All 28 Parliamentary debates on 12th Mar 2021

Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage3rd reading & 3rd reading & Report stage & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
British Library Board (Power to Borrow) Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage & 3rd reading & Report stage & Report stage & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage & 3rd reading & Report stage & Report stage & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Forensic Science Regulator Bill
Commons Chamber

3rd reading & 3rd reading & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage & 3rd reading & Report stage & Report stage & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Prisons (Substance Testing) Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage & 3rd reading & Report stage & Report stage & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Registers of Births and Deaths Bill
Commons Chamber

Report stage & Report stage & Report stage
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Business without Debate
Commons Chamber

3rd reading & 3rd reading & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) (No. 2) Bill
Lords Chamber

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Contingencies Fund (No. 2) Bill
Lords Chamber

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 2nd reading & Committee negatived
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
British Library Board (Power to Borrow) Bill
Lords Chamber

1st reading & Lords Hansard & 1st reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Bill
Lords Chamber

1st reading & Lords Hansard & 1st reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Filters (Children) Bill
Lords Chamber

1st reading & Lords Hansard & 1st reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Prisons (Substance Testing) Bill
Lords Chamber

1st reading & Lords Hansard & 1st reading
Fri 12th Mar 2021
Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill
Lords Chamber

1st reading & Lords Hansard & 1st reading

House of Commons

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Friday 12 March 2021
The House met at half-past Nine o’clock

Prayers

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Prayers mark the daily opening of Parliament. The occassion is used by MPs to reserve seats in the Commons Chamber with 'prayer cards'. Prayers are not televised on the official feed.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
Virtual participation in proceedings commenced (Orders, 4 June and 30 December 2020).
[NB: [V] denotes a Member participating virtually.]
Mike Amesbury Portrait Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)
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I beg to move, That the House sit in private.

Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 163), and negatived.

Consideration of Bill, not amended in the Public Bill Committee.
Clause 1
Guidance about the costs of school uniforms: England
09:34
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
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I beg to move amendment 2, page 1, line 5, after “must” insert

“within six months of this Act coming into force”

This amendment will ensure that the guidance has to be issued within a specific time.

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 3, page 1, line 9, leave out

“the Secretary of State considers”

and insert “are”

This amendment will introduce an objective test of relevance in place of a subjective test.

Amendment 4, page 1, line 10, at end insert

“including price, quality, design, place of manufacture and country of origin.”

This amendment will ensure that these aspects bearing upon costs are addressed in any guidance.

Amendment 1, page 1, line 10, at end insert—

‘(2A) But guidance issued under this section must include guidance on—

(a) ensuring there is an adequate market for second-hand uniform where that uniform is provided new by a single supplier, and

(b) establishing a hardship fund for the parents or guardians who struggle to meet the cost of providing uniform for their children.”

Amendment 5, page 1, line 10, at end insert—

‘(2A) Any guidance issued under this section must include advice on ways of minimising the payment of Value Added Tax as a component of the cost of school uniforms.”

Amendment 6, page 1, line 11, leave out “must” and insert “may”

This amendment will enable the appropriate authority to exercise its discretion as to whether or not to have regard to the guidance.

Amendment 7, page 1, line 12, leave out “developing and”

This amendment will restrict the guidance to policy implementation.

Amendment 8, page 1, line 12, after “developing”, insert “, publishing”

This amendment will require appropriate authorities to have regard to publishing requirements in the guidance about costs of school uniforms.

Amendment 9, page 1, line 14, leave out “from time to time” and insert

“, no sooner than five years after the first guidance is issued under this section,”

This amendment will ensure that any guidance remains in place for at least five years.

Amendment 10, page 1, line 18, leave out paragraph (b)

This amendment would exclude an alternative-provision Academy from the provisions of the Bill.

Amendment 11, page 1, line 21, leave out paragraph (d)

This amendment would exclude a non-maintained special school from the provisions of the Bill.

Amendment 12, page 2, line 1, leave out paragraph (e)

This amendment would exclude a pupil referral unit from the provisions of the Bill.

Amendment 13, page 2, line 3, leave out from “school” to “the proprietor” in line 4

This amendment is consequential on Amendments 10 and 11.

Amendment 14, page 2, line 6, leave out paragraph (c)

This amendment is consequential on Amendment 12.

Amendment 15, page 2, line 6, at end insert—

‘(7) Before issuing any guidance under this section, the Secretary of State must consult the National Governors Association, the Parent Teacher Association UK and representatives of the different categories of relevant school.”

Amendment 16, in clause 2, page 2, line 9, leave out “two” and insert “six”

This amendment will ensure that any guidance under this Act will not apply to the 2021/22 academic year.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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My opening remarks will, as ever, be brief. First, let me say how wonderful it is that we have Friday sittings back, and I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, and to the Leader of the House for having facilitated that. I understand that Her Majesty’s official Opposition were keen that we abandon Friday sittings, so I hope they have now realised that there is a virtue in this, not least because some of the Bills on today’s Order Paper are being promoted by Opposition Members. Let us welcome that and put it on the record.

I wish to speak to the amendments standing in my name and those of my hon. Friends the Members for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and for Shipley (Philip Davies), and to amendment 1, which stands in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough. The essence of this Bill is something that everybody in the House supports; after all, who wants the cost of school uniforms to be higher than it needs to be? I support the idea that we should have good-quality school uniforms at a competitive price, available throughout schools in England. That is the purpose of the Bill, and the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) and I are ad idem on that.

The hon. Gentleman will probably therefore agree with my amendment 2, which is designed to put an end date on what appears to be the Government’s prevarication in getting on with the job. They were first talking about introducing statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform many years ago—back in 2015, if I recall correctly. Since then, not must progress has been made and we are now relying on the hon. Gentleman’s Bill. Again, I congratulate him on having brought it before the House.

The purpose of this amendment is to try to ensure that we get on with it, which is why the amendment proposes that the Secretary of State “must” issue guidance

“within six months of this Act coming into force”.

It is a pity that we have not had the draft guidance already. It was exactly one year ago tomorrow that the Bill was debated on Second Reading, and almost six months after that it had its Committee stage. A further six months on from that, so one year after it was first debated, the Government are still saying that they are intent on bringing forward statutory guidance but have not yet produced even a draft. When this issue was raised in Committee, the Minister for School Standards said that it was his intention to get on with it and that he would be consulting people as soon as possible about it. I interpreted that to mean he would be getting on with consulting on the draft statutory guidance, as that is often the norm in this House. While the House is considering—[Interruption.]

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. An hon. Member should not walk in front of another Member who is speaking. Please, let us show courtesy to each other.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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I am all in favour of that. Thank you, Mr Speaker. That is another example of why we need to get back to normal sittings in this Chamber, so that people become more familiar with the way we normally work.

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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I do not think we need to debate that.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am going to re-emphasise my frustration, which I am sure is shared by the promoter of the Bill, about the fact that we have not yet seen the draft guidance. Once the draft guidance is produced, it will need to be the subject of consultation, and the Minister has committed to doing that, with the various stakeholders.

The guidance needs to be produced within six months of the Act coming into force. My right hon. Friend the Minister said in Committee that he did not want to be tied down to a particular date because he thought that would be too constraining. I can understand that, but unfortunately the worst fears that lay behind the questions put to him now seem to be being realised. We assumed that getting on and producing the guidance was a top priority of my right hon. Friend’s Department. In Committee, he referred to some of the key ingredients that he expected to be in the draft guidance—namely, exactly the same provisions as are in the current non-statutory guidance, which was last issued in 2013. It does not seem as though an exacting demand was being placed on him by the Committee or, indeed, that he was placing one on the shoulders of his officials, so it is disappointing that that has not yet happened. It is therefore important to put in the Bill an end date or a timescale within which the guidance must be issued. That is the purport of amendment 2.

I hope it will be convenient for Members if, instead of going through all the amendments one by one in the order in which they appear on the amendment paper, I jump ahead and go straight to amendment 5, which goes to the heart of one of the issues that I raised on Second Reading a year ago, for which I got a lot of support from the hon. Member for Weaver Vale, my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) and others.

Amendment 5 says:

“Any guidance issued under this section must include advice on ways of minimising the payment of Value Added Tax as a component of the cost of school uniforms.”

The issue of VAT is solely within the remit of the Government, and VAT is adding 20% to the cost of a heck of a lot of school uniforms. Although we are going to issue guidance to governing bodies, which we say is very important, on the price and quality of school uniforms, the Government have the ability to reduce, at a stroke, the cost of school uniforms by 20% for all those people adversely affected by the current VAT rules. That would not have been possible before we were liberated as a legislature by our leaving the European Union.

I introduced a private Member’s Bill—I cannot remember whether it was in this Session or the previous one—to reduce value added tax. Although it was a financial Bill, I was delighted that, because it would have reduced the burden of taxation, it was within scope for private Members’ legislation. I would have tabled an amendment to this Bill along similar lines, had that been in scope, but unfortunately it would not have been, because it has a very narrow title about guidance to schools. Had the scope of this Bill been slightly wider, I would have tabled an amendment that would have removed VAT from all specific school uniforms, and I am sure that it would have received almost unanimous support in the House. As I cannot do that, I have engendered this debate by saying that included in the guidance should be a reference from the Minister to how schools and governing bodies can minimise the impact of VAT.

I will refer briefly to a BBC reality check. I do not know whether you look at these things, Mr Speaker, but this is a very helpful one. It asks:

“Why is VAT charged on school uniform?”

It goes on to say:

“For older children—or those who are taller than average—”

I will come on to the issue of waist size in a minute—

“school uniforms, as well as all other clothing and shoes, attract the full standard VAT rate of 20%. Reality Check explores why these families are paying more and why successive governments haven’t acted.”

09:45
Very helpfully, it sets out what the current rules are and gives us this reminder:
“Clothing and shoes for young children have been charged a zero rate of VAT since the introduction of the tax on 1 April 1973. The problem is that there is no definition of the term ‘young children’ in VAT law. Instead, the VAT relief is based on the maximum size an average child will be on their 14th birthday. So clothes for older children, as well as many children under the age of 14 who are larger than average, are taxed at 20%. And this includes school uniform.”
Very helpfully—I do not know whether the hon. Member for Weaver Vale is familiar with this—Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs sets out maximum measurements for VAT zero-rated clothing. I will not go through the whole list, but let me pick out one, which is the height of boys in inches. The maximum height for a boy is 64 inches before the uniform or the clothes that that child is wearing become subject to VAT and lose the zero-rated exemption. Do you know, Mr Speaker, what the average height of a boy on his 14th birthday currently is in the United Kingdom? It is 64.6 inches. In other words, it is just over 5 feet 4½ inches. That is the average, which means that many average 14-year-olds, and by implication those of 12 and 13 and some of 11, are already having school uniforms purchased by their parents that are subject to value-added tax. That is not acceptable. It does not fit in with the Government’s policy, which is to reduce the burden of the cost of school uniforms on families, and I hope that my right hon. Friend the Minister will use our new freedoms to take forward proposals to remove value added tax on school uniforms.
The reality check asks another pertinent question:
“Why doesn’t the Government cut the rate?”
It says:
“The policy would be very popular with parents, and it has been considered in the past, but it has never been taken up. Way back in 1980”—
a long time ago, Mr Speaker—
“HM Customs & Excise considered the possibility of scrapping VAT on school uniforms, but concluded that the zero rate, aimed at children, would be exploited by adults in the larger sizes.”
We can see now that it is a burden not just on larger adults, but on children of average height. It goes on to say:
“After all, the uniform in a great number of secondary schools includes plain trousers, skirts and shirts—items that adults could wear too. There were proposals that elements of school uniform clearly identified as being from a particular school, by a logo for example, could be made exempt from VAT.”
That is my purpose in raising this; it could link two particular elements of the school uniform affordability policy.
One of the complaints made is that if a large number of items in a school uniform incorporate the particular badge or logo into the design, that adds to the costs of that item or uniform. I understand that, but obviously if the value added tax rules were changed to exempt from value added tax any school uniform that had such logos or insignia on it, the cost of those items would be reduced by 20%. That is not a new idea. This idea was raised and by my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) back in 1997, when he proposed that such a policy could be policed by the production of a school identification card or that the uniform could be ordered through the school. Interestingly, the Labour Government in place at the time did not support that. Since then, other Members of Parliament have taken up the cause, including my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker). When he was a Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union, he basically said, “Be patient. Once we left have, we will have the freedom to deal with this”; and hopefully we will.
Now that we have left the European Union, we are no longer constrained by its restrictions on what we can do. If, prior to leaving, the Government had wanted to add all school uniform to the list of goods that are taxed at 0%, they would have needed the agreement of all other European Union countries. That would have been impossible, as we found out when we tried to remove the value added tax on personal items for the use of women. Now that we have left, that restriction has gone.
The line from the Treasury is always that value added tax is a broad-based tax that contributes an enormous amount to the Revenue. The last time I discussed this with a Treasury Minister, he said that in Ministers’ inboxes, they have about 50 or 70 different propositions as to reductions that should be made on value added tax. I point out that the difference between value added tax on school uniforms and general value added tax is that the Government’s avowed policy is to reduce the cost of school uniforms, and it is now within their power to remove the VAT. The leakage to which I made a reference—non-uniform items being bought up by adults who should be paying the value added tax—could be addressed through the combination of changing the rules and enabling those specific uniforms to be allowed to be exempt from VAT, as long as they had a specific design unique to that school, such as a prominent badge.
It may be helpful to the Government to be reminded that it is currently possible to get around the rules for people aged up to 14, irrespective of their size and waist measurement, by making it clear that the uniform is exclusively for the use of under-14s. This is the type of advice that I have in mind that the Government should be producing in the revised statutory guidance. The zero rate applies to organisations such as Beavers or Brownies for the clothing items that form the uniform, regardless of the size, as long as those organisations cater exclusively for the under-14s. It would, for example, be possible for a school to specify that uniform—
Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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Sir Christopher, I hate to interrupt. I recognise the theme, but I think we can both say that Beavers would never be of an adult size. We are not comparing like with like, because there is an age where children go to the next stage in Brownies and Guides—it is the same with Scouts and the Cubs movement—so they cannot be of a size where that would be applicable. As you rightly say, that is applicable to school uniforms that are of an adult size. We would agree—you are absolutely right—that the theme is about the size that uniform comes in, but I worry about trying to compare with something that could never happen.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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I understand the point that you are making, Mr Speaker. I am drawing attention to this because it actually does happen at the moment. As long as their uniforms are for those up to the age of 14, Beavers and Brownies are able to provide those uniforms free of value added tax, irrespective of the size—

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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I must not have explained it correctly. I think that at the age of seven, eight or nine, children cannot continue, and they go to the next stage within the branch of the organisation. It is a bit like infant school, junior school and high school. That is all I am trying to say. We are getting bogged down in something that would not be applicable.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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My final line of defence is that this is taken from the BBC’s reality check, and it sounds as though that needs to be revised in the light of your helpful and constructive comments, Mr Speaker.

The final point I want to make on this aspect is that there was recently a survey—it was highlighted in The Guardian, of all newspapers, but the reference I have is from the Press Association—that showed the waistline spread of UK children. I will not go into the whole detail of it, but the survey found that back in 2011, an average 11-year-old girl was 148.78 cm tall compared with 146.03 cm in 1978—an increase of 2.75 cm over that time—but her waistline was 70.2 cm on average, compared with 59.96 cm in 1978. We are talking about an average 11-year-old girl, and the average has probably gone up since 2011, but the limit beyond which the waistline of a garment is subject to VAT is only 69 cm, which shows that the current VAT limit for the waistline measurement of a piece of clothing is well below the average waistline of an 11-year-old girl. That is another example of the way in which the current VAT rules have introduced a sort of stealth tax upon parents who are trying to pay for school uniform.

This amendment is designed to ensure that these issues are addressed by the Minister when he puts out statutory guidance, with advice included in that guidance to schools on how to get around it. Obviously that advice to schools might change if the Government were to accept my advice—and, I am sure, the advice of the whole House—and intervene now to take away the burden of value added tax on school uniforms, thereby reducing the price of school uniforms for everybody affected. I put that in at the beginning of my remarks because I thought it was sensible to set it in context. Obviously, we want to maximise the quality and minimise the price. Everything that follows in relation to this guidance and this Bill is in a sense subordinate to the point I have made, because the issue of VAT is solely within the control of the Government, and I think if the Government acted on it, that would be very popular.

10:00
Turning to the other amendments in the order in which they appear on the amendment paper, amendment 3 is:
“Clause 1, page 1, line 9, leave out ‘the Secretary of State considers’ and insert ‘are’”.
As it says in the Member’s explanatory statement:
“This amendment will introduce an objective test of relevance in place of a subjective test.”
Currently, the Bill says that the Secretary of State must issue guidance and that the
“‘costs aspects of school uniform policies’ means any aspects of school uniform policies that the Secretary of State considers relevant to the costs of school uniforms.”
The question I ask is: why should this Secretary of State solely be in the position to decide what is relevant to the costs of school uniforms? Why should that not be an objective test, so that any aspects of school uniform policies that are relevant to the costs of school uniforms would be included in this guidance? I think the example of value added tax is a good one, because the Secretary of State might decide that he did not regard value added tax as impinging on the issue of aspects of school uniform policies or costs, and thereby be able to exclude any reference to that, despite its relevance. That is why I have put in amendment 3, which would introduce an objective test, rather than a subjective test.
Amendment 4 would incorporate within the guidance criteria
“including price, quality, design, place of manufacture and country of origin.”
This is, in one sense, a highly topical issue because we know that there has been a lot of discussion in the context of the Trade Bill about whether our country should change its approach to international trade and whether Parliament should restrict the ability of the Government to enter into a trade deal with a country that is in the dock for genocide. I am not going to get into that debate, but the purpose of this amendment is to enable school governing bodies to take these issues into account when deciding on their school uniform policy.
We are talking about price, and I think that needs to be spelled out, but we also need to refer to issues of quality. That point was made very eloquently on Second Reading by, among others, as I recall, my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken). I think even the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) made the same point that we should be talking not just about price but about quality and design, as well as the place of manufacture and the country of origin.
Increasing numbers of people in this country do not wish to purchase goods whose origin is China. In particular, they do not wish to purchase goods comprising cotton, which may have been produced under slave labour conditions in particular parts of China. Obviously, those goods from China are often less expensive than goods sourced from elsewhere, even from places such as India or Bangladesh. Surely it should be open to a governing body to discuss the merits or otherwise of having a school uniform that is sourced from China, or from some other country with which that governing body thinks we should operate at arm’s length, rather than indulging its breaches of human rights.
That is why I have introduced those criteria, and I was delighted when my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough supported the amendment. He has an enormous amount of experience on this subject and, as you may know, Mr Speaker, he was chair of the committee that took over from Sir Anthony Steen and deals with international people trafficking. He has shared with me the fact that the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on 3 December tries to promote the suppression of traffic in persons and the exploitation of others. The idea is to eradicate contemporary forms of slavery because, according to the UN, an estimated 40.3 million people are in modern-day slavery, including almost 25 million in forced labour and some 15.5 million in forced marriages.
Horrifically, there are 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world, and one in four of those victims are children. This is an important issue, and it is relevant in the context of this debate because national and international companies supply school uniforms, and they need to know that it is open to governing bodies to inquire into the place of manufacture and country of origin of the school uniforms being sold. Some interesting data have been produced on this—I am trying to get to the nub of this issue. The garment industry turns over almost £3 trillion a year, yet garment workers, 80% of whom are women, work for poverty pay, earning as little as £15 a month. Human rights abuses are systemic throughout the industry. Poverty wages, long hours, forced overtime, unsafe working conditions and so on are all commonplace in the clothing industry, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough knows, it is an industry built on exploitation that grows as a result of a lack of transparency, and makes holding brands accountable very difficult.
So how do we do that? We can put pressure on the suppliers of school uniforms to ensure that their sources of supply are worthy of our support and schools’ support. You may remember, Mr Speaker, that a campaign group, Labour Behind the Label, was established to
“raise public awareness and promote collective action from consumers to push for change”
in the garment industry, because it wanted to ensure that companies took
“responsibility for workers’ rights throughout the entirety of their supply chains.”
The group works with trade unions worldwide and concentrates on protecting the human rights of garment workers.
Labour Behind the Label believes that
“no-one should live in poverty for the price of a cheap t-shirt. That a living wage is a basic human right, as is working without fear for your life.”
That is why, in 2019, it started a petition to challenge Trutex, one of the largest suppliers of school uniforms. This story actually has quite an encouraging conclusion, and it is possible that, if amendment 4 is accepted, we could have similarly successful outcomes based on pressure put on those who provide school uniforms.
Trutex is the United Kingdom’s largest specialist schoolwear brand. In 2019, its turnover was £27.5 million. It has supplied school uniforms across Britain for 150 years. It sells logoed uniforms and sportswear to thousands of schools, often operating exclusive contracts with schools and selling through individual retailers.
Labour Behind the Label said:
“Uniform monopolies…leave parents in an ethical bind, forced to buy from brands that lack transparency. Trutex’s website offers vague promises of a commitment to ethical production and assurances that its production sites are well managed and safe. Yet unlike many other brands who have published lists of where their factories are located, Trutex remain silent and provide absolutely no evidence that what they say is true.”
After collecting signatures for the petition to which I referred, it was able to establish that Trutex was working positively in some areas, which had not been recognised, but was doing a poor job of spelling out to others what it was doing.
The good news is that, in 2020, Trutex published a corporate sustainability report. That substantial document lists its suppliers around the globe and contains a list of 20 tier 1 suppliers, including in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. Trutex has also joined the Ethical Trading Initiative as a foundation stage member and has accepted that organisation’s base code—a code of conduct based on key International Labour Organisation conventions. While membership of the Ethical Trading Initiative does not automatically mean that a member is ethical, or that it properly upholds labour rights, it is obviously a step in the right direction.
Because of that progress, the petition to which I referred has now been closed, but Labour Behind the Label continues to monitor Trutex and other uniform brands
“to make sure that parents and families have the right to know that their school uniforms are made in decent working conditions.”
Trutex responded to the concerns, and it should be congratulated on that. The strong message from that is that we should incorporate in the statutory guidance a reference to the ability of governing bodies to take into account the source of the school uniforms that they adopt for their school.
The Schoolwear Association represents all those involved in the supply of school-specific uniform, from direct retailers to school suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, suppliers, agents and schools. Established in 2006, the association has over 200 members, and between them they clothe three quarters of Britain’s schoolchildren, so obviously it is an important organisation. It promotes best practice across the UK schoolwear industry and is committed to ensuring that a long-term, robust and competitive market exists for the supply of schoolwear. Its code of practice sets out its aims and values, including ethical compliance to ensure that workers are treated fairly. It states:
“Members will operate to the highest reasonable standards of ethical compliance”.
Obviously, that commitment could be built upon if individual governing bodies wanted to do so.
10:15
However, it is not only direct school suppliers for which there is an issue of transparency; the larger suppliers may well be the most guilty of using slave labour, and it is also an issue for the large supermarket chains. That brings me to an issue that was discussed quite a lot on Second Reading and in Committee: alternative sources of school uniform. How is it that some generic items are so much cheaper when purchased from a supermarket? The supermarkets are now able to produce this clothing at significantly lower costs, but the purchaser is unable to be sure about the sourcing. If we allowed governing bodies to deal with this as part of the school uniform, then these items would be subject to the same safeguards to which I have referred.
A 2015 investigation by the Daily Mirror—not an organ I read regularly, I must admit—highlighted that two of Britain’s top stores, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, were selling school uniforms made by workers who were paid just 25p an hour. The large retailer Next was selling uniforms from a 6,000-worker factory in Bangladesh. It vowed to look at conditions after admitting that staff had to put in unacceptable overtime. Sometimes they were toiling—I think that is the right expression—for more than 70 hours a week, and for just £51 a month. That was significantly  higher even than the country’s weekly legal limit of 60 hours. One mother working in one of those factories wanted parents in Britain to be aware of their poverty. She said:
“Look at the irony, I make school uniforms and can’t afford to send my daughter to school.”
It is an irony that should stop us in our tracks and make us realise how important it is to get the sourcing of school uniforms right.
The article described how most employees live in terrible conditions, with families in one room. The children often have to fend for themselves, and many leave school early so that they can find work to help the family. A 33-year-old stitcher said that his basic daily wage was equivalent to £1.97. Even with long overtime, he earned only £76 a month. He said:
“It’s a low wage. My elder son goes to school in his one uniform through the year.”
That is a significant contrast with what we are lucky enough to enjoy in this country. The man said that he could not afford to educate his other son.
Those sorts of organisations make garments for large supermarkets which are often incorporated in school uniforms. A clothes finisher with a fixed monthly salary of £56.77 said:
“We are often forced to work overtime to avoid the factory paying charges for late delivery. They make people work four to six hours of overtime a day.”
For each hour of overtime, they get 34p. That is why we need to take action and encourage others to take action by naming and shaming these suppliers and giving the power to school governing bodies, which incorporate an enormous amount of collective wisdom, to take action on these issues. I have not even mentioned the Uyghurs, not because I have overlooked them but because the point has been made sufficiently and others may want to go further into the issue in the debate.
I believe that price, quality, design, place of manufacture and country of origin should be in the guidance. In reference to quality and design, I noticed when I looked at the statutory guidance issued by the Welsh Government that it requires schools to produce school uniforms that do not need to be dry cleaned. It seems to me that a school blazer that does not need to be dry cleaned is probably incompatible with desirable design standards. Design is important so I disagree with that prescriptive Welsh statutory guidance which deals with not just whether garments have to be dry cleaned but other issues. I throw that out as an example, which brings me on, you will be delighted to know, Mr Speaker, to amendment 1.
Amendment 1 was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough and I and my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley have supported it. The essence of it is that the guidance should make provision to ensure that there is an adequate market for second-hand uniform where that uniform is provided new by a single supplier and to establish a hardship fund for parents or guardians who struggle to meet the cost of providing uniform for their children. This is an important point. We all agree about the virtues of school uniform and we want to ensure that there is a vibrant second-hand market in school uniform because that can bear down on the costs and significantly improve access. Apart from anything else, if there is a vibrant second-hand market, that can also incentivise the emphasis on quality of goods, because they will be able to last rather than going downhill very quickly. I cannot remember which hon. Member it was who referred in Committee and, I think, also on Second Reading to the fact that her son’s blazers lasted about a year each, but her daughter’s blazer, of a higher quality, lasted for about five years. I do not think that that was just because of the different treatment her children were giving to their clothes; it showed the quality of them, and obviously those that last longer are more able to be recycled.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough for bringing to my attention the fact that in September 2020, at the height of the covid pandemic, Hope Uniform Exchange started a pop-up store in Weston-super-Mare, which saw an average of 40 families a day picking up free or affordable second-hand school uniforms. At the time a parent was interviewed by the press about the challenges of keeping up with their rent, bills, job and the overall impact of covid, which had made money tighter for them. They said:
“It makes a huge difference for us because otherwise we would have not gone to the uniform store. We would have kept going all around all the charity shops and try to find what we need because the uniform store would have cost us about £70, which is quite a bit.”
Hope Uniform Exchange received about 200 bin bags of branded and non-branded uniforms from its donation points around the town, and that is just in one town. It asks parents to bring in clothes to swap or, if they did not have any, to offer a donation to the surplus.
This amendment would ensure that schools provide a second-hand uniforms shop where parents could buy affordable second-hand uniforms. It would ensure that, as I said earlier, the blazers could be reused or handed on to another child; not every family has a whole lot of siblings who can take the same blazer on successively as it goes down the age range.
In Committee, the hon. Member for Weaver Vale mentioned the situation of a parent who was concerned about purchasing a child’s uniform because the branding on the clothing might limit the ability of family and friends to use hand-me-downs. This amendment would also ensure that, where there is a single supplier, adequate markets for second-hand uniforms would be available. That would address the issue where a school uniform needs to have a logo, since there would still be availability of second-hand uniforms. I remember that, on that recent occasion when I was at school, we had an active second-hand uniform shop, of which my parents made great use, if I may say so.
Sustainability is crucial. We have seen some people anticipating the growth in size of their children by purchasing blazers three times the size they need, in the hope that it will last longer. This amendment is about trying to avoid those distortions through behavioural consequences in people because of the lack of affordable alternatives to the new uniform.
I refer also as an example to Uniform Exchange, which is based in Huddersfield. It operates across 182 schools in Kirklees and has collected and recycled thousands of donations of outgrown school uniforms and transformed them into new clothes, given for free to local children in need. The Prime Minister, no less, congratulated Ms Kate France on setting up the scheme and honoured her with a Points of Light award. The Prime Minister, no less, congratulated Ms Kate France on setting up the scheme and honoured her with a Points of Light award. He wrote to her, stating:
“By setting up the Uniform Exchange, you have collected an astonishing 100,000 items of school uniform to be saved from landfill. This is an achievement for the environment and also for the families you help with free uniform.”
Uniform Exchange is just one example of thousands of schemes in place to ensure that school uniforms are reused. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but they help tackle the costs, especially for struggling families. The amendment would ensure that every school had a second-hand uniform shop.
10:30
On Second Reading, the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Florence Eshalomi) said of the Bill:
“even if it passes, the hard reality is that school uniforms will still be an expense that some of our poorest in society fail to afford. While there is support for poor families, it is at the behest of local authorities”—[Official Report, 13 March 2020; Vol. 673, c. 563.]
That is why the second part of the amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough deals with the issue of financial help for purchasing school uniforms. Each school would have to have a hardship fund for school uniforms. That would mean that every family, however difficult their financial circumstances, would be able to dress their children in a school uniform like the uniforms of every other child in that school. That might be a very low cost for the school as a whole, but it would be immensely valuable to those children, who would then have a proper school uniform that fit them properly. It would also be perfectly consistent with a school’s having an exclusive uniform supplier. That, in itself, enables a school to establish a strong ethos around its logo, mottoes and so on.
I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Minister would very much encourage all this and say that it does not need to be put into the statutory guidance. But the perennial issue with guidance is what should and should not be put into it—I see my right hon. Friend nodding. That is why it is a bit frustrating that we are having this debate without actually having seen the draft statutory guidance; if we could actually see it, we would know the context and the extent to which any omission would be remedied by the amendments or whether what is in the amendments was already incorporated. It is important that we steer the Minister in the right direction, and I hope that amendment 1 does that.
It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker; you will be pleased to see the progress that I am making in dealing with this large group of amendments. I now turn to amendment 6, which would relieve schools of having to have regard to the statutory guidance and leave the issue to their discretion.
The essence of this is a chicken and egg thing—it depends what is in the statutory guidance. If the statutory guidance is perfectly bland and reasonable, I do not see any problem with requiring schools to have regard to it, but if it is unreasonable and unnecessarily demanding, it could ultimately be counterproductive. Hon. Members may recall that there is currently no requirement in law for a school to have a uniform policy. We have been talking about what should in a uniform policy if it exists, but if a school takes the view that the guidance is unreasonable and demanding, its best way of avoiding having to do anything set out in the guidance is not to have a uniform policy at all, and it is perfectly entitled to do that.
This is an interesting lacuna, and my right hon. Friend the Minister may wish to comment on it in his response. Why is there no requirement for a school to have a school uniform policy, and why is it that we are going to great lengths to introduce statutory guidance that could effectively, as I have said, be totally ignored? The reason behind the amendment is to ensure that there is a means by which some of the steam can be let out. Obviously, responsible school governing bodies will look at these issues and ask whether the guidance is sensible and whether they should follow it, and if so, how.
A lot will depend, again, on how much discretion the guidance gives. I referenced the Welsh statutory guidance, which I think now requires that there should not be more than one bespoke item with a badge or insignia on it. How ridiculous is that? Ironically, I do not know how the Government are now doing their counting, but at one stage they were counting a pair of gloves for personal protective equipment as two items, so I do not know whether that would leave a Welsh school that wanted to have the school colours on two socks in breach of the Welsh regulations. I make that point, in a sense reduced to absurdity, because that sort of prescriptive guidance would ultimately lead to school governing bodies saying, probably wisely, to parents that they will have a school uniform, but it will not be the subject of a policy, because if they have a policy they will fall foul of these unreasonable regulations that the Government have introduced. Method and thinking have gone into amendment 6.
Amendments 7 and 8 are, in a sense, alternatives. Amendment 7 would leave out “developing and” from clause 1, page 1, line 12, which would make that provision read:
“The appropriate authority of a relevant school must have regard to guidance issued under this section when implementing a school uniform policy for the school.”
It seems to me that that would be a simplification, because we would be talking about implementing a policy rather than developing one. The authority would be able to look at its policy to see whether it fitted in with the Government guidance before implementing it.
In a sense, the alternative is to keep the existing words—
“when developing and implementing a school uniform policy”—
and add in “publishing”, as in amendment 8. I tabled amendment 8 to re-emphasise the point that I was making in relation to the previous amendments, because there is no requirement for a school to publish a school uniform policy. In a sense, that would go as far as the Government could, because they are not changing the primary legislation to require a school to have a uniform policy. These measures would require a school to have regard whether it wanted to have a uniform policy. I would be interested to hear what the Minister thinks about that. As ever, I am trying to be helpful to the Government in their policy development.
Amendment 9 reads:
“Clause 1, page 1, line 14, leave out ‘from time to time’ and insert ‘, no sooner than five years after the first guidance is issued under this section,’.
The explanatory statement is:
“This amendment will ensure that any guidance remains in place for at least five years.”
This is crucial. The current non-statutory guidance has been in place since 2013. It is important that we should not have chopping and changing at short notice, which could make it expensive for schools to comply with any changes to statutory guidance. It is less significant if the guidance is not statutory, but we are talking about statutory guidance. Those involved in the manufacture and supply of school uniforms have made strong representations such that adequate notice should be given of any changes to the requirements. It should be a reasonable expectation that when the new guidance is issued, it is not going to be just for a year or two—that it is not going to keep chopping and changing, as the guidance has in relation to the covid-19 pandemic. The covid-19 pandemic is an emergency, whereas I do not think anybody could argue that the price and quality of school uniforms is an emergency.
The Government should be able to think ahead and say, “This is the guidance we are going to give and it will be in place for five years minimum.” That would enable schools to enter into contracts for supply, subject, in my view—I do not know whether this will be in the guidance—to proper competitive tendering and clear specification. If one goes out to tender and gets a supplier, one will probably get a much better price if one gives a reasonably lengthy contract period, rather than saying in the tender, “This may have to change after a year because the guidance might be changed on the whim of a change of Minister, Secretary of State or even Government.”
Amendment 9 is, then, designed to introduce some stability and predictability into the process on the basis that that will ultimately result in better value for money. I hope the Minister will be able to respond positively to that, and, even if he does not accept the amendment, at least give some sort of public undertaking as to the length of time for which he intends any guidance issued to be operative. This amendment makes it clear that my preference would be for a period of at least five years.
10:45
We now come to amendment 10, which is deregulatory. It is designed to ensure that the guidance does not apply to an alternative provision academy. I will also discuss here, if I may, amendment 11. Amendment 11 would exclude a non-maintained school from the provisions of the Bill. The reason I tabled those amendments is that, of all the issues that are faced by schools, particularly schools providing alternative provision, organising school uniforms should not be at the top of the list.
Amendment 12 proposes that we should also exclude pupil referral units. A pupil referral unit—certainly from my limited experience—comprises pupils who have been excluded or whose attendance has been suspended from a whole range of different schools. I would have thought that the idea of having a school uniform policy for those pupils would be superfluous to requirements. The hope must be that, when pupils go to a pupil referral unit, they will continue to wear the uniform belonging to the school from which they have been excluded in the hope that, as a result of the successful tutelage in the referral unit, they are able to return to the school from whence they came, so that they can rejoin their peer group in that school after they have learned better manners or whatever it was that caused them to be suspended in the first place.
I would be interested to know the Minister’s thinking about this. I understand that the Government wish to deal with these issues of costs in relation to academy schools and maintained schools, but do they really need to get involved in these other schools, as set out in clause 1(5)? My answer to that rhetorical question is that they do not need to get involved in all that. Indeed, there is probably something to be said for using the pupil premium income that local authorities have to deal with any issues to do with the clothing and shoes that those attending these particular schools have. These amendments try to reduce the already very considerable burdens. I take my hat off to all involved in teaching, running and managing alternative provision—academies, non-maintained special schools and pupil referral units—and we owe it to them not to add to their burdens through this legislation. I hope that the Minister agrees.
At the moment, there does not seem to be any discretion under the legislation, because “relevant school” means all those schools set out in proposed new subsection (5). Unless I am wrong about this, there does not seem to be any scope in this primary legislation to remove any of the requirements in that subsection. That is my concern, dealt with in amendments 11, 12 and 13. Amendments 13 and 14 are consequential on those, so I do not need to address them.
I am now getting, delightfully—from my point of view anyway—closer to the end of my remarks, because we are almost at the end of this large group of amendments. Amendment 15 would insert proposed new subsection (7):
“Before issuing any guidance under this section, the Secretary of State must consult the National Governors Association, the Parent Teacher Association UK and representatives of the different categories of relevant school.”
This might be described as a bit of a probing amendment, because the Minister has not so far shared with the House exactly what his plans are for consultation on this draft guidance, once it has been issued. As I said earlier, in Committee we got the impression that he was champing at the bit to really engage with—to use this ghastly expression—stakeholders without further ado. That does not seem to have happened, so we now have a danger that the national governors association, the parent teacher association and other representatives may find themselves left out of the loop, because the Government might suddenly say, “This is all incredibly urgent. We’ve got to get on with this”, and so on.
I hope that the Minister will be able to give some sort of undertaking—perhaps that is too strong a word—or expression of good intent to engage with this list of stakeholders, as well as with other stakeholders whom I have not specified in this amendment. This amendment is not meant to exclude other stakeholders, but just to make the point about, in my view, the absolute necessity that, before any guidance is issued, there should be proper consultation.
That brings me to amendment 16, which is the last of my amendments. I thought it would test the patience of the House if I put down too many more, so I confined the number of amendments to 15, and obviously, we had the extra one from my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough. We talk about burdens. This Bill will impact not just on headteachers, governing bodies and parents but on the providers of school uniforms, the designers of school uniforms, the procurers of school uniforms, suppliers of school uniforms, the retailers that are involved and the manufacturers. It is therefore important that there should be proper notice before any of the guidance comes into effect.
As we said earlier, tomorrow will be the first anniversary of the Bill’s Second Reading; I cannot remember whether you were in the Chair at that time, Madam Deputy Speaker. At that stage, the hon. Member for Weaver Vale, like me, probably expected that his Bill would have been on the statute book and the statutory guidance in place long before now, so that it could take effect in the academic year 2021-22. For reasons beyond his control, my control and perhaps—I am being generous to my right hon. Friend—the Minister’s control as well, that scenario has not come about.
I thought it would be good, in the course of the debate, for my right hon. Friend to be able to put down a marker as to whether it is his intention that the Bill should still come into effect and become operative in terms of new guidance being applicable in time for the new school year starting next September. Actually, it will effectively start much sooner than that, because if there are going to be changes to school uniform, that uniform will need to be available in the shops in August, and school governing bodies will need to be able to make up policies in the light of any guidance prior to that.
I am inviting my right hon. Friend the Minister to say that, through no fault of anybody’s, time has now passed to such an extent that it would be unreasonable to expect this legislation to take effect, in terms of the statutory guidance being mandatory for school governing bodies, for the 2021-22 academic year. If he were able to give that assurance, it would allay a lot of concerns. I am not a school governor at the moment—I used to be an acting chairman of a school governing body in Wandsworth some time ago—but I am well aware of the burden and responsibility that people take on when they are running governing bodies. I do not think anybody could do anything other than give them the highest praise for the way in which they have been dealing with the consequences of this pandemic, so let us not burden them with having to respond to statutory guidance for implementation prior to this coming academic year.
The reason I make a bit of a meal of this is that my right hon. Friend the Minister said in Committee that it was still his intention that the Bill should come into effect in time for the next academic year. He said that on 15 or 16 September 2020, so I think it is reasonable that he should be able to give us an update six months later as to what his intentions are.
Having said all that, I hope from the tone and the content of what I have been saying that it is clear that I am very much enthusiastic about school uniforms. I want to see good-quality school uniforms at a price that people can afford. If this Bill contributes to facilitating that, all to the good. It has been a useful exercise, on Second Reading and in Committee, for people to have been reminded that there is almost unanimous cross-party support for the principle of school uniforms, and for the belief that school uniforms are a means of levelling up—to use that in vogue expression—and ensuring an improved ethos and even discipline in a school.
11:00
There are often schools that get into really hard times. When I was the leader of Wandsworth Borough Council, we had just been able to break free from the constraints of the Inner London Education Authority, and I can think of lots of schools in Wandsworth then of which the council was, frankly, quite ashamed. Now there are some brilliant schools in Wandsworth. I see that the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) is nodding enthusiastically. I am delighted to see her in her place. If she does not know, let me tell her that I was born in Putney many years ago. Indeed, my grandfather founded a prep school in Putney because he could not afford to educate his six children. I will not go into that, but I think it is relevant to this debate. That school had a very good uniform, which I remember from when I went to celebrate the school’s 75th anniversary. Sadly, it is no longer there, but it was in Carlton Drive—the hon. Lady may know about it. I am going to leave that there; I was going back to my happy memories of when I lived in the Putney constituency and was on Wandsworth Council.
The point that I am making is about the burden on governors, governing bodies and all those who have to deliver for parents and pupils across the country. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Minister, in responding to this, will accept that I am trying to get a proportionate response from the Government so that we minimise the unnecessary regulation and do not have the application of the law of unintended consequences, which I think is what is going to happen in Wales. I hope that we can in due course—later today, perhaps—congratulate the hon. Member for Weaver Vale on having steered this Bill through, even if none of the amendments to which I have spoken are accepted by the Government. There is a problem of which you are probably aware, Madam Deputy Speaker: however meritorious an amendment, the Government are always reluctant to accept it because of the “not invented here” syndrome.
Finally, let me revert to the point I was making about value added tax. For all that we are talking about, changing the rule on value added tax would deliver a bigger financial relief for parents and children up and down the country, including girls of average girth aged 11 and boys of average height aged 14 across the piece. This is the area on which we should now concentrate. I hope that when we come to the new Session, with the opportunity for fresh private Members’ Bills, the Government may even be prepared to sponsor a hand- out Bill to remove value added tax from all branded school uniforms.
Mike Amesbury Portrait Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope). I am only too pleased that, after his lengthy introduction and thorough examination of the Bill, we are not marking the second anniversary of its introduction.

