rate of 11% per annum. Over the next five years it will employ more than 500,000 new entrants. On the consumer side, the UK is the number one user of e-commerce in the world. In the Government Digital Service, set up under this Government, we have an online service that any country would be proud of. This may sound strange coming from these Benches, but I believe that this Government have done a good job in promoting entrepreneurial drive in this digital tech sector. Certainly if we on this side win the next general election, we will continue that good work.
My biggest criticism is to do with broadband, and I am sure that if the Minister were here—which he is not—he would be able to comment on this. Many infrastructure projects are being contemplated: HS2, Crossrail 2, new motorways, new stations, new runways and so on. It is all good stuff and it all helps to ensure that the UK is fully equipped for the 21st century. However, I do not hear enough about broadband and mobile connectivity. Of course the broadband project rolls forward, but it is ponderous, and it does little for those living in rural communities. On a recent visit to Norwich I was staggered to hear about the snail-pace broadband that they have and the mobile phone connections that in many areas are non-existent.
It took only a brief meeting with the Minister responsible, Ed Vaizey, for me to understand the problem. There was no sense of urgency about a situation that is very critical. Can somebody please explain to me why a project with such infrastructure implications is located in the DCMS? What does it know about rolling out mega projects? As exciting as the digital revolution may be, there really are some dangers from the misuse of technology in general and the internet in particular. Online payday lending is just one such danger. Noble Lords will know that I have campaigned to control online payday loan companies. Yesterday I introduced a Private Member’s Bill that will ban TV advertising of payday loan advertisements before the 9 pm watershed. I hope that I will have the House’s support on it.
There are also dangers to employment. Let us look just at the retail sector. Last Christmas, 20% of all retail sales were online; it was a massive increase on the year before. Retail employs 3 million people. If this online trend continues—and it will—there will be massive redundancies on our high streets. We have already seen the demise of HMV, Jessops and Blockbuster, each one of them outflanked by rapid technological advance. What is true of retail is also true of banks. They, too, are under threat by new online competitors. Our response must be to anticipate these dangers. Our people need to be taught digital skills at every level.
I shall end my remarks on the subject of privacy. Snowden has shown us just how exposed we all are. The European Court of Justice opined two weeks ago that we all have the right to be forgotten. If you have an up-to-date iPhone, then every location you have visited is recorded on that phone—when you arrived there and when you left. If anybody would like me to show them, I can do so. Who gave them permission to store this very private information without our explicit permission? Do they have access to it? They say not, but can we be sure?
The next big thing in the digital world is wearable technology—devices on our wrists which can store data about our health. These data can be sent to our doctors but perhaps also to our insurance companies, and to who else? Protection should be in place to ensure that only people whom we personally authorise are allowed to have access to such sensitive information.
In five days’ time we will be celebrating the 799th anniversary of the Magna Carta—the contract which began the process of our civil rights. Maybe for the 800th anniversary, next year, we should have a digital Magna Carta that guarantees all of us protection from all unauthorised snooping into our private lives.
Lord Elton (Con)
My Lords, I am a refugee in the sense that this is the only night on which I can be present for the start and finish of the debate. I apologise for the fact that my three very short subjects are not on what might be considered the notional Order Paper for tonight.
I congratulate both the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham on their contributions. I was particularly heartened by the right reverend Prelate’s plug for the north-east as the sole region in profit on its overseas account, and regarding the charming nature of almost all the population. Coming from the south-east I am not familiar with the latter condition. In fact, I decided some time ago that I wanted to address the extraordinary change that has come over the nature of British society during my lifetime. I could go into lengthy detail, but it is worth condensing it by saying that one’s default expectation of anybody who one was dealing with was that they would be honest, spoke the truth, kept the law, kept their word, honoured their cheques if they were the sort of people who had cheque-books, be faithful to their spouses and, of course, would know the difference between right and wrong and would stand on the side of right. That is what one expected and anything else was a disappointment, and quite a severe one on some occasions.
An illustration of the extent of the change is simply the length of the traffic jam going to primary schools in the mornings—parents cannot risk their children going to school on their own. In my youth children of six were expected to be able to walk four miles to school and four miles back every day unaccompanied, and people did not worry. They played in the street and people did not worry. They played in the fields and people did not worry. In many rural communities the way in which you told your neighbours what was going on at home was that you locked the front door to show that you were away and left the back door unlocked to show that they were welcome to come in, even so.
Life has changed and one has to ask why. The reasons are many and complex; they are economic, political, and so on. However, right at the basis is the difference that in my youth and until my middle age—decreasingly towards my middle age—the lifeblood of this country flowed through its churches, chapels, cathedrals, synagogues and meeting houses. People could not escape the repetition and emphasis of the moral truths which sustain the civilised society we wish to sustain—a safe, stable and mutually respecting society.
If noble Lords doubt my emphasis on the extent of the influences of the religious establishment at an appropriate point in our history, I should say that I remember clearly Sunday 26 May 1940, when we went to the big church near to where we lived in Old Headington in what is now north Oxford. We went 20 minutes early but could not get in without a struggle—many people could not get in at all—because King George VI had issued a call to the nation the previous week to pray for our troops surrounded at Dunkirk. I will not go into the history of the miracle that followed, but the nation went to pray—and the nation knew its morals because the nation went to church.
It is not the business of Government to fill churches but it is their business to ensure that there is some connection between the morality of the individual and the ethics of society. Indeed it is their business to see that individuals have a morality. I want to put an idea into the heads of the Ministers in the Department for Education that perhaps the time has come to reinstate religious studies in schools up to the sixth form and to give it the same status as the STEM subjects now have. If you make a subject an examination subject there is a great enthusiasm to study it and you do not damage your educational career by doing so. On the other hand, if it is not of that status and does not carry examination weight—it is not examinable in some schools—you lose customers. And it should then be connected to the teaching of civics so that people can see a connection between the morality which gives the reason for ethics, and the ethics which give stability to society. That is all I wish to say about that.
I chimed a little with the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy—with whom I also communicate via Hansard—when she spoke about the necessity for a fair society. I am an unashamed Tory. There must be inequality—you cannot have competition without inequality—but you also need fairness, and it worries me that there is no apparent restraint on the increasing vertiginous gap between the richest and the poorest in this country. My tiny suggestion is that we need more effective charitable giving in this country. At present we use gift aid, but that only provides motivation for the charities to ask donors to subscribe to the gift aid scheme. We want to motivate people who are not yet donors to become donors. This means that they want to get some benefit from it too. If what I am about to suggest was carried out 100% it would probably cripple that part of the Treasury that depends on income tax but, done proportionately, if mega-rich people were given a fractional percentage reduction in the income they do not give away, they would have a large incentive to give a proportion away. If you want to find a way of moderating it—we were talking about the connection of the churches, ethics and society—there is a good biblical example of 10% being a suitable amount to encourage people to give away. Anything more, of course, would be welcome.
On the Queen’s Speech, I find it extraordinary that we, in seeking to strike a figure on the world stage and influence policy despite our reduced military strength, stand as the founders of the greatest commonwealth ever seen. Our population is 64 million and the Commonwealth population is 2.2 thousand million. It embraces almost every ethnic group and just about every religion in the world and spreads around the globe. It was our invention and we are part of it. Ministers write speeches declaring the situation in this country and how we are going to deal with it. They prepare it for delivery in this House, with the other House present below the Bar, by the head of that great institution—who has been for decades the head of it—with not one word mentioned of what it is achieving, what it has achieved, what it could achieve, or how we are to exploit it or improve it. It does not mention the fact that CHOGM commissioned and received a report on the restriction of sexual violence in conflict, which is one of the flagship policies the Foreign Office is promoting. I find that extraordinary.
I hope that the Minister, through his colleague, will let us know the importance that the Government—and other Governments have not done any better—this country and all parties give to this great organisation, which could give us so much influence and support around the world. What do they really think of it and how often has it figured in the Queen’s Speech in the past 10 years?
Lord Morris of Handsworth (Lab)
My Lords, I, too, pay tribute to the gracious Speech. It scanned the horizons of the social and economic landscape of our country. However, the economic landscape experienced by millions of our fellow citizens is a very different place. The strategy of the coalition Government remains unchanged: it is to reward the rich through the tax system and punish the poor through policies such as the bedroom tax. However, figures from the Office for National Statistics are an indictment of the Government’s policies. They show that 1% of Britain’s richest individuals have accumulated as much wealth as 55% of the poorest.
The coalition Government believe that they can eradicate poverty by making work pay, and it is true that the unemployment figures are coming down and more people are in work. That is to be welcomed. However, yesterday we heard from the coalition’s own watchdog on poverty, the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. Its report states that the Government’s belief that they can end child poverty by 2020, mainly through the labour market, does not look remotely realistic. The Commission shows that 3.5 million children are expected to be in absolute poverty in Britain by 2020—almost five times as many as the goals set by the Government. The report states that even if parental employment reached 100%—
“far beyond what has ever been achieved anywhere in the world”—
there would have to be a substantial increase in hours worked, and current policies would not enable that to happen.
Many parents are the victims of in-work poverty, unable to command sufficient earnings to escape low incomes and moving in and out of insecure, short-term and low-paid employment. We hear similar stories from organisations such as the Trussell Trust, which recently reported that, of the 900,000 adults and children who visited its food banks last year, 30% were in financial trouble because of benefit delays and 17% had problems caused by benefit changes, while 20% of referrals at the food banks were a result of low family incomes.
Last year, the annual report of the New Policy Institute gave a comprehensive picture of poverty in the United Kingdom. It showed that, of 13 million people living in poverty, more than half were from working families. It is just not true that people who are living in poverty are shy of work. We have heard too much about those who draw the curtains at 9 am and get back under the duvet. No one bothered to ask about the bus drivers or those in our hospitals working very late and coming home in the morning, who are entitled to their rest. The New Policy Institute report concluded that the changes to the welfare system actually made poverty worse. For work to be the route out of poverty, work must provide a living wage. You can work as much as you like, but if your earnings do not equate to the accepted level of sustenance, you are in poverty. Although I welcome any sanctions against employers not paying the legal minimum wage, I look forward to the legislation or to any proposals that would lift the minimum wage to become a living wage.
I was also pleased to note that attention was promised regarding the reform of so-called zero-hours contracts. I am old fashioned and have always been led to believe that a contract has rights on the one hand and obligations on the other. It seems that this is a one-sided development for contracts in our employment sector. An employer has all the rights and the ability to exercise them, and makes all the demands, while the employee has no rights—only an obligation to respond to the employer’s demands. These contracts are misnamed. They are not zero-hours contracts but “no rights” contracts, and they should be described as what they are. How do you organise the family budget that depends on the uncertainty of a zero-hours contract, which means you have no idea when you will work or, indeed, how much you will earn? On this side of the House, we look forward to seeing the draft proposals that would make a difference to families and individuals and give some certainty in respect of the obligations that they may or may not take on.
There is a pattern throughout the policies that we are experiencing. The Government pursue families and individuals who have no means to fight back. Legal aid and access to justice are restricted, including for workers who might have a fair claim for unfair dismissal. As we heard earlier in the debate, the sanctions start with the inability to pay the fees for hearing a case of alleged unfair dismissal.
As I reflect on the gracious Speech, I wish that I could have heard how we can help those of our citizens in greatest need. It leaves me to conclude that Britain can, nevertheless, do better. For the sake of all our citizens, Britain must do better.
Lord Clement-Jones (LD)
My Lords, in many respects the Queen’s Speech is to be welcomed, precisely for the fact that it does not contain a huge amount of new legislation. None the less, I welcome the carryover of the Consumer Rights Bill and the Deregulation Bill. Curiously, I note for the aspiring statesmen among us that it will, among other things, make statues easier to erect. I do not know whether your Lordships noticed that.
In particular, I welcome the introduction of the small business and enterprise Bill outlined by my noble friend Lord Livingston because today, among other issues, I want to deal with the key question of start-ups in the tech and creative sector and what we need to do to ensure their success. I enjoyed the digital speech of the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell. According to official figures, the creative sector grew by almost 10% in 2012 and outperformed all other sectors of UK industry. It accounted for 1.6 million jobs in 2012. However, this underestimates the contribution of the creative industries. Many would say that they employ at least 2 million, so I welcome the Government’s intention to reclassify their contribution to GDP to bring back in software. We should not forget, too, the key role that arts and culture perform in providing the creative industries with talent. The approach to their funding needs reappraising, particularly in the light of the CEBR report on their contribution to the economy.
