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(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons Chamber1. What steps his Department is taking to protect children who are at risk of grooming.
6. What steps his Department is taking to protect children who are at risk of grooming.
We have taken action to enable the police to intervene earlier to protect children where there is a suspicion that grooming has taken place. As a result of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, which amended section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, we have reduced from two to one the number of initial occasions on which the defendant meets or communicates with a child considered at risk before prosecution can take place. I hope the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) believes that the Government are absolutely committed to making sure the law is as tough as it needs be to deal with this very serious evil.
I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. I am not sure if he has had a chance to study the report published today by the Communities and Local Government Committee on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. What is clear from that report is the catastrophic failure of all public services to protect vulnerable young girls. It is also clear that Rotherham is not an isolated case. What is apparent is that the victims have not been provided with the support they require and they were not believed by the authorities and were not protected when issues came to court. What further action can my right hon. Friend propose that will ensure that the victims are given support and protection through the justice system?
I am very clear that the point the hon. Gentleman raises is centrally important. I am aware of the report that has come out today, but I have not read it in full. The failing in the past has been that the young people have not been listened to and heard and, when they have spoken out, people have not believed them. Public authorities, the Crown Prosecution Service and the rest of the prosecuting authorities must work on the presumption that when young people say something, it is true and not false, and we should work on that basis.
In 2011 the child sexual exploitation plan issued by the Government tasked the Ministry of Justice to do certain things in respect of child sexual exploitation, including having a more practical and effective response to witness intimidation, supporting witnesses throughout the criminal justice process, for the CPS to promote within its organisation examples of good practice in relation to child sexual exploitation and work to increase the use of special measures in appropriate cases. Will the Minister give us an update on what progress has been made against those specific measures?
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his continuing interest in this issue. As well as the working group he mentioned, which found that there were gaps in the availability of services and commissioning, the Government have strengthened the non-statutory services and put more money in to make sure they are able more competently to deal with this. The figure I have is £7 million—that was an announcement we made in December—which includes increased funds for the existing female rape support centres and greater support for organisations supporting victims in areas where there is a high prevalence of child abuse, such as Rotherham. Secondly, as well as the new offence of sexual communication with a child, we are legislating to remove references to child prostitution and child pornography from the Sexual Offences Act and making sure that the offence of loitering or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution applies only to adults. We have to protect children.
The right hon. Gentleman will know that many of the victims in these cases have been profoundly damaged by their experiences and need a great deal of support, including mental health support. Will he ensure that prosecutors do not deter them from accessing that support, as has often happened in the past, but work to ensure that they are supported through the ordeal of going to trial, because that is not only beneficial to them, but ensures that more cases can be prosecuted?
There are two points. First, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and all Ministers are very clear that when vulnerable individuals go into the criminal justice system we must identify whether in fact the issue that needs to be addressed is a mental health issue or is a drugs issue or something else. So we try to prevent people from going through the criminal justice system because it is not user-friendly, particularly for young people. If there is no alternative, we need to make sure that steps are taken, for example that youngsters do not have to come to court but can appear from a distance, such as by video-link, and that they are supported through the whole of that process, not just through the court case but a considerable time thereafter.
Has the Minister considered closer co-operation with the Department for Education to make this matter a staple subject in the curriculum? Would he further consider training for voluntary groups so that they can be aware of the telltale signs of grooming?
The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that issue. NSPCC research has shown that six in 10 teenagers have been asked for sexual images or videos online. That is an extraordinary figure, and many of them feel compelled to provide those images as a result of peer group pressure. We are absolutely convinced across the Government, including in the Department for Education, that personal, social, health and economic education—of which sex education is a part—is an important strategy. We need such an education process in the curriculum in every school to warn youngsters of the dangers, so that they know how to deal with them.
2. What assessment he has made of the performance of new providers of rehabilitation services in the rehabilitation of short-term prisoners.
The coalition is committed to transforming rehabilitation in order to reduce reoffending and, consequently, to reduce the number of people who are victims of crime. Since 1 February under the new system, providers from the public, voluntary and private sectors have been providing the new transforming rehabilitation services. The crucial thing is that all those people who are currently sentenced to less than a year in prison will have support when they come out. They are the people who reoffend most and who cause the most victims. Payments to providers will be dependent on results.
I realise that the Minister is not a prisoner, but I am not sure that being forced to answer so many questions will aid his rehabilitation when he is obviously struggling with a very sore throat. That seems to be a considerable unkindness.
I welcome the measures that the Ministry of Justice has taken to work with short-term prisoners. I think that this is the first time we have ever seen that happening, and it has become possible only because of the pioneering approach of the Ministry. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is vital to work with short-term prisoners, who often have more deeply rooted offending behaviour than many other types of offenders?
I am grateful to you for your concern, Mr Speaker. The Secretary of State offered me the chance to opt out, but I volunteered to come here and do my duty, so I hope I am forgiven. I might have to curl up and hide in the corner in a minute, however.
I would say to the hon. Member for Dartford (Gareth Johnson) that in the year ending last March, 57% of all adult offenders released from custody after serving a sentence of less than 12 months reoffended within a year. They are the largest group of reoffenders. They are the people who cause the most victims the most grief and the criminal justice system the most cost. We have never had a Government who have dealt with this issue, but we have been determined to do so and I believe that the way in which we rehabilitate those people will be transformational.
I welcome the Government’s decision to introduce drug scanners into prisons. As the Minister knows, 51% of prisoners report a drug dependency. Can he tell me how many have entered a rehabilitation scheme in the past year, and how many have been successfully rehabilitated in relation to their use of drugs?
I do not have all the details, but I will ensure that the right hon. Gentleman has a detailed answer, which I will put in the Library. Yesterday, when I was visiting a women’s prison in Yorkshire, I was looking at how we might improve the way in which we detect drugs. It is difficult because they are often hidden in very private places. We are absolutely determined to stop drugs coming into prisons over the wall, but also to stop them coming in on the person, which is a serious issue. I will give him the detailed figures on what progress we are making.
I, along with a small group of colleagues from the House, visited Brixton prison towards the back end of last year. We saw the benefits of the work that is being undertaken in two facilities there: the Clink restaurant and the Bad Boys bakery. Those benefits include a reoffending rate of only about 3%. That is the kind of work that short-term offenders need to give them the chance to restart their lives in a positive way.
Within the Department, I have particular responsibility for all female offenders. I have visited every single female prison and I am clear that the schemes that rehabilitate people through engaging with them and planning for training, work and housing are absolutely central. We are committed to using such schemes. May I also take this opportunity to say that there are some phenomenally excellent leadership teams in all our prisons, as well as many other people who are assisting with this project? The hon. Gentleman is right to suggest that we need to give people incentives so that they can see their route out of prison and understand that life outside is better. That will give them hope for the future.
3. When he next plans to meet representatives from (a) the Law Society and (b) the Bar Council to discuss legal aid.
Throughout the development of the “Transforming Legal Aid” package of reform, my officials and I regularly met the Law Society, the Bar Council and other members of the legal profession. Officials from the Department and the Legal Aid Agency continue to be in regular contact with the representative bodies as we implement the reforms.
I thank the Minister for that reply. Is he aware that I represent a number of constituents involved with family law cases, including one young mother who is contesting adoption proceedings? She received legal aid for the substantive hearing, but she is now appealing and, unfortunately, cannot get legal aid. Has he made any assessment of the impact of the cost in respect of litigants in person within the family division? Without increasing the overall legal aid budget, will he consider some reallocation of resources within it to solve this particular problem?
In a previous Question Time, I raised the problem of victims of domestic abuse apparently being deterred from going to law because of the cuts in legal aid. Has the Minister discussed the matter with representatives of the law authorities? Does he have any statistics to confirm these reports?
Following on from that, on how many occasions have victims of domestic violence had their legal aid funding stopped because of the rule changes for evidence now being more than two years old? The Minister must have that information to hand.
What I will tell the hon. Gentleman is that this issue has been the subject of a huge amount of misunderstanding among the wider public, not least because of the misinformation imparted by people such as himself. On two occasions we have increased the criteria on the required evidence, once during the passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and subsequently when we found that more evidence was required.
4. What progress he has made on reducing the legal aid budget
In 2009-10, as this Government took office, £2.2 billion was spent on legal aid. Following our two major reform programmes, spend has fallen to £1.7 billion in 2013-14 and is expected to fall to about £1.5 billion once the reforms have fully worked through the system.
I thank the Minister for that answer. A month ago in the High Court, Lord Justice Laws described the Government’s proposal to have two-tier contracting as reasonable, “proportionate” and a “proper way” to proceed. The case has now gone to the Court of Appeal and a decision is expected imminently. Can the Minister confirm that, subject to that decision, he will be proceeding in this Parliament with a tendering process and not be constrained by what appears to be legal time wasting?
Having successfully defended a challenge in the High Court, we robustly defended our position in the Court of Appeal and are awaiting judgment. If the appeal is dismissed, it is our intention to continue the tender that is currently subject to an injunction as soon as possible.
Access to justice is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. Given the reductions in legal aid, can the Minister say whether there has been a rise or a fall in the number of litigants in person?
I believe there has been a rise in litigants in person, but the Government have also made a huge amount of provision to cater for that. I also say to the hon. Lady and Opposition Front Benchers, who have never said that they are going to reverse the cuts that we have made, that we need a legal aid system that is sustainable, for the people who need it, for the legal providers and for the taxpayers who pay for it.
Has the Minister noted the Justice Committee’s conclusion that although the Government had achieved the cost reduction, there was some transfer of cost to other budgets and far too little availability of the exceptional cases fund, and that mediation, far from increasing, had actually dropped?
May I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question? As far as exceptional funding is concerned, the giveaway is in the title. The fund is meant to be exceptional, but some people have seen it as a discretionary fund. Not surprisingly, therefore, the numbers involved in it have been few.
I understand that the right hon. Gentleman is retiring at the end of this Parliament. Let me say what a pleasure it has been to work with him. I may not always have agreed with him, but working with him has always been a pleasure, and I wish him well for the future.
Perhaps the Minister should listen to the Chair of the Justice Committee and read his report that found that the Government had failed in three of their four objectives for legal aid: they have not discouraged unnecessary litigation; they have not targeted legal aid to those who need it the most; and they have not delivered better value for money for the taxpayer. That is what the report says. Does the Minister agree that that abject failure is a fitting epitaph for the least competent Lord Chancellor since the Reformation?
It is always helpful if shadow Ministers do their homework. The proposals to which the hon. Gentleman refers were achieved by the previous Lord Chancellor. As far as his comment on the Justice Committee’s report is concerned, I do not hear him or his boss saying that they will be reversing any of the cuts that we have made. If they want to do that, the shadow Chancellor will have plenty of opportunity so to do in due course.
5. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's oversight of claims-handling companies.
Tackling bad practices by claims management companies is a priority for the Department’s claims management regulator. Recent measures taken to strengthen the effectiveness regulation include tougher rules to crack down on malpractice and a new power to impose financial penalties on CMCs that break the rules. Since regulation began in 2007, the licences of more than 1,200 CMCs have been removed. Between April and December 2014, we stepped up enforcement action, with 338 CMCs being warned for poor conduct or having their licences removed.
The whole country is sick of these companies ringing up day and night leaving answerphone messages and harassing pensioners. When it comes to PPI mis-selling, they are taking half the money that is due to decent people purely for writing a letter to a bank asking it to investigate the matter. We need to expose the sham of these companies more effectively, because, across the country, people are losing out and are getting increasingly sick of their behaviour.
I agree that many people are very upset with the behaviour of those companies. In fact, millions of people are upset with what is happening. This is something that requires joined-up activity. The claims management regulator is working closely with the primary enforcement agencies at the Information Commissioner’s office and at Ofcom to investigate practices and take firm enforcement action against rogue companies. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that much work on nuisance calls has already been done and that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is leading on reforms in this area. Last year, for example, the Department published a joint action plan, involving all the relevant regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s office, Ofcom and the claims management regulator.
7. What his strategy is for supporting victims of crime.
The Government are committed to putting victims and witnesses first in the criminal justice system and to ensuring that they have high quality, effective and timely support to help them cope and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime. We published our document on commitments to victims in September 2014 and introduced a package of reforms that will provide even more support to victims, including establishing a new nationwide victims’ information service, strengthening the protection of vulnerable victims and witnesses at court, increasing transparency and accountability so that agencies are held to account for the services that they provide, and planning a victims law, setting out entitlements for victims in primary legislation. It is also worth saying that, under this Government, funding for services to support victims of crime has more than doubled to some £92 million in the coming financial year.
Murdered police officer Nicola Hughes was one of my constituents. Her father, Bryn, has worked relentlessly to campaign and raise funding for victims of crime, especially children, to help those who have lost a family member to violent crime and to keep Nicola’s memory alive. Bryn’s own experience of the criminal justice system was not a good one. Will the Secretary of State confirm that he will be supporting the proposals for a victims law in Labour’s victims taskforce report, which will transform the experience of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system?
Let me first pay tribute to the hon. Lady’s constituent. We were all horrified and shocked by the terrible events that led to his loss. I extend my condolences, my gratitude to him, and indeed my gratitude to all the families of murder victims who have turned a terrible experience into positive work to help support the victims of crime, and to try to prevent these terrible events happening in future. We all owe them a debt of gratitude. It is clearly not our intention to allow the Labour party an opportunity to introduce a victims law, but it will be the intention of a Conservative Government to do just that and to continue the work we have been doing in this Parliament to extend the support provided to victims.
At the Justice Secretary’s first Question Time, he spoke of the importance of ensuring that victims get timely information. As this is the last Justice Question Time of this Parliament, will he update the House on what progress has been made in using technology to ensure that victims are put first when it comes to information about their cases?
We are making good progress towards the introduction of the victims information service, which will signpost victims to services available locally. We intend to mesh that with the current system for tracking crimes, so that we have a single point where victims can find out the situation with the case they are going through. It is really important that we do the right thing for victims, and we have done as much as any previous Government to step forward and provide that support.
The Secretary of State must acknowledge that many victims of crime feel that the criminals have more rights and protection than they do. For many that is not only a perception, but a reality. Therefore, we urgently need not only a strategy to support victims through the very difficult circumstances of their trauma, but to prove through the sentencing process that crime does not pay.
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I am pleased that under this Government sentence lengths have increased. It is absolutely right and proper that those who commit crimes should serve a proper period of recompense for what they have done. Of course, it is also important that we rehabilitate them to ensure that they do not do it again.
The whole House will have been disturbed by the story of Geraldine and Peter McGinty, parents who lost their son and have been repeatedly let down by the criminal justice system. After they heard from a judge last year that their victims’ personal statement would make no difference, the Justice Secretary met them and promised that they would be kept informed about the progress of their case. This month they were among the last to learn that their son’s killers are being released into an open prison. Does the Justice Secretary agree that the fact that victims can be forgotten like that, even after he personally intervened in the case, shows just why we need our plan for a victims law?
First of all, I have now met Mr and Mrs McGinty twice, including with the chief executive of the Parole Board, who apologised to them for the lack of information provided to them, and rightly so. This is about good practice and people behaving in the right way, and I am afraid that this kind of issue will not be solved by changes to the law; it will be solved by changing the culture in the system.
8. What steps he is taking to reduce youth reoffending.
The Government are committed to reducing offending and reoffending by young people. We are placing education at the heart of detention and improving resettlement processes, which will provide young offenders with the skills and support they need to build a life free from crime. We are also working to ensure that community youth services are as effective as possible in helping young people to adopt law-abiding lives, including through their role in delivering key cross-Government programmes such as the troubled families initiative.
Can my hon. Friend reassure me that changes to the probation service will reduce youth reoffending through a new culture and direction of travel? I, for one, would not wish to see senior managers reinventing themselves in these new community rehabilitation company positions.
I know that my hon. Friend takes a serious interest in these matters—indeed, I have met with him to discuss them. The number of first-time entrants into the criminal justice system who are young people fell by 59% in the four years to September 2014. We are also focusing on resettlement consortia in four high custody areas. We have a Turn Around to Work initiative in London and Greater Manchester, which is supported by a number of employers. We are also doubling the number of hours in education.
Obviously, the way to tackle youth offending is to tackle the causes. We know that mental health problems play a substantial role in youth offending. That is one reason that I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement of a £1.25 billion investment in young people’s mental health, but what is the Ministry of Justice doing to try to make sure that young people with mental health problems—in or out of prison—get the support they need so they are treated rather than jailed?
I can give my hon. Friend good news on that front. Under this Government we have rolled out the liaison and diversion service—only last week, I visited the excellent scheme up in Wakefield—which is going to cover 50% of the country. It has made very good progress and is an excellent example of partnership working, and I look to seeing it expanded further.
9. What steps he plans to take to ensure access to justice regardless of ability to pay.
The Government’s reform programme to promote access to justice aims to deliver a justice system that is more accessible to the public. It aims to support people in resolving their disputes through simpler, more informal remedies, and to limit the scope for inappropriate litigation and the involvement of lawyers in issues which do not need legal input.
Let me give the Minister one more chance to answer a question on last week’s Justice Committee report on the civil legal aid cuts, which revealed that the Government have failed to achieve all three of their targets. Can the Minister confirm that there has been an underspend in the legal aid budget, and that exceptional case funding has failed to achieve the aim of protecting access to justice for the most vulnerable?
For the benefit of the hon. Lady, let me say once again that if it were not for the Government whom she supported causing the mess that they did, we would not have been obliged to make the cuts we have had to make. Despite making them, we still have one of the most generous legal aid budgets in the world.
Can the Minister tell the House how our legal aid budget compares internationally?
It is a fact that the Government’s cuts to legal aid have denied thousands access to legal advice. The Government’s changes to tribunal and court fees are having an additional impact on women and other vulnerable groups. The number of victims of domestic violence receiving legal aid has fallen significantly, and the number of sex discrimination claims is down by 90%. Unless the Government genuinely believe that this is an indication of significant improvements to society—that it indicates less domestic violence and less sex discrimination—women are being denied access to justice. Will the Government agree to an urgent review of the impact of the changes they have made on women and other vulnerable groups?
In that very long contribution from the right hon. Gentleman, it is regrettable that not once did he say that if he were Lord Chancellor, he would reverse the cuts we have made. That sums up where the Opposition are: they are happy to object, they are happy to write articles—[Interruption.] Yes, the right hon. Gentleman points to the public. I point to the public as well, and I say that nowhere did the right hon. Gentleman say that Labour would reverse the cuts we have made. [Interruption.]
Order. Members must calm down. The right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) is a distinguished ornament of this House, a celebrated figure, a former Minister. Decorum, I remind her.
When the right hon. Lady was a Minister, she had to answer questions. She is not burdened with that responsibility at present.
10. What steps his Department has taken to reduce reoffending rates.
We have opened up the delivery of rehabilitation services to a diverse range of public, private and voluntary sector providers who will be paid in full only if they are successful at reducing reoffending. Rehabilitation support is being extended to an extra 45,000 offenders on sentences of less than 12 months who have previously received little, if any, support on release and have the highest reoffending rates.
It seems to me that there is nothing better for the economy, society and our constituents than when offenders come out of prison and stay out of prison, so my spirits are lifted to learn that across the Windsor constituency there were fewer than 100 reoffenders in the year to 2013. Does the Secretary of State agree that we must continue to do all we can to help ex-offenders back into work and to help them regain a foothold in our society?
Absolutely—this is now the only way we can continue to drive down crime to the degree we want. We have fewer first-time offenders, as the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous), said earlier, and that is good news. Crime increasing is caused by people going round and round the system. I believe that for the first time in decades, we have real chance of making a serious impact on that by providing support to short-sentence prisoners who were previously left to walk the streets with £46 in their pockets, and not surprisingly ended up back in the same places committing the same crimes all over again.
11. What steps he is taking to ensure the safety of prisoners and staff on the prison estate.
We are committed to delivering safe, decent and secure prisons. Reducing the number of deaths in custody is a key priority, and we are working hard to reduce levels of violence in our prisons. We have introduced a new protocol that will ensure that when there are serious assaults on prison staff, the perpetrators will be prosecuted wherever possible.
What does the Secretary of State believe the new protocol between the Prison Service, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers will deliver with regard to prison safety?
I hope that it will make a big difference to our staff. I pay tribute to prison staff, who do a difficult job. It is particularly difficult at the moment, with an upsurge in violence. A lot of that is due to the prevalence of so-called legal highs—new psychoactive substances—in our prisons. We have taken a number of steps to try to restrict access to those drugs, which are absolutely unacceptable in our prisons. When serious assaults previously took place, prosecutions might not have happened because those people were in jail. Now, they will, and I hope that will be a deterrent.
An obvious way of enhancing safety on the prison estate is by boosting morale, so why has there been a 0% pay award to prison staff and a threatened injunction from the Secretary of State if those staff dare to consider opposing this imposition?
The prison unions asked me to implement the review of the recommendations of the public sector pay body—the Prison Service pay review body—and I have done so.
17. Given prison officers’ genuine concerns about the rates of violence and suicide in prisons, is there any chance of an independent review of the impact of benchmarking and staff reductions on those rates?
We will continue to review the impact of benchmarking. There is no evidence that connects changes within the prison sector to the number of suicides in prisons, which has been much too high in recent months. Suicides have happened in prisons where there have been no staffing changes, as well as ones where there have been staffing changes, and in prisons where there have been good inspection reports and poor inspection reports. This is an issue in our prisons and a broader issue in society as a whole, and we must all work hard to deal with it.
The Secretary of State did not respond to the latter part of the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery), concerning the injunction he has threatened against the Prison Officers Association purely for convening a national executive committee meeting to discuss how to respond to the 0% pay rise. How can he justify this legal attack on the democratic rights of a trade union?
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that, in law, prison officers are not permitted to strike. I have done what I said I would do for the unions, which is to implement in full the recommendation of the pay review body.
The situation in our prisons is dire. Many times over the years we have heard the word “crisis” used. I have to say that the situation now is as bad as I have ever seen it. The most recent quarterly prison safety report makes exceptionally grim reading, with serious assaults on staff at an all-time high. Grimmer still was an e-mail I received from an officer who said:
“I have been a prison officer for 17 years. I have never felt so vulnerable before, we have had another serious assault on a member of staff that has required treatment. Do you have any idea what it’s like to go to work feeling scared?”
Is it not an outrageous truth that violence has become an occupational hazard for our prison officers?
The hon. Lady is absolutely right that the rise in serious violence in our prisons is wholly unacceptable. It is pretty clear to me that the biggest cause of that change has been the presence of so-called legal highs—new psychoactive substances—in our prisons. Only last Friday, I spoke to a prison governor who said that it is the key problem that staff face. We have taken a number of steps, including criminalising the throwing of substances over a wall in prisons. We are about to trial body scanners in our prisons. We will take all steps that we sensibly can to protect our staff. These substances are a danger to our society as a whole. They need to be dealt with effectively in our prisons, and they will be.
12. What recent assessment he has made of the outcome of the pilots of section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.
Recorded pre-trial cross-examination is designed to help vulnerable witnesses to give their best possible evidence and to spare them the trauma of being cross-examined in front of a jury and the public. The hon. Lady will know that we have been piloting the scheme in Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston upon Thames Crown courts, and that the pilots ended in October 2014. Interim findings from the evaluation of the pilots are awaited, and an announcement of the plans for any future roll-out of the scheme will be made in due course.
I recently visited the recorder of Liverpool, Judge Goldstone, who said that the section 28 pilot in Liverpool had resulted in a sea change in culture in court: cross-examinations without the aggressive barracking and repetitive questions of defence lawyers, and impressive outcomes in the reduction of stress and anxiety in children. Does the Minister agree that if the pilot was rolled out to every court, it would hugely increase the confidence of child witnesses in the criminal justice system?
13. How many foreign nationals have been released from prison since May 2010.
The total number of foreign national offenders released from prison between May 2010 and September 2014 is 38,256. That does not take into account offenders who have been transferred to an immigration removal centre, releases of indeterminate prisoners and those on home detention curfew.
Thousands of foreign criminals have been released from prison, and the Public Accounts Committee reported just two months ago that the number being deported is now 500 lower than it was in 2008-09 under the previous Government. The last Conservative manifesto said:
“We will extend early deportation of foreign national prisoners”.
What did the word “extend” mean?
I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the number of foreign national offenders in our prisons doubled when his Government were in power. This Government have brought the number down: from 11,135 in June 2010 to 10,503. He is of course right that we have further work to do. We have signed prisoner transfer agreements with Nigeria, Somaliland and Albania, and we are actively making sure that European Union prisoner transfer arrangements take place, notably with Poland at the end of next year. We are absolutely focused on continuing to make progress on this important issue.
When a foreign national commits a crime in the United Kingdom, they should be sent back to where they came from and banned from ever returning. Should we not also compulsorily transfer prisoners from our jails to prisons in their own countries? What new compulsory transfer agreements are the Government working on?
I commend my hon. Friend’s persistence, as always, on this issue. The introduction of the Immigration Act 2014 will make a significant difference. It gives us the ability to deport people first, allowing foreign national offenders to appeal in their home country later. We have reduced the number of appeal options from 17 to four, which is starting to make a difference.
14. What steps the Government have taken to provide greater protection and support for vulnerable victims during trials.
Last September, we published “Our Commitment to Victims”, a key plank of which is supporting vulnerable victims and witnesses in court. We are doing so by establishing non-court locations for vulnerable witnesses to give their evidence using a live link, evaluating the pilots of recorded pre-trial cross-examination—I am very much of the view that that should be extended nationwide if the trial proves successful—and strengthening the training requirements for publicly funded advocates in sexual offence cases.
My constituent Jane Clough was murdered by her ex-partner Jonathan Vass while he was out on bail. I have been very fortunate to be able to work with Jane’s parents, John and Penny Clough, in their successful fight to change the law to allow vulnerable victims to challenge judge-made bail decisions. Will my right hon. Friend confirm to the House that the provision is being used, and that vulnerable victims are being protected because of that change in the law?
I commend my hon. Friend for his work in this important area. He is referring to the provision that allows Crown court decisions to grant bail to be challenged in the High Court. That exists largely through his efforts and those of John and Penny Clough, whom I also commend. The provision is used sparingly, as was intended, but bail decisions are being reversed, from time to time, as a result.
15. If he will bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the disparity between sentences for physical and online crime.
The sentences that are available for crimes that are committed online are the same as those for offences that are committed offline. Fraud or malicious communications, for example, carry severe maximum penalties, whether committed online or offline. Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts. Sentencing guidelines are issued by the independent Sentencing Council to help ensure that there is proportionate and consistent sentencing.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the report released last week that suggested that the punishments for online and offline crime should be equalised demonstrates that education is needed to show that the two sentences should be equal?
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. I pay tribute to him, since this is his last Justice questions, for the work that he has done in this area over the past five years. He will be much missed in this place and I wish him the very best for the future. This is one area where his work has had an impact on the way in which the Government think and the way in which legislation is shaped.
18. The growth in online crime suggests that many people still do not understand that what is illegal offline is illegal online. Has the time come to make websites and social media operators verify the identity of the people who use their services in the UK to make it easier for people to be held accountable for their actions online?
My right hon. Friend has also done important work in this area, including her success in dealing with the issue of revenge porn. I have a lot of sympathy with what she says. This area needs continuous scrutiny, and my Department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport continue to work closely on it. It is an area in which the next Parliament will have to do further work.
16. What assessment he has made of recent trends in levels of prison officer recruitment, retention and training.
The National Offender Management Service is on course to recruit its target of 1,700 new prison officers by next month. The training capacity for new officers has been expanded to meet demand. There has been a small increase in the rate of leaving by new officers.
Will the Minister answer the final part of the question regarding the training of prison officers, which he omitted to do in his response?
Very willingly. I am always mindful of Mr Speaker’s injunction to keep answers short. We have a six-week residential training course to provide a custodial national vocational qualification. In time, we want to raise that to a 10-week course, but we have not been able to do so because Newbold Revel, which I visited last week, is full to bursting with prison officers. Prison officers are taught to a very high standard. On my visit last week, I spoke to prison officers in training, and I am very pleased with the excellent work that is being done there.
The right hon. Lady’s moment has arrived. I call Fiona Mactaggart.
19. How many women who have been victims of domestic violence applied for legal aid in proceedings relating to their children in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
From July to September 2014, there were 3,097 applications for legal aid in relation to private law proceedings under the Children Act 1989. Due to the way in which data are collected, that figure includes applications where there was evidence of child abuse and applications that were made by men. I will write to the right hon. Lady to provide a breakdown of applications by gender.
I asked for the figures because the gateway into legal aid for victims of domestic violence requires them to provide evidence that they have been victims of domestic violence in the last two years. We know that abusers use child custody and access arrangements to further abuse their victims. What is the Minister doing about that?
21. What steps his Department is taking to protect children who are at risk of grooming.
In the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, the Government amended section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to reduce the number of initial occasions on which the defendant must meet or communicate with the child in question from two to one. That will permit more effective intervention by the police in relation to individuals who could otherwise have been prosecuted only when a second contact had been established.
My right hon. Friend will be aware that the report into child sexual abuse in Rotherham highlighted the role of some taxi drivers in the town in facilitating abuse. The point has been raised with me that someone could apply for a licence in one authority and be rejected, but apply successfully in another authority. What measures are the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Communities and Local Government taking to prevent that happening and to safeguard children?
A cross-Government working group is looking at what took place in Rotherham, what lessons can be learned, and what changes can be put in place. I agree with my hon. Friend that that area should be given serious consideration.
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
I am pleased to inform the House that last month the United Kingdom hosted the Global Law Summit. The event was a major success, highlighting the importance of the legal sector to our economy, promoting the quality of our legal services abroad, and celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. More than 2,000 delegates from 110 countries attended, and 65 countries were represented by ministerial delegations. My departmental colleagues and I had productive discussions with our international counterparts. The summit was a unique event bringing together Government Ministers, senior legal figures and business leaders from around the world, and it was probably the largest legal event of its kind ever held. I am proud that working with the legal profession, the City of London, UK Trade & Investment and a range of commercial sponsors, the Government supported that summit and the UK hosted it. It was a fantastic advert for the rule of law, our legal sector and our country.
Can the Justice Secretary tell the House when the principle of adverse possession has been tested in the courts recently? Does he share my understanding that an owner of land can possess that land but still allow access over it, such as, for example, in the case of a village hall at Scrayingham where the villagers have used and maintained that hall and the landowner has previously allowed access to it?
I do not know the exact occasion on which that principle was previously tested, but I am aware of the case to which my hon. Friend refers. She and I have discussed it, and I am happy to work with her to consider whether there is a loophole in the law that should be changed.
In 2010 the prison riot squad was called out to prisons 118 times, which was too many. Last year it was called out 223 times—a 90% increase—and that is with 18 fewer prisons than in 2010. That is a disgrace. We have fewer prisons with fewer staff, and not enough work or training for inmates. We have record numbers of deaths in custody, and prisoner-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-staff assaults have surged. We heard a lot in 2010 about a rehabilitation revolution. Where did it go wrong?
Let me tell the right hon. Gentleman what is actually happening. The number of prisoner qualifications is up, as is the number of hours worked in prisons. On the size of our prison estate, we will go into this election with 3,000 more adult male prison places than we had in 2010, and we have done that while bringing down the cost of the prison estate to sort out the mess left behind by the previous Government. The Labour Government brought about a crisis in our prisons that led to them having to let offenders out early because they ran out of space in our prisons. I will take no lessons from Labour about how to run our prisons.
Evidence, if it was needed, of a man completely out of touch. Most judges, lawyers, probation staff, prison officers, victims, court staff, and people denied access to justice believe that the right hon. Gentleman has been the worst Lord Chancellor since Lord Shaftesbury in 1673—the two of you have a thing or two in common, so you should check him out. In a poll commissioned last month, 82% of people in the legal sector said that they were more likely to vote Tory if the Justice Secretary was replaced. Why does he think the figure is not higher?
In the last Justice questions before the election, all I get from the right hon. Gentleman is abuse. Do you know why, Mr Speaker? Since he has no policies and ideas, all he can do is resort to abuse, and that is all he ever does.
T2. Is the Lord Chancellor aware of a report by the Henry Jackson Society that shows that at least 20 foreign terrorists have used the Human Rights Act to prevent their deportation from the United Kingdom? Does that underline the need for modernisation and reform of the Human Rights Act, and its replacement with a British Bill of Rights?
Absolutely it underlines that requirement. All of us in this House will, I suspect, be debating these matters in a lively way in the next few months. I believe we need to reform. I think the people of this country need reform. It is a matter of surprise to me that the other parties in this House do not appear to agree.
T3. Everyone will support attempts to prevent drugs getting into prisons. Reports at the weekend said that £15 million is to be spent on a new state-of-the-art drugs scanner for prisons. Can the Justice Secretary say when the first scanners will be in place, and which prisons will be in receipt of them first?
We will invest in a new generation of body scanners that will help us to detect substances being smuggled into prison. In addition, the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 introduces powers to test specific non-controlled drugs as part of mandatory drug testing. We are providing new guidance to governors. Through the Serious Crime Act 2015, it is now illegal to throw anything over the wall, including spice or any other drug.
T4. A couple of months ago, I asked the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he would speak to the Justice Secretary about the prospect of speeding up the eviction process for illegal Traveller encampments by appointing specialist magistrates who are able to sit at short notice and out of hours. Has he had that conversation and is he sympathetic to progressing this matter?
We have had a discussion on the Traveller issue. It is an area on which we both feel strongly, and one that requires attention after the general election as soon as a Conservative Government are elected.
T5. Does the Justice Secretary not sense a little bit of irony in his hijacking of the 800th anniversary celebrations of Magna Carta at a time when his Government are constantly removing people’s rights and removing access to justice? Is that not hypocritical?
We hear the same old tune from the Opposition time and time again. They oppose the changes we have made, but they will not commit to reverse them. Until and unless they turn around and say, “We will reverse the changes you have had to make because of the mess that was left behind” I will not take them seriously.
T6. Breaking the cycle of crime is crucial. Does my right hon. Friend welcome the news that Out 4 Success, a former prisoners’ social enterprise, will be holding a launch event in Parliament next week? Would he be willing to pop along and meet its founders, Grant Doyle and Mark Hirst?
I very much agree with my hon. Friend. We are blessed to have 1,300 charities working in this sector. There are many social enterprises, such as the one he mentions, doing an excellent job. I will definitely try to meet the founders he has mentioned.
T8. What powers does the Ministry of Justice have to enforce UK family court orders, such as child custody, in the Crown dependency of Guernsey? My constituent’s access to his son is being prevented. These are very difficult circumstances. Will the Minister raise this issue with his counterpart?
This is an issue that has exercised a lot of colleagues in the House. We do not have any power to tell other jurisdictions what to do, including in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. We have a mechanism of communicating the decisions of our courts to their courts, and we have ways in which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and others support people in pursuing their rights, but there is no enforcement mechanism in international law. It is left to domestic jurisdictions to make their decisions.
T7. The Lord Chancellor has already referred to the Global Law Summit, which enabled the UK’s legal sector to highlight its pre-eminence as a centre of legal and business innovation. Will he tell the House about some of the benefits we will see as a result of this important event?
It is very much my hope that we will achieve two things. The event enabled contacts to be made around the world. That will enable law firms, our barristers and others who took part, to find new business opportunities to help enhance the economy of this country and the legal services sector and boost our long-term economic plan. In addition, I hope we have set a foundation that will allow the event to be held again in future and that we will continue to make London the centre of legal services internationally.
People with asbestos-related diseases not only have to cope with their illness, but often have a difficult court battle to get compensation. With the proposed rise in court fees, which are totally disproportionate—for example, going from £1,300 to £10,000—many claimants will be deterred. Will the Minister look again at the scale of those rises to see if they can be reduced to a more reasonable level?
Some 90% of people will not be affected by the enhanced fees, and we have waivers for people who do not qualify on financial grounds. The fees will apply only to a relatively small number of people, and even for them we have the waivers.
T9. Does the Secretary of State agree that burglary is a serious offence and causes great pain to victims, yet far too few people convicted of burglary offences actually receive custodial sentences? Will Ministers look at this and do something about it?
I agree with my hon. Friend. I hope that one thing we have done that will make a difference is tightening up the law on the use of cautions. We had a situation in which people could receive cautions time and again, rather than ending up in front of magistrates courts, but as a result of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, that situation will now change, and it is necessary that it does so.
In 2010, the Government put on hold plans to rebuild Sunderland’s court complex, and answers to recent parliamentary questions reveal what we have always feared—that no decision was ever likely to be taken in this Parliament. What would the Minister say to people across Sunderland to explain his Government’s complete failure to make any progress in the last five years?
I would say to the people of Sunderland: look at the record of the Labour party in government—it did absolutely nothing. We have put in place a five-year reform programme that will bring our courts into the 21st century. Her Government did not do that, but we have, and in five years, we will have the best courts in the world.
T10. My plans for the regeneration of the city of Gloucester include a new car park and entrance to Gloucester station, but they depend on a land sale agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the city council and the land’s onward leasing to First Great Western. Ministers have been sympathetic to urban regeneration. Will my hon. Friend confirm whether the MOJ has agreed an independent local valuation so that rapid progress can be made on the sale?
The Justice Secretary has confirmed that he will plough on with his barmy idea for two-tier contracts for criminal solicitors, so it will fall to either the Court of Appeal or my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) to kick this barmy idea into touch forever after we win the election. How does the Justice Secretary expect criminal firms and solicitors to give up 50% of their client work voluntarily? We have asked that lots of times, but we have never had an answer.
The important thing for any Lord Chancellor is to ensure that if somebody is arrested and taken to a police station, there will be a lawyer to represent them. These reforms will ensure that that happens, even in difficult times financially, when fee levels have to be cut. My disappointment is that although these reforms were agreed by the previous leadership of the Law Society, the current leadership has taken a rather different view.
There are 6,100 tariff-expired offenders serving indeterminate sentences, at a cost, I estimate, of £200 million annually. What are Ministers doing to ensure access to courses in prisons to facilitate offenders’ timely rehabilitation?
I can tell my hon. Friend that we are improving significantly the amount of work and education in prisons. As the Secretary of State said, the number of qualifications has increased, and the number of courses is increasing as well. We will keep a focus on this important area.
When the Lord Chancellor had the pleasure of meeting lawyers from all over the world at this global summit, how many of them came up to him and said what a great idea it was to advance the human rights cause around the world while withdrawing from the European convention on human rights, and did they offer him any advice on the need to remain within the orbit of international humanitarian law?
I had no such conversations one way or the other—[Interruption.]—because nobody raised the issue with me. The hon. Gentleman and I disagree fundamentally on this issue—I believe that change is necessary; he does not—but the difference is that the public support me, not him.
Order. We must now move on to the ten-minute rule motion. I call Mr Jim Hood.
For several years I have been campaigning alongside various community groups, including the West Lancashire Pensioners Forum. Our aim is to secure new cemetery and crematorium provision in West Lancashire, thereby rectifying the awful and unacceptable situation facing many residents. It is an issue that West Lancashire borough council refuses to address. Too many families are laying their loved ones to rest in neighbouring boroughs due to the unavailability of local burial plots. These families are incurring higher funeral costs and have to travel further to visit the graves of their loved ones—a major challenge in an area where people are reliant on public transport. I therefore present this petition to the House of Commons on behalf of West Lancashire Pensioners Forum and for the residents of West Lancashire.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of the West Lancashire constituency,
Declares that burial and cremation services should be provided in West Lancashire without delay; further that this provision will mean that burial and cremation services are less expensive and more convenient for residents and further that a local petition on this matter has been signed by 2000 individuals.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage West Lancashire Borough Council to provide burial and cremation services in West Lancashire.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001460]
This is a petition relating to Rough Close post office. It is a petition to the House of Commons by residents of the constituency of Stone in Staffordshire. It contains more than 500 signatures which have been supplied to the Post Office and it is now coming before Parliament.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of the constituency of Stone in Staffordshire,
Declares that residents of Meir Heath object to the relocation of the local Rough Close Post Office branch from Grindley Lane to Sandon Road in Meir Heath; further that a number of products and services will not be available at the new post office; further that the Petitioners will need to find alternative providers to carry out the banking, parcel services and travel insurance on demand; further that there are limited parking facilities at the relocated site which would cause disruption to residents, road users and post office delivery; further that the relocated site would be unsuitable and would pose increased difficulties for the elderly, including the crossing of a major road; further that given the size of the premises, residents wishing to use Post Office facilities would need to queue outside; further that the new open plan serving positions may come with a lack of privacy and security; and further that the Petitioners currently receive professional services from fully trained post office staff with many years’ experience at the existing location.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to intervene to keep the Rough Close Post Office branch in its existing location on Grindley Lane.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001462]
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for the disclosure of convictions and sentences etc. by candidates for election to specified public roles; and for connected purposes.
The purpose of my Bill is to impose a legal requirement on a candidate for any of the roles mentioned in subsection (2), which reads:
“Application of Section 2 shall apply to candidates standing for election to the role of…member of the House of Commons…hereditary member of the House of Lords…member of the Scottish Parliament…member of the National Assembly for Wales…member of the Northern Ireland Assembly…member of the European Parliament for a UK constituency…member of the Greater London Assembly… elected mayor, including Mayor of London…district, borough, county, county borough or unitary authority councillor…parish or community councillor…Police and Crime Commissioner”.
The current position is set out in the House of Commons Library standard note of 16 April 2014 as follows:
“An individual who is convicted of a recordable offence will have a ‘nominal record’ of that conviction placed on the Police National Computer. Nominal records will also be created for individuals who are cautioned, reprimanded, warned or arrested for such offences. An individual’s nominal record is retained until his 100th birthday.”
The police national database is used to record details of “soft” police intelligence—for example, details of criminal investigations that do not lead to a conviction. The intention will generally be to retain this information for a minimum of six years, and longer if it relates to allegations of a serious offence or if the individual concerned is considered to pose an ongoing risk.
When a person applies for a so-called “excepted position”, he or she may be required to provide details of their record by way of a standard or enhanced criminal records check from the Disclosure and Barring Service, formerly the Criminal Records Bureau. Excepted positions cover, for example, work with children or vulnerable adults and roles in certain licensed occupations or positions of trust such as police officers and solicitors. It is my contention that elected representatives of the people as listed in subsection (2) fall within the category applicable to police officers, teachers, doctors, nurses, voluntary youth workers and so forth, and should therefore be added to the professions requiring disclosure statements.
The reputation of politics in general, and of some of its elected representatives in particular, has been tarnished in recent times. We have in no small measure a collective responsibility to do what we can to restore the reputation of Parliament and all our public institutions. If a school teacher, a school bus driver, a police officer, a doctor, a nurse, a community volunteer and many thousands of other public service professionals are required to have disclosure statements as a prerequisite to their being able to pursue their profession, why not MPs, councillors, MSPs, London Assembly members and so forth?
It was a school teacher from Lanark grammar school in my constituency who, during a meeting in my office at a prearranged visit with three of her students asked me, “Do MPs need to have disclosure statements?”, to which I felt sheepish in saying no. I am presenting the Bill today thanks to that teacher’s inquiry, and I look forward to the day when my answer will be, “Of course.”
On the eve of a general election, thousands of candidates are ready for the off following the Dissolution of Parliament next week. In truth, although all political parties have their own procedures for vetting their prospective candidates, they rarely, if ever, have information about a candidate’s criminal antecedence. That is surely an impediment to our doing right by the people we represent.
Child protection must and always will be at the heart of everything that we do in the House of Commons. Legislators must subject themselves to the same scrutiny, and the same laws that we pass, that apply to members of our electorate. I am sure that those taking part in Justice Lowell Goddard’s inquiry into historical child abuse will want to identify any potential weaknesses in child protection legislation with a view to scrutinising political institutions in connection with all aspects of child protection.
In the light of all that has gone before, my Bill is an attempt to bring the political elite under greater scrutiny, and to reassure the public that the laws that we pass for them apply to all their elected representatives. I commend it to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That Mr Jim Hood, Mr Brian H. Donohoe, Mr Dennis Skinner, Jim Sheridan, Mr Tom Clarke, Pamela Nash, Sir Alan Meale, Mr Frank Roy, Mr Ian Davidson, John Robertson, Ian Lavery and Mr Russell Brown present the Bill.
Mr Jim Hood accordingly presented the Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 27 March and to be printed (Bill 189).
Modern Slavery Bill (Programme) (No. 3)
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 83A(7)),
That the following provisions shall apply to the Modern Slavery Bill for the purpose of supplementing the Orders of 8 July 2014 (Modern Slavery Bill (Programme)) and 4 November 2014 (Modern Slavery Bill (Programme) (No. 2)):
Consideration of Lords Amendments
(1) Proceedings on consideration of Lords Amendments shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion three hours after their commencement at today’s sitting.
(2) The proceedings shall be taken in the following order: Lords Amendment No. 72; Lords Amendments Nos. 1 to 71; Lords Amendments Nos. 73 to 95.
Subsequent stages
(3) Any further Message from the Lords may be considered forthwith without any Question being put.
(4) The proceedings on any further Message from the Lords shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour after their commencement..—(Karen Bradley.)
Question agreed to.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI must draw the House’s attention to the fact that financial privilege is involved in Lords amendments 20, 45 and 61. If the House agrees to any of those amendments, I shall cause an appropriate entry to be made in the Journal.
After Clause 50
Protection from slavery for overseas domestic workers
I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 72.
With this it will be convenient to take Government amendments (a) to (c) in lieu of Lords amendment 72.
As Members know, there has been considerable interest in the position of overseas domestic workers during debates on the Bill, both here and in another place. We have had excellent debates on this important issue. I am grateful to Members of both Houses for raising it, and I want to address it fully today.
At this point in my speech, I was going to wish the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) a speedy recovery, because he has been so instrumental in bringing us to this point in the Bill’s passage. I had not expected to see him here today, and I am delighted that he is present. I hope that he is feeling considerably better, and I look forward to hearing from him later in the debate.
I am immensely grateful to the Minister for those comments, and Mr Speaker was nodding in agreement—so much so that I hope he may actually call me to speak in the debate.
That is a very ingenious way of signalling a desire to contribute, and the right hon. Gentleman might find that his desire is accommodated.
I look forward to hearing from the right hon. Gentleman, and it sounds to me as though you will be obliging, Mr Speaker.
Holding anyone in slavery or servitude or trafficking them is an abhorrent crime, which this Government are determined to stamp out. Such abuse of anyone on an overseas domestic worker visa is totally unacceptable. This landmark Modern Slavery Bill’s core purpose is to make sure both that law enforcement has the tools to ensure those who commit these appalling crimes are caught and punished and that victims receive the protection and support they need to recover. This is crucial to our approach to overseas domestic workers. This Bill means those who traffic overseas domestic workers or hold them in servitude can receive a life sentence and that the slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour offence reflects the particular circumstances of vulnerable victims.
I applaud and understand what the Minister says about ensuring that those who enslave domestic servants should be given a life sentence. If that was to happen and the law enforcement agencies were to get involved with the employer, what would happen to the employee?
I shall address later in my remarks exactly what is envisaged through the amendment in lieu to give support specifically to people on an overseas domestic workers visa who are victims of slavery.
The Bill means that all victims of modern slavery will have major new protections such as the statutory defence to prevent them from being treated inappropriately as criminals. I understand and share the sentiment behind Lords amendment 72. When my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and I looked at it and considered how to respond to the Lords vote, our priority was to improve the protection for victims of modern slavery. I know that that is in line with the spirit in which peers passed the amendment and I am grateful for their careful scrutiny of the Bill. That common focus on supporting and protecting victims of modern slavery is why I am not simply proposing that this House should disagree with the Lords amendment. Instead, even at this late stage of the passage of the Bill, we are proposing to add additional protections for overseas domestic workers who fall victim to modern slavery.
It is essential that we get this Bill on the statute book before the Dissolution of Parliament next week. Although the amendments coming from the other place, including amendment 72, have absolutely the right sentiment, does the Minister agree that it is vital that we ensure this legislation gets on the statute book at the earliest possible opportunity so that these fundamental and important protections can become the law of the land?
I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. He is right: we are at a very late stage and we want this Bill to become an Act of Parliament. We want the Modern Slavery Act, the first piece of anti-slavery legislation for 200 years, to be on the statute book. We must make sure we achieve that, but in a way that provides all victims, including victims on an overseas domestic worker visa, with the support and protection they need.
The hon. Lady emphasised that she wanted, through the Government amendment, to give additional protections to domestic workers, but in fact I think her amendment has either confused her or is designed to confuse the House, because it actually reduces the protections that exist under the national referral mechanism. Has she looked at the National Crime Agency report about what happens to someone who has conclusive grounds? First, they are given 12 months’ leave to remain, but the Minister is suggesting that domestic workers get only six months’ leave to remain and cannot get access to public funds. Those two things are available to every other enslaved worker, but will not be available to domestic workers.
I am afraid that the right hon. Lady has misunderstood the amendment. The protections available to all victims of modern slavery who go through the national referral mechanism will be available to victims who have come here on an overseas domestic workers visa. That includes the discretionary right to stay for 12 months and one day if they are assisting the police with their inquiries. In addition, we are including in the Bill the provision for six months’ leave to stay and work irrespective of whether the person is assisting the police with their inquiries. That is a minimum of six months, in addition to the 12 months’ discretionary leave. It is in addition to the support that is available to all victims of slavery who go through the national referral mechanism.
The good progress in the Lords reflects the comments that were made in the Bill Committee. Will the Minister say a little more about the guidance and tell us what is going to happen on the ground to ensure that enforcement action will not be taken against overseas domestic workers who are going through the national referral mechanism? Will the guidance have proper bite to ensure that no inappropriate action is taken and that victims are properly treated as victims?
My hon. Friend and the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) were strong and assiduous members of the Committee that scrutinised the Bill as it went through the House of Commons, which is when we started debating this issue. My hon. Friend is right to mention the guidance, and I shall explain more about that in a moment. It is absolutely clear that all front-line professionals need to understand that the visa situation of an individual is irrelevant in these circumstances: if they are a victim of slavery, they are a victim of slavery, and they will need the support that is available. As I have said, the amendment will give additional support for victims who are on an overseas domestic workers visa, and I shall explain why that is appropriate.
Before I explain the additional protections, which seek to address the important concerns raised in the other place, I should explain to the House why I am deeply concerned that Lords amendment 72 will not protect victims, however well intentioned it might be. There is a real risk that it will achieve the opposite. I want to ensure that a provision to support overseas domestic workers who fall victim to modern slavery will help those vulnerable people get the help they need and allow law enforcement to take action to prevent their abusers from doing the same to another domestic worker. I do not believe that the Lords amendment would achieve either of those things. Members will have seen from my letter that those worries are shared by senior law enforcement officers working in this field.
I should remind the House that the overseas domestic workers visa allows visitors to the UK to bring their existing domestic staff with them when they visit the UK, for a maximum of six months. Separate arrangements apply for the small number of overseas domestic workers who work in diplomatic households. Around 15,000 of these visas are issued every year, and the data suggest that visits typically last for only about 15 days, so the vast majority of overseas domestic workers will be here for a very short time. To qualify for this short-term visa, there must be evidence of a long-term employment relationship between employer and employee.
Even before the Lords debate on Report, the Government announced that the safeguards would be strengthened. There will be a new standard contract, along with changes to the immigration rules to strengthen the guarantees that overseas domestic workers will be paid at least the national minimum wage, pilot programmes of interviews for applicants overseas and the provision of information cards at the border. Given the specific circumstances in which the visa is applicable, it is not possible to change employer during the short period that the workers are in the UK or to extend the visa as a route to settling permanently in the UK.
Lords amendment 72 would change that, allowing overseas domestic workers to change employer and stay in the UK indefinitely, potentially gaining settlement. The Government have listened carefully to the debates on this issue, and we are keen to take an evidence-based approach. As the House will know, the Government have announced an independent review of the overseas domestic workers visa, which is to report in July. The review will look specifically at the ability to change employer. It is being undertaken by James Ewins, a respected expert on modern slavery who served as a specialist legal adviser to the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee on the Bill.
Would not the Lords amendment effectively bring us back to the position that we were in in 2012, which is when the Government changed the immigration rules? My question to the Minister is why did they change the rules in the first place? Why could we not have kept them as they were?
The hon. Lady will know that there was abuse under the old regime. We wanted to ensure that we were giving maximum protection to victims. I shall shortly give the House some information from the anti-slavery commissioner designate, who is quite clear about the abuse of workers that he saw when he was working in the Metropolitan police. Those workers were here on the visa and were able to change employer, and they were trafficked and moved between employers by organised criminal gangs.
There was abuse under the old system, so going back to the old system is not the right answer. The answer is to find out what the problem is with the visa and to ensure that we are not importing abuse. That is what I am determined to do, and that is what I have asked James Ewins to look at. The measures in the Bill today are designed to give as much protection, support and information as possible to workers on this visa. By July, we shall have a full evidence base for the best way of supporting those employees, and that is the point at which changes should be made. They should be made when we have the evidence.
I am grateful to the Minister for her answer, but I do not really understand why the rules were changed in 2012 if there was no proper evidence to enable them to be changed properly to give people protection. Why are we debating the issue now, three years later? The Government changed the rules, and they made things worse. I do not understand why we are having this debate three years on.
The evidence is not that it has made things worse. Kalayaan, the leading charity in this area, was getting 300 victims of slavery coming through its doors each year under the old system. The figure is now 60 a year.
I want to understand what is happening with the visa and to ensure that we do not import abuse. The fact is that we need to find the evidence and we need to understand the problem. That is why we have instigated the review and why we are taking the steps that we are taking today.
The Minister has just indicated to the House that the person who will look at this issue was the adviser to the Modern Slavery Bill pre-legislative scrutiny Committee. As she will know, that Committee advised the Government to accept the changes that are being proposed today.
The right hon. Gentleman is an experienced parliamentarian, but he knows that there were problems with that visa prior to 2012. We need to root out those problems. We need to find a solution, but the way to do that is not to return to the system under which the abuse occurred. The answer is to find out how to stop the abuse in the first place.
Will the Minister give way?
I have been listening to what the Minister is saying. In the past, under the Labour Government’s visa arrangements, a large number of people reported being abused because they knew that they could leave a bad employer. The Minister boasts that the figure has gone down to 60, but that has happened because people are now trapped with the same employer and can do only one of two things: they can go home, or they can run away. They are not protected under the present visa system, and that is why the number has fallen.
The hon. Gentleman will also know that we have reviewed the national referral mechanism and that we are ensuring that it is being extended to all victims of slavery, not just to victims of trafficking. An argument that was always put forward about overseas domestic workers was that they could not qualify for the national referral mechanism because they had not been trafficked. We are changing that, with the Bill and the modern slavery strategy, to ensure that support is available to all victims of slavery. I want to make it clear that anyone who is here on an overseas domestic workers visa can come forward, confident in the knowledge that they will get the support they need and that they will not simply be deported, as the hon. Gentleman is suggesting. They will be able to go through the national referral mechanism. At the end of that process, they will be able to work in this country for a minimum of six months to help them to get back on their feet. When we have the evidence from the review, we will be able to determine our final, definitive position on the visa, but I want to make it absolutely clear to anyone who is here on the visa and to any victim of slavery that the Bill, which I want to see become an Act of Parliament, is there to support and protect them.
The Minister is moving the debate on, in that she is saying that a future Parliament will decide this issue. We have before us amendments that the Government hope the Lords will accept. The James Ewins review will presumably report after the election. I want to ask the Minister and my own Front-Bench spokesman, my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson), whether they will give a commitment that whoever is in government will implement James Ewins’s report.
We have asked for this review to take place and we look forward to the recommendations. I cannot commit a future Government, but the intention is that whoever is in government—I very much hope it will be the Conservatives—will implement the review’s recommendations.
I tried to intervene on the point about Kalayaan, because I want to put on the record that Kalayaan would say the reason for the reduction in the number of people who sought its help was that the remedies available to them have gone away. Does the Minister share my concern that in primary legislation there is an entitlement to six-months’ leave, which may guide the courts and officers in what they do, but no entitlement to the one year she claims those helping the police with their inquiries will receive?
On the numbers, I accept and do not dispute what Kalayaan is saying. What I am saying is that through this Bill we are offering the support Kalayaan says it believes overseas domestic workers do not get. I can work only on the basis of the figures it has produced about the number of people who have come to it looking for support; that is the only evidence I have on this at the moment. I have the other evidence about people who have gone through the NRM having been on an overseas domestic worker visa, and they are far smaller in number than those going through the NRM for domestic servitude who are UK or European economic area nationals, or who are here completely illegally. I can work only on the evidence I have, which is why I have asked James Ewing to look at the point.
The right hon. Lady makes the point about the courts, but they are not determining whether somebody is given a conclusive grounds decision within the NRM. She knows we have reviewed the NRM and introduced, as we will discuss later, an enabling power to put the NRM on to a statutory basis, as and when we have completed the pilots. But it will not be the courts deciding whether somebody gets a conclusive grounds decision; it will be the decision makers within the NRM—those specialists, led at the moment by the Salvation Army, who run the care contract. So this measure will not make any difference to courts decisions or decisions about discretionary leave, but, as she rightly says, this will be the only set of victims who will have something in statute over and above what is available in policy. She should welcome that.
We are all united in wanting to ensure that victims have the confidence to come forward, knowing that they will be supported and not deported. But should we not all share the concern that amendment 72 contains a gap and a flaw, which is that the cycle of abuse could lead to those on domestic work visas changing employers and then not coming forward to the authorities? That issue has been taken up by, among others, the Organised Crime Command. We need to look at what we have before us. We can agree that there is a gap in Lords amendment 72, which needs sorting out.
My hon. Friend sums it up perfectly—I could not sum it up better. The problem we have with a system that just allows somebody to change employer is we are brushing the abuse under the carpet; we are not bringing it out into the light. That flies in the face of what we are trying to do through this Bill, which is find the victim.
I hope the hon. Gentleman will not mind but I am going to make some progress.
The victims of slavery I have met are incredibly vulnerable people. We have a duty to give them support, look after them, and make sure that they take control of their lives and make the right decisions. I have met too many victims in domestic servitude who were not on visas and who have gone from one abusive employer to another because they were not brought out into the open—we did not find those victims—and we did not give them the support they need.
Suggesting that somebody who has been through the kind of suffering we are talking about could just walk out and find another employer and their life will be okay is disingenuous; it does not reflect the realities of this horrendous crime and the vulnerabilities of these victims. I want to find these victims and give them the specialist support the NRM offers, and I want to make sure they then have control of their own lives to move forward and do the right thing.
I said that I was going to make progress, but I will give way to the hon. Lady and the hon. Gentleman, and then do so.
I am trying to think about this in terms of the real world. It seems to me that the best way of escape for someone who is in servitude and being abused would be to find another employer, who could then be supportive. In those circumstances, someone could explain what had happened to them. Such a person is more likely to come forward in those circumstances than they are to come forward to the police when they are still in servitude and still being abused.
Let me be clear: this is not about coming forward to the police; it is about victims coming forward to a professional first responder who will refer them into the NRM. If someone chooses to give evidence that allows the police to instigate inquiries, they may be eligible for the 12 months and a day of discretionary leave. But what we are saying is, “You don’t need to come to the police. If you are a victim of slavery, you can come forward to a first responder—a professional—and a charity such as Kalayaan can help you by putting you into the NRM. And if at the end of the specialist support you are given a conclusive grounds decision, you will be allowed to stay and work for six months while you get your life back on track.” If the matter was as simple as someone changing employer, we would not have UK or EEA nationals being victims of slavery. It is not that simple to solve; it is a far more complicated problem. We are talking about 15,000 people who are, on average, here for 15 days. How do we make sure we find those victims? That is the challenge we face and that is what I want the review to deal with.
The Minister is trying to explain a difficult subject. The difficulty I have is that she seems to be saying that, regardless of how someone leaves an abusive employer, they end up in a white van heading for some place they are put by the NRM.
That is what happens to victims now. They are transferred from a caring organisation such as Kalayaan into what people see as a sterile organisation. Unfortunately, at the moment all the evidence shows that when people went to the police under the last Labour Government’s policy—the three-year visa— the police would send them to Kalayaan and it would then find their escape route. It was something people cared about, supported and had confidence in. Sadly, at the moment the official line—the police line, which is contained in the Government’s amendment—is not attractive to people who are in these situations. Whether the Minister likes it or not, escaping from an abusive employer and finding other employment where their employer does not abuse them is the solution for many people I have spoken to—the ones I met outside, when they presented me with flowers. Their solution is not to be put into some organisation where they are in an official system they do not trust.
I have enormous respect for the hon. Gentleman, but the way that he has painted the picture of the support given to victims in the NRM completely flies in the face of what those incredibly dedicated organisations that run the refuges and safe houses I have visited do. These are not sterile environments; they are caring family homes. They are places where people get incredible support and the opportunity to get back on their feet. I want to make it clear, for the record, that where people come forward as victims of slavery, whether they are on any visa or no visa is irrelevant; they should come forward to a first responder, not to the police. The first responder will refer them into the NRM, and just to be clear, it is the human trafficking centre or UK Visas and Immigration that currently makes the reasonable grounds decisions and, of course, the conclusive grounds decisions.
The Salvation Army runs the care contract and makes sure that those individuals who have been given a reasonable grounds decision and are therefore put into the NRM are then given the support they need. It does not matter—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman talks from a sedentary position about visas, but the visa does not matter; they will be put into the NRM and they will be looked after, not in sterile conditions but in very caring, supportive environment, with specialists who make sure that they have the support they need. If, at the end of the time, they have gone through the NRM and the decision is taken that they have a conclusive grounds decision that they are a victim of slavery, they will then be given a six-month visa to work. [Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman knows—
Order. We must conduct this debate in a seemly manner. The hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) cannot just stand up and make his point without having secured agreement to his intervention. We will leave it there for now, but the Minister is understandably animated on the matter.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I do apologise for that.
It is important to make it clear that victims who go through the national referral mechanism and who have a conclusive grounds decision that they are a victim of slavery will, at that point, have the right to claim six months to stay and work here in the UK. Whether they take up that claim is entirely down to the individual. If that victim assists police with their inquiries, they will receive an additional year and a day discretionary leave.
Returning to my former point, the Government believe that, given the very different views on the effect of the visa tie, this independent review—the one being conducted by James Ewins—is a great opportunity for a careful and objective look at the issue, and we should not pre-judge its findings. It is particularly important that we allow the review to do its work, because I am deeply concerned that the approach in the Lords amendment will not encourage victims to report the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, so that they can be held to account, or help victims access the support they need to recover.
If an overseas domestic worker who has fallen victim to modern slavery on their short stay in the UK has the ability to change employer, the likelihood is that, if they can escape, they will simply look for another employer and not tell the authorities what has happened to them. The perpetrator would then remain free to go on to abuse other domestic workers either in the UK or in their home country.
If we are to catch these very serious criminals and stop them offending again, we must incentivise overseas domestic workers who suffer abuse to come forward; it is absolutely crucial that we do that. My main concern is to ensure that victims, who are often deeply traumatised and vulnerable, receive the care and support they need to recover from the abuses they have suffered.
Given that the Minister has said that the Government amendment requiring victims to go through the national referral mechanism is aimed at ensuring that there are prosecutions, what is the evidence to date that shows that such cases have led to successful prosecutions and convictions?
The hon. Gentleman, who was a distinguished member of the Bill Committee, knows that there are not enough prosecutions. But this Bill is designed to secure more. Increased prosecutions combined with the reviewed national referral mechanism, which we will be piloting shortly and hope to roll out nationally very soon, will mean that we will get the evidence and information that we need. This is about not just legislation but the modern slavery strategy. We want all the agencies working together to ensure that we identify victims and treat them as victims, and that those victims get the support they need, so that they can give us the information we require to find the perpetrators of these awful crimes.
A victim who manages to leave an abusive employer and who is not receiving appropriate support would be very vulnerable and at risk of moving on to yet another abusive employer, leaving the original abuser free to abuse again. There is a real danger that Lords amendment 72 will allow abuse to go unchallenged. However good the intentions, that would not protect overseas domestic workers. It risks giving a free pass to the criminals who abuse them, creating the conditions for yet more victims. Quite frankly, if eliminating modern slavery was as simple as being able to change employer, we would have no UK nationals or EU members as victims as they could simply move on. As we all know, the truth is very different, and we have all heard the traumatic accounts of those abused by unscrupulous agricultural gangmasters or tarmac gangs.
This is a complex topic, and simplifying the issue to whether an overseas domestic worker can change employer risks doing a grave disservice to victims. That is not just the view of the Government. I have taken advice from the law enforcement professionals responsible for investigating modern slavery. Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the national policing lead for modern slavery, and Ian Cruxton, the director of the Organised Crime Command at the National Crime Agency, have both expressed concern that the Lords amendment would inadvertently undermine the fight against modern slavery because victims will not come forward.
I welcome this debate, which is the latest in a number of debates we have had on this issue. As the Minister knows, there have been long and detailed discussions in Committee, in the House of Lords and again today. Despite her valiant attempts today to convince the House of the Government’s position, she has not yet managed to convince those who work with the victims of overseas domestic worker abuse. She has not convinced the charity Kalayaan, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Liberty, Unite the union or the House of Lords, and she has not convinced me, my newly right hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart)—congratulations to her—or my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), whom I am pleased to see in his place.
The right hon. Gentleman fails to mention that I have managed to convince the Equality and Human Rights Commission. [Interruption.] It has said that it supports the Government’s position and recommends that our amendment should be accepted.
Order. I should congratulate the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) on her elevation to the Privy Council, despite her use of the word “shocking” three times in succession just now. She has been so elevated and is now a celebrated denizen of the House.
I wish to speak in support of Lords amendment 72 and try once again, alongside my right hon. and hon. Friends, to convince the Government that it would be in the best interests of overseas domestic workers. Today we revisit the regulations on overseas domestic workers that the Government changed in April 2012. Although the intention behind that change can be debated, I think that even the Minister would accept that the consequences have been dire. Domestic workers who come here from overseas are now tied to an employer, which in practice means that those who suffer abuse will immediately lose their right to reside in the UK if they escape the situation and seek help away from their employer. I believe that that disincentivises them from seeking help from the authorities in the first place because they fear being deported, and that allows abuse to become widespread and perpetrators to carry on uncontested.
The charity Kalayaan has done a great deal of detailed work to support overseas domestic workers, and the Minister knows of the statistics it has collated. It found that, of the workers who contacted it, 62% of the domestic workers who came on a tied visa were paid no salary at all, compared with 14% on the original visa, 96% were not allowed out of the house unsupervised and 74% faced psychological abuse. Those statistics are a small snapshot of what is a deeply difficult experience for too many overseas domestic workers in the United Kingdom.
If it was only Kalayaan saying that, it would be an indication from a respected charity, but the Minister knows—we have had this debate before—that a number of organisations have been considering this for some time. The Joint Committee on Human Rights has echoed the call for the review that Lords amendment 72 would effectively give. It states:
“We regard the removal of the right of an overseas domestic worker to change employer as a backward step in the protection of migrant domestic workers”.
The Minister and the Home Secretary produced the draft Bill and, helpfully, established the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead, to ensure that they looked at those issues and got the Bill right. The Committee included a number of notable peers from across the House of Lords: Baroness Butler-Sloss, the Bishop of Derby, Baroness Doocey, Baroness Hanham, Baroness Kennedy of Cradley, Lord McColl of Dulwich and Lord Warner. The Members from this House were the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), my right hon. Friend the Member for Slough and the right hon. Members for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Sir John Randall), for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) and for Hazel Grove (Sir Andrew Stunell). That cross-section of individuals looked at the matter in detail and concluded that the overseas domestic workers visa has
“unintentionally strengthened the hand of the slave master against the victim of slavery. The moral case for revisiting this issue is urgent and overwhelming”.
It called on the Government to take immediate action.
The Opposition tried to provide that immediate action in response to the Government’s lack of response to that particular aspect of the Joint Committee’s report. We tabled an amendment in Committee and had a good discussion about it. Mr Speaker, you know how difficult it is for an Opposition to get even close to winning votes upstairs in Committee. On the day in question, the result of the vote was nine-all, so it was decided by the Chair, the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard), who voted for the status quo, in accordance with precedent. The Government hand-picked a Committee but still ended up with a nine-all draw on an issue recommended on a cross-party basis by Members of both Houses. I think that shows the strength and integrity of the issue before us today.
Surely the Joint Committee’s point about the moral case for revisiting the issue has been taken up, because that is precisely what the Government have just ordered because of the complexity of the issue and the changes they have made. Surely the tight vote to which the right hon. Gentleman refers is evidence of the fact that both sides of the House want the issue to be looked at in great detail in the review.
Let me reassure the right hon. Lady that we seek to support the Lords in their amendment. If the House divides on the issue later today and the Division is lost, we will certainly support the Government’s proposals to carry forward the review, because we do not wish to see that stopped. However, I think that it is important to reflect on what the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, a former Government Deputy Chief Whip, said: there are too many victims for us to say that this is a matter for another day. The Government’s proposal would put the matter off for another day. I do not think that that other day should await the outcome of the general election; we should do it now. The Government have a clear view from the Lords, given the vote that was won by Lord Hylton, an independent peer, a few weeks ago, when the Government were defeated.
On the subject of waiting for another day, is there not a problem with Lords amendment 72? If a victim of slavery left their current employer and that employer was able to go on to abuse more victims, both that day and another day, the Lords amendment would do little to tackle that, whereas the Government’s amendment in lieu would do that, because it would prevent victims from being left for another day.
There is the National Crime Agency, there is legislation against abuse and, as Kalayaan has said, there is a large number of overseas domestic workers who are currently not paid a penny. If the hon. Lady found somebody who had left their employment, was able to untie their visa and move on and who could still pass on reports on the national minimum wage or other issues to the National Crime Agency, the Lords amendment would not stop that aspect being enforced. There is a national minimum wage now and it should be enforced. There is a National Crime Agency if people are undergoing abuse. The amendment would allow people to switch employers and ultimately, if they wished to do so, make a report and recommendations to a proper authority. At this point we need to get to the basics of how to untie the visa so that individuals can leave and avoid abuse.
The evidence that we took in Committee was that these are very frightened and vulnerable people who will run a long way from the authorities. Does the right hon. Gentleman think there is some merit in a mechanism whereby, if they require to take advantage of the concession, they are also required to clock on, so to speak, with the law enforcement agencies?
I might have been able to take the right hon. Gentleman at his word, had he not joined in the recommendation from my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead in the Committee. When I tabled in Committee word for word what he voted for in the draft Bill, he voted against it. With due respect to the right hon. Gentleman, he had his chance to put his case in Committee. We did not get this measure through the Bill Committee because he chose to vote with the Government, rather than for what he had recommended as part of the Joint Committee.
Lord Hylton said in the debate in the other place:
“There can be no doubt that domestic workers tied to one employer and living on his premises are extremely vulnerable.”
Baroness Hanham, a Conservative, said in the same debate:
“In this 21st century it is absolutely unacceptable that people are coming in to this country tied to an employer, unable to do anything for themselves and absolutely under the instruction of the person for whom they are working”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 25 February 2015; Vol. 759, c. 1690-93.]
Peer after peer, MP after MP, and my right hon. and hon. Friends in their submissions to date have said that the Government’s approach is wrong-headed and that they need to rethink it urgently.
If Lords amendment 72 is defeated, we will reluctantly not oppose the Government’s amendment in lieu. We will contribute to the debate. Should I be the Minister after May, which is entirely a matter for the electorate, I will revisit the principles that we are examining in relation to Lords amendment 72. As has been pointed out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Slough and my hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), the Government’s amendment gives someone who has been determined to be a victim of slavery or human trafficking through the national referral mechanism the ability to change their employer. It does not untie the visa for all. It means that overseas domestic workers would need to meet a high threshold to prove that they had been victims of modern slavery.
We are debating the Modern Slavery Bill, aren’t we? What we are looking at here is how we protect victims of slavery, irrespective of their visa. If we give somebody the right to come to Britain on one of these visas and then they are abused as a slave, I want to make sure that we give them the right support. That is what we are debating today and that is what I want to achieve.
I am grateful. There is no disagreement between us, but the issue for me is still the position with regard to the tied visa. I do not think that the Government’s proposal in the long term, following the review that was undertaken effectively on a cross-party basis by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead, is sufficient for the purpose.
The right hon. Gentleman’s words belie him. Just a few sentences ago he said he wanted to unpick that visa knot for others. With the greatest respect, it is not those others that we are discussing today; it is the victims of slavery, as my hon. Friend the Minister has just said. Does the right hon. Gentleman want to do more or does he want to do what she outlined?
With due respect to the hon. Lady, under the Government’s proposal an individual would have to find a way to report themselves and to activate the national referral mechanism and get involved in that, at a time when they are working for an employer. The principle that I want to support is movement on untying the visa.
If somebody is unable to get to an authority to report themselves as a victim of slavery when there are helplines in place, and first responders, such as people in public bodies and others who are available, how does the right hon. Gentleman think they can change their employer?
It is important that they have the ability to do so.
I come back to my starting point. If the hon. Lady’s position is so strong, why are Kalayaan, Amnesty International, the anti-slavery organisations, Liberty, Unite the union and other organisations involved in supporting the people whom she is trying to protect saying to her today from outside the Chamber, “The Government have got this wrong.” The Government have indeed got this wrong. They need to support amendment 72 and ensure that we deal with the issue in a fair and appropriate way.