First, I relay my sincere thanks to Mr Speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker and the team; the Leader of the House; the Minister, the Secretary of State and their Department; my Front-Bench colleagues, and all those who have campaigned over a number of years to ensure that the Bill reached this stage.

This is a short Bill, but it will make a significant difference to hundreds of thousands of children, families, carers and grandparents throughout our constituencies. I thank everyone across the House who has contributed to the Bill’s journey so far, whether or not they are a sponsor and regardless of their political affiliation. As the hon. Member for Christchurch acknowledged, the Bill has considerable cross-party support.

A number of the amendments are quite useful markers to ensure that the Bill has proper, almost line-by-line scrutiny. There are 16 amendments in total. Some, as the hon. Member acknowledged, go beyond the scope of the Bill, and some, I would argue, undermine the very essence of statutory authority.

Amendment 6, for example, refers to a discretionary approach. I say with respect that we have a discretionary approach at the moment, through voluntary guidance, which, as the hon. Member rightly referred to, was put in place in 2013. There are some good elements of that guidance, but voluntary is voluntary, and voluntary can be ignored at people’s discretion.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Mike Amesbury Portrait Mike Amesbury
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I need to move on. The hon. Member had a considerable opportunity. Lots of young people up and down the country have waited a considerable time for this legislation to come to fruition, and I hope that it does, so respectfully, I need to move on.

Some of the amendments have considerable merit for discussion. Amendment 1 refers to the market for second-hand goods. The hon. Member referred to a scheme in Weston-super-Mare and the uniform exchange scheme in Huddersfield. I know from discussions that I have had with the Minister that he is very keen on that, and I hope we can capture that in the draft statutory guidance. The amendment also mentions a hardship fund. Certainly, some schools operate such hardship funds, and again, I certainly hope we can capture that in the draft guidance.

The hon. Member for Christchurch has campaigned on the issue of VAT for a considerable number of years. While we were on different sides of the debate on Europe and Brexit, it is a reality that we have now left, and it is also reality that there is discretion on VAT. He already knows my opinion; it is on the record. I am sure that there will be opportunities in Parliament to take that campaign forward, and I will certainly endeavour to assist him in that process. It is a good idea, and it is the right thing to do in the broader mix. Of course, as he acknowledged, it goes beyond the scope of the Bill, but he mentioned that something may be in the draft statutory guidance. Certainly, those are discussions that we can have with the Minister. The hon. Gentleman has rightly put that point on the record, and so have I, as the Bill’s promoter.

This Bill is pro-school uniform, but pro-affordable school uniform. There are far too many children in hard-pressed families, and it is particularly pertinent now—given the national and international health pandemic and the economic consequences we are facing—that affordability is put centre stage in statute, and this Bill will do that. That is the fundamental aspect of it, and it is also about opening up competition, which I know the hon. Member for Christchurch and people across this House would agree with. For far too long, we have had single supplier relationships with schools or school communities and there has been no fair, open and transparent competition. This will help bring costs down for hard-pressed families, while maintaining quality and bringing into play other manufacturers, such as one in Northwich in my own constituency, that are excluded from the process at the moment.

I am going to bring my remarks to a conclusion. Mine have been very brief, because as I said at the beginning, children and families have waited long enough. The Children’s Society, the National Education Union, Members right across this House and the Minister are all keen to move things on, so I hope we can all do this with the House coming together and demonstrating that when we work together, we can achieve so much more. Thank you all.

John Lamont Portrait John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)
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I very much welcome this Bill, and I commend the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) for proposing it. It provides the teeth of the good intentions contained in current school uniform guidance, it serves the interests of children and their families, and it is good for small businesses.

I am going to comment on the general thrust of the amendments being proposed, but I want to make some brief general remarks at this stage. Education is devolved to the Scottish Parliament, so my main interest in this Bill is on behalf of businesses, such as Border Embroideries in Greenlaw, that produce high-quality school uniforms for sale in England and across all of the United Kingdom. Scotland’s place in the UK means not only that firms in my constituency can sell into a large and lucrative market with no barriers, but that their elected representative has a voice in this place, which decides on the rules for that market.

School uniforms are important inside and outside the classroom. At school, they are a social leveller, eliminating the pressure to keep up with the latest fashion trends and helping to reduce peer pressure to look a certain way. At home too, research conducted by the Schoolwear Association has found that many pupils remain in uniform to complete their homework, creating a useful separation between learning and downtime. Just as football fans wear their team’s colours to a match, so school uniform fosters pride through shared identity. Uniform is cohesive, not exclusive. Well made, durable school uniform also delivers great value for money. Items can be passed down between family and friends or sold on second hand.

I attended a state comprehensive school on the west coast of Scotland, and I am sure Members across the House will be shocked to hear that, at Abbey Primary School and Kilwinning Academy in Ayrshire, I cannot recall being a particularly fashionable youngster. In fact, none of us, no matter our background, had to worry about meeting the latest trends or fashions. I know this was a relief and continues to be a relief for most parents. Having uniform standards from a young age is good preparation for the workplace, particularly for speaking in this place, may I suggest, Madam Deputy Speaker? I know that Mr Speaker and his deputies are very keen to maintain high standards of dress in this place, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis) recently discovered.

My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) spoke about quality and design, which was one of his main concerns in his amendments proposed today. In my own constituency, Border Embroideries has been involved in the production of school uniform for nearly 30 years. Billy Smillie and his wife Shirley Anne started their business using a single embroidery machine. Now it is one of the UK’s leading specialist school uniform suppliers, serving customers across the UK. Border Embroideries is a prime example of a business providing competitively priced products, providing jobs for local people and helping the community thrive. It has remained a family business, with Billy and Shirley Anne’s three children Aynsley, William and Ross all taking charge of different aspects of the business.

When I last visited their purpose-built factory in Greenlaw, I was impressed by the scale of the operations, and the range of different addresses to which shipments were being made. In 2020, Border Embroideries received a pivotal enterprise resilience fund grant from South of Scotland Enterprise. That enabled it to employ an additional 80 temporary staff, on top of the existing 80. Those extra staff worked night shifts to enable Border Embroideries to fulfil all incoming orders.

11:15
Border Embroideries is located in the Scottish borders, but it serves the whole UK. Roughly 25,000 items are delivered each week to the four corners of the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch is right to be concerned about the quality of garments and the working standards of those involved in producing them, but many local producers across the UK are producing high-quality school uniforms, and there are no concerns about how they are produced or the workforce standards.
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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I am much reassured by my hon. Friend, but does that include the sources of the materials that are used in the manufacture of school uniforms?

John Lamont Portrait John Lamont
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I am grateful for that point, but I am not sure whether the amendment would address that concern. I do not know where all the materials come from, but having spoken to the company, I am confident that it is not only looking after its workforce but concerned about the quality and ethical production of its garments.

Border Embroideries is one of many Scottish businesses that sell their products across the UK, which remains by far Scotland’s largest and most important market—larger than the EU and the rest of the world combined. The amendments, and the Bill more generally, address the affordability of school uniforms, and I welcome what the Bill seeks to achieve. It serves the interests of children, their families and local businesses. Imposing a duty on the Secretary of State for Education to issue statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms, to replace the current non-statutory guidance published by the Department for Education, will deliver real improvements for parents in England.

Scotland has no legislation to govern school uniform policy, which is entirely determined by individual schools. My colleagues in Holyrood are supportive of any measures to keep school uniforms affordable for parents, and I hope that Members of the Scottish Parliament will look at this Bill, and at the debates that have taken place so far, to see whether they can do anything to ensure affordability of school uniforms in Scotland.

While broadly supportive of the Bill, the Schoolwear Association, which has more than 200 members, has concerns about amendments on the issue of sole supply, where a single business is the only supplier of school uniforms to a school. Most businesses in the Schoolwear Association are small or medium-sized, and it is crucial for them to be the sole company fulfilling demand, as that allows them to build up suitable stock. Sole supply should never result in individual items being more expensive for parents, and competitive tendering should ensure good value for money. Instead of taking place at the point of sale to families, competition should occur at the point of supplier selection by schools.

The crux of the Bill, and the tension behind most of the amendments, is affordability. The Schoolwear Association has raised some important points that I believe are crucial to uphold the principle of affordability. Comments by the Minister in Committee highlighted the importance of transparent and competitive tendering processes, particularly where a sole supplier exists. Once again I congratulate the hon. Member for Weaver Vale on his success in bringing forward the Bill. It prioritises the interests of children and families, and recognises the importance of local businesses such as Border Embroideries in my constituency.

Emma Hardy Portrait Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)
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I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) for bringing this Bill forward. My involvement with this issue began after I was deeply affected by the testimony of a group of mothers at an Education Committee evidence session: they told us how the increased costs and demands of school uniforms meant skipping meals to find the money.

I have tried, Madam Deputy Speaker—I honestly have—but I simply cannot comprehend or understand for the life of me why anyone would want to try to block this Bill to help families in need. Politics is not a game. But then I also cannot understand the level of self-importance of an individual who believes they have something of value to speak on for more than an hour and a half.

Uniform dress codes are no longer about just plain, straightforward uniform, but often involve a badge, sweatshirt and dark trousers, typically also consisting of shirts, ties, blazers, PE kits indoor and out—all branded and often available from only a single supplier. The Children’s Society report “The Wrong Blazer 2018” revealed that families, on average, have to find £340 per year for each child at secondary school. That represents an increase of 7% since 2015. Parents of primary school children spend on average £255. Parentkind’s 2019 annual survey of parents showed 76% of parents reporting that the cost of sending children to school is increasing and more than half are worried about meeting that cost.

I have spoken about this before, but in some areas within the city of Hull more than half the children live in poverty. New Government figures reveal that 18,515 children in Hull were living below the breadline in March 2019—and that is before the cost of housing was taken into account. The number has been rising year on year and is up from 15,629 in 2015. That is before we even look at the impact of covid-19.

One child in 20 has been sent home for wearing incorrect uniform as a result of being unable to afford the uniform specified by the school. In some cases, children miss school altogether because either they or their parents feel ashamed of the condition of the uniform that they could not afford.

The Education Policy Institute report found that disadvantaged pupils are already over 18 months of learning behind their peers by the time they finish GCSEs. In primary schools, that gap has increased for the first time since 2007: up from 9.2 months in 2018 to 9.3 months in 2019—again, before we even look at the impact of covid-19. If Conservative Members are serious about trying to close the attainment gap, surely they will be delighted to support the Bill.

I was a primary school teacher before becoming a Member of Parliament and I absolutely support schools having a uniform, but it needs to be practical and affordable. As a parent, I know that a school uniform makes life much easier in the morning when getting children up, dressed and ready for school. But some school policies insist that parents must buy clothing from specialist shops or suppliers rather than giving them the choice of buying items at cheaper stores such as supermarkets or high street chains.

I have taken action on this locally by working with the Methodist Church to set up RE: Uniform, which asked parents to donate unwanted uniform that was then redistributed to families who wanted it. We have held giveaway events, “click and collect” events and handed out hundreds of items of uniform.

I would like to put on the record my thanks to the Methodist Church for their support with RE: Uniform, and in particular to our Methodist district chair Leslie Newton, Reverend David Speirs, Susie Steel, Kevin Appleyard, Liane Kensett, Louise Zborowski and all the volunteers. All are making a difference where it counts for families and the community in Hull.

But this is just fighting fires. The time has come to protect the millions of families in England living in poverty from further unnecessary hardship by making the guidance on affordable uniforms a statutory duty. That was promised by the Government. In reply to a parliamentary written question on 31 July 2019, the schools Minister stated:

“The Department intend to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable legislative opportunity arises.”

I urge hon. Members to stop the games, stop the self-importance and seize the opportunity to make life more affordable for parents in this country.

Philip Davies Portrait Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I assure you I will be speaking to the amendments. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy), even though she does not yet seem to have grasped the purpose of the Report stage, which is to try to improve Bills. I am sure she will get the hang of that at some point. The purpose of this stage is that we table amendments to try to make Bills better.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) on getting his Bill to this stage, which is no mean feat. In principle, the Bill proposes to place school uniform guidance on a statutory footing. Like all previous speakers, I am in favour of what he is seeking to achieve: having high-quality school uniform at an affordable price for parents. However, it is crucial that the Bill is implemented appropriately and that the right amount of time is given to schools and families for the guidance to be introduced, in order to avoid any unintended consequences. I worry, as I do with lots of Bills, that without some of these amendments unintended consequences may counter the purpose of the Bill, which is to protect families and children from mounting costs and exclusion from school life.

It is important to say that school uniform is a vital part of school life—it creates belonging, focus and discipline. In itself, it reduces the cost to parents, by ensuring that there is not an arms race in the latest trends being worn in schools. The Bill is based on findings by the Children’s Society estimating that the annual spend on compulsory schoolwear is £337. That figure is disputed; it is a study based on perception rather than on reality, and on a very small sample size of parents. It does not account for competing research that the Schoolwear Association has commissioned that finds that the annual spend on compulsory schoolwear items is nearer to £36. I thank the Schoolwear Association, with which I have met on multiple occasions during this Bill’s journey. It wishes to flag up concerns about sole suppliers, parents and students being put at a financial disadvantage, on the basis of questionable research.

I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) and for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) for the amendments. [Inaudible.] I hope the Government will agree to support some of these things. I was disappointed that the promoter of the Bill dealt with the amendments so rapidly and did not treat them with the courtesy with which they should have been dealt with. Unfortunately, I cannot take interventions remotely, but it seemed to me that the promoter said that he agreed with many of the amendments but would not accept them. That is a slightly bizarre approach on Report. If the promoter agrees that amendments would improve the Bill, one would think he would accept them and we could move on with a better version of the Bill. I am not sure why we are agreeing with the amendments but not supporting them and agreeing to adopt them. I hope the Minister will make a better fist of that and perhaps support these essential amendments.

Amendment 2 would ensure that the guidance being introduced by the Bill has to be issued within six months of the Act coming into force. The Bill will mean that schools should follow the guidance, but we have yet to see the guidance, as my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch said. Saying that this will be issued within six months will at least give some certainty as to when it can be expected, so that schools, suppliers, parents and students can plan for the change. Without this amendment they are left in limbo.

I understand from the answer to a parliamentary question that I asked back in January that:

“The Department’s existing guidance on cost considerations will form the basis for the new statutory guidance.”

That clearly provides some indication to schools to help them understand what it is that they can expect, but for the avoidance of doubt, this amendment would give absolute assurance to everybody concerned. It would give schools firm dates and sufficient time to review their school uniform policy as a result of the guidance. It would also enable parents to wait until a uniform needs replacing before buying a new one if required to by these guidelines, and it would hopefully avoid the entirely counterproductive effect of forcing parents to purchase a new uniform or uniforms in the near future only to find that a policy has been superseded by the new guidance. Given what the Bill is about, that would be an ironic, unintended consequence, so I think amendment 2 would be incredibly helpful in giving the certainty needed and in keeping down costs for parents.

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Amendment 3 would introduce an objective test of relevance, in place of the subjective test, by amending the Bill to say that the
“‘costs aspects of school uniform policies’… are relevant to the costs of school uniforms.”
Again, this would give greater certainty by ensuring that different Secretaries of State could not just make new judgments on the situation willy-nilly, which could create untold issues for suppliers, parents and students and again could mean parents having to fork out more in uniform costs, rather than less. The change would mean that only factual considerations should be taken into account, not the prevailing fad of the day, as it were. If we are going to have guidance—on anything, for that matter; not just this—it should be based as far as possible on fact rather than fad or any prevailing opinion that any Minister may have at that particular time in order to justify its imposition. So again, I think amendment 3 would be helpful and would actually do what the promoter of the Bill rightly seeks—to keep down costs for parents.
Amendment 4 would ensure that the following aspects’ bearing on costs are addressed in any guidance: price, quality, design, place of manufacture and country of origin. As I have said, the figures on the costs of uniforms from the Children’s Society that inform the Bill have been disputed. The Schoolwear Association states that
“the average cost of compulsory items of secondary school uniform and sportswear is £101.19 per pupil when they start secondary school”,
which is considerably lower than the Children’s Society figure that I mentioned at the outset. Quality and affordability, which the hon. Member for Weaver Vale states to be the prime objective of the Bill, cannot be separated, in my opinion. Focusing on cost alone is only half the story. Quality has to play a huge part in this, and therefore schools should focus on value, rather than solely on cost. The better the quality of something, the longer life it is likely to have, and therefore the lower the overall cost to parents in the long run, although obviously it is not lost on us that a high up-front cost is difficult for many parents.
However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer) said on Second Reading, someone who has to buy three pairs of trousers for £10 each, instead of one pair for £25 that will last three times as long, is not saving any money. It is therefore absolutely vital that price and quality go hand in hand in this regard. As for design, well-designed uniforms, and manufacturers and suppliers that prioritise durability, should be a big consideration. Many school suppliers already do both, in response to consumer preferences. It is absolutely vital that the design of the uniform is part of the guidance that is in place.
My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch spoke at length about the importance of the place of manufacture of school uniforms, and he made some important points. Obviously, it is important that schools are able to make sure that their uniforms are ethically sourced. That may be a big part of the values a school adopts, and it would in many respects be perverse if a decision that they wish to take to ensure that their school uniform is ethically sourced was taken away from them because of a Government diktat. I hope that the Minister will bear that in mind when he brings forward the guidance. My hon. Friend covered that particularly well in his remarks.
Country of origin, which my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch also mentioned, is an interesting consideration and another balancing act that the amendment addresses. I am sure that we all want to support local businesses, so considering whether something can be produced in this country, rather than abroad, is certainly worthwhile. Uniform produced by a local supplier might end up being marginally more expensive, but reduced transport costs and a potentially easier and more convenient returns process are clearly factors that a school should be able to consider, rather than cost alone. Schools should take into account the wider cost of uniform, not just the headline cost.
There is also the wider issue, which my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch also mentioned, of the suppliers to the supplier. If the supplier of a component part is also in the United Kingdom, that has knock-on effects for transportation. If we can help to keep local jobs by not pricing them out of the market, it is our duty to do so. It would be a perverse outcome if, as a result of the Bill, we ended up with Government guidance that in effect priced good UK suppliers and manufacturers out of the market. Indeed, it would be outrageous if local businesses were to go bust because of regulation passed in this House without proper consideration.
Amendment 1, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough, would require the guidance introduced by the Bill to include guidance on:
“(a) ensuring there is an adequate market for second-hand uniform where that uniform is provided new by a single supplier, and
(b) establishing a hardship fund for the parents or guardians who struggle to meet the cost of providing uniform for their children.”
Let me deal with each point in turn. Paragraph (a) relates to situations where uniform is provided new by a single supplier.
I should just say in passing that I think we should protect sole suppliers of school uniform. I have a school uniform supplier in Shipley, Whittakers Schoolwear, which provides a very good service to my constituents, and I certainly would not want anything in the Bill to be detrimental to its long-term interests or the way it looks after its customers.
Sole suppliers should be protected if that is a school’s preferred arrangement. I understand that two thirds of schools work with their uniform retailer on a sole supplier basis. A school having one supplier means that all children wear the same brand of clothing, which can mitigate teasing and bullying in cases where some children might otherwise wear cheaper alternatives. It can also eliminate the risk of different suppliers not having enough stock in the right sizes all year round, which is an important consideration. Supermarkets are rightly praised for selling school uniform items cheaply. Having spent 12 years working for Asda before becoming an MP, I bow to no one in my admiration for supermarkets, which have done an awful lot to make school uniform much more affordable for parents, for which I praise them more than anyone.
However, we must not forget that school uniform is very much a seasonal product for supermarkets—it is often available only at the start of the school year. A few months in, people might struggle to find items of school uniform they need in the supermarkets, because they will have moved on to the next seasonal product. Sole suppliers can ensure that all school uniform in all sizes is available all year round. I think that that point is not given enough consideration.
In answer to a parliamentary question that I tabled in January, in which I asked what assessment had been made of the value for money of sole supplier arrangements for school uniforms, the Minister said:
“The Department has not carried out an assessment of the value for money of sole supply arrangements. The Department publishes guidance for schools on school uniform. Our guidance is clear that when deciding how to source school uniform, the governing body should give highest priority to the consideration of cost and value for money for parents. The governing body should be able to demonstrate how best value has been achieved.”
Now, guidance alone will never be sufficient in ensuring that uniform is affordable to all, and for that reason, there should be a safety net. Second-hand uniforms have many benefits, not least when it comes to cost. During the Second Reading debate there was cross-party support for second-hand uniforms, which amendment 1 deals with.
The answer to my parliamentary question went on to say:
“The guidance also recommends that schools avoid single-supply contracts unless a regular competitive tendering process is run to secure best value for parents. The Department believes that this approach provides the right balance to secure open and transparent arrangements and good value for money.”
I understand that these regular competitive review mechanisms are in place in some schools. Some could be looked at, say, every three to five years, although that should be a matter for the school to decide. The provision of second-hand uniforms, whether that be through the single supplier themselves and officially a factor in the procurement process or through a school-run scheme, or even through families making use of good-quality uniforms with different children, is a sensible consideration for any uniform policy.
I would like to mention in passing Dawn Coleman, who is the founder of the Shipley area school uniform bank in my constituency. She has won volunteer of the year award for the work that she does in ensuring that second-hand uniform is available to parents. She runs its with other volunteers based at the Shipley Salvation Army. They provide a fantastic service to the local community, and I would certainly like to pass on my thanks for everything that they do. That goes to highlight how important it is that there is a thriving second-hand market for school uniforms, and it goes to show the demand for it, not just in my constituency. We have heard from other speakers about the demand in their areas for second-hand uniforms. So amendment 1 is really important.
I understand that the Schoolwear Association has already provided the Department with draft tender documents that it drew up to support schools and its members to ensure that this process is relevant and not too onerous. The Department for Education passed it to its procurement specialists and did not have any comments.
Subsection (2A)(b) of the amendment deals with hardship funds as an additional assistance for parents or guardians who struggle to meet the cost of providing uniform for their children. Many schools have for many years operated their own systems and initiatives to support low-income families, including second-hand sales. They have also helped with discounts for multi-sibling families, because obviously uniform is a big cost for many such families. Initiatives such as these must be protected and promoted by the Government to avoid overregulation, which would mean that suppliers were the only option.
To support parents, the association makes the case for the Government to mandate schools to offer hardship support to parents who need it. School uniform must be affordable for parents, and I know that the Schoolwear Association members already offer several cost-saving initiatives to struggling families, including the hardship funds that are the subject of this part of the amendment. They also help with swap shops and payment plans, which must be a great relief to parents who need that support as well.
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For example, I also understand that one supplier—Stevensons, I believe—which works with schools on a contract of sole supply arrangement, offers support through the donation of gift vouchers for parents in situations of hardship. Those are provided annually direct to the school, allowing the school to recognise situations of poverty and support those families who are in need. Stevensons also supports local charities, which often procure uniform for low-income families, and supplies the uniform to those charities at heavily discounted prices. There are a range of measures already being taken, and amendment 1, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough, is incredibly helpful in ensuring that we keep to the purpose of the Bill, which is to make school uniform as affordable as possible.
Amendment 5 would mean that any guidance issued must include advice on ways of minimising the payment of VAT as a component of the cost of school uniforms. I wholeheartedly support the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch in that regard, and I was delighted that the hon. Member for Weaver Vale appeared to agree with them. Leaving the EU has provided the perfect opportunity to revisit the VAT policy for school uniforms, and such a review received cross-party support on Second Reading.
On compulsory items such as school wear, VAT should be minimised. Taking VAT off branded uniform items is an entirely logical and sensible approach since, quite clearly, these items will only ever be worn by schoolchildren. There is currently a 20% VAT charge on uniforms for children over the age of 14 or approximately the size of a 14-year-old. That seems to be a relic from the days when many children left school at the age of 14, which has not been updated since. There is no logical justification for 14 being the age at which VAT should start to be charged on uniform—or clothes, for that matter. That is senseless, and the Government need to update it urgently.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch pointed out, it is worse than that, because it is based on sizes, and out-of-date sizes at that. The parents of even average children under the age of 14 have to pay VAT, but, if someone has a particularly tall child, for example, they will be paying VAT at a much earlier age.
That is completely unjustifiable, as my hon. Friend said, because the sizes have not been updated, while the sizes of children have been changing rapidly in recent years. It is a stealth tax that must be addressed. The VAT imposed on secondary school uniforms, in particular, coincides with a time when parents see not only a jump in the amount of items required by schools, so that they have more items to buy and an increased outlay, but the double whammy of VAT added on to that.
I understand that this policy has not been reviewed since it was introduced in 1973, and by anybody’s standards it urgently needs a fresh look. Amendment 5 would force the Government’s hand to do that. As my hon. Friend touched on, as far back as 1980, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise, as it was then, considered the possibility of scrapping VAT on school uniforms, but concluded that the zero rate aimed at children would be exploited by adults in the larger sizes.
But that is a nonsense when it comes to school uniform, because why on earth would any adult want to purchase and wander round the streets in branded school uniform? Of course they would not—it is a complete and utter nonsense. Even if the Government did not want to go the whole hog on children’s clothing generally, which could be used by smaller adults, that is no basis at all for continuing VAT on branded school uniform.
I hope the Minister will address this in his remarks. Accepting this amendment would go a long way to reassuring parents that this stealth tax will come to an end. Now that we are free from the shackles of the EU, scrapping VAT on all school uniform items would be a perfect Brexit dividend for parents, and I hope the Government will take this very seriously indeed. Given that we are trying to cut the cost of school uniforms, this is the best way possible for many parents of kids at secondary schools.
Amendment 6 would enable the appropriate authority to exercise its discretion as to whether or not to have regard to the guidance. The hon. Member for Weaver Vale rather pooh-poohed it, but this is a key amendment. It would mean that schools maintained the right to assess and set their own uniform policy independently, without having to adhere to any centrally prescribed rules. The guidance would be there, but it would just be that—guidance. That must be better, especially if these rules are constantly subject to opinion rather than fact, which I mentioned earlier in support of amendment 3. If amendment 3 were adopted, it would reassure people, and maybe amendment 6 would not be so necessary.
I believe that schools should retain the ability to make decisions about what is the most appropriate approach to uniform for pupils in their care based on their local circumstances, which they certainly know better than Whitehall. One of the key purposes of the roll-out of academy schools was to enable schools to have more autonomy. As it says on the Government’s website:
“Academies have more control over how they do things, for example they do not have to follow the national curriculum and can set their own term times.”
For a school to have autonomy in the areas of the national curriculum and term times and yet to have every nook and cranny of school uniform policy forced upon it by a Minister seems highly contradictory to me and seems to fly in the face of the whole academy process.
As is the case with special educational needs schools, which I will discuss when I come to amendment 11, it should be for the school to decide whether there should even be a school uniform. I make no apology for the fact that I am a big fan of school uniforms and believe they provide many benefits. Many others agree with that, and it seems to have support across the House. They provide academic and behavioural benefits. Six in 10 school leaders believe that a school uniform helps to improve students’ educational outcomes, and nine in 10 teachers believe that it positively affects pupils’ behaviour. I hope that school uniforms will always be required by schools where appropriate, but it is important for them to distinguish their own policy to suit their specific school needs.
I have always been a believer in trusting the people who are on the frontline. They tend to know better than we do about virtually everything. I trust the teachers, headteachers and governors to be able to make a better decision for their schools than any Minister. Guidance should also not be so harsh as to restrict admissions to schools, and that important point was made by my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Rob Butler) on Second Reading.
Amendment 7 would restrict the guidance to policy implementation by leaving out “developing and” from subsection (3) of proposed new section 551A of the Education Act 1996:
“The appropriate authority of a relevant school must have regard to guidance issued under this section when developing and implementing a school uniform policy for the school.”
As I said, I believe that schools should retain the ability to make decisions about the appropriate approach for their school and their pupils, but schools should also have discretion in how they develop their school uniform policy. The amendment would mean that schools would not have to have regard to the uniform policy when developing it as well as implementing it. We should surely trust the headteachers and the governors to develop the policy in the way that they think is best for their school.
Amendment 8 would require appropriate authorities to have regard to publishing requirements in the guidance about the costs of school uniform. Requirements could be published to ensure transparency over costing and the sourcing of uniforms. By publishing a school uniform policy, following the introduction of new guidance, schools can perhaps benefit by learning from other schools’ school uniform strategy. One problem with a centralised approach that is too prescriptive is that it knocks out anything new that might emerge from schools—good, innovative ideas that other schools might want to follow. We should not be trying to knock out any kind of school innovation in this area. Again, it is really important that we do not become too prescriptive in this area.
Amendment 9 would ensure that any guidance remains in place for at least five years. Again, this is very important, as a definitive minimum period for the guidance to be in place will help schools plan their uniform policy and avoid any unexpected sudden changes. A longer period for the guidance to be in place would allow the Department to measure the efficacy of the new guidance, which will hopefully lead to a more accurate assessment of the success of school uniform policy and better inform future policy decisions. It will also protect against the introduction of more guidance against the will of both schools and local uniform retailers.
This minimum period will prevent the guidance falling victim to the various opinions of different Secretaries of State, as opposed to facts and research, which again brings us back to the purpose of amendment 3. The point is that suppliers need certainty if they are to produce a sufficient stock of school uniform for people when it is required. The amendment means that they would not be left with having to destroy huge quantities of uniform at huge cost at the whim of a new Minister coming along wanting to impose their particular ideas on everybody.
The important point about this, coming back to the whole purpose of the Bill, is that if the suppliers do not have this certainty, they will, when they come to bid for the tender for the school uniform, put up the price. If they think that they might be left with a load of stock that they cannot get rid of, by definition, they will have to put their prices up. Amendment 9, therefore, is critical in making sure that suppliers have no reason not to give the best possible price for schools when they are bidding for the school uniform contract. Again, I hope that the Government will look very closely at this matter to make sure that there is period of time—I think five years is an absolute minimum—that the guidance remains in place, and it should remain in place for at least that length of time.
Amendment 10 would exclude an alternative-provision academy from the provisions of the Bill. I mentioned earlier about why academies should be given freedoms. Amendment 11 would exclude a non-maintained special school from the provisions of the Bill. Schools that provide for children with special educational needs often do not have a school uniform. The Good Schools Guide explains that for children with special needs, such as physical disabilities or sensory difficulties, traditional school uniforms are often not appropriate. Parents of children with special needs will often need to go further than their local uniform store to find appropriate uniform for their children. Government guidance on sourcing local affordable uniform might therefore be misinformed as to the nature of this particular market. This is a very important amendment, as it would be wrong to have statutory guidance that covers schools that do not normally have school uniforms for good reason. It could be said that the guidance would specifically exempt them from it. If they had to have regard to the guidance when it was never going to apply to them, that would be a bureaucratic burden that they could do without. If it is clear that the guidance is not to apply to them, let us adopt the amendment and make it clear now. I hope that the Minister will confirm in due course whether my understanding of whether the guidance will apply to schools that provide for children with special educational needs is correct.
The Government may say, “We will look at this issue at the time,” but as someone who used to chair the all-party group on state boarding schools, I know all too well how the Department for Education often forgets about certain categories of schools when it introduces new policies and guidance. Amendment 11 would ensure that certain schools did not suffer from that tendency in respect of uniform policy. Even if the Government say they will make special provision for certain schools, in my experience with state boarding schools the Government often introduce things that apply to such schools, having not given them any consideration, and then have to make a hasty change afterwards.
Amendment 12 would exclude pupil referral units from the provisions of the Bill. Pupils at pupil referral units have specific challenges that vary significantly from those of other children in mainstream education. Such schools often concentrate on the social and emotional wellbeing of their students, rather than on their academic flourishing, as the extent of the personal challenges that students face can be enormously demanding and difficult. Claire Lillis, ex-headteacher of Ian Mikardo School in London, said:
“When you have kids who end up in a school like Ian Mikardo you have to do something more deep-rooted than focus on discipline and uniform.”
As I have mentioned, many agree that uniforms are a force for good because they instil a sense of discipline and belonging, but for schools at pupil referral units uniforms could be an issue in some instances, and such schools may refrain from enforcing strict uniform policies, where appropriate, in case it is counterproductive. I believe that it should be for the school to decide for itself and that a Government Minister should not try to impose something against its wishes.
The enrolment turnover rate at pupil referral units might be high, so a school uniform policy will have to take that into account. The uniform is often more flexible at such schools, and parents might not be forced to buy a uniform when their child starts a new school. This puts pupil referral units in a position completely different from that of other schools. It would be helpful and give certainty to those schools if it was made clear in the Bill that they will be excluded from its provisions; otherwise, they will always be at the whim of a particular Government Minister, who may have their own ideas about this issue. Statutory guidance might mean that they will have to be a lot less flexible in their approach.
Amendments 13 and 14 are consequential on other amendments, so there is no need for me to talk about them. Amendment 15 would require the Secretary of State to
“consult the National Governors Association, the Parent Teacher Association UK and representatives of the different categories of relevant school.”
As I said at the start of my speech, we all want to ensure that parents who are struggling with costs, many of whom are reluctant to discuss the financial challenges of school uniforms as that can be a sensitive issue, are assisted wherever possible. If parents are not consulted, the guidance cannot properly reflect the needs and interests of the parents the Bill is ultimately trying to help. Governors will understand the needs of parents, as will parent teacher associations, so by including them as consultees we can hopefully provide valuable information and feedback.
If representatives of the different categories of schools are consulted, it would ensure that if special educational needs schools are included in the Bill yet the guidance should not really apply to them, they will be able to reaffirm that when they are consulted. It would be especially helpful to make sure that they are guaranteed consultees. The amendment would also ensure that any other categories of school have a voice in respect of the school uniform policy guidance. Hopefully, that would provide all kinds of different perspectives to make sure that the best and most appropriate guidance is adopted for each individual type of school.
Amendment 15 would mean that the Secretary of State should develop policy after in-depth consultation with the national governors association, the parent teacher association UK, representatives of the relevant categories of school and, ideally, industry players. Given the fact that uniform suppliers are largely high street, family businesses, which I am sure we all want to see flourish, it is vital that the Secretary of State engages with industry players when consulting on potential changes, which will ultimately take place at a local level. I am sure that this Minister and this Secretary of State would do that, but we have to future-proof the legislation for when we might not have Ministers who are as sensible as the current ones. That is why this amendment and the others are essential in doing just that. It is about protecting schools and others from the whim of a Secretary of State or a Schools Minister who are not as sensible as the ones that we have.
The final amendment—amendment 16—would mean that any guidance under this Act will not apply to the 2021-22 academic year. Again, it is absolutely vital that the guidance does not come into effect too quickly, or many parents may have already bought uniform for the start of the next academic year. Given everything that has been going on recently, with schools being closed and all the uncertainty surrounding covid, it would certainly be a kick in the teeth for anything to change too quickly that would add costs for families who have already been through so much, when this is part of a Bill that is designed to try to reduce the cost for families. I understand that uniform retailers, whose sales will have been impacted by the lockdown, are sitting on high stock levels, so to avoid wastage, they need sufficient time to sell their existing stock. I hope the Minister is aware of that and is not planning on doing something that would have the unintended consequences that I talked about regarding unnecessary cost.
In conclusion, as I just mentioned and as the Schoolwear Association, with its expertise on the subject, said, if the Bill is not implemented appropriately—these amendments go through a large range of areas where there could be unintended consequences—this could cause difficulties and undermine the whole basis of the Bill, which I think everybody in the House supports. As I said at the outset, I am particularly grateful to the Schoolwear Association for its assistance, as its membership includes over 250 small and medium-sized enterprises—principally local family businesses—based in high street locations that support their local communities. Together, they clothe over three quarters of UK schoolchildren, so their insight is invaluable when considering the Bill. Their major concerns are that relaxing uniform requirements risks creating greater inequality in schools; deregulating or removing branded items from school uniforms undermines consistency and uniformity, making it harder for schools to have an identity; and ending sole supplier arrangements would make it harder to guarantee uniform supply and potentially drive up costs for families.
I hope that people will see that these amendments are very sensible and are designed to protect the integrity of the Bill, not undermine it. I am very sorry that the Bill’s promoter decided that he would agree to the amendments but did not agree to implement them in the Bill. That is the whole point of legislation in this House. It seems perverse that he thinks they will be beneficial but is not going to adopt them. I therefore hope that the Minister will intervene in this, accept that these amendments would make the Bill better and say that the Government will agree to adopt them, so we can have a Bill that everybody can be confident will deliver the benefits that we all want to see.
Fleur Anderson Portrait Fleur Anderson (Putney) (Lab)
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I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) on bringing this very important Bill to this stage. I have been encouraging parents in my constituency to tune in and watch the debate. If any are still listening and watching, I think there are a few busy parents who may think that they could have agreed this Bill, written the guidance and got it done and dusted by now.

I would like to speak to some of the amendments, especially those about the timing of the Bill. I will also make some general points raised by the amendments. The enormous costs of school uniforms are of huge concern to my constituents. Owing to covid-19, that is the case even more so now than a year ago when the Bill was first brought forward. More families are now struggling in my constituency and across the country. I know the cost of school uniform myself, as my eldest child started school in 2002 and my youngest is in school for another four years. That has been a lot of years of buying uniform.

In my constituency of Putney, there is an increased need for more affordable school uniforms as we approach the dreaded time in September when people know they have to face that bill. There are now 4,335 people claiming benefits in Putney. That is a 46% increase on only a year ago, and a lot of those people are families. Wandsworth food bank provided 5,770 emergency food supplies to needy families in Wandsworth last year; that is the highest ever number, representing a 78% increase over the last five years. The majority of those people are families who also face this school uniform bill. There is a crucial need to bring forward this legislation as urgently as possible, and that is why amendment 2 has some merit. However, it does not need to be an amendment; the Minister can clear the issue up by telling us the timetable for the Bill in his remarks, to which I look forward.