A crucial factor in one area of growth has been the tax treatment of film production, followed by high-end television and animation. In April, video games relief was cleared by the EU, which was excellent news. The new theatre production tax relief and patent box will have a major impact too. From a recent presentation at the Google Campus in Tech City to the Communications Committee, it is clear that we have come a long way since Silicon Roundabout morphed into Tech City. The noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, gave some very interesting figures. There have been more than 15,000 start-ups there in each of the past two years.
More widely, Trip Hawkins, who founded Electronic Arts in 1982, recently said that Britain is the most creative country in the world and can lure top technology businesses away from Silicon Valley. However, to fulfil that promise, we need to ensure they have access to the skills and finance they need to grow. It seems they now have good access to early-stage finance with a variety of angel investors through the Government’s enterprise investment schemes. Indeed, these schemes in the UK are now said to be among the best in the world. Tech companies have also benefited from the business growth fund, enterprise capital funds and the enterprise finance guarantee. Crowdfunding is beginning to have a real impact. Exceptionally among the banks, Santander has introduced its imaginative breakthrough programme for fast-growing start-ups. The important thing now, as the Creative Industries Council has identified, is promotion of these schemes.
However, we were told that it is in the later stages, where hundreds of million of pounds are required for investment or a venture capital exit is needed, where we are behind the US. Are UK financial institutions too risk-averse? If so, there is a danger of business moving to the US at this funding stage. None the less, US institutions are now moving here which understand the potential of tech and creative start-ups. There is also good evidence from recent listings on the Stock Exchange that we are making progress. The creation of the new High Growth Segment to encourage companies to list here is having an impact.
The talent available, however, is far below what we need. Start-ups in Tech City need a mixture of technical and creative skills to develop their new digital services. Knowledge of digital technologies is particularly crucial. We need 1 million tech jobs to be filled by 2020 to keep up with demand. So I welcome the inclusion in the curriculum of coding, or computer science, from this September for five to 16 year-olds. But even if the pipeline from schools and universities is there, finding the right talent can be tough. Training and proper apprenticeships are hugely important.
Even if we fill the gap in the long term, we will in the short term still be reliant on overseas undergraduates and postgraduates. I welcome the developments with the exceptional talent visas, which show some increased flexibility, but as Policy Exchange’s recently published Technology Manifesto makes clear, we must ensure our visa regime is fast and user-friendly, to attract them into both employment and our higher education institutions.
If we get it right the prize is very great. Policy Exchange says that the internet economy will be 16% of GDP by 2016. We are already the highest net exporter of computer and information services among the G7 countries. Already our online retail surplus is larger than that of Germany and the US combined. This also means that we need to break down the barriers to e-commerce across the EU to create a genuine European digital single market.
Clusters, or hubs, are of huge importance to the tech and creative industries and, as Policy Exchange says, there are many more than just those in London. In terms of innovation, creativity, finance, promotion and skills, clustering is now the name of the game. But this raises the whole question of whether our cities operate on the right scale, especially when compared with cities in emerging markets, and whether they have the necessary powers and control over their own finances. After all, more than 90% of tax is collected by central government.
I was at the opening of the International Festival for Business in Liverpool yesterday, and a great showcase it was for both Britain and Liverpool. We had contributions that demonstrated real commitment to the creative sector from the Prime Minister, my noble friend the Trade Minister and the Culture Secretary. I was also delighted that my noble friend acknowledged the value of professional services, but it reminded me of the words of the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, in the paper No Stone Unturned: In Pursuit of Growth, which he wrote in 2012 about cities and regeneration. He said:
“What Liverpool forced me to confront was the extent to which these conditioning qualities had been driven from municipal England. The dynamism that had built the city was gone”.
There is a major RSA project under way, the City Growth Commission, chaired by Jim O’Neill, which will report in October this year. As the commission says, too many of the UK’s urban areas outside London are failing to achieve their growth potential. How can we make our cities competitive in the global economy? How can we strengthen our clusters? How can we tie in our universities as incubators? It is vital that we build on initiatives such as the LEPs, city deals and the regional growth fund.
As the Lords Select Committee recently concluded, our creative industries are increasingly part of Britain’s soft power. They are a vital aspect of our international trade and investment. A few days ago I took part in the third Technology Innovators Forum—TIF-IN—in Qingdao, opened by the Secretary of State for Business, which reflects that with the growth of digital platforms and applications there is a symbiotic relationship between the tech sector and creative content, as well as the need to promote our UK creative industries in emerging markets, especially China.
At TIF-IN, my right honourable friend launched the Global Digital Media and Entertainment Alliance with China, which will promote long-term relationships in the digital media and entertainment sectors. I am optimistic that it will greatly benefit the UK’s creative industries. We have a terrific team of UKTI people in China, with increasing sector specialisms. They have done an excellent job post-Olympics in developing Britain through the GREAT campaign. The FCO is very supportive. We now have an expert IP attaché in Beijing and other major markets.
However, UK companies, particularly SMEs, need persuading to be bolder. We need to demonstrate the benefits of trade and investment with emerging markets more effectively, and we need a much longer pipeline of SMEs lining up to do business in emerging markets. That means more UKTI resource in the UK, especially in the English regions.
Finally, as I cannot take part in Thursday’s debate, I want to mention the tourism sector. In that context I very much welcome the announcement last week at the British Hospitality Association summit of the creation of a new tourism council along the lines of the successful model of the Creative Industries Council. I hope that this will lead rapidly to a range of measures that will ensure the competitiveness of our tourism industry compared to other European destinations. That is also a vital part of our soft power.
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Con)
My Lords, one of the glories of these four days of debate on the Queen’s Speech is the wide-ranging nature of contributions from all sides of the House. I want to pick up one point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, and supported by the noble Baronesses, Lady Drake and Lady Hollis, and the noble Lords, Lord Monks and Lord Morris: the question of zero-hours contracts. This is not a defence of zero-hours contracts. I think there are things that need to be done to make them better, but many noble Lords would be astonished by how popular they are. I was for a number of years until a couple of months ago a director of a major brewery and pub company—we had 2,500 pubs—and the demand for zero-hours contracts from students and men and women who wanted to be able to work evenings and weekends when they wanted to was very considerable. It would be a shame if we shut off that opportunity for people to better themselves economically by overregulating the sector. That would be a grave error and I hope that the Government will not allow the regulatory burden to become too great.
For my part, I want to congratulate the Government on the progress they have made. Unsurprisingly, the record has a blemish or two, but overwhelmingly the story has been one of steady progress in the face of a range of extremely intractable problems inherited in May 2010. My noble friend Lord Stoneham of Droxford made an excellent series of comments about that in his remarks earlier. Now in this final year we are going to continue that programme with hard graft. I would like to pick out two Bills that we are going to be looking at: the protection of charities Bill and the social action, responsibility and heroism Bill—the SARAH Bill. I have to say that I think the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter of Kentish Town, was less than generous in saying that the Government were not interested in the charities sector.
Noble Lords will know that I have done quite a lot of work for the Government on the charities and voluntary sector, and I have prepared a couple of reports. I share the view that charitable or voluntary effort is a very important part of the glue that underpins the cohesion of our society. The first of those reports, Unshackling Good Neighbours, revealed that many people are put off volunteering, whether as a trustee or as a worker, by the perceived potential threat of legal action. This has been the result of some very well publicised legal judgments that appear entirely counterintuitive and some well publicised cases that in the event turn out to be myths. Whatever the reason, I am delighted that the Government have decided to put in statute that people have a responsibility for their own safety and that, so long as people seeking to help them behave responsibly, they will not be held liable by the courts if something goes wrong. I fear that this will not please the lawyers, who will argue that the case law and the precedents already established are entirely adequate. Further, lawyers find it extraordinarily difficult to accept that judges ever give counterintuitive judgments. But public perception on this issue is different, and in this case public perception is the critical factor. I hope that the Government will stick to their guns.
The second report I undertook was a review of the Charities Act. The charities sector does tremendous work but it has come in for a lot of criticism in recent years—the Cup Trust, executive salaries, aid going to fund extremism and so forth—so it is more important than ever that public trust and confidence in this sector are maintained. This requires vigorous action by the Charity Commission and, of course, appropriate action by the trustees of individual charities. My research found that the Charity Commission is underpowered in that regard, so I hope that the Bill will plug the gaps. I think that it is due here in the autumn. Once it is in place, I very much hope that the Charity Commission will not hesitate to use it in a proactive as well as a reactive way.
For the remaining few minutes of my remarks, I want to refer to an issue that I have raised several times in the past: that is, the future demographic shape of this country. Today, we are debating business, employment, pensions, welfare, agriculture and the environment. The policies in every one of these departments will be radically affected by the future absolute levels of population in this country. As is always the case, I need to start by making two things clear. This is not a debate about immigration or about the racial make-up of our country; I am not interested in those. My interest is in how future levels of population will affect every member of our settled population. Indeed, some strongly argue that it is the more recently arrived who will be the most affected. I continue to raise this because, of all the challenges that Governments face, demography has the longest lead times. A nudge on the demographic tiller has no immediate impact at all. Its effects are felt in 10, 20 or even 50 years. That is why it is so important that all Governments look to the future and decide what, if any, steps are necessary today.
The basic facts are these. The population of the United Kingdom increases every day by 1,150 people. That means that we are putting onto the map of Britain a large village or a small town every week for 52 weeks a year. Currently, 60% of those people are what is called the natural increase—the excess of births over deaths—and 40% from immigration. Should we mind that increase? Well, it is certainly going to have an extraordinarily dramatic impact on our country. We have heard a lot of speeches from noble Lords talking about housing. Currently, 2.4 people live in every dwelling. I think it will be accepted around the House that it is our duty as a civilised society to house our fellow citizens properly. If we assume that the ratio persists—it has been falling gradually over the years—we need 480 houses every day. We need some immediately to deal with adult immigrants and some over a slightly longer period to look after children as they mature. Noble Lords can do the mathematics: 480 houses every day means 20 houses every hour, a house every three minutes, night and day. That is going to make an impact.
In fairness to other Members of your Lordships’ House waiting to speak, today is not the occasion to address the other complex aspects of the subject, such as the relative population densities—England has now overtaken the Netherlands as the most densely populated country in Europe—or the relative economic advantage of immigration. It seems likely that the richer you are, the more immigration benefits you; the poorer you are, the more immigration is to your disadvantage. It is, however, worth asking one final question: where might this all end? The Government Actuary’s Department and the Office for National Statistics suggest that by mid-century—40 years from now—our population will be just below 80 million, that is, about a third higher than it is today. The bulk of that increase is likely to come in London and the south-east. Using the yardstick of housebuilding that I used before, we shall need to provide another 3.6 million homes.
To conclude, I think that this is a fantastic country to live in. That is why people want to come to live here. They have the chance to learn English—the world’s lingua franca, especially in the world of technology. Of course, they come to take advantage of the economic opportunities that exist here. However, I think that they also come because of what the Greeks would call our demos: that extraordinary mixture of the rule of law, the absence of corruption, the ability to speak your mind, the ability to follow your faith, the extraordinary breadth and depth of our country’s environment and cultural heritage and, last but not least, the prevailing atmosphere of tolerance and good humour. At heart, what has given this country its social cohesion is a sense of fairness. The Government and all parties need to reflect on whether the demographic challenges, which are coming as surely as night follows day, will put at risk that sense of fairness, and so partially undermine what has made our country such a distinctive and attractive place to live.
Lord Soley (Lab)
My Lords, I shall focus my comments today on the environment. I know that the Minister who will respond will not deal with this issue, but I should be grateful if he would draw my comments, particularly what I am going to say about defence forces and biofuels, to the attention of the relevant Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Astor.
The Queen’s Speech is too thin on environmental issues. I welcome the policy on plastic bags; I do not think that it is a laughing matter—the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, made the point well about the impact on wildlife. My noble friend Lady Sherlock made a very interesting point about the degradation of biodegradable bags, where the plastic itself does not degrade. That brings me to the heart of what I want to say. We still do not do enough in this country to put science and technology in the driving seat on climate change. I have expressed concern about climate change since I first wrote about it in the early 1980s, but I have never believed that the way to deal with it is to try to stop people driving, flying or whatever. When the developing world looks at us, they ask us—forcefully at times—why, when we cut down all our forests several hundred years ago, we are lecturing them on reducing their forests now. That is a powerful point, although of course it does not alter the factual situation that we have to address.