For example, let me give the Minister one quote from Amnesty International. Anybody in the House will accept that Amnesty International is a respected organisation. Amnesty said to me in an e-mail only last night:
“We are gravely concerned at the amendment now put forward by the Government. Not only does this not provide any improvement in the position of these workers, but it would place on the statute book a regime under which overseas domestic worker victims of human trafficking and slavery would be provided with less protection than other such victims within the existing National Referral Mechanism system.”
The hon. Lady says that that is not the case. I contend that if Amnesty International is criticising the Government, if the other organisations are doing so, if the House of Lords has said that the Government are wrong and if a cross-party royal commission which has looked at the Bill has said that the Government need to change their position now, the Government need to consider that.
There will be no right of appeal against a negative decision and no legal aid. Many of the people involved have limited English, are poor and vulnerable, and are being abused by rich and powerful people. The challenges are too great to place upon them. We have an opportunity today to give the House of Lords our support, to put in place this measure which will ensure that the visa is untied and that a level of protection is available. There is still the possibility of tackling issues to do with the minimum wage and other exploitation and to take both criminal action and civil enforcement action outside this Chamber through the anti-slavery commissioner and other aspects of the Bill. The hon. Lady has the chance to do that today, and I hope she will take it.
The right hon. Gentleman is very generous in allowing me to intervene. He hits the nail on the head when he talks about the vulnerability of the victims. We are talking about people who are in an incredibly vulnerable situation and about their chances of making a reasonable and logical decision to move to a non-abusive employer, when the risk is that they will go back to more slavery, more abuse and more servitude, and with the employer they have just escaped from being able to put somebody else into servitude. I think that that risk is too great for us to take. We need to help those people. We need to find them. I fully accept the challenges of finding victims and bringing this crime out into the open, but we are not going to do it if we brush it under the carpet and just let the victims change employers.
There is a disagreement between us, as ever. That is the nature of the debate that we have in the House. I support the Government in trying to tackle long-term abuse by poor employers. I support the Government in trying to drive out abuse carried out through pay and conditions. I hope the National Crime Agency, the anti-slavery commissioner and others will work hard to do that. The difference between us today is the question of the tied visa for employment. The House of Lords, the Committee chaired by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead, and the charities and organisations outside the House that are working on this issue believe that the Government should accept the Lords amendment. So do I.
Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise that the Minister has said that the employers could go on to employ someone else and subject them to abuse? Does that not expose the risk of the tied visa system? The abuse that the Minister is referring to is an abuse that stems from the tied visa. That is what we need to eradicate.
I am eternally grateful that I allowed my hon. Friend to intervene and I am grateful for his support in Committee when we debated this matter. He has helpfully cemented the central argument that the tied visa is a wrong-headed approach. There were challenges before April 2012; undoubtedly there will always be challenges in this type of situation. However, the tied visa exacerbates it. We have to make this change. I hope that the Government will listen, but if they do not—
Governments have been talking for years about bringing in a modern slavery Bill. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is unfortunate that in the last gasp of this Government, they have brought a Bill before the House that will still not address one of the most important aspects of modern slavery?
I remind the House that in taking the position that they have today, the Government are rejecting the cross-party recommendation from my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead and his Committee; rejecting the discussions we had in the Modern Slavery Bill Committee that resulted in a nine-to-nine vote with the Chair casting his vote in favour of the Government; rejecting the will of another place, where a cross-party group of MPs led by Lord Hylton tabled this amendment; and rejecting the advice of every organisation involved in dealing with this issue outside this House.
That is for the Government to determine. I am simply saying that if, by the end of this debate, they do not change their mind, I will ask my right hon. and hon. Friends to support the House of Lords amendment and, if that is defeated, reluctantly accept the Government’s late, compromise, dragged-out proposal.
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak in this debate on amendments to the Modern Slavery Bill—a critical Bill that will have far-reaching consequences for those who seek to abuse, and indeed have abused, and those who have suffered from that abuse. I was pleased to able to serve on the Committee that scrutinised the Bill, and I can honestly say that it did so in depth and very carefully. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Minister for her commitment to this issue and her determination to get this vital piece of anti-slavery legislation on to the statute book.
I recognise that amendment 72, tabled by the noble Lord Hylton, has the very best of intentions, but as my hon. Friend said the most important thing is to get this Bill on to the statute book before Parliament is dissolved in just over a week’s time. If we leave it any later—if the Lords continue to press these amendments—I fear we will lose the Bill altogether and its important work will be undone. Abusers will be safe from the law, while the poor and vulnerable they abuse will have less protection under it.
I thank the shadow Minister for that assurance.
My constituents who have contacted me on this issue want to know that there will be additional evidence of legal employer-employee relationships and a confirmation that employers will be forced to pay the minimum wage. The current rules stop employees changing employer, and vice versa, during the term of their visa. Amendment 72 would permit someone on an overseas domestic worker visa to change employer without having to go to the authorities.
Is the hon. Lady aware that under the previous Government, who brought in the three-year visa, people could change their employer, but her Government took that right away? Will she apologise to her constituents for that?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point. Let me make the point that his Government had 13 years in which to introduce such legislation. In fact, we have had to wait 200 years for a piece of modern day slavery legislation.
Does not the hon. Lady agree, though, that a modern slavery Bill ought to be more than just its title and the campaign behind it? It ought to be good law that will be able to affect the lives of the most vulnerable. Does she not agree that this Bill falls down on that in some important respects?
Of course we all want this to be good law, which is precisely what the Minister intends. We do not want loopholes that enable slave masters to find new victims; we do not want these slaves to be without the protection we are seeking to give them.
Has my hon. Friend reflected on the fact that when the Modern Slavery Bill becomes the Modern Slavery Act and we can say to employers applying for the visa, “If you bring your employee into the United Kingdom and abuse them, you will be subject to life imprisonment”, that will be a big deterrent that should prevent abusive employers who intend to bring in employees and treat them as slaves from doing so?
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Of course she is absolutely right—it is a massive deterrent, and we must have it on the statute book.
Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer, the national policing lead on modern slavery, and Ian Cruxton, the director of the organised crime command at the National Crime Agency, have expressed concern that the Lords amendment would inadvertently undermine the fight against modern slavery—a fight that we all agree has to be won. I therefore hope that my hon. Friend will advise the Lords to withdraw their amendment, well intentioned as it may be, to ensure that the Bill gets on to the statute book in this Parliament, that those guilty of modern slavery will not be allowed off the hook, and those suffering the misery of it will be given protection and hope.
Despite what my hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) said, there has not been a long campaign for this Bill. That is a myth, because it started two summers ago. It is worth registering our thanks not only to the Government but to the whole House and to their lordships for getting the Bill into shape and through to this stage. Nevertheless, however slow anybody listening to this debate is, I think they will realise that there are differences between both Houses. I was immensely pleased by the statements made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson).
For domestic workers, the issue we are dealing with is 100% about how they are going to be treated and whether they escape; the totality of the Bill will mean very little to them. Yet we do need to keep our eye on the totality of the Bill, which is immensely important and one this Government will be remembered by. We are clearly going to vote on it today, but I hope that when it goes back to their lordships, they will weigh up the distinct advantages the Government have offered us today on the basis of a simple rejection of the Lords amendment. I also hope that at that stage, disagreements can cease so that the view expressed by the hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) is expressed by the whole House in wanting the Bill to receive Royal Assent next week and be put safely on to the statute book. Then, in the new Parliament, we can have an inquiry into this aspect of the law, and whoever is in government can add to the existing Act and we will not have to debate whether we need another Bill.
I approach this debate with, perhaps, a different viewpoint from some other people in the Chamber. The midlands is a thriving area—the beating heart of the economy, in my humble opinion. It is very interesting to see the aspect of modern day slavery that can show itself in tarmacking gangs and farm gangs. It is absolutely disgraceful that such things are going on in this day and age.
I thank the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) for what he said about the Bill. It will be groundbreaking legislation that any Government ought to be, and certainly my Government will be, proud of. It is crucial in all respects, because we need to put a big message out there that our country looks after vulnerable people, that it is a country of law and order, and that nobody should come here thinking they can employ people and abuse them. That will not be tolerated by my Government, my country, and my people.
I am very proud of this Bill. I disagree with the Lords amendment and agree with the one we have tabled in lieu. The important thing is that people feel comfortable and confident that they can go to first responders and be looked after. I almost wish that we did not need to have this Bill, but I am incredibly proud that we have brought it in. It will be a very special day when it gets on to the statute book.
I am very sad about this debate on Lords amendment 72. For some time, we have debated the treatment of overseas domestic workers. Before the Government changed the immigration rules, I wrote a report called, “Service not servitude”, and we have debated it since then. I am glad that we are debating it in the context of modern slavery because, horrifyingly, a shocking number of overseas domestic workers have to submit to slave-like conditions.
I am sad, however, because although Government amendment (a) in lieu looks as though it gives rights to such very vulnerable victims, it actually offers them less than other victims of modern slavery, which is very distressing. There is the proposal to give someone a six-month visa. A number of my Slough constituents who for one reason or another are subject to immigration control have only six months left on their visa. The Minister will know that Slough has a pretty buoyant employment market, but it can be impossible, even for constituents in a category which means they are almost certain to have their visa renewed, to find a new employer in that six-month period. Why? Because no employer wants to employ someone who only has six months left to stay. Unless the employer is offering a tiny little temporary job, it is very unusual for someone in that situation to be able to secure new employment.
Let us look at the Government’s record. We have heard much about it in relation to the Bill’s introduction, but what about overseas domestic workers? This Government, along with that of Panama, Sudan, El Salvador, Malaysia, Singapore and the Czech Republic—think of having them as comrades—is one of very few Governments in the world to refuse to support the International Labour Organisation convention on decent work for domestic workers. Why do I bring that up? Because the exploitation of domestic workers does not always amount to enslavement: the courts have sometimes decided that people who are vilely exploited are not enslaved, and are not eligible for some of the existing protections under the regulations on trafficking. If we are ambitious for world-leading legislation, one thing we must do is to ensure that workers are not paid less than the minimum wage, or are exploited or made to work ridiculous hours or in dangerous conditions. All those things would be protected if we had signed up to the ILO convention, but——guess what?—we did not. The Government have form on that.
The Minister tells us that there will be tough guidance on interviewing people separately to ensure a sort of pre-entry protection against modern slavery. I am really glad about that, but I remember being told that there was tough guidance on people carrying their own passport through immigration control. Indeed, there is such guidance for immigration officers, but in speaking to victims who are overseas domestic workers, I have yet to find one who did so. I am afraid that the Minister’s tough guidance just does not work.
The guidance is not sufficient protection, and neither is the six-month visa, while the failure to sign up to the ILO convention is another example of inadequate protection. The Minister has cited senior police officers who believe that her proposed changes will increase the number of overseas domestic workers willing to be police narks. Well, it might, but it might not. As we know from the evidence of battered women and all other victims of abuse, the best way to encourage victims of abuse to give evidence is to focus on the support and advice they need.
Kalayaan, with which I have worked for a scary number of years, is the organisation with the pre-eminent record in doing so. It has a real record of working closely with such women, and in providing them with the kind of advice that best enables them to get their rights, such as they exist. Under the old system, it regularly helped women domestic workers to get their passports back, because—guess what?—their employers used to steal them and hold on to them.
Such support will not be provided by the Minister’s amendment (a). To suggest to people, “Oh, you get support if you become a police nark, and as long as you support this, or on condition that you do that”, is not the way to enable people to get control over their own lives, which the Minister said she wanted to achieve.
I love the passion with which the hon. Lady speaks about this issue, but I really think she is missing the big picture. If we do not do something about this, new people will be enslaved day in, day out in such domestic situations. There has to be a change, and what she is offering will not give us that change.
Actually, Lords amendment 72 would make exactly the change that the hon. Lady says we need. It would support victims and trust them to take control of their own lives, whereas, frankly, there is a real risk that the Minister’s amendment (a) will infantilise victims. I know from working with victims of abuse that the best way to make them agree to be witnesses and to give them control over their own lives is to support them in taking the lead, not to tell them that as long as they collaborate, they can get this, that or the other.
I welcome the involvement of the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Heather Wheeler) and I am glad to see other people focusing on this issue, but those of us who have focused on it for a long time and who argued that ending the ability to switch visas would produce the kind of kafala system now common in Britain have been proved right. We are very sad to have been proved right, but I am glad that Members from every party, including Conservative Members, have regretted their former decisions and recognised that what the Lords are seeking is a better way to protect such vulnerable victims than the proposal the Minister has tried to sell us. If we trust and protect the victims in such a way, we will significantly reduce the level of slavery in Britain today.
The Minister has become much more skilful at arguing her brief than she was at the beginning of the process on the Bill. We forgave her for reading her text line by line in the beginning, but we will not forgive her for what she has done today. She rose to excuse a police-drafted clause with a fixation on criminality and catching bad people. Catching bad people is fine: I totally support it, as I have in the campaign that I have run for a long time and since long before there was engagement by the Minister or her colleague, the hon. Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith), who is sitting smiling on the second Bench. The reality, however, is that if we substitute the rights of victims with the overarching demand to catch criminals or bad people, we sometimes sacrifice the victims in that pursuit. Government amendment (a) takes the that line.
If an overseas domestic worker coming forward in relation to an employment situation is not paid, are they a slave? If they are held by somebody who has their passport but does not give it back and does not pay them—perhaps feeds them, and perhaps does not beat them—they are still slaves. Are the police likely to take information from those people to pursue the employer? Probably not. Will those people be able to leave their employer and say, “I want to go somewhere where I will be paid and treated correctly; where I will be treated with respect, not as a slave, but as a worker”? A worker expects to be treated properly. If people are treated badly by their employer who has brought them to this country, it is still slavery as far as I am concerned.
I say again that, yes, I want victims to provide information that enables us to catch the perpetrators and increase the number of prosecutions. However, when somebody comes forward and is referred to the national referral mechanism, it does not require the involvement of the police at any point in the process. The UK Human Trafficking Centre and UK Visas and Immigration make those decisions at the moment. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have reviewed the national referral mechanism and will be piloting the use of panels to make those decisions. Those will not be law enforcement bodies. Law enforcement will be involved only if people can provide evidence that will enable us to catch the perpetrator. If somebody goes through the national referral mechanism and gets a conclusive grounds decision, they will be granted a minimum of six months to stay and work in the country for any employer. That does not need to involve the police at any stage in the process.
The Minister did not answer the question that I asked. If someone is not paid and their employer holds their passport, are they enslaved? I ask her to clarify that. It seems that she is not willing to speak about that. Of course, that is not likely to lead the police to prosecute the person who kept their passport and kept them in a domestic home in the UK. We might be talking about longer than 15 days. The Minister mentioned people who live with the staff of embassies. She did not elucidate on that point, but that is where some of the worst malpractice has happened.
Amendment (a) states that leave to remain will be granted to an overseas domestic worker
“who has been determined to be a victim of slavery or human trafficking, and…in relation to whom such other requirements are met as may be provided for by the rules.”
It goes on to specify what the rules must provide for. My concern is for the victim. My second concern is to create the conditions in which the victim wants to deal with an abusive employer. It might not be someone who beats them up. It might be somebody who refuses to pay them or who gives them just a small allowance like pocket money that is not adequate to live on, which is what many domestic workers get when they come here. Will we prosecute those employers? I hope we will, because that is a breach of our laws.
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. That is a breach of our employment laws. HMRC is pursuing the employers of overseas domestic workers to ensure that they pay the national minimum wage and observe our employment laws. However, where somebody is the victim of slavery, qualifies under the national referral mechanism for specialist support and gets conclusive grounds, amendment (a) will enable them to work here for six months.
Amendment (a) is deficient. Lords amendment 72 is simple and states that people can
“change their employer (but not work sector) while in the United Kingdom”.
That is the first choice they should be able to make. If a domestic worker who comes here is a victim and is not treated properly, they should be able to move to another employer while their visa is running. That was the basis of what was put forward by the Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill. That was the basis of what was proposed in the Public Bill Committee. However, it was not carried. We know about the deficiencies in the Liberal view at that time. I hope that the Liberal Democrats have changed their mind. Today, we can support the simple Lords amendment and carry the spirit of what was recommended by the Joint Committee.
My second point on the protection of victims is about the way in which we encourage people to take up the right to stay. The hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) said that nothing had been done in that respect. In 2009, the Labour Government brought in a three-year visa that allowed domestic workers to leave unacceptable or abusive employers, including the kind of employer I have described who does not pay wages or respect people properly as workers. The current Government overturned that and closed that door to people.
It is unlikely that the people I have met through Kalayaan and other organisations who work with these victims will go into the national referral mechanism, because they have an aversion to formal institutions. We know that. Through the Human Trafficking Foundation, we have talked to 60 or 70 non-governmental organisations, all of which have the same problem: the victims do not trust the institutions of the state in this country. Whether we like it or not, the Government’s proposal says that if people are willing to be a witness and help the police to prosecute their former employer, they will get support and be able to stay for up to a year. That is not the way to do it. The way to do it is to allow people to move employer and to create a structure that allows them afterwards to go willingly to those organisations that are willing to give them a bit of muscle if they feel aggrieved enough about the abuse they have suffered.
Most people who have not been paid or have just been paid pocket money are not likely to want to pursue their employer, but they have the same right to move as someone who is willing to go up against an employer who has beaten or stabbed them or treated them abusively. Why should we distinguish between these two sets of people? Legally, they are not being treated as they should be as workers, or are we to distinguish between foreign workers and our workers?
I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman genuinely misunderstands what is going on here. He is an experienced Member, but I wonder whether people really understand that what he is saying is that if somebody comes here on this sort of visa, he will give them carte blanche to go and do something else.
That is exactly what the hon. Gentleman is suggesting. He is going into realms that are not to do with protecting people from modern slavery, which is what the Bill is about.
As I am the person who forced the Prime Minister eventually to sign up to the directive on human trafficking, which he had refused to do for several months, during which he wiggled and wriggled, I do not have to apologise to anybody and I do not need it explained to me what the Bill is about. It is a good Bill, but it could be improved immensely. I do not know whether the hon. Lady has read Lords amendment 72, but it says that people should be able to
“change their employer (but not work sector) while in the United Kingdom”.
It is quite clear that it is about people going from domestic work into domestic work. I hope that the House will agree to the amendment.
Finally, I want to question the whole idea of creating this rather tortuous process. It has always been a problem that the Government have seen the Bill as, first and foremost, a criminal Bill to chase people who abuse others through human trafficking and slavery. Many of us hold the view that we should first protect those who are enslaved or abused and then convince them to become witnesses and to help in that secondary programme. If we get the two things back to front, what happens? The victims do not become witnesses and the people who abuse others escape, as they have been escaping. I believe that if we agree to amendment (a), we will have another tortuous process that will become another barrier that makes people stay away from the institutions, because it is not about protecting the victims; it is about the Government’s obsession with catching the bad people.
I remember welcoming the Government’s move to opt into the EU directive on human trafficking in March 2011. I learned this afternoon that that was the result of the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty). I congratulate him on that.
It seemed to me that the Government were putting themselves in a contradictory position by signing up to the EU directive on human trafficking. The European Court of Justice has said that any country signing up to the directive
“must refrain from taking any measures liable seriously to compromise the result prescribed.”
It seems to me that signing up to a directive is about more than putting our country’s name to a piece of paper; we must sign up to the spirit of it, too. As I have said, the European Court of Justice has said that we must not go backwards.
I read with interest the speech of the former Attorney-General, the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), to City university about the role of UK law as a model for combating human trafficking and slavery, in which he summarised the progress that had been made. I was very concerned that it was entirely contradictory for the Government on the one hand to sign up to the directive and trumpet the work that had been done to combat human trafficking and slavery, yet on the other hand to change the immigration rules to make life much more difficult for domestic workers. That seemed a complete contradiction, so on 30 April 2012 I wrote to the former Attorney-General to point that out. He referred me to the Home Office, which wrote back. I am glad that it has moved on from the position that it adopted on 16 June 2012, when it stated:
“The position is that, if an ODW has been granted a visa to come to the UK to work for their overseas employer while that employer is visiting the UK, the ODW will have leave to remain in the UK in line with that granted to the employer—ie, up to 6 months’ leave (the maximum grant of leave for visitors). If an ODW leaves their employer during the time of the visit to the UK, the ODW will retain whatever time remains of the original leave granted and so will not be in the UK illegally during that time.”
That did not seem terribly generous. Let us suppose an overseas domestic worker came with a visa to stay in the UK for a certain amount of time. If they left their employer because of abuse, they could remain until their visa ran out but then they had to go. The letter continued:
“The ODW will not be entitled to work for another employer, but they will not be in the UK illegally unless or until the leave expires.”
As I said, we have moved on from that, but it seems that alarm bells have been ringing about abused and exploited overseas domestic workers for many years. Many of those who have raised the alarm have spoken today in the House, and many organisations outside have done so. The Government have spent a number of years preparing such a Bill, and I am disappointed and surprised that, to try to get the Bill through the House today, they are putting this matter back for yet another review. Many people with much greater experience in this issue have been assisting the Government as best they can for some time. They have coalesced around this amendment in the House of Lords, and although I listened carefully to the Minister when she explained why the amendment is not satisfactory, I still do not understand. Not to accept the Lords amendment seems to fly in the face of the collective common sense in this place.
Perhaps I can add my ha’pence worth. We have heard a great deal about how important it is for victims to give evidence against their employers in court, and that to encourage them to come forward it is important they understand that their continued presence within the United Kingdom will be dependent on their giving evidence against their employers, or assisting the police to ensure that those employers are prosecuted. I hear and understand that point, but it makes no sense.
My hon. Friend is a lawyer and has court experience of these matters. Will she comment on advice I have received from Parosha Chandran, which suggests that where leave is granted as a result of someone coming forward, a prosecution might be more difficult to secure? Although 29 victims of slavery have had conclusive decisions referred by Kalayaan, there has been only one successful prosecution for domestic worker abuse.
My right hon. Friend—it is a pleasure to say that—is absolutely right, and in a way she predicts the point I was going to make. In my former manifestation as a criminal lawyer, we always looked for what might be the primary motivation for why a witness would be giving evidence. If we could cross-examine a victim and say, “You’re only saying that to stay in the United Kingdom. Your continued presence within the United Kingdom is dependent on you co-operating with the police. You’re gilding the lily; you are making up lies and doing what you can to remain here,” that would undermine the credibility of the witness. In the end, any prosecution for slavery will be entirely dependent on the evidence of that woman. That is why witnesses need to be empowered, and why it must be clear that a witness has come forward entirely freely and honestly, so that we can have a powerful prosecution. That is the way to combat modern slavery in the context of overseas domestic workers.
I commend the Minister for the passion with which she spoke earlier about the vulnerability of victims. I do not doubt her integrity or motives, and I am grateful for the time that she found to talk to me and the policy director of Focus on Labour Exploitation—that is one NGO in the long list cited by the shadow Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson), that shares the concerns about the way the Government are approaching this issue.
A number of Government Members have spoken with equal passion about the importance of getting the Bill into statute, and the Opposition share that. The simplest way would have been for the Government not to have challenged Lords amendment 72, because it helps to ensure that our efforts to combat modern slavery are not undermined by an immigration system that ties workers into slavery.
We are now agreed across the House that the tied domestic worker visa effectively gives all power to employers and none to their vulnerable employees. It forces domestic workers who are exploited by their employers to make the unenviable choice between breaching their visa conditions or staying with an abusive employer. As was mentioned earlier, there have been three reviews on this issue: the first was by the Centre of Social Justice, which so often has the ear of the Government; the second was by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field); and the third was by the joint legislative Committee on this Bill. All reviews came to the same conclusion: the tied domestic worker visa strengthens the hand of the slave master against the victim of slavery. The Government should not ignore those reviews and should recognise that Lords amendment 72 seeks to address the concerns raised. The amendment is not a silver bullet; it simply wrestles a small amount of power back to the domestic worker from her or his employer—that is all. If accepted, however, the amendment will help to prevent many cases of abuse.
As was mentioned earlier, those with an interest in these issues struggle to understand why the Government are so unwilling to accept the amendment. The Home Secretary has suggested that the Bill seeks to be “world leading”, but that was our pre-2012 position on this issue. My right hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) cited the kafala system that has led to countless cases of abuse in Lebanon, and NGOs used the pre-2012 UK overseas domestic worker visa as an example of best practice. We were commended for immigration rules that recognised
“the particular vulnerability of migrant domestic workers to exploitation and incorporate fundamental protections as a result.”
Later that year, we lost those protections, and the amendment seeks to restore them. If the Bill is to be taken seriously as a genuine effort to tackle modern-day slavery, Lords amendment 72 should stand unchanged.
Many of us are concerned that the Government are proposing not only to reject the amendment but to insert their own amendment that would provide domestic workers with the right to remain in the UK, but—this is an enormous but—only if they are determined to be a victim of trafficking by the authorities. I understand the Government’s reasoning, which the Minister has outlined, in seeking to secure prosecutions, but the protection of victims and securing prosecutions are not mutually exclusive aims.
The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful speech, and I thank him for mentioning Focus on Labour Exploitation, which is now part of our stakeholder group working on modern slavery. I want victims to go into the national referral mechanism to give them the support they need and to ensure that those vulnerable people who have been subjected to the most horrendous abuse get the right level of expert support. I want them to go into the NRM, so that we ensure that we give them back control of their lives. We have gone through a review and I fully accept that the NRM needs changes, but the new reviewed NRM is designed to give people the support they need.
I understand what the Minister is saying, but let me explain why I think the Government’s approach is problematic. The Government’s amendments would mean that a domestic worker will have to take the risk of presenting to the authorities to gain the determination of being a victim of trafficking. The domestic worker would have to do so without legal advice, as legal aid would be granted only once referral is made. Secondly, they provide for no immigration enforcement action to be taken against domestic workers, should they breach immigration conditions, again only if they are found to be a victim of trafficking or slavery. That will do nothing to allay the genuine fears of domestic workers that, if they put their heads above the parapet to seek assistance, they could face deportation.
My hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) has made it very clear how the criminal justice system might treat victims in that situation. Indeed, they would face deportation if they decide they do not wish to go through the NRM, which should be their right. Therefore, far from achieving the desired result the Minister seeks to outline, the amendment risks achieving the absolute opposite: stopping victims coming forward and reducing the chances of prosecutions.
If my hon. Friend were to consider, for example, normal industrial relations, it takes a lot for somebody—an individual who is an ordinary citizen of this country—to come forward and make a complaint about an employer. It must be 10 times worse for somebody whose immigration conditions are tied to an employer to come forward. The Minister may understand that point, but she is not addressing it adequately.
My hon. Friend makes the point very powerfully: there is enormous pressure on victims not to come forward. The Government’s position is indicative of their whole approach. It puts the responsibility on victims to come forward to secure prosecutions to end trafficking. Unlike Lords amendment 72, which places the emphasis on how best to protect victims, the Government are instead trying, with their amendments, to refocus on the need for victims to do the authorities’ work for them. It almost suggests the victims are guilty of something if they do not want to take this enormous risk. The Minister is shaking her head, but the Government’s approach does not take account of why victims are scared to come forward, nor does it recognise that trafficked people are frequently trapped in a trafficking situation because of a fear—real or perceived—of authorities. Traffickers prey on that fear to hold victims in exploitative situations.
Another problem with the Government’s proposed amendments relates to people who are exploited but not enslaved. For example, a woman domestic worker is more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, because she works in the private family home and so on, but she would not benefit from these protections because she could not enter the NRM. She is not enslaved, but she might have been a victim of sexual exploitation or rape. There is no mechanism to protect her.
My right hon. Friend makes a very powerful additional point on why the Government’s approach is flawed.
My overriding concern is that, despite the Government’s stated commitment to tackling modern slavery, the Bill is still far too dependent on the victims rather than the state to identify the perpetrators of trafficking and slavery. That is not only morally wrong; unfortunately for the Government, it is also illegally flawed. The European Court of Human Rights has held that the state has a positive obligation to protect victims of trafficking and to investigate potential trafficking situations. Lords amendment 72 brings us much closer to meeting that positive obligation. It provides victims with a clear safety net: the ability to leave an exploitative situation without hesitation.
We all need to play our part to combat the horrific crime of modern slavery, but the agencies of government are legally obliged to take a proactive role in identifying potential cases. It seems that in the absence of an effective prevention strategy to meet that aim, the Government are depending on victims to pick up the slack when they really need proactive labour inspection and enforcement. That is a point I will make further, if I have the opportunity, in relation to Government amendment 77.
I am grateful for your indulgence, Madam Deputy Speaker. I entered the Chamber during the speech by the right hon. Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson), who made some compelling points. I intended only to listen to the debate before making up my mind between the Government’s and the Opposition’s approach, and I am pleased that the differences seem to have narrowed. There appears, at least in the Home Secretary’s amendment, to be something of a spirit of compromise. I am surprised by the temperature of the debate on both sides of the House, because Parliament is acting in one of its better ways.
This debate has risen up the agenda very strongly in recent years. I do not think the Government should be criticised for putting a Bill through Parliament only just before Dissolution and I do not think the Opposition should be criticised for not having acted during 13 years in government. Politicians and society as a whole have turned their minds to this issue only recently. As far as I am concerned, I do not think I turned my mind to it before 2011. I apologise if I have got this wrong but it may have been a report from MigrationWatch UK that drew my attention to the sharply rising numbers of people—I think they were referred to at that time as being in the domestic servants category—coming into the country. The report asked whether that was right and appropriate.
The Government’s changes to the visa in 2012 were, overall, positive and they reduced the time that somebody could be an overseas domestic servant. It strikes me as understandable, if not necessarily right, that a family from overseas visiting this country for a relatively short period and who have a long relationship with the people who have been working in their household might wish to bring those people with them. They may be very well-off and used to having a level of service from particular individuals. What struck me as much less reasonable was for that relationship to persist for a very long time: very wealthy families coming to this country and permanently continuing to have staff who had previously worked for them, or bringing in new staff from their country of residence and using only those staff rather than employing people domestically.
In terms of immigration control, I fear there is something about the overseas domestic servant category that is liable to exploitation. I wonder whether there are shades of grey or whether there is a lack of clarity on where precisely the line is drawn when one moves from service to servitude and then to slavery. To try to change the law to mitigate, reduce and minimise—it would be wonderful if we could eliminate it—that exploitation is the right thing for this House to do. Moving from people being employed in that way for very long periods to a maximum of six months strikes me as definitely the right thing to do.
What the Government have done is really positive. Whether it is right to see this more from the criminal justice perspective, or whether we should simply allow people to switch to different employers in a more liberal way, as the House of Lords wants, is a difficult question. However, I believe there is a sincerity of approach on both sides of the House and that we have moved on hugely.
I assume the Lords amendment will be defeated in a Division and that the Government’s alternative amendment will pass. I hope that if the Lords come back again, it may be to find perhaps even further compromise, or to take some of the positives of the Lords approach and to consider some of the criticisms that the Opposition have made of the Home Secretary’s amendment. However, I agree that what is absolutely key is to pass the Bill.
We still need to focus on the diplomatic domestic service category, where people can work still for up to five years although I think it used to be six. I think that the prospect of prison is likely to have a persuasive effect on an abusive employer who employs someone in a private household for six months, although it will be a challenge to communicate to both overseas domestic workers and the families employing them that that consequence is a real one. In the diplomatic sector, however, given diplomatic immunity, I fear that that incentive might not be so great because the period that people are in service is much longer. I worry that, given the Government’s understandable concern for our relationships with foreign countries, we might not come close to eradicating servitude, if not modern slavery, in those categories. We must continue to focus on that area not just in legislation but through our foreign relations.
Unlike the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Mark Reckless), having been here throughout this debate, having sat through the Public Bill Committee and having been present for all the Bill’s other stages in the House, I am not surprised at the heat generated by Lords amendment 72 and the Government amendment to it.
I will not rehearse the issues raised in Committee. Instead, I will concentrate on some of the issues heard this afternoon. It has been argued that because this is such an important and welcome Bill, it is untoward to argue over amendments. It is an abuse of the procedural requirements of this place for Government Members to suggest that anybody pressing a point in relation to these amendments threatens the Bill at large or would be happy to see it frustrated or set aside. The attempt, here in this Chamber, where we talk about being mature legislators, to create the impression of an abuse of process and a scaring process should give us pause for thought about what is at play in these amendments.
The Government amendment provides that if an overseas domestic worker wants to exit a position of slavery, they can do so only if they participate in the national referral mechanism. They will have to engage in a process they might not know about or understand, and they might have their own particular fears, misgivings or hang-ups. They will have been subject to intimidation, having effectively been employed as chattels of their employer, courtesy of the kafala-style system that operates for domestic visa workers. The idea is that these victims—people on the margins of the margin—should have confidence that their position will be transformed by the national referral mechanism. I wish that were the case.
The Minister has emphasised that the Government amendment aims to ensure that when a domestic worker leaves a situation of slavery, that can help to ensure prosecution. The national policing lead and the director of crime command for the National Crime Agency have been quoted as saying that the Lords amendment would be at fault because it would undermine the capacity of the authorities to secure more prosecutions. When I asked the Minister about the experience of the national referral mechanism in terms of the number of conclusive decisions made compared with the number of successful prosecutions, she did not answer, although the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) subsequently gave us an indication. In quoting the figure from the legal advice to Anti-Slavery International, she gave the example of Kalayaan, which supports victims, and mentioned that 29 conclusive decisions had been made. However, there is only on record one conviction of an overseas domestic worker employer, so the link between the national referral mechanism and successful prosecutions is not strong. For that reason, the argument used by Government Members—that supporting the Lords amendment would undermine or wash away any prospect of prosecution—is entirely false.
I understand that the Minister will probably argue that that has been the case with the national referral mechanism historically—we all accept that it has had its flaws—but the reform of the mechanism that is to be implemented follows last autumn’s publication of a review, and of course that review will be subject to pilots that will have to be implemented and then evaluated, which will probably take a year or more. Separately, as we heard from the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) and others, we know that the Government have instituted a review of tied visas by James Ewins. If the Government are conducting a review of tied visas, and if we have acknowledged that there are issues with the national referral mechanism—issues that I hope will be addressed by the reforms that are to take place but which are as yet untested and unproved—surely it would be reasonable for the Government to accept the Lords amendment and then revisit the issues around tied visas, first, following the review and evaluations of the changes to the national referral mechanism, and secondly, after the review by James Ewins has reported. At least victims on overseas domestic worker visas would then have the autonomous right to escape their victimhood.
It is interesting that in one of her interventions today the Minister said that the reason the Government amendment rested so much on the victim co-operating with the national referral mechanism was to give victims control. Surely victims would have control if they could vacate their exploitative employment autonomously and then have the right to seek alternative employment. If the Government are worried that the abusive employer might then escape scrutiny and employ somebody else, that brings us back to the hole in the bucket, dear Liza, of this whole question: the tied visa system is a licence to employers to exploit and abuse employees. If the Government’s best argument against the Lords amendment is the likelihood of employers using the device of the tied visa system simply to repeat the same abuse, the Government should be questioning their position more fundamentally, rather than relying on their amendment.
Is the hon. Gentleman not concerned that subsection (b) of the Lords amendment, which would allow workers in these categories to extend for up to 12 months each time, might create a sub-category of foreign domestic servant, separate from the domestic labour market, and that would make exploitation more likely?
As any evidence emerges, we will have to consider what it suggests about this sector of employment in general and individual employers in particular. This goes back to some of the arguments the Government have used in support of their own amendment and against the Lords amendment. If a domestic worker were to change their employer under the visa entitlement the Lords amendment would give them, it would be known to an authority, and the authority should be duly asking questions. It would then be for somebody else—perhaps not the victim—to notify the national referral mechanism and for issues to take place there.
In separate interventions today, the Minister seemed to make different arguments. On the one hand, the Government amendment was defended on the grounds that it would lead to more prosecutions of abusive employers by ensuring that victims co-operated with the national referral mechanism and therefore that their victimhood would translate into active cases. That is what we were being told by the policing lead and the National Crime Agency. Then, in another intervention, the Minister made the point that the national referral mechanism was not of itself hidebound in achieving prosecutions and not necessarily police or prosecution-driven in any way. We cannot have both arguments being used in contradictory ways here.
I ask the Government to listen to their own arguments and to think about some of the things they are relying on in respect of their own amendments. They should think again about pressing those amendments; the chances are that they will have to revise them in the light of subsequent reviews and evaluations. The sensible thing to do—and most in keeping with the spirit claimed for this Bill, as being “world-leading” legislation—would be to accept the Lords amendments and, if necessary, qualify them by revisiting the issues in the light of subsequent reviews.
With the leave of the House, I will call the Minister briefly to speak again and answer the debate.
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful that you have given me the House’s leave to respond to the points raised.
I am grateful to all right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken in the debate. I know, as do we all, that there is a shared desire across this House and the other place to protect all victims of modern slavery. I will endeavour to address as quickly as I can the specific concerns raised, but I first want to note the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) about the pre-legislative scrutiny committee’s various recommendations. She made the important point that the vote and recommendations for the committee took place before the Bill was published and the Government amendments were framed—before the review was announced and before the amendment in lieu we are debating today. I want to put on record my thanks and to pay my tribute to the members of the pre-legislative scrutiny committee, the Bill Committee and Members in the other place who have helped the Government to amend the Bill, making it a stronger and better Bill as a result.
The right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) talked about not ratifying the International Labour Organisation’s convention on domestic workers. She will know that we do not believe that ratifying it would strengthen the extensive measures we already have in the UK to prevent slavery and human trafficking. We believe we go further in respect of slavery and human trafficking than the convention asks for. It is important to strike the right balance between protecting vulnerable workers and ensuring that aspects of employment law which can carry criminal sanction are not extended to private households. Ratifying the convention would require the imposition of unnecessarily onerous obligations on, for example, people employing home helps or personal carers, and would be neither practical nor proportionate.
The right hon. Lady also said that she did not consider a six-month visa for victims to be sufficiently long. The Government’s initial intention is to grant a six-month visa to enable victims to earn some money and begin to rebuild their lives as they plan their return home. We believe this to be an appropriate period. It is of course the maximum time for which an overseas domestic worker visa is usually issued—they are issued for six months, and we will proceed with six months. We will of course consider any recommendations that James Ewins makes in his review as to whether the period should be varied, along with other evidence put forward. Six months is the minimum, and it can be amended in immigration law.
I appreciate the Minister’s giving way and I know she is working hard in this area. If six months is the minimum, will she describe the circumstances in which that would not be the automatic figure? In what circumstances might a period longer than six months be granted under the guidance she is suggesting?
If the right hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I would have to say that it depends on the individual circumstances. Perhaps I shall write to him with some examples, if that would be acceptable.
The right hon. Member for Slough also made a point about people carrying their passports through the border. If she has evidence that people are being treated in this way while going through the border, will she please supply it to us, because I would like Border Force and others to look at that and act on it.
The hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) expressed his view that the Bill is not victim focused. I disagree: I think it is. The Bill before us has changed significantly from the draft Bill published in December 2013, and almost all the amendments made in the other place are in support of victim protection. I thus feel strongly that we have made it a victim-focused Bill.
Order. Members have put many questions to the Minister during a long debate. She is now answering them, and the House should have the courtesy to listen to her.
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
As I was saying, I am slightly confused. It worries me that we are having a debate about immigration when we should be debating slavery, which is what this Bill is about.
Does the Minister agree that we seem to have heard the Labour Front-Bench team and the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) being what some might call soft on immigration, in the sense of opening up this debate to all workers? The hon. Gentleman said explicitly that this was not just about victims, but about everybody.
My hon. Friend makes an important point. I have been confused. I thought we were discussing modern slavery, yet I have heard that this is about opening up immigration rules.
The Minister is setting up a straw man to knock it down. In the specific case I mentioned, someone is brought to this country and not paid—or given only pocket money, which many of the Kalayaan victims tell me is what happens. They are not physically abused, locked in a cupboard and fed the scraps the dog does not want—they are just not paid. There is a kafala system, in that the domestic visa and passport are held by the employer. Is such a person enslaved or not? I would say yes; does the Minister say no?
The hon. Gentleman will know that it would depend on the individual circumstances. It is clear, however, that in the situation he describes, British laws have been broken, so I would expect action to be taken to ensure that that was rectified. The point remains that the right hon. Member for Delyn, speaking for the Opposition, said that he wants the tie to be removed for all employees, even if they are not being abused. That sounds a strange and surprising position to take, given that there is so much concern about loopholes and other ways through which immigration rules can be flouted.
In taking evidence about Qatar in the Committee I chair at the Council of Europe, I heard about a case mentioned by the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, in which people had their passports taken off them by their employers and were not paid. The person giving evidence said that these people were slaves, and I agree. If that is happening in Qatar and the same is happening in this country—people not being paid by their employers, who are holding their passports—I would say that it is an exact example of slavery in the modern world.
As I have said, I cannot get drawn into individual examples. It would depend on the individual circumstances and on what has been said. Clearly, however, the law has been broken in that case, so action should be taken.
The hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) accepted that workers were abused in the previous system—but then seemed to suggest that she wanted to go back to such a system. That is not acceptable. She also talked about the EU directive. We are confident that we fully meet all our obligations under the EU directive for all victims of trafficking, including those on overseas domestic worker visas.
The hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) made the point that this issue is very complicated, and he is absolutely right that there is no silver bullet. If there were, we would not have between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery here in Britain today. That is unacceptable and shows why the Modern Slavery Bill is so important. We need to ensure that it is enacted, so that we can take action against the perpetrators and protect the victims.
The hon. Gentleman questioned the use of the term “world-leading”. Let me give the House some facts about countries with similar immigration systems. In Australia, the domestic worker visa allows a person to work only for the named employer. The employee cannot become unemployed or work for someone else. In Canada, only the diplomatic route allows a change of employer, and the change must be approved by the Protocol Office. In the United States, overseas domestic workers may work only for a diplomat, an international employee or a visitor. Those who accompany visitors must certify that they will not accept other employment while working for the employer. In Ireland, workers are expected to leave at the end of their employment. It seems to me that we are not out of step with international comparators, and that we can be proud of the fact that this is a world-leading Bill.
The hon. Gentleman also mentioned the independent review. Its terms of reference are available, and I will forward them to him if he cannot find them in the Library or elsewhere. The review will consider the issues and what the best solutions are, so that victims can be helped and further abuse prevented.
The Government acknowledge that some domestic workers may have been employed abroad with terms and conditions that do not accord with United Kingdom law and expectations. However, the requirement to prove, as part of an overseas domestic worker via application, that there is a pre-existing, ongoing employment relationship outside the United Kingdom provides the best assurance available that an established employer-employee relationship is in operation.
As for the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Mark Reckless), I am grateful for his support for the Bill. I am not sure whether he supports the amendment, but I will say to him, rather cheekily, that if I see him in the Lobby today, it will probably mean that I am seeing him more frequently than I did when he sat on my side of the House.
The hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) talked about prosecutions and the focus of the Bill. Its focus is on finding the victims, but we will not protect them if we do not catch and convict the perpetrators. That is absolutely vital. The two strands of this work cannot be disaggregated; they are both important, but victim protection is at the forefront of what we are doing.
I know that some Members feel that the overseas domestic worker visa should not be linked to a single employer. The Government have taken their concerns as seriously as possible by holding an independent inquiry. There will be a report by the end of July, and changes to the visa can still be made under the immigration rules without the need for further primary legislation. However, if we simply accepted the Lords amendment now in its entirety, we would be ignoring the advice from law enforcement practitioners and the designate independent anti- slavery commissioner.
I urge Members to support the motion. The amendments in lieu will encourage more overseas domestic workers who are victims to come forward, they will allow law enforcement to lead to the investigation and prosecution of more abusers, and they will help vulnerable victims to rebuild their lives.
Question put, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 72.
I beg to move, That this House agrees with Lords amendment 1.
With this it will be convenient to consider Lords amendments 2 to 71 and 73 to 95.
These are the amendments that the Government introduced in the other place to improve the Bill. They focus particularly on strengthening the provisions on support and protection for victims. They were broadly welcomed across the parties in the other place and they also deal with many issues raised in debates in this House. I shall not go through them in detail now but will, with the leave of the House, respond to specific points at the end of the debate. I hope that right hon. and hon. Members will feel able to welcome them.
I thank the Minister. I was a little taken aback by the brevity of her opening remarks, considering the number of amendments that have been proposed. I may not be as brief as she was, because there are several points I want to put on the record.
It is important to stress again that the Labour party has always supported the introduction of this important Bill. We recognise that human trafficking is a heinous crime and that its complex nature demands specialist legislation, but it has been a little difficult at times fully to understand the Government’s approach. When the original Bill was first published, many charities, organisations and lawyers shared the view that the Government had failed to provide the level of support for victims that we all wanted to see. There were also some large gaps: for example, at the outset it contained nothing on supply chains.
Progress has been made in Committee in this House and in the other place. I pay tribute to my noble Friends the right hon. Baroness Royall, Lord Rosser and Baroness Kennedy for their work in ensuring that we received this much improved Bill today. I also pay tribute to the work done in the Committee that considered the draft Bill. Tribute has already been paid to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) for the work that he and all the members of that Committee did on a cross-party basis to make a set of recommendations that we have been able to consider, question and argue for as the Bill passed through the House.
I want to comment on some of the progress that has been made through the Government amendments in the other place. The position of anti-slavery commissioner has been transformed; it originally seemed to me that they would be nothing more than a Home Office civil servant with a remit exclusively covering prosecutions and with no independent overview of their work programme. Even though that change has not gone as far as we hoped—we hoped for something more akin to the Children’s Commissioner—we are pleased that the commissioner will have control over their finances, will be able to appoint their own staff and promote good practice across the world and that public bodies will have a duty to co-operate with them. Most of all, I am pleased that the commissioner’s remit will include the support available to victims and survivors of trafficking and exploitation.
There have been significant improvements in the formulation of the statutory defence for victims of slavery who commit crimes in the course of their enslavement. The original defence did not recognise the unique nature of child exploitation and the fact that a child cannot consent to their own enslavement. The Opposition therefore welcome the removal of the compulsion element of the statutory defence in relation to children, but we think that a problem remains not just in the conviction of perpetrators of slavery but in the prosecutions and charging decisions. We are disappointed that the Government have not suggested an amendment to require the Director of Public Prosecutions to issue specific guidance on charging in cases of human trafficking victims. Whichever party is in Government after 7 May will need to consider that again.
Another big area on which there has been movement is that of child advocates. Although the new system introduced by the Government is not the system of child guardians required by the EU directive on child trafficking, which was called for by the Joint Committee on the draft Bill and the charity coalition involved in the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group, some improvements have been made. I pay tribute in particular to my right hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart), who championed child advocates forcefully in the Bill Committee.
We now have an assurance that advocates will definitely be brought in and that they will be independent of other statutory bodies with responsibility for the child; that they will have access to the necessary and appropriate information; that they will be appointed as soon as is reasonably practicable where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a child may be a victim of human trafficking; and that they will have the power to appoint and instruct legal representatives where appropriate.
I also welcome the practical moves in relation to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority and the fact that we will have a Government report looking at the GLA’s work and a possible extension of its role within 12 months.
On another positive note, we are very pleased with the significant progress that has been made on the reporting requirements placed on large firms in relation to their supply chains. The Government could never claim to be genuinely committed to eradicating slavery in the UK if we did not address slavery in the supply chains of our large companies. It was absurd that the Government did not include supply chains in the original Bill. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), who has done so much to champion this issue over many years. I am pleased that his tireless efforts have paid dividends in changing the Bill.
The Opposition were clear from the outset that we wanted a reporting requirement that was comprehensive, that allowed direct comparability between companies and that included an enforcement mechanism. Although we welcomed the moves originally announced by the Minister on Report, we still wanted them to go further. She will remember that we were particularly critical of the Government for repeating some of the mistakes that have hampered the transparency of supply chains legislation in California. It has not always been clear which companies that legislation applies to, and it has been hard for non-governmental organisations to find out which companies ought to be complying and whether they actually are complying. Moreover, when two reports were looked at side by side, they were often not directly comparable.
That is why we made it clear that the reporting requirement has to contain clear instructions as to what a report has to have in it. A large firm may have 100,000 suppliers and it will be able to fill a report with good practice, but what we need firms to do is to create a fair evaluation that addresses the key issues, which means that we have to specify the key things to be addressed in the report.
We welcome the guidance as to what a report should contain and we hope it will encourage best practice, but we still think that that should be compulsory guidance rather than just a steer. We would also have liked it to contain a requirement for companies to report on what work they are doing to support victims who are found in their supply chains. I recognise, however, that the Bill has come a long way and I thank the Minister for the way in which she has dealt with the changes to it over the past few months.
This is an important Bill, which the whole House can be proud of. Throughout its passage there has rightly been robust scrutiny by the Joint Committee and the Bill Committee, of which I was proud to be a member, and by both sides of the House, but I believe that it is fit for its purpose of increasing prosecutions and supporting victims.
I welcome the Lords amendments, which in many respects reflect the work in the Bill Committee and in all parts of the House to try to ensure that we did the very best we could in the limited time available to make this a world-class Bill, as the Home Secretary sought. I thank her for her lead, and the Prime Minister, and in particular the Minister for her diligence and care in dealing with these matters.
I want to draw particular attention to these because they reflect the debates we had in the Bill Committee. In many ways, we go through this process and all end up in the place we want to be. In particular, the Bill now makes it explicit that one of the personal circumstances that may make someone vulnerable to slavery is the fact that they are a child. Throughout the passage of the Bill, we have all wanted to make sure that child victims are central, that there are prosecutions when there are child victims, and that the Bill gives a proper tailored response. I therefore welcome this crucial amendment, which we have sought from the outset, and which I and others have campaigned for.
I do not accept that it is necessary for a specific child exploitation offence, however. I think the Bill can deal with prosecutions in relation to child victims, and the explicit reference to children in clause 1 now is particularly welcome.
I tabled an amendment and joined Members on both sides to ensure that exploitation measures had as wide an effect as possible, and that that was covered in clause 1. I drew attention in Committee, and others have done so since, to things such as begging or pick-pocketing and ensuring that such exploitation-type offences were covered by clause 1. It is important that such work and services now qualify as exploitation. The Government were previously concerned that the definition was going to be too wide, but in the Bill Committee we said from the outset that it was possible to use the definition set out in clause 3. Lo and behold, that is where we have got to, and the Lords and the Government have accepted that that is an appropriate addition.
We all wanted to be as clear as possible on the issue of consent, to make sure that this Bill was in step with our international obligations and case law. Also, we all wanted to make sure there was a specific understanding in the Bill that a victim’s consent to any of the alleged conduct does not preclude a finding that they have been held in slavery or were required to perform forced labour. We wanted to make sure that the wording did not have the perverse impact of ensuring that a child victim did not achieve the prosecutions they deserved, and now it is clear that a victim’s consent should not preclude any findings of their being held in slavery or forced labour.
Another area that has been mentioned is the independence of the anti-slavery commissioner. It is very welcome that the combined efforts of both Houses have led to a point where no one can be in any doubt about the independence of the commissioner, who has the word “independent” at the beginning of their title, as the Bill Committee was able to achieve. I pay tribute to those in the other place on both sides, and refer in particular—to be slightly partial—to Lord McColl of Dulwich, who played a key role alongside others in following up the hard work done by the Joint Committee and the Bill Committee. They all worked to ensure that there was the appropriate budget and staffing. Resources are necessary to make sure that this works and to make it clear—the Government amendments make this clear beyond doubt—not only that the child trafficking advocates are independent but that this is going to happen: yes, there is piloting, but this is going to happen. There is now a duty to ensure that these detailed regulations come to pass and that there is an appropriate sharing of information, and the public authorities must co-operate. All in all, this is a very welcome addition to a Bill that we can all be proud of. We can be proud of it because of the effect it will have on the ground, in making sure that there are prosecutions and that there is proper support for victims.
Order. Before I call the next speaker, it will be obvious to the House that we have limited time left. Three of the Members who have indicated that they wish to speak now have spoken at some length on the last group of amendments. If Members wish to hear what the Minister has to say in response to their questions, I hope they will have the courtesy to leave a few minutes for her to reply, in which case no one should speak for more than three minutes.
I do not intend to speak for very long at all, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I just want to touch on a few aspects, particularly around the supply chain amendments and how they relate to our commitment as a country and as a Government to our international development obligations. It is right that we seek to increase opportunity right across the world, but we have to accept that many of the systems we adopt domestically perpetuate poverty and the cycle of deprivation in some of the poorest and most vulnerable places around the world. One example of that is supply chains.
This debate comes between Fairtrade fortnight and the anniversary of the Rana plaza disaster, when 1,200 workers lost their lives putting together garments, many of which were going to be worn in Britain. That is why these amendments are so important, and I welcome many of the changes that have come from the Government, although I agree with the shadow Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson), that they could have gone a lot further.
The fact that 80 billion garments a year are produced globally, that there are 168 million child workers and that 85 million of them are working in hazardous conditions and that over 4 million aged between four and 14 are working in India alone shows the scale of the challenge. If we are to be serious about our international obligations, we must make sure our domestic legislation helps to shape and fight for the right things across the world. We must ensure that everyone has access to a decent job, fair pay and the right to join a trade union.
On that point, it is unacceptable in the midst of such a debate, in which I welcome many of the Government’s proposals, that we see the ideological scrapping of central budget support for the International Labour Organisation, which helps to promote workers’ rights around the globe. If we come into government on 7 May—as I hope we will—I am sure we will reverse that funding cut, and I hope a Government of any other colour would do so, too.
I want to say a bit about the sustainability of putting not only voluntary but mandatory entitlements on companies. Companies must meet their full obligations and there should be some kind of certification mechanism for well-behaved companies to be recognised, but bad practice must be exposed and outlawed. That will give the public the same confidence that they have about cocoa, chocolate and wine through Fairtrade fortnight. We should have the same confidence about all those things we acquire from across the globe.
I see that my three minutes have arrived, Madam Deputy Speaker. In closing, I welcome the Government amendments. They could have gone a lot further, but let us hope that this is the start of an opportunity to improve life chances of workers not just here, but across the globe.
I echo the positive and cautionary comments that my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson) has made today. We have done much to progress this issue, but we still have a long way to go. I want to mark the fact that we did not take the advice of Lord Judge and Peter Carter and that we will not have a cascade of serious offences, so that people will know exactly what they are being judged on and so that judges will know what we want them to do, rather than having to interpret the previous collection of crimes. That, for me, is the most important thing.
I want to talk also about the Connarty-Mactaggart clause. We might even be able to call it the Connarty-Mactaggart-Bradley clause if the Minister were to attach herself to it. If I were to put that in alphabetical order, I would have to put the Minister’s name first, but I do not want to do that as the issue was initiated by my right hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) in her ten-minute rule Bill and by me in my private Member’s Bill.
I thank the Minister for putting into amendment 73 the six areas of information that an organisation’s slavery and human trafficking statement must include and disclose. The amendment also states that the board of a company must approve such a statement and that it will have to be signed by a director. That provision came from debates in the Bill Committee and in the Joint Committee. Those provisions give strength to what we have been trying to do.
I want to speak briefly to Lords amendment 77. I support it, but I have some concerns about how the consultation relating to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority was described by Ministers in the other place, first in relation to the consideration of changes to enforcement and licensing activity and, secondly, in relation to intelligence sharing and interaction with other agencies. On the first, it is important to emphasise that the interest shown in the role of the GLA throughout the passage of the Bill has been due to its status as a model of best practice internationally. Its strength lies in fulfilling the very letter of the new International Labour Organisation protocol and the recommendation to the forced labour convention—which this Government voted for just last year and intend to ratify shortly—calling for improved labour inspections and enforcement of labour laws as key prevention measures.
Will the Minister assure the House that consultation on changes to enforcement and licensing activity will give due consideration to the success of the GLA’s licensing and enforcement activity in its current form? I emphasise the words “in its current form”. General law enforcement is not a GLA responsibility and, should the GLA’s meagre resources be diverted into criminal investigations and crime control, as was suggested in the other place, its critical licensing and intelligence-gathering role would be compromised.
Much of the GLA’s strength lies in its ability to build relationships of trust with workers during its detailed intelligence-gathering work. Critically, that intelligence is often anonymous and relies on workers trusting that the GLA is independent of the Government. Vulnerable workers have expressed considerable mistrust for the GLA where it is considered to be too close to border security or the police. So will the Minister assure the House that the consideration of a role for the GLA in intelligence sharing will not pose challenges to its intelligence-gathering function?
At the recent GLA national conference in Derby, the Minister said that the review would ensure that the GLA would
“target the ‘right’ businesses, the ones who break the law, the ones who exploit their workers and the ones who subject them to servitude and slavery.”
I think everyone would agree that it is important to target the right businesses, but we want to ensure that the Home Office does not allow its emphasis on prosecution to obscure the complexity of the fight against modern slavery. We do not need another National Crime Agency or a new UK Border Agency; we need the Gangmasters Licensing Authority’s good practice in issuing and monitoring licences and in gathering intelligence extended to other sectors.
Throughout the debate on the Bill, businesses have made the point that many of them want to do the right thing, but that they cannot trade ethically and effectively police their supply chains here in the UK without adequate labour inspection and an enforcement framework. Recruitment agencies try to operate within the law but find their margins impossible and so undermine labour rights to save money. Gangmasters, whose business model depends on paying less than the national minimum wage, are overworking people and taking cuts for substandard accommodation. So we need a labour licensing, inspection and enforcement regime that offers assurances to good business, reduces the temptation to shave away at the corners of workers’ rights and absolutely outlaws the descent into forced labour.
The Minister will not be surprised to find that I want to ask for more—I feel like Oliver sometimes—but let me start by saying thank you to all the members of the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee, to the members of the Public Bill Committee and to the Minister, because we have made real progress—I say that to Members from all parties. The Minister has often said that this is the first UK Bill to deal with modern slavery, but it will not be the last. So one thing I should like her to commit to—she has time in this debate to do so—is a review of the effect of this legislation within three years of its commencement. We are passing so much here that we need to test whether some of our anxiety about whether it will work, and some of her confidence that it will work, is well founded. Such a review would be a good foundation for looking to the future.
The second thing I want to ask for relates to Lords amendment 61, where the power to make regulations about victim care is explicit, but it is only a power to make regulations. There is a risk that for many months after this Bill victims of modern slavery in England will be less well cared for than victims of modern slavery in the other parts of the UK, which have passed legislation including powerful mechanisms for victim care. So will the Minister commit now—I believe that she is willing to do so, but it would be helpful if the commitment was made on the Floor of the House—to take the earliest opportunity to introduce regulations to ensure high standards of victims’ care following the review of the NRM.
My final point is about the Connarty-Mactaggart-Bradley issue, which is about supply chains. I really welcome the fact that supply chains are provided for in the Bill. The Minister will have noticed the debate in the House of Lords, which told us to learn from California about having no central spot where supply chain reporting happens. I have been struck by the keenness of companies on having a central spot, because good-quality companies will benefit from this legislation on supply chains. They are keen to ensure that there is proper comparability between the reports of different companies. The Minister could now say—it does not require legislation—that she will work with the commercial and voluntary sectors to try to establish a single repository for those reports, because if we do that, customers will be able to hold companies to account.
With the leave of the House, I should like to respond briefly to the comments that have been made. May I start by saying that I am pleased the Bill has been so well received by Members from all parts of the House? I am grateful to all the right hon. and hon. Members, both here and in the Lords, who have worked so tirelessly in assisting the Government to make the Bill as effective as possible. We have had some animated debates and differences of opinion, but I think all right hon. and hon. Members will agree that the Bill today looks very different from the one first presented as a draft Bill in December 2013.
I wish to pay specific tribute to my colleagues Lord Bates and Baroness Garden, who steered the Bill through the 95 amendments we are discussing today, and to the shadow Ministers, both here and in the other place, who worked constructively with the Government to make sure we get the right result: by the end of prorogation, a Modern Slavery Act—something of which we can all be incredibly proud.
Some specific points were raised. I welcome them, but do not have much time to cover them. Briefly, many of them, particularly those raised by the shadow Minister and others, were debated in the other place, and there is much on the record about our position. Let me just say that we will continue to consider those points. From my point of view, the Bill is a means to an end; it is not the end itself. It will enable us to identify more victims, using the anti-slavery commissioner and the victim support that we have outlined, but that cannot be the end. We have a long way to go, working on the strategy and working with partners, to ensure that the measures are implemented on the ground.
I pay tribute to all members of the pre-legislative scrutiny Committee and the Bill Committee, including my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes), whose work on trafficking and child trafficking advocates has put us in the position that we are now in, and he should take great credit for that. I also pay tribute to the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) and the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) for their work on supply chains, which they did for many, many years before the Bill was introduced. They know that we wanted to do this in the right way; we wanted to have the right evidence to get the Bill right. I can tell the right hon. Lady that we are consulting on the statutory guidance, including on how best to make statements available online. We are working with the voluntary sector and businesses specifically on a website or a comparison tool for statements.
This Bill is important and historic, and I am incredibly proud of it. For the victims of those most heinous and horrendous crimes, we have done something very good today in this place.
Lords amendment 1 agreed to.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberWith this we shall consider the following motion, on the code of conduct and guide to the rules relating to the conduct of Members:
That:
(1) this House approves the Third Report from the Committee on Standards, on The Code of Conduct, (HC 772);
(2) with effect from the beginning of the next Parliament, this House approves the revised Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members annexed to that Report;
(3) the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament be amended as follows:
(a) leave out Paragraph 2 and insert
‘The Code applies to Members in all aspects of their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members do in their purely private and personal lives’.
(b) leave out paragraph 17; and
(4) previous Resolutions of this House in relation to the conduct of Members shall be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with the Code of Conduct and the Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members.
I am delighted to open this debate, which represents the fulfilment of a great deal of unsung and often thankless work by the Standards Committee.
I should like first to talk about the proposals for changes to the composition of the Committee. Those were recommended in the sixth report of this session, which the House is asked to note. The report was put before the Committee by the Standards Sub-Committee, which was set up in response to the reflections of the lay members of the Committee on their first year in office.
The lay members have prepared a further note covering their experiences after two years in office. That will be published shortly, and I have no doubt that the new Committee will find it as useful, if as challenging, as we found the first one.
The Sub-Committee was chaired by Peter Jinman, one of the lay members, and the House, like the rest of the Committee, has much reason to be grateful to him and his colleagues. Although the report was prepared by the Sub-Committee, it was adopted without demur by the main Committee. Contrary to any fears that may have been expressed before the lay members were appointed, this agreement between the lay and elected Members of the Committee has been typical.
The lay members were appointed to the Committee in 2012 when the Standards Committee was separated from the former Standards and Privileges Committee. Their introduction was intended to strengthen the independent element in the standards system. The first independent element, of course, was the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. As the report makes clear, her role remains crucial and undiminished and her independence in her field is unaffected.
In the event, the lay members have changed the Committee in ways that were not all expected. By bringing their outside experience to bear, they have encouraged the Committee to rethink its working methods. They have given it the self-confidence to suggest moving away from being a largely reactive body that comes into play when it receives a memorandum from the commissioner and towards being one that seeks to play a clearer and more positive role in standards setting.
The position of the lay members is not always understood. The fact that they cannot vote or propose reports or amendments is sometimes used to suggest that they are in some way ciphers or stooges. I want to say to the House, and to the people listening outside, that that is absolutely not the case. Not only do the lay members play a full part in debate, but any one of them has, by Standing Order of the House, the right to append an opinion to any report of the Committee.
Moreover, given that it is essential that one lay member be present for the Committee to be quorate, they have an effective veto over the transaction of business. Fortunately, neither opinion nor withdrawal has ever been necessary; the lay members have gained their points by discussion and persuasion, and the Committee’s work has been greatly strengthened as a result.
We have recommended that the number and proportion of lay members of the Committee be increased. That brings the House’s system closer into line with the regulatory systems for professions such as the law and medicine, and it is way ahead of lay input in the Parliaments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA, none of whose equivalent Committees has any lay members whatsoever.
At present the Committee consists of 13 members— 10 MPs and three lay members. We propose that the overall size of the Committee be increased from 13 to 14, of whom seven should be lay members. That will also give us an opportunity to have more diversity in the Committee. Instead of the current quorum of five elected members and one lay member, we propose that the new Committee’s quorum should be three elected and three lay members. If agreed to, our proposal will also permit the term of office of lay members to run over a Parliament, making succession planning smoother. All those changes should strengthen the position of the lay members even further as well as allowing the Committee to experiment with different ways of working.
We also propose that the next Chair of the Committee should be elected, as the Chairs of most other Committees of the House now are. In principle, I think that is an excellent idea. On the other hand, I must warn any prospective candidates that, if elected, they will be in for an interesting and sometimes rocky road. None the less, it is a job worth doing, and one that is crucial to maintaining and improving the reputation of the House.
The report looked in some detail at the current system. It made a few suggestions for changes in practice by the commissioner and the Committee but found that the system was generally proportionate, the process fair and the sanctions appropriate. Some Members might think that our report spends too long setting out the existing system. We did that because we found that it was often misunderstood, and not only outside the House, but within it, and we wanted to help remedy that. Understanding of the system is not helped by the media coverage of parliamentary standards issues, some of which verges on the biased. I will give one example. The House has put restrictions on the remit of the commissioner. The Committee accepts that those should be reviewed from time to time, but none the less for the time being they are in place and the commissioner must abide by them.
The sixth report pointed out that many complaints to the Commissioner for Standards fall outside her remit. This applies particularly to what might be called level of service complaints, when a constituent feels that a Member did not help them as the constituent asked. We suggested that time, resources and frustration might be saved, not least for complainants, if constituents could be helped to understand better what MPs can and cannot do, what they may reasonably be expected to do, and when some other person or institution should be approached first.
Following publication of the report, one newspaper carried the headline, “MPs no longer want to help constituents with their bin collections and street repairs”. We do live in an elected democracy. Any such suggestion is ridiculous. Insult was added to injury in this case because the Committee had held a press briefing at the time of the report’s publication and Committee staff had already explained the recommendation to the journalist concerned. The misrepresentation was deeply disappointing, if not predicted from some quarters.
Misunderstanding of the system is not restricted to the media. There is widespread ignorance even in the House on occasion about what our system is. The Committee believes that the House authorities should do more to promote understanding of parliamentary standards—for instance, by making the website clearer. The Committee accepts that it, too, could do more to help the media and the public to understand its reports, in particular the process by which they are arrived at. We have made some suggestions for our successor Committee and to the commissioner to consider how this might be done, though any Committee will be careful to avoid getting drawn into argument about specific cases.
We are glad that plans have been made to make the induction of new MPs more effective.
The House is committed to reviewing the code of conduct and guide to the rules once in every Parliament. I now come to the proposed changes referred to in the first motion before us. These have been a long time coming, as they were first proposed in the Committee’s third report in the 2012-13 Session. Indeed, it was mainly the delay in bringing them to the House that led the Committee to recommend that its reports should be debated within two months of publication. Still, better late than never, and I am pleased that any difficulties seem to have been resolved and that the Government are now able to bring changes forward. This means that the revised code and guide will be in force at the beginning of the new Parliament. This will be crucial in assisting people who get over the wire, both those who are Members of the House now and new Members coming into the House. It will be enormously helpful if the proposed changes are agreed to.
The proposed change to the code of conduct reverts to the position as it was before 2013, making it clear that the code does not seek to regulate what Members do in their purely personal and private lives. We understand that this change meets the approval of Members.
The proposed changes to the rules make the rules on registration simpler, clearer and more consistent, tighten the rules on lobbying and make it clear that previous resolutions of the House are to be read in a way that is compatible with the code and guide currently in force. In this way they allow the House to respond to the recommendations of the Group of States against Corruption, otherwise known as GRECO, a Council of Europe body of which the UK is a member. Like the lay members, the GRECO report holds a mirror up to the House, and we should consider carefully the recommendations it contains. The recommendations and the Committee’s response to them are printed in our third report, to assist the House.
As the sixth report makes clear, the maintenance of high parliamentary standards is a matter for each and every one of us, whatever parliamentary position we may hold. There are many different sorts of leadership in the House. Standards are not a matter for the Committee on Standards alone: it is important that political leaders understand the system, and do not inadvertently undermine it by appearing ignorant of the rules. These are the House’s own rules, agreed in debates like this, and we should all respect them.
It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Rother Valley (Kevin Barron) and to pay tribute to his work and that of his Committee. I believe that both the motions before us, if agreed, will serve to increase confidence, inside and outside the House, in the regulatory system that we work under.
Let me deal first with the motion relating to the standards system in the House. I pay tribute not only to the Committee but to the sub-Committee, which did a lot of work on this. I particularly commend its lay members, who led the review, for the production of a thoughtful and balanced report. The report proves the value of including an outside perspective at the heart of our self-regulatory system. That, in itself, makes the case for broadening that outside perspective. These matters—the design and application of the standards system—are, of course, for the House collectively. The Government are fully supportive of the efforts of the Standards Committee and others to secure a system that is transparent, clear and effective. I believe that the motion is consistent with this objective.
The Government support the maintenance of an independent parliamentary commissioner for standards with the discretion to accept or reject a complaint for investigation, as she sees fit. It is right that a complete separation be maintained between the investigation of a complaint by the commissioner and the Committee’s role in considering her report and recommending any sanctions to the House. I am pleased that the Committee did not recommend a new adversarial procedure with lengthy and legalistic procedures. That would not have served the interests of the House or its Members, or improved its reputation in the eyes of the public.
The Committee’s most striking recommendation, as the right hon. Gentleman discussed, is the increase in the number of lay members from three to seven—the same as the number of MPs on the Committee. He told us how much of an asset it has been to have the services of the three lay members. Quite apart from the value they bring to the Committee from their differing backgrounds and experiences, their presence provides an effective answer to those who criticise the standards system on the grounds that it is Members judging each other. The achievement of a balance of external and internal members of the Committee will serve to provide it with a wider range of views and greater authority in this House, and, I hope, create greater confidence in the system outside this place.
It was notable that the lay members did not see the need to have a vote to be an effective presence on the Committee. The report explains that the
“existing position of the lay members is strong, contrary to some external portrayal.”
We have to be guided by the Committee on this point. It is difficult to imagine that it will want to publish reports with which its lay members disagree. However, the ability of lay members to record a contrary view is an important part of the present system that will be enhanced in the new one. Making lay members full members of the Committee would have introduced an element of legal uncertainty into its proceedings, as has been set out by the Procedure Committee and the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege.
The one recommendation directly for the Government relates to the scheduling of reports for debate. The Committee recommends that debates should take place within two months of the publication of reports. The Government have been very responsive in scheduling debates on the Committee’s reports on the conduct of individual Members. The conclusions of reports of this nature have always been brought before the House within a matter of days. I believe that any Government in the next Parliament will want to continue to bring forward substantive reports on the conduct of Members that require a decision of the House at the earliest available opportunity. I would certainly recommend that to my successor.
I am pleased that the Committee plans to take on a wider role in the promotion of ethical conduct of Members of Parliament, drawing on best professional practice and the experiences of other legislatures. The new lay members of the Committee, when appointed, will give this role added resonance. The House can look forward to the Committee’s role developing further in the new Parliament.
I turn briefly to the second motion, on the code of conduct for Members and the guide to the rules. I am very pleased to be able to bring this issue before the House before Dissolution. It is important that Members elected to the new Parliament be subject to a clear code of conduct that they can read as soon as they are elected, and that they have the benefit of a guide to the rules that is fully up to date. I am particularly pleased that by updating and improving the guide to the rules, we can implement the outstanding recommendations of the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption in so far as they relate to the House of Commons. The successful passage of the Government’s Recall of MPs Bill also meets its recommendations for disciplinary sanctions that are proportionate and dissuasive.
On the code of conduct, the Leader of the House will be aware of the controversy in recent days about whether a Minister adequately explained having a second job. Does he feel that the Government now need to revisit the ministerial code of conduct so that Ministers, such as the Minister without Portfolio, have clearer guidance on what they should or should not declare?
My immediate answer is no. Those rules are clear. The Minister concerned has said that he spoke in error, and I do not think there has been any suggestion that he broke the rules.
I believe that the updating of the guide to the rules is uncontroversial, and it should be supported by the House. The wording of the code of conduct has proved quite a difficult nut to crack during this Parliament. The debate in March 2012 revealed disquiet in some quarters of the House—let me put it that way—about how the code could be interpreted. That resulted in an amendment that, in the Committee’s view, led to a disconnect between the powers of the commissioner to investigate certain complaints and the provisions of the code.
As Leader of the House, I have been conscious of the need to secure a high degree of consensus on the code’s wording and interpretation before putting it before the House for a decision. That has taken a little more time than we all wished, but I hope and believe that we have got there in the end. The Members who have taken the time to do that have shown a good deal of forbearance, but that was the right approach. I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Rother Valley for his perseverance in chairing his Committee on this matter, and to colleagues from across the House for their co-operation. That is why there has been a delay in holding this debate, but we have been able to have it before the end of the Parliament.
I hope and believe that this debate will illustrate consensus on the wording. The new code proposed by the Standards Committee strikes the right balance between respect for the private life of Members and our obligation to uphold the code in all aspects of our public lives. I hope that the code will command the confidence of the public. On that basis, I am very happy to support the motions.
I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Kevin Barron) and his fellow members of the Standards Committee, including the lay members, on the two reports the House is considering today. I thank them for those reports, which each represent an important step forward and provide welcome clarity on the standards system and the guide to the rules.