In the time that I have been paying so much for school uniforms for my own family, I have seen the creeping number and cost of additional items that need to be bought for the uniform. I have seen the inconsistency between schools and school uniform policies, and the incremental use of “my uniform costs more than yours” as a proxy for better school standards and to attract students to some academies. When my youngest child went into year 7 a few years ago, his uniform bill was an eye-watering £468. I then had to top it up with another £200. In that school, the blazer costs between £95 and £115, and it is true that VAT is a component part. I should also say that my 14-year-old is 6 feet tall. I encourage the Minister to take the issue up with the Chancellor, but I do not think it needs to be addressed through amendment 5.

The sums I have mentioned are unaffordable for many families. I support school uniform guidance to ensure that there are fewer branded items and fewer exclusive suppliers that do not put affordability at the top of the list; that good quality, own-brand supermarket choices can be made; and that clothes swaps are easy. These points are mentioned in the amendments, but they can be put into the guidance and legislation; it does not have to be through the amendments.

This Bill is for that mum, who, when I was looking around a local school at an open day, sat down in front of me, looked at the school uniform list, shook her head, said to her son, “We can’t go here” and had to leave the open day. These are the choices being faced by families, and that is why we urgently need to bring in this legislation. The Bill is also for the families that I took on trips in the summer of 2019—when we could go on trips. I sat down with them and talked to the mums, who said they had not been able to afford to go on any other trips with their children that summer because they knew about the bill that was coming up in September. They said they were eating less during the summer months and having to make all their choices according to the fact that that bill was coming up in September. We have seen how quickly the Government can act during this time of covid. I urge them to act fast on this.

Amendment 16, which would mean that the guidance cannot be brought in for the next school year, is contradictory to the amendments that say we should be putting schools in the driving seat and that this should be up to schools. Schools should be able to decide whether they can introduce part or all of the guidance in the next school year, and they should be able to do so from September, when those big bills are looming and more families are struggling.

The Bill is also for governors and parents. It will put them back in the driving seat, able to challenge the school uniform bill. I support the amendments about promoting this guidance, because it needs to be known about. I hope that the legislation will receive Royal Assent very quickly, but parents and governors need to know about the guidance so they understand the powers they will have.

To conclude, as we consider amendments to this crucial Bill, I would like some assurances from the Minister. When—I am sure it is a case of “when”—the Bill is passed, will the guidance be agreed very soon, and will it be promoted to staff, governors and parents? Will branded items be kept to a minimum, and will there be some indication of what constitutes “a minimum” so that it does not just creep up again? Will parents be given a choice of where to buy uniform? How will the guidance ensure the transparency of single supplier agreements and competitiveness of tendering?

12:15
Will there be financial support, such as school uniform grants, for struggling parents, and will it be promoted and properly funded? That is addressed in amendment 1, but it does not need to be in the Bill; it can be in the guidance. Finally, will the Minister give an assurance that schools should not send home or exclude children who fail to comply with uniform policies for financial reasons? I have welcomed the Government’s support for the Bill so far, and the support of organisations such as the Children’s Society and of colleagues across the House, but parents now urgently need to see that support turned into action.
Andrew Lewer Portrait Andrew Lewer (Northampton South) (Con) [V]
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As I outlined in my speech when the Bill was first introduced, it was clear from the cross-party support it attracted that many Members were keen to address the concern that families faced undue financial pressure when buying school uniforms. While there are differing opinions on how this issue should most effectively be addressed, it is important, at the stage the Bill is now at, that all efforts are put into ensuring that the guidance that will be put on a statutory footing works in the interests of all parties involved. My hon. Friends the Members for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and for Shipley (Philip Davies) have tabled several amendments, which seek clarity on a number of important issues. I will speak particularly about amendments 4 and 16.

On amendment 4, a range of factors, alongside price, contribute to an effective school uniform policy, including quality, durability, sustainability and availability. It is important, therefore, that the guidance the Department formulates, if it is truly to seek to promote a fair and value-for-money approach to uniform, considers and balances all those considerations.

Over the last year, I have met many specialist school uniform suppliers, in my constituency and across the country, and it is clear that they understand and care about the price pressures their customers face. As a sector, they seek to address those through innovative business models that prioritise sustainability and ethical material sourcing, producing uniforms that are high-quality and long-lasting.

It is imperative that the way this specialised sector works is properly understood in formulating the guidance, so that those sustainable British SMEs are supported. That is why I take issue with the request that we have just heard to demand that different suppliers are available to parents. That is not how a large section of this sector works; nor, in fact, does it ensure value. That is a very important distinction.

Amendment 16 seeks to ensure that the Bill does not apply to the 2021-22 academic year. It is also important that, in the light of the covid-19 pandemic, the guidance is brought in gradually. That will give families, schools and schoolwear providers time to adjust, helping to avoid unnecessary and unintended expense.

If the guidance is brought in too quickly, many families will feel the need to purchase new uniform items before current ones are outgrown, and schools may feel the need to push out a rush for new tenders, having made agreements prior to the Bill being discussed or enacted that might have been drawn up in a different way from that now desired. The schoolwear providers, many of which are family-run businesses on our high streets in small towns and communities, will have to throw away high levels of stocked clothing that they have been unable to sell over the last year, as we have asked them to keep their doors shut during the pandemic.

Wes Streeting Portrait Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)
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We have had a very thorough debate on the amendments, which fall into two categories. The majority cover areas that really ought to be covered as part of the statutory guidance proposed in the Bill. I am sure that the Minister will have heard the contributions in that spirit and will take them into consideration when drawing up the Department’s statutory guidance.

Reasonable points have been made about the importance of consultation and the range of stakeholders who ought to be consulted, and the statutory guidance will be subject to consultation when such issues can be raised. As my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) highlighted, at least one amendment would go against the entire thrust of the Bill and undermine the importance of having any statutory guidance at all.

The hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) mentioned the response of my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale to the amendments, and the degree of sympathy that he has for them. We all know that the passage of a private Member’s Bill into statute is a rare occasion, and particularly when a Bill is brought forward from the Opposition Benches, an inevitable degree of compromise is necessary. In that spirit Her Majesty’s official Opposition have no desire to undermine the huge amount of work that has taken place to get the Bill to this stage. I congratulate all members of the Committee on their work in scrutinising the Bill, and I pay tribute to the Minister and his officials for their work. They put a great deal of time and consideration into these matters, not just on Second Reading and in Committee, but also in discussions with my hon. Friend.

Sitting Fridays can do one of two things. They can be an advertisement for the House of Commons at its best, where Members work on a cross-party basis to solve common problems of interest to our constituents, or they can be an advertisement for the worst of our politics—the game playing, the filibustering, and the attempts to prevent things that have an obvious common-sense value and widespread support from getting into statute. I hope that today will be an advertisement for the good, and for the House of Commons at its best. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale on his work. I am delighted to see him in his place, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister.

Nick Gibb Portrait The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)
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I congratulate the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) on successfully stewarding the Bill to Report and, I hope, shortly on to Third Reading. School uniforms are an important part of establishing an ethos and common identity in a school. They are a shared endeavour and a sense of belonging. School uniforms help to remove the inequalities caused by differences in the prosperity or disadvantage of a pupil’s family, and they help to ensure that schools are disciplined and safe places for students, where it is good to be ambitious, and admirable to be conscientious and hardworking.

For some families, the cost of purchasing school uniforms for growing children can be a financial worry. In 2015, the Government commissioned a cost of school uniforms survey, which found that, after adjusting for inflation and excluding the PE kit, the average cost of a school uniform had decreased since 2007 to £213. While two thirds of parents were happy with the cost of a school uniform and PE kit, nearly one fifth reported that they had suffered financial hardship because of having to buy school uniforms for their children. The Bill, which the Government wholeheartedly support, is designed to ensure that the costs of schools uniforms are reasonable, and that schools secure the best value for parents.

Amendments 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8 relate to the content of the statutory guidance to be issued under the Bill. It is important that such issues are considered in the statutory guidance rather than in primary legislation, as suggested by the amendments. That approach maintains a level of flexibility and responsiveness, so that over time, statutory guidance on uniform costs can be amended and improved. I welcome the way that the hon. Member for Weaver Vale has constructed the Bill.

On amendment 1, I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) that every school should ensure that second-hand school uniform is available for parents to acquire. It is, however, important for this to be a matter for statutory guidance, rather than primary legislation, so we can get the details right and schools have some flexibility about how to do this.

On amendment 5, as we know, families already benefit from a zero rate of VAT on clothing designed for children under 14 years old. This is already a significant cost to the Exchequer, costing £2 billion each year in lost revenue. Expanding this to include a wider size of school uniforms would not specifically target low-income families. HMRC already provides guidance on this matter in VAT notice 714. However, my hon. Friend is right to point out that, having left the European Union, we are now free to make these changes if we wish, and I am sure the Chancellor of Exchequer will have heard his comments.

On amendment 8, we want to see schools providing clear information to parents about their uniform policies, but we consider that this is a matter for the statutory guidance to enable us to ensure that these requirements are flexible and responsive, rather than placing a requirement to publish in the Bill. My hon. Friend raised the issue of schools that do not have a school uniform policy. The current non-statutory guidance says:

“The Department strongly encourages schools to have a uniform as it can play a valuable role in contributing to the ethos of a school and setting an appropriate tone.”

That is in the current non-statutory guidance, so I will take my hon. Friend’s point in his speech as an exhortation to include that sentence or something similar in the statutory guidance, which we continue to work on.

On amendment 6, the crux of the phrasing in the Bill—“must have regard to”—is that schools must comply with the guidance unless they have a good reason for departing from it. Put simply, it means that schools cannot ignore this guidance. This amendment would in effect mean that schools would be able to disregard the guidance whenever they wished, which is the opposite of the intention behind the principal tenet of the Bill.

On amendment 7, it is important that the principles that will be set out in the statutory guidance on the costs aspects of uniform are considered by schools when they are developing or changing their uniform policies so that they are embedded right from the start. This amendment would mean that schools would not have to have regard to key factors that Members have raised as being crucial to the cost of a uniform when developing such a policy. This would severely undermine the reasons for introducing statutory guidance, as it would in effect mean that the application of the guidance would be limited and unlikely to be effective in keeping costs down.

On amendment 9, the Government will want to update the guidance as and when necessary, and as circumstances require it. The Government want the new statutory guidance to have time to bed in once issued and would not want to be looking to make arbitrary or unnecessary changes, but placing arbitrary restrictions on the Government’s ability to make changes to the guidance, even if schools were to make it clear that revisions would be welcome, would prevent us from being responsive to the needs of parents and schools, and risk schools being required to have regard to guidance that was out of date.

Amendments 10 to 14 seek to disapply certain types of school from the Bill. There is no good reason to treat these schools differently. For example, not all special schools and alternative provision schools have a school uniform, and that is appropriate. However, for those that do, it is important that this Bill applies to them, as well as to mainstream schools, to ensure that they also consider value for money for parents when setting their policy.

On amendment 15, I do not consider it appropriate to list selected external bodies to be consulted in primary legislation, but as I said in Committee, I am committed to engaging with representatives of schools, parents and other interested parties as we draft the statutory guidance.

On amendment 2, we are progressing well with the changes to the draft statutory guidance. We will reflect on the comments made during this debate and the debates in Committee as the Bill progresses through this House as we draft the statutory guidance. That includes the comments made by all hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) and my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), as well as, of course, my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch and other hon. Friends and hon. Members who have spoken in this debate.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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What my right hon. Friend has said is delightfully vague. Why can he not be more specific? Who is controlling him? Surely he is in charge of his Department and can tell us when this statutory guidance will be issued—or perhaps even issued in draft. I am sure that Members in the other place would like to have a draft of the statutory guidance before them so that they can consider these issues. He has said that many of my amendments should be incorporated in the statutory guidance, so let us see the statutory guidance.

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Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I said that I would reflect on the comments he has made in this debate. Of course, all comments made during the passage of this Bill will be taken into account as we consider the drafting of this statutory guidance. I will be consulting, as I have been, interested parties to this debate. What I do not want to do is delay the passage of the Bill through the other place while we wait for the statutory guidance to be finalised. It is important that we get the Bill on to the statute book before the Session ends. Given all that I have said in response to the amendments, I hope that my hon. Friend will not wish to press his amendments to a Division.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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I thank all those people who have participated in this debate, where we have had a good discussion about the Bill. I am glad to see that the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), on the Opposition Front Bench, is agreeing with that, although he did not make any reference in his short speech to any of the points I have made in support of the amendments.

My right hon. Friend the Minister is basically saying, “We are entering upon a period of reflection.” Or at least he is. May I suggest, with the greatest of respect, that there has been a very long period in which to reflect already? The Government first signposted the intention to deal with this issue in a statutory way in 2015. It was then the subject of various commitments given in the run-up to the last general election. Then we had the Second Reading and Committee stage—that was in September. My right hon. Friend said that he did not think we should wait for the statutory guidance before making further progress. I do not know whether he misunderstood or misheard what I was saying. I was making a suggestion about the draft statutory guidance. Obviously, if he is consulting about statutory guidance, he must be consulting on a draft of it. If that is the case, why are Members of this House not able to see that draft? In particular, why is he going to deprive Members of the other place of being able to see it? The normal conduct of proceedings in this House is that when statutory guidance is under consideration, the Government will, if at all possible, present the House with a draft of it. My right hon. Friend seems, in his own charming way—I am not charmed by this or misled, because I can see what he is trying to do—to be avoiding a situation in which there can be any debate about the draft statutory guidance. The very reasonable questions put during this debate, including by my new friend the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson), show that there is an importance of timing here; people need to have some certainty about the timing and intentions. Is the Minister planning for the statutory guidance to take effect in this coming academic year—yes or no? I may not like the answer he gives, but surely he can tell us what his intentions are, or is he still further reflecting upon it? How much more information does he need before he can reach a conclusion to his reflections?

The Minister grouped a whole lot of my amendments together. It is all very well for him to say that they relate to content and will be considered with the statutory guidance, but he is not prepared to stop teasing us about the timing and content of that statutory guidance. I am afraid that that makes me extremely disappointed, if not nervous, about what is being cooked up and will be sprung upon unsuspecting governors, parents and suppliers of school uniforms before we know what has happened. Perhaps we can come back to this on Third Reading, but the fact that the Minister is unwilling to expand at all upon those points is disappointing.

I also hoped the Minister would give an undertaking that, because of his commitment and the Government’s commitment to minimising the avoidable costs of school uniform, the Government would bring forward legislation to remove value added tax on school uniforms. That would be a really good move, and strong support for that proposition has emerged in this debate and on Second Reading. I hope that, as a result of that, when we get to the new Session of Parliament, someone who is successful in the private Members’ Bills ballot—perhaps with encouragement from the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury), if he is unsuccessful on the second occasion in the ballot—will take up the cudgels of a short Bill to remove VAT from school uniforms. I think that that would be an extremely popular Bill. I have been in the House for some time, and I have never had the opportunity of taking forward a Bill that was successful in the ballot, but if I were to be successful in the ballot, that might well be at the top of my priority list, because I think it would make a difference. Frankly, it would make a much bigger difference than what will be contained in this statutory guidance.

I am going to be blunt: I am disappointed with the Minister’s response, and I will leave it at that. In terms of the other contributions made in the debate, my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer) is somewhat of a national expert on this. He had a big feature in the Daily Express and perhaps other great organs, setting out his support for the Bill but also his concerns that we should not have unintended consequences flowing from it. His point about the need for availability, as well as durability, sustainability and ethical sourcing, was very well made. He also pointed out—again, the Minister did not respond to this—that, as a result of the covid nightmare, many suppliers of school uniforms have built up stocks that they will want to be able to use rather than have to put on the scrapheap. I am grateful for his contribution, and I am disappointed that the Minister did not specifically address it.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Putney for supporting my views on the VAT issue. As she rightly said, there would be no need for amendment 2 if the Minister made a commitment at the Dispatch Box.

Fleur Anderson Portrait Fleur Anderson
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indicated assent.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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She is nodding her head, but of course we did not get that commitment.

Fleur Anderson Portrait Fleur Anderson
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indicated dissent.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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She is now shaking her head to agree that we did not get that commitment from the Dispatch Box. I do not know—she almost tempts me to say that we should divide the House on amendment 2. Perhaps she would like to join me in being a Teller if that is the situation.

Fleur Anderson Portrait Fleur Anderson
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indicated dissent.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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She is shaking her head again. Perhaps we can come back to that issue when we discuss this matter further on Third Reading.

My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) gave a typically erudite analysis of the Bill. I am grateful for his support for my amendments and the amendments from my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone). It was an exemplary performance by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley, because he did not engage in tedious repetition, or any repetition, but highlighted the gaps I had left in the arguments I was putting forward in support of my amendments. If I had been able to speak at greater length on those amendments, I would have wished to include in my remarks the additional comments that my hon. Friend incorporated.

The extra added value that my hon. Friend brought to the debate was his experience as the chair of the former all-party parliamentary group for state boarding schools, and in that capacity he brought some expertise to bear as to why it is ridiculous to include within these provisions the special schools to which he referred. He also made a point that I had omitted from my opening remarks about the gap in the evidence relating to the actual costs of school uniforms at the moment. He said that the Children’s Society’s estimates were based on questionable evidence. I am not sure whether, given the position we are at in relation to the Bill, that makes too much difference. The Children’s Society says that the costs are higher than the Government say. The Minister reminded us that the costs of school uniforms, excluding PE gear, had fallen between 2007 and 2015, which shows that it is a pretty competitive market.

In so far as the Bill was justified on the basis of dubious material from the Children’s Society, I am disappointed, because to produce questionable evidence is to undermine the case. We know that there are people for whom the current cost of school uniforms are a significant burden, which is why there is so much support for the Bill, but it does not help anybody’s cause for the issue to be exaggerated and for the sums involved to be inflated. That is why it is all the more important—I am grateful to the Minister for saying that he is supportive of the idea—that we enable schools to be able to sell second-hand uniforms, thereby reducing the cost burden on pupils.

The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy) said that one child in 20 is sent home—I am not sure whether she was talking about schools in general or one particular school in her constituency—for not wearing the right uniform, or any uniform. She wanted constraints placed on the ability of schools to enforce school uniform policies. There is no point in having a school uniform policy unless it is consistently enforced. Ultimately, the final sanction that a school has for a pupil who does not comply with the school uniform requirements is to send them home, in the hope that they will return the following day properly dressed and equipped. As Dicey said, there is no point in having a command without a sanction, and that applies in this case, and that is my response to what the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy) had to say.

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My hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) referred to the manufacturer and supplier in his constituency. Like many other colleagues who have detailed knowledge about the supply of school uniform, he praised the quality of the products and underlined the importance of a strongly competitive market that is easy for small and medium enterprises to enter and leave and in which they are able to flourish. Coherent and effective competitive tendering is one of the watchwords that I have supported in my time in the House. Years ago I campaigned successfully for the incorporation of CCT for local authority services.
I am grateful to the hon. Member for Weaver Vale for introducing the Bill. I was disappointed that he felt inhibited about expressing his support for some of my ideas. I put that in the context of the shadow Minister’s comments that compromise is necessary and the Opposition do not always wish to undermine things. The hon. Gentleman may have been under pressure from his Front- Bench colleagues not to be more robust in his support for me. Having said all that, I appreciate his continued support for the campaign to remove VAT from school uniforms. As one campaign, which has taken a long time—we have talked about it going back to 2015—comes to a successful conclusion, we have today given added oxygen to that new campaign, which I hope will not take so long to reach a conclusion. It is good to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Third Reading.
12:49
Mike Amesbury Portrait Mike Amesbury
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I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

Friday 13 March 2020, a year ago tomorrow, turned out to be rather a lucky day for me: an opportunity to help thousands of children, parents and carers across our nation to bring down the cost of school uniforms by means of this Bill. The world around us was changing; it was 10 days before we entered the first lockdown, and I could not have imagined on that day that it would take a whole year to get to Second Reading, Committee, Report and now Third Reading—and hopefully beyond.

I thank everyone who has helped on this journey and ensured that today’s sitting happened. I am grateful for everybody’s efforts, and I know that families across England are, too. I know that because, despite the delay in getting to this stage and the many school closures that our children have had to endure, families have still been getting in touch with me, continuing to raise the impact that these costs have on them, and telling me how the Bill will affect them. It will really make a difference.

Of course, the Bill has become more important than ever since the last time we discussed it in the Chamber. The economic impact of this pandemic is hitting families hard. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, before the pandemic 17% of low-income families reported that they were finding things difficult financially. By December, that number had risen to 76%.

A parent’s choice of school for their child should not be based on their ability to afford the uniform, but I am afraid the evidence compiled by The Children’s Society, and demonstrated throughout the journey of the Bill, highlights that that is the case. That is simply not acceptable. Some hon. Members have disputed the figures provided by The Children’s Society, but they were real families’ experiences: 1,000 families were surveyed in 2020, and the average cost of a secondary uniform was £337. For primary schools, it was £315. That is their experience, although people can certainly dispute it.

A vital part of this guidance will be ensuring that choice and availability for parents are extended, while opening up competition to all uniform suppliers—an opportunity welcomed by many manufacturers up and down the country. If a family simply cannot afford to keep up with uniform costs, it is ultimately the child’s education that suffers.

We heard on Report from MPs across the political divide of cases where children have been sent home or punished where they have been unable to replace the required item of school uniform, or have faced bullying from other students. That indignity needs to stop. The practice of branding everything a child wears as part of a school uniform must be curtailed. Branded facemasks have now been added to branded socks, blazers, ties, skirts, caps, bags, coats and much more. I hope that the statutory guidance will minimise that.

All families should benefit from the Bill, and people should not miss out because of the type of school they attend. Thus, it is important in building the new guidance that it is there to benefit every school, not excluding schools of certain types. It is important that the guidance is issued as soon as possible, so that schools have time to adapt uniform policies before it comes into force. Picking up on a point made earlier on Report by the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), I would hope that the guidance would be in place by 2021-22.

This campaign is not new; children, and The Children’s Society, have been campaigning since 2014 to make this happen. Today is a real chance to make it happen. Let us all work together—let us make it happen.

12:54
Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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May I once again congratulate the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) on progressing his private Member’s Bill to this stage? I look forward to continuing to work with him on this important issue. I thank all Members who have contributed to the debate, including my hon. Friends the Members for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), for Shipley (Philip Davies), for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) and for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer).

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
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On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I did not rise in my place to speak on Third Reading because I understood that, as I was on the call list, I would be called, but the Minister is after me on the call list.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
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Well, that is an interesting point of order. I must say to the hon. Gentleman that the order of the call list is a matter for me. Yes, things are written down and these are unusual proceedings, but the order in which Members are called to speak is still a matter for the Chair. He will of course have his turn in due course.

Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I also thank the hon. Members for Putney (Fleur Anderson) and for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Emma Hardy).

Uniform helps to promote the ethos of a school and set an appropriate tone. Moreover, by creating a common identity among pupils, a school uniform can act as a social leveller. The Bill will protect and reinforce that role.

I know that many Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch, will want to know the intended contents of the statutory guidance, so I will take this opportunity to set out briefly our proposed approach to the key issues raised in the debate. In developing and implementing their school uniform policy, schools should consider the total cost of all items of uniform or clothing that parents will need to provide while the pupil is at the school.

On the question of branded items, the current non-statutory guidance states that compulsory branded items should be kept to a minimum. We plan to keep that approach in the statutory guidance and, additionally, specify that their use should be limited to low-cost or long-lasting items. We will provide guidance about ways to reap the benefits of a branded item while also keeping costs low. The Government believe that this approach will set a clear expectation on schools not to overuse branded items, while allowing schools to take sensible decisions in their own contexts.

On sole-supplier arrangements, schools should be able to demonstrate that they have obtained best value for money in their supply arrangements, but we do not intend to ban sole-supplier contracts. To ensure that there is competition and transparency, we want schools to tender their school uniform contracts regularly—at least every five years. To support schools to carry out good tenders, we will provide information on the key areas to consider when tendering their uniform contracts. The Bill will not punish good suppliers; far from it. Their emphasis on quality and value for money will be rewarded as standards across the industry increase due to competition.

I believe that second-hand uniform can play a valuable role in keeping costs reasonable for all parents, and I know that many Members share that view. I would like every school to ensure that arrangements are in place to make second-hand school uniform available for parents to acquire. I myself had a second-hand rugby shirt at school, and I can confirm that when I grew out of it, after a few years, it remained in the same pristine condition it had been in when my parents purchased it.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I will resist the temptation to comment on the Minister’s last point, but he has made an important statement about second-hand uniform. Will there be a requirement in the statutory guidance for schools to provide facilities for the sale and exchange of second-hand uniform?

Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The statutory guidance will of course refer to the importance of there being facilities for parents to be able to acquire second-hand uniform.



It is my intention to engage with representatives of schools, parents and other interested parties in drafting and finalising the statutory guidance. My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch and the hon. Member for Putney asked about the timing of the implementation of the guidance. We want schools to implement changes in a timely and considered manner to ensure that they work effectively, but we would want to make sure that in doing so parents do not incur additional costs from sudden uniform changes. We will therefore set out clearly in the statutory guidance when we expect schools to implement the requirements. I can commit that schools will not be required to make sudden changes to their uniform policy for September 2021.

The Bill will help many families throughout the country who may struggle to afford a school uniform, so the Government support it, and I urge all Members of the House to support its Third Reading.

00:05
Wes Streeting Portrait Wes Streeting
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

We have had a great debate this morning and into this afternoon, and I am delighted that it looks as though the Bill will be passed and will hopefully continue its passage on to the statute book.

I strongly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) on his leadership in bringing the Bill forward. I thank the Minister and his Department for their engagement with the Bill, and I am grateful for the engagement of so many others, particularly the Children’s Society, which has provided a strong bedrock of research that demonstrates why the Bill is needed and has engaged constructively throughout to make the Bill possible. The Schoolwear Association and school uniform manufacturers have also engaged constructively and made some important points about the value of domestic supply chains, of ethically produced and sourced products, and of good-quality, durable products. We should not lose sight of that.

School uniforms ought to be the great social leveller. Those of us who remember the struggles that our parents had affording uniforms when we grew up, and who looked ahead to non-uniform days with trepidation rather than rather than excitement because of the pressure of having the right trainers, the right clothes and the right brands, understand why school uniforms are so important from a social justice perspective. It is not just about the importance of a school’s ethos and identity—points made very well by the Minister.

Let us get the Bill passed and make progress, and let today be an advertisement to people right across the country about the good that this House and our politics can do when people come together in common cause.

00:03
Andrew Lewer Portrait Andrew Lewer [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

In the first debate on this Bill, which was only a year ago but, for obvious reasons, feels like a lifetime ago, there was much discussion among many Members, ranging across not only their clearly lasting memories of school uniform but the practicalities, and a general view that uniforms play a significant and valued role in educational settings.

Many of us are proud of the schools that we attended, and this sense of school pride starts with a school’s uniform, which acts as an identifier but also as a leveller. That levelling factor seems to have resonated especially strongly with the Minister and throughout the discussions that have taken place on and offline, in all senses. A sense of collective identity is important in helping children to belong, but it also helps to suppress peer pressure in respect of what children wear while on school grounds, so that we do not end up with individuals being picked on for the brand of clothing they wear. At a time of increased pressure on young people’s mental health, for very obvious reasons, that represents an unnecessary worry.

All that is why sole supplier arrangements and schoolwear suppliers are a very welcome part of the landscape and should be protected for numerous reasons that relate to that important word: values. There are the school’s values and the disciplinary advantages of avoiding the “My black trousers are Gucci; yours are from Tesco’s” situation that comes from vaguer uniform requirements—which, ironically, are often championed by those seeking lower costs for parents. There are the values of supply chains and ethical sourcing—we have heard about China, but that applies to other places, too. And there is the starting point of the Bill: value for money. A well-made £20 pair of trousers that lasts three times as long as a £10 pair is better for parents’ pockets—my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) was good enough to quote me saying something similar in the debate a year ago.

Although it is late in the progress of the Bill to rake this up again, I will just mention the value for money of uniform, which was demonstrated very clearly by the very high-quality research published by the Schoolwear Association, which set right some other less well- based research that came up with much higher figures. There is also an element of the cultural value of the British education system, which is exemplified by the wearing of school uniforms—something that should be celebrated and is replicated by many schools across the world. I can think of many British overseas schools that take pride in the wearing of uniforms, which highlights the importance the British education system is given abroad.

I am grateful to the Minister for his acknowledgment on Second Reading that single supplier contracts are valuable in ensuring year-round supply of uniform, availability of the full range of sizes, and, with all items being of the same colour and design, uniformity among pupils. I will, however, be seeking assurances from the Minister that these contracts will be explicitly protected. He has touched on this already with his hints about the guidance. As he is aware, competition on the price of school uniform happens when those contracts go out to tender, and companies compete against one another to produce an attractive bid. My concern is that this process is misunderstood. If schools work with more than one retailer, this competition is lost. Sometimes the competitive element is the tender between the school and the supplier, not between the parent direct and the suppliers. That is not always sufficiently understood. Not understanding it can mean that purchasing power is damaged for retailers, which, in turn, raises prices for customers.

I did have some grave concerns about this Bill and the ramifications that could have arisen from it in its original form. I want to emphasise to the Government that they must match their rhetoric with the action that they take in terms of being a deregulating Government, cutting red tape and not over-centralising. As some Members know, I was far from convinced that the Bill fitted very well into that expressed ethos and, indeed, used it as an example of the opposite in other policy speeches and contexts. Furthermore, the ethos of a school and what it stands for must come chiefly through the school’s own culture and leadership and the attitudes of school leaders, teachers, governors and parents. Ideally, it should not be imposed from a great Whitehall height.

In conclusion, I am glad to say that the Minister has been forthcoming and helpful throughout this process—long though it has been. Throughout the course of discussions in Committee early last year, he listened to the concerns that I and other Members raised and I thank him for that. I especially thank him for what he said in this very debate just now. I am now of the opinion that, aside from that much wider philosophical over-regulatory point, some potentially damaging worries about the Bill have been either wholly allayed or diminished. That has been helped by the added reassurances that we have received today. I will continue to reference them as that guidance is consulted on to ensure that it does not lead to excessive micro-management.

13:08
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is a pleasure to speak on Third Reading. I am glad that the Minister was able to respond so quickly during his period of reflection. It was a period of reflection that lasted from the end of Report to the beginning of Third Reading. In those few moments of reflection, he was able, at a stroke, to satisfy some of the concerns that had been expressed on Report. Essentially, he has accepted, from what he said, my amendment 16. That means that schools will know that they will not be burdened by changes as a result of this Bill, which would impinge on their freedoms in the forthcoming school year starting this September. That was a very important statement and I appreciate the fact that my right hon. Friend made that today, so that the schools and their governing bodies and all the other people involved in this industry can act accordingly as a result. It was also implicit in what he said that the period of waiting, which has been going on since 2015, is now coming to an end and that people can prepare to implement this new statutory guidance. What he described as the intended content of that guidance is spot on and the schools should indeed consider the total costs of all items, including how long they will last and the quality to which they are produced. That should also apply to compulsory branded items.

As far as the sole supplier provisions are concerned, the Minister’s decision not to outlaw such agreements again accords with common sense. Contracts should be the subject of tender every five years—I think that seems a reasonable compromise, which fits in with commercial practice. He is not going to punish good suppliers, he will promote the benefits of second-hand uniform, and he is not going to go down the prescriptive route of the Welsh Labour Government, which I am sure will be a matter of great relief.

So there is a lot to celebrate. That is not a word I often use in the context of legislation that is supported by the Government, but there is a lot to celebrate in the Bill and the considered way in which it sounds as though the Minister will respond. I have just listened to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer), who is a great expert on this, and if his worst fears have been allayed, I am sure that the worst fears of lots of other people will likewise have been allayed by what is in the Bill. Let all the people who are going to benefit from the Bill move forward and I encourage them, as they appreciate what is happening in relation to the forthcoming statutory guidance, to pressurise their Members of Parliament to campaign on the issue of VAT on school uniforms.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Consideration of Bill, not amended in Public Bill Committee
13:12
New Clause 1
Expiry
“This Act expires at the end of a period of 5 years beginning with the day on which it is passed.”—(Sir Christopher Chope.)
Brought up, and read the First time.
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment 1, page 1, line 3, clause 1, leave out from “powers” to end of the section and insert

‘at the end, insert “in excess of £1 million in any calendar year”.’

This amendment would limit the British Library Board’s power to borrow money to £1 million per year.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

New clause 1 provides that the Act expires at the end of a period of five years beginning from the day on which it is passed, otherwise known as a sunset clause. I have tabled this new clause because I think it is particularly apposite in relation to this subject.

When the Government, or the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, first contemplated the idea that the British Library might be given the power to borrow, which it does not have at the moment, the report said that there would be an opportunity to have a full debate about the pros and cons of so doing, and I am not sure that that debate has ever really taken place. I am also not sure that the British Library board is that keen to exercise these powers. The reason for that may well be associated with the fact that borrowing incurs future costs, and those costs then have to be budgeted for from a grant in aid. It is well established that many of what are described as “arm’s length authorities”, which are the subject of grant in aid from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, believe that it is better to rely on grant in aid, where they know where they stand, than to go down the route of borrowing.

My concern is that the Bill could be used as a means whereby the Government cut their grant in aid to the British Library board and, if the board whinges, tell it to borrow the money instead. Given that our national debts are at record levels, it seems to me that such an attitude would be completely out of place. If the Bill becomes law, however, there is no guarantee that that will not happen—that it will not be used as an excuse to ramp up costs for future generations: “Spend now, pay later”. The grant in aid process is designed to ensure that the British Library board can receive funding sufficient to enable it to do its work during the course of the year.

My background interest in this comes from the fact that I was the Minister responsible for the Property Services Agency. One of the biggest projects on its books was the construction of the new British Library. That whole process and the way in which it was funded should be the subject of a treatise.

The grant in aid process was used to fund the construction project each year; there would be an agreement between the Government, the Department and the British Library about how much money could be spent on it in any given year. But no limit was put on the overall costs. It was only when the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher got to hear about that that she decided that we could not carry on just funding the capital project of the British Library on a year-by-year, hand-to-mouth basis. We needed to say that that could not go on indefinitely and that there should be a finite sum of money for the project—and that would be that.

I do not know whether you have been round the British Library, Madam Deputy Speaker, but it is almost in two halves: part of it is adorned with fantastic panelling and money-no-object interiors, but I can only describe the second part as rather more utilitarian. That is a direct consequence of the then Prime Minister’s having said that there had been an abuse of the grant in aid process. I still have the trowel used in the British Library topping-out ceremony—as we would expect for such an extravagant project, it is made of finest silver and came from Garrard, I think. But that is by the by.

Just as the grant in aid was abused before Margaret Thatcher got a grip on it, I fear that the power to borrow could also be abused if we do not keep a tight rein on it. A five-year sunset clause would enable that assessment to be made, so that at the end of five years, if it had been a great success, it could be renewed, and if not, there would not be any need to renew it. Effectively, it would give this House the opportunity of policing what had actually happened under the powers being granted in this primary legislation. I go back to the point that we are not even sure that the British Library really wants these powers, and certainly it does not want these powers if the consequence is a reduction in its grant in aid.

Amendment 1 is designed to limit the amount of borrowing in any calendar year to £1 million. That is an off-the-cuff, arbitrary sum of money, but it seemed to be a reasonable sum for starters, in the absence of any other evidence as to what the British Library needs to borrow and for what purpose it needs to carry out those borrowings. I have tabled this more as a probing amendment, rather than one that I expect to be accepted just like that by the Government. This is quite a short point—and, indeed, it is a short Bill—but in the context of the national situation of public borrowing, it takes on a totemic significance greater than it might have had when the Bill was introduced last year.

I hope that those introductory remarks in support of my new clause will engender not only a debate but an opportunity for the Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman), who I am pleased to see in his place, to respond and to share with the House his vision for the British Library and how much he thinks that vision is dependent upon the British Library Board having the borrowing powers set out in the Bill.

I would be interested to know whether the Minister has any idea of how much the British Library Board is thinking of borrowing. The explanatory notes make it clear that the board would not just be able to borrow willy-nilly; it would have to get approval for so doing from the Department. My understanding is that, at the moment, there is a sum of £60 million available for borrowing for all the arm’s length bodies that the Department sponsors. Would the British Library Board’s borrowings be subject to that limit, or would they be in addition to it? In the spirit of the need to ensure that we scrutinise these proposed pieces of legislation, I would be grateful if we could get some response on those issues.

Bim Afolami Portrait Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I shall speak only briefly on my private Member’s Bill. I listened carefully to what my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) said. In relation to the point about whether the British Library Board or the executive committee want these powers, I can assure him that they do. It is also worth pointing out that what is proposed here is simply to align the British Library with all the other similar arm’s length museums, galleries and others that currently sit under the auspices of the Department. The Bill does not propose anything different from what various other similar institutions have. That is a very important point.

The third thing to say is, simply, that this is not about the Government reducing the grant in aid. In fact, in the Budget of March 2020, the Government gave £13 million to the British Library to help it expand. This money is not just for books or for the British Library in London; it is to help the levelling-up agenda all over the country. It is to help the business and intellectual property centres, which help thousands of individuals and successful start-up businesses. The success rate of those businesses—the proportion that are in existence three years after being started—is about 90%, double the national average, showing the value of those business and IP centres.

That is the sort of thing that this money is for. This is simply about aligning the British Library with all sorts of other institutions that sit under the auspices of the Department. I really believe that this is a sensible, practical measure that will help not just the British Library but communities up and down the country.

Alison McGovern Portrait Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I commend all those involved in the Bill. I will just say, on behalf of the Opposition, that we fully support it and agree with the comments just made by the hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami).

Matt Warman Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Matt Warman)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am pleased that we are at this point with the Bill promoted by my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami). As he said, it is absolutely the case that the Bill seeks solely to put the British Library on the level playing field that it deserves to be on.

My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) raises two points. Putting an expiry date on the powers proposed in the Bill would risk taking up further parliamentary time, which we all know is valuable, but it would also entrench the inequality that we are trying to resolve. The idea that the British Library’s power to borrow would be subject to review when none of the other arm’s length bodies are subject to the same review does not seem to me to be in that spirit of fairness. Of course my hon. Friend raises entirely reasonable points about the burden on the public purse of any borrowing, but it seems to me only fair that we take that as a whole rather than trying to impose separate conditions on the British Library.

The British Library is, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden said, absolutely enthusiastic about the powers that the Bill would give it, it is enthusiastic about the opportunity to use them, and it is enthusiastic about the practical developments that that might bring, be it broader access digitally to its own artefacts or broader engagement with the community. That is currently constrained by the inequality that we see today. That is not fair on the British Library, but more to the point, it is not fair on the British public. It is important that we try to address the legislative barrier that currently and inexplicably prevents the British Library from having the same freedom to borrow that its fellow national museums and galleries enjoy.

Operational freedoms introduced in 2013 have given our national cultural institutions, including the British Library, greater autonomy to make decisions independently and greater flexibility over their income, helping them to innovate and continue their expert work. Flexibility and innovation will be more important than ever as we recover from the effects of the pandemic.

The British Library is, as my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch accepted, subject to a host of scrutiny already. The Bill does not propose to subject it to any greater scrutiny than exists already for other arm’s length bodies. While I agree with him that we should pay close attention to those conditions, I hope that he will agree that imposing further specific conditions on the British Library when we would like, I think, to have the efficiency of dealing with all arm’s length bodies as one is not a sensible approach. While I understand the sentiments behind his amendments, I hope—

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My hon. Friend talks about the other arm’s length bodies. My understanding is that they have the power to carry over surpluses from one year to the next. Is that power now being made available to the British Library? Will the borrowing that it will be able to make under this power be out of the same capped fund that is available for the other departmental arm’s length bodies? Or will this be in addition? If so, how much will the addition be each year?

13:30
Matt Warman Portrait Matt Warman
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The Treasury allocates a pot of £60 million per year that can be loaned out to all cultural organisations given the freedoms I mentioned. The responsibility for allocating that pot is with the Treasury. To my knowledge, there is currently no proposal to change the size of that pot, but of course all of these things are under review in the usual way. On that point, and on my hon. Friend’s first one, I hope he understands that we are not proposing anything here that it is in any way unusual, and that this is putting the British Library on a fair and level playing field. Unless he wants to intervene again, I hope that that clarifies the points he has made. In the probing spirit that he mentions, I hope the Government have been able to provide him with sufficient information so that he does not press his amendments to a vote and he allows the British Library to flourish in a way that will benefit all of our constituencies.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

That sounds a perfectly reasonable proposition that my hon. Friend has put forward. Therefore, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the clause.