Science and technology are also important because, at times, people forget that Britain has been at the forefront of some of the science on climate change precisely because we are an advanced scientific nation, and particularly the advances made by what is still the second largest, second most advanced aerospace industry in the world. That is how we know about climate change. If we did not have the measurements available from the science learnt from the aerospace industry, we would not know a fraction of what we do about climate change. It is crucial to have science and technology in the driving seat.
Although it is now a declining number who deny the dangers of climate change, I make two passing points. The first is that if you are warned of a danger of this type, it is foolish to do anything other than adopt the precautionary principle and address the issue. If it turns out not to be as fearful as you expect, the damage is relatively little; if you do not do anything, the damage could be very severe.
The second common-sense reason for wanting to do something about it is that, by and large, it is a bad idea to encourage production without doing so in a non-polluting way. Think of the dramatic expansion in the world’s population, who are all going to want to fly, drive and have a living standard comparable to that of the UK, the US and western Europe. We cannot do that without the application of science and technology.
That brings me to my point about the defence forces. I make no apology for asking the Minister to draw it to the attention of the noble Lord, Lord Astor, because I tabled a Question on this issue, which I shall refer to in a moment. I also hope to get a short debate on the issue. Let me give my examples in very bald form from the various scientific journals and the Governments concerned. Our allies in the Royal Australian Navy make it clear that it plans to make all its ships and aircraft biofuel-capable within six years. The United States Navy plans to launch what it calls a “biofuel-enabled Great Green Fleet”—a bit of a dramatic title that—by 2016, a couple of years away,
“complete with fighter jets, helicopters, destroyers, and other ships”,
able to use biofuels.
It is not commonly known that many of the advanced fighter jets deployed by the United States in Afghanistan, and indeed many of their other aircraft, were using biofuels in the form of algae. A large part of the reason was not cost, because they are not cheap to produce, but security. If you are having your fuel lines blown up as it is brought in through Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is easier to produce the fuel on site—and that is what they did. The Italian navy currently has a ship deployed off the Baltic states, partly as a result of the NATO response to Crimea, which is a biofuel ship. They are also planning to increase the use of biofuels through one of their major companies. The Dutch air force is also now flying Apache helicopters with a mixture of biofuels.
I give those four examples—I could give others from other countries—because I want to read out the Question for Written Answer that I put down in January this year to the Ministry of Defence. I asked,
“what is their policy on the use of biofuel by the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force”.
The Answer was:
“The Ministry of Defence … uses biofuels in road transport (petrol and diesel) where EU legislation obliges fuel manufacturers to include a percentage of biofuels in the fuel they produce. The use of biofuels in marine and aviation fuel is governed by the requirements and approvals of MOD equipment manufacturers. The MOD is encouraging these manufacturers to work towards adopting biofuels in the future”.—[Official Report, 16/1/14; col. WA 37.]
That is an awfully sad reply. I then turn to our Royal Navy’s Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, the UK’s former climate and energy security adviser, who went to the United States a couple of years ago and came back recommending that the US and UK collaborate more closely on the development of strategic, high-performance biofuels.
These biofuels are not the ones that take up land use—that is, some of them are but the majority are designed to be renewable. One extremely important point that I have made to this House before is about algae, which can be produced in any type of water—salt water or dirty water—and is a very powerful additive. Why are we not doing anything and why is there nothing in the Queen’s Speech to put this science and technology drive right in the front seat? If you took out the green argument and just asked who would develop these fuels if we do not use them for our defence forces, they would be developed in the United States, Italy, Holland and other countries.
We are losing that high-tech bit which we won on when, through the aerospace industry, we spotted the dangers of climate change. People forget it now but quite a few years back when the ozone layer was being depleted by the use of chlorofluorocarbons, it was British science instruments based in the Antarctic which discovered that. The science and technology response to it means that the ozone layer is now recovering. Climate change is a problem of pollution, just as the depletion of the ozone layer was. We can solve it but it requires science and technology.
That is the message which I would like the Minister to take back to the noble Lord, Lord Astor, and alert him to the fact, if he is not already aware of it, that I am trying to get a debate on the Armed Forces. Frankly, I feel slightly ashamed at the nature of the Answer I got compared with what is being done in Australia, the United States, Holland, France, Italy and elsewhere. We are not doing very well, yet we have been at the forefront of the science and technology.
The Earl of Selborne (Con)
Like the noble Lord, Lord Soley, I would like to focus my remarks on the environment. The purpose of the Bill promised in the gracious Speech which will impose a charge of 5p for a single-use non-biodegradable plastic bag is presumably to do more than reduce the pollution caused by those ubiquitous bags. The Bill is a not very subtle nudge to make us change our behaviour and become more aware of how we can reduce adverse impacts on the environment, which will in turn damage our economy. I would welcome the Bill with more enthusiasm if I could be sure that the Government themselves were pursuing a coherent, overarching strategy to achieve what they said they would in the 2011 environment White Paper. As your Lordships will remember, that set out an agenda for this Parliament with the brave aim of being the first generation to improve our natural environment.
There are in fact a number of areas where in recent decades we have indeed improved our environment. Pollution control, which is the primary purpose of the charge on plastic bags, is in many ways something of a success story. We no longer have pea-soupers or a stinking Thames and, as my noble friend Lord Patten reminded us today, the otter has made a comeback in many of our rivers. However, as we increase our consumption, so we increase the danger of harmful impacts on ecosystems and ecosystem services. In the United Kingdom we have converted or modified most of our semi-natural vegetation to arable and grassland use. Major increases in fertiliser use, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous, adversely affect aquatic ecosystems through run-off. As my noble friend Lord Plumb reminded us, United Kingdom agriculture has also delivered a largely successful programme, initiated after the Second World War, to improve our food security, but the price has been increased leakages into soil, air and water.
Other sectors including energy, industry, housing and transport, some of which could also be described as success stories, have also had major impacts on ecosystems and the delivery of ecosystem services. Examples of such impacts are the deposition of atmospheric nitrogen and sulphur, the loss of habitats through construction and disruption of flood regimes in river basins and coastal wetlands. We take ecosystem services too often for granted yet we depend on them to produce our food, to regulate water supplies and climate, to break down waste products and much else. Nutrient cycling, the purification of air, soils and water, groundwater recharge and flood control are all critical to our economy and our well-being, yet these services are consistently undervalued in economic terms. If we want reminding of just how damaging extreme events can be, think of the impact of what happened in Thailand in 2011, when in one year flooding reduced its GDP by 11%.
The Natural Capital Committee was set up to advise the Government on how to deliver the aspirations of the 2011 environment White Paper. We had signed up at the Earth Summit in 1992, and subsequently elsewhere, to heroic targets—for example, on protecting our biodiversity—but had, frankly, no prospect of achieving those targets and no coherent policy either. The committee has now produced two helpful reports, the second in March this year, and its message to the Government is that we must plan long-term, by which it means at least 25 years. The second report states that integrating the environment into the economy is hampered by the almost complete absence of proper accounting for natural assets—what is not measured is usually ignored. The committee is leading in developing metrics and risk registers, identifying the necessary capital maintenance and ensuring that project and investment appraisals in both the public and private sectors properly take natural capital into account.
I wish the committee every success, but it has to change the way that investment decisions have been made for generations. Take, for example, the proposed Thames Water tideway scheme, which has been contemplated since the 1990s and which is to resolve the problem of contamination of the Thames tideway from sewerage overflows by a new tunnel that will cost £4.2 billion at 2011 prices. The driver for this is the urban waste water directive from the European Union and the threat of some highly expensive infraction proceedings. Yet this project, so long in gestation, does nothing to promote water recycling, flood alleviation, green infrastructure or sustainable urban drainage systems. It is, frankly, the Victorian solution of Bazalgette repeated, and it puts the problem firmly into the hands of one organisation, Thames Tideway Tunnel Ltd, and the cost on those in the Thames Water catchment, whether near the tideway or miles away in Gloucestershire, Berkshire or wherever. It is probably too late to stop this scheme but I am sure that it would never be started now, when we are learning at last how to value our natural capital.
By the end of this Parliament in March next year, we should be able to judge whether the committee’s advice to the Government on the need for long-term planning has been accepted. If we are to make biodiversity offsetting work, one of the more innovative proposals that have been considered by Defra and put out to consultation, it can be done only with the help of a detailed national long-term plan. By definition you will never be able to offset ancient woodland, for example, but you might be able to offset other habitats—meadows, perhaps, or wetlands.
When Sir John Lawton produced his 2010 report Making Space for Nature, he attributed the continuing decline of many species to the size of protected sites, which tend to be too small to prevent random fluctuations driving local populations to extinction. His solution was to create more, bigger, better managed and joined-up sites in a landscape-level approach to wildlife conservation. Such an approach would be possible only by involving partnerships working together on well designed schemes, funded appropriately by agri-environmental and woodland grant schemes.
Such schemes must be underpinned by sound ecological research and supported by good-quality data, with their effectiveness measured by a suitable monitoring system. Realistically, funding on this scale can come only from a reformed common agricultural policy that allows national Governments to allocate maximum resources to environmental programmes. That brings us back to the need to achieve greater subsidiarity and for the Prime Minister to be supported in this essential endeavour.
Viscount Hanworth (Lab)
My Lords, this year the Speech from the Throne has been a very dull affair; it is distinguished more by its omissions than by its inclusions. It has failed to address the urgent problems that have arisen from the previous enactments of the Government. The programme of privatisation and deregulation, which has been accompanied by the disengagement of the state from all manner of social services and provisions, has surely run its course.
The programme has led to the neglect of some severe social problems, one of the most prominent examples of which is in connection with the provision of social housing. Several speakers in a previous debate mentioned the role of Harold Macmillan at the Ministry of Local Government and Planning in Churchill’s Government of 1951 in providing affordable social housing Macmillan was given the task of overseeing the building of 300,000 houses per year. This was an objective that had been mandated by the Conservative Party conference of 1950, and it was amply fulfilled. The policy of housebuilding depended on close co-operation between central and local government. Local government was empowered to finance homebuilding by issuing bonds and was given substantial subventions from the Treasury. The percentage of people renting from local authorities rose to over one-quarter of the population, from 10% in 1938 to 26% in 1961.
In the era of Margaret Thatcher there was a complete reversal of the housing policies of the Conservatives. The Housing Act 1980 gave a right to buy to council tenants, and within 10 years 1 million council houses were sold. Thereafter the building of houses by local authorities virtually ceased, and none has been built since the early 1990s.
The present Government have taken further steps to prevent local authorities from embarking on housebuilding programmes. The Localism Act 2011 transferred roughly £21 billion of housing debt to the 171 local authorities that currently own houses, in return for fuller control over their housing stock. At the same time the Government introduced a debt cap on each local authority, which restricts the amount of money that they will be able to borrow in connection with their housing stock.
In effect, the Government have divested themselves of any responsibility for publicly owned housing and have allowed local authorities only enough money to cover the cost of its maintenance. This is an encouragement to the authorities also to divest themselves of any ownership of housing, and many have already done so.
Nowadays, the Conservatives appear to believe, in line with a free-market philosophy, that the provision of housing should be wholly a matter for the private sector. However, in recent years housebuilding by the private sector has all but collapsed. Against all evidence, the belief has been fostered that the failure of the private sector is due to its having become mired in red tape and planning restrictions. Accordingly, the Growth and Infrastructure Bill of the previous Session established a new national planning framework which replaced 44 planning documents by a slim document of 50 pages. In the process, a set of documents that had been providing careful planning guidance in many specific circumstances, and which had been developed and refined over the previous 25 years, has been tossed into the rubbish bin. This act of vandalism represents a remarkable triumph of ideology over analysis.
At the same time as we have seen a collapse of housebuilding, we have seen a boom in house prices and a remarkable escalation in the rents charged by private sector landlords. The unaffordability of house ownership and the exorbitant costs of rented property are immiserating a generation of young people. A symptom of their distress is the escalating size of the housing benefit paid to those who cannot otherwise afford any accommodation. The cost of housing benefit in the financial year 2013-14 was £23.8 billion, which was almost 30% of the entire welfare bill. This dwarfs the £1.5 billion that has been spent on capital investment in social housing.