I concur with the Leader of the House that it is important to agree the changes in advance of the new Parliament, in which the new Members will need clarity. We are all content that we have just managed to get in under the wire in doing so. The situation is complex: we have many structures of rules that Members are expected to follow, and they have become more complex and divergent over time. It was therefore important for my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley to be able to look at how to simplify some of the structures. We have the Electoral Commission and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, both of which are independent, but there are also—quite rightly—the rules of the House of Commons, which the Standards Committee has looked at.
The first motion is on the report from the lay members of the Standards Committee. It suggests some sensible changes to improve public trust in the standards system. As I said in my evidence to the Committee’s inquiry, we need a system that is predictable, simple and transparent. It is helpful if the system is intelligible to members of the public as well as to colleagues, many of whom will have seen the rules change multiple times over their years in the House. In my experience, Members tend to remember the rules as they were when they first came into the House and do not always manage to follow the myriad changes that occur as their time in the House lengthens. Many people have been caught out inadvertently by the evolution of the rules, which they have not noticed, because Members tend to respond to the rules that were in place when they first came into this place.
In my evidence, I said that we needed to remove the Government’s majority on the Standards Committee. I note that that is not proposed in the motion, but I hope that we can return to it. It is vital not only that the Committee act fairly—that goes without saying—but that it be seen to act fairly. We must avoid any perception among the public or others that Government Whips can affect the outcome of an inquiry.
I welcome the Committee’s proposal to increase the number of lay members so that there is an equal number of MPs and lay members on the Committee. I also welcome the decision to make it clear in future reports whether the lay members agree with the Members of Parliament who serve on the Committee. The use of lay members on House Committees is a relatively new innovation. In my experience of serving on Committees that include lay members—I have not served on the Standards Committee, but I have served on the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority—the innovation has worked well to date and has helped the House immeasurably.
The changes in the motion will ensure that our standards system is in line with the regulatory systems of many other professional bodies, while respecting the House’s unique position. We welcome the Committee’s recognition that,
“The electorate have the right to choose their representative”
and that
“any standards system must not constrain that right”
in a democracy. That is an important part of the summary of the report. As the Leader of the House pointed out, we now have recall, which might also impact on this area in some circumstances.
The report makes the welcome suggestion of a clear description of the role of an MP in increasing public understanding of the work we do. The Committee even made an heroic attempt to describe the role on page 24 of the report. It is an interesting attempt, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley and his Committee were extremely brave to set it out. We will see what kind of dialogue ensues in subsequent Parliaments as a result of their writing down that description.
Turning to the second motion, on the code of conduct and the guide to the rules, the new guide recommends simplifying the process of registering interests, tightening the rules around lobbying, and clarifying the relationship between the code, the guide and resolutions of the House. All of those recommendations have to be welcome. As the Committee’s report notes, the guide to the rules was first published in 1996. Over time, as I hinted earlier, it has seen many piecemeal additions and revisions—or evolution, if you like, Mr Deputy Speaker.
The new guide is intended not only to be a comprehensive revision of the rules, which is certainly long overdue, but to ensure that we meet our obligations as a member of the group of states against corruption, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley said. As the Committee notes, if we do not agree to the new guide, Members who are elected in May will be bound by rules that are “not always clear”, that are “out of date” and that do
“not respond to the recommendations of a Treaty organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member.”
It is clearly welcome that we are able to have this debate today. I hope we will pass the motions on the Order Paper to bring ourselves into line with the international treaties we have signed.
The first thing these changes will do is to reform how Members’ interests are registered. The proposed guide harmonises the rules on registration and reduces the number of registration categories, with just one, rather than the current three, for outside employment. The report also recommends a lower threshold for the registration of interests. Those are welcome and sensible simplifications. Labour Members want to go much further and have a system in which registering a paid directorship or consultancy is no longer possible, in which second jobs are far more regulated than is currently the case.
The report also suggests changes to the rules on lobbying—an area that clearly needs change following the scandals of this Parliament. The proposed changes to the guide go some way towards tightening the rules, but the system of regulation the Government have put in place is fundamentally inadequate. Despite the Prime Minister promising before the last election that he would shine the “light of transparency” on lobbying, the register the Government are set to introduce would cover just 1% of ministerial meetings organised by lobbyists, and would not have caught any of the lobbying scandals that have hit this Government. The lobbying Act prevents charities and civil society from campaigning—rules that are already having a chilling effect on debate in the run-up to the general election.
If Labour wins the election we will introduce tough new limits on lobbying and an effective register of all professional lobbyists, backed up by a code of conduct and enforced with sanctions. We will also review whether lobbyists should be allowed to provide the secretariats for all-party parliamentary groups, and continue to support the ban on parliamentary passes for any APPG staff.
The report also recommends updating the basis of the rules. As the former Clerk of the House, Lord Lisvane, made clear in his evidence to the Committee,
“there is a certain amount of doubt about what actually constitutes the ‘rules’ of the House”.
As well as the code and the guide, a number of other resolutions of the House also provide guidance on MPs’ conduct. As the report says,
“defining the rules of the House through a series of Resolutions of varying antiquity, which need to be regularly amended, is unsatisfactory”.
We therefore welcome today’s motion, which clarifies that all previous resolutions on Members’ conduct should be read in a way that is compatible with the guide and the code. We also welcome the sensible proposal to revert to the 2009 wording on Members’ private lives, which I hope will assuage concerns across the House that were raised when this matter was last debated in 2012.
I welcome both reports as a positive step in the right direction, while believing that we can, and should, go further. On second jobs, proper regulation of lobbyists, and the Government’s majority on the Standards Committee, I look forward to a Labour Government working across the House for further reform in just a few weeks’ time.
It has been my privilege to serve on the Committee on Standards under the chairmanship of the right hon. Member for Rother Valley (Kevin Barron) throughout this Parliament, and I put on record my gratitude to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, the registrar and the staff of those offices for the extraordinary diligence with which they have pursued their functions and roles. It has been an enormous pleasure to collaborate and work with them.
It is extremely important to remember the division of functions between the commissioner and the Committee. The commissioner is the rapporteur to the Committee. She will investigate and establish the facts and make recommendations. Ultimately, however, it is for the Committee to decide what the response and reaction to her report should be.
I remember very few occasions when the Committee has ventured to disagree, and even then it has done so with considerable trepidation and diffidence, and only in cases where the commissioner herself evinced a degree of uncertainty as to the correct conclusion. That is exactly the dialogue that should exist between commissioner and committee—a dialogue of mutual respect and collaboration, but of independence. Like the Chair of the Committee, I am not certain that the relationship between the two is always fully understood. I hope that it will be in future, and that the motions before the House will assist in the clarification of the roles and true function of the Committee.
The involvement of lay members was an innovation that some greeted with scepticism, but I have to say that having worked with them it is important to put on record the gratitude of all the elected members of the Committee for the way in which they approached their roles. It has been uniformly constructive, so much so that one of them was an extremely good chairman of the Sub-Committee responsible for one of the reports. It is a good report, and their involvement has been thoroughly constructive and helpful.
I therefore support the recommendation for an increase in the number of lay members, with some reservations. I am extremely pleased that no vote has been accorded to the lay members. There is no doubt, as my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House said, that the inclusion of unelected members on a House Committee would present considerable constitutional and legal complexities. It may well make the Committee susceptible to judicial review, with all the panoply of judicial intervention that that would mean, and I do not think that anybody in the House would really have wanted that. What I think we do need is a situation where the lay members’ influence is telling and, as it has been sometimes, decisive. That can be better done by the moral influence they exert and the constant sanction that exists—that they may append a minority report. That is, in many ways, a more compelling, more persuasive and more telling influence on Members’ thinking than any vote would be.
I commend the motions to the House. I heard the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle) on the Opposition Front Bench express a concern that there may be a perception that the Whips have some mischievous and nefarious impact on the deliberations of the Committee. I can say two things to that. In four and a half years, I have never had a Whip try to influence me. I do not know whether that is just something to do with me or something to do with the fact that the Whips demonstrate commendable and appropriate restraint. However, I think that members of the Committee with whom I have served over this Parliament would reject with disdain any attempt by a Whip to influence the impartial and anxious consideration, which I have witnessed time and again, accorded by members of the Committee to very difficult individual and sometimes complicated circumstances in which a judgment is never right or wrong, never black or white, but can admit of disagreement.
If a Committee comprising a number of elected Members, with all their shared experience of the House, together with the one who is accused and lay members, can reach a consensus as we uniformly do, generally, I would submit, it is more likely than not that the right conclusion is reached. That is why I say to the hon. Lady that in many ways to bandy about the idea—I am not criticising her for a moment; I do understand the perception she speaks of—or even to suggest that Whips may have some influence or role on the Standards Committee is not helpful. It simply would not be tolerated by members of that Committee, in my experience. It would be, as I have said, rejected with disdain.
It has been an enormous privilege to serve on the Committee. It has caused a great deal of soul searching in many of the cases that have come before us. Some have been controversial and some have been less so, but throughout we have been assisted by the extraordinary skill, sophistication and professionalism of the officers who support us. I, for one, am deeply grateful to them, to the Chairman of the Committee and to all other members of the Committee with whom I have had the honour to serve.
I, too, have served on the Committee on Standards in the second half of this Parliament. I found the Committee very different from its predecessor, on which I had served in the previous Parliament. In no small part, the difference was the arrival in our midst of the three lay members. I join the tributes to them that other Members have expressed. They have brought a wealth of relevant experience, offered informed opinion and intelligent insight, and encouraged and persuaded us to better practice and better judgments.
As has been explained, the report was produced in no small part under the influence of the lay members. They have encouraged us to get on the front foot, to be more proactive and to look ahead. The House was reeling after the expenses scandal at the end of the last Parliament and was still in a state of shock. The lay members have encouraged us to move on, to look ahead and to show more leadership in the area of standards, as the Leader of the House said. I hope that everyone in the House will respond to the challenge and that in future we shall approach these issues as other professions and careers do and help each other in a spirit of continuous professional development.
There was a great deal of controversy, confusion and misreporting after one of the more high profile cases dealt with in this Parliament by the Committee on Standards, but rather than lamenting the misinformation and misreporting, the lay members encouraged us to learn from the experience, to get out and better explain what we do, to be more transparent and open, and to see ourselves as having a mission to explain, so that people inside and outside the House could have a better understanding of what we were trying to achieve and of the distinction between roles to which my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr Cox) referred. In the case I am thinking of, there was great confusion about where the role of an independent commissioner ended and the role of the Committee began.
I believe that the proposals to move to an equal number of elected and lay members will enhance the Committee’s work further, create more opportunity for more external experience and challenge, move us into line with other professions, and basically look better in the eyes of the outside world. I do not believe that it will undermine the work done. It would have been a complete red herring to divert ourselves down the rabbit hole of whether the lay members should have a vote. They do not need one for the reasons given. In any case, the Committee seldom has occasion to vote: its deliberations always aim at consensus. As has been observed, every lay member—in future, all seven—can append an opinion if they so desire, and the Committee would have to think long and hard before arriving at a consensus to which the lay members had raised any objection. It would get itself into very hot water were it to do so. The report points a sensible way forward, and I commend it to the House.
The other motion deals with the code of conduct and guide to the rules. The interrelationship between the two is tricky, and the impact of what we are doing this afternoon is potentially slightly counter-intuitive in terms of what a cursory examination of the text before us might conclude. The House got itself into a mess last time it considered this issue, in 2012, and the proposition before the House today is a pragmatic way of trying to resolve that mess. It is right to do this and to do it now, and to ensure that after the election those coming into the House have the clarity they need about what is and is not acceptable. We are not opening up the spectre of investigations into Members’ purely private lives, but it is important that anything a Member does in their capacity as a Member of Parliament should be subject to proper scrutiny and done to the highest standards.
We have two sensible propositions before the House this afternoon, and I hope very much that they will both find favour.
Question put and agreed to.
Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules Relating to the Conduct of Members
Resolved,
That:
(1) this House approves the Third Report from the Committee on Standards, on The Code of Conduct, (HC 772);
(2) with effect from the beginning of the next Parliament, this House approves the revised Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members annexed to that Report;
(3) the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament be amended as follows:
(a) leave out Paragraph 2 and insert
‘The Code applies to Members in all aspects of their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members do in their purely private and personal lives’.
(b) leave out paragraph 17; and
(4) previous Resolutions of this House in relation to the conduct of Members shall be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with the Code of Conduct and the Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members.—(Kevin Barron.)
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI beg to move,
That this House calls on the US Government to release Shaker Aamer from his imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay and to allow him to return to his family in the UK.
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allocating time for this critical debate at an important time in the campaign to secure the release of Shaker Aamer. By way of introduction, I pay tribute to all those who have campaigned so hard over many years to bring Shaker Aamer’s case to our attention. I pay tribute to the “Save Shaker Aamer” campaign, and all those campaigners who have stood in Parliament Square month after month protesting in their orange boiler suits with their placards until someone began to listen to them. I pay tribute to the “We Stand with Shaker” campaign, to Shaker’s family who have joined us today and to the organisations Reprieve and Amnesty International. I pay tribute, too, to the full range of newspapers that have supported this campaign. They range right across the political spectrum of journalism from the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph to The Guardian and the Morning Star. In addition, I pay tribute to all the celebrities, actors, artists and sportspeople who have got behind this campaign. Finally, I thank the many hon. Members from all sides of the House who joined the all-party parliamentary group, which now has more than 40 members drawn from all political parties.
Why have so many people campaigned so long and so steadfastly on this case? I think that it is because the Shaker Aamer case is one of the worst examples of a miscarriage of justice during the past three decades at least. Shaker’s treatment offends against all the principles of a civilised society—justice, freedom, human rights and the rights of a family to be together. We have had several debates here and numerous questions about his case have been raised. The last occasion on which I raised the issue was at the Christmas recess debate.
Let me put on record the history of Shaker’s case, so that people are fully aware of the background to what happened to him and the various issues that we need to address now. Shaker was born in Saudi Arabia in 1968. He left home and lived in America for a while, eventually making his home in the United Kingdom. He married a British citizen and was granted leave to remain in this country in 1996. He worked as a translator for a firm of solicitors.
In 2001, he went with his family to Afghanistan, working as a charity volunteer building a girls’ school and digging water wells. After 9/11 when Afghanistan was bombed by the US, he sent his family to safety in Pakistan. Before he could join them, however, the Afghan villagers gave him up to the Northern Alliance. At that time, the US was offering a ransom to individuals, and unfortunately the Northern Alliance and others rounded people up without any evidence of their involvement in terrorist activity. What then happened was that Shaker was taken and held in the notorious Bagram jail.
I am not necessarily sympathetic if there is any question of guilt on the part of the people picked up. However, what strikes me about this case is that the US was offering $5,000 ransoms or rewards, and it is too easy to forget that in Afghanistan at that time, $5,000 would have been equivalent to hundreds of thousands of pounds in this country. When it was a poor village that handed him over, I will not say that I do not blame them—I do—but it could be seen as understandable. What that does, however, is to call into extreme question any suggestion of Shaker Aamer’s guilt.
It looks as though the ransom or reward turned the rounding up of individuals, particularly by the Northern Alliance and others, almost into a trade during that period, and it is easy to see how injustices have resulted.
According to Reprieve, which has been analysing what has been happening in Bagram and elsewhere, while detained in Bagram, Shaker was
“forced to stay awake for nine days straight and denied food. Doused in freezing water, he was made to stand in the Afghan winter on concrete for 16 hours. His feet were beaten and he was bound in torturous positions.”
After Bagram, in 2002, Shaker was among the first to be sent to Guantanamo Bay, where we know that he has endured harsh, brutal and inhuman treatment. That has been exposed by the United States authorities themselves. The CIA’s own torture memos of what happened in Guantanamo—which was authorised, unfortunately—describe
“Enhanced Interrogation Techniques endorsed by Dick Cheney for use in Guantanamo, including, yelling, slapping, stress positions, extremes of heat and cold, constant bright lights, permanent noise and constantly repeated music, food, sleep and sensory deprivation, long periods of total solitary confinement, removal of facial hair, removal of blanket, clothes, toothbrush…forced nudity, and forced feeding, sexual assault, water-boarding and suffocation in a narrow box, prolonged shackling of hands and feet, threats to family, exposure to dogs, insects etc., denial of exercise or daylight.”
We know from the prisoners who have been released so far that that is exactly what Shaker has experienced while being held in Guantanamo Bay. We also know from evidence provided by the United States guards themselves about the performance of those tortures.
Shaker has never been charged with any crime. He has been cleared for release twice but continues to be detained in Guantanamo, while many others have been released, including all the Britons and British residents. Over the past 12 months, 33 prisoners have been released in difficult circumstances. They have been released to host countries from Uruguay to Kazakhstan, which has obviously involved fairly complicated arrangements. It is hard to understand why the United States finds a transfer to the United Kingdom almost impossible; it is extraordinary that David Hicks, who had admitted to terrorist activity, was released to Australia in February, but the United States refuses to release Shaker, who has never been charged and has been cleared for release twice.
Why is Shaker still being detained? That is the question that we are all asking. Why can he not be allowed to come home to his family? We can only speculate. Is it because he knows too much about what happened in Guantanamo Bay and will ensure that the truth comes out if he is released? Is it because he was a spokesperson for the prisoners in Guantanamo when he was setting up the prisoners’ council? Is this part of some vindictive victimisation? Or is it because he can bear witness to the involvement of not just United States but, possibly, British intelligence in the illegal, criminal torture that went on in Bagram, Kandahar and Guantanamo?
The United Kingdom Government have made representations—I thank successive Foreign Secretaries, the Prime Minister and other Ministers for that—but unfortunately, those representations have been to no avail. Shaker’s Member of Parliament, the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), who has worked assiduously on his behalf, cannot participate in such debates because of her ministerial position, but she can testify to the representations that the United Kingdom Government have made to the United States Government over the years.
In January, the Prime Minister visited Washington and raised Shaker’s case again with President Obama. The President gave an assurance that the case would be prioritised, but we now know from a recent statement by the United States Defence Secretary that no proposal for release—certainly, no proposal for Shaker’s release—has landed on his desk We also know that there have been discussions within the United States Administration, and possibly with United Kingdom officials previously, about deporting Shaker to Saudi Arabia, where his safety and human rights would certainly be at risk.
There are questions to which I would welcome the Minister’s response. Will he update the House on what further representations have been made by the UK Government to the US Government since January 2015 when the Prime Minister had the meeting with President Obama? What is the Government’s understanding of what continues to block Shaker’s release? It is very difficult to fathom why Shaker has still not been released when the closest ally of the US has made representations and a formal request and when the President of the US has said that the case will be prioritised. It is beyond credibility. Have any grounds or reasons been given for his continued detention? What assurances have the Government been given that Shaker will not be transferred to Saudi Arabia? If possible, will the Minister tell us the next steps that the UK Government plan to take to secure Shaker’s release? Will the UK Government press the US Administration, particularly the President, for a clear timetable for Shaker’s release?
In due course, we will need a full and thorough independent inquiry into Shaker’s evidence about British intelligence collusion. I would welcome the Minister’s views on that proposal. However, the most important thing for us now is to bring Shaker home. As I have said, many words have been spoken by Ministers, Prime Ministers, Foreign Secretaries and now even the President about the release of Shaker, but there has been no action. Now is the time for action, not words. That is why we have secured the debate.
Shaker’s release has now become urgent. As a result of more than a decade of detention and barbaric treatment, including extensive torture, his health has deteriorated significantly. A recent medical assessment by Dr Emily Keram states that Shaker suffers from serious ailments, including migraines, asthma, urinary retention, ear and skin problems and extreme post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his imprisonment in Guantanamo.
I hope that today’s motion will be supported by everyone. It is very straightforward and states:
“That this House calls on the US Government to release Shaker Aamer from his imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay and to allow him to return to his family in the UK.”
The cross-party group of MPs and Lords supporting Shaker’s campaign for release numbers more than 40 and includes many senior Members of this House and ex-Ministers. It is a sizeable and active group, and we will send a delegation shortly to Washington to meet officials from the Administration over there to press for the release of Shaker. The UK Government can give us help and give this campaign significant support and momentum. I appeal to Members to pass the motion today; let us send a clear and unanimous message to the US President that we want Shaker released and returned to his family.
Shaker’s family members, in particular his sons, have joined us in Parliament today. I want us all to say to them now that we pledge that we will not rest until their father is free and back in the arms of his family.
Our legal system and the American legal system are based on a very important principle, the principle of the presumption of innocence. That has not been extended to Shaker Aamer. What is more, in his case, although we are not in a position to make the judgment ourselves, a great deal of evidence, from how he was picked up on the basis of a ransom through to the statements of the US authorities that there is no case against him, shows a probability of innocence, yet this man has faced 13 years in the most unbelievable circumstances.
I make the point about innocence because it is one thing for a terrorist or soldier to be subjected to this sort of behaviour, involving the sort of treatment that the British Government gave up in the early 1970s after using it in Northern Ireland because it was deemed to be torture. In fact, what is going on is much worse than what we gave up and deemed to be torture. However, that is the basis on which Shaker Aamer is being held. The same sort of torture led the American Government to conclude that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, as they tortured someone else 83 times until they eventually said, “Yes, yes, I give in.” That means that, even if there were confessional evidence against Shaker, it would be completely untrustworthy; indeed, it would be thrown out, as Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve has said. From the point of view of basic humanity, for somebody who is innocent to be put through that is probably 10 times as bad as it is for somebody who is guilty, and it would be bad for them, too.
Our understanding is that Shaker has been a representative in the disputes in Guantanamo, which may make him more of a target. In addition to his own torture, he is said to have witnessed the torture of others, which may be why his release is being withheld. He is the last British resident being held there.
I join the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) in asking the Minister to give an account of the Americans’ explanation of why they have not released Shaker. If they have not done so because he would embarrass them, that represents a doubling up of the guilt on their part. Frankly, this will come out into the open at some point.
The colonel who headed the unit of American military lawyers who both prosecute and defend people in Guantanamo told them at the beginning of their military commission that they should be wary of any techniques and tactics that they allowed to be used, because, in his words, in America there is no such thing as a secret, just deferred disclosure. That is eminently true in the case under discussion. The more rapid that disclosure, the better for every country.
I can understand to some extent why, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we dropped the moral standards by which we ought to abide—that was wrong, but understandable. I do not understand, however, the continued attempt to cover things up a dozen and more years later. For that reason, too, Shaker ought to be released.
I do not want to take up too much time, so I will finish by simply saying that the west has had a moral slough of despond after 9/11. We have abandoned our own standards and fallen short of the ethical standards that we should uphold. It is now doubly incumbent on us to act to ensure that those who have suffered as a result are released to their families as rapidly as possible, before their health is completely destroyed, which is what Shaker Aamer faces. It is also important to our own nations and citizens that we confess.
What does the right hon. Gentleman think this tells us about the so-called special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States? When our Prime Minister meets President Obama, it is unbelievable that we cannot get a straight answer about a citizen of our country being held by the US.
It may say two things. The first—it saddens me to say this—is that President Obama may not be in complete control of his own country. After all, he promised to close down Guantanamo early on but then did not do so, at great political cost to himself and, indeed, to his moral standing. Secondly, when it comes down to it, America puts its own interests far ahead of those of any other country. That is the doctrine of American exceptionalism, which in one sense is understandable because it is based on freedom, but in another sense it leads to the almost colonial treatment of its allies. If that is the case, it is deplorable. As America’s longest-standing and strongest ally, we should expect special treatment, but we have clearly not been given it in this case.
Looking at the morality of this case, and bearing in mind the fact that America—and Britain, for that matter—have lectured the world on democracy and justice, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is not a very good example of American justice to have a person spend 13 years in prison without ever being charged with anything and being tortured? What does that say about the west, given the way in which we look at the rest of the world, and particularly the middle east?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, which goes to the heart of what I was about to say in conclusion.
One of the great dimensions of our soft power in the world, which I used to come across all the time as a British Foreign Minister, was the expectation that we would behave differently from others and that we would not fall to the standards of the Soviet Union or of other totalitarian states. We were paid more attention as a result of that. It was less true of America, but it was true none the less. This whole exercise—involving Shaker Aamer, Binyam Mohamed and a whole series of others—shows that we have dropped from those high standards. We have fallen from the grace in which public opinion held us. Indeed, by behaving like the guy in the black hat rather than the guy in the white hat, we have essentially done what al-Qaeda would have liked us to do.
That is why I say that we have a duty to our own citizens in this matter just as much as we have a duty to Shaker Aamer. We are letting our citizens down as well as letting him down. We are betraying the standards that millions died to protect in two world wars over the past century, and we are increasing the risk of terrorism because this situation legitimises the kind of barbarous behaviour that we have seen too much of in the past few years. I shall finish by joining the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington in asking the Minister to give an undertaking that we will redouble our efforts and not give up until Shaker Aamer is returned to his family.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) for instituting this debate. He has described in some detail what has been done to Shaker Aamer. If such treatment were to be carried out by a foreign Government, President Obama would be the first to denounce it. The human implications of this illegal imprisonment of a man who has never been charged with any offence are horrifying, and the House expresses its sympathy with his family for what they know this man has endured.
The treatment of this man is appalling. It is appalling that, although he was signed off for release by the Bush Administration eight years ago and by the present United States Administration, he has still not been released. It is appalling that he is still being treated in a way that would be regarded as inhuman and unacceptable in any country in the world. Those are all facts about this persecuted, imprisoned, tortured individual.
While not departing in any way from our deep concern and huge anger about the treatment of Shaker Aamer, we have to look at the United States, which has imprisoned him for all these years. I am a great admirer of the United States, but I find it incomprehensible that two successive Presidents of that country—one of whom gives himself an enormous amount of credit as a liberal humanitarian—should have first opened and then maintained the kind of torture camp that is illegal in any country in the world. What would we say if Islamic State had a camp interning illegally, for years without charge, people innocent or guilty? Shaker Aamer is innocent, but this applies also to people who might be guilty. If any country in the world had an illegal camp in which torture, solitary confinement and inhuman treatment were all daily occurrences, we would regard that country as a savage outlaw.
Guantanamo Bay is illegal and its maintenance is a war crime—it is as great a war crime as any other being committed anywhere in the world. Obama, in his original election campaign, promised he would close it. He has been there more than six years and it is still open. We can have a discussion about the extent to which he has been prevented from closing it by a rogue Congress, but he has not made an issue of it; he maintains an illegal war crimes camp and has done so under his Administration for more than six years and, like a lot of the other things he does, he gets away with it.
Let us look at this man who maintains this illegal torture camp, where waterboarding, solitary confinement and inhuman treatment are daily occurrences. This is the man, the President of the United States, who sends out drones over Pakistan which have killed 3,000 Pakistanis. This is the man who sends out assassination teams to kill people of whom he disapproves all over the world. He claims to be in charge of a liberal democracy, yet, as I repeat, if this were taking place in any other country, he would be up on his feet, with beautiful eloquence, for which he is noted, saying how inhuman it was and how unacceptable it was. If this were happening under Islamic State or in Libya—I do not know whether he is going to denounce the abominable death sentences for those in the Muslim Brotherhood which have just been announced in Egypt—or in any other country in the world, he would be up on his feet saying, “This is a war crime.”
I, like my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington, the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) and others in this House, am deeply concerned about the inhuman treatment of Shaker Aamer, and we passionately will go on calling for his release. I do not in any way imply that the Government have not done their best, because they have. But what kind of a special relationship is it where one member of a relationship takes all the time and the other is regarded as a junior, negligible partner? That is what we have here: the United Kingdom loyal to the United States—perhaps too loyal, and I say that without being critical of our Government—and the United States not giving a damn. So we denounce the inhuman treatment of Shaker Aamer and demand that he be released, and we shall go on demanding that, but we also say to the United States, “Don’t be sanctimonious about other countries when you commit war crimes.”
I do not need to detain the House for long, because the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) gave such an excellent speech and because the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) set out the case with both clarity and conviction.
I wish to make it clear that I yield to no one in my admiration for the work that the British security services and others have done in addressing a very real terrorist threat, the issues of which will take a generation or more to deal with. The point at issue today is a far more fundamental one. I very much hope that the Foreign Office and the diligent Minister who is here today to respond to the debate will note that, although the House may not be particularly packed, it is nevertheless true that here on these Benches are representatives of almost every conceivable opinion that the House of Commons could hold. We are all, I believe, utterly united behind the motion that was moved by the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington. The hon. Gentleman will know very well that he and I agree on almost nothing in British politics, but on this issue we are shoulder to shoulder; we are as one.
I wish to make a point that was set out by my right hon. Friend, which is that in Britain, we respect the law; we believe in certain universal values. Sometimes, they are said to be British values, but I do not like that term. They are universal values, and the debate on Shaker Aamer gets absolutely to the heart of those values. I had the pleasure, just a fortnight ago, of going to join in Friday prayers at the largest mosque in Europe, the Central Mosque in Birmingham. It is accepted by all of us that there is considerable alarm in the British Muslim community about Islamophobia. Muslims look at this particular case and think that certain rules apply to some people, but not others. The point that this House of Commons should stand up for today is that justice is colour blind and creed blind. It should apply to everyone, but it is not applying to Shaker Aamer, and it is up to us to give voice to this view. The House of Commons must stand up today for justice for all citizens wherever they are from, and never more so than in this particular debate.
It is a pleasure to participate in this debate, and I thank my right hon. Friend for allowing me to intervene. Is not the essence of this debate the rule of law and the application of fair rule of law? The absence of proper application of the rule of law is at the heart of this issue.
My hon. Friend makes the central case that we are discussing.
Let me add a few words to what the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington said at the start of the debate. Shaker Aamer has been detained for 13 years. He has twice been cleared for release: once in 2007 by the former US President, George Bush, and, more recently, in 2009, by President Obama. Our own Prime Minister has made vigorous representations, if one is to believe the press, in respect of Shaker Aamer, and the United States has made it clear that there is no evidence against him, and yet he is still incarcerated in the conditions that were described by the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton.
Will the right hon. Gentleman comment on another point that the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) made in his speech: that Shaker is not being released because of what he has seen in Guantanamo, and the authorities do not want that to be known more widely? If there is a mystery here about why he is still being detained, does the right hon. Gentleman think that that is the answer?
That might or might not be so, and it is an important matter, but it is not central to the case I am making, which is this: here is someone whose release has been cleared by two US Presidents, and against whom the US authorities have made it clear there is no evidence, yet he remains incarcerated, after 13 years.
There have been numerous British requests, the most recent of which was made by the Prime Minister during his highly successful visit to America. Jacqui Smith, when Home Secretary, made the request, as did the former Foreign Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), and other Foreign Office Ministers, including my right hon. Friend to my right—geographically, at least—my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), who engaged in the case energetically. The failure to make progress fuels the theories referenced in the most recent intervention. Nevertheless, those British requests cannot be treated with apparent arrogance by the American Administration and just cast aside with glib words while that man remains incarcerated with no case against him.
I thank my right hon. Friend for his kind words. I am absolutely certain that the advice being given in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office today is the same as that given when I was there, and I know my hon. Friend the Minister is following it diligently. Does my right hon. Friend agree that what unites people of different political opinions on this matter is a sense both that justice for one is justice for all—that is being denied in this case—and that for those who look at it from a very practical point of view on how we deal with some of the difficult issues facing the world, from both a United States and a British perspective, none of that work is being assisted in a case in which someone has been detained for so long without trial or charge?
My right hon. Friend makes the case with great eloquence, as he has done in government and from the Back Benches.
I will end by reiterating the points that the mover of the motion made to the Minister. I ask him to be specific in his response and to be clear about what representations on Shaker Aamer’s case have been made and what ongoing representations are being made. If he cannot give the House answers today, will he seek immediately from the American Administration a very clear explanation of why they continue to block Shaker Aamer’s release? Will he make very clear what next steps the British Government intend to take to secure his immediate release to Britain, not to anywhere else? In his discussions with the American Administration, will he press them to confirm a specific timetable for his release and repatriation to Britain?
This is a matter of great importance. As my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire said, it is about the universality of justice. It is about the signal we send as the House of Commons to all our citizens about the nature of justice and our determination to see that it is pursued. On that basis, I once again congratulate the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington and other colleagues on securing this important debate, and I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.
I am pleased to be able to support the motion this afternoon and contribute to the debate, which is notable for both the quality and the brevity of the speeches—I will try to emulate that. The speeches have been brief not because of any lack of concern on the part of those who have spoken; on the contrary, it is because the facts of this case are simple and the motion clear—and, indeed, the remedy is simple.
My hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) set out the background, which I need not repeat. He talked about the history of Guantanamo Bay and those who remain there, the status and treatment of Shaker Aamer, the lack of due process, the questions of nationality and the statements made by both the British and US authorities. We need not elaborate on those further because they are a matter of record. Indeed, I suspect that the only person we might like to hear from at length today is the Minister, in the hope that we can have an answer to questions that remain outstanding.
I would like to pay tribute to the campaign that has been run both inside this House and, more particularly, outside it. My hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington recently set up the all-party group, which is doing a good job. It has members from all parts of the House, some of whom have spoken in the debate or, I expect, are about to speak. Beyond that, the campaign in the wider country has been insistent, clear and deliberative and has used every possible means. It is invidious in some ways to mention individuals, but I will mention Joanne MacInnes and Andy Worthington, who work daily and tirelessly in every possible way—from complex legal argument to giant inflatables—to raise the matter. They have no personal association with the family, but they care so deeply that they have inspired many other people and the campaign is superb.
As part of the briefing for this debate, we were sent a statement from 278 imams and community leaders around the country. That should carry some weight with the Government, as should the petitions over the years which have accumulated hundreds of thousands of signatures. This is an issue which the Muslim community in this country cares about, as does the wider community, as a simple matter of law and justice. What it boils down to is, why? That is the question people have put and to which they have conjectured answers. As the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) said, in the absence of an answer from the Government, there will be more speculation. If it is right that, as we have heard, the US under successive Presidents has cleared Shaker for release, and if it is right that for years under different Administrations the British Government have been using their best endeavours to secure his release, why is he still incarcerated? I am putting the Minister on the spot somewhat, but the House deserves an answer to that today.
We know that there are forces out there who are clear that they wish the inmates of Guantanamo Bay to be retained there, and we have seen attempts by the Republican Congress to do that recently. We do not have the President of the United States here, we do not have the American authorities here, but we know the statements that President Obama has previously made. We have Her Majesty’s Government here, and Shaker’s family who are present, the campaigners who are present, MPs on all sides, and the distinguished right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken, including from the Government Back Benches, deserve an answer to the question why a British subject whose family are British citizens has been incarcerated for 13 years and tortured. There is no reason discernible to me, my constituents and all those who have taken an interest in the case why that remains the situation.
I add my congratulations and thanks to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) for bringing this matter to the House. The quality of speeches on all sides, the power of the points made and, more importantly, the unity in the Chamber are a source of encouragement and underline the level of frustration and incredulity that something so self-evidently wrong and outrageous should continue in the face of such incontrovertible evidence. Along with right hon. and hon. Members on all sides, I want to state our conviction that Shaker Aamer is an innocent man and is being treated unjustly. We stand resolutely with his family, who continue to endure the separation and division of their family, awareness of Shaker Aamer’s ill health and the realisation of the appalling treatment that he has unjustly and inhumanly received for all these years.
We say sometimes that a person is innocent until proven guilty. We should clarify that and say “unless proven guilty”. In this case, there is no guilt to be proven. As a number of colleagues have said, two US Presidents, Bush and Obama, have both in effect cleared Shaker Aamer for release, yet here we still are. Shaker Aamer’s incarceration, his being subjected to torture, and the length of time involved—13 or 14 years now—is an outrage. The man has not seen his youngest child. This is an absolutely immoral outrage. It is perhaps even more outrageous that this blot on our collective conscience occupies so little space in the consciousness of people in western society.
I shall be interested to hear what the Minister says about the reasons the United States has given, or continues to give, for the failure to release Shaker Aamer, yet the reality is that no excuse would be good enough. We understand that there is a dispute over whether, as the Americans want, he is released to Saudi Arabia or whether, as we want, he is released to the United Kingdom. That is not an acceptable excuse. This man belongs here; his family are here. There is no just reason whatsoever why he should not be released now, and released to this country. I hope that the United States takes some notice of what is meant to be its strongest and most loyal ally, the United Kingdom, and what is said here in the Parliament of that country. Will it take notice of the fact that, in our eyes and in the eyes of many other people in the civilised world, this is the behaviour of an extremist regime—the kind of behaviour that we would expect the United States to castigate, as the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) so rightly said?
Speaking as somebody who counts himself as a Liberal Democrat and has a habit of instinctively lionising President Obama, may we somehow communicate to him the fact that this is an appalling stain on his legacy, on his record, and even on his character? Either he is not sufficiently important and powerful to make sure that these things happen, or he is a man who is not of his word. We should be appalled by this and say to him, as strong friends, that this is a stain on his legacy and on his record. It is also a massive strain on UK-US relations; perhaps it should be an even greater strain than it is.
I want to make three brief points. First, the justice and humanitarian arguments are incontrovertible. We would like to hear from the Minister what the United States Government have been saying to our Government. Secondly, as I am sure Members on both sides of the House will testify, when one is a UK citizen, one has, all over the world, a sense of shared responsibility about the actions of other western nations. The moral authority of “the west”, if we can call it that, is undermined by the continued presence of Guantanamo Bay itself, and by the continued incarceration of the innocent man, Shaker Aamer.
Thirdly, as the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) said, there is the issue of American self-interest. This continued action is absolutely not in America’s self-interest. The Americans may well fear that Shaker Aamer has things to say that they would consider to be against the American interest if they came into the public domain. Well, tough—if those things have happened, they must be known and we must hold this United States Administration, and previous ones, to account for them. The continued incarceration of this innocent man is far more of a threat to America’s interests.
America has already—perhaps we are culpable too—acted in ways that have demonstrated a lack of understanding of some of the geopolitical problems that we face, not least the rise of ISIS. America has failed to understand what territory means to ISIS, and that it is not just another guerrilla Islamist extremist outfit but has an immense sense of theological destiny. We must understand its ideology, because if we fail to do so, it will become an even greater threat to world peace and security. We must also understand that while the motivation of al-Baghdadi and many others at the heart of that regime is theological and ideological—even apocalyptic—those who are going to help him and it have very different, much more political motivations. Many of those motivations come from the sense that western countries, and America in particular, specifically in relation to Guantanamo Bay, are acting in ways that deserve a response and a resistance—an insurgency—with ISIS as its torchbearer. It is not in America’s interests to continue to pour petrol on that fire.
The incarceration of Shaker Aamer is unjust, wicked, and fundamentally counter-productive to America’s self-interest and ours. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say.
I am pleased to be a signatory to the motion, along with colleagues from all parties. I draw attention to the fact that the hon. Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) cannot be in the Chamber because he is engaged in other parliamentary business. It is only right to record that he strongly supports the motion, and he is a member of the cross-party group.
The fact that we are having this debate at all is a credit to the system under which the Backbench Business Committee allocates time. More importantly, it is a credit to the campaigners and supporters of Shaker Aamer and other people who have been so wrongly and grossly detained at Guantanamo Bay. We should pay tribute to those who have worked for many years for Shaker Aamer’s release. They have stood outside Parliament, collected signatures on street corners on wet and windy Saturday mornings, and e-mailed, written to and lobbied MPs. They are the lifeblood of democracy, and we should show them some respect today: having this debate—albeit not as well attended as one hoped—is a credit to them.
Much could be said, but in a sense it has all been said. The facts of the matter are quite simple. Shaker Aamer was wrongly taken from his family and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, and he has been disgracefully treated. He was cleared for release by President Bush, subsequently re-cleared for release by President Obama, but he has still not been released. He has been cleared for release for longer than President Obama has been President. It does not say very much about the power of the US presidency when the President can campaign for election partly on the basis of closing Guantanamo Bay, having specifically ordered the release of those against whom there is no case whatsoever but who have still not been released.
I have been involved in numerous meetings with the Foreign Office and others on this subject over the years, and I am at a loss to understand what is preventing Shaker Aamer’s release. If there is no case against him, why is he still in Guantanamo Bay? Is he being held because he knows too much and has seen too much—the hunger strikes, the torture and the brutality—or is it because there is still pressure to take him to Saudi Arabia, from where he originates? That would be a disgrace, and I am sure that he would refuse to go there. He is a British resident, and he has a family in this country, with a young child he has never seen. Surely he should be released and brought back to this country as quickly as possible. I repeat that there is no case against him whatsoever in this country.
Many people have taken up this cause, not least the Prime Minister and successive Foreign Secretaries and Foreign Office Ministers. When Hillary Clinton wrote to the then Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), she thanked him for his letter of 21 July 2010 concerning Shaker Aamer, and went on:
“Our national security interests will continue to benefit from close consultation and mutual assistance with these issues.”
She welcomed the opportunity to meet experts from the State Department to discuss the case, referred to President Obama’s Executive order of 22 January 2009 and looked forward to working closely with the Foreign Office to resolve the issue. It does not say much for a special relationship when the President orders a release and the Foreign Secretary and the US Secretary of State agree to work closely together, but Shaker Aamer still remains in prison with no case whatsoever against him.
We have to look at the background to the human rights abuses in Guantanamo Bay. Much has been written about that in many documents, but a very interesting one put out by Amnesty International states:
“There has been little or no accountability for the human rights violations that have occurred at Guantanamo, including the crimes under international law of torture and enforced disappearance. The recently published summary of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)’s review of the secret detention programme operated by the Central Intelligence Agency…finally confirmed that the naval base had been the location for a CIA ‘black site’ in 2003 and 2004 at which detainees were subject to enforced disappearance.”
That is the nub of it: there has been enforced disappearance to a place that is a legal void and that knows no recognition in any form of international law in any country whatsoever.
I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) that if this had been the treatment of a US citizen anywhere in the world, we would never have heard the end of it from successive US Presidents. I do not doubt that there would have been the threat of military action and all kinds of other things against any country that held a US citizen in these circumstances. I am not advocating sending the SAS to Guantanamo Bay to free Shaker Aamer or anything like that; what I am saying is that if the close relationship with the USA means anything, Shaker Aamer must be released immediately.
If the House approves the motion tonight, as I am sure it will, it should be communicated in the strongest possible terms to the Senate and the House in the USA that the British Parliament fully supports the release of Shaker Aamer. The breadth of political support for him in the cross-party group is surprising. The right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) will not mind my mentioning—indeed, he said the same of my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell)—that he and I agree on very little, except for humanity and justice. In this case, we absolutely agree that the way in which Shaker Aamer has been treated is completely unjust and that he must be released. That, surely, has to be the message that we give tonight.
People have campaigned for justice for many years. We achieved a Parliament because people campaigned for our right to have a democracy. The essential part of a democracy is that the judicial system is independent of the political system and that everyone has the right to an independent hearing in a court of law. There is an exhibition in Westminster Hall that says just that because it is 800 years since Magna Carta. This man has never been in court, has never been charged, has never been convicted, has no case against him and has been approved for release and freedom, yet he is still in prison. Surely the message from this Parliament is, “Bring him home. Close Guantanamo Bay and end the outrage and abuse of human rights that it represents.” Otherwise, what is the message to the rest of the world? It is that we are incapable, that we do not care, or that, by our inaction, we tacitly approve of something as vile as Guantanamo Bay and the torture and ill-treatment that has gone on there.
I add my congratulations to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and his colleagues on securing this incredibly important debate.
As one of the last speakers, I will probably repeat a little of what has been said, but I think that it is important to do so. In particular, I want to pick up on what the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) was just saying and on the tone of bewilderment that he expressed so well. It is simply incredible that this person who has never been charged with any offence is still languishing in Guantanamo Bay. The hon. Gentleman summed up very well what we all feel: that this is utterly unjustifiable and utterly incredible, and that action is needed.
I joined other people on a delegation to the Foreign Secretary last year. We sat in a very nice office in the Foreign Office, but even after 45 minutes in that meeting, I came out no wiser than I went in. I do not think that I was alone in that. I simply cannot understand why the telephone cannot be picked up. If the US is this amazing ally, why can we not have that conversation and get this man home?
I want to say a few things about the situation in which Shaker has been held, because it is so deeply shocking that it is happening here and now. Last year, there were reports that Shaker and another detainee had been subjected to violent beatings carried out by a forcible cell extraction team. As well as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Shaker has a number of psychological problems such as severe anxiety and insomnia, unsurprisingly. His physical health has also suffered as a direct result of his mistreatment. An independent medical assessment concluded that he has oedema, severe tinnitus, kidney pain, severe headaches, asthma and loss of vision, yet in June 2014, the previous Foreign Secretary claimed that he was confident that Shaker had access to a “detainee welfare package” and that his health remained stable. I would love the Minister to confirm when he last had an independent update about Shaker’s physical and mental health and what that update said.
During Shaker’s 12 long years of detention, he has been tortured by US agents—for example, by having his head repeatedly banged against a wall—and has witnessed the torture of another UK resident. He has spent more than 1,000 nights in a windowless isolation cell, and when first detained, he was starved, kept awake for nine days straight, and chained in positions that made the slightest movement unbearable. In 2005, he was placed in isolation for 360 days for his role in organising a hunger strike after military police beat up a prisoner while he was praying. Prison rules permit isolation for only 30 days.
Shaker has seen other prisoners treated in gratuitously violent ways, including being hospitalised and/or rendered unconscious as a result of forcible cell extractions. He was often subjected to the same violent process used by guards against non-compliant prisoners, and claims that he suffered FCEs up to eight times a day. We know that such things have been recorded, so can the Minister tell the House why the Prime Minister has accepted the US authorities’ decision that those recordings are classified, given that they constitute evidence that a UK resident has been tortured? Is it standard UK practice to fail to press for such evidence, and does the Minister agree that that could be considered, at very least, as condoning Shaker’s torture and mistreatment, if not potentially being complicit in it?
Shaker’s lawyers have been advised by the former Foreign Secretary that the US position is to limit Shaker’s clearance for release to Saudi Arabia—the country where he was born and where he is likely to face further mistreatment and detention, as well as the prospect of ongoing estrangement from his wife and children. Such a move would hugely limit the opportunities for Shaker to speak out about what has happened and get full access to justice.
Freedom of information documents secured by human rights group Reprieve demonstrate that the US has been in contact with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia about Shaker’s case, although the context for that has been censored. They contain details of a meeting between high-level US officials and the Saudi Minister of Interior. Will the Minister say what assurance the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has sought and received that Shaker will not be transferred to Saudi Arabia?
I am concerned, as others have voiced, that the only possible reason for sending Shaker to Saudi Arabia is to stop him speaking out about his abuse—abuse in which he claims the UK authorities have been complicit. For example, it is alleged that a British operative was present while a US interrogator repeatedly smashed Shaker’s head against a wall, shortly before he was sent to Guantanamo. Can the Minister give a cast-iron guarantee that the UK has not been complicit in any way in the abuses that Shaker has suffered?
This debate is hugely important and I will end, as others have done, by thanking the extraordinary campaigns of so many tireless campaigners who have kept this issue near the top of the agenda where it belongs. I hope that this debate is one further step towards getting justice for Shaker.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) and his co-sponsors on securing this debate on Shaker Aamer, and I apologise for missing a significant part of his contribution. He has been one of the leading parliamentary campaigners for Mr Aamer’s release, and I acknowledge the presence of the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), who is the constituency MP for Mr Aamer and his family—indeed, this debate provides an important opportunity to follow up a Backbench Business Committee debate on the same subject that she initiated in April 2013. My right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) has also been a particularly active campaigner for Mr Aamer’s release, given that, as I understand, some of Mr Aamer’s wider family live in his constituency.
I am pleased that my hon. Friend has rightly praised the hon. Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison) and others. Will he include in that praise the great work done by Reprieve and Clive Stafford Smith on this case? They have bravely unearthed so much about the horrors of Guantanamo Bay and extraordinary rendition, which is a blot on all our legal pasts in this country.
As on so many things, my hon. Friend is ahead of me. I will happily do that, although I want to return to the role of Reprieve and Clive Stafford Smith a little later in my remarks.
I strongly support hon. Members across the House in saying that the last remaining British detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Mr Aamer, should be released and returned to the UK as soon as humanly possible. Hon. Members on both sides of the House have shared profound concern about Mr Aamer’s case and, indeed, about the continued existence of the Guantanamo Bay facility. National security and the continuing drive to keep our citizens safe is the first responsibility of government, but we have always been clear that a profound respect for human rights must also lie at the heart of policy.
We remain deeply concerned that Guantanamo detainees are held without trial indefinitely. As my Front-Bench colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), has previously underlined—as others have done today—that in itself is a serious affront to international human rights standards. She has also previously drawn attention, rightly, to the concern and condemnation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that the continuing indefinite imprisonment of many of the Guantanamo Bay detainees was in clear breach of international law, referencing the systematic breaches of individual human rights. The Opposition remain firmly opposed to the continuation of the Guantanamo Bay facility. Through our diplomatic efforts when in government, all British citizens and all but one of those who had been resident in Britain were transferred out of Guantanamo Bay.
As other hon. Members have made clear, Mr Aamer is a Saudi citizen who was resident in the UK. He is married to a British woman and he has four British children who live in London. I understand, as others have made clear, that Mr Aamer has never met his youngest son, who was born on the very day he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Mr Aamer was detained in Afghanistan in November 2001, where the US authorities apparently suspected that he had been working for Osama bin Laden. He has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay since February 2002. He is now the last remaining British resident held there. He has, I understand, always maintained his innocence, and Clive Stafford Smith, his lawyer, claims the documents that the accusations against him are based on would not stand up in court. Indeed, his legal team state that his treatment at Bagram airfield in 2001, allegedly including sleep deprivation and physical abuse, led him to make a false confession that has been used to justify his detention without trial ever since.
There is great concern about Mr Aamer’s health. Earlier this year, I understand that a number of leading doctors wrote an open letter to raise a number of concerns about the impact on Mr Aamer’s physical and mental well-being of spending 13 years in Guantanamo Bay. I understand that a medical assessment carried out last year found he was suffering from serious psychiatric problems and a number of serious physical ailments, too. It is alleged that Mr Aamer has been beaten more than 300 times while in detention and has suffered regularly from sleep deprivation. Reports that Mr Aamer has on occasion been deprived of water and has arthritis, asthma, prostate and kidney problems and severe backache are very worrying. It is a deeply damaging allegation, aired again by my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), that he is only still being held because he has witnessed significant human rights abuses, which the Guantanamo Bay authorities fear would be revealed if Mr Aamer was released and spoke out about his experience.
As other hon. Members have made clear, Mr Aamer has been cleared for transfer out of Guantanamo Bay on two occasions—in 2007 and in 2009—yet has still not been released. I understand that British diplomatic staff are not able to visit Mr Aamer, although it would be helpful if the Minister provided clarification on that point. I understand that the International Committee of the Red Cross is able to visit Mr Aamer, and it would be helpful to hear from the Minister when the ICRC last did so.
It is clear that Mr Aamer will be released only after further encouragement—let me use those words carefully —to the US authorities, so it would be helpful to hear from the Minister when the last ministerial representations to their US equivalents about Mr Aamer took place. There has been speculation that the key US legislation determining whether Guantanamo Bay detainees can be released or transferred is the 2011 National Defence Authorisation Act, which allows the US Defence Secretary to exercise a waiver and therefore release individual detainees if certain conditions are met. Has any UK Minister raised Mr Aamer’s case with the US Defence Secretary? What prospects can the Minister offer the House that the NDAA might offer a potential route to secure Mr Aamer’s release from Guantanamo Bay soon?
Given that Mr Aamer is a Saudi national and the reports that he has, as I indicated, previously been cleared for transfer out of Guantanamo Bay but allegedly only to Saudi Arabia, what discussions have Foreign Office Ministers had with their Saudi counterparts? Do the Saudi Government support Mr Aamer’s release from Guantanamo Bay and, crucially, do they support his release back to the UK?
Reprieve and Amnesty International have campaigned for Mr Aamer’s release. Reprieve, in particular, has used freedom of information requests to establish that significant meetings have taken place between US and British officials to discuss Mr Aamer’s possible transfer, most recently, I understand, on 29 October 2013. It would be helpful if the Minister set out in a little more detail what he understands are the substantive remaining US concerns about Mr Aamer that are preventing his release. The essential question remains: why, despite being cleared for transfer out of Guantanamo Bay six and eight years ago, is Mr Aamer still being detained? There remains the question whether he was cleared for release back to Saudi Arabia only. Again, it would be helpful if the Minister clarified that issue. I understand that Mr Aamer has indefinite leave to remain here in the UK. He has family here in the UK; he is married to a British citizen; his children are British citizens; and he has not been convicted of any crime. By any reasonable consideration, he should be allowed to be transferred back to the UK, never mind to Saudi Arabia.
Guantanamo Bay is a continuing blight on the human rights record of one of our closest allies, and the whole House will empathise with the anguish that Mr Aamer’s family and friends feel at his continued detention. I look forward to the Minister answering my and other hon. Members’ questions, reflecting our concerns and reassuring the House that the Government will redouble their efforts to secure Mr Aamer’s release.
This has been a helpful and constructive debate, and I join others in congratulating the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) on securing it through the Backbench Business Committee. I thank all right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions and the many right hon. and hon. Members who have campaigned in this House and outside. I am pleased that hon. Members have highlighted the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison) in supporting Shaker Aamer’s family, who live in her constituency.
I will do my best to answer as many points as I can. I spoke to the US embassy today at length on this matter, and the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), who deals with the United States, had a meeting with US Ambassador Barzun yesterday at which he discussed these issues. I might be the only Member to have visited Guantanamo Bay, albeit from the Cuban side—that was as close as I could get—back in 2005. When I looked over at the camp area, I wondered how long it would be before it was closed.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) spoke about the reliability of the confessional evidence and how standards dropped after 9/11. The right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) talked about the double standards created by the creation of Guantanamo Bay. My right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) paid tribute, as do I, to the difficult and often unrecognised work of the intelligence services and the importance that justice prevails. The hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter) talked about the size of the campaign, which has lasted a number of years, in support of Shaker Aamer. My hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) talked about the west’s moral authority being eroded and undermined because of Guantanamo Bay.
The hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) and others talked about the number of people who had taken up this cause and referred to the Senate intelligence committee report—anyone who has read the accounts of that report will, like me, have found it deeply troubling. The hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) talked about the concerns about Mr Aamer’s release or transfer to Saudi Arabia. It is clear that Shaker Aamer wants to return to the UK, and that is what we support. The hon. Member for Harrow West (Mr Thomas), the shadow spokesman, raised several important questions that I shall try to answer.
One aspect that I will cover now relates to the powers given to the US Defence Secretary under the National Defence Authorisation Act 2012. We have been in discussions with the US President, as I say, so we look to any measure required to ensure that justice prevails and Shaker Aamer is returned to the UK—whichever system, whichever protocol or whichever mechanism is used, including the one to which the hon. Gentleman referred.
On the point about the NDAA, as I understand it, any waivers that can be secured for the release of Mr Aamer under this legislation are controlled by the US Defence Secretary. Will the Minister tell us whether any representations have been made directly to the US Defence Secretary, perhaps by the Secretary of State for Defence or the Foreign Secretary?
The Foreign Secretary has raised this matter, but as I say, we have called on the President to use all available powers, and this is simply one mechanism that could be used.
I certainly welcome this opportunity to highlight the Government’s commitment on this issue. The UK has long held that indefinite detention without fair trial is unacceptable. Mr Aamer has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for 13 years, yet has not been charged with any crime. As a result of the UK’s long-standing opposition to the operation of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, the UK Government exceptionally requested Mr Aamer’s release in 2007, and that request also included four other former UK residents who have since returned to the UK. The UK Government are committed to bringing Mr Aamer back to the UK, and we have made our position very clear to the US Government. We want to see him released as a matter of urgency, and we know that they fully understand this request.
As hon. Members will have noted, the Prime Minister personally raised Mr Aamer’s case at his meeting with the US President on 16 January this year. We welcome President Obama’s commitment at that meeting to prioritise the review of Mr Aamer’s release to the UK.
Supporters of Mr Aamer often cite the fact that he was cleared for release, and this has been repeated here today. He was cleared for release some years ago, and given the President’s commitment, people cannot understand why he is still in detention. I need to clarify, however, that Mr Aamer has been cleared only for transfer to Saudi Arabia, not cleared for release either in Saudi Arabia or indeed the UK. This is an important distinction under the applicable US legislation.
President Obama’s statement means that Mr Aamer’s case has been prioritised for review through an inter-agency process. This comprehensive process undertaken by six US Government Departments involves a complex case-by-case review. We do not have a timetable for a decision, but we are confident that this review is under way. We hope, of course, that Mr Aamer will soon be released.
However, it is important to understand that President Obama’s decision to close the detention facility and release its inmates remains a contentious political issue in Washington, as hon. Members have outlined in today’s debate. Stark differences of opinion exist in Congress across the political spectrum about the wisdom of doing this at a time of heightened terrorist threats. Within that, there remain real concerns about recidivism and the actions that detainees may take after they leave Guantanamo. Let us be clear, however, that Mr Aamer has not been charged with or convicted of any crime.
I have listened carefully to the debate and to the Minister’s contribution so far, so I hope I am not pre-empting what he is about to say. He has not yet told us, however—perhaps I have missed the clarity on the matter—what reasons the US has given to the Foreign Office for not releasing Shaker Aamer. What are the reasons behind not processing his release?
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was present at the beginning of the debate. I should like to make some progress, but I shall come to the point that he has raised.
As I have said, Mr Aamer has not been charged with or convicted of any crime, but the United States Government have made it clear that any action taken to release him would have to remain consistent with United States national security.
The Minister is making much of concerns about what will happen to Shaker or anyone else after their release. The United Kingdom is one of the safest places for such people to return to. We have one of the safest structures to deal with any risk that might exist. This simply does not add up: I do not see what the obstacles are.
Let us take a step back from this particular case. Security questions must be asked, in the case of any inmate, about what will happen once the process has taken place. As I have said, the judicial process that is being conducted is very complex, and involves a number of Departments.
Surely the Minister agrees that it would be safer for Shaker to return to the United Kingdom than to go to Saudi Arabia, for example—safer for all of us, indeed.
The point has been made time and again about the manner in which many of the detainees ended up in Guantanamo Bay, and about the creation of Camp Delta in the first place. I make no comment on this particular case because it would be wrong for me to do so, but we need to ensure that every person who is processed will not be a danger to the United States or to any other country. It is a complex process, and I must make it very clear that I make no judgment on this particular case. I am about to give some numbers and a timetable, and details of the frequency with which detainees are being processed.
The Minister is setting out his case, and he says that he does not need to make a judgment, but the United States has made it clear that there is no evidence against Shaker Aamer. Is that not the critical factor? May I encourage the Minister to share with the House, in some detail, the questions that he asked during his lengthy conversation with the American embassy this morning, and the answers that he received?
I want to make some progress. As I shall make clear shortly, I am not privy to the very complicated process, involving six United States Government Departments, that every single detainee will have to undergo before being cleared for release. That is the process that Shaker Aamer must undergo, like everyone else who has been released so far or will be released in the future.
In supporting Mr Aamer’s release, we have emphasised to the United States Government that any individual who engages in terrorist-related activity in the United Kingdom can expect to be dealt with through use of the full range of powers that are available to us. I shall not list them here, but they are extensive, and we remain confident in the ability of our police and security services to deal with any such threats. I think that that partly answers the question asked by the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion.
It would be inappropriate to comment on why Mr Aamer is in the Guantanamo Bay facility, especially as we continue to discuss the details of his case with the United States in order to secure his release. This is a sensitive issue and, as the House will understand, it has been the policy of successive Governments not to discuss intelligence matters. However, as Members well know, the United Kingdom does not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment for any purpose. We remain absolutely committed to ensuring that serious allegations of UK complicity in alleged rendition and mistreatment overseas are examined carefully. If any evidence of that were to come to light, we would take appropriate action. The investigation of, or prosecution of individuals involved in, any alleged torture carried out by the United States is a matter for the United States authorities.
I thank the Minister for giving way; he is being very generous. In these investigations into torture and extraordinary rendition, is he getting all the co-operation he has asked for from the US authorities?
I can only repeat what I have just said: I cannot comment on intelligence matters relating to this particular case.
Consular access is afforded to states only as regards their own nationals and, as has been repeated in this Chamber, Mr Aamer is a Saudi national. Our consular policy for non-British nationals is clear: we cannot help non-nationals no matter how long they have lived in the UK and regardless of their connections to the UK.
Although the timeline for the closure of the facility remains a matter for the US Government, President Obama was elected in November 2008 having vowed to close Guantanamo Bay. In the early days of his presidency, he said:
“There is…no question that Guantanamo set back the moral authority that is America’s strongest currency in the world.”
He recognised that, faced with uncertain threats, hasty decisions were made
“based on fear rather than foresight”.
President Obama remains determined to see the Guantanamo Bay facilities closed by the end of his Administration, and we remain committed to assisting him in this aim.
Of the original 779 detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, 122 remain, including Mr Aamer. Five detainees have been released so far this year, but in 2014 the US released 28, 19 of whom were released in November and December. That is a considerable increase in releases compared with previous years. From 2011 to 2013, a total of just 19 detainees were released.
We have already made a significant contribution to reducing the number of detainees in Guantanamo Bay by taking back nine UK nationals and, exceptionally, five former legal residents. Aside from Mr Aamer, the UK is not considering accepting any further detainees from the Guantanamo Bay facility. More widely, we have facilitated engagement with countries that have agreed to accept former detainees, and shared experience and advice on managing the return process.
In conclusion, as hon. Members have highlighted, 14 February was the 13th anniversary of Mr Aamer’s arrival at the Guantanamo Bay facility. Along with his family and his many supporters, the UK Government would like this to be the last anniversary that Mr Aamer passes in detention. Since the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Obama on 16 January, my officials and Government colleagues have continued to work to make that a reality, and we will carry on raising his case at the highest levels and at every reasonable opportunity to impress further on our US counterparts that we are looking for an urgent resolution.
I am sorry to press the Minister, but he has still to answer the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray). In the Minister’s long conversations with the American embassy and others in the US Government, what is the precise and exact reason he has been given as to why the release of Shaker Aamer is not possible at the moment?
I know that this will not satisfy the hon. Gentleman, but I can only repeat that these are intelligence matters on which I cannot comment in this House. I cannot do that. Following this debate, I will be writing to the US ambassador, Ambassador Barzun, to let him know the outcome, the passion expressed and this Government’s determination to see Shaker Aamer released.
I understand the difficulty the Minister is in, but, as he announced, we all know that others have been released, although he cannot give any reasons. It appears that there is to be an investigation, but it seems there is a clear difference between those who have been released and Shaker Aamer. Is that the picture that emerged from the Minister’s conversations?
Again, the hon. Gentleman will not be satisfied with my answer, but I cannot be drawn on the individual case or into dealing with intelligence matters. I am afraid that that is as far as I can comment on this—[Interruption.] Would the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) like me to give way?
Everybody has been waiting for the Minister to reply. I was saying that it is a total anticlimax. The Minister has said that, far from being released, Mr Aamer is only under review. Almost all of what he has had to say is a sop to Congress, to the Americans generally and to the President, rather than an explanation to the House that he and his superiors will try their level best to get Mr Aamer out. He is like an apologist for the American regime.
The hon. Gentleman has made his point and he has clearly not listened to what I have said.
If I may continue, we have made it very clear that we have listened to this debate and we stand with this Parliament in calling for Shaker Aamer to be released. If the hon. Gentleman would care to have the courtesy to listen to what I am saying, he would understand that he has not heard this Government’s passion and commitment to speak at the highest levels to ensure that we can leverage and use our relationship.
I stress that we have a strong, close and frank relationship that brings concrete benefits to both sides and that advances joint objectives. In the January meeting with President Obama, we were able to secure for the first time a guarantee that this will now become a priority. That is the first time that has been said. We will continue to press the issue, and this debate will have its place and be useful in that regard.
I hope I have made it clear that the UK Government are absolutely committed to securing the release of Mr Aamer. Today I would like to underline that commitment and join the House in calling for the US Government to approve the release of Shaker Aamer to the UK.
I am grateful to the Minister for his last statement. I will deal briefly with three issues raised by the debate.
First, we now know that Shaker Aamer is in the process of a review. We welcome that, but the problem is that we are still not clear about the evidence presented against him, because intelligence is not being shared. As far as I am concerned, the concept of intelligence is yet again being used as an excuse to cover up injustice. We are not sure about the review’s timetable or the criteria on which it will make its decision, so although I welcome the Minister’s saying that a review is taking place, unfortunately the process does not give us confidence.
Secondly, I welcome wholeheartedly the Minister’s saying that the UK Government’s representations will continue, but he must take note of the sense of this House and those representations must be determined and courageous. We need to say frankly to our allies in America, “This man must be released.”
Thirdly, a number of Members have raised the issue of access. We need to ensure that Shaker Aamer’s health is assessed and properly dealt with and that he secures the full legal representation he requires. The Minister has said that we are restricted in the consular support we can provide because he is not a British national. Actually, he received the right to indefinite leave in this country, and if it were up to me I would offer him full British citizenship in order to overcome the issue of overall access.
Finally, someone said that this has not been a particularly well attended debate, but the attendance has been good for this type of debate. It has been well attended by senior Members, ex-Ministers and others with a human rights background, so I am really grateful for that and I know that the campaigners and the family will be, too. Let us all say together, in support of the motion, to the family, friends and campaigners, that we will not go away and we will secure the freedom of Shaker Aamer.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House calls on the US Government to release Shaker Aamer from his imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay and to allow him to return to his family in the UK.
For several years I have been campaigning alongside various community groups, including the West Lancashire Pensioners Forum. Our aim is to secure new cemetery and crematorium provision in West Lancashire, thereby rectifying the awful and unacceptable situation facing many residents. It is an issue that West Lancashire borough council refuses to address. Too many families are laying their loved ones to rest in neighbouring boroughs due to the unavailability of local burial plots. These families are incurring higher funeral costs and have to travel further to visit the graves of their loved ones—a major challenge in an area where people are reliant on public transport. I therefore present this petition to the House of Commons on behalf of West Lancashire Pensioners Forum and for the residents of West Lancashire.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of the West Lancashire constituency,
Declares that burial and cremation services should be provided in West Lancashire without delay; further that this provision will mean that burial and cremation services are less expensive and more convenient for residents and further that a local petition on this matter has been signed by 2000 individuals.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage West Lancashire Borough Council to provide burial and cremation services in West Lancashire.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001460]
This is a petition relating to Rough Close post office. It is a petition to the House of Commons by residents of the constituency of Stone in Staffordshire. It contains more than 500 signatures which have been supplied to the Post Office and it is now coming before Parliament.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of the constituency of Stone in Staffordshire,
Declares that residents of Meir Heath object to the relocation of the local Rough Close Post Office branch from Grindley Lane to Sandon Road in Meir Heath; further that a number of products and services will not be available at the new post office; further that the Petitioners will need to find alternative providers to carry out the banking, parcel services and travel insurance on demand; further that there are limited parking facilities at the relocated site which would cause disruption to residents, road users and post office delivery; further that the relocated site would be unsuitable and would pose increased difficulties for the elderly, including the crossing of a major road; further that given the size of the premises, residents wishing to use Post Office facilities would need to queue outside; further that the new open plan serving positions may come with a lack of privacy and security; and further that the Petitioners currently receive professional services from fully trained post office staff with many years’ experience at the existing location.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to intervene to keep the Rough Close Post Office branch in its existing location on Grindley Lane.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001462]
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI am extremely grateful for this opportunity to raise the important issue of asbestos in schools. It is an important issue not only for the people who work in the schools but for the parents of the children who are being educated in them.
The recent report on asbestos in schools is welcome, but it is unfortunate that it was not published earlier. We have been waiting more than eight months for its publication, which was always described as imminent. None the less, it provides a useful, informed and welcome background to the debate on the effects of asbestos in schools. Much of it is based on, or responds to, the publication of a report on asbestos in schools by the all-party parliamentary occupational safety and health group, which I chair. I am sure that this report would never have been produced had it not been for the work of the all-party group, the joint union asbestos committee, the GMB and the Asbestos in Schools Group. May I particularly mention Mr Michael Lees, who lost his teacher wife to mesothelioma and has campaigned consistently since?
Let me digress slightly by referring to an exclusive report in The Independent by Andrew Grice, who interviewed the Minister. The report states:
“The Schools Minister warned that Mr Cameron’s announcement of 500 more free schools in the 2015-20 parliament was ‘a number picked out of a hat.’ He warned: ‘The Tories want to scatter 500 new schools around the country, regardless of whether they will be good quality schools or whether they are actually needed. This is a barmy way to make policy.’”
The report continued:
“He added: ‘Worse still, it would mean a £4bn raid on other budgets, consigning children and teachers to crumbling classrooms and leaving some without a school place at all. It is impossible to justify.’
Mr Laws claimed Downing Street had not wanted to go public before the election about the need to tackle asbestos in school buildings, even though it was a ‘child safety issue.’”
I would certainly appreciate it if the Minister expanded on that in his response.
The Department for Education has acknowledged that children are more at risk from asbestos exposure than adults are. That is a significant step forward; it acknowledges that asbestos in schools is an issue. It includes a call for greater transparency from schools and employers, and makes it clear that asbestos training is compulsory for teachers and supporting staff. All those who are responsible for managing asbestos will receive training. That is well overdue, given the complete lack of awareness in many schools, as outlined in the report. There is also a welcome commitment to develop air sampling.
That is all a step forward but it by no means goes far enough. More than 291 schoolteachers have died of mesothelioma since 1980. They were dying at a rate of three per year in 1980, but the number of deaths has increased each year and they are now dying at a rate of 19 a year. The report acknowledges that caretakers, cleaners, maintenance staff and children are known to be at a greater risk. However, statistics do not show how many pupils have been killed by past exposure, as people often die more than 40 years after exposure, by which time they may have worked in a wide range of jobs. Let us not forget, however, that for every teacher working in a school there are 20 to 30 children and they are more at risk.
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this Adjournment debate on a very serious issue. It is very important that we recognise that it is not only staff and support workers—the teachers and so on—but children who could contract asbestos-related diseases in school. Should we not be doing everything we can to take the right measures to reduce the incidence in children, rather than just looking across the board at teachers and staff?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that, and again I have to congratulate the National Union of Teachers on its assistance in dealing with this issue. The genuine concern is that we do not scare parents into believing that their children cannot go to school for fear of catching mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases, and we have tried to follow that approach through the report the TUC has drawn up. However, we say clearly in the report that action has to be taken. We also recognised that we cannot deal with this overnight and that the process has to be gradual, with gradual investment. That should start with some of the older schools being stripped of asbestos, and we could take things on gradually from there.
The review is somewhat complacent in places. It states that the Health and Safety Executive’s view is that schools overall are low-risk health and safety environments, similar to offices and retail premises. But there is a fundamental difference between offices, retail premises and schools, which is that schools contain children. The fabric of school buildings suffers considerably more disturbance and damage than most offices and retail premises. In addition, children are in the building for long periods of time and they are more vulnerable than adults to exposure to asbestos. However, most parents would not think that 4,000 to 6,000 people dying over a 20-year period as a result of attending school was low risk.
I am also surprised that the Government are unaware of the extent, type and condition of asbestos in schools. They have just completed a two-year survey on the condition of school buildings, which deliberately excluded asbestos. The review simply states:
“Based upon the age of the school estate, we can estimate that a majority of schools in England contain some asbestos, although the exact amount is unknown.”
That is an astonishing statement after a multi-million pound audit. If when the Government first came to office they had simply asked the local authorities, they would have found that the something like 87% of schools contained asbestos.
Although this debate is principally about schools in England, this is a UK-wide problem.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing this matter to the House for consideration. In Northern Ireland, a significant number of school buildings still contain asbestos. There has been a programme to address when asbestos becomes a danger, but the fact is that asbestos that has not been disturbed or damaged is better left alone. The policy in Northern Ireland is that properly managed asbestos should not cause any health problems. Has the hon. Gentleman found that that is the case in some of the schools with which he has been involved? Sometimes the best way to address the asbestos issue is not to do anything until the school comes to the end of its life.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. Experts tell us quite clearly that asbestos is safe if left alone, and I have vast experience of that in my own life. When I worked in the shipyards, asbestos could be easily identified. We were told that if it was left alone, it was comparatively safe. However, in school buildings, where people are banging doors, putting drawing pins in walls, and maintaining pipes, asbestos cannot be left undisturbed. It is important that maintenance staff are trained to identify asbestos and to know how best to treat it. If would be preferable if asbestos could be left alone, but not all schools can do that. Indeed, the banging of doors causes the stuff to circulate in the air.
As I said, asbestos is a UK-wide problem. A recent report in Scotland showed that 79% of schools contained asbestos. That was based on responses from 22 of the 33 councils. Since 2007, the number of schools in Scotland with asbestos in a poor or bad condition has fallen from 39% to 17%. That is because the Scottish Government have for many years collated data on the condition of the school estate and presented it online in a clear, understandable format that allows people to see how the measures that are in place to improve the school stock are succeeding.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities states:
“there has been significant expenditure imposed on Councils throughout Scotland through the presence of asbestos in education premises (mainly schools).”
I am reliably informed that Wales also has a major and well publicised problem with asbestos in schools.
It is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that children and staff are not harmed simply by attending school. It is good to see that the Government are finally going to ensure that those who manage asbestos are trained to do so and that the guidance to schools will be updated, but unfortunately that just does not go far enough.