Clause, by leave, withdrawn.

Third Reading

13:32
Bim Afolami Portrait Bim Afolami
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I wish to put on record my thanks to the Opposition Members, particularly the hon. Members for Wirral South (Alison McGovern) and for Batley and Spen (Tracy Brabin), and the Minister and all those who have supported the passage of this Bill so far. I hope for it to have speedy passage in the other place.

13:32
Matt Warman Portrait Matt Warman
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is a great moment for libraries across the country to see the United Kingdom’s flagship British Library put on this level playing field. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) for getting his Bill this far. I thank him and all those who have worked on this Bill, and indeed all those who have scrutinised it in this House today.

13:33
Alison McGovern Portrait Alison McGovern [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I join the Minister and the hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) in thanking all those who have worked hard on this Bill. I also thank all those who work in our libraries and the British Library—they serve our country so brilliantly.

13:33
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I would like to put on the record my appreciation of the great efforts that my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) has made and his phenomenal success in bringing this Bill to a successful conclusion in this House. I hope that that will be duly recognised by his constituents—I am sure it will be appreciated by the British Library. May I put on the record the fact that I think that the British Library is one of the greatest of our British institutions and that I am an immense supporter of it? Although there was a lot of scepticism about the cost and design of the new library, I think it has been able to prove its worth in practice, and we much appreciate it.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Consideration of Bill, not amended in Public Bill Committee
Clause 3
Extent, commencement and short title
13:35
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I beg to move amendment 1, page 3, line 3, leave out from “force” to end of subsection and insert “on 1 October 2021”.

This amendment will incorporate into the Bill the guidance for policy makers issued in August 2010 that there should be two common commencement dates each year, one of which is 1st October, for the introduction of changes to regulations affecting businesses.

Amendment 1 is a short amendment, supported by my hon. Friends the Members for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and for Shipley (Philip Davies), but it has a deeper purpose, which is set out in the explanatory statement. It means that the regulations under the Bill would come into effect on 1 October 2021.

In thinking about all this, it occurred to me that over the years we have lost sight of an important deregulatory policy of the Government, introduced, I think, in 2010: that, to reduce the burdens on business, regulations passed by this House should only be implemented on two implementation dates each year. One was, I think, 1 April and the other was 1 October. The idea behind that was that people in business should not have to keep an eye on when another regulation was going to be implemented or when those regulations that had been passed would be commenced. I thought it would be useful to try to tease out from the Government what their thinking is.

This Bill, in particular, contains an enormous amount of regulatory burden affecting the providers of important apprenticeships and training for youngsters. I do not disagree with the substance or the idea of what it is doing, but we must not underestimate the fact that what we are talking about is creating an additional burden. It would be better, in my view, to say that instead of its coming into force at the end of two months beginning on the day on which it is passed, it should come into force on 1 October and we could then re-adopt the practice that was begun, that there should only be two days each year when we commence these regulations.

That is quite a short point, and it will not be made any stronger by repetition, but I hope it will be taken seriously by the Government. I imagine the Minister, having received notice of this amendment, will be able to give me a definitive response from the deregulation unit, or whatever the equivalent body now is that deals with these matters on behalf of the Government and tries to ensure that this is a business-friendly Government.

Years ago, I was on a deregulation taskforce that made many different regulations. I wish this suggestion had been one of the ones that came out of our particular taskforce. It was not, but I think it was a sensible suggestion, so I am trying to use the vehicle of a Friday private Member’s Bill day and the opportunity of the Report stage of this Bill to ventilate the matter and try to engage the Government in a dialogue about it.

Mary Kelly Foy Portrait Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I will be speaking against the amendment, and I will keep my remarks brief out of consideration for my colleagues whose Bills follow my own.

The intervention by the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) is not, in my opinion, needed for several reasons. First, the guidance he refers to in the amendment was intended to give time for businesses to prepare for costs associated with changes in legislation or for any significant changes in their practices. As this Bill does not result in any increased costs for education providers or any significant burden for business, I would argue that this extra time is not needed.

Secondly, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that many designated safeguarding leads in further education are aware of the potential change in legislation, so again, I do not believe that further time is needed for providers to prepare for the change in law. Finally, as the Bill relates to education and aims at simplifying the safeguarding process for providers of post-16 education, it would make more sense for this legislation to come into effect for the start of the academic year in September. In fact, a change in legislation mid-term would arguably be more burdensome to business.

Rachel Hopkins Portrait Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I wish to speak against the amendment that has been proposed. I believe I have been listed to speak in the Third Reading part of the debate on this Bill, so I am happy to contribute my opposition to this amendment and be called in the second part of the debate as well.

Wes Streeting Portrait Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I have really nothing further to add to the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy). I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response and to moving on, hopefully promptly, to Third Reading.

Gillian Keegan Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Gillian Keegan)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I would like to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for his interest in this Bill and for raising his concerns on behalf of businesses and training providers. However, I do believe the amendment he has put forward is unnecessary. This Bill does not place any new or additional burdens or costs on education and training providers. It is a technical change to put all Government-funded providers of post-16 education and training on the same statutory footing.

As I made clear in Committee, all children in post-16 education or training are currently protected by safeguarding arrangements. If a provider is already properly discharging its safeguarding responsibility, the change in this Bill will make no practical difference to it. It is not anticipated that this will add burdens or costs to businesses and training providers. As I am sure my hon. Friend is aware, safeguarding duties on providers can come from a variety of sources. This Bill simplifies a situation that is more complex than it needs to be.

The Bill, as currently drafted, will come into force two months after it is passed. Amendment 1 would add several months to that period, going beyond the start of the academic year, as the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) said. I do not think it is in the spirit of clarity and simplification that has characterised the cross-party support of this Bill, and I ask my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch to withdraw his amendment.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Unfortunately, I do not seem to have achieved my purpose, which was to try to draw out a response from the Government the issue of having two separate days each year when regulations are implemented to reduce the burden on business. The promoter of the Bill, the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy), and the Minister have said in response, “Well, not me, guv”—this legislation does not impose any fresh burdens, and therefore the point I was making in my amendment and the remarks I made in addressing the amendment are really of no relevance. I think that is really the point that my hon. Friend the Minister is making. I shall have to explore other ways of developing the idea that we should reintroduce the practice that was first introduced in 2010 of having a maximum of two days each year when we introduce regulatory burdens on business, and hopefully many more days when we deregulate. I am grateful to those who have participated in this short debate for explaining that the Bill is not in the least burdensome and that everyone is absolutely hunky-dory about it so we should be content. In those circumstances, I seek leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Third Reading

13:46
Mary Kelly Foy Portrait Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

While technical, this Bill is relatively simple. I am conscious that a number of hon. Members are keen to ensure that their Bills are also heard, so I will keep my remarks as brief as possible, especially as the contents have been well covered in previous stages.

Legal safeguarding duties do not apply to independent providers in the same way as they do for those educated at school or in sixth form or further education colleges. The Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Bill aims to ensure that all young people are protected by the same safeguarding duties in the law, irrespective of the education or training provider that they choose.

The Bill contains two substantive clauses. Clause 1 amends the Education Act 2002 to extend the existing safeguarding duties that apply to further education colleges, schools and sixth forms to post-16 academies. As more sixth forms convert to academies, the requirement for this change becomes more pressing. Clause 1 also brings independent learning providers and specialist post-16 institutions into scope by imposing direct responsibilities on the Secretary of State for Education, requiring them to include the safeguarding duties as a condition of any agreement with those institutions. The Bill would also compel providers to have regard to any guidance on safeguarding issued by the Secretary of State such as the document “Keeping children safe in education”.

Clause 2 will amend the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to ensure that apprenticeship providers, as well as those who assist with the training or education of T-level students that is funded under the Act, must follow those safeguarding duties, while having regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State. Again, the duty is on the Secretary of State to include those requirements in agreements, while the duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children at the institution falls on the provider.

I introduced the Bill because in the City of Durham I am privileged to represent a constituency that contains a number of top-class further education providers in both academic and vocational subjects. There is the leading further education college, New College Durham, one of the first education providers to offer T-levels, as well as the excellent Houghall college, part of East Durham college, which I share with my hon. Friend the Member for Easington (Grahame Morris). We also have a number of brilliant sixth forms as well as a number of independent providers. I place on the record my gratitude to the staff, students and family members who have put so much effort into ensuring that there has been as little disruption as possible to education during the pandemic.

While I welcome the diversity training and education courses available to my constituents, I do not welcome the potential for variation in safeguarding requirements. As a parent, I know how important it is to be secure in the knowledge that children are kept safe in education. For many, further education is a new experience, full of different challenges for young people and their families. Between further education colleges, sixth-form academies and independent providers, there are a variety of options for how young people are educated, which can be confusing for parents. We could debate in the House all day how education should be provided, but I think we all agree that every child and young person, regardless of their background or education provider, should be subject to the same safeguarding requirements as their peers. By closing this loophole, we can help protect young people while giving parents the reassurance and peace of mind they deserve when it comes to their child’s education.

However, this Bill is about more than protecting young people and reassuring parents; it is also practical for education and training providers. Currently, the system for post-16 academies, independent providers and specialist institutions is somewhat complex and inconsistent. By extending legal safeguarding duties to cover all publicly funded providers of post-16 education, safeguarding requirements for institutions will be simplified, making the whole process easier for educators. The Bill will also benefit providers to which these duties already apply by ensuring that there is a level playing field when it comes to safeguarding requirements, meaning that schools, colleges and sixth forms will operate on the same terms as the independent sector.

This is a good, simple Bill aimed at addressing an anomaly in safeguarding legislation that we all recognise must be fixed, and it does so in a way that benefits providers, parents and young people. I hope that we can continue the fantastic cross-party work so far on the Bill, to help me close this anomaly in law.

13:52
Gillian Keegan Portrait Gillian Keegan
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I thank the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for her work on this Bill, and I congratulate her on introducing it and steering it through the House. Safeguarding, and particularly protecting children from online harm, is a subject that we are passionate about, and I am privileged to lend my support, and the support of a Government, to the Bill.

Cross-party support and co-operation have characterised the passage of the Bill, which is testament to the hon. Lady and to the importance that the House places on safeguarding children. I am extremely grateful to all hon. Members who have taken time to contribute during debates at each stage of the Bill. I know that, in many cases, these interventions have been informed by personal experience or the experience of constituents or training providers and other educational institutions.

It is vital that, at this challenging and important time in their lives, children feel safe; it is vital that parents can trust education and training providers, however these are constituted, to keep the children in their care safe; and it is vital that providers are clear about their duties and responsibilities to these children. I put on the record my thanks to all those in the sector who have worked so hard to welcome students back so successfully this week.

Let me be clear: all children in post-16 education and training are currently protected by safeguarding arrangements, but the duties that determine these arrangements come from a wide variety of sources, depending on the nature of the education or training provider. The post-16 landscape is diverse, to meet our diverse education and training needs, but the safeguarding duty does not need to be different. It should be clear and it should be universal. The changes in the Bill are important, but they are technical. They should not lead to additional costs or burdens on education or training providers. A provider that is already fulfilling its safeguarding duty would not need to make any practical changes.

I also support the Bill’s intention that all providers should have regard to the statutory guidance, “Keeping children safe in education”. Having one set of guidance that covers all providers will simplify safeguarding, make it more transparent and help ensure that safeguarding requirements remain relevant and up to date. As a result of this Bill, “Keeping children safe in education” will need to be amended, and we have undertaken to consult openly and widely with the sector to ensure that the guidance will be appropriate and proportionate.

In closing, let me once again thank the hon. Member for City of Durham for bringing forward this important Bill, which the Government are pleased to support.

13:54
Wes Streeting Portrait Wes Streeting
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is a pleasure to speak in support of this Bill on Third Reading. As the Minister will know from the contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins) in Committee, the Bill has the Opposition’s wholehearted support. Of course, there are very few responsibilities as important as safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children and young people. The Bill, as we have heard, moves to level the playing field for all providers of publicly funded post-16 education and training.

All that is left for me to do is wish the Minister a very happy birthday this weekend, and I will also say something about my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy). She has been a Member of Parliament for barely 15 months. Many Members serve in this House with distinction for decades without ever managing to put their mark on the statute book in the way that she has. Her constituents ought to be very proud of their MP for how she has diligently and consistently represented their concerns and interests in these most challenging times. The passage of this Bill will be a meaningful step towards ensuring that all children and young people, wherever they are studying, learning or training, are safe, and I think that is something of which she and the people of Durham can be immensely proud.

13:56
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

May I, too, wish the Minister a most enjoyable, productive and lazy weekend, bearing in mind that Sunday is also Mother’s Day?

I support the Bill. Obviously, it is desirable that we should maintain the highest standards of looking after our children when they are in the care of others, as they are when they go on training courses, whatever institution that happens to be in. I am lucky to have in my constituency some really good providers of specialist training for apprentices, which is now so popular and effective. I have visited those organisations and met the youngsters who have been through the process and then come back to instruct those currently in training, and it works extremely well. I am sure that the particular training academy that I have in mind will have no problem complying with the provisions of the Bill.

I had not really appreciated—and this has probably not been highlighted enough—that the Bill is arguably deregulatory. Perhaps it does not fit in with their current agenda, but if the Government are still interested in deregulation, they should be putting forward this Bill as an example of deregulation, simplifying the statute book and making it easier for those affected to know which regulations apply to them and which do not. That is just an observation of mine, based on having listened to today’s debate. I have no hesitation whatsoever in supporting those who believe that the Bill should receive its Third Reading.

13:58
Rachel Hopkins Portrait Rachel Hopkins [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) on her perseverance in moving this important Bill forward, particularly during these difficult times, when the pandemic has constrained our ability to debate and pass legislation. It has been a pleasure to be a co-sponsor of the Bill.

On Second Reading, almost exactly a year ago, drawing on my experience as a governor of Luton Sixth Form College, I made the point about how important the extension of the statutory safeguarding arrangements was to ensuring that all young people in post-16 education and training were protected by equitable safeguarding protocols. That is to ensure that they receive the support and have the best possible chance of succeeding in their studies and training. At that time, I particularly focused on the increasing level of mental health issues among our young people. I just want to reiterate the importance of that now more than ever, given the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on our young people, who face such a difficult year and such disruption to their education.

Just yesterday, I picked up a poll by Network Rail and the charity Chasing the Stigma, which reported that 69% of 18 to 24-year-olds had said that the coronavirus crisis had had a negative impact on their mental health; that compares with just 28% of the over-65s. The impact on our young people’s mental health will continue over the coming months, particularly with regard to dealing with assessed grades in the absence of exams and any impact that may have on progression choices for our children and young people.

My final point is that it is hugely important that all providers of post-16 education and training, including private providers, have that statutory duty for the safeguarding of our young people. I support the Bill and hope to see it pass its Third Reading today.

14:01
Kate Osborne Portrait Kate Osborne (Jarrow) (Lab) [V]
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I praise my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for the work that she and others across the House have done to bring forward this important private Member’s Bill. I am happy that it has received cross-party support; keeping young people safe in further education should never be a party political issue.

It is surely common sense to ensure that the same safeguarding guidance should apply across the sector. It is also pleasing to see that the Bill simplifies safeguarding requirements for education providers. The Bill will bring 16-to-19, academies, specialist post-16 institutes and independent learning providers in scope of the duty to follow the statutory guidance note, which will ensure that our legislation goes further to keep children safe in education.

As the parent of a child who has been through further education and of another who will be entering it in the near future, I am pleased that the Bill will reassure parents that, no matter how their child’s education is being delivered, their child is being kept safe to the highest standards. Any improvements to the safety of our young people need to be welcomed. For that reason, I warmly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham on bringing the Bill, which I fully support, to the House.

14:02
Mary Kelly Foy Portrait Mary Kelly Foy
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

With the leave of the House, I would like to make some brief final remarks. I pay tribute to every Member who has set aside party politics to speak in favour of the Bill in the interest of strengthening safeguarding for further education. The Bill is a fantastic example of that and I hope that Baroness Blower receives as much support for the Bill in the Lords as I have here.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Bill, as amended in the Public Bill Committee, considered.
Third Reading
14:03
Darren Jones Portrait Darren Jones (Bristol North West) (Lab)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am grateful to the Leader of the House for granting time to debate private Members’ Bills today. Following a full debate on Second Reading and a useful and substantive debate in Committee, the Bill is now in a very fine form to hopefully conclude its passage through this House before going to the other place.

14:04
Kit Malthouse Portrait The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) for bringing the Bill forward and for his constructive attitude, which has meant that this piece of legislation has had a smooth passage through the House over the last few months; I am grateful to him. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Chris Green), who was his John the Baptist, if you like, in introducing the Bill previously, unfortunately falling foul of the timetable.

This is an important Bill that will put forensics across the UK on a much better footing and increase standards across the board for forensic evidence that is offered in court—something that has been in all our minds, sadly, over the last 24 hours. I am grateful to the Home Office team, who have worked so hard, along with the team of the hon. Member for Bristol North West, to get the Bill in good shape.

In particular, I am grateful for the gimlet eye of my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), which was passed over the Bill extensively on Second Reading. He quite rightly challenged me on the difference between the cost of the Bill introduced in the previous Session, which was £100,000, and of the Bill before us, which was estimated to be £400,000. He will be pleased to know that his challenge to me resulted in some more robust analysis, which has reduced the annual cost to £220,000. I hope he believes that he has paid for himself, at least over the last 12 months and into the future. On that note, I commend the Bill to the House.

14:06
Bambos Charalambous Portrait Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) on progressing his Bill to Third Reading, and I thank the Minister for his support on behalf of the Government for the Bill’s passage.

The Bill puts the regulator on a statutory footing, to ensure that the standards set by the regulator are met, and if they are not met, the Bill allows for enforcement action to follow. These measures are long overdue and should enhance the integrity of our criminal justice. The Bill is exactly in line with the Government’s forensic science strategy of 2016, which recommended giving the regulator these powers, and the Opposition very much support that. I want to end by putting on record my thanks to Dr Gillian Tully, whose term as the Forensic Science Regulator came to an end recently, for her years of service in the post, her wise counsel and leaving the role in good shape for her successor. We very much support the Bill.

14:07
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I support the Bill as well. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for reminding me of the scrutiny that I gave the Bill on Second Reading, and I am delighted that it empowered him to analyse the cost on a fresh basis. As somebody who has practised in our criminal justice system as a barrister for many years, I do not think there is anything more important in our system than that we should be able to have absolute trust in the integrity and quality of the forensic science service and that the evidence it provides, which is so often crucial in court, should be beyond reproach. To that end, I am sure that the Bill, which was discussed and significantly amended in Committee, is all for the good.

This is another example of why it was common sense for the Leader of the House to enable the Bills that have been considered in Committee to come back for consideration on Report in this special Friday sitting. That is good. I am sure that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as the Chairman of Ways and Means, were much involved in facilitating this; if I am wrong, you will not need to say that, because I am sure that even if you did not do it directly, your influence has been there all along, trying to encourage our ability to constructively bring forward legislation that has already been discussed and steer it to fruition. I understand that their lordships will consider the Bills that have passed in this House today and, as a result, they will hopefully get on to the statute book. That would not have been possible but for the House authorities facilitating what we have done today.

14:10
Darren Jones Portrait Darren Jones
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

While my name is on this Bill, I should take this opportunity to thank the many people involved in bringing it to this stage: to the right hon. and hon. Members for taking part in the debate, both in this House and in Committee; to the Minister, the shadow Minister and their respective teams for their support; to Finn McMahon in my parliamentary office for his help in guiding the passage of this Bill; to the Whips on both the Government and Opposition Benches, as well as the Clerks of this House, for their wise counsel; to the work of many Select Committees both in this House and in the other place over many years; and lastly, as has already been mentioned by the shadow Minister, to Dr Gillian Tully, the outgoing forensics regulator, who has consistently lobbied for this change over many years.

As has been said, the standards that will be put in force for forensic services in this country will do justice to the victims of crime and will add confidence in the criminal justice system. Now more than ever, with all this on our minds, I look forward to the Bill taking a smooth passage through the House of Lords and becoming law in due course.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Consideration of Bill, not amended in the Public Bill Committee
Clause 5
Power to make consequential provision
14:11
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
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I beg to move amendment 1, page 3, line 29, leave out clause 5.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment 2, in clause 6, page 3, line 38, leave out from “force” to end of subsection and insert “on 1 October 2021”.

This amendment will incorporate into the Bill the guidance for policy makers issued in August 2010 that there should be two common commencement dates each year, one of which is 1st October, for the introduction of changes to regulations affecting businesses.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Amendment 1 stands in my name and the names of my hon. Friends the Members for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and for Shipley (Philip Davies).

The purpose of amendments 1 and 2 is to try to address the quality of the legislation that we produce in this House. Using clauses as a means of giving the power to change a whole mass of other legislation has long been a bugbear of mine and is exactly what clause 5 does, which is why the Bill would be better without it. I know that, inevitably, the response from the Government on these issues is always, “Oh, well, this is belt and braces and it will save time in the future because we won’t have to bring forward fresh legislation or statutory instruments in order to cover scenarios that we have not yet thought about.” It seems to me that the case has not been made, which is why I have moved amendment 1.

Amendment 2 is a similar provision to the one on which I was briefly trying to engage the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), when we were discussing the Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Bill. The Minister would not engage with me because she felt that that Bill was a deregulatory Bill—she was probably right—and that, therefore, this provision did not really apply. None the less, the purpose of this is to try to ensure that there should be two common commencement dates each year for regulations that impact on businesses, and that one of those should be 1 October, because that seems to be closest to the time when this Bill will be implemented, so that is the date that I have chosen. Perhaps the Minister will be able to give me an assurance that it is indeed the Government’s policy to deregulate and reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and individuals, and to reassert that the Government accept the virtue of having two days each year that might be described as regulatory days, because that will not only facilitate the effectiveness of our legislative process, but make it much easier for those who are impacted on by our legislation to respond and prepare for it. That is why I moved amendment 1 and have spoken to amendment 2.

14:15
Laura Trott Portrait Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am very grateful to have reached this point today. This is an important Bill that will protect young people. We are short on time, so I will cover the substance of the amendments quickly. On amendment 1, consequential provisions are essential to ensure consistency with other legislation. On amendment 2, six months will enable the necessary changes to be made to the human medicines regulations under the consequential provisions that were just discussed.

Alex Norris Portrait Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I have been reassured by the answers given to the promoter of the Bill, the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), so I do not intend to support either amendment or delay proceedings any further.

Nadine Dorries Portrait The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health (Ms Nadine Dorries) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott) on the outstanding work that she has done in introducing the Bill, and I reiterate the Government’s support for the legislation. I believe that everyone has the right to make informed decisions about their bodies, but our role in Government is to support young people in making safe, informed choices where necessary to protect them from the potential harm that cosmetic procedures can do to their health. The increasing popularity of cosmetic procedures and the pressures on our young people to achieve this aesthetic ideal are well documented, and I believe that the Bill is an important step in putting those necessary safeguards in place.

I acknowledge the intentions behind the amendment tabled in the Public Bill Committee by the hon. Members for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) and for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) to introduce a medical necessity test on the face of the Bill, and I hope that they have taken assurances from the explanation by my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks of the work that she has done to explore this. The standards set by the General Medical Council already require doctors to consider the best interests of the patient to cover the ethical treatment of under-18s.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with my hon. Friend to take this step towards greater regulation of the cosmetic procedure industry. I look forward to the Bill’s successful passage through the Lords.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Because time is running short, I thank those who have contributed to this short debate, and so that we can move on to Third Reading, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Third Reading

14:18
Laura Trott Portrait Laura Trott [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

As discussed, time is short, so I will keep my remarks to a minimum. I thank everyone who has been involved in this Bill. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), the hon. Members for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) and for Bradford South (Judith Cummins), and the right hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), all of whom have raised the profile of this very important issue over a number of years. I also pay tribute to the work of Save Face, a campaigning organisation that has done brilliant work to safeguard many, many young people over many years. Lastly, I also thank the Minister, whose support throughout this has been absolute, and I am very grateful.

14:19
Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I have nothing further to say due to the shortage of time. I just reiterate that it has been an absolute pleasure to work with my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott) to take these steps forward to the conclusion of the Bill, and I commend it to the House.

Alex Norris Portrait Alex Norris [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I add my congratulations to the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott). I know that this has been no mean feat, especially during the current challenging times, and there has had to be a lot of patience, but it has been rewarded today. It is important that we act to protect our young people, especially with the pressures that they face. This is one of those great bits of legislation where I think if we stopped our constituents in the street and asked them about it, they would think it was already like this. This is a common-sense, practical and proportionate way to protect our young people, and we give it our full support.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I, too, support this Bill. I notice that it was first canvassed as a possibility in the 2017 Conservative manifesto, which contained a commitment to ensure the

“effective registration and regulation of those performing cosmetic interventions.”

I had not realised the extent to which children had been able to access botulinum toxin and cosmetic filler procedures without a medical or psychological assessment; nor had I realised that practitioners did not need to be medically qualified to perform the procedures and that there are no mandatory competency or qualification frameworks related to their administration. Obviously, this Bill will help to avoid the potential health risks of such procedures, which include blindness, tissue necrosis, infection, scarring and psychological impacts.

It seems to me that my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), so early on in her obviously very promising political career, has been able to identify an issue on which there is a lot of enthusiastic support. I congratulate and thank her for bringing the Bill forward, and I hope that it makes successful progress in the other place after its passage here.

14:21
Laura Trott Portrait Laura Trott [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for his remarks, and to the Opposition and the Government for their support.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Consideration of Bill, as amended in the Public Bill Committee
New Clause 1
Assessment of the effectiveness and value for money of this Act
“(1) The Secretary of State must prepare an assessment of the effectiveness and value for money of the provisions of this Act in achieving their objectives.
(2) That assessment must consider—
(a) the extent to which the Act is achieving its objectives;
(b) the number of tests conducted;
(c) the number of positive test results;
(d) the number of novel psychoactive substances found;
(e) the number of prescription-only substances found;
(f) the amount spent on testing;
(g) the net effects on expenditure on the treatment of substance misuse;
(h) the effects of this Act on value for money in substance testing in prisons.
(3) A report on the assessment must be laid before Parliament no later than two years after the day on which this Act comes into force.”—(Sir Christopher Chope.)
Brought up, and read the First time.
14:22
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 2—Expiry

“This Act expires at the end of a period of 3 years beginning with the day on which it is passed.”

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

New clause 1, in my name and those of my hon. Friends the Members for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) and for Shipley (Philip Davies), replicates, almost exactly, a new clause that was moved in Committee to try to ensure that there is a proper assessment of the Bill.

The new—temporary; perhaps permanent—prisons Minister had the courtesy to phone me yesterday to discuss the reasons why he believed the new clause was unnecessary. I was able to exchange with him an actual case in my constituency that is causing me concern, which he said he would take away and act upon. I will summarise that case, which shows how important the issue of drugs in prisons is.

The case concerns a constituent whose husband was convicted of murder and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment. Within a short time of his arrival in prison, never having taken drugs before, he became addicted to drugs, and he was then trying to get off those drugs. Ultimately, it resulted in him and his family being subject to payments of extortion amounting to no less than £60,000. Despite him and his parents and family reporting the matter, none of the people to whom the £60,000 was paid have been brought to justice. Fortunately, my hon. Friend the new Minister has assured me that he is going to investigate the matter and take care of other issues relating to the welfare of my constituent’s husband.

I tabled the new clause in order to raise that issue. I am not very familiar with procedures in the House, as you know, Madam Deputy Speaker, but as we need to resolve this Report stage so that the Bill can be given its Third Reading, would it be in order for me not to speak any longer about new clauses 1 or 2 but to seek the leave of the House to withdraw them both?

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I take it that the hon. Gentleman does not wish to press his new clauses, for which the House will be grateful.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Yes, Madam Deputy Speaker. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the clause.

Clause, by leave, withdrawn.

Third Reading

00:01
Richard Holden Portrait Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I do not wish to comment on the Bill any further. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for withdrawing his new clauses and pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) for bring the Bill forward—I am delighted to have supported her.

14:26
Kit Malthouse Portrait The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I express my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan), and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for his constructive attitude in helping us to get the Bill on to the statute book.

Lyn Brown Portrait Ms Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) and the hon. Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden), and on behalf of the Opposition Front-Bench team I thoroughly welcome the Bill.

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I support the Bill—indeed, I was present in the Chamber when we discussed the initial concern about my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) not being able to deal with the Bill herself physically. My hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Mr Holden) came in and helped to fill the breach, so I thank him for and congratulate him on what has been achieved.

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham for her foresight in choosing this topic for the Bill that she wanted to promote. Few things are more important for our constituents who are sadly in prison than to ensure that although they are in prison for punishment—the deprivation of liberty—they are not there to become drug addicts or to be subjected to extortion or other illegal behaviour. If, by facilitating our keeping on top of new substances, the Bill leads to fewer people getting addicted and leaving prison fully addicted, that would be great. I have challenged my hon. Friend the new Minister to be the first prisons Minister to create a truly drugs-free prison in the United Kingdom—a dream that I very much hope will be realised.

00:00
Richard Holden Portrait Mr Holden
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I have nothing further to add.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I just want to say to the House that it is very sad that the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) is not here in the Chamber today, but it will mean a very great deal to her to know that the whole House has supported her Bill and that it has now gone through all its stages. I am quite sure that everyone here today will join me in sending the right hon. Lady our very best wishes.

None Portrait Hon. Members
- Hansard -

Hear, hear.

Consideration of Bill, not amended in the Public Bill Committee.
Clause 1
Form in which registers are to be kept
00:01
Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 6, leave out from beginning of line 6 to end of line 4 on page 2 and insert—

“(1) Registers of live births, still births and deaths must be kept in paper form and must be retained in hard copy by local registrars.

(2) Copies of information in registers kept under subsection (1) must be transferred to the Registrar General in electronic form on a regular basis and no less frequently than every three months.”

This amendment requires that registers are retained in paper form in hard copy by local registrars but with provision that electronic copies of such information can be transferred on a regular basis to the Registrar General.

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 2, page 2, line 5, leave out “also”.

This amendment is consequential on Amendment 1.

Amendment 3, page 2, leave out line 12.

This amendment removes from the Bill the repeal of section 28 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, which makes provision about the custody of registers.

Amendment 4, page 2, line 27, leave out clause 3.

Amendment 5, page 3, line 13, leave out clause 4.

Amendment 6, page 4, line 22, leave out clause 5.

Amendment 7, page 4, line 25, leave out clause 6.

Amendment 8, in clause 7, page 5, line 7, leave out subsection (1) and insert—

“(1) This Act extends to England and Wales only.”

Amendment 9, page 5, line 8, leave out subsections (2) to (4).

Amendment 10, page 5, line 19, leave out subsection (6).

Christopher Chope Portrait Sir Christopher Chope
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Amendment 1 is designed to ensure that we still have physical, hard copy registers alongside e-registers, so that we do not facilitate fraud and corruption in our registration service. I will not have time to go into detail—

00:02
The Deputy Speaker interrupted the business (Standing Order No. 11(2)).
Bill to be further considered on Friday 19 March.
Baroness Laing of Elderslie Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am now going to suspend the House for a few minutes in order that preparations can be made for the next stages of proceedings.

00:02
Sitting suspended.
14:35
On resuming—
Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill
Bill, not amended in Public Bill Committee, considered.
Bill read the Third time and passed.

National Carers Strategy

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(David Duguid.)
14:38
Baroness Keeley Portrait Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

There are some 13.6 million unpaid carers across the country, including 4.5 million people who first started caring during the pandemic and 800,000 young carers. Each of these carers provides vital support to a family member or friend, often at considerable personal cost.

Over the past year, the role of unpaid carers has become more important than ever. With many people shielding or unwilling to go out, unpaid carers have stepped up to provide additional support and keep people safe throughout the pandemic, but the reality is that these carers do not feel that their role is being recognised. One unpaid carer, Rachel Mewes, says:

“I wish I could say that the pandemic has shone a light on the situation that so many of us live in, as unpaid carers. Instead, it has driven us further into the dark. It has truly demonstrated how we are not even recognised as an entity in the British population. Personally, I feel that at no point during the past year, have the government recognised that people like me exist.”

I know the Minister will want to join me in thanking all unpaid carers, but the reality is that they deserve more than our thanks—they deserve our support.

Under the last Labour Government, this support was brought together into the national carers strategy. This was an ambitious, long-term plan built around the voices and experiences of carers, and it was first published in January 1999. In 2008, the strategy brought together seven Secretaries of State and the then Prime Minister to support an ambition that by 2018:

“Carers will be universally recognised and valued as being fundamental to strong families and stable communities. Support will be tailored to meet individuals’ needs, enabling carers to maintain a balance between their caring responsibilities and a life outside caring, while enabling the person they support to be a full and equal citizen.”

A decade of Conservative cuts and neglect of this policy area meant that this ambition for carers was never realised, and since the Government announced a consultation for a new carers strategy in March 2016, carers have been left waiting.

Carers were invited to contribute to that consultation to inform the new carers strategy. Over 6,500 carers, carers support organisations and charities submitted contributions. Thousands of unpaid carers gave up what little time they had and invested their energies in providing details of their day-to-day caring roles. Katy Styles, a carer and a campaigner for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, contributed to that consultation and hoped that her voice would be heard alongside others. She told me:

“Not publishing the National Carers Strategy has made me extremely angry. It sends a message that carers’ lives are unimportant. It sends a message that Government thinks we can carry on as we are. It sends a message that my own time is of little worth.”

Katy Styles went on to found the We Care Campaign to bring together unpaid carers to campaign, make their voices heard and get decision makers to value their unpaid care. A key ask of the campaign is a national carers strategy.

The Government have so far declined to publish a national carers strategy, instead bringing in a carers action plan. This flimsy document offers few substantial commitments to improve support to carers and lacks the funding needed to transform services. To give just one example of how this action plan fell short, a major issue facing many carers is that their GP or other NHS staff treating the person they care for know nothing about their caring role, and this means that they struggle to access support.

In 2012, I brought in a private Member’s Bill on the identification of carers. This would have created a new duty on the NHS to identify carers and promote their health and wellbeing. The then care Minister did not support my Bill, and when the carers action plan came along, it was not so ambitious. It merely proposed a system of quality markers so that GPs could demonstrate if they were good at identifying carers. However, carers organisations know that with proper identification of carers by the NHS we can support carers much more effectively.

The carers action plan expired at the end of 2020. While we are currently stuck in limbo on this policy, I hope the Minister will be able to confirm today that officials are working on a new strategy to give carers the support they need. There are a number of areas the Government should be considering as a priority in both the short and longer terms. The first is the issue of covid-19 vaccinations. This is a short-term priority, but many carers still have not been told when they can expect to receive their vaccinations. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended that carers be prioritised alongside working-age adults with underlying health conditions, but we know there are still barriers to uptake.

I have heard from a full-time carer in receipt of carer’s allowance who booked a vaccination after being asked to do so by her GP, only to be turned away on the day because she could not prove her status as a carer. She was asked to provide a letter proving she was a carer, but her GP did not issue such letters to carers and she had no proof with her that she received carer’s allowance. Carers who are eligible should not be denied the vaccine on the basis of paperwork, so can the Minister set out what the Government are doing to ensure that carers are not wrongly turned away?

This could have been dealt with if the Government had set out a clear plan to ensure that all carers are identified either by their GP or by a hospital dealing with the person needing care. As they have not, we have millions of people carrying out invaluable caring work completely unacknowledged. It is also now likely that the covid vaccines will not be one-off, but an annual requirement much as flu shots are. Can the Minister tell us if the Minister for Care has had conversations with the Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment about ensuring carers are included as a priority in all future rounds of vaccination?

Throughout this crisis, unpaid carers have taken on considerable extra costs. These range from additional spending on energy bills as people are stuck at home to having to purchase personal protective equipment and hand sanitiser. I have heard from carers who have seen their food bill double because they are having to shop online rather than going into stores. All these costs add up and are tough for carers, many of whom are retired or on fixed incomes. Despite these additional costs, carer’s allowance is one of the few benefits that has not had an uplift during the pandemic. Although people receiving universal credit have rightly been given an extra £20 a week, carers have not seen a penny more from the Government. Carer’s allowance was already pitifully low, so it is unconscionable that it should not have had an uplift during the pandemic, leaving many unpaid carers with months of financial worry. On top of that, many carers do not get even this inadequate level of support. Research from the Motor Neurone Disease Association found that even before the pandemic, one in three carers were providing more than 100 hours of support a week, and nearly half of that group receive no benefits. That is part of a broader problem which means that carers do not get the recognition they need. Three quarters of carers have not had a carer’s assessment, which means they are not getting the support they need.

Carers who worked before the pandemic have struggled more than ever, often without their employers realising they have had to take on extra caring. As formal services such as day centres closed their doors, unpaid carers were asked to take on more responsibility than ever before. Half of unpaid carers are in work, and more are of working age but unable to work, often because of their caring responsibilities. That means that one in four workers in the country are juggling jobs and caring responsibilities. Despite that, carers have little legal protection in the workplace. Working carers tell us that they are concerned that balancing their responsibilities affects how well they do their job, which is a particular concern during the economic downturn.

Carers have no right to take leave to carry out their caring role, and during the pandemic we have seen that they have no right to be placed on furlough if they need to be. This means they may have faced a choice between quitting a job and not being able to care for a family member or friend. That is not a choice anyone should be facing. The Government have talked about encouraging employers to be supportive of carers on their staff, but encouragement is no substitute for enforceable employment rights. Although the Government consulted last year on introducing a right to carer’s leave, we are still awaiting the outcome of that consultation. Will the Minister update the House on whether a right to carer’s leave will be taken forward?

Financial support is not available to the 800,000 young carers providing support to a parent or a sibling. Due to the support they offer, young carers often miss school and are more likely to get poor exam results than their peers. They face mental health problems as a result of balancing caring with the normal challenges of growing up, and that is often made worse by the fact that nobody knows they are a carer. Only one in 200 young carers receive any support through their local authority, and more than one in three say that nobody at their school knows they are a carer. That lack of support has worsened during the pandemic, with schools closed to many children and the additional caring responsibilities facing all carers. It is no surprise that young carers say they have got more stressed and more isolated over the past year. That will have a huge impact on their future, and we need to act to avoid that. Next week is Young Carers Action Day. Ahead of that, will the Minister say what targeted support is being put in place specifically to support young carers?

Looking beyond the current pandemic, we should be doing much more to support unpaid carers. Perhaps the biggest thing we could do is reduce the burden on them by ensuring that more people are able to access publicly funded social care services. One of the most damaging impacts of the current underfunding of social care is that people have to rely on friends and family members for help with basic tasks such as washing, bathing, using the toilet or having meals. Undertaking that personal care can leave carers without the time or energy to spend quality time with their family member or friend, whether by helping them get out into the community or engaging with their hobbies and leisure.

Carers are unable to take breaks, because there is no alternative care. Funding for respite care has dried up, as local authority budgets come under more pressure. We are now in a situation where 44% of carers say that they would use a respite care break to attend a medical appointment. None of us would consider going to the doctor to be a break, but for many carers, even getting time for a medical appointment for themselves is a luxury. Expanding eligibility for social care and providing comprehensive care packages will not replace unpaid carers, but it will free up time for them to do the things that only they can do—providing support and companionship to the person they care for.

Evidence from Scotland, where a Labour Government introduced free personal care in 2002, shows the impact that expanding social care services had on unpaid carers. Research has shown that having state-funded personal care meant that unpaid carers increasingly focused on emotional and social support.

In 2018, carers were told the reason they were getting only the flimsy carers action plan was that the social care Green Paper would go further and set out more ambitious plans. More than two years later, there has been no Green Paper, so I am sure the Minister will understand that carers are not happy with the continued promise of jam tomorrow. Even if the Government were to bring forward their plans for social care this year, which could be another broken promise, it may be years until those plans are enacted. Carers cannot wait that long. They need support now.