At the same time as they have been subsidising the incomes of private landlords via the housing benefit, the Government have been stoking the rise in house prices by their Help to Buy scheme. This has offered assistance to those who are already rich enough to think of purchasing a house. One can think of few policies that could be more socially divisive.
The house price inflation has led to a massive transfer of wealth in favour of the richer members of an older generation, who are well established in their properties. An obvious recourse would be to tax some of their wealth in residential property. Then, the proceeds could be used for building social housing to be provided at affordable rents. If the houses were built in sufficient numbers, then some of them might be for sale. It has been said, in opposition to such a wealth tax, that it would be unfair to those who are rich in assets but poor in income. The objections seem to deny the close correlation between income and wealth. However, the escalation of house prices could be very effectively staunched by a tax imposed on the sellers of properties. This could be assessed on the basis of their capital gains derived from the increased value of their houses. There would be no disadvantage to asset-rich and elderly people who choose to linger in spacious and valuable properties. The proceeds of such a tax would be used predominantly for the purpose of financing the building of social housing in the areas from which they have been derived. To the extent that rising house prices are a reflection of the scarcity of housing, the revenue would be reinvested where the need is greatest.
The costs of investment in social capital, whether they are met through taxation or by the issue of bonds, should not be reckoned as part of the central government’s current account. Such costs should be deemed to have no bearing on the Government’s financial deficit. Nevertheless, the present Government profess that, in a time of financial stringency, they cannot afford to meet the costs of major investments in social capital. This is surely a spurious excuse with which they are hoping to conceal their wilful neglect.
Lord Smith of Clifton (LD)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my erstwhile academic colleague the noble Viscount. I want to concentrate on consumer affairs, which were an aspect of the speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter.
Some 30 years ago, the late Lord Grimond of Firth gave a lecture at City University on changes then taking place in commerce with the introduction of computerisation into retailing. He was passing a branch of an insurance company in which he had a small life policy he was thinking of cashing in. He entered and inquired of the assistant whether he could be sent an updated valuation if it was paid up. She asked him to wait a minute while she did the calculation on the computer. This upset him. He wanted the details to arrive in the post some days later. Having the valuation there and then was not part of the consideration he was making. He hoped to turn it over in his mind before coming to a decision and was disoriented by being stampeded with the immediacy of the information provided. It short-circuited the process and usurped the opportunity to ponder his course of action.
Those of a certain advanced age will sympathise with Jo Grimond’s discomfort at having to amend his previous biorhythms. Computerisation has brought benefits, as my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones said, but it has also brought disadvantages to the consumer, and these are what I want to bring to your Lordships’ attention.
IT can be and is being used to the public’s disadvantage, as I know from two recent experiences of my own. The first case concerns HMRC. The Daily Mail, Sunday Times, Observer, Financial Times and other newspapers have drawn attention to Her Majesty’s Treasury’s intention to give HMRC powers to have direct access to private current accounts of those deemed to be defaulting on their tax liabilities. I believe very firmly that tax dodgers should be pursued and made to pay up. However, from my own recent experience, I do not believe HMRC is functioning adequately to be allowed direct access to personal bank accounts at this stage.
Although, as a pensioner, my tax position is fairly simple, I nevertheless always get a firm of chartered accountants to prepare and file my tax returns to ensure their accuracy. They, in turn, advise me of any shortfall, which I then pay to HMRC. For the year 2012-13 they told me that I should pay £992.62, which I promptly did, well before the deadline set.
I was surprised, therefore, to receive a demand for the same amount from HMRC. I checked my documents—my cheque stub and my bank statement—which clearly showed money had left my account. I telephoned HMRC’s Leeds office. After waiting 40 minutes my call was answered. I had all my documentation to hand so I could provide the necessary information. After much trouble at the other end, it was discovered that my cheque had in fact been paid into the Cardiff HMRC collection office, which is where I had usually sent it. I asked why HMRC did not have a computer system that linked up its various branches automatically as a matter of course. I received no answer. I asked for a written confirmation that the money had been paid, and was told that it was not HMRC practice to issue receipts as it would not be necessary now that the situation had been cleared up—ha ha.
The next week I received another demand for the same amount, plus a £49 penalty for late payment, with threats that debt collectors would call if I did not pay. I received similar demands for the next four weeks. HMRC has no control over its computer system, which dementedly and endlessly sends out demands for weeks on end. This was to someone classified in the official jargon as a “frail, old” pensioner who had always been assiduous in paying his tax well before the deadline. I was innocent, receiving neither an apology nor a receipt which I could have shown the bailiffs while being harassed by this out-of-control computer juggernaut.
I wrote to the chief executive of HMRC on 8 March last, complaining of the treatment I was receiving. I wrote again on 20 March, complaining I had received yet another tax demand. My original letter of 8 March was acknowledged on 14 March, promising I would receive a reply by 3 April. Hardly surprisingly, HMRC failed to meet its own self-imposed deadline. I emailed the HQ reminding it, and received a reply dated 10 April which sought to explain what had happened and apologised, but it accepted that its telephone contact system did not meet industry standards.
As a member of your Lordships’ Economic Affairs Select Committee, I saw the HMRC’s inadequacy in chasing up large corporations who pursue aggressive tax avoidance schemes. The committee reported that HMRC had a lack of resources to do this. Yet HMRC seems to have enough spare capacity to aggressively harass innocent OAPs like me. The proposed new powers, apparently, would enable HMRC computers to hack into my current account, transferring £992.62 for weeks on end. Until and unless HMRC can guarantee this could not happen these new powers should not be approved.
My second example concerns British Telecom. My home landline was out of service for 10 days from 23 November last. I received my usual quarterly payment request, but no deduction had been made for this contractual failure by BT. I phoned to ask why, only to be told that no refunds were made unless requested by the subscriber. BT has the records on computer and deductions should be made automatically, in my view. To add insult to injury, I was told I was entitled to a rebate of a paltry £3.17. When I queried this, I was referred to an account manager, who restated BT policy without any attempt to explain let alone justify that policy, which is tantamount to attempted theft. He wrote a template reiteration:
“I am sorry you are unhappy with this condition of service, however this is the case ... This means we have reached deadlock”.
He suggested that I take my complaint to the communications ombudsman, which I did on 20 May. I received no acknowledgement, despite two requests from me, until Sunday 1 June—at least they work out of hours. The reply requested nine items of information, almost all of which were contained in my original letter, and the rest could have been obtained from the computerised records of BT. In addition, it was suggested that I should take my complaint to Ofcom.
I responded immediately, saying that it was the ombudsman's job to utilise the information conveyed in my letter—why should I have to repeat it? I also asked why BT had suggested in the first place that I make contact with the ombudsman, which, for its part, thought I should go to Ofcom with my complaint. None of this adds up. I have yet to receive a reply from the ombudsman. Like almost all regulators it leaves very much to be desired in the service it provides.
I am being pushed from pillar to post by these agencies. Clearly, there is a conspiracy of attrition which hopes that procrastination will dissuade complainants: is it worth it for £3.17? Yes, it is. How many thousands of £3.17s are there? Unclaimed amounts get transferred across to profits at the end of the year, swelling the remuneration packages of BT senior management. It is tantamount, as I said, to theft.
It is quite clear from these two examples that the failure to utilise computers to facilitate customer-friendly services should be exposed for what it is: an attempt to obfuscate, prevaricate and procrastinate in the hope that complainants will give up through sheer exhaustion. This must stop forthwith, and Her Majesty’s Government should address this issue.
Lord Swinfen (Con)
My Lords, I hope that the Minister will send a copy of today’s Hansard to HM Revenue and Customs and point out my noble friend’s speech, which HMRC should read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.
I live in an arable farming area in the south-east of England, and my remarks will be based on that. I recall, back in 1962, being given by my mother a copy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a book on the evil effects of pesticides. I also recall, some years later, the problems when DDT was used in subtropical parts of the world to deal with the Anopheles mosquito in an attempt to prevent the spread of malaria. They did not succeed in doing that but instead polluted the land, because DDT is a pollutant. I suspect that in some of those areas the land is still polluted, because they probably did not have the wherewithal to clear it up. I understand that DDT has since been banned.
I am surrounded by arable land. A few years ago, a large field with a young crop of rape was liberally spread with slug pellets. I do not know how many pellets there were to the square yard, as I did not count them, but if you had put down an outstretched hand, there would have been a lot of them underneath. Hedgehogs died, because they eat slugs. We have not had any hedgehogs since. I know that there has also been a disease, but their deaths may have been caused by the pesticide that was intended to deal with the slugs.
We used to have swallows at home, in large numbers, some of which nested in an outbuilding. I cannot blame my neighbour who owns the land because for many years an agricultural contractor has done the work on it—under contract, I believe—and I suspect that it does not matter to the contractor what state the land is in when his contract comes to an end. The swallows died. We had one swallow last year. I found it lying on its back on the ground. We have had no more since. That is a terrible waste, and it will take years for swallows to return because they normally nest in the same area each year. It will also mean that the farming practices around us will have to change so that they have the flies to feed on.
There are no larks, no starlings, apart from one or two, as opposed to the large flocks that we used to have. In the agricultural fields around us there are no sparrows; there are hardly any birds at all. There is not the food for them. There are no butterflies. Walking the dogs I did come across some bees. They were on the track and they were dying because of the insecticides used on the crops.
What I am saying about the area in which I live is probably happening in other parts of arable farming in this country. I know that we need to produce as much food as we can as cheaply as we can, but is it worth losing our wild flowers and our normal insects? In the summer I used to be bothered by flies; there are not any flies to bother me any more. There are not any bees and not many wasps.
Last year there was some rain while the harvest was taking place near me. They had to keep the men employed and the machinery operating, so they trimmed the hedges. They trimmed off all the berries that the birds, if there were any, would have eaten during the winter. There was no food for the birds over the winter.
While I have been there, which is over 40 years, the land has had only chemicals and no dung put on it. The land is no longer ploughed but is cultivated, and not to the old eight inches deep as with ploughing. In days long gone past, dung would have been ploughed into the soil, which helped with the drainage of rain from the soil while at the same time retaining a supply of moisture in the soil for the plants to grow.
Of late, even the straw which used to be chopped up and ploughed in—or rather cultivated in, because it is only the top two or three inches that is cultivated nowadays—is being carted away, I suspect down to the West Country where it is being used for animal bedding, or possibly animal feed, and not put into the soil. No humus is going back into the soil at all. I wonder what is happening to the condition of the soil. Vegetable soil takes 1,000 years to form; it can be destroyed in the matter of a few years.
I do not blame the owners of the land. Their farming is all done under contract, with the contractor—I do not know who it is; I do not want to know who it is—quite obviously wanting to make as much money as they can out of the land as quickly as possible, and then abandon the land and go on elsewhere.
The noble Earl, Lord Selborne, mentioned nitrogen on the soil. It is one of the few things that are put on. The run-off produces the most terrific weed growth in the local watercourses, blocking the watercourses, and then has to be removed at considerable expense. I wonder to what extent that caused the flooding on the Somerset levels. I do not know; I am not an expert. It is only a question in my mind.
I have another question. I am not a farmer and know nothing about the common agricultural policy, but I wonder if part of this is a result of the common agricultural policy, and whether we ought to have a very good look at what we are doing to the soil in the agricultural areas of our country to make certain that it is useful and in good condition for years and generations to come.
Baroness Turner of Camden (Lab)
My Lords, it is surprising that there is so little in the gracious Speech about employment law. During the lifetime of this Government, the employment protections which many of us have fought for for years have almost disappeared. It has now become almost impossible for a dismissed worker to sue for unfair dismissal at a tribunal. The proceedings are not only very complicated but very expensive; it can cost an employee about £1,000 to get a hearing. Accidents at work continue to happen far too frequently, particularly in the construction industry, but again suing has been made more difficult for the employee or his family. The Government have made it clear what they think about employment rights with their absurd scheme whereby employees abandon all employment rights in exchange for shares in the employing company. A number of us in your Lordships’ House opposed these measures when they were proposed here, but, unfortunately, without success.