What are lacking are concrete proposals and a strategic vision to introduce the long-term strategies needed to eradicate asbestos from our schools. There needs to be a proper assessment across the UK of the level and condition of asbestos in the nation’s schools so that plans can be drawn up to remove the worst of it as it continues to deteriorate. Simply leaving it in place until a school is refurbished will put millions of school kids and other workers at risk.
The Government must also introduce more inspections to assess how well asbestos is being managed and spot where children are being exposed to risk. It is simply not good enough to leave it to chance, especially as a recent trial survey by the Health and Safety Executive led to a number of enforcement notices.
In conclusion, the report should be seen not as the end of the line, but simply as the launching pad for a proper, comprehensive policy aimed at ridding our schools of this killer dust once and for all. Speaking personally, I have seen far too many deaths from asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, and watching someone die from such a disease is horrendous. I remember a former workmate with the disease describe it as feeling like a tree growing inside you, eventually choking you to death. I really do not want to see our children suffering that experience in 10, 20 or 40 years’ time.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Jim Sheridan) on securing the debate and on chairing the all-party group on occupational safety and health. I had the honour, or otherwise, of chairing the asbestos in schools group, which has come under the umbrella of the hon. Gentleman’s all-party group, for which I am grateful. I also congratulate its lead campaigner, Michael Lees, who has received an MBE, and rightly so, for his tireless work in raising awareness and bringing about a change of heart. I think that it is quite timely to have this debate after the policy has been announced, although it might have been anticipated that the debate would be a call for that policy announcement. I think that it can be used constructively today.
I will say a little about the asbestos in schools group. It has a very wide representation, including from the teachers’ unions, independent schools, industry and local authorities that have very good practice—that has brought home to me what varying practice there currently is across the country in managing asbestos. I took on the chairmanship of the group following a very sad experience with one of my constituents, Rosie. I had known her for a long time, having met her every time I went around canvassing, and I knew that she had been a peripatetic teacher. She came into my constituency office one day and was extremely ill, and within a few months she was dead. She died of exposure to asbestos. It was incredibly sad. We know that a very high proportion of our schools—at least 75%—still have asbestos in them. We know that at least 20 teachers a year die as a result. We know from the evidence that children are more vulnerable than adults. It seemed to me that there was a real mission to try to get change. I was aware that other countries were far ahead of us and, in some cases, had had policies in place for over 30 years—a fact that is much overlooked, or perhaps people do not want to look at that issue in this country.
It had been agreed before the last general election that there would be a steering group, with representatives from the asbestos in schools group and officials from the Department for Education, but the first job after the election was to get that group agreed and reconvened, and I am pleased to say that we did so. There have been so many meetings that I have been involved in, either at the Department for Education or here in Parliament, discussing the issue that it seemed at times that we would take two steps forward and one step back.
I found it difficult sometimes to understand and respond to the approach of the Health and Safety Executive. I felt that there was a mindset that asbestos in schools was just like asbestos in any other buildings. The hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North described very well why that is not so. Usually in office buildings there are no young people boisterously charging around, which can obviously happen in schools. Schools are a totally different environment, and within that environment are those very vulnerable children.
At an early stage, we achieved agreement that there would be some online training. A significant breakthrough occurred when we pressed for the Department for Education to liaise with the Department of Health on the matter. The committee on carcinogenicity then commenced a study. That was quite a breakthrough—rather a sad one, which confirmed what everybody who had been campaigning knew: that children are more vulnerable than adults and therefore asbestos in schools must be addressed. At that point, the policy review was commissioned, for which I thank the Government.
I welcome the key proposals in the policy review. Greater transparency from schools and local authorities is vital. Measures to assist schools in the effective management of asbestos is extremely important, as is compulsory asbestos training for teachers and support staff. I welcome the introduction of monitoring to see how well people are doing in managing asbestos. Something that we discussed at almost every meeting was testing to provide evidence about the fibres released into the atmosphere. I welcome the study in 50 schools. Even though 50 schools sounds like a small sample, the study will cost a very large sum—hundreds of thousands of pounds, I believe. That evidence collecting will be all-important.
I remain very concerned about schools that remain outside local authority control. If the Minister has time, I would like him to say a little more about how academies are to be encouraged to participate. Parents should be concerned. Free schools can be set up in almost any building. That worries me. I would like to be reassured tonight that academies and free schools will have the same monitoring as other schools, for the sake of our children.
It is not just monitoring that free schools and academies might have to take on board, but insurance as well. Whose responsibility is it to insure against future mesothelioma or cancer-related illness linked to schools?
That matter has concerned the group greatly. Of course, we have discussed it with the union representation and there is a recommendation that academies should be encouraged to participate in a risk-protection scheme. It would be helpful to know a little more about that. The problem affects all such buildings, regardless of their governance. The worry is that with such a wide range of governance, the same protection may not be given to children throughout the system. That is my concern.
A good start has been made and I welcome the fact that after so many years we have a policy. I agree that long-term strategies are needed. We need a complete audit and I regret that the two-year property survey of the condition of school buildings excluded asbestos. I hope that will never happen again, because it did not make sense.
We have made a good start to take us into the next Parliament. I feel fairly confident that children will be better protected than they have been, and that is the crunch point. Given the size of the task, we need cross-party support as we look to a more far-ranging policy in future. I hope that, with Members speaking in all parts of the House, we are laying down a marker that this has to be a cross-party approach, but meanwhile the Government have given great leadership.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Jim Sheridan) on securing this Adjournment debate. He has been an absolutely fantastic, tireless campaigner on this issue. I also congratulate the right hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) on the work that she has been doing through her chairmanship of the asbestos in schools group, which has been incredibly important. I join them both in paying tribute to Michael Lees, a gentleman whom I have met and engaged with on many occasions regarding mesothelioma in particular. His campaigns have opened my eyes to the extent to which we should be concerned about asbestos in schools.
I welcome the recent report and agree with the right hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole that it demonstrates real leadership. It would have been helpful to have had the report a little while ago, as it is now too close to Dissolution for us properly to think through what we can do in taking it forward, but it is nevertheless welcome.
This issue is incredibly important to me because mesothelioma is a disease—a condition—that affects my constituency owing to its dockyard history. It is what is known as a mesothelioma hotspot. The disease is not just centred on traditional workers who have lagged ships or been involved in heavy industries in the past. I have spoken about mesothelioma on many occasions in the House. It is important to remember that it can be contracted by exposure to a single fibre of asbestos. Teachers and others who work in educational establishments are beginning to contract mesothelioma later on in life, because just putting a single pin in a wall can disrupt the asbestos there and lead to their exposure to it, and then, significantly, to their contracting this fatal cancer.
We need to remember that, sadly, most people die of this cancer very quickly and very painfully. It is wonderful that there are meso victims out there who are real champions and stalwarts who have fought this disease for many years, but most people die very quickly, and often without any kind of financial security whatsoever. This Government have gone a very long way towards making sure that people are compensated properly for mesothelioma as a consequence of exposure to asbestos. However, that compensation might not necessarily extend to asbestos in schools. I will return to that shortly.
I should like to say very firmly and categorically that the increased funding going into the schools capital programme is welcome. Some of my local schools have benefited from that increased funding; some have not. One particular school springs to mind whose sports hall is completely out of bounds because it is riddled with asbestos. It has applied for previous rounds of capital funding to try to deal with this but has not been successful. I shall continue to support it in future rounds to try to ensure that it can get its sports hall back into use.
One of the issues that I am particularly concerned about—the right hon. Lady raised it briefly—is the number of schools that are not under local education authority control. I am a huge supporter of our academy and free schools programmes, but they do create a bit of uncertainty when talking specifically about asbestos.
I worked in the insurance industry before I first entered the House. I campaigned very much on mesothelioma within the industry and I forewarned it that I would continue to do so as a Member of Parliament, so it is no surprise that I have maintained that position on various pieces of legislation that have been introduced. I am worried about future claims. Some schools will of course fall within public liability insurance categories, but as the right hon. Lady has just pointed out, thousands of schools have not yet signed up to the risk protection arrangement scheme. Their future liabilities may not therefore be assigned to an insurance policy, and a significant number of teachers or children exposed to asbestos might not necessarily get the compensation that they deserve. We have to remember that mesothelioma can be contracted only by exposure to asbestos—there is no other way of getting it—so people deserve compensation.
I would say very firmly that the Minister cannot do this by himself; there needs to be joined-up thinking and working with the Department for Work and Pensions on compensation issues. As I have said, under the Mesothelioma Act 2014, it has secured compensation for those who were unable to find their insurers, but schools do not fit within that programme at the moment, so there may well be room for improving it in future and for the Department of Health—particularly the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), who has responsibility for life sciences—funding research on mesothelioma. Meso is a very nasty and painful cancer, so ensuring that we come up with a cure or treatment would benefit many thousands of people each year.
It might not sound like a lot for the teaching profession, but more people die of mesothelioma every year than from road deaths in the United Kingdom. Without doubt, the coming years will see an increase in the number of people who have worked in educational establishments contracting mesothelioma because of the condition’s latency. That is why I congratulate the Minister on the strategy and on the improvements in capital funding, but we need to continue to fight and to do as much as possible. Everybody realises that we do not have the money completely to rebuild all the schools that contain asbestos in this country, but we must try the best we can to mitigate the effects of that asbestos. I congratulate the Minister on what he has done, but will he please do the extra little bit more, particularly in working with other Departments and agencies and in listening to the groups chaired by the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North and the right hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole?
I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Jim Sheridan)for securing this debate and for giving us an opportunity to discuss an extremely important and, with the publication at the end of last week of the Department’s review of policy on asbestos, timely issue. I thank him for his significant contribution as a member of the Department for Education’s asbestos in schools steering group, and for his chairmanship of the all-party group on occupational safety and health.
The asbestos in schools steering group has done invaluable work in developing the review of asbestos management in schools. I thank all its members for their insights and dedication, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke), who has been a doughty campaigner on the issue for many years and who has chaired the steering group. I am particularly delighted that we have been able to bring this matter to a conclusion and to publish the review before the end of her time in Parliament, given her retirement in a couple of weeks’ time. I know that she would not have forgiven me if I had failed to get the review out in time. I am pleased for her that she has had the satisfaction of seeing all her work produce a positive outcome.
As my right hon. Friend mentioned, with the general election coming up, it is important that there is cross-party support for this campaign. It is therefore appropriate that as well as hearing speeches from a Labour Member and my right hon. Friend on the Liberal Democrat Benches, we have heard from another long-standing campaigner on the issue of asbestos in my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch). I welcome her comments and pay tribute to the work that she has done to champion this issue nationally and in her constituency. There are a number of issues, even in the review that we have published, that need to be taken forward actively in the next Parliament. It is therefore important that the cross-party consensus remains and that there are Members of the House who will continue to push the matter forward with Ministers in the new Government.
I join other hon. Members in recognising the campaigning of people outside the House, including Michael Lees, who has been mentioned by everyone who has spoken. He has been a great champion outside this place for ensuring that the issue of asbestos is taken seriously.
For my Department, nothing is more important than the health and safety of children and staff while they are in our schools. The Government are absolutely committed to ensuring that those who are responsible for school buildings are equipped with the resources, information, guidance and support that they need to do their jobs effectively. I welcome this opportunity to update the House on the measures that we are taking to ensure the safety of our schools, as part of our extensive efforts to improve the condition of the school estate.
As the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North mentioned, last week we published a review of the Department for Education’s policy on the management of asbestos in schools As well as considering the available evidence, we invited stakeholders to tell us their views about the existing arrangements for managing asbestos in schools and how they thought we could help schools to manage asbestos effectively.
Based on the age of the school estate, we estimate that a majority of schools in England contain some asbestos. That is because asbestos was widely used in the construction of buildings in Britain, particularly between 1945 and 1975. The same is true of many non-school and non-education buildings that were constructed in that period, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware.
If asbestos is damaged or disturbed and fibres are released, they can cause serious diseases including mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer. The hon. Gentleman explained in vivid and striking terms the effect that that dreadful illness can have on people. I am sure that the House will agree that any single case of such a disease, from any cause, is a tragedy, and that we must all do what we can to minimise the risks.
The expert scientific view, which the Department obviously has to follow, is that asbestos can be managed effectively so that it does not pose a risk. Indeed, the national regulator of asbestos management, the Health and Safety Executive, upon whose expert opinion the Government base their policy and practice, advises that provided that asbestos-containing materials remain undamaged, it is often safest to manage them in situ. The experts say that effective management is often safer than removing asbestos-containing materials, because removal can greatly increase the risk that asbestos fibres will be released into the air and there is a risk that small quantities of damaged asbestos will remain after removal.
The Government are determined to do whatever we can to ensure that all those who are responsible for the safe management of schools, whether they are local authorities, academy trusts or free school trusts—I entirely agree with the point that my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole made about such schools—governing bodies or school staff themselves, have the information, understanding, guidance and resources that they need to keep our schools, and all those who learn and work in them, safe from any risk of harm.
That is why we updated the regulations in 2012 to ensure the safe management of asbestos. It is why we have invested £5.6 billion over the Parliament in ensuring that schools and those responsible for their buildings have the funding that they need to improve their condition, ensure the safe management of asbestos and fund its removal where that is necessary. It is one of the reasons why we have introduced multi-year allocations for maintenance: we recently announced £4.2 billion of funding over the next three years, we are reforming our approach to target more effectively areas with the most need, and we are introducing multi-year funding to give those who are responsible the certainty that they need to plan ahead and manage their buildings effectively. It is why we have established the condition improvement fund, to enable academies in small trusts and sixth-form colleges to bid for funding to help with specific maintenance projects, including asbestos management or removal. Before the end of this Parliament we expect to announce another round of allocations to academies and sixth-form colleges, which in many cases will include asbestos as part of the works to be completed.
Our Priority School Building programme is removing asbestos wherever appropriate, as part of rebuilding some of the worst school buildings in the country, and the Government have long provided information and guidance on the safe management of asbestos. We undertook to review whether we could do more to tackle barriers to the safe and effective management of asbestos in all our schools, and I am grateful to all those who contributed to the review.
In the past, the issue of mesothelioma has been bogged down with missing companies and insurance companies, and we cannot have the same problem for potential claims for mesothelioma in schools in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time. Will the Minister clarify the position on insurance for free schools, academies, and those education centres outside local authority control?
As the hon. Gentleman will know, that issue was not directly part of the review we published last week, so if he will allow me I will write to him before the Dissolution of Parliament to set out our thinking on those points. If he wants to make further representation on that issue directly to the Department—notwithstanding that we have only a short period before end of this Parliament—I would be pleased to receive it.
I pay tribute to the all-party occupational safety and health group, the committee on carcinogenicity, and members of our Department’s asbestos in schools steering group. I am grateful to all those who submitted evidence to the review, and to the many Members of the House who have taken a keen interest in this issue. I pay tribute to our excellent officials in the Department for Education. They have liaised directly with hon. Members on this matter, advised Ministers, and done all the really hard work on the review and the detail of the proposals.
The review that we published last week sets out actions in the following four areas that the Government are taking forward to build on our current approach. First, a key task is to ensure that all those who have a role to play are aware of their responsibilities and understand what they need to do to manage asbestos safely. We will soon publish new, more user-friendly guidance on asbestos management in schools, and we will work with our partners to ensure that it is widely disseminated. There can be no excuse for any person with responsibility for a school building not to know how to manage asbestos safely.
Secondly—as my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole said earlier, this is one of the most important conclusions in the review—as well as providing more guidance and support to those with responsibility for asbestos management, we must also ensure that they are held accountable and are doing their job effectively. Evidence from Health and Safety Executive inspection initiatives has demonstrated that although the majority of duty holders for schools manage their asbestos in compliance with the law, there is room for improvement. For example, an inspection initiative in schools outside local authority control during 2013-14 found that 13% of schools were not compliant with regulations and had to be served with improvement notices. Previous inspection initiatives produced similar results for other schools. In 2010-11, 17% of the schools inspected were served with improvement notices, and in 2009-10, 10% of local authorities inspected were served with improvement notices. None of the duty holders in that area should therefore have any level of complacency.
The inspection initiatives highlighted a number of common issues. Some schools were found to have no written asbestos management plan, or had documentation that had been allowed to go out of date. Other common faults were a lack of asbestos training for in-house staff likely to disturb asbestos, and poor communication with contractors and other visitors about where asbestos was located.
To tackle those issues, our review proposes new measures to increase the transparency of asbestos management and the scrutiny of those responsible for it. We are now consulting on the best way to collect information from schools on how they manage their asbestos. We propose to ask those responsible for asbestos management in schools to confirm that their schools have an up-to-date management plan. We also plan to ask them if they are carrying out regular management activities, such as implementing procedures to prevent the disturbance of asbestos and communicating with staff and visitors about the presence of asbestos in a school. Once the Department holds this information, it will be able to take appropriate action to ensure that cases of inadequate management are addressed. This will be a significant step towards improving awareness and compliance, and ensuring that the proper management of asbestos is a priority in all schools that contain it.
I underline that this is ongoing work and we will be consulting. Inevitably, that consultation will run into the period of the next Government. The next Government will therefore also have to take some key decisions, which is why momentum is very important. In response to the specific question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole, I underline that our expectations will be on all duty holders, whether local authorities, individuals schools or chains, to ensure that they are doing that job properly, and we will want to be satisfied that that is the case.
Thirdly, we want to improve the evidence base on the risks posed by asbestos in schools. The review highlights the lack of contemporary evidence about the levels of asbestos fibres present in schools. This is due partly to the limitations of existing techniques for sampling asbestos fibres in the air, but if we can design a reliable study it would be a significant step forward in our understanding of the risks and therefore how best to minimise them. We are working actively with the Health and Safety Executive to establish the feasibility and optimal design of a major new study into the background level of asbestos fibres in schools, and we expect the study to begin by 2016.
Finally, we will continue to invest in the school estate in a way that ensures asbestos can be dealt with adequately, so that over time and where appropriate we see a reduction in the number of school buildings with asbestos-containing materials. In the course of this Parliament, the Government are spending a total of nearly £18 billion on school buildings and new school places. On top of that, in February 2015 we announced a further £6.2 billion of funding to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate going into the next Parliament. Our extensive capital investment programme is targeted at those schools in the worst condition. Where appropriate, we reflect the risks posed by asbestos when making funding decisions. We give local decision makers the funding they need to prioritise asbestos-related works. By improving the condition of the school buildings in the worst condition, our capital programmes will reduce the presence of asbestos in the estate and the risks posed by the remaining asbestos.
The first phase of our Priority School Building programme is rebuilding or addressing the condition need of 261 schools in the worst state of repair. The vast majority of these schools are being rebuilt and so will have any asbestos removed when the existing buildings are demolished. The second phase of the Priority School Building programme, which we announced recently, will address condition need in a further 277 schools. We primarily used information from the property data survey to assess the scale and severity of condition need. However, we also gave applicants the opportunity to identify significant issues that would not have been identified through the property data survey, for example where the costs of safely managing asbestos are excessive and are of such significance as to affect the integrity of the building. All applications that stated that their school has a significant asbestos-related issue and provided relevant supporting documentation, were assessed by independent technical advisers. We took this assessment into account when prioritising the blocks to be included in the programme. All successful blocks within Priority School Building programme 2 will have asbestos issues dealt with appropriately, whether they were raised as a specific concern in the application process or not, because we might discover some of these issues when we go on-site.
We also directly fund the maintenance and improvement of academies and sixth-form colleges through the academies capital maintenance fund and the building condition improvement fund for sixth-form colleges, which are now being combined into the new condition improvement fund. A number of these schemes involve the removal of asbestos—for example, where an academy is replacing its boilers and pipework—and we also allow academies and sixth-form colleges to bid to this fund where they have significant asbestos that is proving difficult to manage.
Asbestos can be managed effectively—and is being managed effectively in the vast majority of schools. The review we published last week is just the latest step in these ongoing efforts. Working together, we can ensure that asbestos is managed effectively in all schools and over time in a safe and an evidence-based way. As the school estate is modernised and replaced, asbestos will be removed from school buildings.
I welcome today’s debate and the contributions from all hon. Members who have participated. Through our school building programme and the measures announced in the review, I hope that we will ensure that the schools estate is a safe environment for all pupils and teachers.
Question put and agreed to.
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Sir Edward, I am delighted to lead this debate under your watchful and noble eye—that is a prediction for the future, I hope. I am particularly delighted that the Backbench Business Committee has allowed this debate on Thames valley technology, because it seems to me that all the good things that we want for society in the future will be based on technology.
Let me explain what I mean. Whether we are talking about empowering citizens and voters with more information through the internet and online services; empowering consumers with lower prices, through greater access to competitive pricing on products and services; enriching the academic world, and enabling it to thrive through online access to research material and to coursework for students; driving economic growth through the creative industries; recreational activities such as gaming; more serious activities—business activities—relating to pretty much every area of our lives, including financial technology, banking services or business-to-business services, the digital world is at the heart of facilitating that growth.
As someone who came to Parliament from a technology background, building technology businesses both online and offline, I am not only fascinated by the developments taking place, but very cognisant of the benefits that they will bring for democracy, education and economic growth. Digitisation has the potential to bring new products to market, boost jobs and growth and transform the way we work. Even in this place, that transformation has started to happen, with Hansard online and with TheyWorkForYou, through which we are held to account for how long we speak, what we speak about and how we vote—not that that is a signal that I wish to speak for the full 90 minutes today, because I want to leave plenty of time for other hon. Members to intervene and make observations about their constituencies.
I am pleased that the Government have played a very positive role in encouraging and facilitating the digital sector and the creative industries, and in making digital Britain something that can be achieved in reality. As chairman of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and of the parliamentary space committee, I have seen at first hand the strides that we have made in this Parliament, both within Parliament, with the use of scientific knowledge and of the digital, and in the wider economy. We have a thriving space industry and plans for driverless cars. The broadband roll-out is almost there; we hope that it will be there shortly. There is also the place of computing in the national curriculum. All those things show that the Government are helping to move the economy and society in the right direction. Nevertheless, there is some way to go to remove the obstacles that remain in the way of a fully digitised economy.
As the title of the debate suggests, I want us to stop and stare and focus on the Thames valley region. It includes my constituency of Windsor, which is at the forefront of digital innovation, but also areas across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Digital technologies and businesses have quite a large presence in my constituency, and I think that has been instrumental in some of the results that we have seen locally. Since 2010, unemployment is down by half and youth unemployment is down by two thirds. I think that that partly reflects the fact that 13% of businesses in the Windsor constituency are involved in information and communications technology industry activities, compared with the national average of about 8%. The number of enterprises operating in the tech sector in the Thames valley grew by 13% between 2011 and 2013, and the area boasts the second highest start-up rate outside London. Thames valley, Berkshire, is home to the offices of more than 200 Fortune 500 companies, including Konami, which relocated its European headquarters from Germany to the Windsor constituency last year, as well as 11 of the top 15 global software companies, so in the Thames valley, we really are a powerhouse.
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. Does he agree that more companies will move to the Thames valley when they can arrive at Heathrow and turn left? The new rail spur will be an enormous boost. It will bring 42,000 jobs to our region, when it happens. Is he, like me, dismayed that it is taking until 2021 for it to happen, and that Network Rail feels that it has to have a pre-consultation, a formal consultation, a post-consultation, and then a consultation on the planning permission? People in the Thames valley are looking at those kinds of delay with frustration, because they want these infrastructure projects to go ahead.
My hon. Friend makes the point in a passionate way, and I wholeheartedly concur. Whether we are talking about Crossrail or the new link from Heathrow to mainline railway stations and the mainline network, these are arteries that will pump business, commuters and tourists into the Thames valley, and it is deeply frustrating that sometimes these projects take such a long time. Clearly, we have a planning framework. Perhaps the new Government will take a look at that. However, there is no doubt—I do not think that there is any controversy—about the benefits of having better rail links, better transport links generally and better broadband links to Berkshire and the Thames valley. That will make a huge difference and will add to the growth that we are seeing.
The wider Thames valley region can be seen as the largest technology cluster—I will come to clusters in a moment, because I am sure that you, Sir Edward, are fascinated by technology clusters—in Europe, with its unique blend of established technology corporates, innovative start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises, which together account for 16% of all enterprises in the sub-region. That is double the national average, which stands at 8%. The proportion of people employed in the ICT sector is more than twice the national average in Windsor and Maidenhead.
The region is also home to world-class research facilities such as the university of Reading and the Atomic Weapons Establishment. The region is a natural fit for developing trends in ICT, such as big data and financial technology services. A new multimillion-pound world-class environmental science big data research and analysis centre is due to open at Reading university later this year.
Just last month, I visited an exciting new company in my constituency that is at the forefront of a sea change in the way finance is raised for property development. Proplend is a peer-to-peer lending site for property owners. It allows them to find alternative finance, and to circumvent the tightly controlled financial services industry, which in many cases is still too worried about the risk of lending to smaller clients because of the bureaucratic burden of doing so. That is not to say that the banks and the big corporates do not have a place among the new lenders, but for the first time in 100 years, we have seen new challenger banks begin to appear on high streets. That is pretty significant, because challenger banks are able to appear on the high street only because of the digitisation of banking. The overheads are so much lower and the ability to monitor, regulate and provide services is so much easier through technological means.
I was proud to be at the opening of a branch of Metro bank in Windsor in 2013. Metro bank is the first new high street bank in the UK for more than a century. Those types of financial innovation will help to transform the way we do business, but also, with access to the internet and digital technologies, we will be better able to educate our young people as well as our graduates, and we will be in a better position to enrich the lives of so many people.
With public services coming online at an ever-increasing rate, it is important that in areas such as Thames valley, Berkshire, and across the country, broadband roll-out continues rapidly. That is why I am glad that the Conservatives in leadership have made vital changes over the past few years. A personal favourite of mine was the decision to put computing at the heart of the national curriculum. When I was at school, computers were hardly in evidence. We had punch cards to do our maths tests in the mid-’70s, but that was about it. Now, ICT lessons are not just about learning how to use PowerPoint, a spreadsheet, a word processor or presentation software; they are more about the process of learning and analysis required to create programmes. The digital and technology worlds encourage that sort of analytical thinking, because in order to solve a problem, one has to understand it and be able to encode and systematise it. Such analytical thinking is incredibly helpful if we want to live in a society that is rational and able to solve its own problems.
This is probably a reflection of my age, but children now learn programming and coding of the sort that in my generation, one learned only after one had finished school and university. After I studied agricultural economics for my BSc, I was immediately attracted to the information technology industry, because I recognised the overwhelming power of the internet and the digital to accelerate economic growth and the social and economic developments that we want. That is why the new curriculum is important. The Government’s work to attract qualified teachers and retrain existing ones is also welcome.
The Government have identified eight great technologies to focus on, which include big data and the space industry. We often think of space as being like “Star Trek” and involving manned space flight, but there is more to it than that. I know from my time as shadow Science Minister many moons ago that the space industry has for many years achieved double-digit growth of 10%-plus. On average, for the past 10 or 15 years, it has experienced 7% to 8% growth per annum. Space is not just about exploration and “Star Trek”; it is about our mobile phones and our ability to communicate, to access broadband and to access public services.
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. He is an agricultural economist by training, and farming is also affected by space. A farmer can now drill a field of corn using satellite technology, which requires less input—fewer sprays and fertilisers. That keeps our rivers cleaner. A different sort of person is required to come into the business. My hon. Friend is making a powerful case about education, but I am interested to know how he believes we can ensure that more people understand that some jobs that were once considered to be manual and functional now require a high degree of understanding about IT.
Absolutely; the landscape, if I can put it in such a way, in agricultural businesses, estate management and farm management has changed enormously. Satellites and GPS guide some of the new combine harvesters and planting devices, and the digital world permeates almost every part of our lives. If we look at farming productivity across the world—some developing countries are one step ahead of the UK in this regard—we see that many of the newer farming technologies in use are based on the digital. Companies across the Thames valley are, and have been, instrumental in developing some of the devices and monitoring technology required for modern farming. There is a massive population explosion across the world; we are heading towards 7 billion people on the planet, of whom perhaps 64 million or 65 million will be the UK. They will all need to be fed, and the digital world and digital technologies will enable us to make the great leaps in productivity that will be required.
If we consider what it means to be a human being, our DNA is ultimately digital. Initiatives such as the human genome project, and the 100,000 genomes project in the NHS, will enable the world to make huge leaps forward in health care technology based on the digital world. I cannot overemphasise the importance of such new technology and development. As a Conservative, some people might expect me to be nervous about such dramatic and radical changes to the way in which we live. In fact, the digital is an evolutionary process. There are big leaps from one decade to the next, but every single process in technology is incremental.
As I have said, the Government have identified eight technologies on which to focus. I am particularly pleased about big data and space, because digital technologies in space allow us to monitor earth’s systems, so we can see where there is a forest fire or a tsunami and work out where emergency services need to be deployed. Clearly, those technologies have a military application as well. They also govern our mobile phones, broadband technology, GPS in our vehicles and so many other things.
I look forward to seeing the way in which big data will transform our public services. Government projects, many of them run from within the Thames valley, are already looking at and analysing all the data sets that the Government have at their disposal through public bodies, and working out whether those data contain patterns. We have recently had some debates about security, particularly in the light of the threat from ISIS and home-grown terrorist challenges. By looking at patterns of data, one can identify activity that may need to be looked into. Without digital development, it would be tricky to analyse those data.
ICT is not simply about business; it is also about research. The Government’s decision to protect the £4.6 billion science budget—I claim a small amount of credit for that from my time as shadow Minister—has helped to keep us ahead of the global curve in new developments when it comes to technology and the digital. It would have been easy after the last election, especially given the constrained financial situation in which we found ourselves, with a £160 billion deficit, to say, “Right, let’s cut the budget for science and research.” Thankfully, we refrained from doing so. I echo William Waldegrave, who said that even in straitened times, the two budgets that one must never cut are those for basic scientific research and for security. We must always take those matters seriously, and I am glad that the coalition Government have done so.
Thames Valley Berkshire local enterprise partnership has been instrumental in driving growth in technology. The LEP has established a Berkshire business growth hub to support and upskill small and medium-sized enterprises, and it will invest EU funds to fast-track the creation of the first ever science park in the region. I am always nervous about mentioning the EU, because doing so tends to lead to a fairly strong reaction. It is useful to gain EU funds in this case, however. We pay into the EU, so bidding for EU funds and getting them back to the UK is a jolly good thing to do.
I apologise for intervening yet again, but my hon. Friend has touched on the European single digital market, which is worth mentioning in this context. It can bring our constituents, particularly in the Thames valley, the benefit of a proper single market. That is what most of our constituents want from our relationship with the European Union.
My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. I am beginning to suspect that he may be some sort of techno-geek, and that would really change the image that I have of him.
I am sure that it would. My hon. Friend brings me on to my next point, which is that although there may be many negatives to being members of the European Union, the single market is one of the great benefits. Our great challenge, particularly in the digital world—as I can see from the businesses in Windsor and across the Thames valley—is to ensure that competition continues and that there is a level playing field for the supply of goods and services through digital media. There are questions about whether some larger companies, search engines and suppliers of goods and services across the EU are in a monopolistic position. It is easy for us in this place sometimes to suspend our view that markets should be competitive because, somehow, digital is different, but digital is exactly the same as everything else albeit at a far more rapid pace. It is vital that Britain is part of a functioning single market that offers fair competition in both the digital and terrestrial worlds. We will never stand by and allow the manufacturer of a particular good or service to have 95% market share. In the same way, it is important that both the EU and the UK ensure that competition exists in the digital world so that people have a choice about where they get their goods and services online.
Thames Valley Berkshire is working with neighbouring LEPs to align resources behind the 5G innovation centre at the university of Surrey. In 2014, the LEP injected a significant amount of money, about £145,000, in Connect Thames Valley Tech—ConnectTVT—to identify and support at least 100 start-up companies by the end of 2015. New developments bring new challenges as well as opportunities, and some issues surrounding those new developments have rumbled on without a clear attempt to draw lines and clarify what the Government should be doing. I will highlight a handful of areas that an incoming Government will need to address in Thames valley, given the high presence of digital businesses and the high levels of economic growth and employment in the area. I am interested in the Minister’s comments, but these are not demands; they are observations. I recognise that, with the work that has already been done, there may be other areas to address.
An awful lot of our private data are out there held by commercial companies, the Government and the public sector, as well as on our home devices, iPhones and PCs. Do those data belong to us as citizens? Do they belong to the Government, God forbid? Do they belong to those private companies? Although many services, sites and businesses have good privacy statements covering people’s information when they access goods and services, I am not sure that many people read those privacy statements. It is important that, at some point, we know to whom those data belong. With the incredibly quick advance of digital, the data that we put on individual websites or applications can easily be spread and shared with all sorts of people whom we would not wish to have them.
A case in point might be 23andMe, which is an American service through which people can analyse their DNA. I had a go the other day, and it is fascinating. My results show that I am clearly not a superhuman, but I should hopefully live a relatively long time. If we are having our DNA analysed—our DNA is at the heart of whom and what we are—we need to be clear about who owns those data. If someone is processing our data, we need to know how long they are able to hold on to them and whether they are allowed to pass them on. Although the privacy statements and data-handling statements on such websites may be attractive, are we secure in the way in which those data are held, used and owned?
The second important area—I have touched on this already—is competition. We sometimes glaze over when people start talking about digital. We think it is all modern and trendy, and perhaps some of the principles that we hold dear in terrestrial marketing and businesses are not necessarily the same in the digital world, which is a strange place in which things happen quickly. With the permeation of digital throughout all our lives, it is more important than ever that the online economy is as competitive as the rest of the economy. Some good headway has been made, particularly with search engines, at European Union level, and I am glad that some of that regulation has rippled through to the UK. I am sure we could have done that ourselves but, given that the EU has done the work, it is good that the regulation has rippled through into our legislation. We must never forget that it is not just growing businesses or innovation but competition between businesses that drives down prices and spurs innovation. There may be more work to be done to ensure that we do not have any closed shops on the internet. We have had a challenge with our energy firms and, to be honest, many energy firms are now largely digital. They may supply some goods and services, but their main processes and main business are digital. We could learn some lessons from the apparent lack of competition within the energy markets.
Centrica, which is a fantastic business, employs hundreds of people across my Windsor constituency. I have been to see its trading floor and some of its operations, and it is striking that about 80% of those staff are in the digital world. They do not do much with gas and the supply of energy; they use programmes, algorithms and applications to supply goods and services. They are technicians, programmers and analysts; they are not gas workers in the traditional sense.
The third part of ensuring that Thames valley tech is healthy for the future is in addressing bureaucracy. Unforeseen obstacles created by old regulations often cause difficulties for businesses. We should encourage a technology neutral approach to disruptive innovation that provides a framework for “permissionless creativity.” The Minister is behind this country’s creative industries, and he has done an awful lot in his portfolio to ensure that those industries thrive, but we need to be clear that inventors, particularly in the digital world, should not be hampered by regulations that were never meant to govern what they do. There also needs to be clarity on intellectual property that allows inventors to profit from their products, and particularly from newer products and services that are being created day by day, week by week and month by month in the Thames valley and beyond. We also need to ensure that structures are in place so that corporations, particularly in the IT sector, are not able to hoard patents and hold up progress in those markets.
The fourth area is the concept of clusters. A lot of good work has been done on clusters. When I was shadow Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr Willetts) and I had a close look at the definition of a technology cluster. That issue faces the Thames valley head on. I read with great interest the “Tech Nation” report by Tech City, which was released just a few weeks ago. It is a fantastic report that canters through all areas of digital technology, including both the benefits and the challenges to the nation. One little area about which I am slightly concerned is the lack of clarity on the definition of a technology cluster. The report sometimes refers to Oxford, the Berkshire cluster or the Reading cluster, and in the not-too-distant future, if we are to take technology clusters seriously, we need a better working definition of what they are and of their benefits and disbenefits. On its own, the Thames valley might constitute the biggest technology cluster in the whole of Europe, which is a key point. From my understanding of the area—my Windsor constituency is very high tech—I think that Thames valley is the largest technology cluster in Europe, but the Government need to do a little more work on the definitions in terms of investments and enterprise zones.
The fifth and final point is that we cannot have a thriving technology cluster unless businesses and homes in the region have significant levels of broadband access. I am delighted that the Government will certainly meet their broadband roll-out targets in the Windsor constituency. The other day, I mentioned in a question on the Floor of the House that, in the past, my wife sometimes looked at me suspiciously because I was up very late at night fiddling around on the internet and she was wondering what I was up to. [Laughter.] Exactly. Then I simply point out that our broadband access is so slow that when I log into the House systems to do my constituency correspondence, it takes an awfully long time. Thankfully, a few weeks ago, superfast broadband rolled out to my area of Old Windsor, and now it is like lightning; I can go to bed at a reasonable hour. That is my excuse, anyway.
Access to superfast broadband is important. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) pointed out, although farmers must log in online to get their rural farm payments, a huge number of farms throughout the United Kingdom do not have access to broadband, so they cannot. I would nudge the Minister on this issue, although I appreciate that we are now at the end of the coalition period and might need to wait several weeks to find out what happens next. An opportunity may well have been missed on this issue. We have been rolling out fibre, which is of course essential for the majority of households in this country, but if we want 100% superfast broadband coverage, it can be done within a few weeks.
I will explain how. Although we will reach 90% and potentially 95% coverage within the next couple of years, there are certain areas where it is not economically viable to install fibre 2 miles down a country track to get to two or three homes. However, we already have satellites that can give 30, 50 or 60 MB links straight from the skies. Ultimately, although the investment has been worth while and roll-out is pretty much on track—that is a great step forward, and I thank the coalition Government for it—we must open our minds in the next Parliament to achieving broadband roll-out to every part of the country using satellite broadband. I am a bit disappointed that we did not pursue that route more actively earlier. It is no deep criticism, however, because we are pretty much on track; I simply nudge the Minister in that direction, should he be in the same job after the election, as I hope he will be, although preferably as a right hon. Member. Is he a right hon. Member at the moment?
Okay. Preferably he will have “right hon.” at the beginning of his title. Some great broadband pilot schemes are coming from the Minister’s Department, which are welcome, including the point-to-point beaming of broadband to smaller villages and hamlets around the country, but again, I would like a little more focus on using solutions that are already available to access hard-to-reach areas.
We have many great businesses in Windsor. Indigina Technologies and Imagebase Technology do software design, and Honeycomb Digital does digital marketing. When it comes to education, of course, we also have East Berkshire college and many others running new technology curriculums, giving young people practical skills in state-of-the-art classrooms and making good use of broadband locally.
I am a great believer in the power of science, technology and the digital. To be party political for a moment, I believe that the digital world is part of the Conservative vision of the world. It changes the data asymmetry between Governments and public services, enabling citizens to see the same level of data. If we use it correctly, citizens will certainly become more powerful, and the state will gradually become less powerful. It is interesting that the Thames valley is rather Conservative in the complexion of its MPs, which is a good thing—
It is also significant because consumers get choice, and technology is a wonderful way of presenting choice. I hope that in years to come, through some of the wonderful and innovative companies in my constituency and across the Thames valley, new applications will be developed so that even when we decide that we want to use a public service, it will be easy to do so on our iPhones, smartphones and PCs.
To give an illustration, somebody with a family who is reasonably well-to-do may want to take their child to a doctor or go to a doctor themselves, or have an operation at a particular time. Clearly, that might not be possible on the NHS, due to waiting lists and the routine that must be followed; it can take eight or sometimes up to 12 weeks to get to that position. If there were an application, the digital world could deliver a choice. Someone who could afford to pay and chose to pay—there would be no coercion—might be able to go to a particular site that said, “You can have an appointment with your local GP in about a week’s time, or you can have an appointment on Sunday afternoon at 3.27, when you want it, but you will have to pay for a private GP.” It might also show slots for the less well-off supported by voluntary sector organisations and charities. Technology can present consumers and public service users with choices.
That is not to say in any way that the NHS should not exist in its current form, free at the point of delivery; it is just about leveraging more resources. If people have an easy choice before them to receive a service in a different way using their own resources, existing resources remain in the NHS. That is a great way to boost resources in the NHS. There are so many ways that technology can empower consumers and citizens. It is incredibly important that we push on and ensure that we are not resistant but ready to embrace the benefits that digital technology can bring by boosting innovation, growth and citizen and consumer power, and by enhancing people’s experience not just with gaming but with education and access to research.
Finally, I welcome the coalition Government’s work on this issue. We need to consider satellite broadband and review what we mean by clusters and what the Government’s role is in supporting them, but on balance, I think the glass is half-full. We live in a far better place technologically than we did five years ago. I hope that that process continues, and that my constituency continues to be at the heart of those innovations. The whole constituency of Windsor is a great place to live, and Thames valley Berkshire is the largest and one of the most dynamic digital clusters in Europe. Long may it reign.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I wish you and other hon. Members a happy St Patrick’s day.
I enjoyed the contribution of the hon. Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie). He hinted, far too modestly, at his considerable knowledge and experience of the technology sector, having been an entrepreneur in the field before coming to the House. He has demonstrated that passion and knowledge admirably. I praise him for his great work as chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on space. It is a leading technology not only in Britain but for the rest of the world. Britain is well placed to be a leading player in the space industry of the future. I agree with the ambition to secure 10% of the global space market, which represents £40 billion, by 2030. It is incredibly admirable how he advocates for the space industry in this House and throughout the Houses of Parliament.
I welcome the Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey). His constituency covers a large part of the area discussed by the hon. Member for Windsor. On the space industry, the Minister will be aware that Harwell in his constituency is the nucleus of a great and exciting emerging space industry cluster; that must continue in future.
It is clear from the contribution of the hon. Member for Windsor that the Thames valley has considerable strengths in the technology sector. As he mentioned, the area boasts the European and global headquarters of more than 200 Fortune 500 companies, such as Microsoft, Oracle, Vodafone, Fujitsu, Johnson & Johnson and Honda. Huawei, one of the fastest-growing telecoms companies in the world, recently moved its European headquarters to Reading.
One structural weakness of the British economy is the widening productivity gap between us and the rest of our economic rivals, but the technology sector shows that we in Britain can resolve that. It has demonstrated the highest productivity of any sector in the UK economy, and has powered ahead in the past 10 years.
This sector has enormous potential. TechUK estimates that the internet of things will reach a global market value of $7.3 trillion by 2017. The hon. Member for Windsor mentioned big data. Big data and data analytics will have a global market value of $32.4 billion by 2017. And wearable technology will be worth $70 billion by 2024. The world is changing fast, but it is clear that the Thames valley can develop and evolve its comparative advantages in this important sector, and create more jobs and wealth, not only for itself but for the rest of the United Kingdom. However, in order to achieve that potential, the area needs to address several elements, as we heard time and time again during the hon. Gentleman’s remarks.
The first point that I will address is skills. The UK Digital Skills Taskforce, led by Maggie Philbin, has stated that we face a growing shortage of digital skills. The Science Council has stated that the information and communications technology work force will grow by 39% by 2030, and O2 concluded in 2013 that around 745,000 additional workers with digital skills would be needed just to match existing demand between 2013 and 2017. Baroness Lane-Fox has gone further, saying that a million new tech jobs will be needed by 2020.
The Thames valley is well-placed to take advantage of this growth, but skills shortages remain a problem for the area. I want to avoid engaging in partisan hectoring and criticism, but how are the Government addressing this problem? In order to have a long-term industrial strategic approach, it is necessary, with the full co-operation and indeed leadership of industry, to marry up business policy with education and skills policy, and to ensure that they are aligned. The hon. Gentleman talked about coding and computing being part of the curriculum, which is a very welcome step, but how will we in this country ensure that we gain the digital skills that we need by making sure that, from the earliest possible age at primary school, the curriculum is developed through, so that the workers of the future will be well-placed to get well-paid, fulfilling tech jobs?
It is important to link different parts of business policy with other aspects of Government. So, does the Minister think that the Government’s immigration policy addresses this issue? I am not suggesting for one moment that we have an open-doors policy, but ensuring that the UK is a great destination, both for inward investment and global talent, is incredibly important. Has the Minister considered several points made by techUK about the field of immigration, such as reinstating the two-year post-study work visa and extending the tier 1 exceptional talent visa beyond start-ups to scale-ups, which I will come on to in a moment? How are we making sure that immigration policy is geared up towards fulfilling the potential of the technology sector?
One of the problems regarding skills could be exacerbated by the magnet of London’s Tech City pulling talent away from the Thames valley and other regions. Richard Devall, a partner at the law firm Pitmans, has recently been quoted as saying:
“We have become an established tech region at the expense of home-grown start-ups. Local and even global talent is going to places like London because it is perceived as ‘where it’s at’. People still don't know what the Thames Valley offers. The pull of London’s east end Tech City is immense for a young techie and the Thames Valley is losing out, certainly on global talent.”
The Thames valley area is often seen as a destination for large and mature companies in the tech space. There is nothing wrong with that whatsoever, as large companies provide great employment and can nurture a wide cluster or ecosystem of companies through their supply chain. Nevertheless, this issue has been identified as a challenge for the Thames valley, not only by Richard Devall but by Louize Clarke, co-founder of ConnectTVT, a new accelerator community in Reading. She said:
“It appears we have decided as a region that we are going to be mature, and not do anything to attract the next generation of technology start-ups. We are just not looking at that community locally, and they are going elsewhere. Yet, if you support a start-up community it will help improve local talent, because not all start-ups succeed, and people within them learn, then go into other local businesses.”
I fully accept that this sector is not the sole responsibility of Government, but what are they doing? Are they working together with the local enterprise partnerships to ensure that start-ups, scale-ups and the whole cluster or ecosystem that the hon. Gentleman for Windsor mentioned is actually being developed in the Thames valley?
As part of that wider cluster, procurement can be used to stimulate growth and scale-up in smaller firms. The Government have a target to ensure that 25% of central Government spending on procurement is being awarded to small and medium-sized businesses. Given that we are now in 2015, when the target was meant to be met, could the Minister update the House as to how the Government are progressing towards achievement of that target? Also, given the strength of the tech sector in the Thames Valley, how does that area fare when it comes to winning contracts from both central and local Government?
More emphasis should also be given to scale-up companies. An excellent report last year by Sherry Coutu, who is herself a prominent tech entrepreneur, stated that if we closed the gap of scale-up between ourselves and the US and other leading economies, in the short term—within three years—an additional 238,000 jobs and £38 billion in additional turnover would be possible, and in the longer term—by 2034—150,000 net additional jobs and £225 billion additional gross value added in the economy could be provided.
That excellent scale-up report from last year, with its ambitious but achievable recommendations, does not seem to have progressed with Government. Can the Minister give the House an update as to how the Government are taking forward the recommendations in the report? Can we expect to see a detailed Government response before Dissolution? How will the Government ensure that local decision-makers—particularly LEPs, which are mentioned a lot in the report and which are very relevant to the Thames valley—are included in the planning for the report’s implementation and delivery?
We have heard from a number of hon. Gentlemen today—both the hon. Member for Windsor and the hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), who is no longer in his place—about how infrastructure is vital if the Thames valley area is to achieve its vision of prosperity. From a northerner’s point of view, the tech sector in the Thames valley is often seen as being the M4 growth corridor, which gives an indication of the importance of the road network. However, the importance of rail has also been mentioned in the debate today.
In addition, will the Minister accept that in order to attract global talent and inward investment, a co-ordinated aviation strategy is also needed? In the debate today, we have only heard about aviation in passing. However, discussion of Heathrow’s future is important. What should the Government be doing with regard to a swift implementation of the recommendations of the Davies airport commission, to ensure that our international competitiveness is not compromised and that linkages with the growth hubs of the world are developed?
On the subject of infrastructure, the Minister will recall that about a week ago we had a debate in Westminster Hall on broadband; he will remember because, to be honest, he was quite grumpy, with respect to the success of the broadband roll-out.
Broadband has again been referred to a number of times in today’s debate. The hon. Member for Windsor mentioned how broadband can be not only about fiddling late at night but about ensuring that broadband connections are the arteries of economic growth in the future economy. How can we ensure that that is the case? And what is happening with regard to roll-out of broadband, both in the Thames valley generally and in its rural areas?
I would suggest that linked with all of this debate is an emphasis on the need for long-term policy stability and certainty that transcends Parliaments, ensuring that it is recognised that the future of this country’s prosperity is based upon embracing a knowledge-based economy and ensuring that Government can work together with industry to achieve the tech sector’s enormous potential and benefit from its comparative advantages. That being the case, the Minister will know the importance of a long-term innovation strategy in science, particularly when it comes to providing a long-term funding framework to develop science, innovation, research and development.
I am very conscious that tomorrow is the Budget and I know that the Minister will not pre-empt any announcements that the Chancellor might make. Nevertheless, could he give an indication of the Government’s position on making sure that that long-term funding framework for science and innovation, which is necessary to exploit the advantages that the tech sector can provide, is being recognised and put forward by Government?
My final point is about Europe and the EU. Europe is an important part of our marketplace and of how we will derive prosperity. The development of the European digital single market is an important part of the tech sector’s future. I agree with techUK’s firm assertion that the EU digital single market should be shaped and led by Europe’s most successful digital economy, which is the UK’s economy. We should be leading, not following. We should be shaping it according to our own interests, not sniping on the sidelines. That being so, will the Minister explain how he, and other colleagues—but particularly him, because he takes an interest in this—are shaping the European digital single market and ensuring that it is to our key advantage?
This is an important debate. The tech sector is a key part of future economic growth, prosperity and employment for this country, with a particular emphasis on a knowledge-based economy. The Thames valley is well placed to be at the forefront of that sector. However, it requires a co-ordinated, integrated industrial strategic approach that is industry-led, with join-up between central Government and local government and industries. Huge prizes are on offer with regard to the tech sector and we can achieve those with such a co-ordinated approach. I know that the Minister will want to talk about how Britain can succeed in the tech sector, both now and in future.
Minister, Mr Afriyie has given you a long list of things to do. You have 10 days to do them. Over to you, Minister.
May I say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward? I wish you a happy St Patrick’s day. As a descendent of Henry VII, Lord of Ireland, I know that this day in particular means something to you.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie) on securing this important debate. He spoke without hesitation, deviation or repetition for 37 minutes. He could have spoken for a lot longer, because he has a great story to tell about the successes in the Thames valley, including in his own constituency.
I thank the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) for his slightly shorter, but no less potent, contribution. Were things to turn out differently, he would make a fine Business Minister. Sadly, as his party is going to lose the election, we can simply dream of what might have been.
Let be begin with some important statistics about the Thames valley, Berkshire. Business start-ups are at an all-time high. Almost 9,000 businesses started up across the Thames Valley Berkshire local enterprise partnership area in 2014, an increase of nearly 50% on the year before. My hon. Friend talked about the importance of the IT sector, and no wonder, because it represents about a quarter of the gross value added in Berkshire, compared with just 6% nationally.
As a Government, we are supporting the growth in Berkshire. As my hon. Friend mentioned, under the growth deal there will be some £100 million-worth of investment. We estimate that that could bring up to 20,000 jobs and 12,000 homes and £40 million-worth of public and private sector investment. In addition, we have supported 10,000 new homes in Wokingham with £24 million. We are investing in transport infrastructure, with £10 million for Maidenhead station. The huge redevelopment of Reading station is costing some £800 million.
I will talk about broadband later, albeit more philosophically than previously. The hon. Member for Hartlepool was right to say that I was grumpy in last week’s debate about broadband. Not that I spent any time on Twitter during my hon. Friend’s speech, but a Deloitte media and telecoms conference is going on at the moment, and the Twitter feed is all about how grumpy the BT man is during his presentation. He is obviously as fed up as I am with hearing the criticisms of the broadband programme, which has been hugely successful, particularly in Berkshire, where £6 million of investment will ensure that we reach 97% coverage by 2017. More than 6,000 homes there had broadband by the end of last year, thanks to this programme.
I will talk about education in some detail as well. My hon. Friend mentioned the £2.3 million that the Government have invested in three new solutions labs, in partnership with local further education partners, to provide science, technology, engineering and maths skills. We think that the solutions labs will bring 250 new jobs to the area, as well as 130 level 3 apprenticeships, 210 higher apprenticeships, 220 level 3 STEM qualifications and 140 STEM traineeships.
It is important to recognise the contribution of the British Business Bank in investing in British businesses, providing more than £890 million of new lending to 21,000 small businesses.
The “Tech Nation” report, mentioned by hon. Members, shows that one in five enterprises in the area we are talking about are tech companies. Indeed, as my hon. Friend said, some of the biggest technology companies in the world are based in Reading, including Oracle, Microsoft, Symantec, Huawei and Nvidia.
The university of Reading is home to a number of science and tech-based specialisms. It has just received a catalyst fund grant of almost £6 million from the higher education funding council for a multi-million pound environmental data centre.
These are all good news statistics for the Thames Valley Berkshire area. Given that I am standing in for the Business Minister, as usual—it seems to be my main role in life: it is nice to find a role after all these years—I shall use this opportunity to big up the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP neighbour, the Oxfordshire LEP, the star of which is, of course, my own constituency of Didcot and Wantage.
My hon. Friend, who is chair of the parliamentary space committee, talked a lot about the success of the space sector. The hon. Member for Hartlepool was kind enough to point out the role of Harwell—in my constituency—in that sector. My hon. Friend will be interested to know that three years ago, there were about 200 high-tech posts in the space sector and now there are nearly 500, and it is estimated that in the next 15 years there will be 5,000 posts, making Harwell the largest multinational space complex in Europe.
Harwell is where the satellite applications catapult is based. My hon. Friend the Member for Windsor, and my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), talked about using satellites to help farmers, which is precisely what the satellite applications catapult is there to do. It is there to show lots of businesses that may not think that satellites have any role to play in their business how those can help them enhance what they do.
In the past 18 months, the UK’s space gateway at Harwell campus has grown from just over 40 to 60 organisations, and only 10 years ago there were fewer than five. This summer, both the European Space Agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications building and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory space environmental test building will open on the campus.
Just down the road, as part of this Thames valley success story, 1,000 additional jobs have been created at Milton Park just in the past 12 months. Of course, we remain the UK’s, and indeed the European, centre for cryogenics. All this is good news.
Let me start to address points put to me both by my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor and the hon. Member for Hartlepool. We always listen with great care to what my hon. Friend says. He has a distinguished track record in technology and science and is known in this House as a thoughtful and intelligent man. Therefore when he raises issues they are worth addressing and considering.
My hon. Friend’s first point was about data ownership. He is right to raise this issue. All sorts of metaphors can be used, including big data being the big oil of the 21st century, or whatever, but there is no doubt that data are the currency driving the 21st century technology economy and, as such, a relatively dry subject has moved up the agenda. The ownership and use of data is an important issue.
The European Commission and the European Parliament are due to conclude a data protection directive, which could be a big prize, giving Europe one data protection regime across all 28 member states. I am fond of saying that, in many respects, it may be the most important piece of economic legislation that Europe passes in the next decade, because if its final iteration is too bureaucratic or business-unfriendly, it could have a big impact on business. However, we start rightly with the principle that the citizen owns their own data and should have control over how those data are used. It is a circle that has to be squared. The citizen has to trust and understand how the data are being used, but at the same time businesses need to be able to use those data to function efficiently and provide the services that many people want.
I am sorry not to reach a clear conclusion on my hon. Friend’s contribution. I am simply acknowledging that this debate will continue.
I hope that I indicated during my remarks that I was flagging the subject, not looking for a solution. I am delighted with my hon. Friend’s response about the citizen being right at the centre of control of their own data.
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s kind words. The other issue that he alluded to was closed shops on the internet. He is right that that will provoke debate and policy developments over the next few years. Clearly, the large tech companies play an increasingly important part in our lives, whether they are Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon or others, but it is important that we remember the first principles of open competition. The competition authorities have the requisite powers to stop any potential abuse of market power, not that I am suggesting that there is any at the moment. It is one of those debates that we will continue to have. As for the permissiveness of creativity, we have undertaken some important intellectual property reforms over the past few years. The Government remain committed to the protection of intellectual property, and that is right and proper, but we also recognise that intellectual property has to be up to date in how it is used in the digital age.
My hon. Friend talked about clusters and Tech Nation. The clusters identified in the “Tech Nation” report were in essence self-identifying and organic, but I take his point that we should be accurate when we identify a cluster, and at least use the same name consistently so that people are used to it. Tech City has done a great job in bringing together the 20 or so clusters identified in the “Tech Nation” report to share best practice. I agree that Thames valley is the largest tech cluster in Europe. When politicians say that they want to create a Silicon Valley in the UK, I say, “You already have it. If Cambridge is included, you have effectively got a Silicon Valley in and around London.” There are Silicon Valleys all over the UK, and that is the great strength of technology. In any major city in the UK, from Dundee to Brighton, there are important tech clusters, which often specialise in particular areas.
My hon. Friend concluded by talking about the importance of access to broadband. I was disappointed to hear that he had only just got superfast broadband, but given the size of his estate, it is not surprising. The huge amount of engineering and the massive length of fibre that had to be rolled out to reach his study will have taken years of digging. I am glad that BT has finally made it past the ornamental cannon to the front door, through the scullery and into the study. He is a passionate supporter of satellite. I have never been against it; my only point throughout the entire debate has been that satellite does not provide the mass market solution. It will be appropriate in certain places. One of the pilots to identify how to bring broadband to the most difficult areas—what we call the last 5%—has been a satellite pilot. It is not beyond the wit of man to speculate that satellite may well prove to be one of the solutions put forward to reach the final 5%. His point was well made.
The shadow Minister expressed his concerns, which the Government share, about skill shortages. It is important to stress that every country in the world and every developed nation in the world is aware of skill shortages. The debate is happening in America and in the major economies of Europe. How do we upgrade people’s skills to cope with a fast-moving technology economy? The shadow Minister and my hon. Friend were right to say that virtually every business is a digital business, whether it is a very small business that needs its own website and e-commerce software or the largest businesses that rely on data management software to manage the work force and stock and so on.
We have made great strides. Not only have we put coding on the curriculum, which is a long-term investment, but we are beginning to properly audit further education and higher education courses to ensure that they are fit for purpose. We have launched degree apprenticeships, which are effectively employer-led degrees where people will spend as much time working with an employer as they will at university. That is a fundamental change that has been brought about by technology. The world of work and the world of study will necessarily have to blur, because, funnily enough, it will be the world of work that has the most up-to-date technology and a much greater understanding of how that technology will be used in the real world. There is also our huge push on apprenticeships, where we focus on technology apprenticeships. In Didcot, for example, I was pleased to meet six apprentices at Harwell last Friday. I am pleased that Didcot university technical college is due to open in September. UTCs are another innovation that recognises the need to develop the proper skills required for the work force.
We welcome “The Scale-Up Report” by Sherry Coutu. It made a valuable contribution to the debate. We are not planning a formal response to it, but Sherry Coutu remains an important adviser to Government and politicians of all colours. Her passion is for the technology sector, and she has been a great advocate for it. She pioneered “Silicon Valley in the UK”, where tech companies from Silicon Valley came over to meet tech companies in the UK. We are taking forward a lot of her recommendations. Many were already in train. Baroness Joanna Shields has pioneered the Future Fifty, where 50 fast-growing companies in the UK are identified. The Government work with them and offer mentorship in the belief that they should stay in the UK, eventually float in the UK and grow to be significant British businesses.
The shadow Minister rightly mentioned aviation, which is not part of my brief. The Davies report will be important and will drive the debate forward. When it is published after the election, I am sure all parties will study its recommendations. I have covered broadband and why it makes me grumpy. So far as long-term science funding is concerned, all I can say is that we clearly have a Chancellor who is passionate about the science base and who recognises that scientific research is an incredibly important and fundamental starting point for our leadership in so much of the technology sector.
The shadow Minister also mentioned procurement. I do not have the exact figures in front of me on the Thames valley businesses that have succeeded in getting procurement services from Government, but I will happily write to him on that. As he well knows, the Government are committed to opening up Government procurement to small businesses. We have launched an improved Contracts Finder website. We have made the process far less bureaucratic, for example by redrafting the pre-qualification questionnaire. We have also improved our record on late payment by ensuring that the public sector will pay undisputed invoices in 30 days.
Finally, we talked about the digital single market, which could be a great prize for this country and for Europe. We often talk about Europe in very negative terms, but a digital single market where UK tech companies can sell their wares to a marketplace of 500 million consumers with uniform consumer protection, uniform terms and conditions and secure delivery and carriage would be a great prize that we can work towards together as a family of European nations. I know that you, Sir Edward, will take that closely to your heart. On that note of hope and aspiration, it is time to conclude my remarks.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
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It is a huge pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward, I think for the first time. It is also a great pleasure to have secured this debate. My motive for doing so was simple: I have spent six months representing my party on a non-partisan commission that was set up to look at the issue of financial inclusion, by which I mean the ability of our constituents to access the financial products and services that help them to function effectively in society. Those are products and services that many of us take for granted—after all, we live in a country with one of the most sophisticated financial systems in the world—yet the commission’s work raised a real concern that the issue of financial inclusion needs to be given higher priority. I therefore welcome the opportunity to make the case and hear the Government’s response.
The commission took written evidence and held oral evidence sessions around the country, in Liverpool, London, Cardiff and Glasgow, including with people who are or have been financially excluded. In all, representatives of 84 organisations came forward to share their views with us, including big banks, small charities, academics, entrepreneurs, insurance companies and local authorities. There was a wide range of people, but a consistent view that we could and should be doing better as a country to make the financial system work better for everyone, to improve the financial health of the millions of people who are, quite frankly, living on the edge.
The picture that came out of all the evidence is not reassuring. Nearly 2 million adults in the UK do not have a bank account; an estimated 2 million people took out a high-cost loan in 2012 because they were unable to access any other form of credit; and 50% of households in the bottom half of income distribution do not have home contents insurance. There is a price attached to that exclusion. Financially excluded people pay a poverty premium that has been estimated by Save the Children at £1,300 a year. Even more powerful is the picture of financial vulnerability and lack of resilience that came through so strongly from the evidence. Up to almost 9 million people are over-indebted, depending on the definition used; 13 million people do not have enough savings to support them for a month if they experience a 25% cut in income; and 15 million people—31% of the population—report one or more signs of financial distress. That is not the picture of financial health in the UK that I am sure we all want, irrespective of our politics.
At a time when the public are hearing a lot from their politicians about the public finances, the commission argues that the vulnerability of private finances should also be a major political concern, and that the issue of financial inclusion needs to be given higher priority.
I commend the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate on an important subject. Does he share my concern that because most of the means tests in the welfare system do not consider debt repayments, private indebtedness hits very hard at times when people need additional help?
The hon. Gentleman has made a valid point well. The concerning picture I have outlined should not be interpreted as a criticism of the current Government. Much of the vulnerability I have discussed is clearly the consequence of a brutal recession, and the commission’s report recognises the clear evidence of economic recovery and the boost that many people will get from vigorous job creation, the improving quality of jobs, increasing wages and falling prices. Although this Government disbanded the financial inclusion taskforce in 2011, they can point—I am sure the Minister will—to plenty of activity on tackling specific barriers to financial inclusion. The report recognises, for example, the £38 million credit union expansion project, the inclusion of financial education in the national curriculum in England for secondary school students, the regulation of high-cost, short-term credit, auto-enrolment for workplace pensions and, last but not least, the Treasury’s welcome agreement with high street banks to provide fee-free basic bank accounts—the Minister has earned a great deal of praise for her work in knocking heads together to achieve that important step.
It is not just the coalition Government who have been busy. The devolved Administrations have arguably been leading the way in developing financial inclusion strategies and promoting financial inclusion, and several major local authorities have adopted their own financial inclusion strategies. Nor should brownie points go only to the public sector; the private sector has invested in and developed new products such as credit building credit cards, and prepaid cards. The not-for-profit sector has also been busy, not least the Archbishop of Canterbury’s task group on credit unions, which has challenged high-cost lenders and is piloting savings club programmes in Church primary schools, in partnership with credit unions.
That is all good, but it may not be sufficient. Indeed, the commission’s central message is a warning against complacency or any feeling that we have “done” financial inclusion, not just because the existing numbers tell us something different but because of fresh challenges that are emerging. Those challenges offer both opportunity and risk, and need to be managed properly if we are not to make the problem of exclusion even worse.
The first challenge is universal credit. There appears to be cross-party support at least for the principles of universal credit, so there will be change whoever wins the election. The big change will be in the way in which people receive their benefits, with six benefits combined into a single lump-sum payment that will be paid monthly in arrears. I believe that that change will benefit many people, as it will make payments more like income from work and so ease the transition into the labour market. However, it will profoundly change the way some people on low incomes have to manage their money.
A lot of concern was expressed to us about the need for effective support. I believe that the Government recognise that, and the report acknowledges that support will include alternative payment arrangements for those who need them, budgeting loans to help bridge the gap to the first payment, and universal support delivered locally—USDL, to use the jargon—which is the support system, led by local authorities and jobcentres working with local partners, to help people improve their digital skills and financial capability. The effectiveness of that support needs to be monitored very closely. We argue that minds in Government should be open to promoting inclusive alternatives to the Post Office card account that meet the new basic bank account industry standards agreed by Her Majesty’s Treasury, including electronic payment facilities.
The second challenge the commission highlights is linked to technology. Technology is changing the way we live and work, yet as Tristan Wilkinson of Go ON UK argued to us,
“We are only just starting to see what the potential of technology and its disruptive influence in society could become.”
Given the number of adults who have a mobile phone and access to broadband, it is clear that digital innovation has the capacity to drive some groundbreaking and disruptive product development. It can transform our ability to access valuable information on how to get the best deal, as well as our ability to keep control of our finances. That is exciting, not least as it creates space for entrepreneurs to come in and tackle market failure with new platforms that do not carry the overheads that the old players are lumbered with.
I know from my work as a Minister in the Cabinet Office, however, that we must never lose sight of the fact that some 16% of the population—over 8.5 million adults—are non-users of the internet, and that the digitally excluded are more likely to come from groups at risk of financial exclusion. I know that the Government have an ambitious digital inclusion strategy and I was proud to play a part in driving it forward. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that other services must remain available for those who cannot or choose not to manage their money in the way that new technology permits.
The other major challenge that I wish to highlight is the impact of higher interest rates. Interest rates have remained at 0.5% for the past six years, which is testimony to the credibility of the Government’s long-term economic plan. It has been good for the economy, if not for fixed-interest savers, but it is not sustainable, and at some point interest rates are likely to rise. The evidence we took was clear in expressing concern about the potential adverse effects of that rise on many households struggling to pay off their debts. According to the Resolution Foundation, around 600,000 households spend more than half their income on debt repayments; other research indicates that 60% of borrowers say they would cut down on spending if interest rates rose by two percentage points.
There is therefore no shortage of challenges, and there are no grounds for complacency if we are to secure the broader financial health that we want this country to achieve. What should be done? The report has 22 recommendations to provoke thought and debate, which the Minister will be delighted to hear I will not go through in detail. However, I will highlight some important strands of our argument, and I would be grateful for a response to them.
The first strand is about the need for clearer leadership and co-ordination. A clear feeling out there came through in the evidence that some momentum and energy has been lost. The Minister may well sigh at the recommendation that she or her successor should take the title of Minister for financial health and take a lead across Government on that, but there is an opportunity to pull together something that does not exist, but could exist given the good will out there: a national strategy, and more effective and visible co-ordination of the activity going on across sectors. There is some merit in the idea of an independent body to help Government accumulate evidence on what is going on, as well as providing accountability along the lines of the social mobility commission.
There is an urgent—in fact, it is imperative—need to stimulate more innovation. The way I see it, we cannot expect too much of the mainstream financial services players. They are not trusted and, frankly, they lack incentives to target the kind of customers we are talking about. However, with FinTech, this country leads the world in financial innovation, so we should be creating the space to encourage innovation and look at how technology and other means of disruptive innovation can come in to help tackle market failure.
We were impressed by the entrepreneurial instincts and drive of organisations such as Change Account and Ffrees, which are helping to tackle market failure, but they need support. One recommendation was not for Government, but for the industry to consider setting up a centre for financial services innovation—the United States has had one for 20 years—with a network of industry-led innovation and learning, trying to move the needle to stimulate the development of products and services that work for people on all incomes.
The second strand is on the need for a more concerted effort to identify, understand and tackle market failures. There are too many people for whom existing products and services do not work. They are disadvantaged and turned off from doing the right thing, which would make their lives easier. On personal current accounts, we were struck by the financial inclusion taskforce’s evidence that perhaps six out of 10 of the millions of people who do not have accounts had one previously, but were turned off by bad experiences with their banks.
There is an issue with identity requirements. Dr Paul Jones from Liverpool John Moores university told us,
“I have been to many groups around here and they will say that, ‘We cannot save and we cannot get a bank account’. They tell me things like, ‘You need a letter from God to get a bank account round here.’”
It is too hard. Payment mechanisms are critical to helping people to manage their finances, but new entrants and alternative providers tell a consistent story of the difficulty in being able to offer mainstream direct debits and fast payments. Direct debits themselves are problematic for many people on low or volatile incomes. All the evidence suggests that we need to encourage payment mechanisms that have more flexibility and better meet people’s needs.
There is a low income credit gap. The Government have borne down on extortionate lending rates through regulation, but the demand is still there. We were clear about the need to do more to support the scaling up and sustainability of the alternative community finance and credit union movements. A lot has been done, but that issue has not been sorted out. That matters, as does taking the opportunity to make wider data disclosures to help us to understand credit risk better in such income brackets, and to identify financial inclusion black spots.
Last but not least is the need for saving products and incentives that work for people on low incomes. We were struck by the evidence from one of the money mentor graduates at Toynbee hall, who said:
“I went to the bank to ask about saving. They told me that I could save £5,000 in an ISA. I was thinking of saving £1 or £2 a week, so I immediately thought that this wasn’t for people like me.”
Case after case bears witness to the statement that, for too many people, existing products and services do not work. We need to bear down on that market failure.
The third strand underpinning our recommendations is about a need for a longer-term commitment to building numeracy, financial skills and capability. There is a specific recommendation that the existing commitment to secondary schools should be brought forward into primary schools. Over the years, the Minister has been a passionate advocate of early intervention, and she understands the importance of shaping habits and skills at an early age.
Financial education needs to start earlier. There must be a robust, outcomes-based evaluation of how to improve financial capability, and a role for a reformed Money Advice Service to co-ordinate that. The evidence was compelling. Catherine McGrath of Barclays said:
“In New Zealand”—
where she comes from—
“financial inclusion is not a debate that is in the sector really at all. The only thing that I can point to...is that financial education is at the heart of the education curriculum and has been for quite a considerable period of time.”
In conclusion, we take great pride in having one of the most sophisticated financial services systems in the world, but it does not work for everyone. The consequence is that too many people’s lives are harder than they need to be. We have a major challenge in building the financial resilience of the millions of households who are living on the edge.
A recovering economy is clearly a necessary condition. Arguably, a reassertion of the value of thrift and saving is the long-term cultural requirement we need to see, but in the short term, the next Government can do a great deal to harness the energy and creativity of many organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors to reduce financial exclusion and give more people the opportunity to create a future of greater possibility, both for themselves and for their families. I hope that that idea has cross-party support.
I agree with everything that my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd) said. I am grateful to him for securing the debate on this important subject. He referred to the Financial Inclusion Commission’s report, which is an important piece of work that I am extremely interested in.
I hope to be able to give my hon. Friend an overview of the many things the Government have done that show that we have been absolutely committed to trying to improve the plight of the financially vulnerable. We see financial inclusion in two parts. First, it has to enable people. Secondly, it has to empower them. Enabling means making sure that people have the tools to manage and save their money, using services such as bank accounts. Empowering means equipping people with the skills and knowledge to make the right financial decisions. The Government have taken significant steps in pursuing that agenda.
First, on basic bank accounts, as my hon. Friend pointed out, independent research published last year showed that about 1.9 million adults in the UK were without a bank account. Of course, there are also many who have bank accounts but cannot use them because fees have been so racked up that they cannot afford to pay. Therefore, in December the Government secured a landmark deal with the major banks, which will end fees for failed payments as well as ensure access to banking facilities for all. We held extensive negotiations with the banking industry to bring basic bank accounts up to scratch.
The result is that the nine major high street banks and building societies have agreed to offer a better deal for customers. Truly fee-free accounts will be available to anyone who does not already have a bank account or who cannot use their existing account owing to financial difficulties.
Once someone has a bank account and can begin to manage their finances, other issues automatically become important. Such issues include physical access to banking: a branch or free-to-use ATM near work or home. In terms of the Post Office and rural access to banking, while we appreciate that all banks must balance customer interests with market competition and other commercial factors, alongside the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, I have chaired a series of round tables with senior representatives from UK banks and building societies at which we challenged industry to explore how we could improve customers’ access to banking services. We have looked at how to increase awareness of the services provided through the Post Office’s extensive network, which will ensure that essential banking facilities are available in as many communities as possible.
Customers can withdraw money, deposit cash and cheques and check balances at all 11,700 post office branches in the UK. The Government have committed almost £2 billion to protect and modernise the post office network. I recently met senior people from the Post Office to discuss how they could improve things further, with longer opening hours and better security in post offices for those wanting to deposit cash. It is vital in relation to access to finance that the post office network should become part of the solution.
We have also made crucial progress on ATM provision. The number of free-to-use ATMs is at an all-time high, with 97% of withdrawals being made free of charge. However, it is often the most disadvantaged communities that cannot get access to free-to-use ATMs, so the Government are working closely with the LINK network’s financial inclusion programme to subsidise free-to-use cashpoints in more than 1,400 remote and deprived areas across the UK. Importantly, members of the public can nominate their own area. My round tables with bankers have opened up positive discussions and looked at what greater functionality ATMs could provide over and above cash withdrawals and balance inquiry services.