A national strategy would be based on carers’ voices and aim to start meeting their needs rather than ignoring them. As Katy Styles told me:

“The recent budget told unpaid carers and those they care for how much of a priority they are. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer gives carers 35p a week extra and carers work out that they would need two weeks of this increase to buy a can of the Chancellor’s favourite soft drink it tells you everything you need to know.”

As unpaid carer Bart Mekking said:

“My wish is that unpaid carers like me and my wife are noticed. No kind words for they are always empty. At this point, saying that the ‘heroic efforts of carers are appreciated’ sounds more like a snipe. Meaningful actions are needed.”

I wanted to lead this debate today because it is time for meaningful action for carers like Bart and his wife and because it is time we listened to the voices of carers like Katy and recognised the contribution of carers like Rachel. Meaningful action would be ensuring that every unpaid carer is able to access the covid-19 vaccine as a priority, rather than being turned away because they lack the appropriate paperwork; introducing a right for carers to be furloughed from work so that they do not have to choose between working and caring; and a right to carer’s leave. Meaningful action would be increasing financial support to carers, including increasing carer’s allowance; bringing forward the long-awaited reform of social care, so that unpaid carers get the help they need from formal care services; introducing a duty on the NHS to have regard to carers in the upcoming health and care Bill; and publishing a full national carers strategy that is ambitious and long-lasting in order to guarantee that carers remain a priority after this pandemic is over. Anything less than this is letting carers down again and allowing them to bear the cost not just of the covid-19 pandemic but of the Government’s failure to support the social care system.

14:52
Nadine Dorries Portrait The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health (Ms Nadine Dorries) [V]
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I congratulate the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) on securing this debate on the important issue of unpaid carers. I am aware—I am sure everyone is—of her long-term campaigning on this issue. The Government recognise the vital role that unpaid carers play, especially given the difficulties that the coronavirus pandemic has placed on those caring for relatives and loved ones.

At the very beginning of her speech, the hon. Lady raised the support that carers have received during the pandemic. It has included funding through a number of charities to support carers and provide guidance tailored to them to help them self-identify and gain access to the support that they need. She also raised the issue of vaccines. We are aware of the issue she raised about GPs, but she may not be aware that this week we announced that carers are now in Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation table 6 and will be called this week to go for their vaccinations. I take on board the issue with her constituent and the GP, and I will take that back to the Department to have a further look at it, but it is covered under the standard operating procedure and all carers should be receiving their vaccine now.

We are focused on supporting carers during the pandemic. As well as the measures I have just mentioned, our response has included free personal protective equipment for unpaid carers living separately from the people they care for, priority for vaccines in line with JCVI advice, as I have mentioned, funding through the charities for guidance, and £500,000 to the Carers Trust to provide support to unpaid carers experiencing loneliness during the pandemic. We have also provided £122,000 to Carers UK to extend its helpline opening hours and have funded the See, Hear, Respond service to provide support to children, young people and families who are affected by the coronavirus crisis, which includes a dedicated young carers hub.

Funding has also been made available through the infection control fund, some of which can be used by local authorities to reopen or reconfigure day care centres, which provide vital respite to carers and allow those they care for to meet others. We are helping to ensure the safe continuation and restarting of day services, and have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance to day care centres. We have also undertaken work with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and local authorities to understand the barriers to opening and reopening day centres.

On social care funding, which can be used to provide services for unpaid carers, as well as those with eligible needs, we are providing local authorities with access to more than £1 billion of additional funding for social care in 2021-22. That includes £300 million of new grant funding for social care, on top of the £1 billion social care grant announced in 2019, which is being maintained, in line with our manifesto commitment. The Government are also enabling local authorities to access up to £790 million of new funding for adult social care through a 3% adult social care precept. We are also providing local authorities with further packages of support worth an estimated £3 billion in 2021-22 to help manage the impact of covid-19 across their services and on income. Some £1.55 billion of the £3 billion is being provided as un-ring-fenced grant funding to directly address spending pressures on local authority services, including adult social care.

In 2019-20, more than 375,000 carers in England were supported by local authorities, with more than 315,000 carers receiving direct support, including information, advice and other services. In addition, in excess of 45,000 carers have received respite or other carer support delivered to the person they care for. Our funding continues to support local authorities in maintaining care services, while keeping up with the rising demand and the recovery from the impact of covid-19.

Let me turn to the two-year carers action plan, which was published in June 2018. The plan set out a cross-Government programme of targeted work to support all carers in England until the end of 2020. The action plan put a focus on practical actions to support carers, recognising and supporting unpaid carers to provide care in a way that protects their own health and wellbeing, employment and other life chances.

Good progress has been made towards fulfilling the commitments set out in the plan. In July 2019 we published the carers action plan one-year progress review, which showcases some of the key commitments we made within the action plan—for example, the Carer Confident benchmarking scheme, launched in January 2019, which aims to encourage workplaces to have policies to enable carers to stay in employment, and the carer passport scheme, which increases recognition of the carer’s role by connecting them to local support to make their lives a little easier.

In June 2019, the Social Care Institute for Excellence and Carers UK published new guidance to improve the provision of carers’ breaks. The Government are committed to the improvement of the adult social care system and will bring forward proposals in 2021. Our objectives for reform are to enable an affordable, high-quality and sustainable social care system that meets people’s needs, while supporting health and care to join up services around people. We want to ensure that every person receives the care they need and is provided with the dignity they deserve.

We recognise unpaid carers as a key part of our health and social care system and as part of ensuring the best outcomes for those they care for. That includes a wide range of people with different conditions and circumstances. We look forward to continuing to work with carer organisations and stakeholders across the public sector to help unpaid carers to gain access to the support that they are entitled to but often do not claim, and to build on the pandemic response.

Ensuring support for carers does not rely on one Department or on Government alone. We will continue to work with the public sector and carer organisations and across Government to understand the needs of unpaid carers and how best to support them to care as they would wish to care, balancing their caring role with their own health and wellbeing.

I conclude by extending my thanks on behalf of the country to unpaid carers for their invaluable support, and to those providing support to them for everything they do.

Question put and agreed to.

15:00
House adjourned.

Ministerial Corrections

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Ministerial Corrections
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Friday 12 March 2021

Health and Social Care

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Ministerial Corrections
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Women's Health Strategy
The following are extracts from the statement on women’s health strategy on 8 March 2021.
Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I reiterate that what we are announcing today is a call for evidence from women everywhere in the UK: from every organisation and every friend, every partner, every family of every woman.

[Official Report, 8 March 2021, Vol. 690, c. 539.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Ms Dorries).

An error has been identified in my response to a question arising from the statement.

The correct response should have been:

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I reiterate that what we are announcing today is a call for evidence from women everywhere in England: from every organisation and every friend, every partner, every family of every woman.

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I hope that, as we do on all issues related to health, we and the devolved nations will share data and the methods of collecting it, experience and the evidence to develop a women’s health strategy, which will one day be rolled out across the UK.

[Official Report, 8 March 2021, Vol. 690, c. 540.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Ms Dorries).

An error has been identified in my response to a question arising from the statement.

The correct response should have been:

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I hope that, as we do on all issues related to health, we and the devolved nations will share data and the methods of collecting it, experience and the evidence to develop a women’s health strategy, which will one day be rolled out across England.

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that working with charities, organisations, the third sector and all women, and their families and friends, across the UK is really important.

[Official Report, 8 March 2021, Vol. 690, c. 547.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Ms Dorries).

An error has been identified in my response to a question arising from the statement.

The correct response should have been:

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that working with charities, organisations, the third sector and all women, and their families and friends, across England is really important.

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is really important that BAME women understand that we want to hear their stories and birth experiences. BAME women are five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. We need to know what those issues are, and it is important to get that message out to those women.

[Official Report, 8 March 2021, Vol. 690, c. 548.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Ms Dorries).

An error has been identified in my response to a question arising from the statement.

The correct response should have been:

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is really important that BAME women understand that we want to hear their stories and birth experiences. BAME women are just over four times more likely to die from causes associated with their pregnancy and childbirth than white women. We need to know what those issues are, and it is important to get that message out to those women.

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is really important to us that as many women from as many backgrounds and as many geographical locations as possible across the UK respond to this call for evidence.

[Official Report, 8 March 2021, Vol. 690, c. 548.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health, the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Ms Dorries).

An error has been identified in my response to a question arising from the statement.

The correct response should have been:

Nadine Dorries Portrait Ms Dorries
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is really important to us that as many women from as many backgrounds and as many geographical locations as possible across England respond to this call for evidence.

Petition

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Petitions
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Friday 12 March 2021

Independent review of Dyfed-Powys Police

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Petitions
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The petition of Julia and Robin Burn,
Declares that, in 2010, in conducting their investigations into allegations made against the petitioners, Dyfed-Powys Police did not proceed in accordance with the appropriate National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) guidance; further declares that these allegations were later found to be groundless and without merit; further that this resulted in the petitioners’ mute autistic daughter being taken into local authority care for six months; and further that, after no further action was taken, no attempt was made to return her.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to instigate an independent review of Dyfed-Powys Police’s handling of this case.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Nia Griffith, Official Report, 2 December 2020; Vol. 685, c. 378 .]
[P002633]
Observations from The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse):
The petitioners have raised concerns about the role of Dyfed-Powys Police and its involvement and interaction with them since 2010 following allegations of a serious and sensitive nature concerning their daughter.
Subsequent criminal allegations made against and by the petitioners have been investigated and, as appropriate, reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service; complaints against the force have been investigated at a local level and externally by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC); subsequent directions by the IOPC have been implemented; and civil claim proceedings between the petitioners and the force settled.[Official Report, 19 May 2021, Vol. 695, c. 6MC.]
Further requests to revisit this matter have been rejected by the Dyfed-Powys Police as it is of the view that due process has been followed and there is no new or fresh evidence to justify doing so.
Taking all these factors into account, the Government are of the view that there are no grounds for establishing an independent review of Dyfed-Powys Police’s handling of this case.

House of Lords

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Friday 12 March 2021
The House met in a hybrid proceeding.
11:00
Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Southwark.

Arrangement of Business

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Announcement
11:05
Baroness Garden of Frognal Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)
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The Hybrid Sitting of the House will now begin. Some Members are here in the Chamber, others are participating remotely, but all will be treated equally. I ask all Members to respect social distancing and, if the capacity of the Chamber is exceeded, I will immediately adjourn the House. I see that some noble Lords are standing—the custom is that, when the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker is standing, no one else is.

Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) (No. 2) Bill

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading
Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
Read Full debate Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2021 View all Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2021 Debates Read Hansard Text
Second Reading (and remaining stages)
11:05
Bill read a second time. Committee negatived. Standing Order 44 having been dispensed with, the Bill was read a third time and passed.

Arrangement of Business

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Announcement
11:07
Baroness Garden of Frognal Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)
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The time limit for this debate is five hours. I remind Back-Bench speakers that they have two minutes to speak; time is very tight, so please do not exceed your time.

Budget Statement

Friday 12th March 2021

(3 years, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Motion to Take Note
11:07
Moved by
Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

That this House takes note of the economy in light of the Budget statement.

Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait The Minister of State, Cabinet Office and the Treasury (Lord Agnew of Oulton) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My Lords, the Budget that the Chancellor set out last week has three key elements. First, it protects jobs and livelihoods and provides additional support to get the British people and businesses through the pandemic. Secondly, it is clear and honest about the need to fix the public finances. Thirdly, it starts the work of building our future economy, including by providing opportunities to level up across the country.

The Budget announced additional measures worth £65 billion to support the economy through the pandemic this year and next. Added to last November’s spending review, the number is £352 billion and, taking into account measures from the spring Budget last year, the figure rises to £407 billion. The OBR now expects the UK economy to recover to its pre-crisis level six months earlier than originally expected—in the second rather than the fourth quarter of 2022.

Importantly, the Budget extends the furlough scheme until the end of September. Support for the self-employed will also continue until September, with an additional 600,000 people now potentially eligible to claim. The universal credit uplift of £20 a week will be maintained for a further six months and working tax credit claimants will receive equivalent support over the same timeframe.

Among other things, the Budget also reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to increase the national living wage to £8.91 an hour from April. It also announced a new restart grant in April to help businesses to reopen and get going again, as well as a new recovery loan scheme to replace our earlier bounce-back loans and coronavirus business interruption loans.

The Chancellor was also open about the longer-term fiscal challenge that we now face. The Budget does not raise the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. Instead, it maintains personal tax thresholds on income tax, inheritance tax, the pensions lifetime allowance and the annual exempt amount in capital gains tax, with higher earners affected the most. It also announced an increase in corporation tax to 25% from 2023. Importantly, 25% is still the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7 and companies that make less than £50,000 profit annually will only be subject to a 19% tax rate. Given that the Government are providing businesses with over £100 billion of support to get through the current crisis, it is only right to ask them to contribute to our recovery.

The third component of the Budget is a series of initiatives and measures to support the investment-led recovery that the country needs. A new super deduction will, in some cases, allow companies to reduce their taxable profits by 130% of the cost of the investment that they make in plants and machinery, which is equivalent to a 25p tax cut for every pound that they invest. Worth £25 billion over the two years that it is in place, the super deduction represents the biggest business tax cut in modern British history.

The Budget also announced, among other things, the creation of the first ever UK infrastructure bank, headquartered in Leeds. Two new schemes—Help to Grow and Help to Grow: Digital—will help tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses to get world-class management training and help them to develop their digital skills. We are helping to ensure that we have access to the talent that we need through the reforms that we are making to our visa system.

Achieving an investment-led recovery means allowing investment to flow more freely, which is why we want to give the pensions industry more flexibility to unlock billions of pounds from pension funds into innovative new ventures. Alongside these measures, our commitment to levelling up across the United Kingdom is reflected in the £4.8 billion levelling-up fund; accelerated city and growth deals in places such as Ayrshire, Falkirk, north Wales and Swansea Bay; more than a £1 billion for 45 new towns deals; and a £150 million fund to help communities across the United Kingdom take ownership of pubs, theatres, shops or local sports clubs at risk of loss. This complements the inward investment that will be attracted through the announcement of eight new freeports in eight English regions.

The country has experienced the worst fall in GDP in three centuries—not the 1976 sterling crisis, not the Second World War, not the First World War, not the Napoleonic War; this has been harder financially than all those. In response, the Chancellor has presented a plan that will continue to protect jobs and livelihoods and to support British people and businesses through this moment of crisis. It will begin to fix the public finances and will start the work of building our future economy through investment-led recovery.

Baroness Garden of Frognal Portrait The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)
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My Lords, I should have added that the maiden speakers all have an extra minute and the welcomers an extra 30 seconds. I call the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell.

11:12
Lord Eatwell Portrait Lord Eatwell (Lab)
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My Lords, in these very uncertain times, it is inevitable that some of the Budget measures will prove an unexpected success and some an unexpected failure. So, instead of dealing with detail, I will focus on the inspiration and what the Budget tells us about the Chancellor’s thinking—his economic philosophy, if you like.

Fortunately, that philosophy is summed up in the Budget speech:

“The only reason we have been able to respond as boldly as we have to covid is because 10 years of Conservative Governments painstakingly rebuilt our fiscal resilience.”—[Official Report, Commons, 3/3/21; col. 255.]


Note that he said: “The only reason”. For the Chancellor, the prime objective of government policy must be fiscal resilience—the heartbeat of austerity. There was no mention of the impact of those 10 years on public services desperately understaffed as the pandemic hit, no mention of the lack of 35,000 nurses in the NHS—indeed, no mention of the NHS at all—and no mention of the fact that we entered the pandemic with a little over six intensive care unit beds per 100,000 population, compared with double that number in France and Italy and five times that number in Germany.

For the Chancellor, fiscal resilience is paramount and the unique determinant of economic success. Hence the grandstanding on future tax rises in the Budget. For the future is to be dominated not solely by higher taxation but by cuts in government spending on top of the cuts already announced in the autumn. These are deemed necessary to pay off the debt. Overall, it is deflation in excess of £30 billion a year—year after year. How well founded is the Chancellor’s assertion that austerity is

“The only reason we have been able to respond”?


As is evident from the OBR report, the increase in government spending to counter the pandemic was funded almost entirely by the Bank of England. Does anyone really believe that the Bank would have refused to fund the increase?

Is the Chancellor right to suggest that fiscal resilience should be his principal objective, or is his obsession distorting the Government’s entire approach to economic policy? Let us be clear: the prime objective of government economic policy should be the management of demand for the nation’s real resources, labour and productive capacity. The Government should set fiscal policy to ensure the very best use of resources today and development of resources for the future. If this involves more debt, then that is the best economic decision; if it involves more taxation, then that is the best decision. The role of taxation is not to pay off the debt but to be part of a balanced programme of fiscal and monetary policy to stimulate the real output needed for the achievement of the Government’s goals: health, education, defence of the realm, decent living standards, tackling climate change and so on.

Of course, the mixture of taxation, spending and debt decrease or increase may have other consequences that must be taken into account. For example, the OBR demonstrates that quantitative easing has lowered the maturity of UK debt, making it more interest rate-sensitive. That is serious. There may be other effects in the money markets. For example, holders of government bonds may come to believe that current policy will increase inflation. It does not matter whether the belief is true or false; if the result is that they sell off bonds, interest rates will tend to rise. Given his important responsibility of managing expectations, there is market danger in the Chancellor’s suggestion that fiscal resilience should be the paramount goal.

If, instead, we view the Budget through the lens of a programme of monetary and fiscal policy that secures the highest real output, some key consequences emerge. In a speech last week, the Governor of the Bank of England defined the ideal post-pandemic economic policy: the cost of the Covid shock

“has to be managed, and it will be easier to do that with a higher trend rate of growth, boosted by stronger investment.”

Have the Government provided a plan for stronger investment? The approach in the Budget is best characterised as, “There’s a problem, so throw money at it and hope it works. There’s a lack of investment, so throw money at super deduction for two years.” The result is spelled out by the OBR: long-term investment will not be increased, just shifted around. There will be a two-year boost to take advantage of the subsidy, then a decline. For companies to invest, they do not need super deductions; they need the prospect of growing demand for their products. What does this Budget offer them? Miserable rates of demand growth: 1.5% in 2023, 1.6% in 2024 and 1.7% in 2025—no long-term strategy for investment.

Similarly, there is a housing crisis. Let us throw money at it in the form of stamp duty holidays and a mortgage guarantee. The result? Sharply rising house prices and a few more houses. Has the Chancellor not noticed that house prices have risen by 8.5% in the midst of the worst recession of modern times? There is no long-term strategy for housing.

So, where is the plan for investment? Well, there is what I can only describe as a PR brochure, Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth, published by the Treasury. It is full of wonderful, glossy photographs and a lucky dip of proposals on infrastructure, skills, innovation and the environment, but the photos fail to disguise the fact that there is no unifying framework, a complete absence of any plan for implementation or monitoring, no institutional oversight and no evidence of consultation —nothing to encourage the commitment of private investment, and no strategic thinking for an investment decade. How could there be when fiscal resilience and spending cuts have to come first?

The pandemic has imposed a massive cost on the British economy, the real cost of lost output, lost jobs, furloughed idleness and collapsed businesses, the highest death rate in the G7 and the biggest fall in production. But there is an economic opportunity. New thinking can define a break from the policies of the past 10 miserable years. Just as, after the war, Britain built a better society, we can build a new economy and a new society now, but only if monetary and fiscal policy are the servants of a building programme; not if, as for the Chancellor, the real economy is to be squeezed in the service of outdated fiscal orthodoxy.

11:21
Lord Fox Portrait Lord Fox (LD)
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My Lords, we have a long debate in front of us and, in opening for the Liberal Democrats, I will not try to cover every single item in the Budget. I will not have time to go into detail about the £10 billion of debt amassed during the Covid crisis by the poorest households. I will leave it to others to explain why the universal credit uplift should be made permanent, and why this debt should be addressed before we see a further escalation of homelessness across the country. Similarly, I will not speak in detail about the challenge facing small businesses, viable enterprises that have supported jobs in our communities in the travel, tourism and creative sectors, for example—viable businesses, but already experiencing a debt crisis while facing spiralling fixed costs. Instead of giving them a ladder out of this hole, the Budget offers them a chance to dig themselves into more debt through the recovery loan scheme. This debt will haunt the economy for years.

I want to focus on two other big gaps in this Budget. The first is the national strategy deficit. Anyone reading the two inches of documents that come with modern Budgets will see that there is no shortage of the word “strategy”, but no actual evidence of strategy; instead, we have broad aims. There is the aim of net zero by 2050, for example, but no plan in this Budget or anywhere else for how we are going to get there. Indeed, some of the Budget measures cut across net zero.

Then we come to industrial strategy. In this instance, the Chancellor inherited something that had worked across several Parliaments. Sitting atop this was the Industrial Strategy Council. It was launched as a joint industry-government body that would steer the UK to higher productivity. As the noble Lord, Lord Henley, the then Conservative Minister for BEIS, said in 2017:

“The Industrial Strategy Council will be independent. It will be responsible for putting the right evaluation and reporting structures in place and make recommendations to government on industrial strategy.”


Then, last week, it was abolished. There was no announcement to Parliament, no Statement to your Lordships, just short letters to the council members. There was a chorus of disapproval in British manufacturing. In justifying their decision, the letters note:

“The UK is in a completely different situation than it was in 2017.”


It cites Brexit, the net zero challenge and Covid. Can the Minister explain why these three challenges make the need for an industrial strategy less, rather than more, urgent?

This decision officially confirms that BEIS is a vassal of the Treasury, a Treasury led by a Chancellor to whom the concept of a strategic approach to manufacturing seems anathema. Instead of this, Her Majesty’s Government have the Build Back Better document. This is actually a rehash of existing activities. It recycles 142 pre-existing policy initiatives, and these do not hang together that well. I would call the document flimsy, but it is bulked out with acres of colour photography, and therein lies the explanation: this is a Government dazzled by flash photographic announcements and bored by the hard graft of strategic development. They are insouciant about delivery.

The second gap I want to briefly cover concerns social care and its relationship with local government finance. This Budget is eerily quiet about this vital service, and this silence is a scandal. We all know what it means to elderly, vulnerable people to have recourse to proper care, and we all know that this is failing people every day. But there is a second, knock-on issue. The 5% rise in this year’s council tax will hit everyone, the poorest and richest, and 60% of this rise is due to the social care precept that the Treasury is essentially forcing local councils to raise. Since 2016, this precept has added hundreds of pounds to individual council tax bills all over the country. In short, councils are being made to tax local residents to shore up the failing social care system, so that the Conservatives can pretend that they are not doing it.

Once again, this is no strategy for social care, just a tactic of lumping it to hard-pressed councils. Meanwhile, the money these councils have to spend on other services—roads, libraries, the bins and other care—is being squeezed, so squeezed that the Government are allowing some councils to capitalise revenue spend. This capitalisation is essentially mortgaging future revenue. I ask the Minister: how is this prudent or just for future council tax payers? How do the Government think the levelling-up agenda can succeed when red wall seat councils are being squeezed so hard in this way?

This country is just beginning the long road to economic recovery from Covid. Our businesses are only now realising the huge economic stress of Brexit, and we are in the very first stages of addressing the climate emergency. To meet these three challenges, we need something more than glossy photographs and clever slogans; we need strategic focus and a Government who get down to the hard graft of delivery. This Budget offers little prospect of that.

11:27
Lord Lamont of Lerwick Portrait Lord Lamont of Lerwick (Con)
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My Lords, this is the first time I have ever spoken in a Budget debate in the Lords and I am making my “maiden speech” only because I want to support the Chancellor at a time when there are no easy answers—it is a very difficult situation. I always listen with respect to the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, but I disagree with him over fiscal resilience and its importance. The central dilemma for the Chancellor in this Budget is how he can start repairing the public finances without endangering the recovery. He resolved that dilemma by delaying the increases in corporation tax and the freezing of personal allowances, again delayed for one year. This staging gives the recovery the chance to get established, and I believe that was the right judgment.

Overall, the Budget increases the tax burden by 1% of GDP, which is uncomfortable for many of my noble friends on this side of the House, but we have been through phases like this before, in the early 1980s and other periods when fiscal tightening, far from killing off growth, ushered in long periods of expansion, which is what enables us to pay for good public services. We should not succumb to the mistaken interpretations of Lafferism or Reaganomics that led America astray in the 1980s. Some will criticise the increase in corporation tax, but once you have ruled out the three main taxes, as was done in the Conservative manifesto, the Chancellor had little choice. The question remains whether such a large increase in corporation tax can be delivered: moving the tax up in one go to 25% may cause prospective investors a bit of hesitation.

The OBR talks of lowering investment in the medium term, and I would appreciate it if my noble friend Lord Agnew would comment on that very obvious reservation that the OBR expresses. I believe that the Chancellor has risen to these unprecedented challenges flexibly and pragmatically, and I support him.

Baroness Garden of Frognal Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)
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We welcome the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley.

11:29
Lord Khan of Burnley Portrait Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab) (Maiden Speech)
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My Lords, it is indeed an honour and privilege to make my first contribution to your Lordships’ House. I express my gratitude to noble Lords across the House for the warm and kind welcome which I have received. I particularly thank Black Rod, the clerks of Parliament, the doorkeepers and the security guards for their patience and guidance and for always going the extra mile in these challenging times. I could not have asked for better supporters than my noble friends Lord Harris of Haringey and Lady Hayman of Ullock. Both are inspiring public servants who have taught me so much already and continue to answer my never-ending questions.

Choosing Burnley for my title is recognition of the pride and affection I have for the town where I was born and have always lived. When working as a taxi driver as I studied for my master’s degree in European law, I really enjoyed the warmth of local people. As my taxi driver father agreed, it also felt like a public counselling service late on Saturday nights.

My first connection with your Lordships’ House was when I collected my noble friend Lord Clarke of Hampstead from Preston train station and drove him to Burnley, where he was leading a commission on the 2001 disturbances in the northern towns. This takes me to the current debate.

We are still waiting for a balanced economy where there is equal distribution of wealth across all regions and, in particular, the north. Will the Minister reflect on this point and ensure that investment is not just for infrastructure but also to empower local people to engage in decisions affecting their lives? I hope the concept of a “northern powerhouse” does not end up being a “northern poorhouse” due to the lack of attention and perpetual rhetoric without any action or meaningful devolution.

Having served in the European Parliament, I am accustomed to time-restricted speeches. I finish by saying that I will continue to work on the issues which I have always championed: human rights, climate change, workers’ rights and gender equality. I look forward to working with and getting to know noble Lords across this remarkable House and in this great city—the mayor of which shares my surname. Although I am the first Lord Khan to take a seat in this magnificent Chamber, I hope not to be the last.

11:31
Lord West of Spithead Portrait Lord West of Spithead (Lab)
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My Lords, I am delighted to follow my noble friend Lord Khan of Burnley and congratulate him on his splendid maiden speech. Born in 1979, he is the youngest ever mayor of Burnley. He makes me feel ancient; when he was born, I was a lieutenant-commander serving on HMS “Norfolk” in the South Pacific—noble Lords can imagine that it was hell out there. I was shocked to find that there had never been an HMS “Burnley”, but the town had an affiliation with a sister ship I fought alongside in the Falklands, HMS “Active”, so all is well.

My noble friend Lord Khan graduated in law in 2002 and gained a masters in 2004. As he mentioned, while studying he worked as a taxi driver. I think we will have to wait to find out who else he had in the back of his cab. He became a local councillor in 2007, was re-elected in 2011, was elected unopposed in 2015 and had 90% of the vote in 2019—which, I have to say, all sounds a bit like the Chinese legislature, but never mind. During this time, he was a university lecturer and he became an MEP in 2017. The Burnley race riots of 2001 had a huge impact on him and inspired him to develop numerous community cohesion projects. I think he should be particularly proud of his ground-breaking higher education programmes to increase academic participation among women of the south Asian community. Wajid, you are a very valuable Member of this House, and I extend to you all our warmest welcome.

The Budget says it delivers security today. It is a bold claim, and one that demands not just economic strength and financial security for our people but also robust defence. I have spoken after every Budget for the last decade and bemoaned the fact that defence normally gets only one sentence. In this Budget—admittedly, post Covid—it does not get any. The world is more dangerous and unstable than for many years, and the pandemic has exacerbated that trend. I hope that, after 11 years of cutting defence spending, the Government will not rest on their laurels of the welcome increase in the spending review last November, because without more resources our military capability will continue to decline. We all know that in 10 days’ time we will find out whether that is happening, and I look forward to that with interest.

On a more positive note, I welcome the formation of an ARPA equivalent and the increase in R&D funding. We need technological innovation, not least to ensure zero-carbon energy in the future. A small number of large nuclear reactors, supported by many advanced modular reactors, and a massive use of hydrogen in conjunction with renewables is the way ahead. We can no longer afford to delay the nuclear programme.

Lastly, on a subject close to my heart, how will the Government contribute to kick-starting the much-needed decarbonisation of the maritime sector? Will it be through the newly established infrastructure bank or other institutions?

11:34
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill Portrait Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD) [V]
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My Lords, first I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Khan.

This is surely a Budget of unintended consequences. For two years, investment in plants and machinery will qualify for a 130% capital allowances relief, which means an extra £25 tax reduction for a spend of £100. I am sure the creative tax avoidance industry is already working on a redefinition of what is “plants and machinery”. It has been suggested that fixtures such as fire alarms, swimming pools and jacuzzis could qualify. I suppose that we could see a claim for an industrial duck house. Let us be clear: the tax relief is not only for the cost of the duck house but for more than the cost. At the same time, this Budget will drag more people into the tax net by freezing personal allowances. Then there is the increase in corporation tax—but not until 2023, so as to give enough time for business to relocate overseas.

The Government have failed to appreciate the administration burden they create, such as the implementation of the VAT reverse charge, which is a severe burden on the construction industry. I hope that the Minister can announce, at least, a suspension of the charge, reducing administration and thus rectifying the restriction to cash flow in the supply chain.

I compliment my noble friend Lord Fox on raising the lack of strategy in this Budget and the lack of noticing the problems with social care. These are the overall faults of this Budget—a Budget of unintended consequences with nice-sounding words.

11:36
Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court Portrait Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, on his eloquent maiden speech.

There is much in this Budget which is sensible. It is right to support the economy at the current time. It is right to support people who cannot work and businesses that cannot open. Some of the measures are ingenious; I regret not having advised the then Chancellor Alistair Darling to implement a super-deduction. The Chancellor is also right to focus on repairing the public finances once this crisis is over. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, I do not think that we can rely on the Bank of England indefinitely buying the huge amounts of debt that the Government are issuing.

As they repair the public finances, I encourage the Government to be mindful of two issues. First, the proposed rise in corporation tax is very steep, and here I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Lamont. The deductions available against the tax are small. Britain risks becoming uncompetitive as a result, with activity moving to lower-tax jurisdictions. I am sceptical that the tax will raise as much revenue as the OBR suggests.

Secondly, the Government have further tightened their spending projections in the medium term. But, apart from cutting overseas aid and announcing a pay policy which may or may not be deliverable, they have shown little inclination to take the tough decisions to live within those plans. All the pressures in the coming period are going to be upwards—whether improving NHS capacity or the quality of social care. Meanwhile, demographic pressures are accelerating.

Controlling spending is hard work. The so-called unprotected programmes are now so small they cannot yield the savings that the Chancellor needs. He will have to take difficult decisions, and soon—for example, revisiting the triple lock on the state pension. But, in the end, I fear further tax rises will be necessary, so I continue to recommend a temporary social solidarity charge.

11:38
Lord Risby Portrait Lord Risby (Con)
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My Lords, a year ago the OBR forecasted a horrendous rate of unemployment of 11.9%. It is now likely to be 6.5%—of course, that is bad enough. But, most fortuitously, our finances were virtually in balance when the pandemic struck, and we should simply remind ourselves that the lack of good budgetary housekeeping before the financial crash played its part in seeing unemployment rise to 8.5%.

We will bounce back quicker than many countries, assisted by high cash levels, but, most importantly, we must drive our trade and export capabilities. Every Member of your Lordships’ House should welcome the enormous efforts to do this and wean ourselves away from such traditional dependence on the British consumer. The 63 signed trade deals offer the prospect of forging trade relationships in faster-growing regions. A huge increase in UK export finance will help to facilitate this and export promotion extends to small and medium-sized businesses too. Surely the Commonwealth offers considerable potential for trade and investment. That really needs focus and attention; many of their leaders will be here for COP 26.

With our gigantic level of borrowing, in due course fiscal restraint will be imperative. That will mean, as announced, targeted tax rises. There are some inklings of higher interest rates emerging already. Thus, without real prudence we could just potentially face renewed financial pressures of severity. However, I hope that greater growth will provide an offset. Meanwhile, the so-called super-deduction will give an enormous incentive to invest for innovation and to modernise our industrial and technological capabilities, which would be very welcome. This Budget, in such enormously difficult circumstances, deserves our support.

11:41
Baroness Quin Portrait Baroness Quin (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I begin with warmest congratulations to my new noble friend Lord Khan.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer understandably spoke at length in his Budget speech about the effect of Covid on the economy but managed to avoid any mention whatever of the Government’s Brexit deal, which is creating huge problems for our economy and our exporters. We remember the Prime Minister trumpeting his deal on Christmas Eve and claiming, astonishingly, that it meant no non-tariff barriers. In saying this, was he deliberately telling us a lie, or did he not understand the deal that he had put his signature to? The new barriers to doing business in our biggest and nearest market are harming industries as diverse as the fishing industry on the one hand and our hitherto outstanding successful creative industries on the other. In my local area, some small businesses which export to the EU and which want to grow have suddenly lost half of their trade, with the food and drink sector particularly badly affected.

The Prime Minister also promised us a Brexit windfall for the NHS, but nurses’ pay goes up only 1%. Please can the Government reconsider that?

The Budget contained controversial announcements on the levelling-up agenda. For example, the Chancellor’s own area in North Yorkshire was given a higher priority than other much less well-off places. I note that in my own region, the north-east, the only good news was for Teesside and Darlington, both of which have Conservative politicians the Government are keen to shore up. Nothing was given to any areas north of Teesside. Why were those areas excluded?

Finally, I regret strongly that the levelling-up money is being distributed by centrally controlled and centrally judged schemes, which involve would-be beneficiaries spending valuable time and resources in putting forward bids with no guarantee of success. Can we not have a fair allocation of this money based on need and on a genuine partnership between central government and the local areas concerned?

11:43
Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted Portrait Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (LD) [V]
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My Lords, the Chancellor has put in place more support for the economy. Unfortunately, it still contains unfairness, especially to the self-employed, such as freelance musicians, which mars what are otherwise generous provisions. It is hard to see generosity going everywhere else, knowing that you will share in the payback. While continuing help through furlough schemes, rate support, stamp duty and VAT reductions is to be phased out, it looks like a cliff edge for universal credit—although I think the £20 should be made permanent and that spare money would be better spent on stimulating growth than on house prices.

Balancing longer-term public finances looks challenging to meet by 2025; there is plenty of time for corporate pressure before the 25% tax rate kicks in, and the public service savings plans look unrealistic, horrifying, or both. The autumn spending review already took £12 billion a year out of pre-pandemic plans, and the Budget claims another £4 billion. How can that be done with backlogs in spending needs everywhere—in school catch-up, cancelled operations, court hearings, broken public transport and failed social care?

We may have had honesty about some of the problems that lie ahead and when tax changes will take effect, but while the Chancellor has stuck to tax promises in the manifesto, he has not stuck with the pandemic manifesto of “Save the NHS”. There is no saving the NHS with a 1% pay rise for nurses or with the pre-Covid spending plans, when there is a year’s backlog of missed treatments, some, sadly, causing loss of life, but many creating greater need, and alongside that, long-term Covid requirements and vaccine top-ups.

11:45
Lord Bates Portrait Lord Bates (Con)
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My Lords, in this long debate and in the substantial number of documents that accompany this Budget Statement, one fact should stand out to all of us. It states that we have experienced a shock the like of which we have never seen in the 300 years we have been keeping records of our economic performance—we have never seen anything like it in 300 years. And yet we are told by the noble Lord, Lord Agnew, and by the Chancellor, that we can expect to recover to pre-Covid levels in the second quarter of 2022. That is tribute to the remarkable and breath-taking resilience of the British people and British business, and that should give us pride and confidence for the future.

11:46
Lord King of Lothbury Portrait Lord King of Lothbury (CB) [V]
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My Lords, none of us envies the Chancellor, who faces bigger challenges than those confronted by many of his predecessors. However, Budgets should be judged by their contribution to economic stability, not their political gimmicks.

I am concerned about the change to the remit of the Bank of England. Independence of the Bank was accompanied by a clear mandate expressed by the inflation target. When asset purchases commenced in 2009, the framework was established to ensure that the Bank did not become the arbiter of credit allocation among different sectors and different companies. But the new remit requires the bank to do just that, and to

“reflect the importance of environmental sustainability and the transition to net zero”—[Official Report, Commons, 3/3/21; col. 259.]

in its purchases of corporate bonds.

Some may argue that this is a harmless gesture; after all, given the inflation outlook, it is far from obvious that there will be new asset purchases by the Bank. But what seems a harmless gesture today may prove damaging tomorrow. I know that climate change arouses passions, but that is no reason to embroil the Bank of England in what should be the responsibility of government. Climate change and declining biodiversity are serious issues that merit proper debate. Fiddling with the Bank of England’s remit, while at the same time taking no action on a carbon tax and freezing fuel duty again, are gestures, not a coherent policy. More importantly, they are the first steps on a slippery slope to undermining the independence of the Bank, and we cannot afford to lose that.

Baroness Garden of Frognal Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Garden of Frognal) (LD)
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The noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Earl, Lord Caithness.

11:48
Earl of Caithness Portrait The Earl of Caithness (Con)
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My Lords, the Chancellor will long be remembered for his clever and sympathetic handling of the terrible pandemic that we have been through. As my noble friend Lord Bates just said, it is a remarkable tribute that we are where we are.

However, I hope that he will be remembered for something else, too. It is a word that my noble friend Lord Agnew did not use when he opened this debate: productivity. In the 1980s, productivity was about 2.5%. We could double living standards every 30 years. Since the 1990s, it has fallen to an abysmally low level and the OBR forecast is that it will not improve that much in future. My noble friend mentioned that he was planning to do something on management, but can he be more specific on how we will get the long tail of British businesses that are unproductive to be more productive with better management? It has been a long-term failing of the British, and we really need to get a grip on it for the future. Without productivity, we cannot increase the economic cake and therefore cannot get larger slices.

I turn to VAT. I would like to see one area of it increased. In our report, the Food, Poverty, Health and Environment Committee recommended increasing VAT on unhealthy food. The Government noted the idea but have not acted on it. Will my noble friend take that away and come back? Getting us to eat better food will reduce the costs for the NHS hugely—by billions of pounds.

My third and final point refers to free ports. Why do the Government think that free ports will work this time when they did not work terribly well last time?

11:50
Baroness Doocey Portrait Baroness Doocey (LD)
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My Lords, much of the tourism sector has fallen through the cracks of government funding for business during the pandemic. Touring coach operators, English language schools and event organisers are not eligible for leisure and hospitality grants, despite the fact that they bring in £15 billion a year, which is half of all inbound tourism revenue. The Budget has not changed that, so will the Government ask councils to prioritise some of the £425 million in new ARG grants specifically to those sectors and agree to include those businesses in the extended business rate and start-up grants? The details of those grants have not yet been announced, but it is essential the Government do not make the same mistakes as we have at the moment.

For example, a travel agent who sells a ticket to a customer for a tour is eligible for support, but the tour or coach operator who actually takes the customer on the tour is not. Children’s nurseries are eligible for support, despite the fact that they are open, but language schools, which have had to close, are not, despite the fact that they host half a million overseas students a year and bring in £1.2 billion a year. Finally, car hire premises, which have been open all the time, are eligible for support, but coach hire premises, which were forced to close and have seen their business decimated, are not. Frankly, you just could not make it up.

I make a plea to the Government urgently to address those anomalies and target support to those businesses, which bring in £15 billion a year in export earnings, employ 250,000 people and are hanging on by just a thread.