We are told that the employment situation has improved, particularly in London and the south-east, but not I think for younger people. The same goes for older people, too. I have received letters from time to time from people over 50 years of age who have been made redundant. They desperately want to work again, but receive no replies to their job applications. This is particularly true for older women, as has already been pointed out. In other parts of the country, the situation is much worse. In the Midlands and the north there are areas where once the manufacturing industry provided work for whole communities, but the factories no longer exist to do so.
Clearly, there should be area renewal plans for such areas. Perhaps the Government will tell us what they have in mind, if anything, for these areas. But even where jobs exist, as in the London area, problems exist for poorer families. I am glad that the Government have agreed that the minimum wage must be increased and enforced. There is also more pressure for the living wage, which my party supports. Living costs in London have become impossibly expensive. There is a desperate shortage of affordable housing, as we have heard from other noble Lords, and in the mean time, despite the right to buy which has assisted some people, many poorer people are confined to rented accommodation in the private sector. There is a case for some intervention here. There is a need for more social housing to be built, as a number of noble Lords have said. This has been proposed by the London mayor, but it takes time, even if what he proposes is enough. This is a crisis, and there is therefore a reason to impose restrictions on the amount that may be charged for private rentals. I know of course that the Government are anxious to reduce the amount spent on welfare, but this becomes impossible if wages are too low and rents too high. This is currently the situation in London.
I have briefly set out the situation as I see it in London and the south-east, but there is another aspect which receives far less attention than perhaps it should. There is a lot of talk nowadays about the growing inequalities in our society. Many of us deplore this and wish that we could do something about it. Encouragement is given to community and voluntary organisations, and it is right that that should be done, but the largest voluntary organisations in this country are those built by the workers themselves. I refer, of course, to the trades unions. A recent survey indicated that one reason for the growth in inequality was a decline in union power. If that is so, I deplore it. But the Government certainly either ignore unions entirely or introduce legislation to make their functioning more difficult. This is a mistake. Unions have as their main function representing their members’ best interests, but they provide a range of other benefits to individual members as well, such as legal services to individuals in a situation in which legislation through LASPO has reduced access to legal aid for a whole range of issues, including employment and welfare.
Training and education are also areas where unions have been able to help members who have missed out in this respect earlier in their careers. The TUC’s Unionlearn has been widely praised for the training it provides. Many parliamentarians owe their education to union scholarships undertaken at Ruskin College, Oxford. I benefited from that provision through my union. Unions are increasingly becoming involved in community work and simply do not deserve the demonisation that occurs too often in the media, and the Government should simply ignore it.
The noble Lord, Lord Bamford, in a very good maiden speech, referred to the successful economy and high productivity in Germany. One of the reasons for that is the involvement of the unions in consultation, an issue with which we should be concerned in this country.
As has already been indicated, the proposals on pensions are extremely complicated. I was very interested to hear what my noble friend Lord Monks had to say about this, with which I agree. Retired people want a regular, reliable income that they can count on, perhaps linked to increases in wages. I am not certain that the proposals in the Bill will provide this.
As regards welfare, there appear to be difficulties in implementing the universal credit measures. The changes are already causing concern, particularly among disabled people. Again, this is something to which we must return when the House is ready to discuss the welfare problems that we all know exist. They would certainly benefit from further discussion by your Lordships.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con)
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden, who speaks with such knowledge and authority. This has been a very interesting debate in which we have benefited from two outstandingly cogent and engaging maiden speeches from my noble friend Lord Bamford and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham.
A point made by many noble Lords on the Benches opposite relates to the content of the Queen’s Speech and the suggestion that it is light. I do not think that is the case. I have done some research through the internet on previous Queen’s Speeches. It is interesting that search engines reveal that in relation to previous gracious Speeches the person most mentioned after Her Majesty is Dennis Skinner. That throws up the interesting possibility of him being an important part of the constitution. Perhaps we have missed a trick in the gracious Speech in not seeking to privatise him.
In the last two years of the previous Labour Government 26 Bills were proposed, whereas in the last two years of this Government there have been 28. We should not just measure the number of Bills but also examine their content. However, the suggestion that this is the fag end of the coalition Government is not borne out by the important content of the Bills in the latest Queen’s Speech. I refer, for example, to the measures on pensions, which were referred to most recently by the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden. Under the new proposals people will not be obliged to take a lump sum and the annuity option will still be available. We should rejoice in the fact that pensions will be freed up so that people will be able to take a lump sum if they want to do so. I agree that it is important that there should be access to impartial, independent advice. However, given the provision of such advice, this is a radical, bold move which will help pensioners across the board. If they have that independent advice, they can make up their minds about what is most appropriate for them.
Also, the pooling of funds as is done in Denmark and the Netherlands is again welcome. The noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, referred to the fact that she welcomed that. If we look at this and study it, it will again help pensioners in years to come. It is important and to be welcomed. It is a meaty part of the gracious Speech.
I turn next to another important part, relating to small businesses. In many contributions from all round the House, noble Lords talked about business as if somehow all businesses are the same. Indeed, there have been suggestions that people disapprove of business. That may be true in terms of polling but I suspect that where that is the case they looked much more at large FTSE companies than at small businesses—the small print shop at the corner of the street, or the small two or one-person business that has become incorporated, the sole trader. These are vital for the running of our economy.
I welcome some of the measures heralded in the gracious Speech. On providing fair access to public procurement contracts, as the Minister said, £230 billion is spent on those contracts. To ensure that small businesses have a share of that is right and important not just for those small businesses but for the entire country, which will benefit from the prosperity that that will generate.
I also welcome the provision looking at red tape. I know that routinely Governments always do this. I hope the Government are serious about this because it is important. Look at the way we treat businesses, for example in the Companies Act 2006. This is not a political point: the Act was passed under the last Government but largely with all-party approval. It is the largest measure ever passed by the Westminster Parliament, with 1,300 Sections and 16 Schedules. It applies, by and large if not entirely, as much to the small incorporated business with perhaps one shareholder as it does to FTSE companies. That is nonsense. Admittedly there are exceptions, but we need much more to drill down and ensure that we do not tie up in red tape our small businesses—which should be in the business of business: earning income and providing employment for people. It is more appropriate for larger companies, perhaps, but even there we need to be careful. That Companies Act is also without reference to the insolvency legislation, European directives, the Enterprise Act, financial services legislation and so on. I am not suggesting that we throw out health and safety legislation. That is vital. Good work has been done on that by successive Governments. However, we need to see how we treat small businesses with a lighter touch on some of the regulatory provisions relating to meetings, accounts and so on. That is imperative. In so far as the Queen’s Speech heralds that, I very much welcome it.
Other provisions in the Queen’s Speech I will mention just briefly. The assistance for public house tenants is to be welcomed as malpractices happen. I welcome the fact that we are to have a statutory code and an adjudicator. That is important.
I welcome, too, the provision on carrier bags. In Wales, I voted in favour of this—I am sure my noble friend Lord German did, too—in Cardiff when it went through. Wales was the first part of the United Kingdom to have this legislation and it went through with all-party approval. Again, it makes sense environmentally and from an economic point of view. It is much to be welcomed and is not just applicable within the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. It has been tried and tested and is working in parts of Africa such as Botswana and parts of Asia such as Hong Kong—in slightly different ways, admittedly. There is much we could learn from that, too.
I also mention briefly the carryover Bill—the Wales Bill. I declare my interest as a member of the Silk commission that did a lot of the work now contained in that Bill. This is an important piece of legislation that will contribute to the economy. It provides for a measure of taxation for the National Assembly for Wales in terms of landfill, stamp duty land tax, income tax subject to a referendum, and a measure of borrowing. No doubt we will have to revisit some of that after the Scottish referendum in terms of the way it works across the United Kingdom, but that is an important piece of legislation, too.
In short, there is much in this gracious Speech to welcome. I am sure we all have our pet schemes and would like the Government to have done some other things. For example, I am interested in the promotion of STEM education—something we need to be doing—and the protection of older people. There are many things, but I have sat through most of the debate and I have noticed that there is not much that people have disagreed with. The speech has been criticised for not containing things, rather than for what it contains. With that, I welcome the gracious Speech.
Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab)
My Lords, at this time of day, following a long, wide-ranging and absorbing debate, most of the points have been extensively and superbly addressed. I offer my apologies for the inevitable reiteration.
There have been two great maiden speeches. The noble Lord, Lord Bamford, as another ex-engineering apprentice, ensures that JCB puts its money where its corporate mouth is: into training, apprenticeships and vocational education, investing in today’s and tomorrow’s engineers. Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to visit the JCB Academy, which is now a university technical college. It is a superb college, with a balanced approach to vocational education that enthuses and inspires young people. I also echo the praise of other Peers for the speech of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, especially his concern for young people and their expectations of a career or job. He highlighted the need to meet those expectations. As a country, we cannot afford another lost generation of young people who despair of finding a worthwhile job.
I want to focus on two areas: justice for workers in employment and, unsurprisingly, apprenticeships. Before I do, I want to make a plea. In any future debates on pensions, I ask that we stop advertising Lamborghinis when we have a whole range of high-quality British cars, such as Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin. I do not know who got the contract to advertise Lamborghinis, but they are doing well.
I was dismayed when I heard the Minister talk about ensuring further reductions in the number of employment tribunals as reducing the burden on business. As my noble friend Lady Drake informed the House, in the past year we have experienced a 79% reduction in employment tribunals since fees were introduced. For many ordinary workers, unless they belonged to a trade union—as my noble friend Lady Turner reminded us—the upfront costs of seeking redress from an employer who had treated them unfairly meant that justice was denied. I do not want to see unnecessary tribunals and I hope that mediation will be successful, but employment tribunals are not just red tape or a burden. They are a necessary means of defending hard-won workers’ rights and ensuring that employers meet legal requirements, whether they are the minimum wage or zero-hours contracts. We know that far too many employers are willing to deny their employees basic rights. My noble friend Lady Donaghy highlighted the problems of casual employment, which is especially evident in the construction industry, where still too many workers are often falsely described as self-employed. Of course I welcome the proposals to enforce a minimum wage—that is long overdue—but I am far from convinced that the Government will take meaningful action on those employers who exploit zero-hours contracts.
I turn now to apprenticeships. In other debates I have been accused of being churlish towards the Government’s proposals for the expansion of apprenticeships, but at least I recognise their commitment and some achievement. That is more than I can say of the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, in her description of the previous Labour Government. I can accept, in the cut and thrust of debate, a bit of rhetorical hyperbole, but there are limits. I quote from her speech last Thursday. She said that,
“as I go up and down the country and talk to young people who are now just getting into employment, they came through education during the Labour years when they did not get the skills they needed, when there were no apprenticeships” .—[Official Report, 5/6/14; col. 112.]
No apprenticeships? Let me just remind noble Lords, as my noble friend Lord Macdonald of Tradeston did, that when we inherited an almost moribund apprenticeship scheme, we had only 65,000 apprenticeships left and an abysmal completion rate of about 37%. When we left we had 280,000 apprenticeships with a 71% completion rate. It was not good enough and there was much more work to be done, but I hardly think it deserves to be characterised as “no apprenticeships”. We left a firm foundation, which is usually acknowledged by this Government.
A number of Peers have warned of the Government’s desire to quote the large figure of 2 million apprentices. My noble friend Lord Bhattacharyya warned that most of these were adults over the age of 25 and already in employment, and the Richard review recommended that they should not be described as apprentices. Their work may involve essential reskilling and retraining but, in my view, those are not the areas on which we should focus. We need to focus on quality and on two groups—16 to 18 year-olds, where we have seen a decline, and 19 to 24 year-olds. Both are vital age ranges. The Government’s latest proposals on funding apprenticeships are causing concern among employers. The noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, warned us that they may cause some small employers to regard apprenticeships as a financial risk. If we are serious about expanding apprenticeships, we must ensure that the dismal figure of only 8% of all employers and only a third of FTSE 100 companies taking on apprentices is massively expanded.
As I have said on many occasions, the Government should lead by example. I look to the Minister to tell us in his reply why they do not make it a mandatory requirement for public procurement contracts to require apprenticeships. We did it with both the Olympics and Crossrail. We also need to expand group training associations and apprenticeship training associations. All local authorities and local enterprise partnerships should be developing apprenticeships as part of an industrial strategy. Let us not argue about where we need apprenticeships. That is obvious—in engineering, IT, construction, healthcare and the creative arts. In most cases, demand exceeds supply. It is perhaps appropriate that the noble Lord, Lord Livingston, is here because I always quote BT, where something like 25,000 applications go chasing 400 apprenticeships. It is tougher to get into BT than it is to get into Oxford or Cambridge, and I reflect on that as a former GPO apprentice.