Of course, however, we realise that bank accounts are only one of several ways of furthering financial inclusion, and that credit unions also play a key role in providing financial services to more than 1 million customers across Britain. We would like that to double or treble, so we have taken significant action to ensure that credit unions go from strength to strength. Last summer, I issued a call for evidence on credit unions, asking for views about their future and what more the Government could do to support the development of the movement. We have committed to using the responses to the call for evidence when considering legislative amendments for the next Parliament. On 1 April last year, we raised the interest rate cap on British credit unions from 2% to 3% per month, to enable credit unions to become more sustainable over the long term. As my hon. Friend said, we have committed £38 million to the credit union expansion project, with the clear aim of helping credit unions to modernise, be sustainable and expand to meet demand.
Similarly, community development finance institutions provide finance to under-served markets and are another important tool in reaching out to the financially excluded. In 2012 the Government created a £60 million fund for CDFIs to lend to businesses from deprived areas and disadvantaged groups, and in February they commissioned a report exploring how the CDFI sector can operate more sustainably. That will provide more evidence about the sector and, building on that, we hope that CDFIs will be able to help even more viable smaller businesses and consumers to gain access to the finance they desperately need.
As has been mentioned, the Government have also taken steps to tackle those who prey on the financially excluded and make the problem worse. I know that in some circumstances short-term loans provide a needed service to people who need money quickly; but customers must be protected from poor or even predatory practice in those markets, which is why we have fundamentally reformed the regulation of consumer credit to deliver a market that helps with customers’ needs. Last year, we transferred responsibility for regulating consumer credit from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA has introduced tough new rules in both the payday and debt management sectors to improve consumer protection, and has far greater powers than the OFT did to punish breaches of those rules.
The hon. Member for Chippenham (Duncan Hames) and my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner asked about whether greater consideration should be given to individuals’ debt repayments. I can inform them that the FCA requires those collecting consumer credit debts to leave a subsistence balance in a consumer’s bank account to enable them to continue to pay for essentials, including food, energy and rent. I consider that essential and have recently written to the FCA on that very point. In addition, we have passed legislation that places a duty on the FCA to cap the total cost of payday loans. That came into force on 2 January.
My hon. Friend is right to talk of the massive contribution that financial innovation can make, particularly for those who are financially vulnerable. Ideas such as mobile payments, which mean that instead of hanging on for ages with a customer service unit, waiting for an answer, people can simply ping cash using a mobile number, are important for all of us, but particularly for the financially vulnerable. Being able to make remittances at the press of a button is incredibly valuable for people with family overseas; and many other innovations in the FinTech sphere will help financially vulnerable people. The present Government have done more than any other to support financial innovation. I am sure that my hon. Friend will want to hear what more we are doing, at the Budget tomorrow; he will be delighted.
The second part of financial inclusion is empowering consumers so that they have a better understanding of financial services and what is available to them, so I want to talk about financial education—how we help people to make the best of financial tools and ensure that future generations will be financially literate. By establishing the Money Advice Service in 2011 we have ensured that consumers have access to free money advice. There is always somewhere for vulnerable consumers to turn. We have also committed to supporting new pensions freedoms through free and impartial guidance from Pension Wise, to help people make informed and confident decisions about how they use their pension savings in retirement.
Not only can education initiatives help to solve a problem now; they can help to prevent future problems. In September 2014, we made financial literacy a compulsory part of the national curriculum. As part of the citizenship course for 11 to 16-year-olds, pupils will learn about the importance of budgeting, sound management of money, and credit and debt, as well as understanding different financial services and products. For younger children, the Government are working with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s credit union taskforce, to fund a project called LifeSavers, which will go into primary schools and teach young people good financial habits. It will also introduce them to credit unions, which, as hon. Members will know, have a clear steer to help with saving as well as borrowing.
I am sure that my hon. Friend will appreciate that financial inclusion is a complex issue. I absolutely assure him that I will ensure that the Government put the consumer at the heart of financial policy and that we are looking to create a financial sector that is truly inclusive for the next generation. I am personally committed to that agenda, and assure my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Chippenham that, given the opportunity, we will put financial inclusion at the heart of the next Government’s agenda. Once again, I thank my hon. Friend for raising these important issues in what has been an excellent debate.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Westminster HallWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
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No time limit has been allocated to speeches in this debate. I have seven Members down to speak, but there are a lot more than that in the Chamber, so if you wish to speak, you will have to catch my eye. With interventions considered, if Mr Williams takes only 10 minutes to introduce the debate, Members will have 10 minutes each, but there may be less time than that, so some brevity would be appreciated.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have this debate and it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. In the midst of Wales tourism week and on the eve of the Budget, I would like to make the case for a reduction in the VAT rate for the tourism industry from 20% to 5% specifically, and importantly, for visitor attractions and accommodation, to bring our country into line with competitor destinations in the European Union.
The Minister has been well lobbied on this issue and perhaps he gets tired of hearing the arguments that some of us advance for that cause, but I would like to draw his attention to research published recently on behalf of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign. I am aware that the campaign recently met Treasury officials. The research further strengthens the case for making a change in our VAT regime. That case is borne out by the number of Members here for the debate representing constituencies across the United Kingdom.
As the hon. Gentleman is mentioning the diverse, wide range of constituencies, this is an opportune moment to say that I have had correspondence from Shonnie MacRitchie from the County hotel in Stornoway, who points out that the UK is the 138th most competitive of 140 for VAT in tourism. Indeed, there are only two other countries in the EU that have not reduced that VAT rate. That could be done now without any derogation from Europe, so does he agree that it should be done?
I am mindful of your stipulations, Ms Dorries, but I very much concur with that intervention. The debate is about making all component parts of the United Kingdom competitive across the board with our friends and colleagues in Europe. There are few constituencies—in fact, I cannot think of any—that would not benefit from a reduced rate of VAT, whether through accommodation or visitor attractions.
On that point, my constituency would benefit by about £10.5 million as a result of such a change. This is about not just the tourist resorts, but the inner cities, which will benefit even more. It is a question of how we get the support of MPs from areas not known for tourism—particularly those from London—which will benefit enormously.
I am grateful for that intervention. My hon. Friend is right: the name “English riviera” speaks for itself about the importance of the tourism sector to his constituency. He is right that more generally it would benefit just about all component parts of the UK: cities and rural areas alike. That is the spirit in which the debate and the Cut Tourism VAT campaign’s call has been made.
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is perhaps a particular challenge in those parts of the country that are overly dependent on tourism? In the south-west, tourism is a substantial part of our economy.
My hon. Friend is right that the debate has a strong, important regional dimension. That is borne out by the representatives here today.
Such is the nature of the debate, with it being a few weeks before Dissolution, that it could be something of a damp squib. However, I would rather raise this matter with the Minister before the Budget than after it. In many ways this is an opportune moment to remind ourselves of the importance of the tourism sector. In Wales, we are celebrating Wales tourism week in which thousands of our local hoteliers and attraction owners will be showcasing what Wales has to offer. What better way is there not just to celebrate what is happening in the industry at the moment, but to promote its opportunities for growth? That is what the debate is all about.
The tourism sector currently contributes £3.1 billion to Wales’s GDP, which is 6% of its total. It also accounts for 8% of jobs in Wales—a huge number. When we add in those supporting businesses down the supply chain, we see that the sector contributes about £7 billion to Wales’s GDP, which accounts for 14% of the Welsh economy and 15% of jobs.
Quite rightly, the promotion of the Welsh tourism sector is a devolved responsibility. Visit Wales does a lot of excellent work in promoting the Principality, but on VAT it is the Treasury and this place that has primacy and that is why we are asking for action. The debate is about sustaining the tourism sector, but, critically, it is also about growing it. I believe that this could give the industry the financial jolt that it needs.
The hon. Gentleman is coming on to sustainability. We are looking not only to make jobs, but to sustain those already there. Many people in the industry are finding it difficult to keep going, but if a VAT cut were to be implemented, that would go an enormous way towards retaining those jobs.
The hon. Gentleman is right. It is also about sustaining and building on the quality of jobs in the industry. That is important. Traditionally, the level of wages in the tourism sector has been low. However, I am confident that any VAT cut would feed its way through to wage increases as well.
Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way and congratulate him on the debate. When it comes to jobs, does he agree that lots of young people find jobs in tourism, so the benefits of increasing tourism will go disproportionately to them, which would be good from a social perspective?
The hon. Lady is right that it is about developing for a social perspective and building a skills base for the future. Many parts of the tourism sector are ideal way for doing just that.
I will proceed and not take any more interventions. The Cut Tourism VAT campaign commissioned a report by Nevin Associates Ltd, which suggests that a change in VAT would give the UK a £4 billion economic boost, with £166.5 million coming to Wales. There would be 6,000 more jobs in Wales and 120,000 across the UK. In my constituency, with its vibrant local tourism sector, that could amount to a £5 million injection into our economy.
My hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Mr Sanders) talked about a £10.5 million impact in his constituency, but £5 million would be very important to Ceredigion’s economy. That could create 166 jobs directly and many more indirectly.
Let us look at the arguments borne out of the research a little more closely. First, we need to talk about the increased tax revenue for HM Treasury. Research indicates that, yes, there would be a net revenue loss to the Treasury for the first two years, but after five years such a move would generate a positive net value of £668 million and over 10 years that value could reach £4 billion. Those are significant figures.
Where does that money come from? The research indicates six key areas. First, there will be lower prices, which will create greater demand and much higher turnover in the sector. Secondly, the Treasury will receive increased income tax and national insurance payments generated by the new jobs that we have talked about and, critically, by higher wages in the sector. Thirdly, there will be savings in social security payments as a consequence of lower unemployment, with some of the new jobs created in the sector taken up by those who were previously unemployed. Fourthly, there will be increased corporation tax payments as a result of the higher turnover and growth in those businesses that we all aspire to. Fifthly, there will be an increase in income taxes paid on dividends to shareholders, which would be generated by the accommodation and attraction sectors. Sixthly, there will be the multiplier effect of the additional taxes generated down the supply chain from the accommodation and attraction industries.
I think back to debates and the petitions presented at the time of the VAT measure on static caravans, which stemmed from an unfortunate Budget. I am sure that tomorrow’s Budget will be vastly more successful than that. I remember talking to operatives in my constituency about that very narrow thing, the sale of static caravans in west Wales, and the knock-on effect of the reduction on VAT was immense. The highly integrated nature of the tourist economy was clear in that debate, so the knock-on effects of this change could be hugely significant for the rest of the economy. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris), it would be a real boost for regional economies and tourism-dependent areas such as mine. In my local economy, if we take out the big employers, such as the national health service, the local authority and two universities, a cross-section of small businesses is left, largely involved in farming and tourism, and we need to grow those businesses.
I move on to the impact that this change would have on the UK’s balance of trade. New research published in this area has provided information that was not considered before; the research shows that a significant boost would be provided to the UK’s exports. That is important, given the internationally competitive nature of the sector and concerns about the UK balance of trade deficit. In 2013, tourism expenditure by overseas visitors to the UK was £21 billion, which accounted for 3.8% of the UK’s total exports of £550 billion. Over a 10-year period, the research by Nevin Associates Ltd indicates that the total improvement in the UK’s balance of trade in response to a VAT cut would be £20 billion, which is a huge potential contribution.
The other area of growth is the number of businesses paying VAT. We all know that the UK tourism industry is populated by a very large number of very small firms that may or may not choose to expand or invest in order to keep below the VAT threshold. If my hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) is called to speak, he may want to talk specifically about the issue of VAT thresholds. Lower VAT would encourage these companies to register for VAT and develop their businesses.
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. He has been emphasising all the pluses and why we should be acting to reduce VAT, but has he made an assessment of the likely effects on the economy from failing to act on reducing the rate of VAT to accommodation, restaurants and visitor attractions?
Well, I am specifically talking about visitor attractions and accommodation. In this House we are all united by one thing: we want to see our economy growing and thriving. My contention is—I think it is the contention of most people in the Chamber today—that reducing VAT is a strong way of boosting our economy. Lower VAT would encourage these companies to register for VAT and develop their businesses. In France, the amount of businesses falling outside the tax regime has been cut by an estimated €720 million a year, following hospitality VAT reductions.
As the Minister is aware—this is the root of this debate—differential rates of VAT can be introduced due to EU legislation, and all but three countries in the EU have a reduced rate of VAT on the tourism sector. Only the UK, Denmark—which has no reduced rates for goods or services—and Slovakia have not reduced rates. Lithuania used to have no reduced rate, but in January, they lowered their rate of VAT on hotel accommodation to 9%.
Looking at the Irish experience—perhaps pre-empting comments from friends from Northern Ireland today—according to the review of the policy in Eire by the Irish Government, who cut tourism VAT in 2011, they have seen employment increase by 20,000 people directly in the tourism sector. Operators have passed VAT reductions down to customers and as a result, we have seen a sustained growth in tourists and earnings, meaning that what was a temporary measure is now to become a permanent one.
The Minister will also be aware of the work of Professor Blake and the evidence session of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport in which he spoke in January. He concluded—he is a former Treasury adviser—that reducing tourism VAT was a very efficient tax reduction for two reasons. First, he said that VAT on tourism was not an efficient way of creating revenue, as tourism was an elastic product, meaning that demand would go up as well as down. Secondly, he said that tourism VAT was a tax on domestic goods while foreign goods were being left untaxed. Therefore, that made the VAT highly inefficient, as customers will buy foreign goods over domestic ones. Those of us who are trying to promote growth in the domestic sector want people to have holiday weekends in Aberystwyth and Aberaeron, not over in Barcelona and Torremolinos. That is the nature of the competition that we face.
As part of the recent Select Committee on Welsh Affairs report, it was agreed to look at this issue. The Select Committee agreed and included in its recommendations to the UK Government that
“the UK Government review its policy on the VAT rate for…tourism…with the ultimate aim of reducing the current 20% rate.”
The Government rejected that. I am not expecting a miraculous change overnight on the basis of this debate, although that is what I wish for. However, I hope that at the very least, this debate will promote continued reflection on the matter by the Treasury. There is a message there for the Labour party as well, because sadly, to date, the messages we have had on this issue from Labour have not been particularly robust either. However, what I can say is that the Cut Tourism VAT campaign will continue to push the case as robustly as we can.
Finally, the global recession may well have been the main reason, between 2006 and 2012, for falling numbers of visitors to these islands. However, since 2013, we have experienced—Wales included—an upward trajectory, which we all celebrate. The Government, through VisitBritain, have put funds into promoting tourism to good effect, as have our Assembly Government in Cardiff. However, our contention is that there is a vast potential for growth. As the economy continues to grow, as deficit reduction yields results and as public finances are managed, the Government—whatever their political complexion—need to address this issue.
I detect a huge enthusiasm in large parts of this country for developing the tourism sector. There is a great deal of innovation and some really impressive personalities out there developing their businesses. Reducing VAT in this selective way—on accommodation and on visitor attractions—would be the biggest boost imaginable for our very important tourism sector.
It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams), who is a fellow Welshman. We are having this debate in Welsh tourist week, and we have had a very good week promoting the pleasures that people can experience when they come to Wales.
I pay tribute to the Cut Tourism VAT campaign group for its excellent campaign. If the Chancellor is minded to make an announcement tomorrow and follow suit with what we are asking for in this debate, it would be a lot to do with the long-term work of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign, and indeed, the cross-party support that it has received.
I am very much an opponent of VAT. I believe that, as a consumer tax, it is regressive and hits the poorest in our society, an argument that I shall develop later. I agreed with the Prime Minister when he said, as Leader of the Opposition only a few weeks before the last general election, that VAT was a regressive tax and that it has had negative implications for the economy. I have been consistent in my view and I believe that the rise in VAT in 2010 sucked oxygen out of the economy at a very difficult time and held sectors back, including tourism.
Does my hon. Friend agree that the temporary reduction in VAT that the Labour Government introduced in the previous Parliament was successful in creating the growth that this Chancellor inherited from that Labour Government?
Yes, indeed; it was a brave step. [Interruption.] It is interesting that we are getting heckled from across the Chamber by people who voted to put VAT up previously, but are campaigning here today to cut it. We are not going to take any lessons from some Members here in the Chamber today. I believe, as does the hon. Member for Ceredigion, whom I congratulate on securing this debate, that cutting VAT would give a great example to the industry.
In the past few months, I have spent time in France and the Republic of Ireland, where I have seen our near neighbours benefit from a cut in value added tax.
I agree with what the hon. Gentleman is saying about VAT, but I have to ask him this: when VAT was increased in this Parliament, why did the Labour party abstain on that vote?
I do not speak for the Labour party, and if the hon. Gentleman checks the records, he will see that I do not vote with the Labour party when I think that that is right. I speak for myself. Unlike the sheep in the Scottish National party, who are all herded through one Lobby, I tend to have a little independence of spirit and mind when it comes to these issues. I feel very strongly that the case has been made to cut VAT on this occasion and I will certainly support any amendment tabled in the Budget to ensure that there is a cut. I hope that Conservative Members who voted to put VAT up before but now support a cut will follow their conscience and vote to cut VAT for tourism.
Since 2012-13, there has been growth in tourism right across the four nations of the United Kingdom. It is a resilient industry, but it is the industry itself that is asking for a cut, because it feels that it could contribute so much more in employment and generating wealth for regional economies and the UK economy if there was a cut.
As the hon. Member for Ceredigion said, Ireland has reduced its VAT on tourism to 9%. Only last week, I was in the Republic of Ireland. We were launching the new vessel that goes between my constituency and Dublin. Holyhead to Dublin has been branded the new Dover to Calais, and as Dublin is one of the fastest growing ports in Europe, that benefits my constituency. Also, as we are near neighbours, the vessel takes people, who come from places across the United Kingdom, from Wales to holiday in the Republic of Ireland. My colleagues from Northern Ireland will have experience of this. The crossing from Holyhead to the Republic of Ireland takes only two hours. Many tourism operators that book people going to Ireland overnight say that one reason why they are going to Ireland is that the Irish Government have focused on tourism, focused on the brand and focused on how tax reductions on accommodation help the industry.
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that many hotels that offer discounts and packages such as short-stay breaks, particularly in Northern Ireland, Wales and on the western fringes of Scotland, find that they are impacted by the very attractive bargains that can be offered by their counterparts in the Irish Republic precisely because of the VAT rate?
Absolutely. That is the case I am making, and I am sure that colleagues from the south of England will see the same with France and, in particular, northern France and the Dover to Calais route.
This campaign, as I said, has been industry led. It has been led well by the industry, which has made a very articulate case. However, I believe that the campaign should also be people focused, because a lot of jobs could be created and many of the people who would be affected positively by a cut—
Before the break, I indicated that the campaign had been brilliantly led by the industry, but that we needed to focus on people and get the message across to the great British public. Cheaper and more fairly priced holidays for consumers in the UK would help those with low earnings considerably, because VAT disproportionately affects such people. I believe that VAT at 20% is simply too high. When a working-class family of four go out for a meal, they share a fifth of their bill with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a sense, everybody who goes out for a meal takes the Chancellor with them, because they have to pay 20% of the total to the Treasury. That is too much for many families, and it has reduced many people’s spending power.
A cut in the VAT rate would also have a positive impact on jobs. As has been indicated, most of the jobs that have been created in tourism are low skilled and for young people. I welcome any reduction in youth unemployment, which has been stubbornly high. Those who work in the industry have indicated that one of the first things that they would do if VAT were cut is employ more people, to provide a stimulus to their businesses and to the sector. In my constituency, an estimated 120 jobs would be created, which would boost the local economy by some £3.8 million. The measure could bring huge sums of money into local economies and the UK Treasury in the long term. I understand that it will be difficult to convince the Treasury when there would be, in the first instance, a hit on moneys that are coming into the Treasury—
Order. Mr Owen, you have had almost eight minutes, and I will have to restrict other speeches to six minutes. If you could draw your remarks to a close soon, that would be good.
I misunderstood you, Ms Dorries. I thought that there was no time limit.
There is now, and I will abide by it. As someone who has consistently opposed increases in VAT, I believe that a reduction would help local economies, the tourism sector and the low paid in our society. It would be good for the country and good for jobs. I hope that the Treasury, on the eve of the Budget, will reconsider. If we are going to have a give-away Budget tomorrow, let the Chancellor give way on that important issue.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries, for what I believe is the first time.
Torridge and West Devon, which I have the privilege to represent, is a tapestry of small tourist businesses. In common with many hon. Members who are in the Chamber today, I represent a coastal area as well as a large rural area. Across the length and breadth of the south-west, particularly in my constituency—my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Sir Nick Harvey) is here, and he will know what I mean—there is an enormous yearning for something that will boost the tourism industry. Along with agriculture, tourism is the backbone and staple of Devon, Cornwall and the south-west. We are waiting for something that will bring the benefits of the recovery to the south-west. Throughout the south-west, there is a growing consensus—not only from the tourism industry, but from other regional figures who have examined the economy—that a cut in VAT on the tourist industry would provide such a boost.
We have debated the matter on two or three occasions. In 2011, my hon. Friend the Minister said that it was too early to cut the rate of VAT, that we had not taken into account the impact on the economy and that we should not jeopardise our efforts to bear down on the deficit. We all understood in 2011 that it was important not to shake international confidence, and to keep interest rates low. We returned to the subject in 2013, when he told us that the problem was that the Treasury’s analysis produced figures that were different from those of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign. He said that according to the Treasury’s analysis, there was no equivalence between the potential gains from the cut and the loss of tax revenue in the first few years. He said so again last year. Why, then, does independent, third-party research from some very serious figures, such as Professor Blake and Deloitte, conclude that although there would be a revenue fall in the first two or three years, it would be more than made good by the economic activity generated in the sector, which is critical all over the country?
I submit that we must ensure that we do not create an uneven recovery that fails to reach all parts of the country. In the south-west, although we are enormously grateful for the effects of the Government’s stewardship and their long-term economic plan, which are reaching us, pockets of our economy have not yet fully come back to health. This measure is a golden wand that would conjure into life confidence, buoyancy and a willingness to invest. I urge the Minister to commend it to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Torridge and West Devon is one of the lowest-waged areas in the country. It shares all the traditional disadvantages of coastal areas, and tourism is its most important staple. I urge the Minister to listen to the campaign and to the voices of my hon. Friends and Members from all parties who say that one of the most important things that can be done to reach those hard-to-reach areas—across the economy, including in inner cities—is to provide that boost.
The Irish experience is positive. Our tourism industry is at a competitive disadvantage, compared with many of our neighbours. This important measure would give enormous assistance to hundreds of thousands of people, and provide important jobs in disadvantaged areas and to young people, as the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) said. I urgently commend it to the Minister.
It is a pleasure to take part in this important debate and to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) on bringing forward this issue.
I have been raising this matter for more than a decade. I first asked a question about golf tourism in 2004, at which time I represented the magnificent golf course at Carnoustie—sadly, I no longer represent it, due to boundary changes. I had no luck with the Chancellor at the time, and I have had no luck with Chancellors since.
Tourism is a vital part of Angus’s local economy. According to the Government’s official labour market statistics, tourism-related jobs account for a higher percentage of the workforce in Angus than the UK and Scottish averages, which is not surprising, given the wonderful mountain glens and coastal areas that we enjoy. Many other rural areas across all parts of the United Kingdom rely heavily on such jobs. The current campaign has a lot of support in Scotland, including from the Scottish Tourism Alliance.
Unlike many other parts of the European Union, there is currently no provision in the UK for charging a lower rate of VAT for tourism-related businesses, yet there is nothing to prevent the Government from doing so. For example, it has been done for hotel accommodation in 24 of the 28 European Union states, including Germany and France. The factsheet of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign shows that the UK has the second highest rate of VAT on hotel accommodation. It is exceeded only by Denmark, and it is equal to Slovenia, while Luxembourg’s rate is 3%, and Portugal, which is a major tourist destination, has a rate of 6%. Tourism businesses are fighting hard to retain business against cheaper destinations, and those lower rates give continental destinations a considerable advantage over businesses in the UK.
The 2013 World Economic Forum report on travel and transportation ranked the UK 138th out of 140 countries on the basis of price competitiveness. The VisitBritain website laments Britain’s lack of competitiveness for visitors from the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. It showed that Britain has a clear competitive weakness in terms of value for money and expense. Ratings of holidays in Britain were below almost every major European destination for value and expense for both short and long-haul visitors. Britain was the only destination to have a negative balance, in terms of expense, compared with expectations.
The Government have not always been averse to cutting VAT on selective tourism-related operations. In the 2012 Budget, they cut the VAT charge on ski lifts, which was a welcome change—especially for businesses in the constituency of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, which were the main beneficiaries. That vividly illustrates that it can be done and that it need not apply only to accommodation facilities.
Ireland’s 9% rate applies to facilities for taking part in sporting activities, including green fees charged for golf and subscriptions charged by non-member-owned golf clubs. A rate of that kind would be a boost for places such as Carnoustie. It puts the Irish at a competitive advantage, compared with the wonderful golf clubs in Scotland and other parts of the UK. In addition to that 9% rate, for some time Ireland had a 13.5% rate on some other services, including short-term car hire and tour guide services, which shows that a multitude of things can be done to assist tourism businesses.
The Government’s 2011 tourism strategy stated that they aimed to generate 4 million extra visitors by 2015. It said:
“The increase in overseas visitors would bring an extra £2 billion worth of visitor spend and help to create 50,000 new jobs across the country over that period, securing tourism’s place as one of Britain’s biggest industries.”
I struggle to see how the GREAT campaign and simplifying visa applications for Chinese visitors, which seems to be all that has been done so far, could in isolation do anything to achieve those objectives. However, a cut in VAT would have a significant impact.
Clearly, there is a huge opportunity to increase employment by promoting tourism. One of the most effective ways of doing that is to cut VAT on tourism businesses, which is well within the Government’s power.
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is a strong environmental argument for reducing tourism VAT? It would encourage more people to take domestic holidays in the UK, not just in Scotland, but in lovely Brighton Pavilion.
I am sure that is the case. The hon. Lady can develop that argument if she catches the Chair’s eye.
It is not cheap to holiday in many areas of the UK. The standard rate of VAT puts our tourism businesses at a considerable disadvantage when competing with other parts of Europe. An increase in visitors would not only help tourism businesses, but bring much-needed income into many other businesses in the rural economy. The Republic of Ireland’s 9% rate—its standard rate is 24%—is calculated to have boosted the Irish economy by about €40 million and created between 5,600 and 35,000 jobs, depending on how the figure is calculated. The Irish Minister for Finance claimed in his Budget speech that it created 15,000 jobs. Various pieces of research have shown that a similar—perhaps a greater—effect could be achieved here, including Professor Blake’s work, which has already been referred to.
A VAT cut would reduce the Treasury’s income in the short term, but it would generate a stimulus that created a large number of jobs and increased businesses directly and indirectly. It could lead to a significant, long-term increase in income that would have a positive effect on the whole economy. Research suggests that up to 123,000 jobs could be created in the UK, which could contribute a surplus to the Treasury of £3.9 billion over 10 years. Additional spending and growth in tourism and the wider economy could produce GDP gains of up to £4 billion per year.
The Irish experience suggests that the cost per job created by the VAT cut is about €23,000. That is a competitive rate for creating jobs—certainly, in rural areas of the UK. I urge the Minister, even at this late stage, to look positively at cutting VAT to give a much-needed boost to our rural economies.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) not only on securing this debate but on having campaigned vigorously for years on this theme.
I have only one point to make. I was standing in Strangers yesterday holding up a placard about VAT and tourism while pointing at a screen. I chanced to ask the person who had asked me to do that, when he put his camera down, how long the campaign had been running for. He said that it had been running for about 18 years, to his knowledge. Hon. Members can imagine people from the industry trooping into the Treasury during those 18 years to speak to stony-faced mandarins, who find reasons for inaction. Ministers will have come and gone during that time, but the Treasury’s line will be familiar to the people lobbying it.
I am sure that, in those discussions, the Treasury will have heard good words, such as “growth”, “expansion”, “development” and “jobs”, and phrases it does not want to hear, such as “forfeit of revenue”, “loss of income” and so on. However, a counter-argument has always been put, which I could put in terms of a Laffer curve if I actually understood what a Laffer curve was. In simple terms, the counter-argument is that if there is development and growth, there will be more taxpayers, and more business will be done, so there will be more revenue and other gains, such as regeneration, which other Members have spoken about. The real choice, as far as the Treasury is concerned, is between getting more tax at a lower rate from more people, and getting more tax at a higher rate from fewer people.
That seems to be the hard choice the Treasury faces, and it is at best cost-neutral. I am not sure that it is cost-neutral in the short term—no one has suggested that, I think—but it certainly is in the long term, and it has other benefits, including regeneration and reviving areas such as the south-west and north-west.
With five visits being made outwards from the UK for every two incoming visits, would there not be an additional benefit, of improving the balance of trade?
Indeed. Many persuasive arguments would suggest a net benefit to the Treasury from what we propose.
Treasury scepticism is not wholly unreasonable, but it can be allayed. I do not think that international comparisons console the Treasury especially; perhaps the thinking is that such comparisons relate to foreign places where the world functions differently, and tax regimes and people’s behaviour are different, and therefore the Treasury is not satisfied by ample international evidence. Certainly it will not be satisfied by research, however good, commissioned by the industry.
There is a way forward, however. The solution is not simply inaction. The Treasury could commission its own independent research, on a basis agreeable to the industry. That would be a huge step forward—some progress in relation to the past 18 or 19 years. It would be a step along the path of evidence-led policy—a good step to take. We would all be amazed if tomorrow the Chancellor said that he had decided to cut VAT for tourism. We would fall about and do more than wave our Order Papers—we would go into paroxysms. However, he could, if he wanted, do something that would cost nothing and might attract a great deal of good will: he could say, “We will have some independent research commissioned on this very difficult subject on which Parliament has occupied itself for some considerable time.” That would lay the ghost to rest and bottom out the issue.
Why should the Chancellor not do that? It would be an intelligent reaction to the plausible and effective argument that has been put by a crucial industry employing many more people than is ordinarily to be expected. If the Chancellor does not do that, he could be embarrassed later by someone moving an amendment to require the exact same thing. I have little doubt that it would be carried, as there is widespread support in the House for such research.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I join other hon. Members in congratulating the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) on securing the debate, which is appropriate at the beginning of Wales tourism week. I was pleased to be part of a small group that welcomed representatives of the tourism sector to the Wales Office yesterday, and on Thursday and Friday I will be getting involved with that sector in my constituency, to highlight its importance to the economy there.
I am taking part in the debate very much in my constituency role. My constituency is the second most dependent on tourism in the country, if the experts are to be believed. It has everything from seaside resorts such as Llandudno to historical towns such as Conwy; it has the Conwy valley, and access to Snowdonia via Betws-y-Coed. Tourism is a vibrant and growing sector of the economy, and in many ways it shows what small rural businesses can do. The Government have a great track record of support for small businesses such as those in the tourism sector. Many will be sole traders, or husband-and-wife partnerships, and the significant increases in the personal allowance will make a difference to the profitability and value of those individuals’ businesses. The increase is a huge contribution to the well-being of those who run small tourist-related businesses.
The reductions in corporation tax also obviously have an effect, but just as important, from the point of view of a sector employing so many staff, is the introduction of the employment allowance—in effect a national insurance rebate. That makes a huge difference. Finally, there have been changes to business rates, including the business rates rebate, which also makes a difference to small tourism providers. So the story is not one of the Government ignoring the small business sector. There is plenty of evidence of support being offered to the sector; but we seem to have a problem getting the message across about whether a VAT reduction would make a significant difference.
I am persuaded of the evidence, but I agree with the hon. Member for Southport (John Pugh) that there is unlikely to be an announcement in the Budget tomorrow. However, it is important to keep a watching brief. I find it hard not to agree with the recommendation about an independent examination of the evidence. If it pointed clearly to a huge implementation cost, we could be persuaded that the Treasury is right in its approach to the issue; but if any independent evidence suggested that the campaigners’ arguments are valid, there would be a good reason to reconsider reducing VAT.
There are examples on which to build. I was one of the MPs who campaigned vigorously against the proposal to put 20% VAT on static caravans, and I am delighted to say that the Treasury listened. It is no bad thing for any Department to listen to points made by Back-Bench Members on behalf of their constituents. I was disappointed by the comments of the hon. Member for Angus (Mr Weir), who dissuaded me from thinking I might have any influence on Government policy. As I have a cable car in my constituency, I thought my efforts towards a reduction to 5% were just as important as those of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Finally, I have spent a significant time on the Public Accounts Committee during this Parliament, and we have gone on and on about tax avoidance, which clearly we should strongly condemn. However, we need clarity about the fact that the tax system should not create a situation that discourages businesses from growing. That is exactly what 20% VAT in the tourism industry does. A good-quality local bed and breakfast whose turnover hits the £80,000 threshold has a choice: increase turnover to £96,000 to stand still, or close for the rest of the winter. I find it unacceptable when I see that small businesses in places such as Betws-y-Coed have opted to close for the winter, because, being honest individuals, they do not want to avoid paying tax that is due, but the challenge of increasing turnover to a level at which they will still benefit from their efforts is far too much. That vast threshold keeps businesses from growing. Any policy that prevents businesses from wanting to grow and serve their customers needs to be looked at again.
In considering the 5% VAT target for the tourism sector, the key thing for the Treasury to examine is whether the 20% threshold stops good businesses growing. If the evidence suggests that it does, action should be taken.
It is nice to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) on obtaining the debate.
For the past 10 years, until last year, I was responsible for tourism and economic development in Portsmouth, and I cannot remember a time when, on visiting a tourist attraction, the first thing I was asked was not whether there was a chance of a reduction in VAT on that activity. An important issue is that many of those tourist attractions are on the cusp of survival. Some are working against the clock, trying to keep footfall to a level that sustains the jobs they provide. In my city, tourism brought in 10.2 million visitors, and the local economy has an annual tourist spend of £600 million—an awful lot of money. A lot more could be achieved if VAT were reduced.
Ferries operate out of my city to seven destinations in France, Spain and the Channel Islands, mostly in the months of May to September, and probably part of November. They are crowded with people from this country going to other parts of Europe. I look enviously at the way in which those people are treated on the other side, with cheap accommodation in first-class hotels, and attractions that are not pestered by a 20% rate of VAT. It would be to our enormous benefit if we could convince just a third of those tourists to stay in this country, but when I speak to tourists at the ferry port in Portsmouth and ask them why they have not decided to enjoy what we have to offer in Portsmouth, they say that our hotel prices are too high for a family of four or six, which we have to understand. Those hotels would see an enormous benefit from a VAT reduction almost immediately.
The figures provided by the Cut Tourism VAT campaign for the south-east and south-west, excluding London, show that 29,000 jobs would be created over a period of time. Okay, the Government will take a hit from reducing VAT from 20% to 15%, but can we really calculate what having 29,000 more people working in the economy will do for those people’s self-esteem, for the attractions in which they work and for the Treasury, which will benefit from the income of those people in gainful employment? We should not ignore the campaign, and I am sure that the Minister will not. He will have listened carefully to Members from across the political spectrum on this issue’s importance.
Sir Ben Ainslie’s sailing centre was recently built in Portsmouth, and we are grateful for the Government’s support. When tickets were advertised for an event to be held at the centre later this year, the whole allocation of 10,000 seats, which were offered to the people of Portsmouth, went in 24 hours. We expect 100,000 people to come for that event, but our problem is that we would like them to stay longer, rather than just coming for the day to watch the sailing attractions on the Solent. We would like to see them enjoy the other facilities, to fill our hotels and to generate income.
Portsmouth is important in the national scheme of things because it is the home of the Royal Navy, and we appreciate that much Government expenditure has gone into, and will continue to go into, the naval base, but the Government must support the most critical industry of all, which is fragile in many ways. Well over 12,500 people work in the tourism industry in my city, and many of them are in fragile job positions because of the cost of taking families into the various attractions. We have to do something, otherwise in the next Parliament there will be debates about the jobs that we have lost. I do not want that to happen; I am sure that nobody in this room, including the Minister, wants that. Let us be positive, and send the message to our colleagues in the next Parliament, and to Ministers in the next Government, that the tourism industry and cities that flourish because of tourism need the support that only the Government can provide. The best step forward would be to reduce VAT.
It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, and I thank the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) for securing it. None the less, it is a source of frustration that we have previously debated this issue. We are in jeopardy of missing a fantastic opportunity for all our communities; that has been the thrust of every comment so far.
I declare an interest, because I represent one of the most idyllic and beautiful constituencies in the United Kingdom, if not the world. Although I realise that every Member present is envious—I do not doubt that for a second—I hope they will keep an open mind on VAT reduction, which could help their constituencies to thrive, just as it would help my constituency of Strangford. Today we celebrate St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, north and south, and it is always a pleasure to do so. It was my pleasure last week to attend Champ UK’s annual St Patrick’s day event, at which I heard Tourism Ireland’s fantastic news about the increasing attractiveness of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination. Tourists seem to gravitate towards the Republic of Ireland, but the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency states that total overseas visitors to Northern Ireland for the first nine months of 2014 grew by 3%, which is a welcome development. However, we in Northern Ireland still fall foul of the Republic of Ireland’s 9% VAT rate, which was set in 2011.
Across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, our golf clubs provide fantastic accommodation and food, but there is a distortion of VAT payments between proprietary clubs and member-run clubs. Surely that anomaly should be addressed. Doing so would create more employment and would be good for tourism.
My hon. Friend is right. Hospitality services—golf clubs, hotels, restaurants and attractions—all suffer as a result of VAT on tourism, and it is important that we try to address the situation. That feeling is particularly tangible in Northern Ireland because we share a border with the Republic, which has a much lower VAT rate. Although we have seen an improvement in visitor numbers over the past year, which is good news, the benefits of a VAT reduction might have assisted those numbers even further. We are four years behind the Republic in implementing this decision, and I ask why. There has been a long-running campaign by the hospitality industry in the United Kingdom to reduce the VAT rate below the standard of 20% for services supplied to tourists, and I re-emphasise the importance of that industry to our economy. Tourism makes up 10% of Northern Ireland’s GDP and provides 40,000 jobs, and the sector is still growing.
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that one of the main challenges for tourism in our constituencies is extending the tourist season? A reduction in VAT would make weekend breaks and mini-breaks all the more affordable and attractive.
That illustrates the case for a VAT reduction. The tourist industry gives so much to us: it gives us global status as a destination, and growth. The industry aims to create more jobs, improve services and enhance the hospitality experience for which the UK is renowned.
The British Hospitality Association, when questioning operators within the industry, received some incredible responses, of which I am sure the Minister is aware. Some 82% of respondents said that, in the event of a reduction in VAT, they would invest more in the service they supply; 67% would create further employment positions; 57% would provide more training; and just under half would increase wages. There is a clear indication from the tourism industry that it could do a lot more. Although I recognise that there are concerns about the restrictions on the room for manoeuvre on public expenditure, a decision to reduce VAT would have long-term benefits, not least of which would be tourism spending spilling over into all areas of the economy in Strangford, across Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom.
It is important to rectify youth unemployment, and we can do that by expanding the tourism sector. In Northern Ireland we have a large number of enthusiastic young people who are taking tourism, catering and hospitality courses in a number of our South Eastern Regional colleges. There is clear interest and growth in the sector, and all we need to do is kick-start the sector. My local South Eastern Regional college in Ards in my Strangford constituency is training young people to an exceptionally high standard, and it is important to maintain excellence in this area. The launch of the Diageo tourism and hospitality academy, run by Belfast metropolitan college, is another indication of what we can do.
The Cut Tourism VAT campaign emphasises that British families and international visitors who choose a British holiday will pay almost three times as much VAT as they would in a French or German break, and twice as much VAT as they would in a break in Italy, Spain or the Republic of Ireland. Reducing VAT for tourism would help to lower prices all round, and it would incentivise families to take an annual trip that they might otherwise be reconsidering.
I have attended a number of events organised by Pubs of Ulster, and I believe that we should support the UK-wide Cut Tourism VAT campaign. Northern Ireland is home to some 10 breweries, and my constituency of Strangford is home to 63 pubs that support 672 jobs, 138 of which are for 16 to 24-year-olds, whom we should be encouraging. We have the attractions, restaurants, bars and locations, and it is now time to ensure that we can offer even more by asking the Minister genuinely and sincerely to consider reducing VAT.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) on securing this debate and on his work to highlight the issue. We have heard some excellent and important contributions that have reminded us of the importance of tourism to UK plc, and the case has been passionately made for reducing VAT below the standard rate of 20% on services supplied to tourists, in order to improve the sector’s international competitiveness.
As we have heard, member states’ discretion to set lower rates on goods and services is limited by European VAT law, but there is a special dispensation for a lower rate on certain supplies associated with tourism, specifically including hotel accommodation, certain restaurant services and some types of admission charge, including charges for entry to amusement parks. Some member states have made use of that dispensation to charge lower rates, including the Republic of Ireland, which introduced a lower rate of 9% in July 2011. We heard a bit more about that from some hon. Members in their contributions.
The campaign is long-running. This is the second debate on the topic in which I have taken part; the previous one took place almost exactly a year ago, ahead of last year’s Budget, and was secured by the hon. Member for South Down (Ms Ritchie), the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) and the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), from whom we have just heard.
The hon. Member for Ceredigion made a powerful opening speech focused partly on his constituency and the impact that a VAT reduction could have on the Welsh economy. He also made the point about a potential link between a VAT cut and economic growth. I take slight issue with his assertion that the Labour Opposition have not been robust in our approach to this matter; we have been robust, but unfortunately the answer that we have arrived at is similar to the Government’s rather than being the answer that he and others hoped for. Those hoping for a different answer from us and the Government include members of our own party; I acknowledge the role of Labour Back-Bench Members in the campaign, including that of my hon. Friend the Member for—is it Ynys Môn?
I thank my hon. Friend. I hate to get people’s constituency names wrong, so I am glad to have got it right on this occasion. He made the point that it is Welsh tourism week, and Welsh Members of Parliament from various parties have been well represented in this debate. I recognise his long history of campaigning on this issue, and particularly his focus on the number of jobs and the amount of economic growth that such a change could create in his constituency and the Welsh economy as a whole. I fully expect him to continue lobbying Labour colleagues and a future Labour Treasury on the issue, as he has done alongside others throughout this Parliament, but I am afraid that I will disappoint him and other hon. Members throughout the House once again by not making a commitment that the next Labour Government will reduce VAT for the tourism sector in the way that they envisage.
If the shadow Minister is giving us a blanket no, can she give us an assurance that whatever happens after 7 May, if Labour is in power, it will consider it? If the Government applied to Europe, they could get a reduction. At least if we knew that it would happen, a move would be made. Let us see what happens.
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I was just about to develop a point about the evidence presented by hon. Members in this debate, and how we will react to it if we form the next Labour Government and Treasury.
I start by recognising that cutting VAT is a significant monetary challenge. The Opposition are clear that we will put no unfunded promises in our manifesto, the basis on which we will seek election from the public in the coming weeks, and we will not borrow any more money for day-to-day spending. We note the evidence presented by hon. Members in this debate from notable academics who have considered the issue in detail. It has been cited in support of the argument by the Cut Tourism VAT campaign. From opposition, I am not in a position to assess that evidence in the same way that the Treasury can, as it has access to data sets that we do not, but I note the Minister’s answers to hon. Members in written parliamentary answers and oral answers during departmental question time in the House. He has said, on the basis of analysis undertaken by the Treasury, that a VAT cut for the sector would not produce sufficient economic growth to outweigh the consequent revenue shortfall. It would be helpful if in summing up, the Minister put more of that evidence on the record, if the position is the same as before.
I apologise for coming late; I was involved in the debate in the main Chamber. The hon. Lady says that the Opposition are unable to examine the figures, but during this Parliament the Opposition have posited that an overall decrease in VAT would encourage consumer spending on all sorts of important consumer goods. Does she not accept that there is evidence to suggest that the measure would at least help trap the multiplier in a more targeted way in areas that depend on the tourism economy?
The hon. Gentleman will know that in the early part of this Parliament, we proposed an alternative package to the Government as an immediate measure to stimulate the economy. It envisaged a temporary VAT cut, which at the time could have made a difference across the whole economy and might have meant being in a different position today. I note, though, that the previous Labour Government, when lobbied on the issue, felt that targeting the cut in the way then envisaged would not necessarily have produced the effects anticipated by hon. Members.
That is why it would be helpful to hear more from the Minister about current Treasury thinking and analysis of the available evidence. An incoming Labour Treasury would certainly want to consider all that evidence and see the analysis at first hand. In particular, we would want to understand the relationship between different measures that could be taken, including a potential VAT tax cut compared with, for example—the Government have also cited this in defence of their position—the employment allowance, a £2,000 rebate on employer national insurance contributions introduced by the Government earlier in this Parliament. I would also want to be convinced that we would achieve as close to 100% pass-through of such a big change if we were to start considering seriously the case for making it.
However, we return to the fact that if we cut VAT in that way, the most recent Office for National Statistics data from 2012 suggest an annual cost to the Exchequer of £11 billion to £12 billion. Those sums would have to be found elsewhere, and we as an incoming Labour Government would not be in a position to make that choice. So I cannot commit to a VAT cut of the nature called for by the campaign, although I can of course commit, if I become a Treasury Minister after the election in May, to assessing the analysis and all available evidence. I will also work with colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to examine what else can be done to assist the tourism sector and ensure that it plays its full part in encouraging sustained and balanced economic growth. I am sure that the Cut Tourism VAT campaign will continue to make its case in full heart in the life of the next Parliament; it is certainly made up of doughty parliamentary campaigners. I look forward to engaging with them in much the same way that I know the Minister has engaged with them thus far in this Parliament.
Tourism is a hugely important sector to the UK. It is our fourth largest service industry; it employs 9.6% of the UK work force, or 3.1 million people; it generates 9% of the UK’s entire GDP; and in 2013 it contributed £127 billion to the economy. So, it is in everybody’s interests to ensure that the sector grows, thrives and continues to provide the jobs necessary for UK plc.
As I highlighted in our debate on tourism last year, there are other policy levers that can be pulled, without the cost implications that a VAT cut on tourism would entail, which would still be of real benefit to the sector. One of the most effective of those levers could be around immigration policy, particularly given the complexity around fees, visa applications and the monitoring required to make sure that people do not overstay their visa. The Government have made particular changes with respect to some countries, such as China. However, it is the case that other countries are deemed to be a high risk for potential overstaying but whose genuine visitors are often locked out. I see that in my own constituency with visitors who want to come from the Indian subcontinent, but the immigration officials almost take a first view that those people are more likely to overstay than not. Often, that is not the case. People want to come to the UK to see the land that their forefathers left their countries of origin for, and they wish to come and celebrate family events such as weddings. They will spend money here, and their British citizen relatives will spend money showing them a good time and showing them what Britain is all about. We should assist that process and not hold it back.
Therefore, although I cannot agree for the cut that has been called for, I commend the work of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign and the work of its supporters in the House. We will continue to work closely with the tourism sector and we look forward to hearing more from the campaigners in the future.
I am grateful for that intervention. I do not have a fundamental objection, in principle, to that idea, but I am not in a position to commit to a formal review of some kind. Nevertheless, as I have said, if I was in the Treasury I would happily look at any additional evidence and at the Treasury’s analysis of the data at first hand, rather than hearing it from the Minister.
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Ms Dorries, and to respond to this debate. This is not the first time that I have had the privilege to respond to such a debate. I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) on securing this debate, and for giving hon. Members an opportunity to discuss this important issue. I also congratulate him on the manner in which he set out his case. His constituency is well-known for being one of the most beautiful in Wales, and indeed in the entire country. I make that point with a degree of concern because I appreciate that, having made it about his constituency, there is a very strong case to make it for many of the other constituencies that are represented here in Westminster Hall today.
Let me reassure the hon. Gentleman and indeed other hon. Members that the Government value the importance of the tourism sector, not only in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency but across the United Kingdom. I will say more about that later, but Ministers from both the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have been working closely with the industry to increase both in-bound and domestic tourism.
On the specific issue of VAT, I should briefly explain that VAT is, of course, governed by EU law and that reliefs from VAT are therefore strictly limited. However, EU VAT law allows member states to implement certain reduced rates of VAT, which are listed in annex 3 of the VAT directive, at the discretion of individual member states. Three of these reliefs are of particular interest today: first, accommodation provided in hotels and similar establishments, including the provision of holiday accommodation and the letting of places on camping or caravan sites; secondly, restaurant and catering services, excluding alcoholic drinks; and, thirdly, admission to leisure attractions, including shows, theatres, amusement parks, concerts, museums, and similar cultural events and facilities.
I know that the hon. Gentleman is aware that a number of other member states have chosen to implement a reduced rate of VAT on tourism and related activity. However, this Government are yet to find any conclusive evidence of a causal link between VAT rates and tourism activity. Comparisons with other countries tend not to take into account the significant VAT reliefs that the UK already provides for cultural attractions and public transport, nor the other tourist taxes that other member states choose to levy.
I am very interested in the statement the Minister has just made that there is no conclusive evidence to support the argument that a cut in VAT would generate more activity. So, what is the evidence that he is using to say that there would be no improvement, and who produced it?
I will say a little about that. For example, the case has been made that in the Republic of Ireland there has been an increase in the number of tourists in recent years, since there was a reduction of VAT on the tourism sector there. However, we have seen a very similar increase in the number of tourists in the United Kingdom. So, we should not jump to the conclusion that there is necessarily a causal link.
Earlier, I raised the issue of the distortion of VAT payments between certain golf clubs—the disparity between the proprietary clubs and the member-run clubs. Surely that disparity should not exist. If it is a golf club, it is a golf club, and there should be a level playing field. Golf clubs create tourism, food and accommodation.
The hon. Gentleman leads me to a different debate on the VAT treatment of golf clubs, which I am sure he will understand is a matter of some complexity and indeed of some litigation, too. So, Ms Dorries, I hope you will forgive me, but I will not be too diverted by the particular point that he has put on the record.
In the UK, we apply a zero rate of VAT to food, newspapers and books, and passenger transport. The UK also refunds VAT incurred by many world-famous museums and galleries, making them free to visit for all. In addition to the sector-specific reliefs, the UK’s VAT registration threshold is the highest in the EU, meaning that much tourist accommodation and many attractions do not have to charge any VAT to their customers.
As I have said, Ministers from both the Treasury and DCMS have discussed the Cut Tourism VAT campaign, and recently I have both met and engaged in correspondence with campaigners. VAT raises more than £100 billion a year, which has been critical in enabling us to manage the UK economy through tough economic times, and the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that reducing the rate of VAT to 5% for catering services, such as the supply of meals, snacks and drinks sold by restaurants, pubs, cafés and canteens, would cost the Exchequer £10 billion per year. Similarly, a cut in VAT to 5% for accommodation would have an estimated cost of around £2 billion a year to the Exchequer. I do not have to remind hon. Members that those costs would have to be met either by increasing other taxes, which may well have an adverse effect on growth and jobs elsewhere in the economy, or by increasing borrowing. That would risk raising interest rates, which would undermine our hard-won recovery and would have an adverse impact on families and small businesses.
The Minister made the comparison with the Republic of Ireland, saying that we have had a comparable increase in the number of people visiting this country. Does he have any comparable figures from the Republic of Ireland that show the boost to the tourism sector there, and if so, is he taking them into account when he talks about the extra revenue that has come into the Irish Exchequer?
The point that I am making is that the number of tourists in both countries has increased at largely the same rate, at a time when one of them has reduced VAT and the other has not. Of course, these matters can be somewhat complex and there are many factors to consider, and when it comes to tourism matters, and particularly matters affecting in-bound tourists, we should not forget the importance of the exchange rate. It is very significant and, of course, recently the exchange rate has gone in different directions.
If the Minister wants a comparison, he should compare the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Clearly, the number of visitors to the Republic of Ireland has grown enormously above the number visiting Northern Ireland. That is a clear example of the advantage of a reduced VAT rate. We could all take advantage of that if it happened across the whole of the United Kingdom, and particularly in Northern Ireland.
As I say, a comparison of the Republic of Ireland with the UK as a whole suggests that there is not a big difference. Indeed, I understand that there has been a pretty positive increase in the number of tourists to Northern Ireland specifically in recent years.
All hon. Members will be aware that this Government’s priority is to tackle our budget deficit decisively but fairly and to restore confidence in our economy. The Government have concluded that a VAT cut would not produce sufficient economic growth to outweigh the revenue shortfall. I have not seen any new conclusive evidence that has led me to revisit that conclusion. So at present the Government have no plans to introduce a VAT cut for this sector.
I reassure hon. Members that the Government recognise the importance of the tourism industry and we remain committed to a wide range of other measures to support the sector. For example, to date we have invested more than £129 million through VisitBritain and VisitEngland, to market great British holiday destinations at home and abroad. This has already leveraged significant private sector investment of more than £84 million. We have announced a £10 million tourism in the north fund in the next financial year. We have announced £2 million in the next financial year, to help promote our cities and regions overseas as part of the GREAT campaign, through VisitEngland.
The tourist industry has benefited from other policies introduced by this Government. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) for making this point. For example, capping business rates and doubling business rates relief benefits the retail and hospitality sector by a considerable sum. Those sectors have benefited from the introduction of the employment allowance and will benefit from the abolition of employer's national insurance contributions for under-21s and for apprentices under 25.
I hope that this intervention will help. The Minister is saying clearly to the industry and to hon. Members that he has seen no conclusive evidence. If that is not to be a fob-off, should not he sketch out what conclusive evidence would look like to the Treasury? What is the Treasury actually looking for in evidence that would convince it that this case was valid? If he cannot say that, it will simply look like a stalling move.
A considerable amount of evidence has been produced. The essence of the case is that we would want to see evidence suggesting that the benefits to the economy outweigh the costs. The costs to the Exchequer are, as I have outlined, considerable. The Cut Tourism VAT campaign acknowledges in the numbers that it has produced—I can go into a little bit more detail on issues that we have with its methodology—that there would be an immediate shortfall. Its argument is that, over time, much if not all of that shortfall would be recovered. However, that immediate shortfall has to be dealt with. There is not the opportunity for us to say, “We can borrow extra billions of pounds to fund this, in the hope that that money will be recovered in future years.” If we undertook such a measure, we would need to replace that shortfall with additional taxes or reduced spending, and that in itself would have an impact upon the economy.
The actions we have taken in support of VisitBritain and VisitEngland and the tax reforms that I outlined, are delivering positive results for the UK tourist sector. Provisional figures for 2014 show that the UK welcomed 6% more visitors than in 2013: a total of 34.8 million. In total, UK tourist spend is also up by 3%, which is a total of some £21.73 billion. Provisional figures for tourism in Wales for 2014—the hon. Member for Ceredigion will be interested—show that more people are holidaying in Wales than ever before, with Wales now accounting for over 12% of holidays in Great Britain, leading to an increase on holiday spend in Wales. I am certain that, on top of the increase in numbers, all the successful events that the UK hosts year on year will only serve to make more people aware of the UK’s desirability as a tourist location.
Wherever we can, the Government will of course continue to invest in tourism and provide support for tourism across the UK. Although the hon. Gentleman, and other hon. Members who spoke in this debate, may be disappointed with my answer on VAT, I hope he and other hon. Members will be reassured that we support the sector; that, wherever we can, we will continue to support it; and that we are confident that both inbound and domestic tourism numbers will continue to rise.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Westminster HallWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
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It gives me no pleasure to open a debate on the lack of support for child abuse survivors. The issue is predominant in the media at the moment; there is almost a frenzy of activity going on, with media and public interest in the issue of prominent people and child abuse.
One of the great dilemmas for anyone provided with information by people out there is understanding the context of what was going on. The context is worth spelling out a little bit, because it affects understanding of how those who survived childhood exploitation and abuse were treated at the time. One of the dilemmas regarding the involvement of Members of Parliament, politicians and other prominent people is that there is a fine line to be drawn between MPs in the past who were secretly homosexual, those who were secretly homosexual and paying for sex with teenage boys, although it used to be illegal for men to have sex under 21, and those who were doing so with younger children. Of course, if MPs—or anyone else—are paying for sex with teenage boys, they probably do not ask, “Are you 18, 19, 14 or 15?” Part of the problem of exposing the past is precisely that. Who are the real perpetrators?
There is a separate side to this that is equally difficult. The vast majority of adults who come to me having been abused as children raised issues with the authorities as small children, but were treated as being the problem, as we saw rather graphically recently in Rotherham. Rotherham is no different from anywhere else—no different from Nottingham or Bassetlaw, which in turn is no different from the rest of the country.
For example, I have spoken to someone who, aged 11, was fostered out with nine other children and alleges multiple abuse, including rape, of these young children, some of whom were younger than him. He was forced into slavery—forced to work, in a workplace that I can identify in my constituency, from age 11 to 15, for nothing, the money going to his foster parents. The head teacher of his school wrote—I have seen the letters—saying that he did not want the child in the school, and claims in the attendance records that he was there when he was not. He was working for nothing in a foundry—a foundry!—aged 11, 12 and 13. He came forward for the first time to see me, his MP. Why me? I do not know, but he did. He has not been to anyone else. He is going to the police. He will go public, I am quite certain. The media will get a phenomenal story on what was going on. More victims will emerge, I know, because I have already done my own investigations. It was not a one-off; this was going on for years.
I have to tell my constituent that in a court case last week, it was ruled that children in foster care cannot make a civil claim against a local authority, because the local authority has no liability. I look at what local authorities across the country are doing, and I see documents about liability insurance and liability. They do not have a problem with kids in foster care, because the courts just ruled that there is no liability, but hang on a minute: what support is there for my constituents who were put into slavery aged 11 and abused? My constituent’s sisters and brothers were abused, too.
What support is there now for a constituent of mine who was raped repeatedly as a child in different care homes and foster homes? She made multiple allegations that take in different police forces and Crown prosecutors across the country. She spent three days in hospital under sedation, after giving her statement to the police and reliving the trauma, to try to get one of the prosecutions off the ground, and we are dealing with councils that are worried about insurance liability and are writing papers on that as their priority. That is what is fundamentally not understood.
I could give a list of MPs past and present suspected of involvement in child abuse. Most of the names would be accurate, although they would not all be, and that is why I am not going to do it. It would hinder the police. I spoke to the police minutes before coming in here about whether it would be helpful to do that. They are neutral, but my judgment is: let the police follow the evidence. One way or another, the names will get out. I want the people out in a court of law, being prosecuted and imprisoned. That is the appropriate thing. Critically, what I want from this debate is a system that supports these adults. The woman who was repeatedly raped and was sedated going into hospital after giving a statement—can you imagine what it is like, reliving the trauma in detail to give a statement so that a prosecution can be considered?
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate this afternoon. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Dorries. The hon. Gentleman is getting to the nub of the problem. It is not just about the huge courage the victims have to have to come forward; the system needs to support them afterwards. My constituent, Jo, was repeatedly raped at 15. She has suffered because there are inadequacies with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Parole Board, and her perpetrator is back out on the streets. He had five life sentences. Will the hon. Gentleman expand on his issues with how the system has been letting people down, such as my constituent, Jo?
It has been letting down the hon. Lady’s constituents and mine alike. Three girls were repeatedly raped from age 5 onwards. There is no case to answer, because their statements taken at the time, when they were young kids, do not add up. The Crown Prosecution Service said, “Oh, there is nothing we can do. We will not win in court.” What support is there for them? I will tell you what support there is: me. That is who they come to. I will give them support, but what I need from the state and national and local government is properly resourced mental health services that do not, as they did to my constituent, send people away—she needed to be sedated for three days, having made a statement about the multiple rape and other violence—and say, “Come back in a month’s time.” That happened in Nottinghamshire this year to one of the victims. Mental health services are totally disjointed when it comes to support.
I am dealing with children’s social services, but some of these adults are in their 50s or 60s. They will not be going to children’s social services, so where is the support from adult social services? There is no system in place that gives them that. I have constituents who have been hung out to dry by the police and given no support. They were not even referred to the support agencies, having come and said, “We were raped as children.” What on earth is going on when we have no support systems in place?
The hon. Gentleman is making a very powerful case on behalf of victims of child abuse. In Northern Ireland in the past year, 50 offenders have been arrested and questioned in relation to sexual abuse. Does he feel that the first thing that survivors of child abuse want to see is the culprits arrested, investigated and referred to the courts for sentencing? Do resources need to be made available for that to happen?
The survivors want justice, and the only way they will get that is by being believed and by perpetrators being prosecuted. The Crown Prosecution Service cannot cope with the volume. It has hardly any cases compared with the cases that will go to it. For the Crown Prosecution Service in the east midlands, we are talking about a manifold increase just from the cases I am bringing. How on earth do we expect such places as Rotherham to deal with the numbers? The expertise to take the cases forward is there, but the resource is not. What is being said is, “We will put it on the long drift for years and years.” That is what has happened with the police. They are not even getting to some of the people who should be questioned as potential perpetrators, because they do not have the resource to do that.
I am not criticising Government spending; what they spend on this, that and the other is a separate debate. It is important that we all get our heads around what is needed. We are not talking about the Government announcing another £100 million or £200 million here or there; we are talking about a far bigger resource than that. In my constituency, I am personally dealing with 25 victims—25 survivors of child abuse. That is so far. There are loads and loads more out there, just in my constituency.
The Crown Prosecution Service and the police cannot handle the prosecutions, the mental health services cannot handle the support services for the victims and social services cannot handle virtually anything to do with them. They do not have the resource. If we are to get on top of this huge legacy, we need to define what I put to the Minister as a Roll-Royce service. What does that mean? A standard needs to be put in place so that when someone comes forward, there is a benchmark that defines what they are entitled to. It is an entitlement. This man was forced into slavery and went to the police, and the police and the social workers returned him and his sisters to the abusers not once, not twice, not three times, but more. He did the right thing, and he is entitled to a Rolls-Royce service. That can come in different forms. What is his major demand? One-to-one literacy lessons, because he finds it a bit hard to get on, being unable to read and write because he was not in school because he was forced to work in a foundry by some predatory paedophile abuser who was the foster carer over him—and that is what they were. Literacy is the most important thing for him.
There is no system in place that says, “You will get this. You are entitled to this.” What is he meant to do—go to the civil courts, as so many thousands have already done? That is not a sensible approach, given that lawyers will not even share information, and are telling people in Nottinghamshire not to come to me, the media or anyone else. They say, “Stick with us, we’ll get you a little bit of money.” How much is a life worth in Nottinghamshire? Eight grand a settlement. It is not good enough, and it is not going to be good enough in future.
Whether under this Government or the next Government, whoever is in power in the next Parliament, whoever the Minister is, from whichever party, I need to see defined an immediately available Rolls-Royce service. Whatever resource is needed, we will have to find it. This is not about me getting up and having a go at the Government; it is about Parliament taking responsibility. This is about saying that a huge amount of the available resources needs to be given and broken down into different areas.
I have been contacted by constituents and many others from all over the country who have survived abuse. They want prosecutions to proceed. They want the police to be able to investigate. They want mental health and other NHS facilities and services to be available. They want support from adult social services. They need that, and they need it as they come forward.
There is one final thing that they need. The Government have made their decisions about the independent panel and Goddard. We can learn a lot from abroad. They do this stuff better in Scandinavia and New Zealand. We should be stealing all their best practice for how we deal with things. Whoever is the Minister, and whoever sits on the Select Committees and all the rest, should get out there, steal their good ideas, bring them back and implement them here. But survivors need their own forum. They have called for a national institute for people abused in childhood. They need that, because then they can provide some of the support and guidance, and they can contribute to the definition of a Rolls-Royce service.
I cannot be dealing with more people attempting suicide, having come to me because the support services are not there. I do not give a damn which heads are going to roll. If those support services are not there, I will get rid of the people at the top, because it is not good enough for my constituents, who are no different from people anywhere else.
I need from the Government a clear undertaking that the resources and expertise will be there. If someone has survived this trauma and lived with it all their life, they have a right to and an expectation of support when they bravely come forward. That is what we as a society and we as a Parliament are going to have to give them. That is why this debate is not only timely, but critical. We need action within months, not years.
I thank the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) for leading such an important and timely debate about the support available for those who have suffered child sexual abuse. The first thing that any victim wants is honesty. People in authority must take reports seriously and confront abuse wherever it occurs. As the hon. Gentleman said, victims have not only a right to be believed, but a right not to be treated as the problem. That is why we have been determined to tackle the issues of both historical and current child sex abuse.
For too long, people in positions of power have swept concerns about child abuse under the carpet, failing to act even in the face of clear evidence. That cannot be allowed to carry on; we have to act. The Home Secretary has said that what we have seen so far is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. The hon. Gentleman’s speech has reaffirmed the fact that there is still much for us to understand and learn. We must consider how we can ensure that victims of abuse are given the support that they rightly deserve. That is why the Home Office set up an inquiry under the leadership of Justice Lowell Goddard to investigate the shocking claims that we have heard and are still hearing about child sexual abuse by those in positions of power in the past. We are now finally seeing police forces throughout the country showing the will and determination to tackle child sexual exploitation wherever it occurs, be it in Oxfordshire, Rotherham, Derby, Rochdale, or elsewhere, as the hon. Gentleman said.
We have already announced that we will consult on a new criminal offence of wilful neglect for teachers, councillors and social workers who fail to act on evidence of child abuse, and the Prime Minister has upgraded child sexual exploitation to a national threat, creating a duty on police forces to co-operate across force boundaries.
We have already improved the data, not only on children in care who are missing, but on absence. Rather than being only on those who have disappeared for more than 24 hours, the data—whether from the local authority or the police—now cover every single case of a child who has gone missing from care, irrespective of the type of placement. That is important because we know that those children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, especially those in residential care, which is why we have undertaken such wide-ranging reforms to improve risk assessments for children’s homes, to improve the quality of care in those homes, and to ensure that the decision makers—particularly those who place children out of area—are much more robustly accountable for their decisions than they have been in the past.
The hon. Gentleman is correct to say that listening to survivors of child sexual abuse is not enough on its own. They need support, often well into adult life. The psychological effects of childhood abuse can be absolutely devastating—from depression and anxiety to eating disorders, self-harm, alcohol and drug addiction, and severely disrupted learning that can hamper them for life. On the latter, the hon. Gentleman gave the example of a constituent who came to him for help and wanted one-to-one literacy lessons. That is a good example of the wide-ranging consequences of something that has been left untouched and not properly considered as part of his constituent’s rehabilitation.
I will come on to the various strands of support that are either in existence but need to improve, or that the Government have announced to try to ensure that we better support people who find themselves in that situation. The truth is that long-term specialist intervention may be required to rebuild self-esteem and resilience, as well as to tackle serious psychological ill health.
The hon. Gentleman will not want me to quote a succession of numbers at him relating to the money that has been made available to support victims of child sexual abuse, but it is right to recognise that a fund has been established for 2014-15 and 2015-16. We are working with the support of organisations that are reporting an increase in referrals prompted by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
I have also listened with interest to the hon. Gentleman’s call today for a national institute for survivors of child abuse. I undertake to take up the proposal with all other relevant Ministers, including the Home Secretary, because despite the fact that the independent inquiry is up and running, it is important that we still take time to consider what other support we might be able to offer to give us confidence that we are addressing the issues that many survivors are raising. We have already announced the establishment of a new centre of expertise, which will help to develop and deliver better approaches to tackling child sexual abuse, spreading the best practice that the hon. Gentleman spoke about from as far afield as New Zealand and Scandinavia. We can also learn from the many professionals who are out there but need the capacity to deliver services more widely. Part of that has to be how victim support is built into that body of expertise.
Survivors have rightly been instrumental in the setting up of the statutory independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. Both Justice Goddard and the Home Secretary are clear that they must also have a strong voice in the work of the inquiry. Justice Goddard will write to survivors and their representatives shortly to set out her intention to create a survivors and victims consultative panel, and to seek their views on how that will work and who should be on it. The panel will have a specific role and function within the inquiry. The inquiry’s terms of reference state that it must:
“Consider the experience of survivors of child sexual abuse; providing opportunities for them to bear witness to the Inquiry, having regard to the need to provide appropriate support in doing so”.
Rightly, it is for the inquiry to consider the most appropriate way to take things forward, but survivors have to be a key part of its remit.
What cannot be disputed is that now and at any point in history safeguarding children—the action that we take to promote the welfare of children and to protect them from harm—is everyone’s business. Everyone whose work brings them into contact with children and families, from the school receptionist, the police and health practitioners to the social workers, will have an important role to play in spotting and rooting out abuse and then supporting those young people, and sometimes adults, to come to terms to with what has happened to them and in how to deal with their future.
I thank the Minister for his positive remarks. Whoever is elected at the next election, does he agree that it would be highly sensible for the 650 individual MPs to be given proper training in how to handle people who might come to see them in the near future? That training need is clearly not being met at the moment and all of us could benefit from it. It could be hugely significant to individual lives.
I hesitate slightly because I come from a legal background in the family courts, but I can see the benefit to me of having had the opportunity to familiarise myself with many of the challenges and consequences for not only the victims of child sexual abuse, but the wider family. I have found that experience invaluable in trying to understand the wider needs for addressing the problems that society is now facing up to. I will not write the book of MPs’ training, but from my perspective as a constituency MP—like many colleagues—the background and experience that I have been able to draw from has been important in empathising with and understanding the significance of the many whom I have encountered in my surgeries and casework. It would be helpful for many other colleagues to have the opportunity to understand better the types of issues that they will undoubtedly come across in future.
Effective safeguarding of children can be achieved only by putting children at the centre of the system and by every individual and agency playing their full part. Failure to do that has been shown starkly in the reports from Rotherham and Oxfordshire, which have revealed a need for a co-ordinated response to protect children from child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. That requires a system in which professionals work together to identify emerging problems and goes right through to supporting children who are in need or on a child protection plan.
No single professional can ever have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances. If children and families are to receive the right help at the right time, everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action. Where that happens, children are better protected. We will therefore shortly publish a revised version of the “What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused” advice, which has a stronger focus on ensuring that professionals are aware of the signs of abuse and neglect and what action they need to take in response. We will also publish revised guidance on information sharing to set out the key principles for how to do that effectively.
Once a child’s need has been identified, getting help quickly is important to stop needs escalating. However, the quality of the intervention will determine how children can be helped to overcome their abuse. Targeted help is required to meet individual needs—as highlighted by Alexis Jay’s report into the failings in Rotherham, a child who has experienced sexual abuse will almost inevitably require long-term specialist intervention. Help will range from basic support to rebuild self-esteem and resilience, to interventions that tackle serious psychological and mental ill health.
Effective and timely support for victims of child sexual abuse is a matter of national importance. That is why the Government are doing more than ever to help victims of rape and sexual violence through the female rape support fund, which has funded 86 rape support centres to provide independent, specialist support to victims of recent and historical rape and sexual violence. In December last year we announced an immediate uplift of £7 million in non-statutory sector support to victims and survivors through the existing female rape support centres and two funds available to organisations supporting victims in areas where there is high prevalence of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Importantly, we have set up the first fund dedicated to help male victims of rape and sexual abuse.
We are also working with professional health organisations such as NHS England on where efforts should be focused to train staff on trauma-informed approaches to care in mental health services. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Government report on the work of the children and young people’s mental health taskforce was published earlier today. It sets out a clear national ambition to support and inform the delivery of a local offer of services to all children and young people.
We also announced £80 million to help to cut waiting times in adult mental health services. The hon. Gentleman made the important point that it is not until they are adults that the child sexual abuse of many of the victims or survivors comes to the notice of the authorities. That is far too late, but it does not mean that we give up. We continue to strain every sinew to ensure that those survivors get the help that they need, whether through the health service, social care or other agencies.
We need to be better—this is what the taskforce is trying to ensure—at ensuring that all those who should have an interest do have an interest in working closely together to provide the package of support that we know when done effectively can have transformative results. Clearly, child sexual abuse is something that never leaves people who are victims of it. I have worked with many children and, in particular if abuse takes place in a family environment, it has been hard for them ever to come to terms with it.
As the hon. Gentleman said, not only as a Government, but as a society we need to recognise that child sexual abuse is something that we all must take seriously. We must all play our part to ensure that it is not simply swept under the carpet, as has happened in the past. It must be put centre stage, thus addressing a national issue that we must never hide. We should be clear about tackling it head on. If we do not do so, we are only storing up more problems for the future, and more strain and pressures on services that are working hard to support the victims of child sexual abuse. For whoever is in government after 8 May, it will no doubt be a high priority to demonstrate that everyone in society should set out our stall in support of those—in particular the most vulnerable—who have, through no fault of their own, been victims of child sexual abuse.
Another important element is to give professionals not only the tools and skills, but the confidence to know that they can spot child sexual abuse and go to their senior management and others in authority knowing that they will be supported. In Rotherham and other cases, that has not happened, which has meant that too many children were let down and too many adults are living with their horrific past. It is incumbent on all of us to turn that situation around. I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s contribution to the debate.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Westminster HallWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The tale I want to tell today is an everyday story of business folk who have been robbed of their company by big banks acting in collusion with one of the big four accountancy houses—two sets of robbers, both too big to be touched by the machinery of regulation that we have. It is a story that is told several times in the Tomlinson report; those stories relate mainly to the Royal Bank of Scotland, whereas this story relates to Lloyds bank.