11:53
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Portrait Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP) [V]
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My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Khan, and look forward to working with him on climate change—speaking of which, as a Green, I was intensely disappointed by the Government’s Budget. It is clear that they do not understand the climate emergency that we are facing, and they put in pathetic action on moving forward.

Green Party policy is that taxation, including a carbon tax, can incentivise the transition to a low-carbon economy while reducing inequality and supporting vital services. Corporation tax is one of the most powerful levers Governments can use to adjust the way the economy works. The argument about tax should not be about good and bad; tax should be used strategically to manage an economy for the common good. Allowing companies to avoid their tax responsibilities to pay for infrastructure and health and education services is short-sighted when they depend on those very services to function effectively. We would support a windfall tax for those companies that have seen profits spiral during the pandemic.

Our Budget proposals headline a range of environmental taxes that can provide incentives to speed up the transition to sustainability. The first and foremost is a high and rising carbon tax. We propose £100 now rising to £500 by 2030. It is a radical move, but one that reflects the existential climate crisis that we are facing and lives up to the climate rhetoric that, from the mouths of other politicians, turns out to be only hot air. Our carbon tax proposal is matched by a proposal to ensure that money is generated to compensate citizens as fossil fuel companies increase their prices to absorb the cost of the tax. We would use it to fund a universal basic income that would provide a safety net during the pandemic and after, which will be needed in the rocky times ahead. That is a Budget for a safe future.

11:55
Lord Moynihan Portrait Lord Moynihan (Con)
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My Lords, the announcements in the Budget relating to sport and recreation are welcome. There is £300 million available for spectator sports. At the end of last summer, major spectator sports faced debts in excess of £100 million, with a liability of a further £200 million in the absence of action by the Government, so this support is very welcome. The £25 million for grass-roots football was also essential, otherwise one in four clubs would have had little chance of reopening after the pandemic. We must also ensure that money is used to improve facilities and develop new football pitches.

Our sporting infrastructure in this country is in serious decline. Most interestingly, £150 million was made available to allow communities to take over leadership of local facilities that are failing. This can keep many community sports clubs alive. Four hundred pools, leisure and gym facilities will have already gone to the wall before we emerge from this pandemic, and investing in local gyms and leisure facilities, once they can open with safe restrictions, is very welcome, with applications invited for loans and grants.

The Government’s road map out of the pandemic notes:

“Exercise and outdoor sports are well documented to reduce individuals’ risk of major illnesses”.


It also says that physical activity is known to help with increased resistance,

“improving mental health through better sleep, happier moods, and managing stress”

and anxiety. We must build back better and build back more active. Only with a national policy for sport, recreation and an active lifestyle for well-being and a safe environment have we any chance of tackling obesity, boredom and poor health, both physical and mental, which faces the younger generation in particular to a level unprecedented in this country. Only a major cross-departmental response co-ordinated from the top will work, and only when the Government prioritise the importance of an active lifestyle policy to the nation will we be properly prepared to deliver a full recovery from this epidemic—this economically, socially, mentally and physically debilitating time in our history.

11:57
Lord Monks Portrait Lord Monks (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I add my congratulations to my fellow Lancastrian, my noble friend Lord Kahn, on his maiden speech. The Chancellor’s measures look reckless and generous to many, but for me they are a dangerous bet, relying as they do on the economy to bounce back shortly. Contrast that with the Biden programme in the States, where small government is being replaced by an unafraid intervention on a scale not seen for 40 or 50 years. On specific measures, I miss a commitment to keep the uprating of universal credit on a permanent basis. I miss decisive action on productivity, and I miss a plan to sort out the post-Brexit problems on trade. Is there a plan? I would like to see one very soon.

What happened to fairness? Is it true that consultants on test and trace—whose performance has been ordinary, to say the least—are on £7,000 an hour and earn as much in an afternoon as a front-line nurse gets in a year? Where is the fairness in that, and in the absence of significant help for hard-pressed local authorities, struggling as they are, particularly with social care? Money that has been available has been unashamedly targeted towards Tory marginal seats on a basis that makes it look like the pork barrel still operates. The poorest parts of the country are missing out and other, more prosperous, parts are doing better.

All in all, the Chancellor has missed an opportunity to promote a transformative Budget and build a greener, fairer United Kingdom. Working people will pay the price unless decisive changes take place.

11:59
Lord O'Neill of Gatley Portrait Lord O’Neill of Gatley (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I give my own congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley. I particularly welcome his passion and plea for more for the northern powerhouse. In view of the short time, I will make five specific points.

First, yet again this was not a normal Budget, as it was understandably geared towards Covid-related support. This makes it hard to assess the true economic priorities for this Government, especially as we are yet to see a multi-year spending review.

Secondly, however, I applaud the Chancellor’s general resistance to introducing too much fiscal restraint too early, and I commend his broad macro stance.

Thirdly, in contrast to some others, I also admire the decision to plan for an increase in corporate taxes. It has been obvious to me for years that the general Anglo-Saxon obsession with ever-lower corporate taxes, while it has boosted profits, has had no positive impact on investments. Also, given the political change in Washington, this move was savvy.

Fourthly, in the hope and on the assumption that the Autumn Statement will allow for thinking beyond Covid, I hope that the Government will again resist early fiscal restraint and give a much deeper and broader strategy around their intentions, especially on infrastructure, levelling-up and the northern powerhouse.

Fifthly and finally, in these extraordinary times with so much change happening, I also encourage the Chancellor to be even bolder in his general fiscal and monetary approach. He must seriously consider a truly transformational shift in accounting differently for investment and consumption spending, which would allow for much more genuinely ambitious investments. On monetary policy, in contrast to the noble Lord, Lord King, I believe that, given the volatility now appearing in the bond markets, the time has come for the Government to give the Bank of England a completely new approach and to formally adopt nominal GDP targeting to replace the de facto one that has emerged—not only to maintain but even to enhance its credibility.

12:02
Lord Cruddas Portrait Lord Cruddas (Con) (Maiden Speech)
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My Lords, it is a great privilege and honour to deliver my first speech to your Lordships’ House. First, I will quickly thank Black Rod and her team, and the many helpers and support staff who have been so helpful to me. I also quickly thank Garter, who I found very helpful. I have a special thank you for the noble Baroness, Lady Stuart, and my noble friend Lord Leigh of Hurley, for introducing me to your Lordships’ House—and thank you, Howard, for being a good mentor.

In Easter 1968, I left Shoreditch comprehensive school, Hackney, with no qualifications and no job. I was 15 years old. I had no choice; my mum needed the money. I got a job as a telegram operator with Western Union. I would give all my weekly wage to my mother. I have not been out of work since. At 18, I joined a bank in the City as a money market dealer’s assistant. In 1989, at the age of 36, I started my own financial services company, which I still run today and which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 1996, I launched Europe’s first online trading system to allow people to buy and sell financial products.

Off the back of this success, I started my own Peter Cruddas Foundation to help and support disadvantaged young people. To date, my foundation—which is funded entirely by me—has donated to over 200 charities. I have also had some political successes, namely NO2AV and Vote Leave; I was a director and treasurer for both campaigns. I will do my best to support your Lordships’ House with my experience and expertise. I will do so freely and with an open mind. My objective is to be an asset here.

I am pleased to say that I think the Chancellor’s Budget has established a clear path for the country to move from these difficult times, for many, to a brighter and more prosperous future for all. It is a path on which the direction of travel is rightly guided by principles that seek to equitably address, across society, the fiscal deficit due to Covid. It also provides a constructive way to stimulate and incentivise investment in the country and the future, not just to reinvigorate the economy post Covid but to help propel the post-Brexit opportunities. It was a thoughtful Budget.

12:05
Lord Leigh of Hurley Portrait Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)
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My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Cruddas on his excellent maiden speech and welcome him to your Lordships’ House. He is a role model to many. Like me, he started his business in 1989 and it has grown to be a global leader, employing 700 people and with a market value in excess of £1 billion. Mine is something of a work in progress by comparison. He has contributed enormously to many charities—some of which I know but many of which I do not—and of course to British public life. We look forward to his many future contributions to this House, which will draw on his great experience, and most importantly his business experience, which is badly needed in this House. I welcome all noble Lords making maiden speeches, in particular the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, and those from whom we look forward to hearing later on, my noble friends Lord Benyon and Lord Bellingham.

As it happens, my maiden speech was on taxation—specifically, the OECD taxation of multinationals on base cost erosion and profit shifting. Since then, the OECD has produced pillars 1 and 2. I would be grateful if the Minister could tell us to what extent this Budget complies with pillar 1, and in particular pillar 2. What steps will HM Treasury be taking to ensure that we fully comply with pillar 2?

Finally, I congratulate the Minister and in particular the Chancellor on an excellent Budget and on listening to the pleas of 2,500 entrepreneurs who co-signed a letter, written by me and Shalini Khemka of E2E, strongly advising against any rise in capital gains tax for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are vital to the UK economy and we want to see many more of them. We want them to aspire to the success of our new noble friend, my noble friend Lord Cruddas.

12:07
Baroness Andrews Portrait Baroness Andrews (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, it is a pleasure to join other noble Lords in congratulating both my noble friend Lord Khan and the noble Lord, Lord Cruddas, on their maiden speeches. We look forward to their many contributions in this House. I am sure that they will both be a great asset.

This Budget was more significant for what it left out than for what it contained. It was an opportunity to prepare for a future that would avoid the mistakes of the past, and which would prioritise public infrastructure and public service—but it has not. Yes, of course we face enormous, perhaps unique, challenges, but surely they can be faced down better with investment in the public services that make us resilient. Instead, austerity will inevitably be back—the same austerity that enabled the pandemic to prey on the poorest and the weakest of our communities, in this deeply unequal country.

The Chancellor has already tried and failed to justify the silence around these services in his Budget. There is nothing here about meeting the added cost to the health service, as it works through the huge backlog of diagnosis and treatment; or the unseen costs of the pandemic on mental health and family breakdown; or the future costs of staffing the NHS or funding affordable social care. There is nothing about nurses’ pay or rewarding and retaining their commitment and skills, and yet the Minister has an obligation to say whether he agrees with the Health Minister, who said in this House earlier this week that a 1% rise was all we could afford. These are the same people who do and did not count the cost of continuing to work, day and night, throughout the pandemic, as they do normally. The whole Government need to answer the question of why so much was spent on the wrong people and the wrong contracts.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the OBR has said that the potential legacy of the pandemic for spending on public services is one of the most significant risks to the medium-term fiscal outlook. When we think about preparing for the future, given all the warning notes from the scientific community about the persistence of Covid, new virus strains, and the need for continuing track-and-trace and vaccination programmes, it is astonishing that there is no provision for virus-related spending in 2022-23 and beyond. I have a final question for the Minister, which I hope he can answer when he winds up. Can he explain why this is the case, when we have so many lessons to learn from the initial failure to prepare and plan for Covid? The Budget is a failed opportunity. I regret that very much.

12:09
Lord Oates Portrait Lord Oates (LD)
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My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Cruddas and Lord Khan, on their maiden speeches.

The Budget provided the Chancellor with the opportunity to set out a clear vision for building back better. It was a chance to take the bold steps necessary to unleash the much talked of “green industrial revolution”. Instead, it took comfort in timidity and greenwash. As a result it was a Budget of squandered opportunities in the face of unprecedented challenges.

One area entirely absent from the Budget was the long-term programme needed to upgrade the energy efficiency of 28 million homes in the UK, which account for 35% of UK energy use and 20% of carbon emissions. I acknowledge that designing such programmes is not easy. The coalition had the Green Deal, which failed for largely the same reasons that the Green Homes Grant scheme is failing—namely, the absence of any long-term vision at the Treasury.

The Federation of Master Builders has estimated that a long-term national retrofit strategy could create 100,000 new jobs over four years and half a million over 20 years—skilled jobs offering new opportunities in every part of the United Kingdom. But to be successful the Government must do two things. First, they must provide the long-term certainty to allow industry to invest in the skills required to deliver this massive programme and for private capital to have the confidence to come in behind government initiatives. Secondly, they must provide consumers with incentives to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes, such as stamp duty reductions or council tax discounts. We are asking consumers to do a challenging thing and we need to make it worth while if we are to get the take-up needed.

A national refit programme may not have the glamour of moonshots to new technologies, but there is no path to net zero without one. The absence of any reference to it in the Chancellor’s Statement left a gaping hole in his Budget and threatens any hope of meeting our obligations under the Climate Change Act.

12:11
Lord Benyon Portrait Lord Benyon (Con) (Maiden Speech)
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My Lords, I am delighted to address your proceedings for the first time. I wish I had more opportunity to be as effusive as I want to be for all the people who have made my arrival here so seamless: Black Rod, the House authorities, the doorkeepers and others. I will always remember their efficiency and kindness. It has also been an opportunity for me to meet up with old friends—not just the people I served with in another place, but the Yeoman Usher, who commanded 10th Platoon 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets when I commanded 9th Platoon in the 1980s.

This is a Budget debate and therefore on the economy. We know that a successful economy is one based on harmony with nature, the natural systems on which we all depend and our good stewardship of the natural resource we have been gifted. This Budget comes at a time of pivotal importance to the global economy and to our own. In a few weeks’ time, the G7 leaders will meet on these shores—a taster for COP 26 a few months later in Glasgow. This is an extraordinary moment, the prize of which is an incalculable proportion of benefits for the global economy. But the price of failure is existential. It does not come much more important than that.

Climate change and the other side of the same coin, the decline of species, are more than just an economic matter or an environmental one; it is about social justice as well. I look forward to participating in debates on this subject, but I will do my best not to be a one-trick pony. I bring certain experiences from the other place, though not as many as others who have spoken in this debate. One of the most rewarding experiences that I had was serving on the Intelligence and Security Committee. The continuing importance of trying to keep our people safe and of global security at such a difficult time is something I find utterly fascinating.

After a decade and a half of serving in another place, noble Lords might have to forgive me if it takes me a little bit longer to get used to the relentless politeness of this Chamber. Nevertheless, it is something that I welcome and something that I am entirely looking forward to in the weeks, months and years ahead.

12:14
Lord Hunt of Wirral Portrait Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I am proud to have the opportunity to pay tribute to a brilliant maiden speech by my noble friend Lord Benyon. It sets a very high standard for us all. My noble friend quickly made a significant impact as MP for Newbury. After a distinguished career, which he has already mentioned, in the Royal Green Jackets and in local government, he was Wildlife Minister for several years, and greatly respected as a man of principle, particularly when, on an important issue, he had the Conservative Whip removed—but only for a few weeks. I have to tell my noble friend that he is warmly welcomed on these Benches. We look forward to hearing his wise words and skilful guidance in future debates for many years to come.

I draw attention to the register, in particular my interest as a partner at DAC Beachcroft, the global legal firm. I strongly welcome this Budget. The furlough scheme has so far slowed the rise in unemployment but, sadly, sooner or later, we know that many jobs will be lost. When I became Employment Secretary in 1993 we were emerging from another short and sharp recession. A decade of supply-side reforms had given us the most flexible labour market in Europe, an advantage we still possess. We also had a range of creative measures to support people into work. I even went to the TUC, at the kind invitation of the noble Lord, Lord Monks, and gave an unprecedented commitment to full employment. I hope that this Budget will, in due course, enable this Government to proclaim a similar aspiration to ensure that every citizen can enjoy the dignity of work.

12:17
Lord Reid of Cardowan Portrait Lord Reid of Cardowan (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I, too, welcome my noble friend Lord Khan, and the noble Lords, Lord Cruddas and Lord Benyon. I am sure we will all benefit greatly from their experience and expertise.

Last week, the Chancellor announced that, over the past year, 700,000 people have lost their jobs, our economy shrunk by 10% and our borrowing reached the highest it has been outside of wartime. He blamed Covid—a fair enough alibi you may think, but it stops at half the truth. What he did not mention is that, while all our international competitors have also suffered from Covid, we have had the worst economic crisis of any major economy. Future reviews will reveal that the failure to prepare, and the dither, delay and denial of the scientific evidence, especially in timeously implementing lockdowns, contributed significantly to the economic damage—as, too, did Brexit, another unmentionable.

But so much for the past. As for the future, the Budget represented a missed opportunity to respond to the magnitude of the economic damage that has been done. The Budget could have introduced a radical plan to sponsor productivity, innovation and wealth creation. It could have included a major green stimulus or provided a transformative change for the decades to come. It could have provided a credible plan to ease the £70 million burden of debt hanging over so many businesses, or avoided the £2 billion council tax rise affecting households across the country. Of course, it could have protected NHS workers against inflation—the least we could have done, given the efforts, risks and courage involved in their work over the past year. Sadly, it did none of these. Therefore, I believe that it fell far short of what the times and the circumstances demand.

12:19
Lord Bishop of Portsmouth Portrait The Lord Bishop of Portsmouth [V]
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My Lords, I welcome from the Bishops’ Bench the noble Lords, Lord Beynon, Lord Cruddas and Lord Khan of Burnley, and congratulate them on their speeches. I am looking forward to hearing them. I also welcome the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham, and my namesake, the noble Baroness, Lady Foster of Oxton.

Every Budget has consequences in every community, including those I serve as Bishop of Portsmouth. In these last comments that I shall make on a Budget Statement, I have four points on how this Budget is likely to make the sharp end sharper still for many, with little slack, even in better times. A decade on from the Dilnot report, there is still no proposal to address the social care challenge, even though apparently the Government have a package ready. We should have bitten this bullet years ago. We must bite it now.

Freezing income tax thresholds will level not up but down for many, squeezing household budgets, especially in the interaction with benefits, for those already squeezed. The extended uplift in universal credit offers some welcome respite for those at the sharp end, but it will be cold comfort to those facing a cliff edge as the nights draw in. Not a single word was uttered on meeting the needs of children, as Mark Russell, chief executive of the Children’s Society, pointed out. It is a startling omission.

I do not envy the choices facing the Chancellor. I applaud his attempts to improve the macroeconomic situation, but I am far from convinced that this Budget meets his objective of protecting those most in need.

12:21
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean Portrait Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I join others in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Khan, and my noble friends Lord Cruddas and Lord Benyon, on their maiden speeches.

I hope that the usual channels are hanging their heads in shame this morning. The country is facing its worst ever economic shock in peacetime, and we are asked to debate these two Motions in two minutes. Not even the late Nicholas Parsons would have expected the profound questions facing our country to be dealt with in “Just a Minute”, although our new imposed procedures ensure that ministerial replies are delivered without interruption.

We are sleepwalking into an unemployment crisis. Public sector borrowing is at astronomical levels. Productivity is almost stagnant. Quantitative easing is on an industrial scale. The independence of the Bank of England is being questioned, as the noble Lord, Lord King, indicated earlier in the debate. We need a strategy that shifts public spending from job protection to job creation. The youngest and lowest paid in our country have suffered the most damage to their livelihoods, with folk under 25 more than two and a half times more likely to work in a shut-down sector. Businesses and families are saddled with crippling debt, and the Budget does not provide for inevitable future demands in areas such as social care, local government and transport.

Higher taxes are not the answer now. We need an economy that is growing again, with supply side measures and encouragement and support for the self-employed and small business, for technology, for the seed corn of recovery. To reduce all of these and other questions for consideration to speeches of two minutes makes a mockery of this House. Why we could not have had two days’ debate or started at 9am and finished in the evening escapes me. If this House cannot hold the Executive to account, it has no purpose, and there are an increasing number of critics outside who will relish spectacles such as today’s.

12:23
Lord Butler of Brockwell Portrait Lord Butler of Brockwell (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Benyon, Lord Khan and Lord Cruddas, on their maiden speeches.

I make a single point on the proposed 1% pay increase for the National Health Service. I accept that to decelerate borrowing, the Government need to restrain their own wage costs. On the other hand, the public want to express their gratitude to the NHS. My conclusion is that the pay review body should determine ongoing NHS pay levels on what is necessary to recruit and retain staff, but there should be a one-off bonus to recognise the extraordinary demands of the last year on the NHS.

I have a specific suggestion. A one-off, tax-free bonus of £1,000 to all in the NHS would cost £1.3 billion. How should that be paid for? While many in the economy have suffered in the last year, the income of others has been maintained or even enhanced. A temporary 1% increase in the 40% higher rate of income tax would raise something over £1 billion, which would go a long way towards covering the bonus I have suggested.

Of course, I am well aware that the Government’s manifesto ruled out increases in income tax rates. However, in this exceptional situation, a one-off surcharge for this fiscal year to reward NHS employees would be acceptable to those in the higher tax ranges. If I may speak personally, it would certainly be acceptable to me. I hope that this suggestion might be considered.

12:26
Baroness Janke Portrait Baroness Janke (LD) [V]
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My Lords, I add to others’ my congratulations to the three noble Lords on their very excellent maiden speeches.

Being disabled is expensive and the failure of the Chancellor to extend the £20 uplift to legacy benefits is a curt dismissal of this basic fact. Legacy benefits, which are vital to disabled people and their carers, have been excluded from the £20 uplift to universal credit for the second consecutive year. The financial situation of disabled people and carers has been worsened by the pandemic. Scope calculates that, on average, disabled people already face extra costs of £583 per month related to their impairment or condition, even factoring in benefits designed to meet these costs. Many have had the burden of additional costs of risks to health, such as taking taxis to appointments to avoid public transport, purchasing more PPE for those who with respiratory conditions, or using more heating to reduce the risk of complications from Covid-19. This means that less money is available for essentials.

In September 2020, 25% of disabled people reported that they have less money available for food. Some have had to pay around £30 an hour for privately sourced care, to make up for shortfalls, causing them to fall into debt or use up already low levels of savings. For some unpaid carers, caring responsibilities have expanded so much that they have had to give up paid employment, a major loss of income. The uplift must be extended to legacy benefits if there is not to be a two-tier social security system that unfairly discriminates against people with disabilities and their carers.

The £20 uplift to universal credit was widely welcomed as a recognition by the Government that universal credit did not provide a realistic income for people to live on. We call for this payment to be made permanent, so that 200,000 children will be safe from poverty, and hard-pressed families on universal credit will not suffer a crippling cut of £1,040 as they face next winter.

12:28
Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Lord Young of Cookham (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I have two suggestions, which will raise revenue for the Chancellor in the medium term without breaking any manifesto commitments. He will need more money, as the current public expenditure limits are not deliverable—a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Macpherson—particularly on health. I would be amazed if the nurses are settled at 1%.

First, it is time to end the freeze on fuel duty, which has cost £50 billion since it was introduced in 2011, making Robert Halfon the most expensive Back-Bench Member of Parliament in my party’s history. The freeze sits uneasily with the increase in fares on public transport when government policy is to shift longer journeys from the car to the bus or train. It is incompatible with our commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, it is an embarrassment when we host COP 26—mentioned in his excellent maiden speech by my noble friend Lord Benyon—and it reduces the incentive to switch to all-electric cars. I understand the concern about inflation, but fuel prices are lower now than they were in January last year, and down from a high of 140p in 2013. In the longer term, we should move to pay-per-mile to manage the road network more efficiently.

Secondly, we should introduce at least one higher band of council tax. In the longer term, we should revalue all property, with the change to come into effect when a property changes hands. In a recent report, the IFS described council tax as

“increasingly out of date and arbitrary, and highly regressive with respect to property values. It is ripe for reform.”

It is absurd that the most valuable properties pay only three times as much tax as the least valuable. A new, higher band would make the tax more progressive and, crucially, help bring in the resources to fund the much delayed social care reforms for which no provision has currently been made.

12:30
Lord Hain Portrait Lord Hain (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I welcome all our new noble Lords joining us for their maiden speeches today.

The Chancellor responded to an unprecedented threat in 2020 by giving the economy an unparalleled fiscal boost—twice as big as the package with which Alistair Darling successfully tackled the 2008 global financial crisis. Rishi Sunak now insists that

“it would be irresponsible to withdraw support too soon”.—[Official Report, Commons, 3/3/21; col. 255.]

But the Office for Budget Responsibility’s central forecast shows that that is exactly the risk he is planning to run by withdrawing half the 2020 fiscal support this year and nearly 90% of it by 2022. He is pulling the plug on the economy prematurely and cutting fiscal support for recovery twice as fast as George Osborne did so draconically in 2010, launching 10 years of disastrous Tory austerity and low to nil growth.

The furlough scheme, the self-employment grants, the 5% VAT rate for hospitality and tourism and the universal credit uplift all end in September. The Chancellor even plans to start withdrawing the furlough scheme and the business rates holiday for hospitality businesses on 1 July, only nine days after Covid restrictions are due to end no earlier than 21 June. He cannot possibly be confident that recovery will be firmly established so soon. His Budget cheats the challenge and fakes the change, most notably by including more than £16 billion of public spending cuts relative to his March 2020 pre-Covid spending plans.

The Chancellor is trying to find an early exit from his fiscal dilemma. By rushing his fences he risks removing support for the economy and derailing recovery just when the vaccine offers a way out of the virus, piling even more pressure on massively underfunded health and care services.

12:32
Lord Bilimoria Portrait Lord Bilimoria (CB) [V]
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My Lords, the Chancellor’s spring Budget has succeeded in protecting the economy with a vital suite of measures: taking Covid-19 support spending to more than £400 billion; extending the job retention scheme to September and tapering government contributions from July; extending the 5% VAT cut for hospitality and tourism, which have suffered so much over the past year; extending the business rates holiday for hospitality, leisure and tourism for six months and then on a reduced basis until March 2022; and the business recovery loan scheme. However, there is disappointment for the aviation sector, where the support is unlikely to be enough, and for the 3 million excluded individuals who have received no support whatever over the past year.

In the build-up to the Budget, I said time and again to the Chancellor that the Government of India, who had their Budget a month ago, said they deliberately did not increase taxes because they did not want put more pressure on businesses which have suffered so much, and because they did not want to stifle the recovery. Against this backdrop, the Chancellor set out plans to increase corporation tax from 19% to 25% in two years’ time. This increase sends a worrying signal to those planning to invest in the UK, and Northern Ireland must compete with the Republic of Ireland next door, which has a rate of 12.5%. The leap of 6% in one go has caused a sharp intake of breath for firms. Britain is the second or third-largest recipient of inward investment in the world. We must not jeopardise that in any way.

In the meantime, the Chancellor’s super-deduction tax initiative over the next two years to bring forward business investment is a bold and positive move for the UK. Super-deduction will allow companies to cut their taxes by up to 25p in every £1 that they invest. The CBI, of which I am president, called for a focus on incentives to increase investment, and this is just the sort of thing we need to be doing in the UK. We were disappointed not to see fundamental reform of the unfair business rates system, or significant reform to the apprenticeship levy. On the other hand, the help-to-grow package is fantastic, offering free MBA-style management training for SMEs, and the new review of the R&D tax credit could make a big difference. The new infrastructure bank is fantastic, and the free ports idea could help with levelling up.

To conclude, with the phenomenally impressive performance of the UK in developing and delivering vaccines and the Chancellor’s priorities of protecting businesses and jobs and incentivising investment to help create growth, our economy is like a crouching lion, poised to spring and roar.

12:35
Lord Gadhia Portrait Lord Gadhia (Non-Afl) [V]
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My Lords, I offer five brief reflections on the Budget. First, faced with the sharpest economic contraction in more than 300 years, the Chancellor’s overall fiscal judgment and priorities are hard to fault. The narrative of “spend now, tax later” has stuck but, as the OBR points out, there is a risk that the Government cannot rein in spending and does not raise enough revenue. Consequently, further tax increases cannot be ruled out.

Secondly, addressing the slump in business investment through the super-deduction scheme is a bold and welcome move. It should bring forward investment and help propel the recovery as government spending falls away. However, it may not increase the overall level of investment. That jury is still out.

Thirdly, the contribution of trade to GDP growth is disappointing. The Budget Red Book shows this flatlining if not reversing. Data on bilateral trade flows with EU countries also shows sharp declines. This might be the temporary effect of Covid and new customs procedures, but it could also be more ominous. We must monitor these trends closely.

Fourthly, while the peak in unemployment is expected to be lower, at 6.5%, employment levels remain broadly flat. The labour force is therefore declining, and up to 1.3 million migrants have departed during the pandemic. Our economy will soon falter without the resumption of a steady flow of migrant talent.

Fifthly, our vulnerability to rising interest rates has increased and has been exacerbated by the new wave of quantitative easing from the Bank of England. A 1% increase in rates adds more than £20 billion to interest costs. Restoring fiscal discipline is not a political choice but an economic and macroprudential necessity.

To conclude, crises are like buses; they come in pairs. The cumulative impact of the financial crash and the pandemic have stretched government and central bank balance sheets to their limit. We must hope that the third bus does not arrive too soon, so that the Chancellor’s plan for rescue, recovery and repair has enough time to work through.

12:37
Lord Rooker Portrait Lord Rooker (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, there are eight free ports in the Budget and nine regions of England, so we now know the effectiveness of the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street. The report on free ports from UK in a Changing Europe concluded that the main impact was

“likely to be to relocate rather than create economic activity and jobs.”

So with no free port in the West Midlands, jobs will leave the West Midlands—thanks, Andy.

We are 10 days from the Budget and still unaware of the technical details and methodology of spending the £4.8 billion levelling-up fund on priority towns. The Financial Times’ analysis states that these priority areas for levelling up

“are not simply the most deprived.”

There is a deprivation rank system within government, which I used in the past when Regeneration Minister at ODPM. The Financial Times charts show no connection or correlation with this ranking. It is crystal clear that we are seeing a failure in the accepted standards of conduct of public administration. The Civil Service is being bullied by dodgy Ministers operating pork-barrel politics. The reasoning is vague, the bias is blatant and the retrofitting to justify rankings is nothing short of corrupt.

As someone who played a small role in indexing tax thresholds in 1977, I support the plan to freeze them. It can and should be tweaked for the very low paid—those who are not paying tax at the moment—in a way that does not cause a ripple to the higher rates. That can be done.

The key missing policy is that national insurance should be paid by all ages on income, however the income is created. I was on a salary until I was 72 years old, so I did not pay national insurance for seven years, yet I was still using services and I potentially required services that I was not using but which needed to be there for others. This would help to pay for social care reform.

12:39
Baroness Randerson Portrait Baroness Randerson (LD) [V]
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My Lords, the UK economy faces three stark challenges: climate change and Covid are shared across the world while the third, Brexit, is entirely self-inflicted. The Budget failed as a coherent response to all three. It was a chance to take firm steps towards carbon reduction targets. Instead, we have a promise to reduce air passenger duty, making internal flights cheaper than rail journeys. Fuel duty, frozen again, encourages us back into our petrol and diesel cars, yet rail fares have increased above the rate of inflation. The Government are not just failing to incentivise green choices but actively incentivising pollution. They should reform vehicle and fuel taxation to discourage highly polluting SUVs. As the NAO points out, average emissions from cars actually increased by 6% between 2016 and 2019.

The Budget missed the chance to support the travel industry, which is just as hard-hit by the pandemic as the hospitality industry. Carefully tailored support could encourage a fairer deal for passengers, who have often been denied refunds, and could incentivise greener choices such as greater use of sustainable aviation fuels. The impact of Brexit is only just emerging and the overall picture is grim. UK exports to Germany, our second largest trading partner, fell by 56% in January; that is €2 billion. Exports to Italy were down by 70%. This catastrophe is much more than teething problems. It is a major threat to jobs and prosperity—and the Government’s strategy seems to be limited to shouting at the EU.

12:41
Lord Davies of Gower Portrait Lord Davies of Gower (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I begin by congratulating the noble Lords on their maiden speeches. Noble Lords do not need me to remind them how significant this Budget was for the whole United Kingdom at a time when stability for our economy is more important than ever. Support for our nations was essential and, on that score, the Chancellor delivered. Indeed, as a result of the policies announced in last week’s Budget, the devolved nations as a whole benefit greatly in Barnett consequentials. In particular, I was delighted to see the support that central government gave to my home nation of Wales. In fact, taken together with the additional funding in last year’s spending review, the devolved nations are receiving an additional £7.2 billion from the UK Government in 2021-2 through the Barnett formula. That is on top of the UK-wide measures announced last week, which saw Wales alone benefit by an additional £740 million under Barnett.

Purely from a Wales perspective, I was more than delighted to see the match funding provided by the Treasury of up to £30 million towards the global centre of rail excellence, which will create up to 120 high-skilled jobs in Port Talbot and highlight Wales as a hub for research and development investment and rail technology. Additionally for Wales, the Budget announcement that central government is to invest £4.8 million to pilot a hydrogen hub in Anglesey, creating local highly skilled green jobs that will reduce UK transport emissions, is an exciting prospect for an area in need of financial investment. The news that the Government are reprofiling three city and growth deals by bringing £58.7 million forward from 15 years to 10 in Swansea Bay, north Wales and mid Wales is again encouraging, and evidence of the commitment to supporting devolution.

Wales continues to benefit from the UK-wide support schemes that the Government have put in place. Over 400,000 jobs have been saved through the furlough scheme and 295,000 self-employed people have benefited from self-employed grants, while the loan guarantees schemes have supported over 57,000 Welsh businesses. Lastly, I very much look forward to progress being made in the discussions to deliver freeports to places such as Holyhead in Anglesey, which play such an important part in our national economy. Overall, it is a brave budget and the Chancellor is to be congratulated.

12:44
Lord St John of Bletso Portrait Lord St John of Bletso (CB)
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My Lords, I join in congratulating the three outstanding maiden speakers and look forward to the next two maiden speeches.

While I support much of this Budget and applaud the Chancellor for the measures that he has taken to ease the pain of lockdown on individuals and businesses both large and small, I have reservations about the furlough scheme being extended to September. I had hoped that more would be mentioned on getting people back to work; we should be supporting jobs for the future rather than jobs in the past. It is obvious that many who have benefited from furlough will become unemployed and will have to start looking for work in a radically changed working world. The focus should be on more subsidised training for jobs in growth sectors, leading to improved productivity and economic growth.

I would also like to have seen more measures to support the green economy, promoting an energy revolution and more job creation. We have the energy White Paper on net-zero carbon emissions; more could be done to support this. While it is inevitable that there will need to be some tax rises, increasing corporation tax to 25% in 2023 has shattered the dream of the United Kingdom becoming the Singapore of Europe. There will naturally be a strong economic bounceback in Q3 and Q4 this year, but in the medium term, unless this can be followed by greater growth, the threat of inflation runs the risk of enduring stagflation.

12:46
Lord Campbell-Savours Portrait Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I strongly support the proposal from the noble Lord, Lord Rooker. I shall concentrate my remarks on inheritance taxes. The Budget statement proposes a freeze on nil-rate bands until April 2026. This means qualifying estates can pass on up to £500,000, and the qualifying estate of a surviving spouse or civil partner can pass on up to £1 million, without tax.

On 1 February 2007, I proposed an amendment to the law governing inheritance taxes. I proposed then—and do so again today—that we use inheritance tax on death as an opportunity for the wider distribution of wealth with a substantial increase in net beneficiaries. We should abolish the tax completely, transfer the liability to tax from the deceased estate to the recipients, and tax the recipient beneficiaries at their marginal rate. We could introduce an inheritance allowance, thereby increasing a recipient individual’s tax threshold. Inter-spouse transfers would remain tax-free, as would protections for working farms and family businesses, as well as donations to genuine charities and some heritage assets.

This reform would transform the recipient base as many estates would be tapered, or profiled, to minimise liability. A wider beneficiary base would have a huge effect on enterprise and innovation by introducing a real incentive for the development of small businesses with knock-on consequences for competition policy. It would also increase the tax take. I make it clear once again that there are no circumstances under which either I or my wife would accept, or have accepted, inherited wealth. This was a decision taken in principle to last a lifetime, at considerable cost to myself, I might say.

12:48
Lord Lang of Monkton Portrait Lord Lang of Monkton (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I welcome the five new noble Lords, who are joining us unmuted today. It is also a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours. Just over 40 years ago, when he and I had been elected to the other place for the first time, we were invited to subscribe to the introduction of a tight monetary policy to tackle the nation’s severe problems and send the IMF packing. I cannot speak for the noble Lord, but I supported it fervently. This was not because I supported the ideology; I do not believe in ideologies where money and the economy are concerned—there are too many variables, and change can be sudden and unexpected. But I believe in doing what seems the right thing at the right time according to the circumstances.

Today, the circumstances are wildly different, and I think my right honourable friend the Chancellor’s handling of both the pandemic itself and now, as we hope, the aftermath, has been absolutely right. The Keynes doctrine of changing one’s mind when circumstances change has never been more apt. We must now capture the tide of an expected growth rate in the economy of 4% this year and 7.4% next year: the coiled spring of pent-up demand. Spending and investment become very important indeed at that stage in forming, we hope, a sustained recovery. That is what the Budget should do, with powerful incentives for companies on investment and public duty. At the same time, the Chancellor has to signal strongly to the wider world that he is determined to tackle our debt when our exposure is serious, and bring things back towards a steadier discipline. The future of corporation tax changes and the freezing of personal allowances signal that, and they should not affect the recovery.

The biggest threat to recovery is inflation. Loose money supply, once thought to be disinflationary with low interest rates, is now seen as the reverse, especially if its velocity of circulation grows as the economy expands. As we all know, where inflation rises, interest rates follow. I hope and feel sure that the Chancellor is already watching this carefully, as inflation could be the next enemy.

12:50
Earl of Clancarty Portrait The Earl of Clancarty (CB)
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My Lords, I too congratulate noble Lords on their maiden speeches.

The arts and creative industries are worth over £116 billion a year and second only to financial services in their value to the UK’s economy, in the traditional sense. However, the value of these industries can also be understood in relation to other economies: creative capital, the cultural landscape, the social economy, the economy of health and well-being, and that of soft power, which is rarely measured but highly valued by Governments. However, there is now a double threat to these industries from Covid and Brexit, and, in the long run, Brexit is the greater threat.

Most immediately, the sector is grateful for the extra money and for extensions to the JRS and SEISS, but there are still many self-employed people who continue to fall through gaps in support. Will the Government ensure, as Wales has done, that money from the Culture Recovery Fund will go to freelance artists? Will they introduce their own insurance, as they have done for film and TV, to help the return of performance? Some festivals have decided that they cannot risk going ahead, but UK Music has estimated that a £650 million fund would allow £2 billion-worth of events. Will the Government introduce a new tax relief—similar to the successful theatre tax relief, as the ISM proposes—for live music, touring and new work, beyond the relief which already exists in part for orchestras?

Before Covid, the biggest crisis in arts and cultural funding was that for local and regional museums, libraries and venues, including theatres, whose essential support from local authorities has been cut to the bone over many years. Covid has exacerbated that. That is not due to poor management, as Community Secretary Robert Jenrick has said; it is a step-by-step withdrawal of central government support from local authorities, support that should be applied equally and fairly across the country.

12:52
Lord Bruce of Bennachie Portrait Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD) [V]
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My Lords, a radio ad currently running in Scotland says, “If you are producing shortbread in the Highlands or prime beef in Aberdeenshire, the UK Government can help you find markets in Toronto or Tokyo.” That could have been done years ago, but what has happened to the established markets in Toulouse, Turin or Toledo?

Facing the combined impact of Brexit and the pandemic, I was looking for a Budget that put recovery first. As we look forward to an easing of lockdown and an uptick in economic activity, should we not be doing more to give our young people the education and skills training that they need? Should we not be making climate change and the digital economy the drivers of recovery?

In Scotland, four sectors are of key importance. Our food and drink industry is creative and dynamic but has been hit hard by lockdown and new frictions in traditional export markets. Fishing has been betrayed. Of course we should seek new markets, but not at the expense of established markets at home and across the EU. What measures do the Government propose?

The hospitality sector has been dealt a body blow and will struggle to survive and rebuild. When will hotels reopen and what will the Government do as furlough ends to enable them, and pubs and restaurants, to recoup losses and thrive?

In our strong financial services sector, jobs and assets are already being relocated out of not just Scotland but the UK. How will the Government ensure that we retain and grow Scottish jobs in the sector?

I live in the north-east of Scotland, which has made a huge contribution to the UK economy over the last 50 years. We have a wealth of resource and expertise of global importance. As the oil price recovers, the sector will pick up, but the industry is fully aware of the drive towards net-zero carbon and committed to using its capital and expertise to contribute to the transition. I welcome the support secured for the sector in the UK and Scottish Government Budgets but urge both Governments to work together with local authorities and the industry to secure jobs and investment for the future, especially in north-east Scotland, which has seen substantial job losses in the past year. What is the Government’s strategy for these key sectors?