As the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, reminded us, schools have a vital role to play in giving comprehensive career advice. However, in many cases they fail to do so, focusing on directing all their students towards A-levels. I go into many schools and when I ask the 16 to 18 year-olds whether they have heard of apprenticeships, they look at me in amazement as though it is something they are totally unaware of. What should we do about that? The noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, suggested that, in its inspections, Ofsted should look at the quality of careers advice. I would welcome the Minister’s comments on that.
Under current legislation, schools have a legal duty to give a comprehensive range of careers advice, but most of them are still failing to do so. We need to continue to upgrade the status of apprenticeships. We need to emulate the companies which ensure that there is a proper graduation ceremony when apprentices finish an apprenticeship scheme. We need to ensure that apprentices go back into schools and tell young people—especially young women—what good career opportunities present themselves in apprenticeships.
In my view, combating the scourge of youth unemployment is our biggest challenge. If we are serious about creating a fairer society—and I think that that is an aim that all of us in this Chamber share—then it is a challenge that we cannot fail to meet.
Viscount Ridley (Con)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, and what he says on apprenticeships is much appreciated. I should like to focus my remarks chiefly on the small business, enterprise and employment Bill, but I shall also touch on agriculture and the environment. In doing so, I declare my relevant interests as listed in the register, particularly on the subject of agriculture.
I begin by congratulating my noble friend Lord Livingston not only on his remarks about business in opening this debate but on what he said in Liverpool yesterday. If the press is to be believed, he said that this is,
“a creative country, a modern country, an innovative country, a country led by design”.
I welcome those remarks. He was of course talking about the revival of the economy of the north-west of England, but I hope that he will not mind if I also draw his attention to the remarkable transformation that we are beginning to see in the economy of the north-east of England. That is something that the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham touched on in his excellent maiden speech, on which I congratulate him. There are more people at work in the north-east LEP area than ever before. We have seen the equivalent of six new Nissan plants in the north-east in the past 12 months. These are good jobs in software and offshore in engineering and technology. Overall, productivity in the north-east is up by 14% between 2009 and 2012, which is three times as great an increase in productivity as in the country as a whole. While mentioning productivity, I also want to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bamford, on his excellent maiden speech.
Turning to the UK as a whole, I probably do not need to tell my noble friend the Minister about the vital importance of innovation. That is the theme I particularly want to talk about. Two-thirds of UK growth between 1997 and 2007 was due to innovation according to NESTA—the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. There is no way that we can grow out of the debt burden that still hangs over our economy without huge amounts of innovation. We are on the brink of several innovative revolutions in technology: in personalised medicine, on which we stand a good chance of being in the forefront; in 3D printing; in self-driven vehicles; in self limiting crypto-currencies, I read in some newspapers; and in collaborative consumption, where we can each use our spare rooms to become hoteliers and our used cars to become car rental companies. The other exciting thing that is happening all over the world is peer-to-peer networks—which we are very good at in this place, obviously, but I think it means something else. I looked up some numbers and discovered that, if you bought a pair of jeans in 1982 and were on the average wage, it took an hour and 50 minutes of work to earn the price of those jeans. Today it costs 41 minutes for an equivalent pair of jeans. That is what innovation delivers. It delivers a shrinkage in the amount of time that people have to work to fulfil their needs. That, of course, enables them to fulfil more needs and provide more people with jobs.
On the subject of innovation, it is worth pointing out just how crucial the “D” rather than the “R” is in R&D. We are very good at research in this country. We have the second most Nobel Prizes in the world, but we are not so good at development. We are not so good at turning those discoveries into innovation. The perspiration that goes into starting a business and commercialising an innovation is as important, if not more so, than the inspiration that goes into the discovery. I welcome the Government’s initiatives over the past few years, such as the patent box, in particular.
However, I also want to make a specific suggestion that I hope my noble friend will be able to look at, which is to look at various options for improving incentives for entrepreneurs. We are at the moment very generous to venture capital investors in start-up businesses through the EIS and the VCT scheme. By the way, we have to be generous to investors—otherwise in this country we would spend all our money on housing—but we are not quite so generous to entrepreneurs. If someone wants entrepreneur’s relief, he has to apply for it after he has sold his business and there is not a great deal of certainty about that. On the whole, the person sitting across the table from the venture capital investor is not getting such a good deal, or certainly such a certain deal, as the investor himself. In passing, let me say that it is important to resist the temptation to put the threshold for entrepreneur’s relief up to about 25%, as has been suggested, because it is the entrepreneur who lets himself be diluted as he tries to expand his business and ends up well below that figure. He is the one who is taking the greatest risk.
It is also worth noting that the one purchase that we all make that has not become smaller in the time it takes to earn is government. Government costs the average person more than food, fuel, clothing and housing put together, according to the Taxpayers’ Alliance. I am sure that I am not alone in noticing that there has been a lack of urgency in the public sector over many years to try to reduce the amount of time that it takes for people to fulfil their needs when being dealt with by government. There is a tendency to say that it does not matter how long it takes to get planning permission, to get the right regime for a new development, to answer queries about tax planning or to build a nuclear power station. But time is surely of the essence for many businesses. We need a relentless pursuit of productivity in the public sector. Therefore, I especially welcome, as the noble Lord, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, said, the provisions in the small business, enterprise and employment Bill to help small businesses to access public procurement.
Finally, I turn to one of the greatest obstacles to innovation—the pessimism enshrined in law at the European level in the form of the precautionary principle. This means that potential risks are weighed in advance but potential benefits are not. The precautionary principle, essentially, asks us to measure the risk of innovating but not the risk of not innovating. George Freeman MP has produced an especially hard-hitting report making the argument that the European Union’s precautionary approach to biotechnology, both in agriculture and in medicine, is greatly harming innovation and condemning Europe to a back seat in the biotechnology revolution. In his report he says:
“Just as the genomic revolution is beginning to offer untold opportunities across medicine and agriculture to help us generate huge economic, social and political dividends for mankind by helping to liberate billions from the scourge of insufficient food, medicine and energy, the EU is developing an increasingly hostile regulatory framework which risks undermining Europe as a hub of biotechnology”.
That is an especially acute problem in agriculture. We now can see very clearly that the ban on genetically modified food over the past 15 to 20 years was a mistake in terms of both environmental and economic problems because it has greatly increased Europe’s reliance on pesticides.
I hope that innovation and dismantling the barriers to innovation will run through everything the Government do, and will continue to do so.
Lord Smith of Leigh (Lab)
My Lords, I, too, want to comment on the bits missing from the gracious Speech. I shall speak to the welfare aspects of this debate from my perspective as the recently re-elected leader of Wigan Council and as chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The four aspects I wish to talk about are the bedroom tax, universal credit, the new Work Programme and the Social Fund.
The bedroom tax is acknowledged to be a failure by everyone except the Government. It has not delivered the objectives they claimed it would. It has not saved housing benefit to the extent that they claimed it would, partly because they overestimated the numbers of people who would be affected. Also, as I have told the House before, in places such as Wigan moving from a three-bedroom council house to a private one-bedroom house involves higher rents, and the housing benefits are therefore higher, too. So it has failed to meet that target and the target of persuading people to move. In my authority, only 102 people have moved as a result of the bedroom tax—not because many of them may not want to move but because smaller properties are simply not available in the public sector. People are stuck where they are and they are stuck with the bedroom tax. Nationally, only about 4.6% of people have moved as a result of the bedroom tax.
However, the bedroom tax has had major consequences. One consequence is that the number of tenants now in arrears has shot up considerably—it has increased to 55% nationally, I understand, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. In Wigan, arrears have gone up and we are trying to manage that, but it is difficult. Despite the application of discretionary housing payments, there is simply not enough money to meet the need in my authority and therefore people get into difficulties. Of course, there have been some beneficiaries of the bedroom tax in Wigan: there are far more payday lenders in the town now than there ever were before.
I believe in reform of the welfare programme. I was surprised when the Minister, in introducing the debate, referred to the success of universal credit. As far as I know, it has not yet been rolled out in a programme. I always had doubts. The Government’s ambition led them to do it far too quickly without making sure that they could cope with any difficulties that arose. To understand this better, my authority, as the noble Lord, Lord Freud, knows, became a pilot and a pathfinder authority. We wanted to learn the lessons that could be learnt from introducing universal credit. We did a small experiment for newly unemployed single persons who get on to universal credit—just over 1,000 people so far—and soon discovered the major flaws in the actual process. They are pretty obvious.
First, people do not have the skills in personal budgeting, so we have had to try to remedy some of that. Secondly, they lack access to financial institutions into which they can have the benefits paid. Banks do not, frankly, want people on that kind of income as their clients, as they are far too costly and too difficult, so we have had to set up more credit unions to try to cope with the problem. The third problem is the lack of access to and understanding of IT. I think the national figures, which our experience bears out, are that about 40% of this group do not have access to IT and find it difficult. We have been able to set up schemes within the local authority to try to do this. We can do it for a small group of clients, but if we had had to roll out the full scheme, as was originally threatened, for 1 April, it would have been beyond us to cope with the scale of the problems. I hope the Government understand that we want to help. We understand the need to reform welfare but we need to be very cautious about what we do.
The press seems to indicate that the Government, apart from not being able to get their computer system up and running, are having somewhat of a rethink. I want to ask them to consider rethinking the idea of making direct payments of housing benefits. This is one of the most difficult things for people to manage. All that would happen in many cases is that people would get into severe debt, leading probably to homelessness and so on. If the Government work with local authorities, I think we can reach an understanding; otherwise, again, we will simply provide more help for payday lenders.
I was also surprised when the Minister said in his introduction that 500,000 people had got jobs through the Work Programme. If they have, then maybe somebody ought to tell the providers, because they have only been paid for 48,000 places provided in respect of long-term unemployment. Maybe there is a deficit there that needs to be fixed. Those 48,000 would represent about 3.2% of the 1.5 million people who have been through the Work Programme. I do not think that is particularly successful.
However, I am genuinely pleased to note that the Government are actually beginning to understand more that this is not simply a numbers game but about understanding the people we are dealing with and their needs. I accept that, for many people, getting and keeping a job would be a real transformation in their lives. However, for many people, we have to transform their lives before they can get and keep a job. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is running quite an ambitious “Work Programme plus” with the Government, which, fortunately, the DWP has agreed to. That will give people not only a key worker to help them with their problems but access to a range of supporting services from local authorities, health authorities and mental health authorities to help them.
There is a gap in understanding in this House about the nature of poverty and how poor people work. However poor people are, and whether that is due to unemployment, low pay or zero-hours contracts—whatever the cause—people can have a crisis in their lives. Children needing shoes, an unexpectedly high energy bill or whatever it might be can cause a real problem for them. The Social Fund was set up to try to deal with crises of this nature but, just as the recession was beginning to bite, the Government passed the Social Fund on to local authorities and halved the available money. I do not think that was the right thing to do, but we coped with it. We decided that we would try not just to cope with the crisis situation but to be more thematic. Rather than say to someone, “You need a new fridge, here’s the money”, we try to find providers who will give them fridges—we will call down a contract for fridges. That saves us money and is more effective. However, from April 2015, even the paltry sum we have is going to disappear. What do the Government expect to happen from April 2015? Do they expect hard-pressed local authorities to provide the funding? In many cases, that will not be possible.
If the Government really cared about fairness in our society, they would reverse that mean-minded policy and work with local authorities to change the lives of people with complex dependencies. That would be an investment, not a cost. The Government would save money, local authorities would save money and we would manage to help people turn their lives around, not just for this generation but for generations to come.
Lord German (LD)
My Lords, before I turn to the centrepiece of the gracious Speech’s measures, I would like to say a few words about the plastic bag tax. I had the privilege of chairing the committee of inquiry in the National Assembly for Wales which looked at this issue prior to the legislation being introduced in 2011. My message to noble Lords is: do not panic. It will all work out. It will all be very successful and it will have two very valuable outcomes.
First, the plastic bag tax will change people’s behaviour. It will make people behave differently. You are just as likely now in Wales to see someone with a Tesco bag for life shopping in Waitrose with it and a person with an Asda bag for life shopping in Sainsbury’s. The fact of the matter is that people now carry their bags with them and very few people resort to buying a plastic bag.