By analysing the process of company theft by banks and big accountancy houses working in collusion, I have discerned four stages. First, they introduce a Trojan horse to the company. Whoever it is, the Trojan horse then buddies up to the company and finds its vulnerabilities, while presenting a nice image and offering advice. Naturally, if that Trojan horse is a representative of one of the big four accountancy houses, they will be trusted, because we can trust the big four, can we not? They are big institutions of great repute that are worthy of trust. The third stage is that the Trojan horse insists on restructuring the company’s finances to put the bank in control. In the fourth and last stage, the company is put into administration for the bank to take for its own or to sell on to whoever is interested.
That is the technique and the four stages that were applied to Premier Motor Auctions, a Leeds-based auction firm that was profitable and well run. Lloyds bank itself described it as profitable and as a business of significant value. The company had an overdraft with Lloyds of £1.75 million. The Trojan horse was Irving Warnett of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who was put into Premier Motor Auctions, and welcomed by the company, as a non-executive director. As he put it, he was there as a “critical friend” to advise on how to run the business. Warnett went on to create a £2 million black hole in the company’s accounts by insisting—wrongly, as it turns out—that it had to have a separate account for its business with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, business that was in itself profitable. Legally that was not true, but the company went and created a separate account, which in turn required the overdraft to be increased from £1.75 million to £3.75 million.
At that point, the bank used its power to take control of the company. At the same time, it transferred the account to the Lloyds business support unit, which charged a higher interest rate and a £250,000 arrangement fee for its services to the company. Having created the black hole and transferred the account, the bank immediately instructed Keith Elliott, the chief executive and owner of Premier Motor Auctions, to sell the company “vigorously and robustly” via an administration that was to be handled by PwC.
As anyone sensible would, Elliott fought back. He got a rescue deal from a venture capital firm called Endless, which described the company as an “excellent firm” enjoying record sales. Lloyds scuppered the deal with Endless. It demanded 50% of the new deal. The manager of the Lloyds business support unit in Leeds said, “This is our attempt to crystallise the position and do an Endless/Lloyds deal without Keith Elliott.”
Not to be beaten—he is a resilient man and who can blame him for fighting to retain control of a company he built up?—Keith Elliott did another deal, with Scottish Motor Auctions, which would have secured the £2 million by which the overdraft had to be reduced to stop the administration. Someone—we do not know who, but it was either someone from Lloyds or PwC’s man, Irving Warnett—scuppered that deal in 24 hours. Lloyds has given me a long explanation, which I am inclined to accept, and which says that it was not someone from Lloyds, so the finger points at Irving Warnett and PwC. The deal was scuppered and Premier Motor Auctions was put into administration. In charge of the administration was Ian Green, the head of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ business recovery service and the boss of Irving Warnett, the man who had been put into the company in the first place and who was the architect of the whole financial arrangement.
Lloyds therefore got an equity interest in a company that Lloyds Development Capital had wanted to take over for some time. Through the administration, it took over a company that was making an annual profit—and still is—of £2.7 million. As for PwC’s share of the deal, it of course got a much higher fee for the administration than it would have from the simple transfer.
To put it bluntly and accurately, that is theft. That company was stolen. I have raised the issue in Parliament before, and Keith Elliott and I have raised it with various bodies. Elliott raised it at the Lloyds annual general meeting, and wrote to every director and partner of PwC, until eventually he was told to stop contacting the firm because he was becoming a nuisance.
After that, we went to the regulators. Regulators are surely there to protect companies and those who run them from theft and from having their company stolen from under their feet—what are they there for if not to offer that protection? Every one of them turned out to be a broken reed. Both Elliott and I appealed separately to the Institute of Chartered Accountants, which is the regulator for PricewaterhouseCoopers. It refused to investigate, because the case was “not a disciplinary matter”. I hope hon. Members have noted that point: theft is not a disciplinary matter, so if one of the big four accountancy houses colludes in the theft of a company, it cannot be disciplined—it is not a disciplinary matter. I do not know what it is; perhaps it is business acumen, but apparently it is not theft or a disciplinary matter. That was the response from the ICA. Elliott and I both wrote to protest against the decision, and it wrote back to say it would not answer any further correspondence on the matter. We were becoming a nuisance—as we should have been.
We then went to the Financial Reporting Council—the regulator of regulators. It too refused to investigate, saying that it was “not in the public interest” to do so. In other words, theft does not matter and is not in the public interest; or perhaps—I do not know whether this was what it was saying—theft is in the public interest but investigating it is not in its view. That is obvious balls. It is rubbish, and should never have been allowed.
When PricewaterhouseCoopers refused to answer my questions, the then Minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jenny Willott), kindly wrote to PwC—I am grateful to her for doing so—to say that it should answer MPs’ legitimate questions. That is absolutely right and I am grateful to the Department for that. PwC told the Yorkshire Post, which inquired about how that had gone, that it had written to the Minister, who had no further questions to ask.
The Yorkshire Post then discovered, through a Freedom of Information Act request, that the Department had not received a letter from PwC. I do not know whether that was a lie commensurate with the lie it told the Public Accounts Committee when it said that it was not selling tax evasion schemes, but it certainly was not true. It escaped from the Minister’s requests.
Ian Powell, a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, wrote to me:
“I am satisfied that PwC acted properly.”
When someone is judge and jury in their own case, it is easy to develop satisfaction that their company acted properly. So that was a nice reply, saying “something off” to me.
Mr Warnett had been retired by that time—I do not know why—and PwC has refused to allow him to be interviewed about his part in the matter, either by me or the new liquidators. He will not answer questions and PwC will not answer questions. In particular, it will not answer questions on the crucial issue of what Irving Warnett did to increase the debt, whether that was right—the lawyers say that it was not—and what he did to scupper the Scottish Motor Auctions deal, which would have saved Premier Motor Auctions from going into administration.
After being sent lots of letters, PwC gave me some answers in a final letter on 14 November. Those answers turned out not to be correct, but it says that it has answered. Instead of answering the questions, a woman from PwC wrote to me—Margaret Cole is her name, and she describes herself as general counsel to PwC—and told me, kindly:
“It is apparent from your latest letter that you believe that Parliament has a role in resolving disputes such as this. I do not agree with this”.
That is what she said. She continued:
“The courts are the ultimate and appropriate forum.”
In other words, she is saying, “Don’t go whimpering to Parliament if your company is robbed, thieved or if PricewaterhouseCoopers colludes with a bank to take it. Don’t go whimpering to Parliament—it’s got no power. Don’t go to the regulators, because they’ve got no power. Go to the courts, and face PricewaterhouseCoopers’s enormous army of highly paid lawyers. Drive yourself into bankruptcy by embarking on legal action against these big battalions.” That is to a man who has lost his company and his money. That is incredible advice and it is unbelievable that PwC should have the impertinence to say to a Member of Parliament, “Parliament’s not the forum; it’s the courts. And we’re bound to win in the courts because we’ve got weight, scale, big lawyers and clever arguments.”
That letter makes it clear that the little guy is very vulnerable in such situations and that he has no means of redress. It is clear that the big four and the banks are too big to take on, break up or deal with. Their power is overwhelming. It has increased and it must be diminished. They must not be able to crush the small guy on a whim in their determination to take on a profitable company.
Instead of chaps regulating chaps, we need effective regulation, just as they have in the United States, to stop such theft. If we do not get that, a threat will hang over all small and medium-sized enterprises that are in financial difficulties or have to turn to the banks for overdraft facilities. They will be crippled, robbed and possibly stolen by those powerful predators.
The big four and the banks are the new barons, with enormous power, and the citizen has little power. I am glad to say that Keith Elliott is still fighting back, now not only against the dirty deal imposed on him, but for all the small and medium-sized companies threatened by that kind of brutal takeover by financial institutions.
The power of these big institutions—the banks and accountancy houses—is far too great and must be diminished, but that can be done only by regulation and by making them accountable: by redressing the balance that weighs so heavily against the ordinary Joe. That is Parliament’s job and I hope that the Minister will tell us how the Government will address that imbalance and provide some means of redress for small companies and their directors who face such a situation. I am fighting on behalf of not only Premier Motor Auctions and Keith Elliott, but all companies threatened with that kind of financial takeover by big institutions.
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Dorries. I congratulate the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Austin Mitchell) on securing the debate. I recall, as he mentioned, that we debated this subject in November 2013. The fact that he has returned to it for discussion today is testament to his tenacity and willingness to pursue the matter raised by his constituent, Mr Elliott, who he feels passionately has suffered a real injustice.
In our discussion almost 18 months ago, I set out that I shared and had some sympathy with many of the concerns raised. A wide range of people have expressed concerns about some aspects of insolvency regulation, which is why we have taken steps to make changes. I set out, which remains the case today, that I did not have powers to intervene in this case. Of course, the changes we are making will not be retrospective, but I hope to be able to set out the package of reforms that we have been able and continue to bring forward to strengthen the insolvency regime, which together are a bold step forward. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will be reassured by that.
I appreciate that that does not help in this specific case, which is covered by the systems that applied at the time. I know that the conflict of interest issues have been considered by the court, who dismissed that application. The ICAEW reviewed the complaint and concluded that there were no such issues. The Insolvency Service then considered the ICAEW’s handling of the complaint and did not find fault, so in terms of the different routes available in this specific circumstance, it was hard to see how the redress the hon. Gentleman ultimately seeks would be possible. However, in terms of the wider regime going forward, we are determined to improve the situation for companies that might find themselves in similar situations.
I appreciate that that will be frustrating, not least for the hon. Gentleman’s constituent, but he has been able to set out his concerns about the case and the behaviour of the different organisations involved in handling it powerfully. If I may give my view, which is perhaps different from that given by those organisations, I think it is absolutely the place of parliamentarians to represent their constituents’ views, raise issues of concern and put those firmly on the record in Parliament when they believe that an injustice has been done. I do not think it is for other organisations, frankly, to tell MPs whether this is an issue that they should or should not pursue on their constituents’ behalf.
On that note, although we are from different parties, I would like to recognise that the hon. Gentleman has a reputation for being a great defender of his constituents, with ever-forthright comments about whatever issue of the day he is concerned about. Although this may not be his last contribution in this House—I hope it is not—it may well be one of the last, and Parliament will certainly be losing a character when he steps down from his constituency in a short while.
I will turn to what we are specifically doing to strengthen insolvency regulation shortly, but first, let me say that we have an open mind on whether to take further steps. The ethics code requires administrators to satisfy themselves that the board is happy with the appointment and to consider any threats to their independence. We are reviewing that in conjunction with the regulators and seeing whether it is sufficiently robust, so that is one area in which there could be further movement, depending on the outcome.
Will the Minister tell us what is happening about the Tomlinson report, which is a review of a series of very similar cases to this one, but concerning RBS? That demands action, too.
Great minds think alike, because that was going to be my very next point. In 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority announced that it had appointed firms to conduct an independent skilled persons report to examine RBS’s treatment of business customers in financial difficulty and consider the allegations that were set out in the report by Lawrence Tomlinson, which were about poor practice that he had evidence of. Once the FCA skilled persons report has been published, which we expect to happen this summer, we will carefully consider whether any issues need to be taken into account in terms of insolvency legislation—including the regulation of insolvency practitioners—that have not been addressed by the reforms in progress. It may be that those issues are already addressed by our package of reforms, but if further issues are raised, we will keep an open mind about taking further steps.
I turn to measures that we are already taking on strengthening insolvency practitioner regulation. The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, which is currently before the House, contains measures to strengthen the regulatory regime for insolvency practitioners. The introduction of regulatory objectives will make sure that insolvency regulators have a framework within which to carry out their activities. That is intended to make sure that a consistent approach is applied and to give a reference point for discussions between regulators, insolvency practitioners and the Insolvency Service. The objectives set out in the Bill will ensure that the regulators have a system of regulating insolvency practitioners that gives fair treatment and consistent outcomes for people affected by their acts or omissions.
Regulators will have to encourage an independent and competitive insolvency profession, whose members deliver high-quality services at a fair and reasonable cost, with transparency and integrity. They must seek to maximise returns to creditors and be prompt in making those returns, and the public interest must be protected and promoted during the insolvency process.
Another measure could have been relevant in this case, had the provisions been in place at the time; I am referring to the power to allow the Secretary of State to apply to the court for a direct sanctions order against an insolvency practitioner, when that is in the public interest. The sanctions could be a range of measures, including revoking authorisation and a financial contribution to creditors. I said when we previously discussed this issue that there was literally no power for Ministers to intervene, but the new regulation addresses that. We anticipate that, because this is a strong power, it would be used sparingly. It would need to be used when there was clear public interest and evidence of serious breaches of law or standards by insolvency practitioners, and when swift action was necessary. None the less, that gap, where previously there was no power, is being filled and there will be a power. Combined with other measures in the Bill, that should hopefully address the perception that the current disciplinary procedures for insolvency practitioners are not always effective in delivering fair and prompt outcomes for those affected.
The sanction powers and the regulatory objectives will hopefully make sure that we have a clear, transparent system that can hold people who do not deliver to account. Those changes, along with work that the Insolvency Service is doing with both the profession and the regulators to enhance the regime, should improve trust and confidence without the need for further intervention. However, if that set of measures is not sufficient and there is still a lack of trust and confidence in the system, we have the back-stop power in the Bill to establish a single insolvency regulator. That is if we do not see the anticipated improvement and confidence in the regime.
Many people express surprise that there are eight different regulators that authorise insolvency practitioners. I confess that before becoming the Minister responsible for insolvency, I was not aware of that. I had heard of some of the bodies, but was not fully aware of the degree of complexity. I well understand the view that that diversity does not necessarily help matters. I can see the potential benefits, including choice, but that fragmented regulatory landscape can lead to problems of inconsistency and complexity.
We were working, even before introducing the powers in the Bill, to deliver more consistency. A common sanctions framework has been agreed and a single gateway for complaints set up. That should ensure that, whichever body regulates a particular practitioner, the complaints process and the outcomes will be consistent across the profession.
I will turn briefly to the improvements made in relation to pre-packs, which have been a concern of many hon. Members. The Government commissioned Teresa Graham to conduct an independent review in 2013, and her recommendations were published in June 2014. The report concluded that pre-packs were an important and valuable part of the insolvency landscape— indeed, I think it was intended and hoped that a pre-pack would be the solution in this case, even though there was not a successful outcome—but that there was a lack of transparency and confidence, particularly where a sale was to a connected party.
The review recommended a voluntary package of reforms, which my officials have been working with stakeholders to implement. The reforms include setting up a pool of experienced business people to scrutinise a planned pre-pack sale to a connected party and a strengthened professional standard for pre-packs, which will require more information on the valuation and marketing of businesses to be provided to creditors. We are working to put that in place. The review also recommended that we should take a back-stop power for use if the voluntary reforms were not successful, and we have done that in the Bill. Those reforms are in place, and we hope that they will be successful, but if not, we have additional powers in the Bill. Sometimes additional powers can also act as an incentive for all those involved to ensure that the voluntary regime delivers the outcomes needed.
There has been significant concern about the fees that insolvency practitioners charge. Earlier this month, I announced new legislation affecting how IPs charge fees. In the future, they will be required to give clear information on their fees and expenses before asking creditors to approve them. Where fees are based on time costs, creditors will need to agree an estimate of the likely fees. If the insolvency practitioner’s fee then exceeds the approved limit, they will need to seek further approval before being able to draw any additional amounts. Basically, the estimate acts as a cap on fees. Those measures deal with the concerns that many creditors had about a blank cheque in effect being written for the administrators, and have been welcomed by the profession and creditor bodies.
I have mentioned some of the other things that are already being taken forward, such as the review of the ethics code and the new complaints gateway, which will bring some consistency to the issue. People are becoming more aware of the complaints gateway. Last year, nearly 1,000 complaints were dealt with via that single complaints gateway. That is a sign that there is a degree of success from the changes that we are making.
I hope that the hon. Member for Great Grimsby will recognise that the Government have listened and continue to listen to the comments that he and others make about the problems in parts of the insolvency regime, which generally is very highly regarded. We need to remember that we have one of the best regimes in the world. Our insolvency profession is highly skilled and undertakes difficult work in challenging circumstances, saving many businesses and thousands of jobs each year. However, we must always strive to improve it. That is why we are undertaking these reforms. They will mean that in the coming months we will have an improved insolvency regime, including a better regulatory regime that will inspire greater confidence that insolvency practitioners and their regulators are working in a way that strikes the right balance between parties affected by insolvency. I hope that cases such as the one—
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Written Statements(9 years, 5 months ago)
Written StatementsThe main recommendations put forward by the Low Pay Commission concern the rates of the national minimum wage.
The commission has recommended that the adult hourly rate of the national minimum wage should increase from £6.50 to £6.70. The commission has recommended increasing the development rate, which covers workers aged 18 to 20 years old, from £5.13 to £5.30 and increasing the rate for 16 to 17-year-olds from £3.79 to £3.87. It recommends that the apprentice rate should increase from £2.73 to £2.80. It is recommended that these changes take place in October 2015.
The commission has also recommended that the accommodation offset increases from the current £5.08 to £5.35 in October 2015.
The Government accept the rate recommendations on the adult and youth rates, and on the accommodation offset, but have concluded that the apprentice rate should be £3.30.
Government’s response to individual recommendations in the Low Pay Commission’s 2015 report.
National minimum wage rate recommendations
We recommend that the adult rate of the national minimum wage be increased by 3%, or 20p, to £6.70 an hour, from 1 October 2015.
We recommend an increase of 3.3% in the youth development rate to £5.30 an hour; an increase of 2.2% in the 16 to 17 year-old rate to £3.87 an hour.
Government response
The Government accept the national minimum wage rate recommendations.
We recommend an increase of 2.6% in the apprenticeship rate to £2.80 from 1 October 2015.
Government response
The Government reject the national minimum wage rate recommendations.
The Government propose to increase the national minimum wage for apprentices by 57p an hour to £3.30. This is the largest ever increase in the national minimum wage for apprentices and will halve the gap with the age rate for 16 to 17-year-olds, currently £3.79 an hour.
Increasing the apprentice rate to £3.30 will equate to a 21% increase in the statutory minimum hourly rate for those apprentices aged under 19 and for those aged 19 and over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. We know that many of these apprentices will already be paid considerably more than the current apprentice rate and that the average hourly pay for level 2 and level 3 apprentices is £6.79. Approximately 67,000 apprentices will be affected by the increase, with an estimated cost to business of £93 million.
Accommodation offset
We recommend that the accommodation offset be increased by 3.5%, to £5.08 a day, from 1 October 2015.
Government response
The Government accept the accommodation offset recommendations.
Apprentice rates—rate for higher apprentices
We recommend that the apprentice rate should not apply to higher apprentices.
Government response
The Government accept the recommendations that the apprentice rate should not apply to higher apprentices. From October 2015, these apprentices will be entitled to the age-appropriate rate of the NMW.
Apprentice rate—structure and proposal for simplification
We recommend that the Government commit to further consultation on the proposed approach before any legislative change is made.
Government response
The Government accept the recommendations to further consult on proposed approach to the apprentice rate structure. The Government will consult on reforming the structure of the apprentice rate for 2016.
A copy of the Government’s response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www.parliament.uk/ writtenstatements
[HCWS422]
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Written StatementsAs part of the supplementary estimates 2014-15, parliamentary approval for additional resource of £34,201,000, additional capital of £28,255,000 and additional cash of £4,344,000 is sought for the security and intelligence agencies to reflect a number of in-year budgetary changes.
Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £66,800,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. This is required to meet contractual commitments.
A total net cash requirement of £111,456,000 has been requested as part of the supplementary estimates 2014-15 and the advance will be repaid upon Royal Assent of the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Bill.
As the security and intelligence agencies are non-ministerial departments, I am making this statement on behalf of their Accounting Officer, to ensure that Parliament is informed of this advance from the Contingencies Fund.
[HCWS420]
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Written StatementsThe Government have published their report of the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce—“Future in mind: promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing”. The work of the taskforce took account of the evidence gathered by the Health Committee as part of its recent inquiry into child and adolescent mental health. “Future in mind” addresses many of the recommendations of the Health Committee’s third report of Session 2014-15, “Children’s and adolescents’ mental health and CAMHS” (HC 342), published on 5 November 2014.
I established the taskforce in September 2014; it is co-chaired by the Department of Health and NHS England with involvement from the Department for Education. Membership included people with experience and expertise in children and young people’s mental health, including health organisations, schools, the voluntary and community sector, young people and parents. Its remit was to consider ways to make it easier for children, young people, parents and carers to access help and support when needed and to improve how children and young people’s mental health services are organised, commissioned and provided.
“Future in mind” sets out a compelling moral, social and economic case for change. 75% of mental health problems in adult life—excluding dementia—start by the age of 18. Early intervention avoids young people falling into crisis and avoids expensive and longer term interventions in adulthood. Evidence presented to the taskforce also underlined the complexity and severity of the current challenges facing child and adolescent mental health services, including gaps in data, increasing difficulties in accessing treatment, a lack of clear leadership and accountability arrangements, and specific issues facing highly vulnerable groups of children and young people. The evidence highlighted disinvestment at a local level in many areas. The Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement on 14 March of £250 million per year additional funding for children and young people’s mental health care and perinatal mental health care over the course of the next Parliament will make an important contribution to addressing these challenges.
The report sets out a clear national ambition in the form of key aspirations that the Government would wish to see by 2020, including:
Tackling stigma and improving attitudes to mental illness by building on the success of the Time to Change programme and developing a targeted campaign to create a culture where young people and their families are not afraid to seek help.
More access and waiting time standards for services so that children and young people can expect prompt treatment when they need it, just as they can for physical health problems.
Information and self-help via online tools and apps with approved information and support that will help young people “self-care” and know how to seek professional help if they need it.
Changing the way services are commissioned so that care is based around the needs of children and their families and they can get the right support from the right service at the right time.
“One-stop shop” support services in the community so that anyone needing support knows where to find it.
Improved access to support through named points of contact in specialist mental health services and schools, including mental health specialists working directly in schools and GP
practices.
Improved care for children and young people in crisis so they are treated in the right place at the right time, as close to home as possible. This would build on the work of the Crisis Care Concordat to make sure no one under 18 experiencing a mental health crisis is detained in a police cell.
Mental health training for health professionals—including GPs—and others who work with children and young people including staff in schools to help them identify problems and make sure children and young people get the help they need.
Improved access for children and young people who are particularly vulnerable, such as looked after children and care leavers, and those in contact with the youth justice system.
“Future in mind” sets out that many of the proposals can be achieved through better working between the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and community services, schools and other local services, rather than needing significant investment. The report also sets out a number of proposals that require critical decisions on further investment and on local service redesign. The additional funding announced by the Deputy Prime Minister on 14 March will provide a significant boost to implementing the proposals outlined.
We are clear that this cannot all be done from Whitehall. There has to be a change in culture in local areas. “Future in mind” proposes the development of local transformation plans for children and young people’s mental health and well-being in 2015-16 which will clearly articulate the local offer, from health promotion and prevention work to support and interventions for children and young people who have existing or emerging mental health problems. To support this, NHS England will make a specific contribution by prioritising further investment in children and young people’s mental health announced in the autumn statement 2014 in those areas that can demonstrate robust action planning through the publication of transformation plans. The additional funding announced by the Deputy Prime Minister on 14 March will help local areas to make the best possible start in developing transformation plans. It will also fund completion of roll-out of, and the extension of, the successful children and young people’s improving access to psychological therapies programme (CYP IAPT). This will ensure more children and young people with mental health problems have access to high-quality evidence-based treatments.
A copy of “Future in mind” has been placed in the Library.
[HCWS421]
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Written Statements(Representing the House of Commons Commission): At its meeting on 16 March, the Commission again considered implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on House of Commons governance.
The Commission noted that the House of Commons Commission Bill passed all its Commons stages on 24 February and received an unopposed Second Reading in the Lords on 12 March. It also noted that motions to implement changes in Standing Orders relating to the Finance and Services and Administration Committees were approved by the House on 10 March.
The recruitment for the post of the Director General of the House of Commons was launched on 18 February. The closing date for applications was 16 March. The Commission expects the long-listing stage to be completed before Dissolution, with a final appointment being made after the election by a panel appointed by the new Commission.
The House Committee in the House of Lords has agreed to the proposal that a first joint meeting of the Commission and the House Committee should take place in October. It is expected that the agenda will include discussion of opportunities for greater joint working and strategic security matters.
The Commission also considered interim arrangements pending appointment of its external Members in the new Parliament.
[HCWS419]
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Written StatementsThe Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council met on 9 March 2015 in Brussels. Shan Morgan, Deputy UK Permanent Representative to the EU, represented the UK.
The Council held a policy debate on the European semester 2015. The UK, supported by Poland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Czech Republic, welcomed the early publication of the country reports and the additional time for engagement ahead of the publication of the country specific recommendations (CSRs) in May. The UK with the support from Hungary and Austria stated that the Commission should not be prescriptive on policy implementation and should recognise the role of member states in deciding the best course of policy action. Within this, the Council adopted both the JER and Council conclusions on the 2015 AGS.
Ministers agreed two revised Council decisions aimed at strengthening the roles of both the Employment Committee (EMCO) and Social Protection Committee (SPC) in the European semester process.
The Council adopted draft Council conclusions on moving towards more inclusive labour markets; and the EU strategic framework on Health and Safety at Work 29014-2020: adapting to new challenges.
Ministers endorsed the key messages on financing, effectiveness and efficiency of social protection systems in the joint SPC and Commission report.
Under any other business, the Latvian presidency outlined details of the Tripartite Social summit and the Commission outlined the success of the re-launching of the social dialogue. The respective Chairs of the EMCO and SPC presented their annual work programmes for 2015. Finally, the Commission presented details of its proposal on the Youth Employment Initiative, which would see the Commission pre-finance up to €1 billion to help ease budget constraints, which had stopped the initiative fully getting off the ground.
[HCWS418]
My Lords, if there is a Division in the House, the Committee will adjourn for 10 minutes. It is unlikely, but I ought to say that.
That the Grand Committee do consider the Emissions Performance Standard Regulations 2015.
Relevant document: 22nd Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
My Lords, the regulations before the Committee today are the implementing secondary legislation for the emissions performance standard. The EPS was introduced by way of the Energy Act 2013 and constitutes one of the measures that collectively make up the Government’s programme of electricity market reform.
Noble Lords will be aware that substantive EPS policy—including its application to any new or existing fossil fuel plant—is established by way of the Energy Act 2013. The regulations before us today are limited to making the practical arrangements associated with the EPS legislation contained in the Act. They set out the application of the EPS in cases permitted by the underlying legislation, and, for England alone, put in place the practical arrangements for implementing and enforcing the EPS. We expect that the devolved Administrations will also soon bring forward legislation implementing the enforcement provisions for the EPS.
By way of reminder, the EPS acts as a regulatory backstop to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that new fossil fuel plants can emit. To clarify, a “new plant” is an electricity generating station that secures development consent after the EPS came into force on 18 February 2014. The EPS is part of the Government’s strategy to transition to a low-carbon electricity system at the lowest cost to consumers, while maintaining security of supply. It works to complement our existing planning policy, which prevents any new coal-fired generating station being approved unless it is equipped with full-chain carbon capture and storage technology. In combination, these measures ensure that any new coal plant will be equipped with, and must use, CCS.
The power to make these regulations is contained in the Energy Act 2013. Part 1 of the regulations establishes their extent and application. Part 2 makes provision for the additional application of the emissions limit duty, which is the legal duty to conform to the requirements of the EPS, and the modification of that duty in specific circumstances. It will apply throughout the United Kingdom. Part 3 sets out the monitoring and enforcement arrangements that will apply in England. I will now describe the operation of these parts in more detail.
As an exception to the EPS applying only to new fossil fuel plants, Part 2 of the regulations clarifies the limited circumstances in which the EPS will be applied to an existing coal plant. The regulations provide that where an existing coal plant installs or replaces a main boiler—so effectively extending the life of the plant by a period comparable to the operating life of a new plant—that plant is treated as if it were a new plant and is therefore subject to the EPS. This is consistent with the approach set out in the Act.
Part 2 also sets out the circumstances in which a plant’s annual emissions limit will be modified. Where a plant commences or ceases operation part of the way through a year, the emissions limit is amended for that year to take into account the portion of the year to which the EPS applies. Similarly, if the installed generating capacity of a fossil fuel plant changes, its emissions limit is to be adjusted to reflect the new situation.
Part 2 also establishes arrangements associated with the three-year carbon capture and storage exemption from the EPS, provided for in Section 58(1) of the Act, the purpose of which is to provide plants adopting CCS with some flexibility during the commissioning of the full CCS chain. The regulations clarify that the exemption applies only to those generating units of the fossil fuel plant equipped with a full CCS chain.
Part 2 also sets out the methodology for calculating emissions arising from qualifying combined heat and power plants, which provides that the emissions associated with the production of useful heat are not taken into account for EPS purposes. This is to ensure that the EPS does not become a barrier to the development and deployment of good-quality combined heat and power. Finally, Part 2, together with the relevant provisions in the Energy Act 2013, provides that where a power plant uses fuel derived from fossil fuel that is gasified off-site, the associated emissions will be taken into account when the relevant power station’s total emissions are calculated. This is to avoid possible circumvention of the EPS.
Part 3 establishes the process by which the monitoring, reporting and enforcement of the EPS will take place in England. Outside England, the monitoring and enforcement obligation will fall to the relevant authority within the territory. These arrangements have been developed in close co-operation with the Environment Agency, which will act as the enforcement authority in England. In designing this framework, we have sought to minimise any regulatory burden by basing it on and tying it to the arrangements already in place for the EU’s Emissions Trading System, which is also administered by the Environment Agency.
Before commencing operation, a plant’s operator will be required to declare its emissions limit—calculated in accordance with Section 57 of the Energy Act—to the Environment Agency. The operator will then be required to provide emissions data where the plant’s total annual carbon emissions, as measured and reported under the EU ETS, exceed the plant’s EPS emissions limit. This approach removes for many plants the need to do significant extra regulatory work, as carbon emissions data already have to be compiled for the EU ETS. Where the reported EU ETS emissions for a plant exceed the plant’s EPS limit, the plant operator will be required to provide a further breakdown of carbon dioxide emissions, identifying those that are relevant for EPS purposes and those that are not. This information will allow the Environment Agency to verify whether the emissions limit for the plant has been breached in any particular period.
Power plants throughout the UK have a strong track record of compliance with their regulatory responsibilities, and many of them took part in our consultation on these regulations last year. We therefore do not expect that there will be breaches of the emissions limit duty. However, in the event that such a breach were to occur, these regulations provide the Environment Agency with the ability to take strong, proportionate enforcement action, ensuring that no plant breaching its emissions limit can benefit commercially from that breach. The Secretary of State may issue enforcement guidance under the regulations that can set the parameters of any penalties to be applied by the Environment Agency in cases of breach by a plant operator. An appeals route is also provided.
My department has worked in close consultation with the devolved Administrations in designing the monitoring and enforcement regime set out in this instrument with a view to ensuring that, consistent with the government policy, a standardised approach to administration of the EPS is applied throughout the UK. I commend these regulations to the Committee.
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for introducing the regulations for debate this afternoon. They are implementing regulations that relate to the part of the Energy Bill where an emissions performance standard was to be set for new build of fossil fuel generation. We had a lengthy debate during the passage of the Bill about the EPS regulations and the role that they need to play. It was clear that the Government had decided that the only role that EPS could play was for new build and would not consider the role of an EPS for existing power stations.
We have raised this on several occasions, and we will continue to raise it, because the context for the regulations is that there is very little appetite for the building of new coal-fired power stations in the UK—in fact, there is very little appetite for building any new power stations in the UK if they do not have a contract for difference, which comes from another part of the Energy Bill. So there is potential for a lock-in to existing thermal assets for some time to come. We have always understood that the EPS is a backstop measure to underline and further support other interventions that the Government are planning to try to meet challenging carbon budgets and decarbonisation targets that we expect to be set for 2030.
The crucial question to consider on whether the Government have got the EPS regulations right is the extent to which that back-up—that belt and braces approach—is also needed on existing plant. I say that for a number of reasons. Partly, it is because in the recent capacity market auctions, a large number of plants bid for those capacity contracts and a large number of existing players won contracts, including a significant amount of capacity of old coal. Nine gigawatts of old coal received a contract through that mechanism. That meant that a large number of potential new build, more efficient gas stations, did not receive a contract, so the net effect of that intervention into the market has been to consolidate the existing plant in the market and to squeeze out investment in potentially cleaner, more modern, more flexible and more efficient stations.
We think that that is regrettable and that the situation needs clarity. We have cross-party support. On 4 February, all three leaders of the major parties signed up to a cross-party recommendation that we should take bold action on climate change,
“to accelerate the transition to a competitive, energy efficient low-carbon economy and to end the use of unabated coal for power generation”.
That is a welcome statement. From our side, we do not see a role for unabated coal going forward and we are committed to decarbonising our electricity system by 2030. Within that, we absolutely want carbon capture and storage to play a big role.
We have to look at how the combined elements of the energy market reforms that were accepted in the Energy Bill work together to deliver that aim. That is the crucial question. We must view these EPS regulations in that light. The truth of the matter is that the Government have insufficient levers at their disposal to ensure that we see a steady move away from unabated coal towards carbon capture and storage and cleaner gas generation. The EPS provided one potential lever, but the Government have chosen not to use it. The regulations highlight that it continues to apply just to new build and not to existing plant.
I do not want to have a lengthy debate about this, but I wanted to make that context clear. We cannot consider these instruments in isolation; we must look at the net effect of how they interrelate. At the moment we have a set of policies that are allowing old coal to persist. The only mechanism that the Government have to hold back coal is the carbon price floor. Indeed, that is referenced in the supporting notes to the regulations: the EPS is seen as a back-up for the carbon price floor.
As we all know, the carbon price floor was frozen merely a matter of months after it had been introduced, so the escalator that the Government expected it to follow—the steady increase in its level—has been stopped. It will now be frozen until 2020. DECC seems to continue to believe that at some point in the future we will return to an escalating carbon price floor and that it is this that will drive unabated coal off the system. However, how politically feasible is it that that price mechanism will return to that trajectory?
My Lords, I am extremely grateful for the general support of the noble Baroness for the regulations. She is right that we did discuss it at great length at various stages of what became the Energy Act and within the Infrastructure Bill—so the debate has been well aired. It is an important backstop measure that complements the wider range of interventions that act to secure and decarbonise our electricity supplies as we work towards a low-carbon future.
The noble Baroness touched on a number of issues and I shall try to go through them—but, as with all things, if I feel when reading Hansard that I have missed something out I undertake to write to her. She asked about the capacity markets and felt that the market had squeezed out gas. We have always made it clear that the capacity markets would be technology neutral and that we needed to make sure that there is competition built in, so that we get best value for the consumer. We project that coal will eventually come off and that we will have far less dependency on it, given that we have the potential for the exploitation of shale and other technologies. We see coal playing less of a role going forward. However, it is important to ensure through the measures we are taking that we do not put such a cost pressure on the consumer and that we have security of supply because it is so necessary for us to demonstrate to the public that the Government have taken all precautions to ensure that the lights stay on. So I think that the noble Baroness was being slightly unfair. The capacity market brought on a lot of different technologies at a cost that was driven by competition, which gives the consumer better value for money.
The noble Baroness also asked us to look at the future of coal. I have just touched on that. Our analysis is very much in league with a lot of other analysis that has been given to us, which suggests that unabated is expected to account for only 1% of total electricity generation in Great Britain by 2025, and will decline even further.
I thank my noble friend for giving way. Are the Government taking a view on when they think carbon capture and storage will become viable at a reasonable price? There were attempts to put out pilot projects, one of which was Longannet in Scotland, which was found to be an uneconomic proposition. I gather that it is now proposed to close that power station.
My Lords, my noble friend may be aware of two projects that we are funding—one at Peterhead and one at White Rose. They will become the world’s first commercial-scale gas CCS projects. They are still being developed. If my noble friend will allow, I will give him a fuller response. We are demonstrating that we are leading in the world with CCS. Investing £1 billion shows our seriousness about taking CCS forward.
I shall continue with the questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Worthington. She referred to the carbon price floor, saying that there was a projection and a sort of wish list that it would rise. We all know that the EU ETS has to be reformed properly. None of us expected the carbon price to fall as much as it did. However, we are where we are with it. I was at a European Council meeting a couple of weeks ago where there was broad agreement that we needed to look at reforming the EU ETS to make sure that it better reflects its participatory role in ensuring that countries that do not have an extreme tendency to reduce their carbon footprints will be encouraged to do so. There is broad agreement that it has to be reformed. That will play a large part in how we respond to the discussion around the carbon price floor.
Another important point is that we must remain competitive. It has always been key that as a country we should not out-compete ourselves by driving ourselves to reduce carbon emissions at a pace while others use them to be more competitive. We need to reach a fine balance, and it is important that in pushing for reform we ensure that the measures we take, internally and domestically, give great examples for others to follow. That is my response to the noble Baroness.
Before the noble Baroness moves on to the next topic—perhaps the Minister can write to me if it is easier—to get to that projection of only 1% of electricity coming from unabated coal by 2025, what is the carbon price assumption in that model? Does it start from the current £18, where it is frozen until 2021, and rise from there, or does it go back to its original trajectory, as was published by the Treasury and others?
My Lords, I think it would be beneficial for me to write to the noble Baroness, because I do not want to give her an assumed figure that turns out to be misplaced.
My final response to the noble Baroness concerns the conditions under which the EPS would be suspended. The Government have published a policy statement that sets out the conditions that must be met for a suspension to be made. Details of any suspension must be laid before Parliament. Again, if the noble Baroness and my noble friend find it helpful to have further details on that, I would be happy to put them in the letter that I will send to the noble Baroness on the other issues.
I agree with the noble Baroness that by and large, politically, the three major parties have come to an agreement. We need to work together to reduce the carbon emissions of this country to meet our own goals, but it is important that we send out consistent messages around the policies that we are working on. The Energy Act has driven that and shown that, working together, investors have come with confidence to invest in the UK. I end by thanking noble Lords for their positive remarks, and commend the regulations to the Committee.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Grand Committee
That the Grand Committee do consider the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (Consequential and Saving Provisions) Order 2015.
Relevant document: 24th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
My Lords, this draft order is made under Section 104 of the Scotland Act 1998. In summary, it proposes to do three things. Before explaining them in some—I am afraid—unavoidable detail, I would summarise them thus. First, we propose to amend Section 44 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 for the rest of the United Kingdom, with a related saving provision. Secondly, we propose to amend the definition of “child” for the rest of the United Kingdom in relation to the amended Section 44. Thirdly, we wish to make a minor corrective amendment to the definition of “secure accommodation” in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 for the rest of the United Kingdom.
On the first of those, Section 44 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, which I shall refer to as the 1995 Act, makes provision to prohibit the publication of proceedings at children’s hearings and certain related proceedings before a sheriff. Section 44 was repealed, as it extends to Scotland, by the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 and replaced for cases going forward under that Act by a similar provision made in Section 182 of the 2011 Act. However, it is now clear that Section 44 is still needed to ensure that it continues to be an offence for a person to publish relevant information in relation to historic children’s hearings cases dealt with under the 1995 Act, and cases which began under the 1995 Act system and continue to proceed under that Act by virtue of the transitional arrangements.
The draft order is made in consequence of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, which I shall refer to as the 2014 Act and which now reverses for Scotland the unintended repeal of Section 44 of the 1995 Act. I wish to reassure the Committee that while it is evident that the repeal of Section 44 was an error, no child’s welfare was jeopardised by it as the repeal was not commenced when the rest of the 2011 Act was commenced—the error having been identified before the commencement order. The 2014 Act also amends Section 44 for Scotland so that, going forward, it applies only to exclusion order proceedings under Section 76 of the 1995 Act. This is required as those proceedings remain under the 1995 Act and are not covered by the 2011 Act.
Given the United Kingdom extent of Section 44 of the 1995 Act, the draft order is required to give effect in the rest of the United Kingdom—that is, outwith Scotland—to both the amended version of Section 44, to restrict its future application to exclusion order proceedings under Section 76 of the 1995 Act, and to save the former version of Section 44 for both historic and ongoing children’s cases under the 1995 Act.
The second matter proposed is a related amendment to the definition of a child in Section 93(2) of the 1995 Act. Section 52(b) of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 made a change to the definition of child in Section 93(2) for the purposes of Section 44 of the 1995 Act, so that it was extended from persons under the age of 16 years to persons under the age of 18. However, that change was not extended to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Just as the draft order seeks to bring the existing parallel texts of Section 44 into line, it seeks to have the same definition of child for Section 44 purposes for all jurisdictions.
Thirdly, the draft order also corrects a minor error made by the Section 104 order made in consequence of the 2011 Act. The previous Section 104 order amended Section 44(11) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 by substituting the definition of “secure accommodation” with a new definition that took into account the most up-to-date statutory cross-references for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, the substituted definition contains an undefined reference to the “2000 Act”. The 2014 Act corrects this for Scotland by clarifying that the reference is to the Care Standards Act 2000. The draft order makes the same clarifications for the other jurisdictions.
This order again demonstrates the Government’s continued commitment to working with the Scottish Government to make the devolution settlement work. I can confidently say that this will be the last such order in this Parliament, so it may be for the interest of the Committee to note that 45 orders have been made under the Scotland Acts of 1998 and 2012 in this Parliament, since May 2010. In your Lordships’ House, 27 of these have been subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. There was an extra one in the other place which related to bonds, and therefore did not require to be affirmed by your Lordships’ House, and 17 of them were subject to the negative resolution procedure. That is indicative of the way in which the devolution settlement is flexible, and indeed of the commitment on the part of the Government to work to ensure that legislation passed in Scotland is applicable in other parts of the United Kingdom and that the devolution settlement works.
With that, I thank the officials in the Scotland Office, in various departmental offices and, not least, in my own office of the Advocate-General, for all the work they have put into these, as well as officials in the Scottish Government, because it requires a lot of co-ordination to get these orders to be brought forward and there has been a lot of co-operation here. I also thank the noble Baroness—I think this is the second time she has done a Scotland Act order—and her other colleagues, not least the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, who I saw up until just a moment ago was engaged in the Chamber on the Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill. I appreciate the constructive co-operation they have given, and with those words I commend the order to the Committee.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his explanations, which are helpful. We support what seems to be the tidying up and correcting of some anomalies in the legislation. I also thank him for his generous comments. I know that he will have been somewhat surprised to see me here again today, having been expecting my noble friend Lord McAvoy, who discovered at the last minute that he was unable to be in two places at once. His skills extend some distance, but he could not quite achieve that. I will pass on the noble and learned Lord’s comments to him, and I know that he will welcome them. He has always found the Minister to be very co-operative and willing to engage in discussion of issues, which is appreciated. Again, the Minister will be surprised to see me—this is the second order I have done. My link is that I have a Scottish mother and I spent a lot of my childhood in Scotland; that alone does not qualify me, but I hope that it helps.
I have a couple of questions on this. I appreciate that Section 44 was repealed in error and that this is a step to correct that—to which we give our full support. When was it recognised that the mistake had been made? Was the issue ever raised in debates as the Bill was going through? The comments the noble and learned Lord made were helpful when he said that the repeal was not commenced, so no child had suffered as a result of that. That is clear, and it is helpful to have that information. However, for it not to be commenced, it must have been recognised very soon afterwards at least that there was a problem and that it should not have been repealed. Perhaps the Minister can help us by saying when that came to light; that is the only question we have on that. Overall, we support the order before us today.
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her kind comments. I, too, know the tremendous talents of the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, but being in two places at once probably defeats him.
The noble Baroness asked when it was recognised that a mistake had been made. Clearly, it was not recognised during the passage of the Bill, otherwise up until the final stage 3 in the Scottish Parliament it would have been possible to move an amendment. However, it was recognised before the Act was commenced in 2013. The error was noticed between the passage of the 2011 legislation and its commencement: therefore, when the commencement was done, it did not commence the repeal provision. When the Section 104 order, which was consequential to the 2011 Act, was brought before this Parliament, the error had been noted by then, so in no way did we seek to extend the appeal provisions to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I repeat the assurance that because of that and because of the lack of commencement, no child has had their interest jeopardised.
That the Grand Committee do consider the Community Radio (Amendment) Order 2015.
Relevant document: 25th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
My Lords, the Government are committed to a strong and vibrant community radio sector. Since the sector’s establishment in 2004, it has developed into an important and integral part of the modern radio landscape—valued by the communities that it serves and reflecting a diverse mix of cultures and interests.
Stations range from those targeted at a particular community, those run for our forces and those targeted at students and hospitals to stations serving small and rural communities. Community radio stations are required, by legislation, to be run by not-for-profit organisations and to provide original, distinctive and, crucially, local output. Two hundred and twenty-three stations are currently on air. This is made possible by the huge amount of effort and support that stations receive from their army of volunteers—on average, the equivalent of 214 volunteering hours per week, every week. Community radio also attracts young volunteers, who gain really valuable skills.
Although demand for community radio licences up and down the country has remained high, the position for existing licences has not been easy. We have received representations that community stations have had to turn down sponsorship—not advertising—from local businesses. For the 19 stations not allowed to take any income from sponsorship or advertising, such as Swindon 105.5, the issues are particularly acute.
The other concern expressed was the position of stations launched in 2005, whose licences would, under the current law, start to expire from October this year. Quite rightly, community radio stations wanted to know whether they would be able to renew their licences or whether they would need to go through an open competition for a new licence.
In the Connectivity, Content and Consumers strategy paper, published in July 2013, the Government said that they would consult on possible changes to the restriction on commercial funding of community stations. We also said that we would look at whether there was a case to allow community stations that continued to fulfil their remit to have licences renewed for a third five-year period. We carried out this consultation between February and April last year and received more than 100 responses. We published our response to the consultation in January this year. It is fair to say that there was strong support from community radio stations for the changes, although some were concerned that the changes might affect the characteristics of community stations. RadioCentre and commercial radio stations were, overall, opposed to the changes. In essence, they wanted to maintain the precautionary approach taken when the Community Radio Order was adopted in 2004.
Given the lack of common ground, we took further soundings from both RadioCentre and the Community Media Association before publishing the conclusions to the consultation. I acknowledge the frustrations of the community radio sector about the delay, but it was important that we should make sure that, in setting the new arrangements, we got the absolutely right balance between the legitimate needs of both sides.
We need to ensure that there remain protections for the smallest independently run commercial stations, and we have reflected that in our conclusions. We therefore believe that the so-called “absolute rule”, which enables Ofcom to place restrictions on some community stations, preventing them receiving any income from sponsorship or advertising, should be modified but not removed entirely. Instead, the order introduces a new arrangement allowing all community radio stations, including the 19 stations currently subject to the “absolute rule”, as a minimum to raise up to £15,000 per year from those commercial sources. This figure represents a quarter of the average revenues for community stations. Stations not subject to restrictions will be able to raise 50% of income above that level from commercial sources. This increases the headroom for all community stations, but helps most those community stations with smaller average revenues.
I thank the Minister for that extremely clear introduction to the issue. By and large, we welcome the order. The Minister is quite right to say that it is modest. I would like to press him on the fact that it perhaps needs to be less modest.
I come at this partly from having been an activist in the 1980s on community radio, where I worked with the sociologist Michael Young, who believed that there was great scope for community-controlled radio stations in tower blocks with common aerials. He was technically right: getting a licence from the Home Office, as was the case then, was impossible. It took a very long time from then, until about 10 or 15 years ago, for community radio to become truly accepted.
Community radio is a great thing and we should be helping it to happen. It is clear that Article 5(5) is the important one: it gives provision for holders of community radio licences to extend their licences twice; provision to allow one organisation to be the holder of a local digital television programme licence, as well as a community radio licence; and provision to allow certain community radio stations to receive income from the takings of advertising and sponsorship of their programme output, when they were previously prevented from doing so. I remember when this legislation went through your Lordships’ House; I thought it was restrictive then and I think it is still restrictive.
I point the noble Lord to the Government’s notes—the Explanatory Memorandum. Paragraph 7.2 states:
“Notwithstanding this apparent success”—
of community radio stations under the current regime—
“many community radio stations are struggling to build a long term sustainable business model”.
The question that we need to ask is: will the £15,000 limit help to make community radio stations more sustainable? Was there an examination of the business case for this? How will that help them?
The Community Media Association believes that this is a modest step forward but not necessarily one that will provide community radio stations with sufficient. Why is there a limit of £15,000 and why set the level at 50% for community radio stations earning revenues through advertising and sponsorship? Back in 2003, the Everitt report recommended that there should be greater flexibility and I wonder why the Government have not picked up those recommendations and run with them. Those are my questions to the Minister but, as I say, they are within the context of supporting the order as a further step in recognising the important role that community radio plays in our local communities. In Bradford, we have Sunrise Radio, which is absolutely wonderful and brilliant.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to reply to the noble Baroness because she clearly knows very much more about these matters from her long-standing experience of activism, which always helps to colour the debates. I am delighted by her welcome, and I do identify the noble Baroness as an activist. From reading about the many community radio stations that exist up and down the country, I know that that activism has been of great benefit to the communities with which it has been seeking to communicate. On the point about tower blocks, one of the issues that we have always had is how to retain a sense of community and communicate well there. The arrival of community radio stations has been of great social benefit to those communities.
In terms of building a sustainable business model, there have been discussions with the commercial sector and the Community Media Association about the £15,000 and the 50%, and about trying to get the balance right. Like all these things, in the end it is about where to strike the balance. The Government felt that we should move in a direction that we thought would not adversely impact on the commercial radio sector, but would very much help the community radio sector to prosper and enable it to raise funds. To answer the question: it was to try to keep some distinction of retaining this not-for-profit, for-social-gain community sector, but wanting it to prosper more and to have the ability for revenue generation. The £15,000 represents a quarter of the average revenue of a community radio station, and we thought that that was an appropriate level at this stage. No one wants to rule anything in or out; we have all moved since 2004 into thinking that we need to do a bit more to help the community radio sector. That is the Government’s move, and, as I say, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for her welcome of the provisions.
The main point is that I am sure that any future Government will want to keep these matters under review; that would be the appropriate response. We want to see how the provisions bed in. We want community radio to prosper. When I received my first brief on this matter, there were 219 community radio stations on air; by the time I had my final briefing, there were 223. That shows that this sector commands the attention of, and is of great interest to, the communities which they serve, and I wish it well. In the mean time, I commend the order.
That the Grand Committee do consider the Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015.
Relevant document: 22nd Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments
My Lords, I am satisfied that this instrument is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The instrument was passed by the House of Commons on 3 March 2015 and, subject to your Lordships’ approval, will come into force on 6 April 2015.
As noble Lords will be aware, automatic enrolment has got off to an excellent start. We now have more than 5 million people enrolled in a workplace pension scheme. As we move towards our goal of automatically enrolling 10 million workers, we must be sure that their pension savings are invested in well governed schemes with fair and reasonable charges. The regulations will protect members in occupational schemes from high and unfair charges and will introduce new governance standards. The Financial Conduct Authority will introduce similar provisions for workplace personal pension schemes, which will come into effect on the same date.
First, the regulations introduce measures to control the level and types of charges in pension schemes used by employers to meet their automatic enrolment duties. There will be a cap on charges in the default arrangement within these schemes, protecting savers who have had little or no engagement with their pension savings.
Broadly speaking, a default arrangement is the arrangement into which a member contributes if they have not made an active choice about where their savings should be invested. Historically, not all schemes have had that sort of default arrangement. The regulations therefore set out two further tests to identify arrangements which are used in a similar way to the “true” defaults. In order to ensure member protection, they, too, will be subject to the cap.
The charge cap will be set at 0.75% annually of funds under management, or an equivalent combination charge. The regulations also restrict the charging structures that schemes may use in their default arrangement. Schemes must use either a single funds-under-management charge or a funds-under-management charge in combination with either a contribution charge or a flat fee. The cap covers all costs and charges relating to general scheme and investment administration. Transaction costs, along with a small number of other costs—including those associated with providing death benefits—are not included. The regulations provide two methods by which trustees can measure whether charges in their default arrangements have complied with the cap. They may decide which of these methodologies to use, depending on how they levy charges on members.
The regulations also ban active member discounts from April 2016. By these, we mean charges imposed on a member’s pot which are increased when they stop contributing to the scheme—for example, because they leave their job.
All of these measures on charges apply to occupational schemes offering money purchase benefits which are used by employers to meet their duties under automatic enrolment. They do not cover those schemes which include a promise to the member about the benefits that they will receive.
Secondly, these regulations set out minimum governance standards for relevant occupational pension schemes. These require trustees or scheme managers to ensure that default arrangements are designed in members’ interests and kept under review. They also require that core financial transactions are processed promptly and accurately, that trustees report on the level of charges and costs borne by scheme members, and that they assess the value of such costs and charges.
My Lords, there is much to welcome in these regulations, including the banning of active member discounts—what I prefer to call “inactive member premiums”—where charges increase when a member stops contributing; the capping of charges at 0.75% in the default arrangements; that the cap will apply at the level of the individual member; and a set of minimum standards for governance, including the oversight of master trust multiple employer schemes where employers are not all part of the same corporate group. As I said, there is much to welcome.
When the staging of automatic enrolment is completed in 2018 and some 8 million to 9 million people will be newly saving, or saving more, most of them will not have made an active choice about their scheme or their investments. Many employers will be making most of the key decisions about their workplace schemes but they lack the capability and/or the incentive to ensure that workers receive value for money. Therefore, neither employers nor employees can be expected to drive competition—a proposition stated by numerous bodies in recent months.
As we know, auto-enrolment is built on inertia. At the same time, several reports reveal conflicts of interest in the industry. Therefore, it would be a failure of public policy if millions of citizens were auto-enrolled into workplace pensions but Parliament had not ensured that sound governance was in place and value for money delivered.
I am most grateful for the helpful replies to all my queries from the person at the DWP identified as the contact point in the Explanatory Memorandum. However, I have further questions. Regulation 3 specifies that, once an arrangement satisfies the definition of a “default arrangement”, it will always be a default arrangement and will be subject to the charge cap. If a scheme has a default arrangement covered by the charge cap but contributions then cease because the employer chooses to close that scheme, or a company becomes insolvent so that there is no employer, will the scheme’s default arrangement in those circumstances always remain subject to the charge cap? Are there any circumstances in which a default arrangement ceases to be covered by the cap?
Similarly, an employer’s scheme has a default arrangement but when an employee leaves, the employer is not bound to keep the ex-employee in their scheme. An increasing number of employers are choosing not to do that. If an ex-employee does not arrange their own transfer, the employer defaults their savings into a pension product that is not covered by the workplace pensions charges and governance protections. I can see no provision in these regulations that imposes restrictions on the pension products into which employers can default their ex-employees’ accumulated savings. I would be very happy to be told that I am wrong on this point.
Furthermore, if an employer is able to close their scheme and default arrangement, and bulk transfer the deferred members’ savings into an alternative pension product, which some can under the rules of their scheme, there appears to be no restriction on the products into which such bulk transfers can be made. Can the Minister say whether there are any restrictions on such bulk transfers, where they would breach the principle that a default arrangement is always covered by the charge cap?
Coming on to value for money, any charge not covered by the cap will be covered by the value-for-money assessment which trustees have to undertake on charges and transaction costs—a very welcome requirement—but some imponderables remain. TPR and the FCA want trustees and the independent governance committees to adopt a common approach. Although the Pensions Regulator publishes guidelines, good value is not defined in the regulations so it is not clear what is intended by a common approach. Trustees are required under the regulations to calculate,
“in so far as they are able … the transaction costs”,
which anticipates the complexities in the different types of costs—brokerage fees, bid-offer spreads, transaction taxes et cetera—and of getting hold of all the data. Trustees will need the co-operation of investment managers but if those managers are subject to confidentiality agreements with their own service providers, they will not provide all the information. So the Government need to consider such confidentiality agreements if transparency on transaction costs and other costs is to be achieved.
A matter of interest is how the charge cap will apply to the new pensions flexibilities. I welcome the provision that a saver who wants to access the new flexibilities and transfer out of their default arrangement into another scheme or draw-down arrangement will be protected by the cap for charges incurred by transferring out. But that leaves outside the cap the costs of transferring into the draw-down arrangement and the ongoing charges in the draw-down product. On the final rules for charges, the FCA reports that the Government have decided that, for the time being, draw-down should not constitute a core service and that in view of this temporary position, the FCA does not intend to amend its proposed rules. Can the Minister confirm that excluding from the charge cap the charges in income draw-down arrangements is indeed a temporary position and that they will be included later?
The regulations ban active member discounts but employers will be able to pay some or all of the charges on behalf of their current employee. So when Regulation 11(1) refers to prohibiting trustees and managers imposing higher charges “on a non-contributing member”, that means the overall level of charges to which the member’s pot is subject and not the charges borne by the member themselves—a subtle but important distinction.
The regulation allows employers to choose to subsidise active members, but active members cannot be subsidised by deferred members. I support the Government in wanting to allow generous employer practices towards employees who are active members. It will be important to ensure there is no masking of differential charging. The requirement that the amount the employer pays must be equal to the subsidy the employees receive will act as a control up to a point. But these practices will need to be properly documented by employers and providers if differential charging is not to be masked. The ban on applying higher charges applies to workers who cease contributing after 6 April 2016—not before, I understand. Similarly, the charge cap will not apply to those who ceased contributing before its introduction. That still leaves a lot of pension savings vulnerable to poor value for money.
The minimum standards of governance are welcome. The requirement on the chair to sign an annual statement will focus the minds of trustees, although many trustee boards are already very focused. Failure to prepare such a statement will result in a fine but it is unclear what the penalties are for non-compliance with other governance duties. Raising the governance standards in master trusts for multiemployer schemes is very welcome, but the requirement to have at least three trustees is a rather low threshold, especially as only two of them need to be independent of the provider.
I welcome the regulations because they represent an important start, not the end of the journey to achieve better value for the saver. However, there are still important matters to be addressed. A cap of 0.75% on a default arrangement needs to come down further. It is not the role of the saver or public policy to fund inefficient business models or conflicts of interest. Full transparency on all costs levied on the saver is needed. Extending the cap to include transaction costs is also a need, as is achieving value for money in draw-down products and annuities. We await the regulations to ban commission and consultancy charges in occupational schemes.
I repeat that there is much in these regulations that are welcome, but ensuring sound governance through the effective control of conflicts of interest I am sure remains unfinished business.
My Lords, I feel to some extent that this is where I came in. I spent the 1970s persuading a number of university colleges to join a decent occupational pension scheme and to leave their insurance-based, extremely poor-value local college schemes. Incidentally, the charges for those poor-value schemes were between 4% and 5%. I was able to persuade people that that was such appalling value that they would be much better off in a different scheme. That is where I think there is a bit of repetition of history. That is not counting, of course, what the investment people took from the scheme; that was just the administration charge. Therefore, I cannot help thinking that in the pensions political world we take one step forward and then sometimes two steps back.
Inertia selling is something that I strongly agree with when it comes to an issue as important as pensions, and we certainly had that in the 1970s. People were joined up to their schemes and they had to take a step to opt out. That was made unlawful by a Conservative Government and it changed the pensions world substantially.
I am sorry if I have a good memory on these things but that is very important when we start off on something that might turn out to be a very good thing, as only history will show whether it is. My fear is that the smaller schemes will have a worse record on governance and compliance. The surveys that are pointed out in the Explanatory Memorandum prove that 24% of small schemes are likely not to conform, compared with 10% of big schemes. So here we go again on this roundabout. I understand that the Government do not want to force schemes together, but there is a logic in pointing out that you get better value for money in the larger schemes.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his explanation of these regulations, my noble friend Lady Drake for a characteristically thorough interrogation of them, and my noble friend Lady Donaghy for highlighting some very important lessons from the past that should inform our discussions today. I remind the Committee of my registered interest as the senior independent director of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
We on these Benches welcome the fact that action is now being taken to address the problems with governance and excessive charges. Like my noble friend Lady Drake, I welcome action on the active member discounts, although her terminology may indeed be a fairer description of what happens there.
As the Minister indicated, 5 million people are already saving in schemes under auto-enrolment, and that figure will end up closer to 9 million or 10 million in due course. The point made by my noble friend Lady Donaghy is crucial here. If we are to cap the charges levied on pension savers in such schemes, we need to be sure that it works well because of the duty of care owed to those savers who have made no active choice about saving but who have been defaulted by their employer in particular or by the state in general into schemes which they have simply never chosen. It is critical that those who are auto-enrolled remain so and that we do not see a significant opt-out rate, but also that the highest possible retirement income is derived from the savings that individuals and their employers make. That is the context for these regulations, and the history lesson from my noble friend Lady Donaghy is very helpful. People need to know that their pension pots are not being siphoned off in unreasonable charges and that someone in whom they can have confidence is looking after their interests.
My noble friend Lady Drake asked a number of very important questions, and I will add just a few. First, on the charge cap, Labour has been campaigning for that, so it would be churlish not to welcome it—and I very much welcome it. However, can the Minister please tell the Committee why the Government chose 0.75% and what plans they have to reduce that further? The latest impact assessment suggests that, following the response to the consultation, the Government considered just two options: the one set out in these regulations, and doing nothing. I agree that of those two choices, acting to cap charges is definitely the right one, but the case for a lower figure is very strong. Certainly on these Benches we support capping charges at 0.75%, but with the aim of reducing it to 0.5% over the course of the next Parliament. Does the Minister agree that that is where we ought to end up?
Secondly, I would appreciate some clarification about how the cap will work. The Minister explained that it will be set at 0.75% of funds under management or an equivalent combination charge, but can he explain a bit more how the combination charge will be calculated? Regulation 5 seems to suggest that there will be three options: a funds-under-management charge, a combination of a funds-under-management charge and a contribution charge, or a combination of a funds-under-management charge and a flat-rate fee charged to the member.
Regulation 6 sets out the limits if one of the combination options is chosen. Can the Minister tell us a bit more about why these were fixed as they were? Is it the intention that a combination option cannot yield more than the equivalent of 0.75% of funds under management? If so, how can the saver be assured of that? If that is not the case, why are the Government giving the option to choose a charging structure that could yield more than the headline rate of 0.75% of funds under management?
Whatever figure is chosen, for controls on charging to bite, savers need to understand fully what charges are being levied. As we know, defining pension charges is not an easy job. The Minister indicated that transaction charges are not included in the cap. The biggest problem is that, as my honourable friend Gregg McClymont pointed out when the regulations were considered in another place, we do not yet know the full range of transactions attached to pension schemes. The only way to deal with that is through full disclosure of all transaction costs, which is long overdue and to which the Opposition are committed. I would be interested to know the Government’s position on that.
Will the Minister tell me a bit more about the compliance regime? Whose job is it to check that the cap is not breached and what will the penalties be for a breach? As for the minimum governance standards, they are welcome as far as they go, but again I would like to ask about compliance. Is the intention that the main or only compliance tool will now be the chair’s statement? Paragraph 7.34 of the Explanatory Memorandum says that the Pensions Regulator will have the power,
“to issue a fine against the Board of trustees or managers”,
in the event of failure to prepare a chair’s statement as required by the regulations. Will the Minister give some indication of the likely level of fines?
Of course, charges can take different forms, and the Government have made a welcome move in recognising this. For a while, they chose to focus primarily on the annual management charge, but these regulations acknowledge that that is only one part of the picture. My honourable friend Gregg McClymont highlighted the need to focus on the total expenses ratio, which includes custody, legal accounting and administration, and which consequently tends to be significantly higher than the AMC. Do the Government have any plans to evaluate the impact of the regulations on the total costs levied on affected pension schemes and savers?
We need urgently to address the range of challenges facing pensions at the moment if we are to be successful in persuading workers to save for their retirement at the rate that they need to do. My noble friend Lady Drake mentioned the draw-down products, but Labour will take a range of other, tougher steps to protect savers—for example, from new products that damage retirement income. Indeed, a Labour Government will begin immediate consultation on plans for a cap on fees and charges for income draw-down products, with a focus on products bought from the saver’s own pension provider. However, I welcome the progress that has been made and I very much look forward to the Minister’s reply to these and all the other questions that have been asked.
My Lords, I am grateful for the participation of noble Lords in this debate. Let me try to deal with the points that have been made while saying at the start that, over the next decade, the default fund charge cap should transfer around £200 million from the pensions industry to savers. That is an important point.
I very much take the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, about the historical perspective and the fact that, across the House, we are trying to ensure a fair regime relating to charges. We need a balance to make sure that the industry is properly and fairly rewarded for the services that it is providing and that, at the same time, savers are not overcharged for the services that they are receiving. That has very much been the thrust of the reform and it is why the figure of 0.75% has been chosen, which will represent for most people a fall in the amount that they are charged for the service, as I indicated.
Let me turn to the contributions made by noble Lords. I very much welcome the welcome in general terms from the noble Baroness, Lady Drake, for these regulations, which, as I say, bring in governance arrangements for the default automatic enrolment, as well as a cap on charges. I am pleased that we have universal welcome in general terms for the regulations. I welcome the support that we have had from around the Room in trying to get right the legislation and the consequential regulations.
The noble Baroness—and I apologise if my answers are not necessarily in the order of her questions—asked whether once a default always means a default. In general terms, the answer is yes. The regulations set out where an arrangement is designated as a default for a particular employer by virtue of meeting the tests in the regulations. It will continue to be designated as a default regardless of whether it continues to meet those tests. That is the general position. However, I will write to the noble Baroness on some of the specifics that she raised, because the devil is in the detail and I would not want to mislead her on specific examples, some of which I was a little blindsided by. I will, therefore, write to her about some of the specific examples she brought forward.
The noble Baroness also raised value-for-money issues. The regulations are designed to ensure that we get value for money and that there is transparency on the transaction costs—a matter also raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock. A transparency regime will come in as a result of these regulations that will enable us to look at value for money in relation to transaction costs. We are committed to looking at that in April 2017 to see whether we should bring it into the cap. That is the schedule. Therefore, at the same time as we are looking to ensure that we have an effective cap, in general terms, on auto-enrolment, we are also looking more widely at the transaction costs, to see whether it is appropriate to bring those into the cap in April 2017. We are already looking at that issue as we move forward from these regulations.
I turn now to the active member discount, or, as the noble Baroness, Lady Drake, phrased it—with some justification—the inactive member premium. There is no intention that we should stop a discount for active members unless it is the deferred members—the inactive members—who are paying for it. As the regulations make clear, there is nothing wrong with providing a discount for employees, provided it is not being subsidised by deferred members. That is the intention of the regulations, and I think that it is delivered by them. Again, however, if I am wrong about that, or there are exceptions to that general principle, I will write to the noble Baroness and copy my letter to other noble Lords who participated in this debate.
The noble Baroness also raised the issue of decumulation, which, as she rightly says, is not covered at this stage by these regulations. That does not mean that the Government are not looking at decumulation; it means that we are not looking at bringing it in at this stage. We are, however, keeping it under review, because, as we say, we want to ensure a fair regime: a fair amount paid—or a fair cap—so that the industry gets its fair return on what it is doing but savers are not ripped off, to use the vernacular. We have that under review.
The matter of the penalties regime was raised by the noble Baroness and also by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock. First, there are regulations that provide for a statement by the chair of trustees and a mandatory penalty of between £500 and £2,000 if such a statement is not produced. Trustees will have to demonstrate compliance with the governance and charges requirements in the chair’s statement. I am not sure of the precise sanctions that apply; I think it is under Section 43 and Schedule 18 of the Pensions Act 2014. I think that is right, in respect of the regime. However, I will write to noble Lords on the regime relating to non-compliance with the regulations and what the sanctions are.
Secondly, the contribution of the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, gave a very fair assessment of where we are. The noble Baroness made the very fair point that smaller schemes, generally speaking, do not represent such good value as larger schemes. It would not be fair to say that that is universally true, but it is probably generally true. Consolidation is happening—the figures show that—but it is right that we ensure that there is effective protection across the piece. That is, therefore, something that we need to keep under review. I made that clear as the Bill was going through the process of becoming an Act. It applies in general terms but it is a point well worth making.
I am trying to remember whether there were other points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, which I have not covered. If there were, perhaps she would remind me of them.
I thank the Minister. He has picked up most of them or has said that he will write to me about them. However, I asked how the combination charging options would work, whether the intention was that, if a combination option were chosen, it would be no more than the equivalent of 0.75% of funds under management, and how savers would know about that.
I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for reminding me of that. It is fair to say that generally, although not universally, that will be the case. I will write to her about the exemptions because there will be some situations where the charge will be higher, but in the majority of cases it will be the combination charge, which will certainly be no more than the 0.75% cap.
With that, I once again thank noble Lords for their support for the regulations. I undertake to write on the points that I have raised and on anything else that I have missed. I commend the regulations to the Committee.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Grand Committee
That the Grand Committee do consider the General Medical Council (Fitness to Practise and Over-arching Objective) and the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (References to Court) Order 2015.
Relevant documents: 24th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, 26th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
My Lords, I beg to move the first Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
This Section 60 order will amend the Medical Act 1983 to establish the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, the MPTS, in statute and make other reforms to the General Medical Council’s fitness to practise procedures. Reforming the way that the GMC adjudicates on cases where a doctor’s fitness to practise has been called into question has been a long-term policy objective for both the Department of Health and the GMC, following the decision not to proceed with the establishment of the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator, the OHPA, in 2011.
The introduction of these amendments will strengthen and modernise the GMC powers and systems, enabling it to carry out its fitness to practise adjudication functions more effectively. They will place the MPTS on a statutory footing and enable the GMC to make amendments to its fitness to practise rules to further modernise the procedures which govern how fitness to practise cases are handled.
These reforms will increase the separation between the investigation of fitness to practise cases and adjudicating on what should happen in each case to enhance public and professional confidence in the system of medical regulation. They will modernise the MPTS’s adjudication function, including strengthening the case management arrangements, by introducing enforceable case management directions. These include costs for unreasonable behaviour, introducing the ability to hold reviews on the papers where the parties agree, and introducing a duty to use rule-making powers in order to pursue the objective that cases be dealt with fairly and justly, similar to the courts’ Civil Procedure Rules.
The MPTS will be subject to accountability hearings held by the parliamentary Health Committee in Westminster, ensuring transparency and public debate in relation to the way that it discharges its statutory functions. The MPTS will also be required to lay its annual reports and accounts before the UK Parliament, and it is also held to account by the Professional Standards Authority, the PSA, via its annual performance review.
This order will address a number of patient safety issues, including strengthening the power of the registrar to require the disclosure of information from a doctor, to refer a doctor to the MPTS for decisions as to whether to impose conditions in relation to registration or to suspend that doctor in the event of non-compliance.
The GMC currently operates a rule which enables it not to proceed with an investigation if the matters relating to the allegation are more than five years old, unless it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so, and is in the “exceptional circumstance” of the case. The Government are using the opportunity of the order to remove the “exceptional circumstance” element. That is because a developing body of case law demonstrates that the additional test of having to prove that a case has an exceptional circumstance has prevented cases from being taken forward, even when it was considered in the public interest to do so. By expressly setting this out in statute, we are ensuring that an investigation can be taken forward, regardless of the amount of time that has passed, without having to prove exceptional circumstances. That will mean that the GMC will be able to investigate an allegation no matter what the circumstances or how much time has passed, if it feels that it is in the public interest to do so. That can only strengthen public protection and reduce risk to patient safety.
The order will bolster the objectives of the GMC in relation to its fitness to practise functions expressly to take account of the need to promote and maintain public confidence in the profession and the need to uphold proper professional standards and conduct, in addition to protecting the health, safety and well-being of the public. However, maintaining public confidence must only be considered as being relevant in pursuit of the protection of the public. Its inclusion in the overarching objective will help to ensure that it is given due weight in all fitness to practise cases.
The proposed overarching objectives will include the term well-being, as this term encompasses those aspects of a professional’s role that may have an impact on individual patients—not directly impact on their health or safety, but nevertheless affect them in a manner which is relevant to the health professional’s clinical care. Dignity, compassion and respect are all important in delivering care, and it would not be right to disregard them. The inclusion of the term well-being ensures that the well-being of a patient under the care of a health professional is not disregarded as a standard for regulatory action. The Law Commission’s report states that well-being has already been incorporated, without difficulty, into the main duties or objectives of regulators, and it feels strongly that, within that context, the term cannot be misinterpreted.
Increased separation will make it explicitly clear that the GMC has the role of investigating and presenting evidence in fitness to practise cases, but it will be for the MPTS to constitute tribunals to adjudicate on whether a doctor’s fitness to practise is impaired. With the greater separation between investigation and adjudication introduced through the order, the Government believe that it would be appropriate for the GMC also to have a right to appeal decisions made by the MPTS in cases where it believes that a decision does not protect the public. That will provide a transparent mechanism for decisions to be challenged in those instances where the GMC has concerns about a decision made by a medical practitioner tribunal.
The proposals also change the grounds on which the Professional Standards Authority can make a referral to the higher courts. That will enable the PSA to make a reference if it believes that a decision is insufficient to maintain public protection, which involves protecting the health, safety and well-being of the public, maintaining public confidence in the profession and maintaining proper professional standards and conduct. The order will ensure that the PSA can take action where it considers it appropriate in the interest of public protection, guaranteeing its right to intervene and take over an appeal where the GMC has withdrawn. The proposed GMC right of appeal would be in line with these revised grounds.
The Department of Health undertook a UK-wide consultation on making changes to the way that the GMC makes decisions about doctors’ fitness to practise. The consultation received 81 responses from a range of respondents, including medical and legal professionals, healthcare recruitment organisations, regulatory bodies and members of the public. The responses demonstrated strong support for the principle of enhancing the separation between the GMC’s role in investigating fitness to practise concerns and its role in adjudicating on whether those concerns amount to impaired fitness to practise.