12:55
Baroness Neville-Rolfe Portrait Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con) [V]
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Although Budgets are primarily about how we raise money, the success of our Government depends on how we spend it in the interests of the country at large. There has been criticism about support for social care, so I thought I would bring some common sense and conservative observations to the matter.

The White Paper of 11 February, Integration and Innovation: Working Together to Improve Health and Social Care for All, included some important proposals. However, it does not tackle the most critical issue of the funding of social care. This is the sort of matter that one expects to see in the Red Book, perhaps in the form of insurance or a levy or in support to local government. There has been an eye-watering amount of spending on Covid and a lot of attention to climate change, yet in the medium term a decent system of social care is more important to more people than either, given the scale of the demographic time bomb that we face, mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Macpherson, and the erosion of pension provision.

There are a number of important strands to the issue: get the bed-blockers out of our hospitals, perhaps by allowing hospitals to run care homes; support people to recover at home, using innovative digital care and home aids; encourage people to be healthy and active and to save for their old age, reducing pressure on the state; and make care homes decent, profitable businesses or attractive to well-run charities. The current system encourages elderly people to stay in the free NHS for too long, but the “working together” strategy will not deliver unless there are the right incentives.

I welcome the new measures in the Budget that help small businesses, such as the 130% capital allowance and the Help to Grow scheme for management and digital. Will these help the care home sector? Can my noble friend the Minister kindly indicate when he will be able to set out the Government’s plans for social care funding?

I end by welcoming our five new noble Lords and the new thinking that they will bring.

12:57
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Portrait Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, the Chancellor’s claim that the Budget will support business and build our future economy seems somewhat fanciful with the raising of corporation tax, the collapse of exports to the EU, precious little action to improve our low productivity levels and the axing of the industrial strategy. I hope the Minister will explain the extraordinary decision to abolish the Industrial Strategy Council. Make UK, which represents manufacturers, says it raises a genuine fear that the critical part that companies can play in the economic recovery is no longer regarded as important. What does the Minister have to say to that?

On public finances, the Government say they cannot afford to give nurses a decent pay rise, yet they have managed to squander billions of pounds on management consultants, fly-by-night companies and friends of Ministers. This week’s PAC report on test and track is illuminating: hugely costly, with an overreliance on consultants and temporary staff, and no clear evidence with which to judge its overall effectiveness. One figure that we do know is that we have the highest death rate per million of population of any country in the world. Meanwhile, there is no decent pay rise for nurses, nor any plans for the NHS to treat the huge backlog of patients.

As for social care, the Chancellor’s complacency is quite extraordinary. There is no lifeline for our struggling social care sector, with the long-promised White Paper yet to surface. So the level of unmet need increases, the pressure on unpaid carers grows stronger, the supply of care providers diminishes and the strain on the care workforce continues, yet the Chancellor is silent. Will the Minister respond?

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Lord McNicol of West Kilbride) (Lab)
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I call the noble Lord, Lord Mair. Can the noble Lord please unmute?

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Portrait Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)
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My Lords, can the noble Lord unmute? Otherwise, we will move to the next speaker and return to him.

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Lord McNicol of West Kilbride) (Lab)
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Let us try one more time. No? I call the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra; we will come back to the noble Lord, Lord Mair, as soon as we have reconnected.

13:00
Lord Blencathra Portrait Lord Blencathra (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate all noble Lords so far on their maiden speeches and those yet to come. I support my right honourable friend the Chancellor’s Budget. It has all the right measures we need at this time to show that we will take the necessary action to begin to cut back on the essential Covid spending spree. The tax rises are unfortunately necessary but I look forward to a future Conservative Government getting back to a tax-cutting programme, since that leads to more prosperity for all. The Chancellor is shaping up to be one of the finest Chancellors of all time; getting us to a stage where we can cut taxes again will be proof of that.

I particularly welcome the free ports proposals; it seems they will be proper free ports and not the fake bureaucratic ones we had when we were still in the EU straitjacket. Let us design them to bring maximum value to the areas selected and take as much business from Europe as possible. On that note, I said in this House during our special sitting on 30 December last year:

“Of course the Prime Minister must use the diplomatic language of ‘friends and partners in Europe’ but, as we have seen, the EU set out to punish us and it will be ruthless in gaming the system for its benefit. Our Ministers must exploit the agreement just as ruthlessly as our European competitors will.”


I went on, saying,

“let us free up our industry to be as competitive as in the United States and ensure that the City of London has the right regulations to be the finest financial centre in the world. If we get EU equivalence on passporting then great, but the rest of the world is far more important.”—[Official Report, 30/12/20; col. 1897.]

Over the last two months, we have seen the reality of how this decaying EU empire treats us. It did not take much foresight to know that this would happen. Therefore, I urge my noble friends in the Government urgently to set the City of London free from EU controls and adopt a regulatory system that will bring even more legitimate world financial business to the City of London.

13:02
Lord Watson of Invergowrie Portrait Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I welcome my new noble friend Lord Khan and commend him on an excellent speech, not least his nod to Kamala Harris.

I would like to address my remarks to the measures in the Budget impacting education, but if I did it would not require anything like two minutes—this despite schools and colleges having faced excess costs associated with the pandemic which they have had to meet from their own resources. They deserved government support not only to get children back to school but to ensure they stay there safely. They got none. Teachers have been working flat out for the past year and deserved to have that recognised. Instead, the public sector pay freeze means that 94% of teachers will not receive a pay increase, which is shameful and will be demoralising for many.

The Budget might also have delivered desperately needed support for the early years sector; many nursery providers have stated that they do not expect to be in existence by the end of this year. Despite having remained open to assist the economy during school closures, early years settings have received no help. As my noble friend Lady Andrews said, it is investment in public services that makes us resilient.

The noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, mentioned apprenticeships. The one education-related measure announced by the Chancellor seems to be an attempt to kick-start them. Certainly, they have declined alarmingly during the pandemic, but if employers were not willing to take on a young apprentice with a 13% wage subsidy, it seems unlikely that they will do so with the subsidy increased to 20%. Labour has proposed funding to create up to 85,000 new opportunities, with half of a new young apprentice’s wages in the first year of their apprenticeship paid by the Government, saving employers more than £3,500 per apprentice. We have costed this subsidy at around £300 million—precisely the unspent apprenticeship levy funds from 2019-20, which the DfE returned to the Treasury.

As a former Education Minister, perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Agnew, might care to address the absence of measures to support that sector in his closing remarks.

13:04
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem Portrait Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (LD) [V]
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My Lords, I offer anonymous welcome and congratulations to all noble Lords making maiden speeches in this rather harum-scarum debate. I have three questions. Why did the Chancellor say nothing about the long-term proper financing of social care, which is an ever-deepening crisis in this country? Why did he say nothing about the dire need for social housing and how it might be paid for? Finally, if, as some predict, the recently approved Biden plan increases global inflation, what assessment has the Chancellor made of its impact on his economic assumptions?

13:05
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Portrait Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate new noble Lords on their maiden speeches.

The Chancellor has, throughout his tenure, met the extraordinary needs of this extraordinary time—most notably with the job retention scheme, which has blocked the nightmare of mass unemployment. In the Budget, he has, I believe, skilfully balanced the need to continue massive government borrowing, with a national debt of over 100% of GNP, with the prospect of paying down the debt over time. Borrowing is currently very cheap, and the decision to raise corporation tax to 25% by the end of the Parliament seems sensible given that our rates are currently the lowest in the G20.

I think most people in the country will feel that the Budget is fair and sensible. I will briefly welcome two particular measures. First, continuing VAT at the reduced rate of 5% for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions until 30 September 2021, and then phasing back to 20% from 31 March 2022, seems right. Secondly, the plastic packaging tax is due to come into effect in April 2022; it should help to reduce plastic waste by encouraging change in producers’ behaviour. It is a good measure but it needs to go further and faster, particularly when contrasted with what other countries are doing.

Finally, as we approach the Glasgow COP, I hope that we will announce further action to support our green agenda. However, on the whole, I think it an outstanding Budget from an outstanding Chancellor.

13:07
Lord Bhatia Portrait Lord Bhatia (Non-Afl) [V]
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My Lords, the House knows well that coronavirus has already caused significant harm to our economy. The scale of the impact has resulted in GDP falling by 18% in the second quarter of 2020. As a result, more than 800,000 people have lost their jobs since February. The lockdown will also have a significant economic impact. We should therefore expect the economy to get worse before it gets better.

The Government have put aside £280 billion to fund plans for jobs to support public services such as the NHS and to provide financial support for millions of people and businesses. Some 1.2 million employers have furloughed almost 10 million employees. Almost 3 million people have benefited from our self-employment grants, taking the total support for the self-employed to nearly £20 billion. Over 1.4 million small and medium-sized limited companies have received government debt loans of £60 billion.

The Government have not been able to save every job and every business, but the success in finding and buying vaccines has brought hopes for a better future—they have run it better than European countries. As a result, the Government’s performance with the vaccine and getting Brexit done has improved the status of the Conservative Government in the United Kingdom.

13:09
Baroness Boycott Portrait Baroness Boycott (CB)
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My Lords, I welcome all the new noble Lords to this House and I welcome their maiden speeches.

This week the Government published their draft environmental principles policy statement, which says that policymakers must “have due regard to” the principles in their decision-making. However, there is an exception for

“taxation, spending or the allocation of resources within government.”

This would suggest that HMT is not on board with the Government’s green agenda and that it has plans to make decisions that could go against these principles. One of the principles is that the polluter pays. How is this possible if there is an exemption for taxing, spending or the allocation of resources, as the Treasury must lead the way on carbon prices? If departments cannot raise taxes themselves, how on earth are we to get the polluter to pay? Fines or fee charges, which are suggested, can never be consistent or realistically workable. Can the Minister please say what is going to happen? Also uncertain is whether a Treasury decision would overrule a departmental decision or whether a department wanting to do something not within the spirit of the principles could ask the Treasury to make that decision on its behalf. This strikes me as a loophole.

The revised Green Book, by which the Treasury judges fiscal policy, supposedly takes account of net zero—in fact, it should be front and centre—but if decisions such as cutting air passenger duty for domestic flights, when in the majority of cases there are rail alternatives, passes this new test, what is the point? It does not work. Why are we still making flying cheaper and travelling by train more expensive? Climate change and biodiversity loss, which were so shatteringly revealed by Professor Dasgupta’s recent report, commissioned by the Treasury, can no longer be kicked down the road. However, this current Budget might give the impression that that is exactly what we are doing.

13:11
Lord McColl of Dulwich Portrait Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate all the maiden speakers on their splendid speeches. At the start of the pandemic, the British economy was in very good shape, thanks to Conservative Governments, but the Marxist elements of the Labour Party tried to rubbish this—no doubt because a former Prime Minister reminded us that every Labour Government since the war had wrecked the economy. They are now trying to blame the Government for the present financial situation, which is associated with the huge amount of money and help given to the British people.

The cost of the pandemic has been huge and the Marxist elements have tried to blame the Government. They then went on to accuse the Prime Minister over the deaths of more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. They know very well that most Covid deaths are associated with obesity and population density, so whatever possessed them to make such a despicable accusation? The answer to that was given by the shadow Minister for Education when she said, “We should use this Covid opportunity and not let a good crisis go to waste”. What a scandalous conspiracy: to misuse the Covid crisis to further the Labour Party. Its plan to win the next election seems to be to rubbish the Government every hour of every day, with the help of the left-wing media. It hopes that its deceiving propaganda will win over enough of the public. This is what Marxist regimes do. Keir Starmer’s dream to become Prime Minister is the nightmare for our nation.

13:13
Viscount Chandos Portrait Viscount Chandos (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, speaking as a non-Marxist member of the Labour Party, I think that this much leaked Budget is a case study for the long-established rule that the better the immediate reception, the worse it proves to be once more measured analysis has taken place. The noble Lord, Lord Macpherson, pointed out that all the pressures on future public spending are upwards and my noble friend Lord Eatwell returned powerfully to the need to increase resilience in every area of the economy and society.

The Government have responded reasonably well to the immediate economic shock from the pandemic, albeit with devastating exceptions, such as for many self-employed, and sometimes, we understand, in the teeth of opposition from the Chancellor. But the Budget starkly exposes—as that other non-Marxist, the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, spelled out—the poverty of the Government’s longer-term plans, by unduly prioritising future fiscal consolidation over reversing the massive cuts of the past 11 years to so many unprotected areas of public services.

In this context, with a Government trying to justify deeply inadequate pay proposals for the NHS on grounds of affordability, the decision to delay the correct increase in corporation tax for two years is wrong, particularly when combined with the introduction of the super-deduction allowance for the same period. To the extent that the corporation tax rate affects investment decisions, multinationals and global investors will take the rate set for 2023-24 onwards as the relevant one in their considerations. The tax revenue forgone would be sufficient to cover desperately needed targeted increases in public spending. This is the worst of both worlds.

13:15
Baroness Scott of Needham Market Portrait Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD) [V]
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My Lords, in many areas, lockdowns and home-working have fostered a growing sense of connection with local communities. That is evidenced in an outpouring of community and voluntary activity, as well as support for small local businesses. These businesses have a kind of built-in agility, which has enabled them to repurpose and refocus in many instances.

However, the Government were dangerously slow to recognise the role that local government could play during the pandemic. They must not make the same mistake again with regard to the rebuild afterwards. The finances of local government were parlous before; they are now in a very dangerous state. Local government cannot keep postponing the reviews that need to take place to put its finances back on a sustainable footing.

The so-called third tier of local government, the town and parish councils, face a particular set of problems. They have been hugely active during the pandemic but have received no help from government with their direct costs. Throughout the country, only three principal councils have given money to their towns and parishes. I very much support the National Association of Local Councils, which wishes to see a dedicated and targeted package of support for the small local councils or indeed third-tier councils, some of which are quite big—in major towns, for example. Local councils must get the support that they need to do the work that they will need to do going forward.

The Government have announced a £150 million community ownership fund, but local councils are not allowed to bid for it. This is hugely disappointing, given their track record in protecting and supporting community assets such as libraries, post offices and parks. Finally, can the Minister say what the involvement of local councils will be in delivering projects under the new levelling-up fund? Communities everywhere have pulled together during this pandemic. Let us make sure that we help them to continue.

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Lord McNicol of West Kilbride) (Lab)
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I now call the noble Lord, Lord Horam, and we will then try the noble Lord, Lord Mair, again.

13:17
Lord Horam Portrait Lord Horam (Con)
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I, too, warmly welcome our five new noble Lords. I was lucky enough to read economics at Cambridge in the late 1950s, when the influence of the late and great economist John Maynard Keynes and his followers was very high. I have always taken the view thereafter that the first rule of economics is, in all circumstances, to maximise real economic growth. As a politician, the second rule that I have always advocated—I think that Keynes would also have agreed with this—is to make the distribution of the rewards of growth as fair as practically possible. I therefore support the Budget because it has made some real progress in both these areas.

In particular, it began to deliver on the levelling-up agenda. The brutal truth is that several regions of the United Kingdom have now been overtaken in GDP per head by countries such as Slovenia, Poland and Lithuania, which spent decades under the rule of communism. Some people worry about the huge debt that we have piled up to achieve these ends; I do not. Currently, the public debt is about 100% of our annual GDP. If you look over the long history of the UK, that is not far from the average. Nor is there a big problem with financing it while we have an independent Bank of England, which can, in the end, just print the money. The only factor to keep a beady eye on, as the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, pointed out, is inflation. That is certainly a threat.

My only doubt about the Budget is over the proposed rise in corporation tax, which is also a reservation on the part of the Office for Budget Responsibility. I appreciate that the Chancellor is giving a super-deduction of 130% for those who invest, but this will last only two years. He might have been better to leave the rate at 19%, which compares favourably with our major rivals. Alternatively, he might consider extending the super-deduction for the full Parliament. We have a steep hill to climb as a result of Covid and Brexit—a double whammy—but the Chancellor has had a good shot at getting to first base.

13:19
Lord Mair Portrait Lord Mair (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I apologise for the problems with technology.

I speak as an engineer and will make three points. First, a number of the Chancellor’s announcements will be welcomed by the construction and infrastructure sectors. Investing in infrastructure drives long-term productivity improvements. In the short-term, it is a major stimulus of economic activity. The expectation that the new UK infrastructure bank will help support £40 billion-worth of infrastructure is especially welcome. The bank can play a crucial role in catalysing investment in projects to support economic recovery and meet net zero requirements.

Secondly, skills and innovation are emphasised in the Budget. The Government’s ambitions on net zero, infrastructure and digitalisation are threatened if the UK does not have the required number and diversity of people with engineering and technical skills to deliver. New initiatives have been announced for infrastructure, especially in relation to green stimulus programmes, modern methods of construction and digitalisation. These will involve welcome new employment opportunities, but they require extensive technical training, upskilling and reskilling. To achieve this, the UK must now plan for its long-term engineering and technical skills need, with an education system fit for the future.

Thirdly, net zero by 2050 must be a major priority, not least for the construction industry. The Construction Leadership Council has recently announced ConstructZero, a cross-industry change programme to drive carbon out of all parts of the construction sector. This includes maximising modern methods of construction, increasingly employing off-site manufacture, innovative sensing technologies and digitalisation. All this will need more smart engineering. We will need a lot more young engineers.

13:21
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Portrait Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lords who will make their maiden speeches today.

The Chancellor said that the Government had

“a real commitment to green growth”—[Official Report, Commons, 3/3/21; col. 258.]

but, overall, policies to tackle the causes of climate change and biodiversity loss did not get a lot of attention in the Budget. The Government have confirmed plans to deliver the “green industrial revolution” outlined in their 10-point plan, but there is a need for much greater action to put the UK on a net zero plan. Is the Treasury signed up or not to the environmental statement that we received this week from the noble Lord with responsibility for the environment? 

There was no mention in the Budget of the status of the green homes grant, whose future remains uncertain. This would be important for the construction industry, which has a multiplier effect on the economy. The Government said last year that this was their flagship scheme, but Ministers have stated that it needs improving and there has been a shortage of accredited contractors to carry out the works. It is well known that emissions reductions are more beneficial in stopping climate change the earlier we do it, so, with this in mind, will the Minister give a dedicated commitment to your Lordships’ House today to back this grant and make it a permanent feature until 2030? Only this will provide the certainty that the sector needs to invest in green jobs. 

Finally, the circular economy did not form part of the Budget, suggesting that the Treasury does not recognise the important impact that better use of resources could have on cutting carbon, creating jobs and improving business productivity. Can the Minister elaborate on this and indicate the Government’s intentions?

13:24
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara Portrait Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I welcome those making their maiden speeches today.

As the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, said, the creative industries are a major UK success story, integral to our economy, our culture and our image abroad. The UK is recognised as a global hub for creativity and innovation, and our creative sectors have recently been among the fastest-growing elements of the economy, generating £116 billion of GVA and employing 2.1 million people. Their success makes it obvious that the sector must be supported so that it can survive and grow again.

However, today’s NAO report on the cultural recovery plan confirms that the Government risk destroying this sector, so I would be grateful if the Minister could explain the following three points. First, when did the Government decide that the CRF should aim to preserve only 75% of the organisations at risk at the start of the Covid pandemic? It cannot generate a very co-operative environment when those hoping to receive funding from their own sponsoring department learn that it aims to cull a quarter of our creative capacity.

Secondly, why have the Government prioritised London, which got 31% of the revenue grants, while the north-east got 4% and the north-west only 12%? I thought that we were on a levelling-up agenda.

Thirdly, the loan elements of the CRF have, unsurprisingly, been undersubscribed—this is not a sector that can borrow. Only 50% of the Culture Recovery Fund has actually reached organisations so far. At the same time, the Government have not adjusted the furlough scheme or the SEISS to ensure that the 750,000 freelancers and self-employed who make up the sector’s workforce get the support they need. Could the current underspend not be used to match the excellent Welsh scheme, already referred to, which has backed up this gap, in support for our creative economy?

13:26
Lord Caine Portrait Lord Caine (Con)
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My Lords, a key objective of government policy in Northern Ireland since 2010 has been to rebalance the economy by boosting the private sector and bringing in more foreign direct investment. One element of this was to look at reducing the business tax differential with Ireland. Yet, following the Budget, corporation tax is set to rise in Northern Ireland to double the 12.5% rate in Ireland. While I appreciate that CT rates are not the only factor in determining where companies locate, when it comes to deciding between Northern Ireland and Ireland, it can, as I know, be decisive.

In the 2014 Stormont House agreement, the Government agreed to devolve CT powers to the Northern Ireland Executive subject to their finances being on a sustainable footing. The Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 made provision for this, and all that is required to make the transfer is secondary legislation here.

In the 2015 fresh start agreement, the Executive set a date, 2018, for a 12.5% rate and began marketing this in places such as the US. Regrettably, however, a few months after that agreement, the Executive ran into trouble and, as we know, subsequently collapsed for three years.

The biggest obstacle to devolving has always been that, under state aid rules, the Executive would have to fund any reduction from the block grant. Whether there is any appetite for this in the current climate remains to be seen. Yet I am convinced that reducing the rate of corporation tax in Northern Ireland to at least the same level as that in Ireland could have a transformative impact on the economy, which could in turn help to embed further peace and stability.

The commitment to devolve corporation tax powers made it into the 2019 Conservative Northern Ireland manifesto. I therefore finish by asking my noble friend the Minister whether, in the right circumstances, this remains policy should a request be forthcoming from the Northern Ireland Executive.

13:28
Lord Desai Portrait Lord Desai (Non-Afl)
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My Lords, I must start by saying that I have known the Chancellor since before he joined the Government. Therefore, whatever I may say about him should normally be taken to be biased. I think he is a very good Chancellor.

I like high taxation so I welcome a chancellor who can manage both to have the highest burden of tax ratio to GDP and, when needed, to spend so that we have the highest debt burden for a long time. Both were necessary, the spending and the high taxation. If we are serious about the Dasgupta report, greening the economy and so on, we shall have to face much higher taxation. We have to stop the illusion that we can have low taxation and high spending, and that in some miraculous way the numbers will add up; I can assure noble Lords that they will not.

The clever thing about the Budget is that the Chancellor has found a way of not disturbing tax rates that much, but he has expanded the tax base. The freezing of personal allowances is an example of that. By doing so, he will collect more income tax without changing tax rates. It should become a permanent policy that the indexing of personal allowances should not be done unless the rate of inflation exceeds the Bank of England target of 2%. There is no need to go overboard. My personal forecast is that inflation is now out of the system and will not come back any time soon. However, I cannot go into that in two minutes.

I welcome the suggestions made by the noble Lord, Lord Butler. I hope that the Government will take seriously the idea that we can tackle the problem of nurses’ pay with a one-off levy on people paying more than 40%.

13:31
Lord Bradshaw Portrait Lord Bradshaw (LD) [V]
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My Lords, climate change is the real emergency that outshines any other. The UK has not, so far, taken the bold steps necessary to reach net zero by 2050; in fact, things are going the other way. We have been promised a bus strategy, but it has not appeared. How much more could be done quickly by the railways to reduce the amount of diesel oil used by trains, and the lorries that would be displaced from our roads, if relatively small investment schemes were introduced that would better connect our ports to inland distribution centres? A modest plan of railway electrification and bus building would use British labour and particularly benefit the north of the country.

I have given the Minister a simple plan that would see 50 miles of electrification in small infill schemes that each year could save 2 million miles’ worth of diesel haulage, using locomotives that are at present standing idle. While I certainly want to hear his response, I want also to endorse the call of the noble Lord, Lord Young, to increase fuel duty to raise the money needed to fund properly some public services, and his suggestion that we should review council tax to make it fairer.

13:33
Lord Bellingham Portrait Lord Bellingham (Con) (Maiden)
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My Lords, I start by giving my heartfelt thanks to all those people who have been so incredibly welcoming and kind to new Peers. They range from members of the Leader’s Office to the doorkeepers to my indefatigable Whip, my noble friend Lord Shrewsbury. Everyone has been so welcoming and I am grateful for that. I am also grateful to my two supporters, my noble friend Lord Glenarthur and my noble and learned friend Lord Garnier.

My first maiden speech took place shortly after the 1983 general election and lasted 25 minutes. My second maiden speech, which a number of colleagues described rather rudely as my retread speech after my electorate decided to give me a short sabbatical after 1997, took 15 and a half minutes. This is my third maiden speech, and I hope it is my last—you never know in politics—which will be a lot shorter. In fact, my Whip has impressed on me that brevity in this place never goes amiss, perhaps laced with some levity as well.

It is my plan to concentrate on a number of issues dear to my heart, including small businesses, rural affairs, legal services, justice, Northern Ireland and defence. I still live in my old constituency, so it will be a delicate tightrope not to get involved in these matters without getting in the way of my successor, Mr James Wild, who is a high flier and was returned with a record majority; I do not want to fight with him. Indeed, it is more than my life is worth to fall out with Mrs James Wild, also known as the right honourable noble Baroness, Lady Evans of Bowes Park.

On the Budget, when the Chancellor was appointed, there were no coronavirus cases in the UK. When he made his first Budget Statement, there had been one case. The Budget deficit at the time was predicted to be £55 billion. We now know the figures and they are quite horrendous, at £355 billion for this year and £234 billion for next year. But I accept reluctantly all the big tax increases and the big freeze on allowances because I think the Budget meets the mood of the moment. The overwhelming majority of people accept that the bill has to be paid at some stage in the future.

My final point is a small caveat about corporation tax. I agree with my noble friend Lord Caine and the noble Lords, Lord Bilimoria and Lord St John of Bletso, that the signal the rate sends is incredibly important. Given that, I urge the Chancellor to make it clear that when revenues increase and the economy grows again, it will be our intention to go back to having one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the world and to map out a pathway to get the rates down again in the future.

13:36
Lord Lansley Portrait Lord Lansley (Con)
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My Lords, it is a great pleasure to welcome my noble friend to this House and to congratulate him on his excellent maiden speech. It was brief, but it had a moment of humour in it. I think many of us know that my noble friend comes from what we can call a parliamentary heritage. I do not mean the 32 years that he spent in the other place, distinguished as that was, but that over 200 years ago his ancestor was responsible for the only assassination of a Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, just beyond the Bar of the House. Happily, my noble friend is now putting a positive parliamentary legacy in place to offset the Bellingham legacy from many years past. As it happens, it is clear that Prime Ministers did not hold that against my noble friend since he was advanced to ministerial office. Among the many subjects that he will bring to this House, on which we look forward to hearing from him, his ministerial experience will be very valuable, not least in relation to trade and Africa. We look forward to hearing from my noble friend and from all those who have made their maiden speeches in this debate.

I want to make just one point. My noble friend Lord Gadhia said that crises come in pairs. Looking at the Chancellor’s Budget, I think he has addressed with many well-judged measures the pandemic crisis that we face. But, actually, we face two crises because we are also facing a climate crisis. I do not think that this Budget addresses the climate crisis in the way that we need to. Every fiscal event must now be directed towards achieving our climate objectives. In that context, I want to focus on one thing. In two months, we will introduce the UK emissions trading scheme. One month ago to the day, the Government increased the auction reserve price from £15 to £22, but nothing else was done in the Budget. We need to know how we are going to use emissions trading—and, more importantly in my view, carbon pricing—to deliver on our decarbonisation objectives. Industry needs those strategies to be set out.

13:38
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Portrait Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, climate change is the biggest threat to people’s security, so I welcome the Budget’s modest initiatives on this and wish them well. However, like the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, I think that much more is needed. I wish only that the Government would address the major driver behind climate change insecurity, which is of course the continuing world population growth. It is the elephant in the room—I know that it is sensitive, but it cannot continue to be dodged, as it is likely to be at the coming COP 26, where it is not seriously on the agenda.

There are rumours that His Holiness the Pope will visit the Glasgow summit and speak. If that is the case, I hope, and suggest to the Government, that discreet approaches should be made to His Holiness and that he should be encouraged to see how the circle can be squared between some of the policies of the Church and what needs to be done to save the Lord’s planet.

Secondly, I turn to the Budget and will say something about health and care. Can we have some new thinking on this, especially the costs that arise from issues such as obesity? This was mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord McColl. It is such a major contributor to the deaths that we had and the costs that, annually and in future, the NHS has to meet—due not just to things such as diabetes but also to other health problems.

Why have the Government failed to extend the sugar tax, which has proven so effective? Why are the Government still freezing taxes on alcohol, when that is a silent contributor to obesity? We need an approach from the Treasury that starts to take health costs into account in all its approaches; it needs to give more incentives and disincentives to those who damage people’s health.

13:41
Viscount Waverley Portrait Viscount Waverley (CB)
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My Lords, I have not jumped ship. My contribution today focuses on trade, which is central to the economic recovery—yet there was little mention of it, except for freeports, which, in the grander scheme of things, are peripheral, with marginal economic benefits. I would commend a more ambitious approach, with investment from government.

The Budget was an opportunity to send a signal of intent that the Government mean business and to outline a trade-driven recovery, setting out a vision and how that vision would be funded. It is also essential that there is a clear industrial strategy underpinning a comprehensive trade strategy. However, we are now faced with the Government having abandoned their industrial strategy. How are we to build new green industries, generate jobs and drive exports effectively without an industrial strategy? Trade affects every walk of life, and it is essential that policy embraces a comprehensive strategy that addresses the ambitious goals of the United Kingdom at large.

The Department for International Trade cannot be expected to do everything. Secretary of State Truss has pipped me to the post this morning with a round robin announcing that the Board of Trade has launched its first report, Global Britain, Local Jobs. Recommendations have been set out to

“unleash the UK’s full exporting potential and propel jobs and growth across the country.”

Although time has not permitted me to digest the detail, it is a commendable initiative and deserves our support. I hope that the Government have focused on where they should by adding the most value for the taxpayer and industry, driving their prime responsibility: creating the conditions to ensure that business thrives. This could include a rethink of the role of DIT and how it might work more effectively with the private sector, leveraging public finances to attract private sector resources.

Therefore, the Budget was a missed opportunity, compounded by exports having collapsed in the last 12 months—notwithstanding the Minister’s confirming that the UK is set to return to pre-crisis levels earlier than expected—with exports to the EU plunging by £5.6 billion since Brexit.

13:43
Earl of Shrewsbury Portrait The Earl of Shrewsbury (Con)
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My Lords, I also congratulate my noble friend Lord Bellingham on an excellent maiden speech. As his Whip, I expect to be obeyed. I am looking forward to listening to him in the future.

I also congratulate my right honourable friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor on the financial support initiatives that have been provided for businesses and individuals alike throughout the pandemic. They have received much criticism from the other political parties but, without those support packages, this country’s economy would be in a very different place. This has all been uncharted territory, so being critical of the Government’s actions is somewhat disingenuous; I doubt that anyone could have done a better job.

In the business section of yesterday’s Times, an article based on a recent report by PwC stated that a survey of 5,000 global business leaders found that Britain is

“a more attractive investment proposition for multinational companies than it was before Brexit”

and stated that we are now

“the world’s fourth most promising growth opportunity”.

Therefore, we must build on that good news. Surely, instead of hiking corporation tax to 25%, my right honourable friend should instigate a root-and-branch reform of our overcomplex tax regime, developing a simplified low-tax system to attract foreign companies. We need to incentivise, not penalise, our business community—we are a nation of entrepreneurs; we need to encourage those businesses.

In such a reformed tax system, there would be less inclination to try to avoid paying taxes and more incentive to invest and grow. We have to take a long-term position, and we know that it will take a very long time indeed to repair the financial damage caused by this pandemic. I believe that tax reform is key to growth and future success.

I make a plea to my right honourable friends to recognise the tremendous dedication and service provided by our NHS nurses in a better pay award. An award of 1% is derisory. No matter how much we applaud them, kind words do not pay bills. They deserve better.

13:45
Baroness Humphreys Portrait Baroness Humphreys (LD) [V]
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My Lords, I add my congratulations to all noble Lords who have made their excellent maiden speeches today.

In my short contribution, I will concentrate on the impact of the Chancellor’s Budget on Wales. As a consequence of Covid measures for England, the Budget provided £735 million of revenue funding for Wales—but not a single penny more for capital spend in Wales next year, despite all that we have heard about an investment-led recovery.

With COP 26 due in Glasgow in November, I was disappointed that there was no reference to further investment in the green recovery that my party in Wales wants to see. Further investment in large-scale renewable energy projects, bringing more jobs to our communities as well as addressing the climate emergency, would have been a starting point.

This Budget confirms what the Senedd’s Minister for Finance calls the UK Government’s “aggressive approach” to replacing EU funding, resulting in the people of Wales benefitting from a fraction of the funding that we have had in previous years. This, together with the earlier revelation that the designation of HS2 as an England and Wales project has resulted in a drop in the consequential from 80.7% to 53.7%, has led to serious ramifications for future growth in the Welsh budget.

In a week when opinion polls show that, perhaps as a result of the actions of this Westminster Government, nearly 40% of the people of Wales would now favour independence, the UK Government really need to change their approach if they want the union to survive. Now is the time to consider strengthening our devolution settlement, not weakening it by stealth.

13:47
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Portrait Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op) [V]
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My Lords, the Chancellor faced two major hazards in preparing his Budget. The first, the Covid pandemic, was of course not of his making but, for the second, the fallout from Brexit, he and his Government must accept the major responsibility. Indeed, we see today that our exports to the European Union have dropped by over 40%, with huge economic disbenefit.

The worst aspect of the Brexit con trick, however, was the slogan on the side of the campaign bus promising £350 million a week for the NHS. If we are getting anything, it is not providing a decent pay rise for the staff who have cared for us through this pandemic, as the noble Earl, Lord Shrewsbury, said earlier. But there is money going to the track and trace consultants, who are no doubt struggling by on average pay of £1,000 a day.

I am one of those who will continue—as my noble friend Lady Quin said she would—to argue that Brexit was a tragic, self-inflicted wound, achieved through a flawed referendum process. I recognise, however, that we cannot now undo it, but it is a caution against stumbling into another similar, but far worse, tragic error. With the chaos and misery that we now see developing as a result of the UK leaving a successful economic union after 40 years, think how much worse it would be for Scotland to leave an even more successful economic union after more than 300 years. The separatists have no answer to the key questions of currency, debt or breaking up long-standing financial arrangements. They rely on the same emotive arguments of national identity that led us into the disaster of Brexit. We all need now to raise our game in the fight to save our precious United Kingdom.

13:50
Lord Holmes of Richmond Portrait Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con)
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My Lords, I welcome and congratulate all noble Lords who have made their maiden speeches in today’s debate and declare my interests as set out in the register. The Chancellor delivered a good Budget in uniquely bad times. I believe it can be best summarised as “The Government’s economic strategy is their vaccine strategy; the Government’s vaccine strategy is their economic strategy”—and quite right too. Will the Minister join me in congratulating all those involved in the vaccine programme and all those in the NHS and our care services who have done so much through this pandemic? Will he review the current pay proposals for our nurses?

Turning to financial technology, I welcome its mention by the Chancellor in the Budget, particularly with the recent publication of the fintech strategic review. What does the Treasury intend to do to accelerate the implementation of the recommendations in Ron Kalifa’s FSR? Much of what is in the review does not require legislative change, so will the Government just crack on with that? For that in the review that does require legislative or regulatory change, what is the Government’s plan to enable that? Fintech is the future, and it is the future now. We have the talent, we have the technology; we need the legislation and the regulatory environment to further fuel that future. Does my noble friend agree?

13:52
Lord Wigley Portrait Lord Wigley (PC) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate all maiden speakers. The Chancellor has implicitly recognised that the impact of Covid cannot be resolved by the free market economy. His actions were necessary, though they sometimes delivered rough justice. For some groups—the newly self-employed, the hospitality sector and the performing arts—it has been very rough indeed, and to plough ahead with the Brexit timetable regardless of Covid was surely crass stupidity. Exporters, including fishermen, are paying the price.

Over the past year, the impact of Covid has varied geographically, and Covid rates in Wales today are half those in England. Our ability to fine-tune policy to reflect local conditions has boosted the Welsh Government’s credibility. This is because of three factors: devolution has enabled us to take decisions more closely aligned to local circumstances; our sense of community is greater; and the need to prioritise the social agenda was more widely accepted. We needed, from this Budget, a resource allocation free of strings, both to empower local communities and to enable us to address key devolved issues, such as nurses’ pay, school resources, small enterprises, the cultural sector and the tourist economy, in ways which reflect local circumstances.

We must trust our local communities and that can happen only by empowering them, so the Budget should also have urged Wales to maximise capital expenditure using, where necessary, our own borrowing and tax-varying powers to respond to local needs. The Budget decision to sprinkle capital projects like confetti around these islands, through the centralised, micro-managed shared prosperity fund, not only reeks of pork-barrel politics but reflects a scattergun approach which cannot deliver sustainable economic solutions in a co-ordinated manner. The shared prosperity fund has just £220 million for the whole UK this year, compared to the annual £375 million that Wales received from EU structural funds. Brexit pledges to Wales turned to dust. I fear that this Budget may do likewise.

13:54
Baroness Goudie Portrait Baroness Goudie (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, as a result of the pandemic, women have had to face career-altering decisions. Many women have had to scale back work obligations in order to focus on a family at home 24/7. What will be the long-term implications of this on the pipeline of women into senior positions? The Government must ensure that childcare facilities are available. Throughout the pandemic, a number of childcare facilities have had to close as they did not receive financial support. We know that first interventions with children are key to their future and the future of Britain. Further, getting women back into the workforce is key to our economy.

As we progress through 2021, we must challenge what could become expected norms. We must continue to take big strides in ensuring the number of women in leadership roles. Across the world, women from all cultures need to continue to hold positions in the boardroom, as there is a place for everyone at the board table. Diversity at the board table will have the largest impact on corporate culture and decision-making. It is crucial that we continue to strive for 50:50 representation of women and men on boards, in management teams, in Parliament and in government, and for those men and women to be diverse and from a wide range of creeds and colours.

The past 10 years have seen some progress; now it is time to raise the stakes and be even more ambitious for the next 10 years to come. To further economic progress, we must ensure that the FTSE 100 has reached 36% women on boards and the FTSE 350 has achieved 34%. Annual reporting of the gender pay gap and diversity must remain intact to continue the momentum and forward progress.

I encourage noble Lords to also challenge what is going on around them and look for ways to help us all to continue to drive towards equality for all women, men and children by not cutting education, apprenticeship or training budgets.

13:56
Lord Sarfraz Portrait Lord Sarfraz (Con)
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My Lords, I join in congratulating the maiden speakers today. I refer noble Lords to my entry in the register.

Despite very difficult circumstances, this might actually be one of the most start-up friendly Budgets in years. The challenge and opportunity are in last-mile delivery. I will explain what I mean by that. Take, for example, the future fund for breakthrough technologies, which is very welcome and should result in many multiples of private sector co-investment but will depend on lead investors. Those lead investors will need to be encouraged to market directly to diverse founders, particularly female founders, those from ethnic minorities and those outside traditional investment geographies.

The recovery loan scheme will be distributed through banks. Those banks will also need to be encouraged to extend credit to pre-revenue businesses with little to no collateral and other existing layers of debt. Even with encouragement, this type of risk might lie outside most bank managers’ skill set and comfort zone. The same could be said about the mortgage guarantee scheme, which will also be delivered through commercial banks.

It is in last-mile delivery where we need to reduce friction and improve experiences. I hope that we can learn from the challenger bank playbook and improve design at the point of sale, where our policy interventions are ultimately consumed.

There are also several refreshing ideas around R&D tax relief, pension fund asset allocations, the EMI scheme and the crypto assets consultation, all of which could greatly benefit entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom. I congratulate the Government on delivering a Budget that gives entrepreneurs hope and optimism after such a difficult year.

13:57
Baroness Bull Portrait Baroness Bull (CB)
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My Lords, I join others in welcoming today’s maiden speakers.

As we have heard, the creative industries contribute to the UK’s social, cultural and economic well-being, delivering £116 billion GVA pre-Covid and 2.2 million jobs. Given this, their inclusion in the levelling-up fund and the plan for growth is welcome.