The policy will also produce a hardened attitude towards protecting the environment so that it becomes important to people. It is a bit of a culture shock for me to come to London, where people continuously want to thrust plastic bags at me. I usually try to refuse but on occasions I am in a queue and I get a plastic bag, but I refuse to throw them away, because that is what we do not do now in Wales—you do not have them to throw away. So I now have a boxful of plastic bags that I do not quite know what to do with, so if anybody needs a bag for life I have some that I can give them for nothing. I will bring one of my biodegradable plastic bags for the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, next week, which of course are a prerequisite if you are going to dispose of food waste, which is primarily what they are used for.
I was looking for an analogy from the natural world, the environment, which fits the changes that this Government are making and have made in the area of pensions. The segue between the two is a bit tricky. After all, we have just had the announcement of two Bills this Session, following on from the new single-tier state pension and auto-enrolment the year before. It is a pretty seismic shift in the crucial and previously much underplayed sector of pensions.
My analogy from the natural world is about the experience I had with forestry in Wales. Some 12 years ago, I was the member of the Welsh Government with responsibility for forests. I introduced a major change in tree planting. I discovered that previously taxpayers in Wales had been heavily subsidising the growth of cash-crop conifers, reflecting a bygone age when pit props were needed in great numbers. But in effect the Government and taxpayers were subsidising timber for garden sheds, fencing, DIY products and the like. The change made was a presumption in favour of planting broad-leaf trees and providing natural growth so that our forests would become varied and contrasting places for recreation and leisure. Now, some 12 years later, the true value of cash-crop timber is slowly becoming apparent and conversely more forests are being opened up for public enjoyment, tourism and leisure. That was a change which had profound and significant outcomes for generations to come. That is my segue: it is the same with the pensions revolution that we are seeing.
Actions taken by this Government in their five-year term will lead to profound and significant changes that will benefit many generations to come, fulfilling an ambition for what people want from their pension: a reasonable idea of the level of pension they will eventually get; a pension that gives them best value for the contributions they have made over the years; and a pension which is as straightforward and understandable as possible. I took to heart the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Holmes of Richmond. It hurts your head, he said, and it can hurt your head. Anything that we can do to make it straightforward and understandable and get people engaged with it is very important.
I pay tribute to my honourable friend Steve Webb for delivering those changes, which, taken as a whole, see more people saving for their retirement and a better provision of choice and control for the pension saver. I know that my honourable friend did not know the price of a Lamborghini before he made that statement, but he certainly did afterwards. Many people have commented on that matter today. I will certainly transmit the message to him that there are very fine motor vehicles produced within the United Kingdom which compare very favourably indeed.
In that list is a better state pension—last year’s measure—locked against the vagaries of inflation, price rises and government action, the extension of the range of pension products available and more certainty of a pension outcome. That is the benefit in just a few years. We now have more than 3 million new pension savers in this country, but there are many millions yet to join the pension-saving population. Getting the changes right is critical for all those saving for a pension. The two Bills outlined in the gracious Speech indicated by the Government as the centrepiece of the programme are part of the building blocks for the pension ambition, the ambition of which I spoke about earlier. They will need close scrutiny to ensure that, in their detail, they play a full part in meeting this ambition.
In respect of the private pensions Bill for a defined ambition pension, I welcome the Pensions Minister’s statement that the Government will not be taking an off-the-shelf product which replicates the system in the Netherlands, Denmark or even Canada, but that we will have a product which suits the United Kingdom market and the needs of United Kingdom pension savers. However, there are already some emerging and important questions to be asked. Perhaps I can tempt my noble friend to address some of them in his winding-up speech.
For example, on the Treasury’s pension tax Bill, giving people choice on the use of their pension pot raises a critical issue for the success of that new freedom: the guidance that pension holders will receive. As many noble Lords have said today, the Government’s consultation does not end until tomorrow, but there is huge time pressure to get it right. The big question is: what will be the nature of the Government’s guarantee of free, impartial and face-to-face guidance to DC pension holders, as announced by the Chancellor? What will be the degree of independence in the provision of guidance? I am sure that this House will want clarity on how the Government’s guarantee will work, how it will be funded, how it will be triggered and how savers will be dealt with both before and after the guidance has been received. The new pension products that we are talking about in the second Bill—the target pension—will help share the risk, provide stability and, crucially, more certainty, for pension savers but, once again, there are questions to be asked.
The pensions landscape will have changed with profound and significant effects for future generations after all those measures have been passed in this Parliament. I pay tribute to the Government for putting this centre stage, but we need more engagement with pension savers. Then we should get greater understanding, which is crucial. A good start would be—I believe that this is possible—a new political consensus in this Parliament to provide long-term continuity towards that goal and ambition which I believe we all share. As I said, the pursuit of greater understanding is critical. After all, the money is the savers’ money and managing their savings plays an enormous part in people’s well-being in later life.
My plea for political consensus means that we have to have all the key information and analysis available for our consideration. My noble friend has a track record of providing information in abundance, so I very much hope that he will be consistent and live up to his magnificent record of delivering papers to us in such numbers that we will have no complaints from any part of this House about not understanding the Government’s intentions or their analysis of the problems which we face.
I believe that what we see before us is a seismic shift in our pension system, which will have a profound effect for many generations to come.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
My Lords, I start by congratulating the two excellent maiden speakers. The noble Lord, Lord Bamford, made some direct and very sensible suggestions about the UK earning its way through engineering and utilising our manufacturing capacity, but also by investing in training. The endorsement from my noble friend Lord Young, who had visited the noble Lord’s training centre, brought that directly into our discussions. I also thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham for his fascinating story about his personal journey to his current see, his tour d’horizon of Durham and the north-east and his commitment to represent the north-east in this House. By a curious quirk of fate, I think that I was responsible for responding to the maiden speech of his immediate predecessor, so without having to do much research I happen to know that he was the 73rd in the line and that the third was another Wilfred. We do not get many Wilfreds, as I said at that time, so I am always pleased to be able to reflect on that and make sure that they get the credit they deserve for having such a ridiculous name.
Looking at how the contributions panned out in this discussion, it is interesting that the majority have been on the business, employment and pensions side of the debate. Of course, we also have it in our title to deal with other issues. Despite a late run from those interested in agriculture and the environment, I am afraid that the preponderance of the debate was in the former areas. I will not pre-empt the Minister, who I am sure will want to go through in some detail the individual contributions made by many Members right around the House across the range of issues. However, I hope that when he comes to respond or when he reflects later, he will wish to write to us about some of the points—particularly the interesting points made by the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, about the changing foreign policy context and his concern about the lack of an ability to stop takeovers which might be damaging to viable and successful British-based companies. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s comment on those points.
It is difficult to believe that the irrepressible noble Lord, Lord Holmes of Richmond, ever has a sore head but he did go on about his pensions experience, so I hope that we will get some interest on that. I also hope that the Minister, when he responds, will pick up the important points made on taxation by my noble friend Lady Hollis. We heard quite a lot about the dark side of the flexible contracts which are represented mainly by zero-hour contracts, although there are other variations. That was raised by my noble friends Lady Hollis, Lord Monks, Lady Donaghy, Lady Turner and Lord Young. I also thought that some important points were made, particularly by the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare and my noble friend Lord Macdonald, about the new rules for apprenticeship schemes, which need addressing.
The noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, took us into a digital world and I would be interested to know whether the Minister felt that there was anything in his suggestion for a digital Magna Carta. I am sure that is not just a scheme for a rather elaborate and high-tech exhibition during the anniversary year but reflects a deeper concern about the way that the internet can sometimes get out of control and cause problems, and that some code of conduct—some Magna Carta, as my noble friend put it—would be a good way to go.
The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, made a very important point about visa problems in higher education and in particular on the question of post-doc students. Our universities are suffering badly from this and I would be grateful if the Minister could pick up on that. Also, how can we not have a full and well documented response for that innocent pensioner, the noble Lord, Lord Smith of Clifton? His story of wandering in the deeper recesses of BT and the Inland Revenue must have made the Minister sad, so he must respond. We want to know the real story—even if it is £3.17, as the noble Lord said, there could be a lot of them.
The noble Lord, Lord Bourne, said that we should not discount this year’s Queen’s Speech just because it had a small number of Bills. We do not discount it on those grounds but because when we consider it, the key question is: does it help revive the economy, generate good and well remunerated jobs, ensure that good quality and affordable education and training is available and that good affordable housing is accessible? Does it reassure us that nobody will be left behind? The answer to those questions is that it does not. The Bills do not address the severe cost of living crisis in Britain, where food bank use is soaring, even among many working people, where personal debt levels are dangerously high, where wages have fallen in real terms as essentials such as food and energy prices rise, where too many people are trapped in part-time jobs or with low hours or exploitative zero-hours contracts, and where millions cannot afford to buy their home and are trapped into renting low-quality properties at ever rising rents.
Several noble Lords touched on the question of personal debt, which again seems to be financing our recovery. I share the disappointment that there is little in the legislative programme about the problem debts that are facing millions of our fellow citizens. I declare my interest as chair of StepChange Debt Charity, which is the UK’s largest provider of free-to-client debt management plans; we deal with more than 500,000 clients every year who have problems with personal debts. I think that the Minister is aware of our work in this field, and we are looking forward to talking to him about our recent report, Life on the Edge, which shows how a lengthy period of low or no wage growth and rising living costs has left millions of households stretched to their absolute financial limit.
Individuals and families are paying a high price for the high levels of personal debt. The economy suffers too. Debt is a brake on people’s capacity to work or return to work, and on their aspirations and potential. It leads to mental health problems and family and relationship breakdowns, and has an adverse impact on the wider community. Equally, all society benefits if we tackle this problem. Otherwise, such people all too often turn to high-cost credit, and the recent work announced by the Financial Conduct Authority has shown that we still have much to do to drive bad practice from this sector.
I believe that the time has come to have a mature conversation across all parties about a national strategy for personal debt. In particular, I suggest that we need to look north to Scotland to see how its statute-based system operates. We need to build personal financial resilience so that the poorer members of our society are not paying the highest prices for essential goods and services, there are better safety nets and there is a more formal role for creditors in helping those in financial difficulty.
Another source of personal debt is of course the contingent tax liabilities that students are incurring in higher education. As my noble friend Lady Warwick said, there is now a growing consensus that the higher education reforms introduced by the coalition since 2010 are a complete disaster, yet we look in vain to find a higher education Bill. In a country where living standards are under acute pressure and where the deficit still looms so large, I agree with the noble Viscount, Lord Ridley, that innovation is the one sure way out of austerity. That is why our universities are so important. They are the powerhouses of the knowledge economy. They need to be bigger, stronger and more central to our economy in the years to come. Britain needs to put science and innovation at the heart of a strategy for long-term economic growth. Unless we grow smarter, we will grow poorer. What has been created over the past four years is not sustainable in cash terms. It does nothing to boost the science base, to diversify student choice, to bring universities and business together or to deliver effective progress toward better social mobility. This is something that we will definitely need to return to.
The small business, enterprise and employment Bill, which will be reaching the House towards the end of this year, has been covered by a number of people and I do not want to go into it in too much detail. It really is a very weak Bill, and the common theme across this motley collection of measures seems to be that the majority of its proposals were in fact first raised by the Labour Party, often in debates here in your Lordships’ House, although of course they were summarily rejected by Ministers.
The issue of pub companies was raised at the end of our debate. Labour has consistently called for a statutory code to give pubs the protection they need and ensure that landlords get a fair deal. Ministers have dragged their feet on this issue for more than three years, during which time hundreds of publicans have lost their livelihood. We are pleased that the Government have now accepted many of the arguments that they repeatedly vetoed in the House of Commons, but we fear that the watered-down reforms will not address the large increase in pub closures that we have seen. The changes that Ministers have announced do not include a free-of-tie option or the genuinely independent rent reviews that Labour and campaigners have been calling for. Instead, the proposed code includes parallel rent assessments, which will give tenants greater information but not the right to exit the beer tie.
We welcome the measures on late payment. Ministers have repeatedly promised to tackle this scandal, which severely affects the cash flow of small firms. The previous Labour Government legislated so that late payments at least incurred interest; alongside that, they established the prompt payment code. However, we want to see greater transparency to help to prevent late payment, including through reporting requirements on payment performance in companies’ accounts.