A significant proportion of respondents—52%—felt that creating an entirely independent body like the former Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator, rather than establishing the MPTS as a statutory committee of the GMC, was a preferable approach. However, this group included an organised group of 39 co-ordinated and near-identical responses, which the department had to consider as individual responses. The department’s original decision not to proceed with OHPA was taken in 2011 and endorsed and implemented by Parliament in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The Government’s proposed approach remains that we should enhance and protect the independence of decision-making at fitness to practise panel hearings, to secure public protection and the confidence of doctors and patients. However, the department believes that the same benefit as establishing a separate body can be achieved without the expense by retaining the adjudication function within the GMC and increasing the separation between its investigation and adjudication functions. Taking into account the group of respondents who wanted greater separation, as well as those who supported the statutory committee model, there was significant support for the principle of greater separation. We consider that establishing the MPTS as a statutory committee of the GMC is the right means of achieving this. The majority of consultation respondents did not agree that the GMC should have a right of appeal to challenge MPTS decisions. However, this again included the group of 39 co-ordinated responses, although they did not give reasons.
The policy intention, once separation of functions has been achieved, is to enable the GMC—the organisation that is best placed to challenge a tribunal decision about a doctor’s fitness to practise, having already acted in the prosecution role before the tribunal—to be better able to make such a challenge, given its closer knowledge of the case. These proposals to strengthen and modernise the GMC’s fitness to practice process will make the system more efficient and effective, benefiting patients, practitioners and the health service. They will result in improved public protection and an increase in public confidence in the GMC. I commend the order to the Committee.
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for the way he introduced this legislation. We debated much of the content and wording of it previously in discussions on the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Bill. I do not intend to go over that ground again. I simply ask the Minister whether I am correct in believing that the guidance relating to this legislation is to be produced by the GMC, not the Department of Health, and whether the Department of Health will be able to have some kind of scrutiny role over the way that guidance is worded. As I have outlined before, there is concern among the profession—I declare my interest as a licensed practitioner, as well as a registered practitioner—that the term “well-being” could be viewed as being much wider. The public confidence issue is one where there remains concern—I am sure there will be concern—about trial by media and what is in the public domain that might influence the thinking of a panel.
My Lords, I rise briefly to support the order. I declare an interest that, maybe for a short while only, I am a licensed practitioner and a registered practitioner, and the rules of the GMC may not be sufficient for me to revalidate.
However, the issue to which I want to refer is the separation of the functions, of which I approve—we have discussed that many times—but for the fact that the GMC can appeal against the decision made by the MPTS. Its role becomes that of an adjudicator as well. I would like the noble Earl to clarify that. I know that in the consultation process there were the same number of responses—39, as mentioned by the noble Earl.
Another issue that we have discussed before is that these changes are welcome, but there are other changes that the Law Commission identified in its report, published in April 2014, on the regulation of health and social care professionals Bill. The Government indicated that they would bring in legislation to deal with all the issues. This is obviously a piecemeal measure taken out of that Bill, so the noble Earl may want to comment on that.
My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Earl for introducing the order. I shall say at once that the Opposition support it. Like the noble Lord, Lord Patel, we are disappointed that it is yet another Section 60 order being considered in Committee. We should have had the Law Commission Bill, either in pre-legislative scrutiny or in its substantive form. It is disappointing that we are having to deal with these various professional regulation bodies in such a piecemeal fashion.
That said, on the question of the overarching objective, we very much support that and the three pursuits set out in Article 21(1B),
“to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of the public … to promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession, and … to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for members of that profession”.
I want to pick up the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and the British Medical Association. I suppose it is an issue of proportionality. In its report, the Law Commission expressed concern about examples given, suggesting that regulators were inappropriately imposing moral judgments in essentially private matters under the guise of maintaining confidence. The BMA has raised the issue of whether the order might end up punishing doctors who pose no threat to the health and safety of the public, on the basis that failure to do so might incur the public’s disapproval. The Law Commission has urged regulators to look carefully at regulatory interventions that do not take some colour from the need to protect the public.
This is a very important point. I have been very impressed with the GMC and the way in which it has improved its procedures and processes—and certainly with its current leadership. However, there are other regulators, perhaps not so much in the health sector, which clearly lack confidence and which are very much influenced by the flow and ebb of media comment and potential political interventions. I think that we have to be very careful about regulators which, in a sense, lose confidence in their own ability to make common sense judgments, and then have knee-jerk reactions in the face of media storms. I hope that the noble Earl will agree that that is not the intention in the case of the health regulators, and like me, he will express confidence, particularly in the GMC to apply common sense judgments in response to the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay.
I now come to the question of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. The Minister referred to the fact that the consultation demonstrated strong support for enhancing the GMC’s investigative and adjudication roles, but that 52% of respondents took the view that creating an entirely independent body would be preferable, with only 27% supporting the proposal to put the MPTS on a statutory footing.
We must refer in particular to the evidence of the Professional Standards Authority. It,
“did not agree that the proposals to establish the MPTS as a statutory committee of the GMC would achieve the aim”,
of appropriate separation of function. It commented that,
“former and current members of GMC staff should be excluded from sitting on medical practitioner tribunals or interim orders tribunals … The PSA also asked about the ability of the GMC to make rules delegating functions from the MPTS committee to ‘officers of the Council’”,
and it,
“referred to the fact that case managers will be paid by the GMC, but case managers will be performing a statutory office”.
The PSA was obviously concerned that because those managers were paid by the GMC, they might come under undue influence. As the Explanatory Memorandum points out, the PSA,
“conducts annual performance reviews of each of the health and care professional regulatory bodies”.
I would like the noble Earl to explain why the views of the PSA, above all others, were ignored in relation to this issue.
To pick up the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, about guidance, again, the Explanatory Memorandum says that:
“The Department does not intend to publish any guidance in respect of”,
this statutory instrument but that the GMC,
“will publish guidance as appropriate”.
Is the Minister in a position to respond to the noble Baroness about what kind of guidance will actually be produced?
However, overall I believe that the GMC has made great strides in recent years. It deserves to be supported for what it is doing. I accept that this will speed up processes to protect the public and provide more and better information about doctors on the register. It will improve doctors’ education and training and increase efficiency, and on that basis we are very glad to support the order.
My Lords, I shall endeavour to answer the questions that noble Lords have asked but first I endorse the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, about the GMC, in which we in the department have great confidence. It is a well led organisation and has approached this whole exercise in a very responsible way. The background to this order is of course, as the noble Lord stated, that we do not have— much as we wish we did—a consolidated Bill building on the Law Commission’s work. In the absence of parliamentary time for a Bill, we are therefore working within the limitations of existing legislation and using Section 60 orders. Let me reassure the Committee that we are very much committed to taking forward a Bill in this important area when parliamentary time allows.
The various Section 60 orders being taken forward are driven by the need to address a small number of areas which we view as priorities. They both deal with the priorities of government such as English-language concerns, which will be debated later this afternoon, and address some immediate issues that have hampered the regulators from being able to fulfil their basic function of protecting the public. I therefore welcome the fact that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, is willing to give the order a fair wind.
The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, asked about the possibility that the inclusion of the objective of promoting and maintaining public confidence in the medical profession could in some circumstances be used in a vexatious way, perhaps at a personal level or in the media’s response to what has happened—a so-called trial by media. If the actions of a doctor appear likely to reduce confidence in the medical profession and influence the decision of individuals as to whether to seek medical help at all, it may be right to take action. However, panels and tribunals will be asked to reach their own objective judgment as to whether particular acts or omissions would affect public confidence if no action were taken. A subjective view, uncritically influenced by public opinion or the media, would be an unacceptable basis for a decision. The question of whether GMC staff will be able to sit on the MPTS was raised. The answer is no, they will not. The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, asked about the guidance. The GMC is consulting on its rules, and the department, I can assure her, will work closely with the GMC in drafting the guidance.
The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, asked about the issue of legal support for a medical practitioner tribunal. The MPTS will be best placed to assess what kind of legal support a tribunal will need and therefore what criteria legal assessors should meet. It is important that medical practitioner tribunals have appropriate support to make decisions based on strong legal knowledge. Where the MPTS has appointed a legally qualified case manager to also act as a chair of a medical practitioner tribunal, the MPTS may consider that there is not also a need for a separate legal assessor.
The noble Lord, Lord Patel, asked about the right of appeal for the GMC. As I explained, the order would enable the GMC to appeal decisions made by the MPTS in cases where it believes that the decision does not protect the public. Currently a respondent doctor has a right of appeal against panel determinations, although the GMC has no such right. Once greater separation is introduced through this order, the Government believe that it would be appropriate for the GMC to also have a right of appeal. This will reflect and underline the separation of investigation and adjudication. It will also provide a transparent mechanism for challenging decisions where the GMC, as a party to the proceedings, disagrees with a decision made by a medical practitioner tribunal. I hope that that explanation is helpful.
I would like to briefly return to the issue of guidance. I was not completely convinced by the noble Earl’s reply. Does he agree with me that there is a danger for a doctor, when there has been a lot of media coverage of the accusation—whatever that is—that the panel hearing the case may have been subject to a barrage by the media, which can be compared to baying hounds, and it can be very difficult for the doctor who is before the panel to be confident of a fair and balanced hearing?
For that reason the guidance becomes critical. It is incredibly stressful for a doctor to be reported to the GMC. The rates of suicide and mental health problems among such doctors are extremely high—higher, in any case, than the baseline population in normal circumstances, but there have been some notable cases of suicide. Does the Minister agree with me that the guidance for panels, particularly about the way they receive reports through the media, will be really important in ensuring that it is a balanced and fair hearing and not excessively influenced by press reports?
I completely understand the point that the noble Baroness has made. I hope that I can reassure her that the GMC is mindful of that issue. It would be the last organisation to wish for anything other than a fair and just approach to every fitness to practise case. I suggest that one of the safeguards here is that the legal representative and the legal assessor would advise the MPT on what is acceptable in law and proceed on that basis, so the tribunal would be governed by legal considerations and the guidance will make that clear. However, if I can add to those remarks in writing after this debate, I will be very happy to do so.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Grand CommitteeMy Lords, the Government recognise that overseas healthcare professionals make a valuable contribution to our NHS, and we are keen to ensure that highly skilled professionals do not face unnecessary barriers to working in our health service. However, it is vital that all healthcare professionals practising in the UK have the necessary English language skills to properly communicate with and care for patients and members of the public. The department has consulted on proposals to introduce language controls for nurses, midwives, dentists, dental care professionals, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and the vast majority of respondents to the consultation—99%—were supportive of the proposals.
We have worked with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the General Dental Council, the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland to identify a system of language controls for EU nurses, midwives, dentists, dental care professionals, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians which provides greater safety for patients and members of the public. The draft order gives those regulatory bodies the powers to apply proportionate language controls so that only healthcare professionals who have the necessary knowledge of the English language are able to practise in the UK, together with an assurance that they can do their jobs in a safe and competent manner.
The draft order sets out to amend the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, the Dentists Act 1984, the Pharmacy Order 2010 and the Pharmacy (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 to strengthen the regulatory body’s powers to introduce proportionate language controls and to require EU applicants to provide evidence of their knowledge of the English language following recognition of their professional qualification—but before registration and admission on to the register. We also propose corresponding amendments to the fitness to practise powers of the NMC, GDC, GPhC and PSNI, so that they can initiate fitness to practise proceedings in cases where a healthcare professional’s knowledge of the English language may pose a serious risk to patient safety.
A new category of impairment relating to English language capability will be created. It will allow the regulatory body to request that a professional undertakes an assessment of their knowledge of the English language during a fitness to practise investigation where concerns have been raised—something that they are currently unable to do. Those changes will strengthen the regulatory body’s ability to take fitness to practise action where concerns about language competence are identified in relation to healthcare professionals already practising in the UK.
Our overall approach is compliant with EU law which clarifies, under recent changes to the mutual recognition of professional qualifications directive, the ability of national authorities to carry out language controls on European applicants where the profession has patient safety implications. Any language controls must be fair and proportionate. For example, there cannot be automatic testing for all European applicants, and any controls cannot take place until the applicant’s qualification has been recognised by the regulatory body.
The order makes amendments to the relevant legislation which will require the regulatory body to publish guidance setting out the evidence, information or documents which a healthcare professional must provide to demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge of the English language in order to practise their profession. Any person who is refused admission on to the register on the grounds that they have failed to demonstrate the necessary knowledge of English will have a right to appeal. The process for determining whether a person has the necessary knowledge of English will be set out in the relevant regulatory body’s rules or regulations, which we anticipate will be amended and implemented before the end of the year.
These changes are a major step forward for quality of care and patient safety, and build on the language checks already in place for the registration of healthcare professionals coming to work in the UK from outside the EU. They further build on the amendments made last year, which provided the General Medical Council with the powers to introduce a strengthened system of language controls for doctors from within the EU.
Since the GMC’s legislation was changed in June last year, the GMC has required 1,956 doctors from Europe to provide evidence of their knowledge of English when applying for first registration and a licence to practise. Of these, to date 429 doctors have been registered without a licence to practise medicine in the UK due to insufficient evidence of language competence. This evidence shows that these proposals are essential to ensure patient protection and uphold the standards of care delivered. I commend the order to the Committee.
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for explaining the order. Clearly, we support the order because we want to protect patients from the risk of avoidable harm.
My own view is that language testing of healthcare professionals from outside Europe is now entirely adequate as a result of last year’s measures—which, again, the Opposition supported. However, we accept that there may be a—one hopes—small number of European professionals whose knowledge of English is not at a level that we might reasonably expect, and indeed an even smaller number of UK nationals who do not possess the requisite knowledge of English and where there are concerns.
I wonder whether the Minister can spell out one or two things in relation to how this is going to be done. I note—the noble Earl said it and it is repeated at paragraph 7.5 of the Explanatory Memorandum—that:
“Any language controls must be fair and proportionate, for example, there cannot be automatic testing for all European applicants and any controls must not take place until the applicant’s qualification has been recognised by the regulatory body”.
Paragraph 7.10 cautions that, in relation to the requirements that can be imposed as to English language controls, the bodies concerned,
“must first request and consider any available evidence before requiring a test”.
Can the Minister explain a little further how it is expected that employing authorities will go about that?
I also want to ask the noble Earl about the implementation of the power to implement fitness to practise proceedings. I noted from the Explanatory Memorandum that there is currently provision for most of the relevant regulatory bodies to commission an assessment of performance where fitness to practise allegations have been made. I was not sure about the purpose of the extension in this order, given that the Explanatory Memorandum notes that there is already provision for most of the relevant regulatory bodies to do this.
I would like to ask the Minister about support and guidance for individual employers. This comes back to my first question about how you make the assessment that a test should be undertaken. I should have thought that human resources professionals within NHS organisations would need some careful advice and guidance on this—first, because this may be a sensitive area, and, secondly, because some consistency throughout the NHS would be appropriate.
Finally, there is the question of vexatious complaints, which we discussed in relation to the previous order. Clearly, we have to balance the public interest with that of the appropriate interest of medical professionals. We know that there are cases in which medical professionals have been subjected to complaints that have turned out to be unsubstantiated. Clearly there are political sensitivities around the ability of European immigrants to speak English; I refer the noble Earl back to our previous debate and the points raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay. I want to be clear that the Government understand that, while this is undoubtedly the right measure for patient safety and the protection of the public interest, we have to have regard to ensuring that doctors and other professionals are dealt with fairly under these provisions.
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his support of the order. The first point for me to make about what might trigger a language test is that European healthcare professionals currently provide a range of supporting information to accompany their application for registration and admission to the register. It is during that process that if a regulatory body had cause for concern, such as a poorly written application form, it would write to the individual to seek further evidence of English language competence. It is important to restate that the individual would still have their qualification recognised, but would not be admitted to the register until the body was satisfied that they met all the requirements for registration.
The draft order requires the regulatory bodies to publish guidance on the evidence to be provided by a healthcare professional where there is cause for concern about their English language capability. However, the regulatory body, as the independent regulator of the relevant healthcare professionals in the UK, will have the power to decide what the necessary knowledge of English is to practise safely in the UK. All the regulators subject to this order are in the process of developing this guidance. In recent discussions they suggested that, where there is a cause for concern, the evidence required could be the required score in the academic version of IELTS—the International English Language Testing System—or that the healthcare professional has a primary qualification taught and examined in English. In making that determination, the regulatory body will need to be mindful of EU law and ensure that such requirements are necessary and proportionate in view of their scope of practice.
As regards vexatious complaints, responses to the department’s public consultation highlighted the potential serious risk to patient safety posed by a professional practising without adequate English language skills. As I explained, these proposals would allow the regulatory bodies to take pre-emptive fitness to practise action, even if no actual harm has yet occurred, to maintain public protection. We accept that this could lead to a rise in the number of referrals but we are confident that if these are triaged correctly, any discriminatory or vexatious complaints can be identified early on and dealt with appropriately by the regulatory bodies affected by the order. The regulatory bodies will also be responsible for communicating the changes effectively to employers, which may be best placed to deal with issues at a local level. As I mentioned, there is a right to appeal if a person is refused admission on to the register, or is subject to fitness to practise proceedings and then found to be impaired on the grounds of defective English.
The noble Lord asked how we would ensure that the controls were fair and proportionate. Guidance will be published by the regulator on the evidence accepted on initial application for registration. If that has not been supplied, an individual will be sent a letter of recognition requesting further evidence. If it is not supplied at that point, a test will be requested.
The introduction of language controls at national level should not have the effect of requiring individual professionals to undertake the same English language test twice: once at national and once at local level. We agree that that would be disproportionate. However, it must be remembered that the regulatory bodies’ roles as the national regulators of the healthcare professionals affected by the order will be to ensure that all professionals have the minimum English language capability required to work as a practitioner. It will still be for the employer to assure themselves that the applicant has the necessary English language skills for a specific role, which may require more sophisticated language skills. I hope that that is helpful.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Lords Chamber
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent reported difficulties of wheelchair users in obtaining taxis at the same price as others, what plans they have to bring into force sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act 2010.
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In so doing, I declare an interest as a user of a wheelchair and taxis.
My Lords, in February 2014, I instructed officials to carry out a survey in order to provide a better understanding of the range of issues facing wheelchair users around the country when using taxis or private hire vehicles. I shared the outcomes of this research with ministerial colleagues and discussions are continuing across government on how best to address these issues, including the possible commencement of Sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply but it has been five years since the Equality Act was enacted, and Sections 165 and 167 are still not enforced. Does the Minister know that the BBC in Leeds did some research recently in Stafford by sending someone out with a disabled person for 12 taxi rides, and she was charged extra every time?
My Lords, as I say, discussions are continuing but the news that the noble Baroness shares is disturbing. The issue that the Government are attempting to deal with is that there is some lack of clarity within Section 165 and there are potential questions, therefore, around enforceability. The question is whether this issue should be dealt with better in the possible legislation that would follow the Government’s response to the Law Commission report on taxi reform more generally.
My Lords, charging is not the only problem that wheelchair users face with taxis. Are the Government considering whether there should be a requirement for any taxi that claims it is wheelchair-friendly to have just one ramp, because many have two ramps, which are inaccessible to people in electric wheelchairs?
My Lords, the assumption is that charging is a violation of the broad anti-discrimination clauses of the Equality Act because one cannot discriminate and charge additional amounts for services provided to disabled people. In terms of ramps and the other issues that the noble Baroness describes, there are many problems for wheelchair users in accessing taxis and private hire vehicles. Again, a more extensive piece of legislation may be required to deal with this broader range of issues, which we are increasingly aware of.
My Lords, no one who is disabled should be penalised because of their disability. Recognising this in May last year, the Law Commission’s review recommended that all taxi drivers should receive disability awareness training. Do the Government accept this recommendation and, if they do, when will it be implemented?
The Government are still working on their response to the extensive report from the Law Commission and that is one of the recommendations that must be addressed in the reply. I remind the House that there will be post-legislative scrutiny in the next Session of the disability provisions in the Equality Act. There are several ways of tackling these problems.
My Lords, did the Minister’s instructions to her officials and the ensuing discussions cover the carriage of disabled people using assistance dogs?
My Lords, we have commenced the relevant sections 168 to 171 of the Equality Act, which cover assistance guide dogs.
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right—there is a great deal of difficulty for those who use assistance dogs. These difficulties arise in taxis, attempting to get into taxis and people being ignored because they have got a dog, in hotels, restaurants and other places. Does my noble friend agree that something needs to be done—I would be grateful if my noble friend would do it—to enforce the law to ensure that people with assistance dogs are not discriminated against?
My Lords, I cannot give the general national numbers but Transport for London has brought something like 28 prosecutions in relation to guide dogs and taxis and has succeeded in at least 20 of those cases. Action is being taken but, as I say, broader issues need to be captured.
My Lords, why does not the Minister fess up and acknowledge that the Government have made a complete shambles of taxi regulation? The only way in which we got effective regulation of taxis and any sense out of the Deregulation Bill, which the Government introduced ahead of the Law Commission’s final position, was through Cross-Bench and Labour amendments which the Government eventually effected. Now we have another Act of Parliament on which consultation is still taking place after five years. The record is disgraceful and the Minister should acknowledge that.
Your Lordships will be aware that, in the Deregulation Bill, the changes that allowed an operator to use taxis from another area were largely motivated by enabling operators to reach a broader range of taxis and private hire vehicles that had disabled access.
My Lords, the Law Commission recommended that taxis should have a duty to stop when hailed. Does the Minister not agree that it would cost nothing to enforce this and to tell taxi drivers that they would risk their licence if they did not?
The noble Baroness is right: this is the problem most highlighted by people in wheelchairs or who have guide dogs. There is currently no requirement under the law or within the taxi licence that taxis have to stop. They are not allowed to discriminate but they are not required to stop for anyone. The Law Commission recommended that this issue should be addressed. As I say, the Government are working on their response to the Law Commission and legislation may follow.
My Lords, it is quite a tough time for disabled people at the moment, whether because of the increased cost of taxi fares, which is reported as being rife, the recent High Court case about priority for wheelchair users on buses or the fact that 100 Motability cars are being removed from people every single week. Do not disabled people deserve the same rights to access public transport as everyone else?
The noble Baroness is absolutely right. The constant message from the Government is that people with disabilities are a normal part of our community. She will be aware of the great strides that we have made in terms of accessibility on trains and buses. That has involved driver training, along with our recent progress in creating cheap audiovisual systems which can be retrofitted in buses. A great deal is happening, but much more must be done.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what long-term funding is in place for the College of Social Work.
My Lords, the college has been established as a membership organisation independent of Parliament and as such it has ongoing revenue from membership fees. Over the past six years the college has received over £8.2 million in core funding, contracts and grants. Both the Department for Education and the Department of Health are currently in discussions with the college over a range of possible direct grants next year, and the college regularly competes for contracts with government and other agencies.
Today is World Social Work Day and our changing world has never been more in need of high-quality social workers, whether in regard to children at risk or the fact that in Britain our population aged over 85 will double in the next 15 years. So would the Minister agree with the Lords Select Committee chaired by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, which concluded that although improving the training of social workers has cost implications,
“this is an area of work of such importance to society … that under-resourcing it would be a false economy”?
If so, in supporting the College of Social Work, should we not seek cross-party consensus to secure longer-term adequate funding?
My Lords, I entirely agree with the noble Baroness about the importance of social workers and the vital part that they have to play in our society. On the point about training, the coalition Government have spent over £680 million on training social workers. We now have the Step Up to Social Work programme which has attracted some £47.5 million of funding, and the Frontline pilot, which is also receiving significant funds. The importance of proper training for social workers is in absolutely no doubt.
My Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree that at present, social workers are finding life almost intolerable in terms of the pressures on them? What is the level of vacancies in local authorities at present? I know that it is very high. Further, what are the Government doing to encourage local authorities to make sure that they have long-term staffing programmes? I am sure that the work of the College of Social Work encourages these, but a better attitude towards social workers and a sense of being positive about their work, rather than constant criticism, would certainly help.
Yes, I agree entirely with the noble Baroness on that point. Currently there are more registered social workers than there are vacancies, but it is a question of distribution in that they are not always in the areas where the need is greatest. Constant work is being done between local authorities and among providers to try to ensure that the right numbers of social workers are in the right places. Obviously the College of Social Work has a part to play in ensuring that that work progresses.
My Lords, I declare an interest as a friend of the College of Social Work. Does my noble friend agree that professionalism is as important in the public sector as it is in the private sector? The college affords people working in this very important profession across the country opportunities and support for the work they are doing, particularly in the areas of education and in-service training, as well as of course the important areas where new legislation comes into play and has to be accommodated and implemented at what is often quite short notice.
My noble friend is quite right that one of the membership services which the college provides is help with continuous professional development as well as the encouragement of professionalism. We are totally committed to the professionalism of social workers. The sector now has an all-graduate entry and standards are constantly being monitored.
My Lords, Ofsted’s social care annual report, which was published last week, underlines the importance and cost-effectiveness of early intervention and prevention in child protection. Does the Minister accept the case for adequate investment in social work so as to ensure that this preventive work is not neglected, as is so often the case at present? That leads to costly and less effective crisis intervention. Will she also ensure that hard-pressed local authorities have the necessary resources to enable this preventive work to take place?
Indeed, my Lords; of course early intervention is always an economic thing to do, and it is also far more effective. There is constant work going on, revision and research, to try to make sure that we have the most effective ways of resourcing, funding and training social workers.
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the College of Social Work has a vitally important role to play in ensuring that the profession remains unified and cohesive, and, in particular, that both children’s social workers and adults’ social workers have the skills to deal with both children’s mental health issues and adult mental health issues, as these are issues which impact on many other family members?
My noble friend is quite right that the college has a responsibility for the professional capabilities framework, and that that has professional standards for generic social work which cover child, family and adult social work, and of course mental health is a key part of that.
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that local authority social services departments peripheral to London are having acute difficulties recruiting and retaining staff because they do not get London weighting, but house prices are as high as they very often are in London? Is there anything that can be done about this?
The noble Countess raises a point which ranges far wider than social workers. House prices, particularly in the south-east, are going to be a problem for many people in the public sector. Of course, that then strays into areas of housing, which is rather wider than the remit of this Question. However, I assure her that it is important that we have adequate housing for people who work in these vital services, such as social work.
My Lords, can the Minister tell me what percentage of qualified social workers are foreign born?
I do not have those figures at my disposal, and I think, in fairness, it is slightly wide of the Question on the Order Paper.
My Lords, as a former trained social worker, I am all too aware of the demands on social workers and the challenges they face, including not receiving adequate training on general disability issues but, more important, on the issue of autism. Given that the lack of recognition often leads to delay and misdiagnosis, causing huge setbacks, how do the Government and the Department of Health view the College of Social Work in its role in supporting people with autism more effectively? Will it ensure that there is commensurate funding available for that?
We are entirely committed to improving the quality of social worker training. Training, of course, is not done directly by the college but through universities and other places, and obviously that training is going to need to take into account all sorts of different forms of disability or disadvantage, of which autism would be one.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Lords Chamber
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect the Forestry Commission’s stake in Forest Holidays and to ensure that in the event of a sale by the majority shareholder they would not lose all management control of any future development.
My Lords, the control the Forestry Commission has over developments by Forest Holidays is exercised through the arrangements in the legal framework agreement between Forest Holidays and the Forestry Commission, rather than through its shareholding in the business. Any change in ownership would not change the level of control exercised under the framework agreement and as landlord.
My Lords, concern about the future of our public forest estate continues, and the Answer of the Minister does nothing to assuage the fears that there are at the moment or the anxiety over the nature of the relationship between the Forestry Commission and Forest Holidays. What is the process for approving new and existing sites? Further to that, why does there not appear to have been any competitive tender process when Forest Holidays was restructured through a joint venture in 2012?
My Lords, the Forestry Commission has to approve of any new sites for this activity, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld, which is a reasonably common requirement. In practice, Forest Holidays is unlikely to be able to progress a site if it does not have the full support of the Forestry Commission. Forest Holidays also has its own site selection criteria, which exclude any site where there are significant environmental constraints.
I spoke to the chairman of the Forestry Commission today, and he confirmed that only a limited number of sites are available within the public forest estate.
I declare an interest as the chair of the Forestry Commission from 2001 to 2009. As the House may know, there have been two joint ventures with the Forestry Commission and Forest Holidays, one on my watch in 2006 and a later one in 2012. Will the Minister confirm that, on the first occasion, it followed full parliamentary procedure, had the approval of the Treasury and went out to full competitive tendering?
As regards the second venture, will the Minister assure the House that if the private sector investor decided to sell its share, the Forestry Commission would not be forced to sell the commensurate share at the same time?
I can confirm most of what the noble Lord said. The terms under which the current joint venture operates are very much the same as for the original joint venture. If the controlling interest is sold, the Forestry Commission may be required to sell its interest in the company by the buyer, including the Forestry Commission’s stake in the business. The sale would not change the controls set out in the framework agreement and the site leases.
My Lords, I declare my entry in the register of interests. Public access and amenity are obviously most important, but they are not the only consideration. When it comes to marketing, will the Government ensure that the Forestry Commission does not intentionally undercut private owners and producers?
My Lords, although that is slightly wide of the Question, I think I can none the less confirm what the noble Lord says.
My Lords, when this Question was first put down, I had no idea what Forest Holidays was, but I have been looking into it, and the more I do so, the murkier the whole business seems. It appears that, since the framework agreement in 2012 and the new joint venture companies having been set up, pieces of the forestry estate have effectively been handed to venture capitalists to pursue log cabin developments. The questions that need to be asked are: first, are the public getting value for money for that through the forestry commissioners? There are arguments that they are not. Secondly, is it true that the forestry commissioners are not exercising their powers effectively over such developments? Thirdly, how far will this go? Is it the intention that Forest Holidays will expand substantially, using cheap Forestry Commission land and taking over some of the national forestry estate for its purposes?
My Lords, as I said, I discussed this matter this morning with the chairman of the Forestry Commission. As he said, the reality is that only a limited number of sites are available within the public forest estate, principally because much of the land is either ancient woodland or SSSI or protected in some other way.
My Lords, what can be done about the wild boar in the Forest of Dean eating lambs? Might this not be dangerous to people on holiday?
My Lords, that is an interesting question. It is important that we retain visibility of the trees as well as the forest. Primary responsibility for management of feral boar lies with local communities and individual landowners. This means that local land managers are free to control wild boar as they see fit, as long as that control is carried out in a humane and legal manner.
My Lords, the Forestry Commission in England is to be congratulated on the significant rise in the number of people visiting our public forest estates, not least as it is against the background of a recent report which suggests that the number of people visiting rural areas has slightly declined. It shows the huge value that our population puts on both the social and economic benefits of the forest, as well as on the environmental benefits because of carbon capture. Have Her Majesty’s Government made any assessment of the possibility of increasing the total amount of public forest estate to enhance those benefits even further?
We have not given particular consideration to that, although the House will be aware of the background and the report of the Independent Panel on Forestry. It is important that we continue to increase the amount of woodland cover generally in the country. That is under way, principally funded through the rural development programme.
My Lords, will the Minister answer the second part of the question asked by my noble friend Lord Clark of Windermere? If the private sector sells its share, does the Forestry Commission have to do likewise?
My Lords, I did actually answer that. There are circumstances in which the Forestry Commission’s share is sold with that of the majority shareholder.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Lords Chamber
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support the use of water cannons in London.
My Lords, there is an established process for the approval of less lethal weapons, including water cannon. This includes an assessment by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons—called SACMILL for short—a report from which has recently been received by the Home Office. The Home Secretary will consider the report carefully and issue a response.
Why is the Minister unable to say now that this policy is wholly dangerous and unworkable? Does he agree that water cannon can be dangerous, ineffective, expensive and alien to the British way of life? This is not a laughing matter at all. Is their use not opposed by a large majority of senior police officers, who think the policy is dangerous and not workable? Why is the Minister unable to say now that this is a policy too far and should not be pursued?
The noble Lord will be aware that we agree this could result in a very significant change in the nature of policing, which has a tradition of being by consent and with public support. When the report was submitted last March by the chief constable who is the national policing lead, the Home Secretary decided this needed to be looked at by the Centre for Applied Science and Technology—CAST—and SACMILL. Their report was received last week and the Home Secretary will issue a response, both on the science and on the ethics of whether this is something we want to see deployed on the streets of this country.
My Lords, I have a registered interest in policing. Does the Minister agree that no compelling case has been made, now or in the past, for the use of water cannon in London and that that is why all former commissioners, me included, have resisted calls for their use? In those circumstances, is it not wise for the Home Secretary to take her time responding to this issue? If there is a change of policy, it would dramatically affect the mood and tone of how police respond to challenging demonstrations or street disorder.
The noble Lord is absolutely right that we should take our time, and that is what the Home Secretary is doing. That is why she commissioned the report and that is why she wrote to ask for further information. Of course, this came to the Home Secretary from the Chief Constables’ Council—from the operational side—last year and we are giving very serious consideration to it.
My Lords, we are not talking about a gentle spray from a garden hose here. Is the Minister aware that water has to be heated before it can be fired from a water cannon? Does he agree with the comments from ACPO that water cannon could be justified because of the need to police protests against the Government’s austerity programme, or does he agree with the late Bob Jones, the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands, who said that water cannon would be,
“as much use as a chocolate teapot”?
There is a well established procedure for considering these things, as happened with Tasers under the previous Government. A proposal comes forward—a request is made—and consideration is given to the scientific and medical implications of deploying the particular model. That is also placed in the context of a decision by the Home Secretary on the nature of policing and public consent.
My Lords, is it not very important when discussing the use of water cannon that one also says in what circumstances they should be used?
Yes, that is absolutely right. What we are talking about here is not peaceful protests that may take place on the streets but serious disorder where life could actually be at risk. It would be in very exceptional circumstances but, even so, it is something that needs to be considered very carefully and that is what the Home Secretary is doing.
My Lords, the operational deployment of water cannon is a rather arcane subject, but I can inform the House that it has only two purposes. The first is to keep a distance between protesters and a site that needs to be protected, and the second is to keep apart protesters who are going to fight. The Metropolitan Police has dealt with that for 150 years without the use of water cannon. Does the Minister agree that any question to which the answer is, “We should deploy water cannon in London”, is by definition the wrong question, and would he mind explaining that to the Mayor of London—the prospective candidate for Uxbridge and goodness knows what?
As the noble Lord well knows, this was discussed very seriously after the 2011 riots in the capital and elsewhere in the country. It came forward from the chief constables, not the mayor. It was a policing-led proposal but it is something that there ought be political oversight of, and that is the reason why the Home Secretary is putting through these requests for additional information and scrutiny of the decision.
My Lords, I wonder if the Minister could help me and perhaps help the House a little. Has the prospective Conservative candidate for Uxbridge actually ordered two water cannon or not? I am not clear about that and I would be grateful if the Minister could help us. Secondly, can he tell us that if the prospective Conservative candidate for Uxbridge purports to order two water cannon, the Home Secretary will veto it?
This decision was taken by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the current Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. The Met decided to proceed with acquiring three water cannon because, I am told, although they cost £870,000 apiece it was able to get them for £30,000 and thought it was a reasonable decision to take at the time. However, that is something that the Met is answerable for. What the Home Secretary and the Home Office are answerable for is whether the decision should be taken to allow them to be deployed in the UK.
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Lords Chamber
That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 5 February be approved.
Relevant document: 23rd Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. Considered in Grand Committee on 11 March.
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to acquaint the House that they, having been informed of the purport of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, have consented to place their interests, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.
Clause 3: Companies: duty to publish report on payment practices
Amendment 1
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, for his diligent scrutiny of the late payment provisions in the Bill. We covered a wide range of areas during the debates. I hope noble Lords are now certain of the Government’s unwavering commitment to tackle late payment and are satisfied with the way that I have tried to address the concerns raised. We are all united in the belief that suppliers should be fairly compensated when they suffer from late payment. I was persuaded by the noble Lord’s arguments and made a commitment to bring forward amendments to specify in the Bill how we intend to use the reporting power in relation to payment performance and interest owed and paid. These amendments deliver on that commitment.
Amendment 1 inserts a reference to “performance” in the Bill. This amendment makes clear that payment performance is a vital component of the new mandatory reporting requirement and that we are committed to include it in regulations. Greater transparency will bring to the fore poor payment performance. Amendments 2 and 3 make express reference to late payment interest as an example of the type of information that may be included in the new reporting requirement. We are committed to using this power in the Bill to require companies to report on the amount of interest owed or paid because of late payment. This new reporting requirement will bring increased transparency to payment performance.
Together with the wider package of measures we are driving forward—to improve public sector prompt payment and strengthen the Prompt Payment Code—this will encourage a change in corporate behaviour. For far too long, large companies in the UK have used their economic power to make gains at supplier expense. The commitment I have made today will help to ensure that suppliers are fairly compensated. I hope noble Lords will feel able to support these amendments. I beg to move.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing these amendments and for her unfailing courtesy throughout the passage of the Bill. We share a deep concern that the scope of late payments and poor payment practices is not only unfair, unjust and damaging to small businesses but is a brake on the entire economic potential of our country. With the sum outstanding approaching £60 billion, the Bill is an important step in trying not just to stop it rising any further but to create the ability to reverse that number as strongly and rapidly as we can.
While we favour additional measures—some of which could be considered in secondary legislation—we are grateful to the Government for recognising the need to add strength to their approach by ensuring that the payment report goes beyond intentions and reports on actual performance. In addition, the interest figure in payments highlights existing late payment legislation. These measures have our strong support and we are grateful to the Minister and the Government for listening and for their positive response and detailed scrutiny of our suggestions.
It may be for the convenience of the House for me to thank the Minister for the letter she sent to my noble friend Lord Stevenson and myself helping to tidy up some of the points of contention raised on Report relating to the co-protections when a pub is sold, the role of the adjudicator in these matters, investment by pub companies and the market rent only option, and the consultation on the code itself and on secondary legislation. We are very grateful for what the Minister has written and believe that it resolves almost all of the outstanding issues at this stage. Again, we offer our strong support for that.
We have good reason to be very proud and supportive of small businesses. One has only to look at the annual reports on European SMEs, published by the European Commission, to know how strong we could be with more focused public policy support. Let us hope that this Bill is a strong step in the way forward in dealing with late payments and prompt payments and ensuring that our small businesses take full advantage of the position that they are in. They are, of course, the backbone of our economy.
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, for his very kind remarks and for giving me the opportunity to return briefly to the matter of pubs. As he said, I sent a letter to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, yesterday and I have, for the convenience of the House, placed a copy in the Library.
Noble Lords expressed concern on Report about protections that would be available to a tied tenant whose pub is sold. Let me clarify the position: when a tied pub, owned by a company covered by the statutory code, is sold to another code company, the rights of the tenant under the code will be unaltered and will continue seamlessly. A tenant in this situation will retain the right to exercise the market rent only option after sale if any of the MRO triggers are activated. Where a tied pub is sold by a code company to a company outside the scope of the statutory code—for example, to a family brewer—the tenant will retain all the protections of the code except for MRO until the end of the lease or until completion of the next rent review, whichever comes first. In this scenario, if the purchasing company offers the tenant an agreement on different terms from their existing agreement, the tenant will have the right to a rent review.
If the tenant considers that the rent review breaches the code then he or she will be able to refer the matter to the adjudicator for arbitration. The adjudicator will not have powers to investigate non-code companies because the investigation powers are designed to address suspected systemic abuses of the code across many tenants. It would not be right to include in scope companies which are covered by the code only by virtue of the historic ownership of some of their pubs and in respect only of those particular pubs.
I turn briefly to the matter of investment. I have been clear that the Government want to see investment in tied pubs. That is key to the success of the industry, both for pub companies and for tenants. Pubs are at the heart of our communities and our heritage. They are important to the old and the young. We want pubs to thrive. I therefore announced on Report that the Government would set out in secondary legislation how tenants and pub companies can agree a waiver of two MRO triggers in exchange for significant future investment in a pub. I would like to make it clear that the waiver will apply only to the renewal and scheduled rent review triggers for MRO. All other code protections will remain in place during the waiver period. This means that the two exceptional triggers for MRO will remain; namely, a significant price increase and an economic event which impacts on the tenant’s ability to trade. The Government will set out safeguards in the code to ensure the tenant is protected from attempts to abuse a waiver. Any attempt to avoid these safeguards could be referred to the adjudicator for arbitration and redress.
I am grateful to my noble friend. I hoped to get through this afternoon without having to discuss pubs yet again. When a pub is sold by one of the companies covered by the code to a company that is not covered by it—a family brewer was the example she used—who enforces the rights of the tenant against the pub company that is outside the code? At that point, as my noble friend said, it is not part of the code so how does the adjudicator make that work?
I thank my noble friend for that question. The answer is that this is part of the role of the adjudicator. I am very happy to talk further on the detail of how that might work. Of course, that will be the subject of full consultation.
Finally, I reiterate that the Government are committed to that full consultation on the pubs code and the other secondary legislation that is required to deliver Part 4 of the Bill. We will be keen to continue engaging with stakeholders as the secondary legislation is developed. The regulations are of course subject to the affirmative procedure and we intend to ensure that there is a chance to scrutinise this secondary legislation because of the depth of interest in it and its importance. We send the Bill back to the other place confident that we have remained true to the spirit and intention of the measures introduced there, but having made improvements that will ensure that the measures are workable and minimise unintended consequences.
My Lords, the amendments in this group make a number of consequential and technical changes to the Bill. I turn first to Amendments 4, 6, 12 and 13. In Committee, the Government moved a number of technical amendments about the penalties in the Bill. The majority of those related to the penalties in Parts 7 and 8. At the time, it was unclear whether changes to the fines available to magistrates in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 would be implemented during this Parliament. This was because the regulations needed to accompany commencement were yet to be debated in both Houses of Parliament and a number of the amendments were designed to ensure that the penalties worked in either event. As noble Lords may be aware, Section 85 of LASPO came into force on 12 March. As a result, there is no longer an upper limit on fines in the magistrates’ courts. My amendments therefore remove the changes we made in relation to these fines, as they are no longer necessary.
I now turn to Amendments 14 to 16. Noble Lords will be aware that the Deregulation Bill has recently been read in this House for a third time, and yesterday this House considered and agreed amendments made to it in the other place. These technical amendments are therefore required so that the Schedule 9 amendments are based on the text of the Insolvency Act after amendment by the Deregulation Bill.
Finally, I turn to Amendments 7 to 9. Our penalty measure in Clause 150 provides for full and prompt payment of employment tribunal awards. This will reassure claimants that, should they be successful at a tribunal, they will receive the money that they are owed. Clause 150(5) already amends the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 to provide that the affirmative procedure applies to regulations made under the new provisions. However, it does not also remove them from the category of instruments that are subject to negative procedure. Amendments 7 to 9 correct this.
I hope noble Lords will welcome these various amendments and give them the House’s support.
My Lords, it says in the Companion very clearly that Third Readings are mainly used for tidying up complicated parts of Bills that perhaps have eluded the draftsman or indeed are subject to a change in other places. The descriptions as made by the Minister clearly fulfil all aspects of that and we have no wish to enter into them.
I must say that I was slightly confused by the insertion and then removal and then the reinsertion but in a different way of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act provision. However, the Minister has explained the reason for that in a private meeting and we are very happy with the provisions now.
My Lords, we debated on Report whether the Equality and Human Rights Commission should be excluded from the small business appeals champion in the Bill. I committed to consider the question. Amendment 5 now delivers an exclusion. The Government have always maintained that the EHRC is a very special case and should not be subject to the duty to appoint a champion. We considered that an exemption in secondary legislation would be sufficient, but noble Lords were concerned about this and the potential implication for the EHRC’s “A” status as a national human rights institution. The Government believe that there is only a very small risk here, but we have listened to noble Lords and agreed to eliminate the risk altogether with this amendment, which I know from the debate will be welcomed across the House. I beg to move.
My Lords, I thank my noble friend very much for this concession. I entirely agree with her that nobody in this House thought that the Government were not going to do this. We understood that there was no malice aforethought in any sense at all, but it is surprising how people can make malice if they can find a way of doing it, and many people were suggesting that, in some way, the Government were taking control over this independent body, which would be unacceptable internationally. That is why we made the point, and I, for one, am very pleased that the Government have accepted it. I thank my noble friend for the courteous way in which she has dealt with this and, indeed, the detailed answer that she has given us.
My Lords, this is a strange moment because exactly the same arguments and debates—indeed the same personnel—debated much the same amendment in the Deregulation Bill, as the Minister has explained. The result on that occasion was that the EHRC was not excluded from the Deregulation Bill. In a sense, the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Deben, are entirely correct. I think that we as a House are convinced that the Government do not wish any ill on the EHRC and wish to see its “A” status preserved. We have excluded it from this Bill—which had a small but important adjunct of policy which bit on the EHRC—but we have not excluded it from the Deregulation Bill, which covers a much larger area. Obviously the Minister has skills way beyond those with which she came into this House—and there were many when she arrived. She has gained in strength and capacity. She has been able to do the impossible in going round the magic circle of Cabinet committees in a record-breaking time and I congratulate her on this amendment.
My Lords, Amendments 10 and 11 relate to the public sector exit payment provisions and deliver the commitment I made on Report to make these powers subject to the affirmative procedure on their first use. This was in light of a further report by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and we are grateful for the committee’s scrutiny of the Bill.
This first use will be the substantive one to establish the exit payment recovery regime. The regulations will contain full details of the government subsectors, the types of exit payments included, the circumstances in which recovery is mandated and the amount to be recovered. They will also set out the duties upon the persons and employers involved to retain and communicate information and facilitate the repayment.
Amendment 11 allows for changes to this first set of regulations to be made by the negative resolution procedure. These subsequent regulations will contain the minor and technical changes which will be aimed solely at ensuring that the regime remains up to date and fit for purpose. For example, changes will be required to reflect any new public body that is created or closed. I beg to move.
My Lords, this is very much a technical issue. The amendment responds to the recommendations by the DPRR Committee and satisfies in full that committee’s concerns. When the Minister introduced the amendment just a few seconds ago, he did not refer to the supplementary memorandum by BIS which was circulated recently by the committee relating to whether or not the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee had in some way impinged on the powers of the Scottish Parliament on this matter. Can he add a few words just to make sure that the record is clear on that?
My Lords, perhaps I may take this opportunity to thank the Minister for the way in which she has led this long and incredibly complex Bill over the past few months. She has been exemplary in offering meetings and has made sure that we have been fully briefed by officials, for which we are very grateful. Whenever debates have raised issues that she felt needed further consideration, she has written to us, thus carrying on a practice started by her predecessor; while he was pretty good at it, she has been exemplary and has won hands down in that race.
We said at the beginning of the Bill that we would like to work closely with her if we could because the Bill was in the right place in what it was trying to achieve and there were many things on which we could agree. Indeed, we felt that in some senses it could have gone further. I hope the Minister agrees that that has proved to be of considerable benefit to the process of getting the Bill to the position it is in now.
I want to make sure that recognition is duly paid to my team, my noble friends Lord Mendelsohn, Lord Mitchell, Lord Young, Lady Hayter and Lady Jones, who have all had to appear at various times during the passage of the Bill because it covered so many different aspects of the Government’s work. We also had the innovation of having a Back-Bench liaison Peer, my noble friend Lord Watson of Invergowrie. As well as taking a particular interest in the PSC register, he also worked very hard to make sure that Back-Benchers were fully involved. That helped to stimulate the debates and get us through the work. We have also benefited from a very hard-working legislative assistant, Nicola Jayawickreme, our former apprentice in our office at the end of the corridor, who has grown in stature and confidence as this legislation has progressed. So apprenticeships do work.
Having spent a lot of time in areas that perhaps we did not expect to when the Bill was first introduced, and having become expert in the intricacies of how pub companies and pub tenancies work and the implications of various activities in that area, as well as lots more, let us say “Cheers” to this Bill as we wish it on its way.
My Lords, I endorse the words of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, for her unfailing courtesy and competence throughout the transaction of the Bill. I also thank the noble Lords, Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Stevenson, for their efforts to improve the Bill and to work with all of us who have been engaged on it over the past few weeks. I thank my noble friend Lady Janke, who has been assisting me on these Benches. I particularly thank all the officials who have dealt with our replies and the detail of queries that we have had on the Bill throughout the past few weeks.
My Lords, I briefly add my congratulations and thanks to the Minister and all her officials for their unfailing help and courtesy in the area that I was especially interested in. I set up and ran a small business throughout the 1980s and 1990s, so I had a particular interest in this Bill. There were many areas where I felt that I might have made a useful contribution. Nevertheless, it is a good Bill and I felt that I should focus my efforts on one area: the protection of whistleblowers. The Bill includes significant improvements in such protections. Again, I thank the Minister particularly for the constructive and thorough way in which she has engaged with those complex legal issues and managed to achieve significant progress.
However, there is still more that could be done. This is a rare legislative opportunity. There are still glaring gaps in protection for whistleblowers and I think the House will agree that those courageous individuals who blow the whistle on their employers, often at considerable detriment to themselves and their families, deserve all the protection that Parliament can give them. When the next scandal in protecting the public happens—as I am afraid it will, unfortunately—and when the inevitable inquiry finds out that more could have been done to encourage whistleblowing, all of us may have cause to regret that we did not do more on this occasion. However, this is a good Bill, which does a huge amount for small business. I welcome it and wish it all the best in its progress on to the statute book.
My Lords, as a representative of the rebellious tendency on this Bill, I thank my noble friend for the considerable improvements to the Bill as a result. It has been an example of the House of Lords at its very best. We now have something that will make a difference in a lot of areas and which has removed some of the things that might have made a difference in the wrong way. We owe a great deal to the Minister responsible because, as the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, said, she has achieved things that many others have not.
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their warm and gracious words and put on record my thanks to everyone who has played a role in supporting the rapid passage of this sizeable Bill through our House. I start by thanking the Lord Speaker and all Deputy Speakers who have facilitated our proceedings, as well as the clerks, the doorkeepers and our skilful reporters in Hansard. As other noble Lords have done, I thank the excellent, hard-working, never-complaining members of the Bill team and officials from the 12 departments who have supported our debates.
This is a wide-ranging Bill. We have considered it from A to Z: right from access to finance through to zero-hours contracts and beyond. We even mentioned Gibraltar and fish and chip shops. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to our debates and for the detailed scrutiny they have given the Bill. Having benefited from the expertise for which this House is renowned, the Bill now returns to the other place much improved.
We have heard a range of expert voices from the opposition Benches, helped by their excellent apprentice. I am grateful to noble Lords, particularly the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Mendelsohn, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, who are in their places, and the noble Lords, Lord Young of Norwood Green, Lord Mitchell, Lord Grantchester and Lord Watson, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones. I thank them for their constructive, but challenging, approach and for working with me and my officials outside the Chamber.
We have added new provisions on equal pay and on whistleblowing. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Wills, for mentioning that and for the stand he has taken in that area. We have reached agreement on the vital pubs measures in a form that is workable to deliver the protections that tied tenants need. I also thank my noble friend Lord Hodgson for providing the perspective of the pub investor so eloquently. Although there has been a lot of passion on either side of the debate, I am glad for the drinkers among us that it was mild-mannered and that nobody has been left feeling too bitter.
Finally, I thank my noble friends Lord Popat, Lord Newby, Lord Nash and Lady Verma, who have so expertly assisted me at the Dispatch Box, as well as my many noble friends who have supported the Bill from the government Benches, especially my noble friend Lord Stoneham, who has attended every day and made the most excellent contributions. I also thank my noble friends Lord Borwick, Lady Harding and Lady Mobarik, who gave us the strength of their business experience on this, their maiden Bill, and my noble friends Lord Lee, Lord Flight, Lord Ridley, Lord Phillips, Lord Freeman, Lord Deben—and his rebellious tendency—and Lord Young of Graffham, who was the inspiration for our public procurement measures.
It is now vital that this Bill proceeds to Royal Assent swiftly so that we can start to reap the benefits for small businesses. It will open up new opportunities for small businesses to innovate, compete and secure finance—to create jobs, to grow and to export. As we call last orders on the Bill, I am sure that is something all noble Lords will want to toast.
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Lords ChamberMy Lords, it is very appropriate that we are discussing this Bill on St Patrick’s Day. I take this opportunity to wish noble Lords a happy St Patrick’s Day.
I shall start by highlighting the history behind the policy enshrined in this Bill. Since 2010, the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive have shared a common objective to rebalance the Northern Ireland economy away from overdependence on the public sector and to drive faster economic growth. In 2011 this Government published a consultation document Rebalancing the Northern Ireland Economy. Among other things, the consultation considered the possibility of devolving corporation tax powers to the Executive and Assembly. Responses to that consultation from the business community and Northern Ireland political parties nearly unanimously supported the devolution of corporation tax.
After considerable work on the detail and technical work needed to make this measure possible, this Bill was introduced in the Commons on 8 January. The proposals will allow the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly to set a different rate of corporation tax from the rest of the UK for most types of trading profits arising in Northern Ireland. The tax base, including reliefs and exemptions, will remain under the control of the UK Government. The earliest financial year for which Northern Ireland could set its own rate is 2017. This will allow time for businesses and agents to become familiar with the new rules.
Can my noble friend tell me why this Bill—unlike for example the measures that gave income tax powers to the Scottish Parliament—has been certified as a money Bill and therefore all its stages have to be taken at once?
I understand the noble Lord’s point, and indeed there are clearly constitutional issues in relation to this Bill, but it has been certified as a money Bill by the Speaker of the other place. It is important to bear in mind that unlike the other legislation to which my noble friend refers, this is a simple measure that deals entirely with one issue. I am sure my noble friend will agree it is a highly technical Bill and therefore akin to many other money Bills this House deals with.
I will go briefly over the aim of this policy and the key measures within this Bill. Northern Ireland has a unique economic position within the UK. It shares a land border with the very low corporation tax environment of the Republic of Ireland. It is more dependent on the public sector, with around 30% working there, compared with about 20% in the rest of the UK. Economic prosperity—GVA per capita—is persistently some 20% below the UK average, and has been for a number of decades and it has to deal with the challenging legacy of the Troubles.
Devolving corporation tax recognises these unique challenges. The Northern Ireland regime has been carefully designed to enable the Executive to encourage genuine investment that will create jobs and growth, while minimising opportunities for avoidance and profit shifting. It balances this with the need to keep the costs of a reduced rate proportionate, both for the Executive and in relation to any additional administrative burdens for businesses.
The design of the regime builds on the principles agreed in 2012 by the Joint Ministerial Working Group which included Ministers from HM Treasury, the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Executive. Companies trading in Northern Ireland will attract a Northern Ireland rate on their qualifying trading profits only. Companies will continue to pay the UK rate on their profits from non-trading activities which do not generate jobs or economic growth in the same way.
The rules are designed to deter businesses from seeking to exploit, through profit shifting and avoidance, a rate differential between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The regime will not provide opportunities for brass-plating. Because they offer significant scope for profit shifting without the benefits of bringing substantial new jobs, the regime does not extend to profits from financial trading activity, such as lending and reinsurance. However, the policy recognises the genuine growth and employment potential for Northern Ireland offered by back-office functions, so companies with excluded profits from certain financial trades may make a one-off election to bring a notional profit attributable to the back-office functions of those excluded trades within the Northern Ireland rate.
To reduce the administrative burdens for SMEs, a special regime exists for them. A simple in-out test will mean that the majority of the companies will be spared the burden and cost of apportioning profits. More than 97% of SMEs operating in Northern Ireland meet the 75% employment test threshold and will benefit from the Northern Ireland regime.
Although this measure should go a long way in helping the Executive to encourage genuine investment that will create jobs and growth, the Government have been clear that devolving corporation tax is not an end in itself. For the full potential benefit of corporation tax devolution to be recognised, there are a number of other areas of reform that need to be addressed, such as education, skills and infrastructure.
The Stormont House agreement set out that the progress of this Bill through Parliament would proceed in parallel with implementation of key measures to deliver sustainable finances. These include agreeing and delivering a 2015-16 budget that works; progressing the Welfare Reform Bill in the Assembly; and taking the steps required to put the Executive’s finances on a stable footing for the long term. The Northern Ireland Executive agreed their budget for 2015-16, passing their Budget Bill on 24 February, and the Welfare Reform Bill also passed through further consideration stage of the Assembly on the 24 February. Sinn Fein has since withdrawn its support of the Welfare Reform Bill through its final stage in the Assembly. There can be no doubt that this decision was a setback, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland chaired a meeting of the party leaders last week in an attempt to help them to resolve the situation. The party leaders have since held further talks, and the Secretary of State proposes to convene another meeting with them later this week.
Changes to the welfare system in Northern Ireland were a key part of the Stormont House agreement and, as the Secretary of State has made clear, it remains pivotal that all aspects of the agreement are implemented. In simple terms, the Executive’s budget for 2015-16 does not balance without progress on these important issues. The Stormont House agreement was a major step forward and, although there has been good progress since the beginning of year, there were bound to be bumps in the road. The Government remain determined to implement the agreement and propose to continue with the progress of the corporation tax legislation through this House. The legislation contains a commencement clause, and commencement will not take place until the conditions set out in the Stormont House agreement have been met and changes to the welfare system in Northern Ireland have been implemented. This means the devolved power will be “switched on” for the planned start date of April 2017 only if the Executive are delivering their side of the agreement, including achieving sustainable public finances.
The unique challenges faced by Northern Ireland have been recognised by all parties. This Bill will allow the Northern Ireland Executive greater power to rebalance the economy towards a stronger private sector, boosting employment, growth and the standard of living in Northern Ireland, with benefits for the wider UK.
I therefore hope that noble Lords will give this Bill a Second Reading.
My Lords, the Labour Opposition welcome and support the Bill and will do everything we can to facilitate its passage. However, that does not mean that we are not looking for further answers to questions that were asked in the House of Commons.
The Minister mentioned action to prevent “brass-plating”, as it has become known. We would like a bit more detail on how that would be stopped. She mentioned rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy. Concerns were expressed in the other place by the honourable Margaret Ritchie about regional imbalance within Northern Ireland, so that issue needs to be addressed.
Before I go any further, I should indicate again that we fully support the Government in looking to the parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly to implement the Stormont agreement. That is part of the deal, and we support the Government in insisting that the Stormont House agreement be implemented.
Some concerns remain that we would like to probe a little further. When government Ministers were asked about the effect of the devolution of corporation tax on the block grant, there was no real response to that. I merely repeat the question that was asked in another place: why were no models done? For example, if corporation tax was set at level X, what would be the effect on the block grant? I do not think that is too demanding a question to ask. Models should have been drawn up so that folk could have a better grasp of what will transpire in this area.
I share the sober assessment that this measure will not solve Northern Ireland’s economic problems or provide the necessary rebalancing of its economy. However, it should be implemented to try to rebalance the economy, as the Minister mentioned.
I want to spend a few minutes on the trade-off between a reduction in corporation tax and spending cuts. The impact of this legislation will need careful managing to ensure that it does not benefit only already wealthy people at the top and does not further perpetuate existing income inequality in Northern Ireland. This should not become a rich man’s Bill.
The importance of funding education in Northern Ireland cannot be overstated. Without adequate investment in education and apprenticeships, jobs and productivity will never increase. If Northern Ireland reduces its corporation tax rate to that of the Republic of Ireland, it will lose at least £300 million from its block grant. That figure was given by the government Minister in the other place. I believe in devolution and giving the Stormont Assembly responsibility for running its affairs, but that agreement should contain safeguards to make sure that there is no dramatic effect on the services that have been mentioned. The devolution of corporation tax—
How can the noble Lord say that he supports the Bill and at the same time say that there should be no dramatic effect, when the effect of the Bill will be to reduce the amount of tax paid by profitable businesses if corporation tax was equalised, as he said, by between £300 million and £350 million, which would be money not available for spending on public services? So the necessity is that there will be less money for public services and more money in the pockets of profitable businesses.
There is a bit of role reversal going on here. It is me who is supposed to attack the capitalists, not the noble Lord or the Minister. I am starting to feel a bit dizzy.
That is the balance that it is hoped to be reached. The noble Lord shakes his head. I would say to him, “O ye of little faith”. There will be a vested interest for Stormont Ministers to make sure that they balance extra corporation tax against a reduction in the block grant. I fully agree that one has to be very careful here so that this does not result in less money for services but we have been assured that there will be no dramatic impact, and I am always willing to listen to government Ministers. The noble Lord, Lord Newby, is looking a bit puzzled. I hope that he will comment on that point.
Has there been any study or consideration—perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, is right—of how the volatility of corporation tax might impact on Northern Ireland’s economy? That is a valid concern. While devolution is devolution, we are devolving the power and are therefore looking for some kind of guarantee in this matter. We hope that its devolution goes ahead in 2017, but a potential stumbling block is that Northern Ireland’s finances must be on a stable footing. It concerns us that we do not know the precise fiscal conditionality required before the Government devolve this power. Can they make any estimate of the resulting decrease in the block grant? There are various calculations, but I would like the Treasury people to have looked at that.
I repeat, in case of doubt, that we support the Bill. In the other place, highly contentious remarks were made to the effect that Labour had done a U-turn because it had previously attacked the devolution of corporation tax. That is quite untrue. We have expressed legitimate concerns, but if anyone wishes to pursue that point, perhaps they could turn to the minutes of the Public Bill Committee, where Nic Dakin asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether she had seen comment by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that,
“Corporation tax is not a good candidate for devolution”?
The Secretary of State replied that there were risks. The Labour Opposition are not using scare tactics but asking legitimate questions. This process is not the be-all and end-all but could and should be a helpful tool for Northern Ireland.
Briefly on the background to all this, Laurence Robertson, chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee in the other place, indicated that when the committee was in the United States of America recently it watched violent scenes on the streets of Belfast and Northern Ireland, involving fires and smoke-bombs. That is the biggest turn-off when trying to attract industry into Northern Ireland. There is a two-way street here: devolution is coming from this place, after consideration, but there also has to be a payback, if you like, by people trying to work together—hard as that may be because the past is always there. The damage being done by those scenes is quite substantial.
We hope that this is a contribution to further periods of peace and stability in Northern Ireland. Going back in history, I think that great credit is due to Sir John Major for initiating this process and to Tony Blair and his team for pursuing it. It is to be hoped that the devolution of corporation tax will be a further measure along the road to peace and stability in Northern Ireland.
My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to make my first contribution in this House on this hugely important Bill. When I first started my political career some 40 years ago, I could never imagine the opportunities I would have. Serving for seven years as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly was an incredible privilege, but to join your Lordships’ House is an incredible further honour of which I am proud but very humbled.
I appreciate the welcome and advice I have received from noble Lords on all sides of the House, not least from my two sponsors, the noble Lord, Lord Morrow, of Clogher Valley, and the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Belmont, two very hard-working Peers in this House. That needs to go on record. I also want to thank all of the staff who have done so much to welcome and support me in the House. I appreciate how important the work of parliamentary staff is to making the institution operate smoothly.
It is a great delight to join this place with Ballyore in my title. The townland of Ballyore and the village of Newbuildings gave me my first start in politics. The strong support I have received over the years certainly makes it close to my heart and I am glad to bring it with me symbolically to this House. Being a proud representative of the great city of Londonderry for four decades—a city close to the border with the Republic of Ireland—certainly made this debate on the devolution of corporation tax to Northern Ireland an obvious choice for my first contribution in your Lordships’ House.
I want also to put on record my thanks to the joint ministerial working group formed in October 2011 which did quite a bit of the detailed work on this Bill. It reported in October 2012 and I know of some of the hard, detailed work that was involved.
I know that there have been some concerns about how this Bill will fit into the delicate balance of constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom at this time. However, we need to remember that the whole purpose of devolution is to recognise the differing circumstances of the regions and to allow decision-making to take account of those local differences. It is hard to imagine circumstances more different than being the only region of the United Kingdom to have a land border with another nation, let alone a nation with a much lower tax rate.
The economy of Northern Ireland also has the additional challenge of overcoming the legacy of decades of conflict and all that came with it. In this context we have performed well over recent years given all the difficulties that Northern Ireland has had. For example, in 2013-14 we had a record year of investment in Northern Ireland. Nearly 11,000 new jobs were promoted, 23 first-time investors came in, and month upon month unemployment figures have dropped. Northern Ireland has attracted more foreign investment than any other part of the United Kingdom.
We all recognise that corporation tax alone will not address the economic challenges that face Northern Ireland, but it is a very important lever for the Northern Ireland Executive to have to address the imbalances within our economy. Once the principle of the devolution of corporation tax has been agreed, it is for the administration at Stormont to examine the detail and agree the arrangements. Of course there will be difficult judgments to make and there will be major issues to take account of before the long-term benefits are seen in Northern Ireland.
Significant changes of this nature and significant returns seldom come without a level of risk. I would not seek to deny that the Assembly has had great difficulties in recent days and it is frustrating at times that the level and speed of progress made in this mandate of the Assembly was not as many would like to see. However, I do not so easily dismiss the distance we have travelled in the context of the problems we have had to overcome. No one in this House or in the other place would seek to pretend that government is easy, especially in Northern Ireland. Add to these factors the additional legacy of issues that we face in Northern Ireland, and perhaps fair-minded people will acknowledge that the situation we find ourselves in today bears no comparison to what we might have imagined 15 or 20 years ago.
There are many issues that Northern Ireland politicians still have to deal with, whether they are about the past or flags and parades. There are so many issues on which they have to try to reach agreement. They are difficult issues for politicians in Northern Ireland to deal with. We would all hope that we can implement the Stormont House agreement for the people of Northern Ireland so that once again, both politically and economically, we can all move forward. I would hope that sooner rather than later the issue of welfare reform can be resolved because, as the Minister has said, it is part of an overall agreement. It is not a matter of taking it in slices, whether it be welfare reform or the issue of corporation tax. The Stormont House agreement was a package. There are still some issues to be resolved, but I am hopeful that they can be resolved.
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore. I have been looking forward to his maiden speech for some time. He succeeded me as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and when it was announced in August last year that he would be coming to your Lordships’ House, I thought, “That is wonderful”. It has taken quite a while, but that is because he has had something of a scare. Sometimes when people are appointed to your Lordships’ House they say, “My goodness, I was so surprised that I nearly had a heart attack”. The noble Lord took that further than most people, which set him back a bit, so it is wonderful to see him in this House and to hear him speak.
Colleagues will know of the noble Lord’s long and distinguished public service in Northern Ireland. He was elected to Londonderry City Council in 1981, became deputy mayor of the city in 1992 and mayor in 1993. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly just after the formation of the Belfast agreement in 1998 and went on to be appointed Speaker in 2007. He served for some seven years until the latter part of last year. He has done a lot of other things as well. He was a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the Northern Ireland Housing Council and the Londonderry port authority. He has held many distinguished positions, but what noble Lords may not necessarily know about—because it is not the kind of thing that is recorded in Wikipedia, Dod’s or whatever—is the kind of work that the noble Lord has done quietly and privately but most significantly, especially in the city of Londonderry. There have been many difficulties, but as a member of the Orange Order and of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, quietly and behind the scenes he has forged remarkable friendships. He has demonstrated real leadership and—I make no criticism of his party here—he was prepared to go out in front of his party on occasion to lead it on to developing relationships with people in the nationalist and republican community which later would become an everyday matter. He was out in front and doing these things in a quiet and thoughtful way.
Consider his experience in the Northern Ireland Assembly. I know, from talking to members of all political parties, staff in the Speaker’s office and staff in the clerking department, that he is held in great affection and regarded with great appreciation for the quiet, thoughtful work that he does. This House will find that he will continue that kind of public service here. He is a man of great courtesy and thoughtfulness, but also a man of real determination to make things better for his community.
One of the other distinctive things about him, which makes St Patrick’s Day a particularly appropriate day for him to come here, is that he is an Irish citizen. He was born in Milford, in County Donegal. One does not necessarily associate noble Lords from the Democratic Unionist Party with Irish citizens, although one never knows what the future may hold. For him, it is a very distinctive feature, and he comes here on St Patrick’s Day as an Irish citizen.
Of course, this is an important day for the Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill as well. The noble Lord, Lord Hay, knows, because of his experience on both sides of the border, that the relationship between north and south was one of the important strands that we were trying to address in the Belfast agreement. One of the economic dilemmas we have faced is that corporation tax on the other side of the land frontier is much lower than in Northern Ireland. It has been one of the great successes that led to the Celtic Tiger, with its positive and difficult sides, but it is an important challenge for us economically in Northern Ireland.
My noble friend raised some questions as to whether this was just a money Bill or whether there were other elements to it and whether the Speaker of the other place had gone a little far in his certification of the Bill. As a former Speaker speaking just after a former Speaker, I do not think the noble Lord would expect me to question what the Speaker in another place would say, but there is more to the Bill than simply the question of money. No one, I think, would believe that the Bill on its own will address all the economic problems of Northern Ireland—far from it—but there is an important principle here. There are those in Northern Ireland who seek better relations with the Republic of Ireland economically, politically, socially and otherwise. It is very important that nationalists and republicans have it put to them that it is possible to move to greater tax harmony north and south of the border, but there are economic realities if you do that.
In Scotland, which my noble friend comes from, the Scots Nats have for years been claiming they wanted more powers, but they never used the income tax powers that they were given in the legislation of devolution. Had they not been given them, they would of course have complained. Here is the opportunity for nationalist and republican politicians, along with Unionist, Democratic Unionist and Alliance politicians, to face up to the political and economic challenges of instituting a corporation tax rate that is closer to that of the Republic of Ireland and different from that of the rest of the United Kingdom.
This is where we move from institutions of power sharing to the reality of responsibility sharing. We saw the dilemma of that just before Christmas last year, when the issue of welfare came forward, with all its social and financial implications. It was a real hurdle for people in the nationalist and republican communities to overcome.
I am most grateful to my noble friend. I apologise for interrupting him, but as he has mentioned the Scottish position, I am, unusually for me, defending the Scottish Nationalists. The reason that the tartan tax powers were never used, by way of explanation for them, was that they could only set the rate. They could not change the allowances. This is precisely the position in the Bill, which allows Northern Ireland only to set the rate, while the allowances and all the other conditions are set centrally. Does it not have the same problem that prevented the Scots from doing so?
No, it is not. I think it is the same problem, but I do not think that is the reason the Scottish Nationalists did not go down that road. I think the reason was they like to eat their cake and have it. They liked the possibility of being able to complain that they do not have the power to do things, but then, when they have the power, but there is an actual cost to doing it, they do not do it. I think we will find exactly the same thing in Northern Ireland. We had this dilemma over the Stormont House agreement. Nationalists and republicans signed up for the agreement and knew perfectly well that the sums did not add up. Then, when there came to be a bit of pressure and people asked, “Well, how does this actually work out?”, they backed off from it, and now they will find themselves having to move forward. The truth is that the peace process is less like riding a bicycle and more like playing an accordion, where people move backwards and forwards instead of straightforwardly. That is the reality of politics.
The Bill does not devolve corporation tax; it makes it possible for the devolution of corporation tax to take place—if there is responsible, political and economic governance in Northern Ireland, if there is a responsible budget that adds up, if parties then look at it and want the power, and if they then decide to implement it. In fairness, the world has changed economically over the last number of years and corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland may not stay at its current level, but in a sense those are secondary issues. This is about people having power to act responsibly and a responsibility to share that power in a serious fashion, taking into account all the dilemmas that are present.
On this St Patrick’s Day, when we share our patron saint as we share the piece of territory and the politics of the island, with different perspectives and different views but nevertheless with a sense of vision and hope for the future, with all the difficulties and dilemmas that we have, this is an opportunity to challenge my colleagues at home to use the power and responsibility that are being offered to take us forward. I hope that none of us here or there will be found wanting in that regard.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the two previous speakers. Perhaps I may first say to the noble Lord, Lord Hay, how much we enjoyed his maiden speech and how pleased we are to see him here. I shall not try to emulate the achievement of the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, in going through the noble Lord’s history, but I want to pick out the reference that was made to the noble Lord’s contribution to resolving some of the communal differences within Londonderry. To underline a point that flows almost from what the noble Lord was able to achieve, it is fair to say that the members of the loyal orders in Londonderry have always had a more realistic and more sober approach to problems than people in other parts of Northern Ireland, particularly in and around Belfast, who sometimes did not seem to understand what life was like outside.
Perhaps I may also say how much I appreciated the remainder of the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, which focused on taking responsibility—and I agree with everything that he said in that regard. It will indeed be fascinating to see what impact that has on people, although what is happening at the moment does not encourage one to be sanguine about the matter.
The Minister said in introducing the Bill that she would go back into history, but she went back just to 2010. My own recollection of this issue goes back a bit further, perhaps another dozen years, and I shall reflect a little on that. Shortly after finding myself in office, I had a discussion with our finance people about corporation tax—the issue was being raised by businessmen in those days; indeed, even earlier—and I received from the officials I spoke to a very clear answer: that they did not think that the issue was important. They said that while the Republic had the advantage of being able to say, “Our corporation tax is so low”, they could put together a package in Northern Ireland which was just as good and just as competitive as what was available in the south. Much of that package was financial, too, in terms of providing facilities and premises at low rates or with rental and rate holidays, so there were substantial and even more focused benefits and assistance available in that way.
The second argument which the officials gave me for why this was not an important matter was the state aid issue. They said that if this was implemented it would be ruled in Brussels as being state aid. I am deep into the history here. This was before the Azores case and the issue of state aid was a complete block until jurisprudence in the European Union moved as a result of that case to enable people to contemplate it. However, that has consequences because, in framing this, we have to give attention not just to what we would like to do, but also to what Europe will require to be done. The third reason why I was not excited about this is broader and did not flow from anything said to me by the officials, who are strictly neutral in political terms. It flowed from my politics: I am a unionist and believe in the United Kingdom. Faced with this, one’s instinct is that we should act in accordance with what exists elsewhere. Furthermore, on the downside, if we go for a particular advantage for Northern Ireland this will give rise to resentment in other parts of the United Kingdom. That will happen in this case too and has already done in that the matter has been raised with regard to Wales and Scotland. I held that reservation quite strongly 17 years ago but I hold it less so today. When you look at the constitutional mayhem going on around us, it is a bit difficult to dig in for a purely unionist position when there are so few people in office—and elsewhere—who are paying any attention to that position or, indeed, the interests of the United Kingdom as a whole.
I leave my history behind at this point. I will not go on to the detail of the Bill. It is very focused, which is good, and I hope that all its technicalities will operate smoothly as and when it comes into effect. I am sure that if there are any technical problems they will be dealt with, but there are still some major issues which one has to have regard to. This is not a magic bullet. It may or may not be very beneficial but it is wrong to think that it will cure problems by itself. Some of the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, are appropriate here. Going back to the Azores case, if this was implemented there would have to be very significant reductions in the block grant to Northern Ireland to satisfy Europe. We cannot get round this—as used to happen so often with the issue of the Barnett formula—by having a private deal with the Treasury that perhaps nobody knew very much about. This is a European issue which will have to be dealt with very effectively. When it comes into operation there will be a significant reduction, against the background of the last few years when the Treasury has been withholding significant sums from the block grant because of failure to deal with welfare and other issues.
The reduction is difficult to quantify. We will not know until the time comes and there will, no doubt, be a bit of an argument about it. It might not be as bad as it could be, bearing in mind that corporation tax nationally comes down to 20% next year. Coming down from 30% to 12.5% or 10% would be a very huge reduction in the block grant. A reduction from 20% to 12.5% or 10% would not be quite so bad. So the problem may not be as big as it might be. On the question of it not being a magic bullet, we have to bear in mind that corporation tax is not the chief determinant of investment: there are other factors as well. In the briefing paper produced for us, there is a reference to the Varney report in which it was said that:
“In the most recent survey”—
at the time the report was produced in 2007—
“the level of corporate taxation was ranked sixth in importance as a criteria for investment location, behind transport and logistic infrastructure, labour costs, telecoms infrastructure”.
Those were regarded by businessmen as more important than the issue of corporation tax, which underlines the need to be a little bit cautious about it.
We frequently refer to the benefit that the Republic of Ireland has received from its low corporation tax but we should remember that that benefit did not come immediately. It had corporation tax at a low rate for a long period without it coming through in increased FDI. That happened only in the late 1980s after the low tax rate had been in operation for over a decade, I think, before any significant benefits started to roll through.
The helpful note that has been produced for us by the Library has on page 8 a nice little summary from the OECD of its survey on Ireland. Referring to when the low rate of corporation tax started to pay off, it says:
“That began in 1987, with the fiscal and monetary consolidation that aimed at bringing the deficit down”.
It also refers to:
“The social partnership arrangements, which delivered tax cuts in return for wage restraint”.
The paragraph concludes:
“Alongside the tax cuts, expenditure restraint was also important”.
I find it quite interesting that this started to pay off once the Republic started to have sensible financial and fiscal arrangements. We hope we are on the way to sensible fiscal arrangements but we have not quite got there yet. I might come back to that later.
There is another general issue. We hope that the reduction in corporation tax is going to provide investment and that investment will then pay off in increased employment. If this is going to happen on a large scale, there will have to be some capacity available. Here is where the references that were made to rebalancing the economy become crucial. It has been the case for a long time that the public sector in Northern Ireland is far too big. The figure that was given was that it provides for 30% of employment. If you look at gross domestic product, it is nearer 70%. This is not healthy. This does not provide for a good economy. If we are going to hope for private investment leading to employment, we need to have people available for that. You are going to have to find ways to shrink the public sector if this is going to be successful. If you are not taking measures to shrink the public sector, you will quickly run into problems in terms of not attracting people to come and do business because there are not likely to be sufficient skilled people there to meet the demands of business.
We cannot keep putting this issue behind us or pretending that we can avoid dealing with it. We have known for decades of the need to deal with the large public sector. It is something that we tried to make a start on when Mark Durkan and I negotiated the programme for reform and reinvestment 16 years ago. Unfortunately, when direct rule returned in 2002, the officials told the incoming Ministers that the whole thing had been wound up and nothing further needed to be done. That was very far from the truth. Lots more needed to be done and many of the things that we were planning or thinking of doing still have not been done. I know that the parties in the Executive have a lot on their plate at the moment but I want to remind them that they really have to tackle the issue of a public sector that is far too big.
One advantage of reducing the size of the public sector can be seen in the recent expansion of employment in Wales, which was particularly high in the recent figures. Part of the reason for that was the cuts in the public sector. There were not so many juicy, well paid jobs in the public sector and consequently more people started thinking about starting their own businesses. Of course, it is from new small businesses that most employment will be generated. I hope that we see something done on that front.
Finally, I want to come back to something that was implicit—and explicit—in some of the things I have said, and that is the implications for elsewhere in the United Kingdom. If this is carried into practice—and, indeed, even before that—there will be pressure from Wales and Scotland for similar powers. I find it very difficult to see how the Government will be able to resist that. It is undesirable because it will mean that different parts of the country will be in competition in terms of tax and investment, although to an extent that happens already, certainly on the investment side.
One of the merits of the Bill is the way that it is closely focused on being available to companies that are genuinely regional and where there is a genuine employment. The provisions for keeping out the “brass plate” will limit the extent to which there is too much competition between regions, if this becomes available elsewhere. So I think that the Bill, in the way it is drafted, is possibly better suited to be followed in Wales and Scotland than, perhaps, earlier proceedings were. However, that leaves the problem of the English regions. That is a huge problem that should not be avoided. People in England will not be happy if they feel they are being unfairly treated. There is too much danger of that and too much feeling to that effect already in existence, and we should not feed it any further. We should be thinking more about it. The simple way is to encourage the Chancellor of the Exchequer to accelerate his programme of national corporation tax reductions, and we might end up—the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, thought that this might never come into operation—with it never coming into operation because the corporation tax has been reduced so far throughout the United Kingdom as a whole that there is no need for it. That would be a very happy result.
My Lords, before I speak about the Bill, I would like to say what a pleasure it is to see the noble Lord, Lord Hay, here in the Chamber and to have listened to his maiden speech. I have known the noble Lord and seen his work for Northern Ireland over many years, especially in his home area of Londonderry and, more recently, as Speaker of the Assembly. It is a real pleasure to see him here this afternoon.
Corporation tax, I must admit, is not an area of work that I would normally speak about, as finance is not my strongest point. Suffice it to say, however, that I am concerned that the Bill before us is unproven territory. Many people back in Northern Ireland—and indeed in your Lordships’ House—have very different opinions on it and its value. My concern is that, if it becomes law in 2017, the block grant would be affected by money being taken out of it before any of the benefits would be seen from changes in corporation tax. It is almost like being asked to pay for your dinner before you have seen the menu.
I, like all my fellow Peers in this House, am not opposed to anything that would bring jobs, especially to Northern Ireland. Indeed, in my work in Northern Ireland over many years, I have believed that getting employment—especially for young people—is the answer to a number of problems, such as getting people off benefit. A big goal for me is getting jobs for young people, to take them away from the draw of paramilitaries. A lot of this work has been done through community development and social economy, but my problem in relation to this Bill, as I have already said, is that the block grant would be affected immediately.
Those of us in this Chamber who come from Northern Ireland are aware that we are already struggling to work within a very tight budget. For example, Sure Start, with which I am involved in Northern Ireland, has this year been informed that its budget will be cut by 4.5% to 5%. In my own area, that means a cut of almost £35,000, which means two jobs. Education—a very vital component for getting people into work—is also being cut. As we have seen every night in our local news and in our newspapers, schools are closing and having to pay off teachers and so on and so forth. Many community groups among which I work have been told that their grants will either be cut or, in some cases, done away with altogether. I am worried about this because this work is vital in Northern Ireland at this stage of the peace process.
With all this in mind, will the Minister clarify some points? Is there a rough idea of how much will be taken out of the block grant? I know that it depends on what rate is set: we have heard figures from as little as £150 million to £400 million a year, so I would like that to be clarified. Can she give us an assurance that education and health will be safeguarded, even with these cuts, in 2017? Finally, there is something that I do not fully understand—perhaps it has already been discussed here. Why will building societies and credit unions be unable to take advantage of corporation tax? Is there a legal reason for that or something else? I fail to understand why these organisations would be exempt, given the vital work that they do in a small place such as Northern Ireland.
My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore, on his excellent maiden speech. I strongly welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. Quite often, matters relating to only Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales come to your Lordships’ House and it is important that we put them into a UK context. I agree with my noble friend Lord Trimble. These matters relate to the integrity of the UK as a united kingdom.
To be clear at the outset, I fully support this Bill. It is the right thing to do. As my noble friend Lord Alderdice said, it is about responsibilities as much as powers. I welcome the fact that the responsibility for setting a level of corporation tax can be given to the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly. The reason I support the Bill is that Northern Ireland has a land border with the Republic of Ireland. That seems crucial when considering powers over corporation tax. I accept, too, that the land border is also relevant in considering other taxes such as air passenger duty; I have no difficulty with APD being a devolved matter for Northern Ireland. Of course, in all matters of devolved taxation, it would be for Northern Ireland to decide the level, and if there is no need to reduce a tax level or if that proves to cost too much, then the Northern Ireland Assembly would not have to do that. It is all about the responsibility that it carries.
I want to concentrate on two issues in my remaining few minutes. First, there is the principle of no detriment to other parts of the United Kingdom. Secondly, there is the need to understand better than I think we do what is happening in a constitutional and financial sense across the various parts of the United Kingdom.
In terms of this Bill, I read the debate in the House of Commons and do not wish to revisit the points raised there, except to say that great care must be taken in relation to the inward investment consequences of any lowering of the rate of corporation tax and of any consequences which might be thought to distort competition with the rest of the UK. However, I am satisfied by the evidence given by Ernst & Young on corporation tax. It said—I took this from the Library Note—that it is actually sixth in a list of factors determining where companies invest. Transport and logistic infrastructure, labour costs, telecoms infrastructure, potential for productivity increases and the legislative and regulatory environment are all said to be more important. It may not be necessary to worry too much about the practical consequences of devolution as long as we have structures in place that can assess the impact of a lower corporation tax rate on competition, inward investment and all aspects of potential profit shifting from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland.
One possibility—my noble friend Lord Trimble talked about this—of the devolution of the powers to Northern Ireland is that Scotland or Wales may want the same powers over corporation tax. That is more likely to be the case in Scotland, but it is rightly still a reserved matter in Scotland. As both Scotland and Wales share a land border with England, the wishes of England in relation to corporation tax in Scotland and Wales must be part of any further debate on that. In my view, England’s agreement must be sought on any devolution of corporation tax rates for Scotland and Wales.
I said that there are two issues I want to concentrate on. First, there is the no-detriment principle. I want to raise the question of air passenger duty. In the case of APD, I understand that there is no detriment to the rest of the UK in Northern Ireland having the power to reduce APD—there is no land border with the rest of the UK. But there clearly would be a detriment in the case of Wales and Scotland, where a land border means that passengers can move very easily across them. In Scotland, the power to vary APD is being devolved. It is a critical issue for those parts of England close to Scotland—or to Wales, should it get APD powers—where the viability of services could be at stake. The reason for that is this: just a small movement of passengers from one airport across a land border to another can make a crucial difference to the viability of some existing air services. This can matter. My point on there being no detriment is that it needs to be taken very seriously because it matters to the integrity of the United Kingdom. I noted that, in 2012, it was a key part of the Scotland Act. It is less obvious to me today that the importance of no detriment is fully understood. In the case of the devolution of APD powers to Scotland, I do not think that it is fully understood.
A second aspect of no detriment is that those parts of the UK that secure the right to lower what hitherto has been a standard national tax should make up the loss to the rest of the UK. We have discussed that in this debate. I hope we will ensure that the fiscal consequences of this are understood, agreed and then properly applied. I make it clear that I support all that happening, but it does have to happen.
That takes me to the block grant. Under the Bill, the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly’s budget will be reduced to make up for the lost income to the Treasury. That seems to me to be the right approach, but it begs another question: is the block grant right in the first place? I ask this because there are stark differences in the amounts that each part of the UK receives in its public spending. Treasury figures for 2013-14 published last November show that Northern Ireland has per capita spending of £10,961. To be clear, that sum may be entirely justified. However, the part of the United Kingdom that receives the lowest amount is the East of England, with £7,950. That is a per capita difference of £3,000. In addition, Scotland and Wales get more per capita than any part of England, including London. As we move towards devolving more powers over taxation, should we not also understand better than we do why there are such very wide discrepancies in these public spending figures? I think that we simply must, as we devolve more and more.
My final point relates to the legacy paper recently published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Reform, Decentralisation and Devolution. It says that:
“Amidst the accelerating devolution of power, it will be important to have regard to those functions that must be retained partially or wholly at the UK centre, if it is to remain a cohesive state”.
It concludes by recommending that a constitutional convention should be established to ensure that,
“the process of reform will be open, inclusive and stands the best chance of securing a UK wide settlement, fit for the long term”.
That would be, it says,
“in addition to the implementation of commitments to transfer powers across the UK”.
Therefore, what is planned now would continue. Such a convention would operate independently of government and would include members of the public as well as political parties, local authorities and the nations and regions of the UK. I think that, in the context of this Bill and many of the debates and discussions that we have had, and no doubt will have in the future, the proposal to establish such a convention is very wise. I hope that the next Government will be able to give such an initiative their full support. I say that because I believe that it matters to the future integrity of the United Kingdom.
My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore, on his maiden speech. As a speaker, he was followed by his predecessor as Speaker, the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice. Both of them exude an air of bonhomie and so on in this Chamber, but do not be fooled: I have seen them in action in the big chair and have often been at the receiving end of a tongue-lashing.
The earliest request that I can recall for corporation tax-varying powers to be transferred to Stormont was, I believe, made in 1983, when the late Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for South Belfast, Edgar Graham, believed that it would be a tool to help the Northern Ireland economy. Sadly, Edgar was assassinated later that year in the grounds of Queen’s University Belfast by the IRA. In those days, the rate of corporation tax levied was 38%, having fallen from a peak of 52%.
Since the early 1980s, there have been repeated calls for the rate to become a devolved matter, and the request has appeared in a number of election manifestos in recent years, including some of those presented to the electorate in 2010. Following the 2013 economic pact between the Northern Ireland Executive and Her Majesty’s Government, a timeline was established for reaching a decision. The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in 2014 signalled the Government’s intention to proceed with devolution subject to Stormont agreeing a budget for 2015-16 and settling the welfare reform issue—and hasn’t that gone well?
There is widespread, but not universal, support for this measure. In addition to the five executive parties in Northern Ireland, Her Majesty’s Government and the Opposition, the consultation conducted in 2011 produced 700 responses, which were overwhelmingly in favour. At 87 pages, the Bill is a very complicated and technical measure, as the noble Baroness, Lady Blood, pointed out. It has to be to avoid the trap of brass-plating and other avoidance measures which all Members in this House wish to guard against, quite rightly.
The devolution of the rate-setting powers is controversial in the wider UK context, however, as has already been referred to. Both the Calman commission and the Holtham commission, looking at Scotland and Wales respectively, came up with slightly different approaches. Calman said it would not be appropriate for Scotland, while in the Welsh case, by recommending discussions with Westminster, the commission felt that its devolution in Wales could introduce budget volatility—I think we understand that.
The case in Northern Ireland has always been different, as the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, has just pointed out. The existence of the land border with the Irish Republic, which has the lowest corporation tax rate in Europe, differentiates the Province from the rest of the United Kingdom. That said, things are changing. First, the national rate has changed, as mentioned, from 28% at the beginning of this Parliament to 20% next year. This alone makes this measure less significant than it once might have been, but of course, what rate this Government might set could be raised by subsequent Governments over time.
Superimposed over all this is the wider question of where power actually resides in the United Kingdom as a whole. This measure is inevitably going to be seen in this context. In mitigation, it is a proposal that has been on the table for many years and was not dreamed up overnight like some of the other constitutional changes that have been brought before your Lordships’ House in recent weeks. I think this is either the fourth or the fifth legislative proposal to come before us in the last 12 months that devolves more power to the home nations. We really do need a joined-up approach to these matters, but that is an argument I suspect we will return to in the new Parliament.
The whole objective of seeking this power is to try and make Northern Ireland a more attractive place to do business and make it more attractive for foreign direct, as well as indigenous, investment. We all know, however, that tax rates, as the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, has said, are but one of a number of conditions that investors examine when making their decisions. Labour supply and skill levels in particular rate even more highly than tax rates, and other factors such as language, lifestyle, transport, broadband and proximity to markets are frequently seen as more significant.
That said, my view is that everything that can be done to help should be done, and even if this is merely a marginal consideration, it is worth trying. We know there will be a consequential reduction in available funds from London, but the tax can be varied in different ways and not necessarily all at once, thus easing the burden in the reduction of public spending. It also has to be said that, with uncertainty surrounding the situation in Scotland—who knows what might happen there in the future—we could be faced with lower corporation tax rates to our east as well as to our south.
The noble Baroness the Minister has confirmed the Statement made by the Government after the Stormont House agreement that devolution of the tax would happen only in the event of agreement being reached on a balanced budget and the Welfare Reform Bill, and that is very welcome. I sincerely hope that that is the Government’s position, because if it is not and it is going to move and vary, we are in for a very rough ride.
These are important considerations, but while I support this Bill and am a strong supporter of devolution, I regret to say that I do not believe that the current leadership in the Northern Ireland Executive is capable of dealing effectively with these powers at present. For the first time since 1921, the Stormont Assembly has failed to balance its budget and was only saved from default by the offer of a Wonga-style loan of £100 million from the DEL reserve to be repaid in the following year. How could this be?
Sinn Fein and others say that the problems have been caused by Tory cuts. There is an argument about public expenditure levels, but a devolved Administration have to live within their own means, and policies pursued by Stormont have to be adjusted according to the amount they raise and spend themselves, augmented very substantially by the Barnett formula and consequential in-year adjustments. The NI Executive were informed of their budget allocations for the four years to 2014-15 in October 2010. When Barnett consequentials are taken into account, Northern Ireland did better than anywhere else in the UK. Reductions of 2.1%, 0.7%, 0.7% and 2% respectively were imposed over the four-year period. This did not include the additional £200 million which was provided to assist the PSNI.
Given the huge national deficit and the fact that the UK continues to borrow nearly £2 billion per week, the reductions to Stormont’s budget have to be seen in the context of the reductions imposed on Whitehall departments. The Department for Communities and Local Government has suffered a reduction of 25%, for example, and this has had a huge effect on local government services. Stormont has, fortunately, not been exposed to such cuts. I know that the Labour Party has indicated a commitment to reduce the deficit, albeit at a different rate, and I hope that the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, on behalf of the Opposition, will state that it is their policy to continue to follow that path but that there will not be a buy-out policy to help Stormont every time it runs into difficulties. I hope that that will be the Opposition’s position.
Stormont was informed of its budget allocation for 2015-16 in June 2013. In other words, the Executive have had full knowledge of their available budget for almost five years. What happened? Did the Executive cut their coat according to their cloth? No, they did not. No meaningful action was taken until a crisis budget was mooted last year. All of a sudden, departments were asked to make in-year cuts, which are the least effective, most difficult and wasteful. Then a political crisis was manufactured over the welfare issue, even though it had been known about for four years.
Instead of planning gradual reductions in personnel in the Civil Service and other public bodies, things were left to the last minute and a crash-landing proposal to reduce the public sector by thousands was produced as a result of the Stormont House process. Many civil servants will leave in the next financial year, not on a planned and carefully prepared basis, but in a panic with expensive pay-offs, the funds for which will have to be borrowed and repaid over subsequent years. At the beginning of the financial year, Stormont’s borrowing was £200 million, but if the Stormont House process is fully implemented that will rise to £1.8 billion. Not only that, but a much overdue reduction in departments is being planned in parallel with this process. Can you imagine the utter chaos that these measures will create? Having amalgamated public bodies myself, I am sure it will take three years until departments settle down and rebalance the skill levels.
The finances of the Northern Ireland Executive have been disastrously mismanaged. The Executive have been seen to be incapable of operating within their means, and they have failed to plan ahead despite knowing their financial envelope for years in advance. It is a mystery to me that any Minister of Finance and Personnel who has presided over such chaos and mayhem can still remain in office. The antics leading up to the Stormont House process resulted in the humiliation of the people of Northern Ireland in front of not only the rest of the UK but the wider world as well. The begging-bowl strategy has sent a terrible message to investors at home and abroad alike.
As things stand today, devolution under the existing leadership is not working properly. Financial mismanagement, the squandering of millions of pounds on failed initiatives, such as the Education and Skills Authority, and enormous delays in implementing reforms are a sad testimony to the way things have gone. From being a major success story for Northern Ireland, we are now disinvesting in higher education. Only this week, it was announced that the primary modern language programme, introduced in 2007 to support primary schools to teach another language, was being scrapped. Two weeks ago, the same Minister announced £l million for an Irish-medium school for 14 pupils when all advice, even from that sector, advised against it. The continuing domination of our politics by arguments over flags, parades and the Irish language is deeply depressing.
The vision I and many noble Lords had for Stormont when we sought to restore devolution has not been realised. My noble friend Lord Trimble famously said that because one had a past did not mean that one could not have a future. That was in the context of being prepared to share power with republicans and others. We foresaw Stormont moving to a place where the political landscape would be dominated by how we would use our new powers to develop and grow our economy after years of terrorism, where we would tailor policies to the specific needs of our local community and not rely on hand-me-downs from Whitehall, which were largely London-centric under direct rule, where we could develop the accountable partnership-led Administration envisaged in the Belfast agreement and ratified in the referendum of 1998, where working with our partners in the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland would give us the opportunity to concentrate on making things better for the post-Troubles generations and remove the deprivation in those areas which had suffered most from the trauma of 30 years of conflict, and where we could try to bring some solace and support to the many victims of terror.
That vision has not been realised, but that does not mean that we should not persevere until it is. This Bill could make a marginal but, I believe, positive contribution to the Northern Ireland economy in the long term, and on that basis I support it, but I must say to the Government that if they continue to buy off Sinn Fein threats, either with money or by turning a blind eye to their related activities, no amount of tinkering will do any good. I urge Ministers to back those who are genuinely prepared to work for the good of all our citizens, who want real partnership working in Belfast, and stop rewarding those whose long-term intentions are inconsistent with a strong, peaceful and prosperous future for the people of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.
My Lords, I hesitate to intervene in a debate on a Bill which is exclusively concerned with Northern Ireland. I do so because I am opposed to the Bill because I do not believe that it is a unionist measure. Indeed, in the Second Reading debate in the other place on 27 January, the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, in describing the proposed regime, which is different for small businesses and large businesses, said:
“Larger businesses will need to divide their profits between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, as they do now between the UK and other countries”.—[Official Report, Commons, 27/1/15; col. 744.]
The very fact that she should use phraseology like that goes to the heart of this Bill and to why it is thoroughly undesirable.
I realise that it is perhaps a little rude to be critical of a legislative provision for Northern Ireland on St Patrick’s Day, but on St Andrew’s Day we had the policy of further, not-thought-through devolution to Scotland, on Burns Night, we got the draft clauses which were subsequently amended and which do not work and on St David’s Day, we got votes for 16 year-olds as part of this continuing package of piecemeal dismantling of our constitution and our United Kingdom. All I can say is: thank goodness St George’s Day will be during the election campaign and there will be no opportunity to come along with further measures that relate to England.
Obviously there is great support from people who have a distinguished record of representing Northern Irish interests but I am genuinely puzzled as to what the point of this Bill is. Apart from it being called the Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill and the Speaker of the House of Commons having certified it as a money Bill, I can think of no reason why it should be a money Bill other than it enables the Government to rush it through Parliament as part of the deal they made for a balanced budget in Northern Ireland and for agreement to welfare reforms which are now being reneged on. Indeed, my noble friend said from the Dispatch Box in introducing this Bill that the Government have no intention of implementing it unless the deal they agreed, which is the reason this Bill is being rushed through the House, is actually met. This is a very shoddy way in which to go about major constitutional reform.
A number of things are being said, such as the Republic of Ireland benefiting because of its lower corporation tax regime. It is true that the corporation tax regime for some revenues is 12.5% but it is 25% for revenue that is not allowed. The reason this Bill takes 87 pages to allow Stormont to set the rate of corporation tax and prevent it from setting or changing any of the allowances is because it adds huge complexity to the tax system. Back in 2005 the then shadow Chancellor asked me to do a tax commission report. We laboured for a year and were charged with having a simpler, flatter, fairer, lower tax system. This is the antithesis of that. There are pages and pages explaining how dredging, films or a whole range of other activities will be affected and how large companies have to decide which of their profits have been earned as a direct result of Northern Ireland. I declare an interest as a director of a bank and an insurance company. Financial services are not allowed to take advantage of this although I think that if you can certify that 70% of the back-office activity is in Northern Ireland it is allowed, but only as a one-off option. What about call centres and things of that kind? The Bill creates huge complexity, which may very well tempt people to go to Scotland where they do not have to have two sets of accounts rather than Northern Ireland. All of this is being done in order to give Stormont the opportunity to set a different corporation tax rate. We assume, if it is about tax competition, that that rate would be set closer to the level of the Republic of Ireland for trading activities at 12.5%. According to the Government the cost of that will be £325 million. My noble friend Lord Shipley talked about distortions in air passenger duty. I think I am right in saying that Stormont already has the power to set air passenger duty but does not because it would cost £50 million to do so. Yet here we have something that could cost—
The air passenger duty issue was designed to enable the link between Belfast International Airport and New York to survive. It has been applied only to that route because it is the only direct route from Northern Ireland to the United States. No attempt has been made to alter domestic air passenger duty.
I understand that. I was making the point, perhaps wrongly, that one reason why it has not been done is that it would result in a reduction in the block grant—the point made so eloquently by the noble Baroness, Lady Blood. I think that my noble friend Lord Alderdice earlier referred to the position in Scotland, where the Scottish Parliament allowed its income tax raising powers to desist. They were never used. The reason they were never used was that using them would have resulted in a corresponding reduction in the block grant. It is not terribly electorally smart to tell people that you are going to put their income tax rate up by 3p and, in return, you are going to have the block grant—which is already very generous because of the Barnett formula—reduced by exactly the same amount, so you ask people to pay more tax in order to stay where they are. Exactly the same applies here, unless you believe that a reduction in corporation tax will result in more revenue. I do believe that that is the case, but I would prefer to see this Government, who have made fantastic progress in reducing the rate of corporation tax for the United Kingdom as a whole down to 20p for the next financial year, continue in that way. If we think that there is such a huge problem in tax competition from the Republic of Ireland, the answer to that is to reduce our corporation tax rates nearer those of the Republic of Ireland. But we do not do that because the cost would mean that we would have to make cuts in other public services, such as health and education. Exactly the same applies to Stormont.
I am very grateful to my noble friend for giving way. The problem that I have found is that these changes are not made because they do not work for the Treasury here in London, and it regards the value for people in Northern Ireland to be far too small an issue, one that does not get any attention paid to it. That is the reason. The reason for the air passenger duty with respect to the United States is because it is so easy for people to go across the border and to fly out of Dublin. The whole point is that there is a land border. If Scotland was to leave the United Kingdom, I think that you would find that a lot of those kinds of changes became relevant. But it is very important to understand that the situation in Northern Ireland is quite different from that in Scotland, because it is so small, does not have a large financial industry and has a land border. Those are the many reasons why read-across to Scotland does not work, with due deference to my noble friend.
I think that the argument about the land border is overemphasised. I happen to know that people fly from Scotland to Dublin to go on international flights because the flights from Dublin are priced by the airlines at a very much lower rate. That has nothing whatever to do with air passenger duty or taxation and everything to do with the view of the commercial airlines of what the market will bear for their fares. It is a very simple thing to hop on an aeroplane—there are about six or seven a day out of Edinburgh and as many out of Glasgow—to go to Dublin and then to fly to wherever you want to go, to Hong Kong or the United States or wherever. So I do not think that that argument holds water; but perhaps that is a mixed metaphor, because my noble friend is arguing that it is about a land border.
I am totally opposed to giving air passenger duty powers to the Scottish Parliament because it will have a catastrophic effect on Newcastle and the rest of the north of England. Already the amount that we pay in taxes is very considerable. I am arguing that as a United Kingdom we should have a unitary tax system and that this tinkering is absolutely inimical to maintaining a United Kingdom. If as a United Kingdom we believe that reducing corporation tax will result in more revenue and business development, that should be the policy for the United Kingdom.
The noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, chided me for attacking capitalism when it was his job. I was merely pointing out to him the inconsistency of his position. If he supports this Bill and argues that he is in favour of these reductions in corporation tax to help business expand and grow, he cannot at the same time satisfy the noble Baroness, Lady Blood, in her concern about the impact—even if you believe, as I believe, that cutting the top rate of tax from 50% to 45% has resulted in revenues going up by £8.5 billion. I believe that tax cuts can have a dynamic effect. Similarly, when the Liberal Democrats insisted on putting up capital gains tax from 18% to 29%, what happened? The revenue went down by several billion pounds. My noble friend nods; I apologise for not being very positive. However, even if you believe that that is not the case, there is a time lag, and in between times you do not have the money and you have to take that money away from public services. The noble Baroness made that point. I do not think that will be particularly popular and it seems a very strange approach to a situation where people cannot agree on balancing the budget and on meeting their obligations as it is. So I think this Bill is a deal and a piece of constitutional tinkering which is misguided in its approach.
As a Scot, I am worried because I have not heard a single argument here today, other than there is a land border, which will enable me to fend off the devo-max brigade in Scotland and the nationalists who are now running rampant in the polls. The latest poll has them on 55%. That has all been caused by raising expectations and confusing two things—that is, confusing more powers with more money. Everyone in this Chamber knows that having more powers will actually mean less money, but it is being sold to the voters—I suspect that it may well have been sold in this way in Northern Ireland—that if their parliament has more powers, they will have better education and health services and better everything else. However, that is a fantasy. When people wake up to the fact that this is a misguided fantasy, they will blame London and our United Kingdom will be fractured. Therefore, I am very disappointed by this Bill.
However, I agree with my noble friends Lord Alderdice and Lord Trimble on the importance of stimulating the private sector. Scotland also has too large a public sector and we need to encourage business, but corporation tax is paid only by profitable businesses and businesses which are generating capital for investment. However, lots of businesses are struggling. If you want to encourage businesses and cut taxes—that is a priority—why not deal with business rates and levels of national insurance, as I hope my right honourable friend the Chancellor will tomorrow? Corporation tax is a very odd choice indeed.
For all that is said about the success of the tiger economy in the Republic of Ireland, corporation tax receipts went up so dramatically in the Republic when the rates were low because lots of businesses operating in the United Kingdom repatriated their profits to the Republic. According to leaks that have emerged before the Budget, the Chancellor says that he will take action against the Amazons and others who organise their affairs so that they pay tax in low corporation tax countries. The Government seem to be trying to have it both ways.
By the way, no one has mentioned the impact of all this on the Barnett formula. The Labour leader in Scotland is saying that if people vote nationalist, they will lose Barnett. If you continue to devolve more and more tax-raising powers to the constituent parts of the United Kingdom, by definition you will erode and lose Barnett. As was pointed out in the earlier part of the debate, we also have to think about why there is such a disparity in grant to the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. Therefore, as we go down this road, we must move towards a more needs-based system of funding which again will put pressure on Northern Ireland and the public services. So I am with the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, in arguing that we need a constitutional convention and we need to look at these things as a whole and not on a bit-by-bit basis. Does the noble Lord wish to intervene?
Very briefly. The noble Lord has made an excellent case. If he cares to cross the Floor, we will always find room for him.
I suggest to the noble Lord that the Labour Party in Scotland is in enough trouble without me adding to its difficulties.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth. It is certainly safer than preceding him in a debate. I start by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore, on his impressive maiden speech. The noble Lord clearly brings vast experience, which will serve us well in this House. It was with a degree of hesitation that I was going to speak in this debate because it looked as though most of those speaking had a long-standing commitment to this cause. I feel a bit more relaxed, having heard the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth.
I do not propose to dwell on the historical or constitutional context of the Bill, other than to say that I am happy to follow my party’s lead, as my noble friends on the Front Bench have and will outline. We know that the Northern Ireland economy has underperformed in comparison with the rest of the UK, with some rebalancing of the economy to bolster the private sector being overdue, and reducing corporation tax for Northern Ireland would be one component of a package. The tax rate has a particular significance, given the sharing of a land border with the Republic, which has worked hard to retain its 12.5% rate.
My starting point and first observation, which other noble Lords have made, is that addressing the seemingly straightforward proposition of devolving the rate of corporation tax to Northern Ireland requires some 87 pages of highly technical legislation, albeit encompassing just six clauses and two schedules. This reflects in part the complexity of our corporation tax system, as well as the arrangements necessary to address state aid requirements. I do not argue that this complexity is unnecessary—that is for purposes of the Bill; I accept that it probably is necessary, although there are consequences of this complexity, which I will speak to shortly.
The proposition to devolve corporation tax and the implicit understanding that it would involve a reduction from the current rate, resulting in a boost to foreign or domestic investment, are perhaps not unreasonable. However, as other noble Lords have said—the noble Lords, Lord Trimble and Lord Empey, in particular—we should recognise that it is not necessary in all circumstances to determine the issue of where investment is undertaken. Investors looking to invest in the territory will have a range of requirements, not all the same. The transport infrastructure may be the most important issue for some; for others it may be availability of manufacturing or office space, and the cost of that. I have known housing for expatriate executives and proximity of international schools also to feature. The availability of a locally skilled workforce may be crucial.
Taxation is not just a matter of corporation tax. Particularly for smaller enterprises, the issue may be the personal income tax regime, and especially how international tax protection packages are treated—typically a feature of arrangements for employees seconded by an overseas investor. As for corporation tax, as our briefing identifies, it is not only the nominal rate of tax which is important; it is the effective rate, taking account of the variety of available reliefs, offsets and credits. The extent of these is illustrated by the detailed legislation included in the Bill to make them fit the devolved system. As well as defining a qualifying trade, the Bill covers variously the treatment of losses, intangible credits and debits, R&D credits, expenditure on land remediation, film tax relief and more besides. Obviously these other levers, as the Minister acknowledged, are not to be devolved.
Another point to bear in mind in all this is how any tax levied in Northern Ireland would be treated from the perspective of a foreign investor. Are the overseas profits untaxed at parent company level, or is the tax otherwise creditable against home country taxes on one basis or another, and when do they apply? The overseas effective rate may be more significant in the former, rather than the latter, case. We were advised at our briefing, which the Minister was kind enough to organise, that the UK’s double tax treaties would continue to apply to a Northern Ireland company, as defined; and this is obviously important. The Minister might just say whether the Government consider that any corporation tax levied at the NI rate on the uplift on back-office expenses brought within the regime would generally be creditable, given that the tax is based on deemed, rather than actual, profits. There is a potential multiplicity of factors which influence the attractiveness of the territory for inward investment. I have no doubt the Assembly is well aware of this but none of it negates the potential benefit of a devolved rate of corporation tax, which provides a strong opportunity to make a statement about Northern Ireland being open for business in a big way and hungry for investment. It is symbolic of a determination to have a business-friendly environment.
Of course, alongside the complexities of the tax legislation there is the necessity to work out the requirements of the block grant adjustment, to which a number of noble Lords have spoken, so that the arrangements do not fall foul of state aid provisions. This involves calculations of tax initially forgone by HMRC by direct and behavioural means—presumably that is at the 20% rate—as well as how a deduction should grow over time. We are told that much work is going on in this regard, particularly to be able to make the judgment of whether or not, for the purposes of the Stormont House agreement, the Executive are able to demonstrate that their finances are on a sustainable footing for the long term.
Can the Minister confirm my understanding that the starting adjustment to the block grant is to take the profits which are going to be taxable at the Northern Ireland rate at a 20% rate as its mechanism, so on day one you are balancing tax through Northern Ireland at possibly a 12.5% rate against a reduction in the block grant at the 20% rate? As I understand it, that is how it is intended to work. How that adjustment is changed thereafter is the particular focus of some work.
Any tax system which has complexity, new definitions and concepts, especially with differential tax rates involved, will inevitably attract the attention of the tax avoidance industry. Doubtless as we speak, countless accountants and lawyers are sharpening their metaphorical pencils to see what tax advantage may be gained when the arrangements are put into effect. In introducing the Bill, the noble Baroness said that we have dealt with the issue of brass-plate companies. That is only one potential part of tax avoidance; other mechanisms will doubtless be brought to bear.
The soundness of definitions around Northern Ireland company, Northern Ireland employee and Northern Ireland profits and losses, for example, are fundamental. For SMEs, as we know, a company will be a Northern Ireland company if at least 75% of its staff time and costs relate to work carried out in Northern Ireland. This is a novel approach for the UK. However, is it correct that this means that up to 25% of employee effort outside Northern Ireland can effectively qualify for the Northern Ireland rate? If so, what will be the overall consequences of this? In theory, this presumably means that this extra tax will be collected and retained by the Northern Ireland Executive but there will be an additional adjustment to the block grant. We were told that on introduction 97% of SMEs will qualify under this test.
A parallel point arises more generally should tax avoiders get away with organising income to be subject to the Northern Ireland rate with economic activity still remaining outside Northern Ireland. In those circumstances, who is bearing the risk of the overall tax forgone? Presumably it would depend upon when this all took place. Will it feature in the initial adjustment of the block grant and how the growth of the initial deduction is to proceed? If the reality is that Northern Ireland bears the risk of tax avoidance, who is going to bear the cost of compliance and making sure that effort is made to tackle that avoidance? Does that rest with the Treasury more generally or with the Northern Ireland Executive?
It is noted that the test for SMEs and staff time is a per company one and on the face of it there is a risk that, within a group, arrangements will be made to have split contracts. How is it proposed to address this? The provisions for identifying the Northern Ireland profits and losses of a large company follow a tried and tested route and adopt the principles that are attributable to a permanent establishment. Nevertheless, this approach can give rise to disputes, although unlike the international situation, the revenue authorities will be seeing both sides of the equation. Internal royalties and interest payable by the Northern Ireland regional establishment are to be ignored, but again this is only intra a single company. It does not seem to look at the wider group context.
I will not speculate about what might happen in the future should corporation tax ever be devolved to Scotland. There could be a three-way tussle to work out to which establishment profits are to be attributable across three territories. We know also that a number of international companies organise their affairs to avoid UK tax and try to sustain that on the basis that they can presumably argue that they do not have a permanent establishment in the UK. Indeed, it would be ironic if the wider avoidance measures now being taken by the Government caused them to seek the shelter of a permanent establishment in Northern Ireland.
Time does not permit me to go into this more. It is a pity that we are denied the opportunity of at least a detailed Committee process on this Bill. I do not argue that so much from a constitutional point of view, just that it would be good fun to get into some of the detail of these provisions. However, I accept that we must acknowledge the position of the elected House. This is an important and, I believe, ground-breaking measure which we hope will have the opportunity to be implemented and prove a stimulus to the economy of Northern Ireland.
My Lords, as I wish to say some cautious and possibly even sceptical things about the Bill, and the project of the Bill, I think in all fairness that I should begin by reminding the House of exactly why it has been brought forward by the Minister today. In his fine maiden speech, the noble Lord, Lord Hay, alluded to some of this. He, like Mr Mark Durkan in the other place, will be aware that in their own constituencies there are people who are working just over the land border for companies which are paying a very low rate of corporation tax. The land border is actually a real and perceptive issue in explaining why the Northern Ireland Assembly has decided to go down this road. There is, I think, a certain pride in the Northern Ireland Assembly that one thing has been done to address the old dependence of the Northern Ireland economy on the state; one move has been made that makes a gesture towards acknowledging the problem, and it is the decision of all the parties to ask for this power. I must say that there is an immediate difficulty: expectations are raised. The Northern Ireland Assembly may possibly find that the expectations raised by this will be somewhat disappointed. That is something which has to be borne in mind.
The Minister referred in her opening speech to the ways in which the project is now covered in the fog and ambiguities relating to the recent crisis of the Stormont House agreement, and I agree with her absolutely. However, even in the months leading up to the Stormont House agreement—and here I mention the “Wonga loan” referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Empey—it was clear that there was a difficulty in Northern Ireland about the public debate. It was very striking that in the days before the Prime Minister arrived it was considered to be the height of local patriotism by large sections of the Assembly to rattle the begging bowl as loudly as possible. No respect or attention was paid to such factors as a needs basis, and here I would mention the north-east of England or the West Midlands. Actually, if we had a block grant on that basis, on the face of it, Northern Ireland would really face significant reductions.
I say this not because I do not believe in the union and the necessity within the union for regions that are less well-off to be looked after in both the good times and the bad times. I was struck last Thursday in your Lordships’ House by a debate in which the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, spoke about the 70th anniversary of Dresden. He spoke as somebody whose father had been an air raid warden in Coventry on the night of one of the worst bombings. A number of other British cities were mentioned as having suffered the bombing. Actually, Belfast was the city that lost almost 1,000 people in one night, the second heaviest loss of life as a result of German attacks.
The union means that you are there in good times and in bad times, and that is the great attraction of the idea. I absolutely accept the argument that Northern Ireland has required and has received special and generous treatment from the Treasury in recent times, but there is a problem with devolution. As I am sitting beside the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, I cannot help thinking about her kinsman’s autobiography. Terence O’Neill, later Lord O’Neill of the Maine, discussed some of these issues. He explains in his autobiography that he could not convey, even to well educated people within Northern Ireland, that Northern Ireland, even in 1968, was subsidised by the Treasury. He had to take that into account in his relationship with the British Government.
One of the most remarkable achievements of devolution in Northern Ireland was to move away from the Government of Ireland Act, which set up an unsustainable basis for the funding of Northern Ireland, and replace it with the principle of parity. It was the achievement least understood by the population at large. That is the paradox of Northern Irish devolution. Devolution is again having that effect internally. The population does not seem to understand. The public debate is not sufficiently informed by the realities of the relationship to the Treasury.
There is a second ambiguity at the moment which was not alluded to by the Minister in her opening speech. That is the situation regarding future developments with respect to corporation tax. The Chancellor has spoken recently about the possibility of UK corporation tax going to 15%. The Republic’s corporation tax is now 12.5%. In real terms, the Republic’s corporation tax, because of devices known as the “double Irish”, is something like 3% to 4%. That is the clue to so much of the attraction of inward investment which has kept that economy afloat, but it is actually a remarkably low effective corporation tax.
By the way, this House has seen an unusual amount of capitalist knocking for the House of Lords this afternoon, but I would like to add my two-pennyworth. One of the implications of the discussion we have had is that the Varney report referred to, originally produced in the Treasury, said that corporation tax was not the decisive factor in the decision of companies to employ, and there were other factors, and it was really only number six. Actually, this Bill is impossible without the assumption that this polling, or this word from our capitalist class, is a lie. It is based on the assumption that they are simply not telling the truth about why they behave as they do, and that actually they follow the low rate of corporation tax. The experience of the Irish economy is the key thing, and all the other things that they talk about as vitally important are not really that important. They might fill in a form and say that, but look at how they behave. That is my little bit added to the unusual wave of anti-capitalist rhetoric sweeping the House of Lords this afternoon. This legislation is tacitly based on the fact that what companies tell us about their behaviour with respect to corporation tax is not the full truth—to put it as simply as that.
If the Treasury achieves the aim of getting 15%, and if the unusual mechanisms known as the “double Irish”—which pushed Irish corporation tax down to 3% or 4%, or so it is reported—are now coming under attack from the United Kingdom Government, the European Union and the United States Government, is it not reasonable to think that, two years down the road—in effect, this legislation has a two-year stay on it—the level of corporation tax in the United Kingdom may not be that much removed from the real corporation tax levels of the Irish Republic? The legislation is driven by a keen desire on the part of the Government and the Assembly to show that something can be done to attempt to rebalance the Northern Irish economy. We all have to respect that. However, it may be the case that, two years from now, it might not have quite the meaning it seems to have today.
I conclude with one technical point which came up in the debate in the other place. There was unanimity across a number of the Northern Irish parties—the SDLP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, the Alliance Party and some in the Democratic Unionist Party—about those companies entitled to come within the ambit of eligibility for lower rates of corporation tax. Essentially, the point was made that credit unions and mutual societies had a case to be included and were not an example of potential brass-plating. I have campaigned with Mr Mark Durkan in the other place for the credit unions of Northern Ireland. They are racy of the soil and are used by as many as 30% of population. It does not seem to me that mutual societies and credit unions are an example of possible brass-plate abuse. If we are going ahead, I think that there is a case—certainly, it was argued across a number of the parties—for looking at the categories that might be included within the ambit of the legislation.
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Bew, is an old friend from academic life and it is good to follow him. It is good, too, to have an opportunity to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore, on his maiden speech. It is clear that he was a faithful and dedicated servant of the Northern Ireland Assembly, just like his predecessor, my noble friend Lord Alderdice.
I share the hope that has been widely expressed in this debate that the Bill before us will assist the progress of Northern Ireland and help secure its longer-term prosperity. The important measure of devolution for which the Bill makes provision has not, like some other measures of devolution, been conceived in undue haste or brought forward with insufficient preliminary work. The case for devolving the rate of corporation tax in Northern Ireland was advocated powerfully in Ulster Unionist circles in the 1980s, as my noble friend Lord Empey has told us. It was taken up enthusiastically by my right honourable friend Owen Paterson when he was Conservative shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland before the last election. A commitment to action was included in the Conservative Party’s 2010 manifesto and in the manifesto of the Ulster Unionist Party then led by my noble friend Lord Empey. Indeed, it was the subject of discussion between the two parties as part of the work that was done with the aim of creating an enduring partnership between them. I regret that that aim was not in the end successfully accomplished. Ulster’s position in the United Kingdom would have been strengthened by such a partnership.
After the election, the coalition made clear in its Programme for Government that it would,
“work to bring Northern Ireland back into the mainstream of UK politics”—
a commitment to lift all true unionist hearts. In the course of doing so, it would examine,
“potential mechanisms for changing the corporation tax rate in Northern Ireland”.
That examination began exactly four years ago with the publication of a government consultation document stressing the overwhelming need to rebalance the Northern Ireland economy by increasing the size of its private sector, which over several generations had shrunk so alarmingly.
From 2011 onwards, I inquired about the progress of the Government’s work through a number of Oral and Written Questions. There is little doubt, I think, that the announcement of the Government’s decision was delayed to avoid discussion of it during the Scottish referendum campaign of last year. The decision was finally made known in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last December, and I welcomed it in the debate on the Statement which took place in this House. It is important to remember that the Bill implements clear commitments that have been given to the people of Northern Ireland. It would have been extremely regrettable if a measure so long in gestation and enjoying such widespread support in Northern Ireland had not been carried into law before the election.
We are all extremely conscious of the acute difficulties that have arisen within the Northern Ireland Executive. It is obvious that they must be resolved if the scene is to be set successfully for the transfer of power over the main corporation tax rate to the Executive in 2017, the target date. I express my admiration for the tenacity and determination with which my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland continues to work with the political parties in the Province to try and overcome the severe problems. Her predecessor, my right honourable friend Owen Paterson, pressed the case for the devolution of corporation tax with immense fervour. The arguments which he and many others made have been accepted widely, if not universally, in Northern Ireland. In these circumstances, it would be tragic if political instability in Northern Ireland should, at the final hour, deprive the Province of the prospect of benefits which so many economic experts predict and which so many business men and women hope to deliver.
When the Chancellor announced the Government’s decision in favour of devolution, in his last Autumn Statement, the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry declared that,
“our politicians must grasp this opportunity”.
There is no doubt that that is exactly what Northern Ireland politicians, as a whole, wish to do. I hope that, with the assistance of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, they will be able to make that wish a reality and then go on to deal successfully with the challenges that will at once arise, most notably through the reduction of Northern Ireland’s block grant, which has rightly featured prominently in this debate.
This is a money Bill but, as a number of noble Lords have stressed, it has significant constitutional implications. It adds a new element to the unbalanced and asymmetrical arrangements that characterise the United Kingdom’s three devolved settlements and create resentment in undevolved England. The justification, as we all know and has been stressed often in this debate, is the existence of a low rate of corporation tax in Northern Ireland’s neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, with which it competes for international investment. Will the greater imbalance that this measure will introduce within the devolved settlements be accepted on all sides in Wales and Scotland? As we have heard, it is clear that it will not. Nationalist politicians in Scotland and Wales have said that what Northern Ireland has, they must have too. How will the main British parties react? That is the question to which we now need to know the answer.
This Bill has been conceived in the best interests of Northern Ireland and could serve those very well indeed. However, at the same time, it could add to the United Kingdom’s constitutional instability which, sadly, is so marked a feature of life in our country today.
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Hay of Ballyore on an excellent maiden speech. During his long public service, he has continually sought to achieve consensus between the two communities in Northern Ireland and he has had a great deal of success in that. His fair-mindedness, negotiating skills and ability to remain calm when faced with adversity will enable him to make a useful contribution in this House.
I wholeheartedly support the Bill and it is fitting that it will complete its parliamentary stages on St Patrick’s Day. I am not suggesting that we will be celebrating the Bill in 1,000 years’ time, but it has the potential to transform Northern Ireland’s economy in the long term and to ensure a level of prosperity that the Province has not enjoyed before. Although today is the end of the parliamentary process, this is far from the end of the corporation tax story. To quote Sir Winston Churchill,
“this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.
Indeed, what a long beginning this has been. The campaign for the devolution of corporation tax for Northern Ireland in its present form dates back a decade. I thank the business groups that have supported the campaign to build a political consensus on this issue for many years. Their work helped to build support for corporation tax devolution not just among Northern Ireland’s politicians but among key Northern Ireland Office and Treasury Ministers. That support proved invaluable when difficult times came.
I pay particular tribute to Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson, who played a very significant role in championing this cause in the Northern Ireland Assembly. I also thank the present Government for taking the initiative on this and responding to the united political call from the Northern Ireland parties. I am sure that at times it would have been easier to accept the Treasury orthodoxy on such matters rather than to take a new policy initiative. Despite any doubts that it may have had, the same Treasury did not hesitate to commit itself to drawing up the Bill. I know that the policy of corporation tax devolution has not been enthusiastically supported by the Labour Party but I must acknowledge its role in ensuring the Bill’s smooth passage through Parliament.
Strictly speaking, the Bill does not devolve corporation tax powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly but allows the Assembly to set the Northern Ireland rate of corporation tax, with every other aspect of the regime remaining the responsibility of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. That is why I think that those who have some concerns about the Bill on constitutional grounds are wrong. The Bill does not in any way undermine the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Indeed, if this policy proves to be a success, it will mean that Northern Ireland will make an increased contribution to the United Kingdom economy. That can only be good for Northern Ireland in particular and for the United Kingdom as a whole.
There are others who argue that Northern Ireland will not reap the rewards of a lower rate of corporation tax but will pay too heavy a price in the reduction of public expenditure. Time does not allow for a comprehensive rebuttal of this argument but I will briefly make the following observations.
First, most economists agree that a reduction in the corporate tax rate is one of the most effective policy tools to achieve a rebalancing of the Northern Ireland economy towards the private sector, which in my view is an essential prerequisite for future economic prosperity. Convincing evidence is provided in a recent study by Ulster University’s Northern Ireland Centre for Economic Policy, which has estimated that the lowering of the corporation tax rate to 12.5% from April 2017 would result in the creation of 37,500 additional jobs by 2033. In simple terms, that means more jobs and better jobs. It means more money circulating in the local economy, and a higher standard of living and a better quality of life for everyone in Northern Ireland. In the longer term, it means that we have the capacity to fund public services at the level many of us would wish to see.
A lower rate of corporation tax is good not just for foreign direct investment but for our indigenous businesses. While a reduced level of corporation tax for Northern Ireland is not in itself a panacea for all our problems, the Bill as drafted provides useful safeguards on several technical issues. The separate arrangements for large companies and SMEs and the exclusion of profits from investment and certain other activities seem eminently sensible. This should discourage tax avoidance through brass-plating and encourage employment-creating trading activities and foreign direct investment.
Secondly, the experience of the Republic of Ireland would indicate that a lower level of corporation tax has been one of the key drivers of its economic success. It is no coincidence that, even at their lowest economic ebb, this is the one policy that the Republic of Ireland’s Government have refused to give up.
Thirdly, it must be recognised that this policy will involve difficult decisions about reductions in public expenditure. In my view, the Northern Ireland Executive will have to prioritise interdepartmental discussions to arrive at a budget agreement to facilitate the earliest possible implementation of the rate cut.
I do not pretend that significant issues and challenges do not remain, both in terms of agreeing all the final details and in relation to the other measures that the Northern Ireland Executive will have to put in place to ensure that the policy is a success. I am confident, however, that these challenges can be overcome.
After today, the next phase is the rollout of this power: it will pass to the Northern Ireland Executive to take forward. We now need the Executive to agree what the Northern Ireland corporation tax rate should be, from when it should apply and over what period it should remain in force. In these areas, with some compromise on all sides, I believe that agreement can be reached.
My party’s preference would have been for a 10% corporation tax rate, but it is prepared to go along with the emerging consensus that the rate should be 12.5%. The earliest possible date for the introduction of this rate is April 2017. Given that we have waited so long for this power, the rate should be introduced as soon as possible after that date. A quick decision will enable Invest Northern Ireland to go out and sell the policy to those investors for whom a low headline rate—
I thank the noble Lord for giving way. He is talking about the desire to have quick decisions on this. Did I miss something? Did I miss him saying when the implementation of the Stormont House agreement would be sorted out through fully providing for welfare reform and implementing it? I did not hear that.
I am saying that this cannot be implemented until all these things are sorted out.
Finally, I hope that there will be a political consensus that the lower corporation tax is not merely a short-term experiment but a policy that will be in place for many years. That is what is needed to give the long-term confidence to businesses and investors that Northern Ireland is the place to do business. The Bill will provide a sound basis for the development of a productive economy fit to survive in the very competitive global economy. It is a good example of positive co-operation between the Northern Ireland Executive and the Westminster Government and I trust that it will be one of many in the coming years.
My Lords, this has been a fascinating debate, in which two obvious problems with the Bill have been identified that might not have been entirely anticipated. They broadened the debate to such an extent that I sympathise with the Minister responding to it. The breadth that has developed is obvious enough. First, questions have been directed to points of such substantial detail that we want answers this evening because this is a money Bill and we have no chance to press the issues any further. Therefore, I hope that the noble Lord—I know how scrupulous he is in observing time limits when he is winding up—will indulge himself sufficiently to respond to those very detailed points, one of which I will refer to in a moment, so that we can make as much progress as we can before we pass the Bill, defined as it is as a money Bill, by taking all its stages after Second Reading.
The second aspect that has broadened things was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth. He was not alone in this respect, although he probably presented the most challenging dimension on it. The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, accurately reflected this as well. They said that the Bill raises issues relating to devolution powers and the position of the United Kingdom.
I am absolutely delighted to welcome the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, on the prospects of a convention immediately after the election. He has only to vote Labour and he will help with that. Unfortunately, he is not allowed to but perhaps he can persuade the other members of his family to vote Labour to ensure that we have a convention after the election.
The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, also identified in his very useful contribution that there are real issues at stake here. I do not doubt that the noble Lord, Lord Newby, will be somewhat reluctant to indulge in that part of the debate to a very large extent. However, it is clear that this is a further step towards devolution, which is welcomed on all sides. We heard in all speeches—and know from the deliberations in Northern Ireland, particularly in the business community—that people are in favour of this measure. Of course, as the noble Lord, Lord Bew, indicated, that might be on the basis of a fairly limited perspective on what the implications are for devolution and the position of the United Kingdom as a whole—the interaction of the parts. We heard some very challenging contributions today. It is a great pity that we are able to raise them only in the context of a Second Reading debate that concludes very shortly.
Of course, we support the Bill and will give every assistance to its progressing satisfactorily. However, we have anxieties about it. Noble Lords raised the question of the trade-off between this and the block grant. Extending wider than that, there is the whole question of devolution arrangements as well. The Barnett formula came into the debate, too. We have anxieties on those issues and the Minister must recognise that when the Bill goes through, the hoped-for increase in revenue in due course will be balanced against the block grant. I hope he will appreciate that this has considerable ramifications for the Northern Ireland public.
My noble friend Lady Blood emphasised the fact that loss of resources for government might crucially affect the amount that the Government are able to invest in, for example, training and education. These are clearly issues of great importance to making a strategy for increasing the private sector’s capacity to compete successfully. Reference was made to the days of the Republic of Ireland tiger, but it was not just the business rate taxation that was crucial to Ireland. A great deal was made of that, of course. As the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, reflected, certain companies hived themselves off to the Republic to take advantage of that, but other factors at play also made the Republic attractive at that time. Northern Ireland has a clearly important task to fulfil in matching up in certain respects.
That is why we are concerned about the effect of this. The Government have made it clear that there is a delaying timetable for the implementation of this measure. It is dependent on the Northern Ireland community, particularly the Assembly at Stormont, reaching an agreement that gives the Government confidence that there is fiscal security in the economy, and gives strength to that economy. Two years is a pretty short timetable to make that demand—it is a pretty substantial demand as well. The Minister must flesh out what his tests are for this demand being met before corporation tax reduction powers are vested in Northern Ireland.
None of us regards corporation tax as a panacea. It can play its part, and we are aware of the strength of opinion in the business community that it will help, but it is not a panacea for the economy; much more substantial improvements need to be made as far as the Northern Ireland economy is concerned. Therefore, the only thing I can say to the Government is that I understand their need for delay—they want to get the Bill through before this Parliament concludes and so they built in the delay before implementation—but delay is no friend in circumstances where things are not improving as rapidly as one would hope.
I hope the Minister will address these issues and at least have a shot at the broader constitutional problems.
I wonder whether the noble Lord, Lord Davies, can help me by answering the question that I put to his noble friend Lord McAvoy. I am just a bit puzzled. Of course the business community welcomes the Bill, because profitable businesses will pay less tax at the expense of the resources that are available for public services. Why is the Labour Party supporting such a measure?
My Lords, we see that there is support in Northern Ireland for the Bill, which will give some chance of rebalancing the economy to a certain extent. We are in favour of that, but recognise that the development of the Northern Ireland economy, as with all the other parts of the United Kingdom, will depend on much more fundamental issues than the rate of corporation tax. That is why we regard this as a marginal Bill in these terms. However, it would be fruitless of us to object to it, although I accept his point about why we did not address ourselves to other issues, rather than the reduction of corporation tax. He will know, because he is so well informed on Labour Party policy, that we propose to increase the corporation tax rate for the rest of the United Kingdom, with the specific objective of reducing business rates for small and medium-sized businesses. We think that is a quicker and more effective way of giving stimulus to the business community. There we are: on two areas of policy, the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, and I are in full agreement. I did not expect to say that this evening.
If it is the policy of the noble Lord, Lord Davies, that it is better to reduce business rates and that that should be applied to the rest of the United Kingdom, why is it not his policy to do that in Northern Ireland? If he believes that that is the right approach, why is he proposing something that he rejects as being the right approach in the rest of the United Kingdom?
My Lords, has the noble Lord not noticed that I am speaking from the opposition Benches? We are not in a position where we can implement our policies at present. It is only a matter of a short delay, as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, will readily appreciate. But at this stage, the Government put Bills before us and this is the Bill we have. I have only two alternatives: to reject the Bill whatever its benefits, or to accept it but state that we can do better. That is exactly what I have argued.
My Lords, I am sorry to have to interrupt this job interview for the best anti-capitalist speaker in the House, but will the noble Lord, Lord Davies, clarify one thing? I am assuming that the Opposition support the Stormont House agreement. That agreement has subsequently been ratted on by one of the parties to the it. It appears to some of us that the reason they are doing that is the hope that, after the election, were there to be a change of Government, the noble Lord’s party would be more readily prepared to put more money into the Stormont House process. Therefore, they are holding out in the hope that that might happen. Will the noble Lord clarify that that is not the Opposition’s position and that the Labour Party stands over the Stormont House agreement as it was dealt with at the end of December?
Is the noble Lord seriously asking me to clarify conjecture about why people have acted as they have done in Northern Ireland thus far? The Government have said that this will need to be resolved because the reason for delaying implementation of this measure is to give us time for that to be done. We will obviously take considerable advantage of such time when we come to power.
My Lords, perhaps surprisingly, it was with a certain amount of affection that I looked at the possibility of speaking in this debate today because the first Question I answered from the Dispatch Box, nearly two and half years ago, was about the devolution of corporation tax to Northern Ireland. It was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Despite that affection, I am not sure that I can share the worry, or sadness, of the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, that we will miss the fun of Committee. There are many adjectives I could think of that would describe a Committee stage on this Bill, but I am afraid I am not sure that “fun” would be near the top of my list. Perhaps that shows a lack of imagination.
I am delighted to be able to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hay of Ballyore, on his excellent maiden speech. He brings with him a formidable reputation as someone who has been able to persuade people, in a quiet, effective way, to work together for the good of the community at large. It is clear that these qualities are still needed in Northern Ireland today, just as they ever were. Those qualities are going to be needed if we are going to see the kind of economic development that everybody who has spoken on the Bill wishes to see in Northern Ireland.
The noble Lord, Lord Bew, I think, stressed the key issue and the key difference that has characterised the debate today, which is one of expectation. Some in Northern Ireland have very high expectations for the Bill, while others, in your Lordships’ House, have very low expectations. There is very clearly, in this Chamber at least, no agreement on that. At one end of the spectrum we have the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, and at the other, the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Belmont, but it is quite telling that the greatest enthusiasts for this legislation are those in Northern Ireland who, on a daily basis, are grappling with how to make the economy stronger. The political parties and the business community are extremely keen on this. To respond to the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, on whether we should do this or business rates, the business community have said that this is what they want. It is in response to a combination of the strength of feeling in the business community and of that in the political parties that the Government have entertained this measure.
Whatever view you take about the desirability of doing this, there is clearly a huge amount of uncertainty about what the outcome will be: there are many variables that we cannot possibly bottom out at this point, several years before it comes into force. However, for the rest of my time, I will deal with some of the concerns noble Lords have raised and clarify some of the issues which are clearly uppermost in people’s minds.
The noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, began by expressing the hope that there would not be brass-plating—companies just having a brass plate in Northern Ireland and doing business elsewhere. The rules in the Bill contain many features to protect against avoidance. In addition to the exclusion of investment income, the main one is the adoption of rules for large companies which are based on existing international principles. Pure brass-plating simply will not be possible because the rules require a physical presence in Northern Ireland and, more fundamentally, a calculation of Northern Ireland’s trading profits, as if the company were a stand-alone entity, so that concern should not be too great.
A number of noble Lords, starting with the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, asked about the modelling of the impact of the different rates. The example that the Government have set is on the basis of a 12.5% rate of corporation tax in Northern Ireland, assuming a 20% UK rate. This is expected to be £325 million in 2019-20, which will be the first steady state year if implementation takes place in April 2017 and if the rate in Northern Ireland from April 2017 is 12.5%. Obviously, the Executive will have the power to consider the impact of setting the rate. The UK Government will continue to work with them on the detail of the block grant deduction.
The noble Lord’s question on modelling led into his second question about the impact on overall income for the Executive and what that could mean in terms of levels of public expenditure. This is a key question that the Executive will have to decide, but one way in which they might decide to progress—I am not saying that they will do this—rather than going through a very big change in one year, is to reduce the rate over a number of years, as we have done in the UK, so that you set a direction of travel, with a rate of 12.5% as the end-point. It would not be necessary to implement it all from year one. The reason why we have spread it over a number of years here is that it spreads the cost, while at the same time giving companies that are investing the UK a sense of where they are going to be in a few years’ time.
The other point in terms of how the Executive will be able to manage a potentially big reduction in their income is that the impact does not all come in in one go. Even if you were to reduce the rate to 12.5% from day one, the impact on the Executive’s budget would rise from £120 million in 2017-18 to £280 million in 2018-19, and then get to the steady state level of £325 million in 2019-20. So, in any view, you will have a phasing in.
My noble friend Lord Trimble pointed out that the Varney report suggested that there was a raft of other things just as important as this tax change for the viability and strength of the Northern Ireland economy, including the labour market, telecommunications and transport; obviously, that is true. We have, as a Government, been helping the development of high-speed broadband and the transport infrastructure in Northern Ireland. But if anybody thinks that we are going to get the full benefit of a reduction of corporation tax while standing still on all these other very important issues, they are clearly incorrect.
I believe that my noble friend Lord Trimble was the first to raise the issue of how the rest of the UK would see this change—a point very eloquently developed by my noble friend Lord Forsyth. As far as Scotland and Wales are concerned, the Smith commission did not recommend devolution of corporation tax, nor did the Silk commission in Wales. The suggestion that there will inevitably be the same kind of pressure from Scotland and Wales as there has been from Northern Ireland is not really borne out by the experience of the views of the political parties in those parts of the United Kingdom.
I shall press my noble friend a little. There is a huge focus on what happens if this is introduced and all the modelling and so on. I emphasise to him that part of the purpose of this is so that those people who want to take Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and who want to harmonise the arrangements with the rest of the island are, by the device of this Bill, made to face the real political and economic consequences of any such process. The likelihood is that, whether because things would change or not, they will look at the situation, add up the sums and discover that going down this road is not what they want to undertake. This is a completely different thing from the situation in Scotland or Wales where there is not another country that people want to be part of that is a comparator or competitor. If Northern Ireland has this power and decides not to use it, that is a very strong pilot exercise to say to people in Scotland and Wales that there is no point in going down this road because it is not actually a serious economic goer. I want to emphasise that there is a political dimension to this in terms of Northern Ireland that is quite separate from any of the economic debate which has formed a large part of this debate.
No, it is not accepted. My noble friend said that by giving more powers to Northern Ireland, and with it more responsibility, the case for breaking away from the United Kingdom will be blunted. That is precisely the argument which has been used by the Government in Scotland, where we gave more powers after we had won a referendum on independence, and the result is that the nationalists have surged. My noble friend says that no one in Scotland is crying out for corporation tax powers, but the Scottish nationalists are crying out for devo-max. In the past six months, they have gone up to 55% in the opinion polls, and the Labour Party, which has advocated more powers on the same argument as my noble friend has put, is facing annihilation. Can we not learn the lesson that by giving more powers to constituent parts of the United Kingdom, we break the unitary state which is the United Kingdom and give succour to those who wish to smash it up? When my noble friend says that Scotland is not like Ireland because there is no other country it can be, yes there is. It can be Scotland as an independent country outside the United Kingdom. That is the threat.
I am not sure that is a threat in respect of Northern Ireland. I disagree with the noble Lord about both the principle of devolution and its effect. The SNP is at 55% in the polls today but, if I were a betting man, I would say that it will not be at 55% in the polls in 10 years’ time when we have seen how it manages taking responsibility for Scotland’s own income. It seems to me that one of the great weaknesses about the current settlement in Scotland is that the Scots Nats or the Government in Scotland wait to get a cheque from England but, however big it is, it is not big enough, and they do not have the responsibility for raising the money themselves. Now, they will have significantly greater responsibly for raising the money, and that will mean that they have to take more responsibility. I think that is wholly beneficial. I just disagree with the noble Lord, I am afraid.
The noble Baroness, Lady Blood, asked about building societies and credit unions. The effect and the design of the scheme is that in order to attract genuine economic activity, some mobile trades and activities are excluded, including lending and investing. The rules in respect of lending and investing do not distinguish between types of entity, so banks and building societies are treated on the same basis for that purpose. In respect of credit unions, the Northern Ireland corporation tax regime applies only to trading activity in order to encourage genuine employment. The income from the loans that credit unions make to their members is not currently taxed as trading income, so credit unions do not pay corporation tax on that income. Given those special rules already in place, this income from loans will remain outside the Northern Ireland corporation tax rules. Perversely, to bring the profits within the trading income rules, and so within the Northern Ireland regime, would likely result in them paying more tax. I do not think that credit unions are being disadvantaged by this.
I am going slightly off the noble Lord’s point on credit unions and back a little bit. I think it is a mistake to rule out financial services. Northern Ireland missed out completely on the changes that have taken place in financial services in the United Kingdom over the last 20 years. We do not have a significant financial service sector at all, yet that sector is much more profitable than nearly all the other sectors of economic activity in the United Kingdom. You are keeping the most valuable service sector, in which we do not have any significant representation, away from us. If you want to rebalance the Northern Ireland economy that really ought to be up at the top of the list.
I am afraid that the Government have not taken that view in the way they have produced this. They have thought about it and decided that they did not want to go down that route.
The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, talked about the broader impact of the measure and of APD on the rest of the UK. I agree with him—he will not be surprised to know—in that these things need to be dealt with under a constitutional convention. Nobody could claim that the devolution picture across the UK is anything other than rather piecemeal and the time is long overdue for us to try to bring a bit more coherence to it, not least in terms of the English question.
The noble Lord, Lord Empey, talked about the necessity for the parties in Northern Ireland to agree on the budget reduction. Everybody agrees that the budget reductions should have been embarked on earlier, but the process has now started and we are determined to encourage and support the Executive in the future as they grapple with these issues. We are totally clear that the Executive must balance the budget and, to do that, welfare reform must go ahead.
The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, ranged widely over our constitutional issues and problems. He did not mention that Yorkshire Day is in the middle of the Summer Recess and therefore I will be denied the possibility of getting a big set of powers devolved to Yorkshire, for which I am extremely sorry—but we cannot have everything. I think the noble Lord’s characterisation of the extent to which this would complicate the system and make life difficult for businesses was slightly overdone. The rules we are introducing for larger companies are based on existing OECD principles which companies already operate. As he pointed out, the design seeks to retain coherence within the corporation tax regime as whole. Only one variable is being affected and the whole system is being administered by HMRC, with which all the companies already have relationships.
The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, asked a number of detailed questions, some of which I hope I can deal with. He asked whether the notional profit attributable to back office was creditable in the rest of the UK tax computation. This notional profit forms part of the attribution of trading profits to the Northern Ireland regime, so will not feature as mainstream—to use the language of the Bill—profit; that is, non-chargeable at the UK rate.
I am sorry, but my question was about not whether they are creditable within the UK system but whether they would be creditable to a foreign investor.
I shall have to write to the noble Lord on that point, but I suspect that the answer is yes. However, I am not confident, so I shall write to him.
The noble Lord asked about whether an SME that is determined to be within the Northern Ireland regime but has 25% of its activity within the UK has all its corporation tax charged at the Northern Ireland rate. The answer is yes—all its qualifying profits will be taxed at the Northern Ireland rate. It is estimated that more than 99% of the small and medium-sized businesses affected have 100% of their trading activity in Northern Ireland. That seems rather a large figure but, even if it was slightly less than that, the amount of potential tax forgone for the UK in one guise or another is very small.
The noble Lord asked how it would work in calculating the block grant. If and when this power is in place, the Executive’s funding will consist of three elements. The Barnett formula continues to operate, so there is the Barnett-based block grant. There is then a block grant adjustment, so there is a deduction from what they would otherwise have got, to reflect the CT revenues forgone. Then you put back in the CT revenues that you are collecting. That is the principle of it. I accept that actually doing it is quite complicated, but the principles are quite clear.
I shall not make this a dialogue, but is the consequence that on day one the deduction from the block grant would effectively be at the current mainstream corporation tax rate and the benefit at the Northern Ireland corporation tax rate? Clearly there is a differential between the two, which is why you get a substantial negative in the block grant, at least on day one.
Will the Minister just elaborate on that? Let us just say for the sake of argument that it is decided to drop the corporation tax rate to 12.5% on day one. The Government have made an estimate that that would cost £325 million. Would the block grant then have £325 million deducted on day one? Is it based on the estimate? Given that we know how volatile corporation tax is from year to year, how would that work? I do not want to be rude, but it does rather feel as though the Government are introducing a Bill without knowing how it will work in practice, or how much it will cost. It does matter, for reasons that the noble Baroness, Lady Blood, pointed out in her speech.
First, Northern Ireland would not lose the £325 million on day one. As I said, there is a transitional period; it takes three years before the full effects work through, because of the time that it takes to get corporation tax returns sorted out. On the second point, on how it works out, the model that is being followed closely follows the model that has been agreed with the Scottish Executive in respect of income tax for Scotland. So a lot of work has been done on that, and the principles and the practice will follow from Scotland to Northern Ireland. I am happy to write to the noble Lord about it—it is extremely technical. But I can assure him that a lot of work has been done on the issue already.
I am well over time. I just say to the noble Lord, Lord Bew, that the double Irish arrangement is coming to an end, so he is right to the extent that the rate would go up there.
As I said at the start, this is a measure that is broadly supported in Northern Ireland by the political and business community. It has raised varying expectations. The view of the Government is that it has the potential to encourage genuine investment and help Northern Ireland to become competitive, boosting the entire UK economy and the standard of living of people across Northern Ireland. But it will be for those in Northern Ireland—business and politicians alike—to ensure that, if and when the Bill comes into effect, it has the desired effect.