On business lending, any scheme that helps small businesses to access finance is welcome, but the record of the Government in getting the banks to lend to small businesses has been one of complete failure. Every scheme, from Project Merlin to Funding for Lending, has completely failed to deliver. Figures published this week show that in the first quarter of this year net lending to SMEs by Funding for Lending participants actually fell by £700 million, and in the past year net lending to SMEs has fallen by £3.2 billion. The press notice says that the main purpose of this Bill is to,
“build a stronger economy by supporting small business as they compete”,
but it is hard to see where the real needs of the majority of small businesses are being addressed.
The world is changing faster than we can comprehend with global economic forces moving south and east. This is creating huge opportunities in a world where the global middle class is expected to treble to 5 billion people in the next two decades. So surely what we needed in this Queen’s Speech was a Bill that would transform our economy and back our businesses to make the most of the new opportunities there so that we can innovate and grow our way to higher standards of living for all our people.
I absolutely accept, and I am sure it is common ground between the parties, that the 2008 crash exposed long-standing structural problems in our economy. The economy was unbalanced by sector and region, short-termism in our corporate culture led to low levels of business investment and low productivity, and a dysfunctional finance system and a stubborn and increasing trade deficit all did their work.
Although some growth has finally arrived, as my noble friend Lord Liddle said, it is not the balanced and sustainable growth we need, so prices are still rising faster than wages and the continuing cost of living crisis for many means that individuals are, on average, £1,600 a year worse off compared to 2010, so business as usual is not good enough. To set the foundations for future success, we need to take a different approach.
The noble Lord, Lord Higgins, challenged us and said that we did not have a strategy for the economy, but Labour has a long-term plan to earn and grow our way to higher living standards. Our goal is a high-productivity, high-skilled, innovation-led economy. To get there, we absolutely accept that we need more British-based businesses creating good jobs, investing, innovating and exporting.
If elected in May 2015, we have already announced that we will take action on immediate pressures that businesses face. We will help 1.5 million businesses by cutting business rates in 2015 and freezing them in 2016. We will reform the energy market to put transparency and competition back into the industry, as well as freezing energy bills until 2017, saving the average business £5,000. We will boost real competition in the banking sector. To lay the foundations for long-term success, Labour’s plans include radically reforming vocational education and apprenticeships putting employers in the driving seat, creating a higher skilled workforce, driving up productivity and underpinning higher wages. We will support lending to businesses by creating a proper, independent British investment bank and a network of regional banks with a responsibility to boost lending in their direct area.
We will support green growth by backing the 2030 decarbonisation target, giving the Green Investment Bank borrowing powers and prioritising investment in science and our innovation system. We will establish a small business administration to champion small business at the heart of government. We will devolve powers to cities and regions to boost growth and rebalance the economy, allowing local knowledge to solve local problems and we will encourage longer-term decision-making in business and government through rules and incentives for business that reward a longer-term focus, and an ambitious industrial strategy to support long-term growth.
It is clear from the recent election results that too many people do not feel a sense of personal or community well-being. They feel insecure and ill equipped to deal with change and harbour a deep sense of unfairness. Like my noble friend Lady Sherlock, I feel that the gracious Speech failed to respond to the needs of the people for security, fairness and stability. What we need is a legislative programme that will tackle the challenges ahead to restore real growth, tackle debt and build an economy that works for all our people, not just for those at the top. With this Queen’s Speech, the Government had an opportunity to respond to some of these challenges, but I fear that that they have failed to do so.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud) (Con)
My Lords, I thank our two maiden speakers today, my noble friend Lord Bamford and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, for two excellent speeches giving us the promise of some really formidable contributions in the years to come. They are on notice that more are required. I also need to thank my noble friend Lord Smith of Clifton for his account of his encounters with HMRC and BT. Clearly he has a future as a novelist along the lines of Kafka; I commend him.
I will start off with the two private pensions Bills that we have coming. We have the pensions tax Bill, which gives people far more discretion over what to do with their retirement funds when they come up to retirement; and much greater innovation within the private pensions market in the other Bill. One of the issues raised by a number of noble Lords—the noble Baronesses, Lady Sherlock and Lady Drake, and my noble friends Lord Holmes and Lord German—is about guidance. We agree that guidance needs to be impartial and to meet the needs of those who need to access it. The consultation closes tomorrow, so clearly I cannot tonight pre-empt its outcomes. However, I assure noble Lords that the response to that consultation will be out before Recess.
A question was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, and my noble friend Lord German about the impact of these various changes. We made an announcement at the Budget on the Exchequer impact of those reforms. We are currently consulting, as I said, on the guidance guarantee. The information gathered there will help to form the estimate of the reforms’ impact. I can confirm that we will publish a full impact assessment on the defined ambition reforms alongside that Bill.
There was a little bit of political teasing, I think I would call it, on compatibility of the two Bills from the noble Baronesses, Lady Greengross, Lady Hollis and Lady Drake, and the noble Lord, Lord Monks, the issue being the obtaining of savings at retirement age and the collective nature that some schemes may adopt under the defined ambition Bill. It is consistent, because members will be able to cash out their collective benefits if they are in that kind of scheme, in the defined ambition context, if they so choose.
The noble Lord, Lord Monks, raised a question about why we are looking at collective schemes when the Dutch are moving away. I am reliably informed that the Dutch are not moving away from collective arrangements. We are, however, looking very closely at what they are doing and learning lessons from their experience. The issue is that there needs to be a clear allocation of pension rights to individuals, as well as requiring schemes to disclose in detail what members are entitled to.
Moving to the issues of welfare and employment, on which there have been and continue to be a range of changes, I go directly to the points of the noble Lord, Lord Smith of Leigh, on his experiences in Wigan. I went up to Wigan and joined him when we started the pilots there. One of the things that we are doing is developing a quite intense relationship with the local authorities in various areas as we roll out universal credit. What he was describing—the responses that the local authority is becoming involved with—is exactly what we are talking about doing. For the first time we are getting real support, on a fairly holistic basis, for individuals who have never had that kind of support before. We are learning an enormous amount, including from Wigan. I therefore turn round the way in which he made those points to say that we are trying to get those local authority responses so we can get the kind of support to people that they have never had and which they need. As we roll it out in volume we have learnt and are learning the lessons of how to do that so that we do it successfully when we roll out the local support service framework, as we are doing.
On the other point the noble Lord made on the removal of the spare room subsidy—although he did not express it quite like that—I point out that the Homes and Communities Agency published figures yesterday which suggest that arrears are increasing, not decreasing in the social housing sector, despite various changes.
On the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Morris, that work is not a sufficient route out of poverty, clearly that is one of the most interesting trends over the past decade. The previous Government tried to deliver their child poverty targets and managed to pay it out through raising benefits, but that did not have the impact on people who were in work. Universal credit is designed to do exactly that: to make sure that people who work full-time, even on low wages, are brought out of poverty by the way that universal credit works. We expect that it will take 300,000 children out of poverty through that sort of effect.
The noble Baroness, Lady Turner, made points on homes. In 2014 we are expecting to deliver over 60,000 more affordable homes in England, which is the largest number for almost 20 years. My noble friend Lord Addington made a point on the disabled students allowance; we are currently engaging with a wide range of stakeholders on the development of our guidance, which we plan to publish in the autumn. However, I will pass on his helpful comments to the Minister.
The small business, enterprise and employment Bill is designed, as my noble friend said in the introduction, to help ensure that the UK is the best place for businesses to start, to innovate and to grow.
A wide spread of noble Lords—the noble Baronesses, Lady Sherlock, Lady Hollis, Lady Drake and Lady Donaghy, and the noble Lords, Lord Monks, Lord Morris and Lord Young—focused on the zero-hours contracts issue, basically making the point that the Government are not doing enough here. The Government have made clear that zero-hours contracts play a part in a dynamic and flexible labour market, and recent figures published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development support that. Those on zero-hours contracts said that they are equally satisfied with their jobs, happier with their work-life balance and less likely to think that they are treated unfairly by their organisation when compared to the average employee. However, zero-hours contracts can be abused, and shortly we will announce how we intend to tackle that through the Bill.
We have moved from consultation to action on this in less than 12 months, which is fast and in contrast to the Opposition, who initially consulted on the abuses of zero-hours contracts back in 1998. I was interested to muse over their paper, as I am sure they have done. It was called Fairness at Work. It was clear in stating:
“Many employers ensure the contracts are used sensibly, but they have the potential to be abused”.
The White Paper went further by welcoming:
“Views on whether further action should be taken to address the potential abuse of zero hours contracts”.
But nothing happened in the next 12 years. So it is 16 years later and I am very pleased to hear the Opposition belatedly making some suggestions.
The noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, also focused on zero hours. We will not mandate the universal credit claimants to zero-hours contracts that do not allow the claimant to work for another employer. She expressed concern about the difficulty of vulnerable people in claiming credit. The current figures, a pilot having gone for a year in a place that is expanding, are that over 90% of claims to universal credit are made online. Clearly the local support service framework is designed to get that support and service to as many people as we possibly can.
Many noble Lords talked about apprenticeships and what the Government are doing, including my noble friends Lord Bamford and Lady Sharp, and the noble Lords, Lord Liddle, Lord Bhattacharyya, Lord Aberdare, Lord Desai, Lord Macdonald and Lord Young. It is not a numbers game, but we are on track to deliver 2 million apprenticeships. There were over 868,000 people undertaking an apprenticeship in the 2012-13 academic year, which is the highest in modern history. We are making efforts now, following the Richard review, to ensure that apprenticeships are more rigorous and more responsive to the needs of employers.
On the question of how we break down the barriers between academic and vocational training, we want it to become the norm for young people to go into an apprenticeship or go to university, or do both in the case of some higher apprenticeships.
On the question of careers advice, schools now have a legal duty to secure access to independent career advice to pupils in years 8 to 14 and this must include information on apprenticeship.
Industrial policy was raised by my noble friend Lady Sharp, and the noble Lords, Lord Liddle, Lord Haskel and Lord Desai. We have five main themes in our industrial strategy: technology; access to finance; skills; procurement; and sectors. We have invested in emerging technologies—the £200 million for the seven Catapults to speed up technologies’ commercialisation, which is getting products to the market faster.
There is also £600 million to develop and commercialise the “eight great technologies” that we have isolated. Space was the one that my noble friend Lady Wilcox focused on. She mentioned the others: big data, robotics, regenerative medicine, synthetic biology, agri-tech, advanced materials and nanotechnology, and energy storage.
We were reminded of the metric system by my noble and learned friend Lord Howe. The Government support a single system of units of measurement in principle but recognise that many people in the UK prefer or are more familiar with imperial units. Therefore the Government are committed to retaining the existing usages of imperial units for as long as consumers and business find it useful, which, I suspect, is not the answer that he wanted to hear from me.
On the issues of agriculture and environment, the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, and my noble friend Lady Parminter asked why biodegradable plastic bags were exempted. It is fundamentally a challenge to UK industry to produce a genuinely biodegradable bag that meets defined criteria. We have awarded four contracts for feasibility studies looking into developing biodegradable bags and economically viable methods for separating bags from the waste stream.
The noble Lord, Lord Soley, asked about our response to the Natural Capital Committee’s second report. It needs to be considered fully, and the work of that committee has given us some interesting insights into how to value natural capital in government policy.
The noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, made the point about preparing children for adulthood. The Secretary of State for Education has spoken publicly on a number of occasions about the importance of developing character skills in young people. The DfE is supporting schools in different ways to develop and build the characters of their pupils and is making it easier for them to choose how to do this.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, raised an issue about public houses and why we were not pursuing a mandatory free-of-tie option. While there were many calls for the introduction of free-of-tie, there were also widespread concerns that such a move would create uncertainty for pub-owning companies and have an unpredictable impact on the wider pub sector. This is because, if significant numbers of tenants decided to go free-of-tie, the whole tied model might no longer be viable because pub companies would lose their purchasing power and with it the ability to service a smaller and potentially more disparate tied estate. Our reforms will rebalance the relationship between the pub-owning companies and their tenants without threatening the balance of the wider industry.
I hope that I have covered most of the points. I do not think that I have covered absolutely everything, but that was, of course, impossible. I will write on anything significant that I have missed out.