Despite this success, the sector has challenges of diversity, skills and scale, which this Budget begins to address. New flexibilities in the apprenticeship scheme will diversify opportunities. Reforms to the global talent visa and a new elite points-based visa could, if well designed, help to ensure access to skills. It is encouraging that the Government have heard the arguments for a creative industries R&D tax relief. Creative businesses undertake almost as much R&D as manufacturing, but their current exclusion rules out legitimate innovation in this fast-growing part of the economy and misses the chance to ensure that behavioural insights are built into new technologies to increase adoption rates.

Set against these positives are the continued challenges of Covid for a sector unlikely to generate income until summer at the earliest. It is disappointing that a government-backed insurance scheme similar to the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme was not introduced. Furlough and support scheme extensions are welcome, but too many taxpayers still fall through the gaps. One year on, will the Government extend the SEISS criteria to catch them? How will the Government ensure that the extra £408 million cultural funding reaches freelancers, who make up one-third of the creative workforce and are, literally, its lifeblood?

Finally, there is still no announcement of the promised alternative to the Creative Europe culture sub-programme, which contributed €18.4 million to UK culture each year. When we will hear more on this?

This is a sector hit hard by Covid and even harder by its inexplicable absence from the EU-UK TCA. This Budget’s emergency support is welcome, but it is no substitute for the long-term investment that will preserve its world-leading status and help the creative industries play their role in economic recovery.

13:59
Lord Haskel Portrait Lord Haskel (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, as well as welcoming the maiden speakers, I welcome the Chancellor’s short-term methods to deal with the immediate effects of the pandemic on jobs and businesses. But that is the easy part. As other noble Lords have mentioned, the harder part is to deal with our longer-term needs of productivity and growth, Brexit and our future trading relationships.

Where there was some action, it seemed to be prompted by a rather old-fashioned view of business; we tried freeports and closed them. Modern firms are defined by capability, much of it resulting from intangible investment. This is how we developed the new vaccines. In this modern world, fiscal allowances are less of a consideration. Capital expenditure and investment is, more and more, investment in transport, water, power and systems of payments. But it has to go hand in hand with investment in education, welfare and public health. This is what helps to create the work which builds value, improves productivity and raises GDP—working together in this modern economy. The Budget hardly recognised this. The Budget was also weak on decarbonisation. Freezing fuel duty does not help achieve carbon neutrality, and there was silence on carbon border taxes.

In spite of today’s advancement, there is a distinct lack of trade strategy, and industrial strategy was hardly mentioned. Where there was a strategy—such as levelling up—it was clearly political, not economic, as the methodology published yesterday demonstrated. This is a short-term Budget neglecting our long-term problems.

14:01
Baroness Foster of Oxton Portrait Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con) (Maiden Speech)
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My Lords, first I thank my supporters, my noble friends Lord Polak and Lord Parkinson. I also thank Black Rod and her team, the clerks, the doorkeepers and everyone here for their very warm welcome. Their help has been invaluable, and it is a great honour to join your Lordships’ House.

Oxton is a lovely village on the Wirral, settled by the Vikings. Centuries later, it was one of the most affluent areas in England. The land was part of the Earl of Shrewsbury’s estate—he has just left—and there is a very fine hostelry there named after him. But its real wealth was derived from its proximity to Liverpool, just across the river. The Three Graces, topped by the Liver Birds, is one of the most magnificent skylines in the world, and where I was born.

As children, we would watch the great ships discharge their passengers and cargo, then set off again to exotic places around the world: Cunard, White Star, Canadian Pacific and many more. But the city’s great mercantile history would face its biggest challenge: the rise of the aviation industry.

At 16, I saved up and flew to Paris to visit my French penfriend in Épernay, and it was a moment which determined my future—I was going to fly. At 20, I left for London, joined British Airways and never looked back. That was the start of a love affair which continues today. Twenty years in Brussels, most as an MEP, allowed me to specialise in this field and extended my interest and expertise to the aerospace, space and tourism sectors, which I hope to develop while I am in your Lordships’ House.

We have built a world-class industry. There are 4 million jobs reliant on this supply chain, so when I see the devastation caused by Covid, I could weep. We have the silver bullet; it is time to rebuild and provide confidence for business to move forward. The Chancellor has made a very good start, but we have to do much more. So I will play my part, and I am sure that noble Lords—whatever their political persuasions, or none—will, too, and I thank them in anticipation.

14:04
Lord Balfe Portrait Lord Balfe (Con)
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My Lords, I congratulate all maiden speakers, in particular my noble friend Lady Foster, who I have known for a good number of years, mainly in Brussels. She alluded to her role there on the transport committee and in the transport field for the Commission, where I have to say she was a distinguished and feared figure, because she knew her stuff—and that is the most important thing to get things done. She was also deputy leader of the Conservative group—the deputy leader is the one who gets the jobs that no one else wants—and she survived a good few years there. Finally, although she mentioned British Airways, she did not mention that she was instrumental in setting up a trade union. Labour loves to feel that it has all the TU people, but we have yet another person on our Benches who is an intimate in the trade union field.

I will move on to make myself unpopular with the Opposition, certainly, if not the Government. We cannot keep on living on credit. It is as simple as that; difficult choices have to be made. Johnson compares himself to Churchill. I see the noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, opposite; his grandfather was Churchill’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. Churchill spent money like water—but it had to stop, and this has to stop. We have to construct a way of living with Covid.

I say this to our friends the nurses: they have to be subject to the same economic disciplines as anyone else in the labour force. A pound on the wages bill is a pound off the cancer treatment bill. There is no unlimited supply of money. That is the message that I would like the Chancellor to ram home to No. 10. We must start again living within our means and we must make decisions based on hard economic facts, not emotional spasms.

14:07
Lord Shipley Portrait Lord Shipley (LD) [V]
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My Lords, first, I congratulate all noble Lords making their maiden speeches today. I will talk about English regional policy. The Industrial Strategy Council, now abolished, said that, in Europe, only Poland and Romania had larger regional productivity gaps than the UK. The Government seem to want to recognise that in Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth. But, as my noble friend Lord Fox, the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, and others have said, the plan lacks strategic focus and a unifying theme. I hope that the Government really do understand the potential growth jobs, particularly in green industries in the English regions.

The success of levelling up will depend on the willingness of the private sector to invest strongly alongside the Government, but also on the willingness of the Government to devolve power within England, which should lead in turn to greater growth in jobs. We still await of course the Government’s much-heralded devolution White Paper.

I welcome the opening of both the Treasury’s northern base in Darlington and the UK infrastructure bank in Leeds. Both are a sign of confidence in the north, as is the second Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government headquarters in Wolverhampton and the West Midlands. These decisions by the Government raise the question of what else should be in the pipeline. I suggest that the Department for Transport opens a base in the north of England. I have never understood why it is essential for it to be in London. The example set by the Treasury and MHCLG is surely one for others to follow. We could create a network of government departments right across the country, where civil servants and Ministers can better understand the problems outside London.

14:09
Lord Empey Portrait Lord Empey (UUP) [V]
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My Lords, like others, I wish to congratulate our maiden speakers today. I am particularly pleased to see the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham, and the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, in their places. I have worked with them before and look forward to doing so again.

My noble friend the Minister will not be surprised that I wish to address a few matters concerning the Northern Ireland protocol. I know that he has done a lot of work personally to make this system acceptable, but I fear that the principles behind it will in fact make it ultimately unsuccessful. I point out that both Her Majesty’s Government and the European Union say that they had to come to this arrangement because they want to support the Belfast agreement in all its forms. As a negotiator of that agreement, I assure my noble friend that the protocol is the very antithesis of that agreement and will probably be fought out in the courts in the coming weeks. There are many of us—and many of us want to talk to him and the Government—with ideas for workable alternatives that will not disrupt trade to the extent that it has been disrupted.

To point out the scale of the problem, the trade flowing across the border from the United Kingdom to the Republic of Ireland is one-tenth of 1% of European trade flows. How is it that we have ended up in such a political mess over such a modest amount of trade? It is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. There are alternatives that respect the single market of the European Union, which we have no wish to damage given it was our idea in the first place. I would like the Minister to confirm that he and his colleagues would be prepared to meet with some of us to consider our proposals.

14:11
Baroness Altmann Portrait Baroness Altmann (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate my noble friends Lady Foster, Lord Cruddas, Lord Benyon and Lord Bellingham, as well as the noble Lord, Lord Khan, on their maiden speeches. I welcome them to the House. I also congratulate my noble friend the Minister and the Government on the Budget. I applaud the aims of an investment-led recovery and the support for business and people who were badly affected by the pandemic. I welcome the St Augustinian approach to fixing the fiscal deficit by spending huge sums now, allowing fiscal drag and promising tax rises to pay for this later, but leaving flexibility to adjust the timescale and detail of future fiscal measures.

I have two main points. First, I repeat my concerns about the levels of debt across the economy, which have, ironically, risen substantially through the years since the 2008 debt crisis sparked the beginning of the Bank of England’s exceptional money-tree policy called quantitative easing. It was supposed to be a temporary monetary policy experiment, having continued—unfortunately, in my view—for years after 2008 despite growth increasing and asset price inflation driving a massive redistribution of wealth towards the wealthiest while causing problems for pension schemes and savers. I urge the Chancellor to use pension assets to boost growth rather than chasing gilts in competition with the Bank of England, and to boost the green growth agenda and finance housing.

Secondly, I regret the missed opportunity to address social care funding and hope that the Chancellor will move towards integrating social care into the national insurance system alongside pensions, as Beveridge doubtless would have done had he understood the demographics that were coming.

14:13
Lord McKenzie of Luton Portrait Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I start by offering my congratulations to all those who have made maiden speeches today. The pandemic has caused the most comprehensive and sustained economic shock that we have had to endure, and Brexit has of course added to that challenge. Witness the devastation on our high streets, the impoverishment of our councils and the continuing housing crisis.

The Chancellor’s chosen method of introducing a range of tax increases was to freeze a whole bundle of tax thresholds and allowances at 2021-22 levels —a rather weasel way of circumventing manifesto commitments, but not novel; we have all been at it. It leaves the determination of the rates of real increases in tax to a range of market economic factors not necessarily under the direct control of the Chancellor.

Perhaps the time has come to get more from capital taxes—inheritance tax and capital gains tax—and one further tax. Noble Lords may be aware that the Wealth Tax Commission, chaired by the noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell, recently delivered its final report. As the report sets out, it is half a century since a wealth tax was seriously considered in the UK. Given the scale of the public finance crisis, there is an imperative, I suggest, to think big on tax. Why should we not at least develop our thinking on a wealth tax—a broad-base tax on the ownership of net wealth—to help pay the bills, as some have suggested? Public attitudes, according to the report, show a clear desire for wealth to be taxed more relative to income. I live in hope.

14:16
Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Portrait Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con) [V]
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Let me add my welcome and congratulations to the distinguished Peers who have made their maiden speeches today. They have whetted our appetites and we very much look forward to hearing more from them.

In the Budget debate a year ago, in his final speech in this House, the late Earl of Selborne said:

“We rightly congratulate ourselves on the quality of our basic research, yet we consistently fail to exploit this to the point where we deliver the new technologies, whether to promote the green economy or anything else.”—[Official Report,12/3/20; col. 1184.]


How right he was. He was a massive force for good, maintaining priority and integrity given to science and technology. He was in the House for almost 49 years, and I hope that his memory and influence will live on with us. He would have welcomed the Government changing the Bank of England’s mandate, despite the reservations of the noble Lord, Lord King, to include climate objectives. This will focus financial markets towards green investment. Many will have noted that the last governor, Mark Carney, in his impressive 2020 Reith lecture, referred to the urgency to reorient the financial system, with a massive investment needed to create a sustainable green economy.

In hosting COP 26, and our presidency of the G7, we look for an all-encompassing road map, delivering green growth at the heart of our recovery. The Chancellor’s planned Leeds-based national infrastructure bank will play a key role in financing green investment. The aspiration is to attract up to £40 billion of private investment in green projects. I also welcome the announcements of the green ports. I declare my interests as sheriff of Hull and chancellor of the university. The unemployment rate there is 7.1%; in my former constituency, it is 3%. Levelling-up and building back better, in the Prime Minister’s words, are crucial. We can see in the Humber how money is already being used to convert the Alexandra Dock, the centrepiece of Green Port Hull, which has been transformed by Siemens Gamesa to manufacture phenomenal zero-carbon energy-producing mega turbine blades.

With all the other measures in the Budget, there is a note of optimism and hope, but like others, I must press the Minister for greater clarity on plans to overhaul social care. This is a Schleswig-Holstein question. It is incredibly complex. Healthcare traditionally has been free at the point of use.

Baroness Penn Portrait Baroness Penn (Con)
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I remind the noble Baroness that contributions are time-limited.

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Portrait Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con) [V]
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There has always been an assessment of means for social care, but the issue must now be faced.

14:19
Baroness Hayman Portrait Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I declare my interest as co-chair of Peers for the Planet. Given today’s excellent maiden speeches, I hope that we may even gain a few recruits.

I share the disappointment of other speakers that the Budget failed to provide the coherent, cohesive underpinning necessary to meeting our national and international obligations on climate change and biodiversity, and ignored the Climate Change Committee’s recent call to front-load investment and policy rollout this year, this Parliament and this decade.

Many have spoken of the extraordinary scale of the economic challenge caused by Covid-19. Coronavirus is indeed the crisis of our time, but climate change is the crisis of our age, and the Budget fails to rise to the scale of that challenge, with big gaps in policy and funding for the decarbonisation of heating and transport, and no mention of nature-based solutions or biodiversity.

I will not follow my fellow Wulfrunian, the noble Lord, Lord King of Lothbury, on the remit on the Bank of England, but I agree that the prime responsibility is with the Government and their failure to introduce a carbon tax along with the freezing of the vehicle excise duty. Equally, the Budget is silent on the future of the green homes grant, yet a recent report by the Green Finance Institute has shown that an extensive retrofit programme could cut emissions and create 200,000 highly skilled jobs across the whole of the UK by 2030. Such a programme could be a prime candidate for the new national infrastructure bank, whose creation I welcome, and provide an example of a cross-cutting strategic approach we so badly need.

14:21
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Portrait Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD) [V]
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My Lords, the OEP—the office for environmental protection—was heralded by the Government in October 2019, with its offices to be in Worcester. It took two years to appoint an interim CEO on 28 January this year, but this post will last only until December, just 12 months. The G7 summit in Cornwall and COP 26 will both happen this year, but the Government’s green agenda will be no further forward. The Environment Bill, having been stalled, is now seriously threatened as the Bill team has been disbanded.

I welcome the levelling-up including rural areas, but am not holding my breath. There is much in the Budget to help the environment—green gilts, green national savings, offshore wind, hydrogen and energy storage—and a plethora of strategies in the pipeline to come soon, but no mention of just when “soon” will be. The UK infrastructure bank is to assist, among others, farmers to move to net zero. It will also support new entrants into farming and tenant farmers but, as ever, there is little detail of how this will happen.

Green technological investments are one side of meeting environmental and carbon targets. The other side is an independent regulator, the OEP, to set challenging targets and enforcement to penalise the polluters. Can the Minister indicate just how the OEP is be funded so that it can begin its essential work, and when this will happen?

14:23
Baroness Gardner of Parkes Portrait Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]
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My Lords, we are without doubt living through unprecedented times, and it is right that this Government should be supporting the public and the economy to help us navigate through these uncharted waters. While not a fan of taxes, I understand the need for the highest tax regime since the 1960s, but I hope that the Government will be flexible as and when needed if the opportunity to cut taxes arises in the future to boost the economy and help to rebalance the tax burden borne by the high street and the online economy.

Given the number of speakers today, I shall speak out in support of just one aspect of the Budget and ask that it be made permanent in future. I refer to the extension to universal credit by £20 per week for a further six months. This has been a lifeline to many since it was introduced, and can be the difference between keeping your head above water and drowning in debt. This pandemic has not hit everyone equally. Those on low or no income have really struggled financially, and this £20 a week has had a disproportionately positive impact on those who receive it, whereas others on a high income may see it as only the price of a nightly Deliveroo takeaway meal and inconsequential. I commend the Government for retaining it and ask that it be made permanent, as the fear of it being withdrawn is adding to the stress and worry of how people who receive it will manage as they emerge from this pandemic.

14:26
Lord Morris of Aberavon Portrait Lord Morris of Aberavon (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I shall not dwell on the gross disservice now proposed for nurses’ pay—a pay cut, given the inflation estimates. I believe the Government will be forced to do a U-turn, and the sooner the better, before it goes to the review board. Where are the whizz kids who should have anticipated this uproar—another pasty tax or, perhaps, Gordon Brown’s few pence for the pensioners?

I touch on agriculture, which is a devolved matter. The joint statement of the farming organisations in Wales is very welcome. Will the Government confirm that they are committed to at least match the current EU receipts for Wales? On a wider area, for the past 20 years, Wales has received more European structural funds than any other part of the UK to bring the Welsh economy up to the EU average. What is the present position? Will the Minister kindly write to me to clarify?

It is the long-term future that concerns me. Attempts to paper the cracks are very welcome, but there is a real problem with youth unemployment and something should be done about it. The Labour Party Government of 1945 had the vision to reset our priorities when the country was also bankrupt. Harold Wilson, in whose Governments I served, had a similar view as regards the possibilities of the technological revolution. I have encouraged my party to enlist the most eminent economists to set our priorities and proposals for the future of our country. We need an economic recovery plan, and I hope that we as a party can provide it.

14:28
Baroness Uddin Portrait Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl) [V]
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My Lords, I warmly welcome all noble Lords who newly grace us with spring in their steps, and I look forward to working with them, as is our customary tradition, across the aisles. I particularly welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, with whom we take an additional step towards a more balanced House.

In the light of Sir Simon Stevens’ pronouncement that the Government have broken their promises and the Public Account Committee’s report on the efficacy of test and trace implementation, as well as breaching the rules of awarding contracts, will the Government bow to public demand and abandon the neglectful offer of a 1% pay rise for nurses? These are the nurses and other frontline staff who we have vowed to support as a mark of respect for their services and sacrifice, for looking after patients affected by this pandemic, including the heart-breaking 125,000 who lost their lives and those who have survived.

The Women and Equality Committee’s report states that existing gender inequalities have been exponentially exacerbated by the pandemic policy responses and, as result, many women are being forced to choose to leave work due to overwhelming family and childcare responsibilities.

I appreciate that the Government are committed to remedying structural inequalities in employability, housing overcrowding and homelessness. Will they therefore share the impact assessment for their spending policies and say what, if any, improvements have occurred as a result?

Finally, as the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill reaches its final stages, all Members acknowledge the significance of the funding allocated to meet immediate needs. There is consensus among experts, however, that it is not enough. Will the Government consider an imminent national campaign to eradicate violence against women and girls, which has been the cause of the murder of 189 women and children this year alone—and to which we now add the name of Sarah Everard? I extend my heartfelt condolences and prayers to all their families.

14:30
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Portrait Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I warmly congratulate all noble Lords who have made their maiden speeches and welcome them to the House.

I welcome the Government’s support during this pandemic, but I query why aviation companies have been overlooked, with no specific targeted measures to ensure their swift recovery. I hope that this might be addressed. They have a strategic role to play in global Britain and have suffered the greatest loss of business in the pandemic. Is my noble friend aware that the restart grants focus on retail outlets, therefore excluding many in the travel sector? I hope that this also will be addressed.

I support the government programme of levelling up and improving infrastructure in the economy of the north. On free ports, though, I urge caution. They were abandoned in 2012 for very good reasons. I hope that the Government will urgently address issues of levelling up between rural and urban areas, especially concerning mobile and broadband connectivity.

Will the Government take the opportunity of the Budget to close the gender gap between men and women? I think in particular in terms of women’s state pension: they are now not able to take it until 66 at the earliest, yet they find it difficult in later years to find work. Also, many part-time women are disadvantaged and deprived from not being able to enrol in auto-enrolment pensions. A woman in her 20s now will retire on £100,000 less than a man—that cannot be acceptable.

Finally, the Government will be disappointed with the monthly trade figures showing a 40% drop in UK exports to the EU and a 28% fall in imports from the EU, in large part due to checks and barriers following Brexit. Will the Government seek the earliest possible agreement with the EU to agree phytosanitary checks on the same basis as agreed between the EU and New Zealand?

14:32
Lord Berkeley of Knighton Portrait Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB) [V]
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My Lords, it is indeed a pleasure to welcome the flow of fresh blood into your Lordships’ House, and I welcome its owners too.

The opening thrust of the noble Lord, Lord Agnew, was this: the Budget protects jobs and livelihoods. The creative industries cannot wait to get back to work, to start contributing the billions to the Exchequer that they have historically raised. I commend the Chancellor for the help that he gave to the sector, but he and the Minister will know that many slipped through the net of support and will now be hit by the second blow of a double whammy—the inability to tour in Europe. I fear that many actors, dancers and musicians may not be there to help rebuild our economy.

I have two suggestions: help with insurance for promoters and venues, and a return to the EU to sort out touring visas and work permits. It is no good saying that the creative industries are being consulted and the Government’s door is open; the Government simply must go back to renegotiate a reciprocal agreement, however much they appear loathe to do so. It is not just about money but about the precious exchange of ideas.

Finally, I endorse my noble friend Lord Butler of Brockwell’s suggestion that those who can should pay more on a one-off basis for NHS nurses. For my part, I would certainly be up for that.

14:35
Lord Sikka Portrait Lord Sikka (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate all new noble Lords and welcome them to the House. The Equality Trust states that, before Covid, the poorest 10% of households paid on average 42% of their income in direct and indirect taxes, compared to 34.3% paid by the richest 10% of households. This gap has increased since 2010. Rather than tax justice, the Budget will force the less well-off to pay higher amounts in income tax, national insurance contributions, VAT and council tax, which will inevitably deplete the purchasing power of the masses and damage economic recovery.

Regressive taxation cannot build a just and fair society, but the Government do not seem to grasp that. Just two reforms—taxing capital gains at the same marginal rates as earned income and restricting tax relief on pension contributions to the basic rate of income tax—could generate an additional £25 billion per year for redistribution and levelling up and change the balance of taxation. Hopefully, the Minister can explain why the Government continue to neglect tax justice for the less well-off members of our society.

14:36
Lord Sterling of Plaistow Portrait Lord Sterling of Plaistow (Con) [V]
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My Lords, I am sure that the expertise of all our new colleagues will much enrich the deliberations of this House. The Chancellor’s support package during the greatest challenges in our lifetime was a tour de force, but it is now vital that we get back to work as soon as possible, thereby achieving a rapid return to economic well-being.

I have stated before that SMEs and the self-employed are the backbone of the United Kingdom. They are our true entrepreneurs; with the right leadership and encouragement, they will play a crucial role in our economic recovery. They will invest their own moneys and reputations in innovation and research, increase employment and train apprentices, to help and expand both here and in international markets. Our most helpful librarians informed me yesterday that 16.8 million people were employed by SMEs in 2020. These are businesses with less than 250 employees. Some 34.9 million people were employed in the whole of the United Kingdom; SMEs therefore represent 48% of the total. The total turnover of SMEs in 2020 was £2.3 trillion, while that of the whole United Kingdom economy was £4.7 trillion—so SMEs’ turnover represented 49% of the total.

History has shown that immigrant families from all backgrounds have created their own SMEs and have total dedication to the work ethic leading to creativity. Sadly, many people will need government support throughout their lives, but many desperately wish for the dignity of having a job, thereby contributing to the economy. I am sure the Minister will agree that we have an extraordinary wealth of talent in this country in all age groups. This will undoubtedly feed through to create a great future for our children and grandchildren.

14:39
Lord Scriven Portrait Lord Scriven (LD) [V]
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My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. People who require social care and healthcare will feel let down by this Budget. Leaving aside the 1% for front-line NHS workers and nothing for care staff, hidden away in the small print of the Red Book the Government have cut NHS England’s budget from £148 billion this year to £139 billion next year. With over 4 million people waiting for healthcare and a looming mental health crisis, the Government’s response is to treat health and care staff with contempt and cut NHS budgets for the forthcoming year.

In real terms, public health grant spending per head this year is £1 billion lower than in 2015-16. The Budget said nothing on the councils’ public health grant for the next financial year. The lack of funding for public health runs contrary to the aim of addressing increasing health inequalities and levelling up communities.

Talking of silence, I turn to the service whose name the Government dare not speak: social care. It is estimated to have a gap of £4 billion and growing, with millions not getting the care they need. The Government’s response is a sticking plaster of temporary council tax rises. The time for strategic plans is now—yet the Government lets down the most vulnerable by not bringing forward reforms of social care funding, giving those in need support and dignity. It is shameful and unforgivable.

The £20 million in the Budget is insufficient to support those who have to self-isolate with Covid. Every country that has slowed the transmission of the virus has put in place significant support and paid people the equivalent of their wages while they are self-isolating. This is another opportunity missed, one that the Government will have to readdress to ensure that an effective system of isolation and support exists.

The Budget’s silence on these issues of the well-being of citizens is an abdication by the Government, not only on personal health and care but also for a healthy and growing economy.

14:41
Lord Dodds of Duncairn Portrait Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP) [V]
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My Lords, I extend my sincere congratulations to all noble Lords making their maiden speech in today’s debate, and I wish them well for the future.

I welcome the decision to extend the 5% VAT rate for the hospitality industry to maintain the £20 uplift on universal credit, although it could be for longer, which would give more certainty. This and the decision to freeze fuel duty are in line with representations made by us to government, and I welcome them. I understand the need for the Chancellor to look at revenue raising, but I think that to freeze tax thresholds for such a lengthy period is not a good idea: taxation by stealth in this way means many more people paying much more tax in the long run.

At the time of the Budget, I regretted—I still do—that there was no mention of air passenger duty reduction, which is so critical to the very damaged aviation industry. It inflicts disproportionate harm on more peripheral areas of the United Kingdom, such as Northern Ireland, which are so dependent on air travel. Since then, the very welcome Union Connectivity Review has been published, and I look forward to progress in this area as soon as possible. I also look forward to progress in getting some of the digital tech giants to pay their fair share of tax in the United Kingdom—and to a fair and better settlement on NHS pay.

The last year has once again proved the benefit of being part of the fifth-largest economy in the world, with unprecedented support on a vast scale for jobs and industry. I congratulate the Government on the speedy rollout of the vaccines across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Of course, to make true economic progress in Northern Ireland, the Government must act quickly to undo the damage being done by restrictions in trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland through the Northern Ireland protocol. I welcome recent decisions by the Government on behalf of all consumers, businesses and peoples in all communities in Northern Ireland. We must go further to ensure that unrestricted trade in the UK internal market is maintained and continued.

14:43
Baroness Verma Portrait Baroness Verma (Con) [V]
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I refer noble Lords to my interests in the register, and I join all noble Lords in congratulating noble Lords who have given maiden speeches today.

I welcome the Budget: the Chancellor has had to strike a very fine balance in protecting jobs. Could my noble friend the Minister tell me whether he or the Government are considering a review of local enterprise partnerships—LEPs—to see whether they are able to provide greater support to the SME sector, as raised by my noble friend Lord Sterling? He is absolutely right that small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our country, and they will need as much support as possible in creating and protecting jobs; we—certainly I—have not seen enough.

My interest is in Leicestershire, and I am extremely grateful for the work that is being done by my colleagues there with the Midlands Engine. However, there is a lot more that we can do, and I would like my noble friend the Minister to see whether it would be possible to review and look at the LEPs and how they can work more closely with the SME sector in particular—especially companies that are now looking at new areas of job creation, on digital platforms and in the science and creative sectors.

I will also ask my noble friend to be very mindful of the impact that this has had on women workers and women-led businesses. Can he give some words of comfort to, and see what further support and advice is available to support, those businesses with offices or premises on high streets that have suffered simply because they have had to close for long periods of time, because landlords will expect a renewal of their rents as soon as lockdown is over?

14:45
Lord Inglewood Portrait Lord Inglewood (Non-Afl) [V]
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My Lords, the most recent occasion I was in London was one year and one day ago, when I came up to speak about the unfolding crisis from my perspective as chairman of the Cumbria local enterprise partnership—as I do again this afternoon. I, like many others, welcome those who made their maiden speeches, but especially single out the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, and the noble Lord, Lord Khan, who are both ex-Members of the European Parliament and northerners. We are a species that, inevitably, shall become extinct.

On that occasion, I emphasised the importance of the economy functioning. If it does not, the epidemic’s health crisis, which is far from over, will usher in at least as serious an economic one, with all that that entails. I stand by that proposition, which appears to be shared by the Chancellor.

Wherever you go and whoever you are, it is always possible to carp about the detail in any Budget, but it is inevitably and invariably the big, boring bits that really matter. We must remember that every furloughed job is on the cusp of being a job lost. In Cumbria, we have the highest district furlough rates in England. In January it was 23% in Eden and 26% in South Lakes.

It is therefore crucial that, when furlough ends, the economy swiftly gets back to profitability. Most of these potential employees are engaged with SMEs, as the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, and the noble Lord, Lord Sterling, pointed out. Most of these in turn have taken out loans as their working capital and reserves have been dwindling. They will have to be replenished from trading. It is a serious existential problem for them.

It is the smaller and often more low-profile economic actors who are one of the keys to getting our economy functioning again, not least in the part of the north where I come from. It must be the core purpose of economic policy now to get them working profitably again. It is encouraging and a good start that this appears to be at or near the centre of the Chancellor’s thinking.

14:47
Lord Triesman Portrait Lord Triesman (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, my noble friend Lord Eatwell has precisely described this Budget’s overall strategy as an overbearing commitment to “outdated fiscal orthodoxy”. The Budget fails to stimulate seed-corn innovation in green technologies, repair the social and welfare damage that has been done, or deal with the wealth divisions. Nor does it help children, who are not mentioned, or mitigate inevitable unemployment, which is on the horizon.

The 1% proposal for NHS staff is a grave error; 2.5% was awarded last summer for the police and this was rightly justified by the Government, not least for the extra Covid duties that they undertook. NHS staff cannot be treated worse. The hundreds of thousands of self-employed and people in micro-businesses, who have not been reached by any help, have also not been helped in this Budget. All are critical matters of resilience for the country and all show that we need a more durable form of social justice.

Finally, it remains wholly unclear how the UK and the EU will co-operate in the financial sector. It is of global importance to us and the review by the noble Lord, Lord Hill, again emphasises this. London’s global leadership is not safe. Amsterdam has overtaken us as an active trade hub, and the Budget has almost nothing to say on trade. The massive, mission-critical gap opening up is of great seriousness. It is no basis for reliable business planning and does not speak to continuity or certainty. This is not special pleading for the financial sector; it is about jobs and long-term prosperity, about green growth and fairer build-back, not a plea to feather nests. The role of the state has grown significantly in the last year and it is inevitable that the Government have to be the weather maker.

14:50
Baroness D'Souza Portrait Baroness D’Souza (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I begin by offering all maiden speakers my warm congratulations. Government spending in the last few months, and in last week’s Budget, has delivered unprecedented resources to many underprivileged sectors of society. My particular concern is the health and welfare of children in this Covid recovery period. Some £700 million has been allocated for catch-up education and for young people in England. Overall, the education sector allocation is £124 billion in the coming financial year, which is the third-largest departmental budget after social care and health. An additional £2 billion has been allocated to providing free school meals. In addition, many local authorities will have had additional funds to provide for children’s health and welfare. However, this government allocation of money in this financial year is widely dispersed among different departments and hundreds of local authorities and NGO programmes across the country. Surely, there is now an urgent need to appoint a permanent senior Minister, preferably at Cabinet level, to co-ordinate these generous budgets and schemes to ensure that the resources available are targeted cost-effectively at those most in need. I ask that the Government give this immediate and serious thought.

14:52
Lord Addington Portrait Lord Addington (LD)
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My Lords, I do not think I have ever been in a debate when I have been speaker number 99 and there have been five maiden speakers before me, which probably says something about today. I will restrict myself to a few remarks on something that is not in this but should be: a strategy for sport. The Government have, through necessity, dealt with the sporting sector over the last year, making sure that it still exists. There is more emphasis there today: maybe a local sports club can be taken over; possibly there is some money, if you can get by, if your elbows are sharp enough, if the local pub does not take it off you first. However, we lack a coherent approach here.

I am on the House of Lords committee currently looking at this, and we were recently given evidence by the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, who is also the Finance Minister. He said that to do this, you need to drive it from the centre of government; you need somebody who takes an interest in it. The reason it is so important, to go back to what we have been talking about solidly for more than a year, is that it helps with such things as health. We know that the people who have been the biggest victims are those who are most unhealthy—the most overweight and the most inactive. That is something we have to start to address. Also, clubs, activities and social interaction are among the best things to help with mental health problems, something building up that we have not even seen the edge of yet. Please, can we look at this coherent sector, because the sporting community, particularly amateur sport, achieves most of what the Government are aiming for in social policy, in health and in education? Surely, it deserves some coherent strategy and support.

14:54
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
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My Lords, I draw attention to my entry in the registry of Members’ interests. I congratulate noble Lords on their maiden speeches, particularly my noble friends Lord Benyon and Lord Cruddas, who are sitting in front of me, and the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham, who are all great friends of mine. This was an excellent Budget and today is extremely important, because it is my daughter Martha’s 13th birthday. This naturally made me think about the future and in particular the focus on technology in the Budget, which is very welcome.

I particularly welcome the Kalifa review, although it was not technically in the Budget. Ron Kalifa has focused on the UK’s important lead in fintech. I encourage the Government to implement the findings of the Kalifa review and to continue our leadership in financial services, alongside my noble friend Lord Hill’s important review of listings—in particular, there is perhaps the opportunity to leap ahead of Amsterdam on the listing of SPACs in the future. There is also the continuation of the future fund to invest in early-stage technology companies during this difficult time; a focus on visas for tech entrepreneurs to continue to come here, and on portable apprenticeships to allow the more eclectic creative industries to take advantage of apprenticeships; and the forthcoming consultation on employee management incentives, which is absolutely vital for entrepreneurial companies.

May I simply ask the Government to keep a watchful eye on how they implement the Help to Grow digital scheme, as it is important that this is not a deadweight cost, and on businesses having the flexibility to invest in the appropriate software including, for example, subscription software? I hope that the review of capital gains tax will not penalise entrepreneurs who invest their time and energy in their companies. On the forthcoming digital tax, while I have no truck with Amazon paying no tax, it perhaps seems unwise to penalise consumers for their change in behaviour. Finally, will they look carefully at how the central digital and data office will work with the Government Digital Service?

14:56
Lord Singh of Wimbledon Portrait Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I too welcome the new Members to the House of Lords and thank them for their impressive maiden speeches. The Chancellor is to be congratulated on the furlough scheme and other initiatives to allow us to meet the tremendous challenges of the Covid pandemic—a pandemic for which we were grossly unprepared.

It is a tribute to the herculean efforts of our wonderful health service workers that we are now beginning to see the hope of something near normality in the near future. Sadly, the deserved hand-clapping has turned into a miserable 1% pay increase for nurses. Does the Minister agree that this is not only a slap for nurses in present employment but a severe deterrent to an enhancement of recruiting?

Will the Government also reconsider their cut in the aid budget, at a time of famine in Yemen? As a country that is, sadly, supporting arms sales to Saudi Arabia—a participant in the conflict—we have a clear moral responsibility to help alleviate the suffering.

14:57
Lord Whitty Portrait Lord Whitty (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, I have a few key questions for the Minister and the Chancellor, because the answers do not exactly spring from the pages of the glossy Budget document, nor from the Minister’s own speech. However, there are some rather worrying hints from the OBR.

First, on post-Brexit trade with the EU, this morning we saw how dire the fall in trade during January was, in both directions, even when grace periods are still operating. However, it is more important to focus on the medium term. Last week, we also saw an authoritative study from the LSE predicting that UK-EU exports will fall by one-third in the medium term. What proportion of pre-Brexit exports for goods, food and services do the Government believe will be the settled post-pandemic level?

On jobs and work patterns, post lockdown, do the Government assume that we will all revert to the status quo or will there continue to be substantial working at home or hybrid working? If so, what are the implications for our city centres, because empty offices hit retail and hospitality outlets hard? What proportion of those currently on furlough are likely to get their jobs back, or do the Government believe that the largely lower-paid jobs which have been vacated by EU citizens going home will be filled by newly unemployed UK citizens and residents?

On public services, Covid has thrown up a number of social crises that would normally have to be handled by local services—social care, mental health, housing, education and family breakdown. How can local authorities pick up these responsibilities if, of all sectors, it is to be the sector hit most harshly by the revival of austerity problems and policies, as the Chancellor now threatens, with the most disadvantaged areas hit hardest?

Lastly and most vitally, what is the estimated net effect of all Budget measures on UK global emissions of greenhouse gases? A number of things that could have been done in this Budget were not. Meanwhile, I welcome all the new Members to the House and thank them for their maiden speeches.

15:00
Lord Sharpe of Epsom Portrait Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
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My Lords, I join in the general congratulation to all noble Lords who have made their maiden speeches today and welcome them to this House.

I also join many of my noble friends in congratulating and thanking the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the skill and sympathy with which he has handled the pandemic. Coming out of this pandemic was never going to be easy but, in broad terms, he has delivered a Budget that will fuel an investment-led recovery for the whole of the UK. It is good to see international and domestic commentators tweaking up their growth forecasts in its wake. This Budget displays a commitment to sound public finances in spite of the difficult circumstances.

Like many, I would have preferred not to see tax rises but I recognise their necessary expediency under current conditions. Corporation tax rises are delayed until after the recovery takes hold and it is very pleasing to see generous R&D exemptions; I hope that has the intended effect of stimulating productivity gains among SMEs. It is also worth reiterating that, even after these tax rises, Britain will still have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7. We should remember that it is not only tax that makes us globally competitive. Meanwhile, I hope that the Minister can reassure me that the Treasury is in active discussions with those “new economy” corporations that score highly on ESG metrics but are adept at blurring their tax borders, which I believe is known in the jargon as base erosion and profit shifting. “Shifting” should not be the S in their ESG.

Time is short so I will confine the rest of my remarks to saying how welcome the free port decision is. I believe that these will make the case for more supply-side growth measures across the economy. Praise is also due to the Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen. He and the Chancellor have been making the intellectual case for free ports for many years. Not only will these help us to level up; they are a manifestation of what global Britain can mean in practice.

With that in mind, it was particularly pleasing to see Wednesday’s news that GE Renewable is to open a new factory making wind turbine blades on Teesside, delivering 750 high-quality green jobs. It is probably too early to give the credit for that to the free port announcement, but it cannot have hurt. It is certainly not too early to say well done to Ben for being such a hands-on and excellent mayor who gets on with the job rather than jumping on every passing bandwagon.

15:02
Lord Greaves Portrait Lord Greaves (LD) [V]
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My Lords, I echo what has been said by three noble Lords: the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, on our procedures; my noble friend Lord Shipley on regional importance; and, in particular, my noble friend Lady Scott of Needham Market on the importance of town and parish councils, and the way they are being significantly sidelined by the Government.

I have asked various questions of the Government on financial support for town and parish councils. I keep being told that the Government have no powers to support them. I find this extremely unlikely but, if that is true, it needs changing. In particular, they need funding schemes for investment projects that they cannot raise council tax for, as an important part of the levelling-up process. In many parts of the country, we are seeing local governments evolving; towns are again exerting themselves, developing a civic importance and becoming a centre of civic pride, which they have not had for quite a long time—particularly in places where large unitary authorities have been created.

Town councils are taking on ever more services and facilities, some of which are as large as the previous boroughs and urban districts that used to exist before 1974. The so-called red wall seats include many of these towns. It is town councils, with the focus of local involvement, civic dedication and commitment, which will be so important in these places. The Government need to look very hard indeed at how they support them in all the facilities and services they are increasingly getting involved in and taking over.

15:04
Lord Lea of Crondall Portrait Lord Lea of Crondall (Non-Afl) [V]
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I have two points—one economic and one social—and there is a connection between them. I am afraid that, although it does not feel like it, we are living in a fool’s paradise. One aspect that the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, pointed out is Brexit. Three years ago, it was predicted that foreign direct investment in Britain would dry up. It has; it is zero. Technology transfer, as the Earl of Selborne would have pointed out, is denied to us. We have a crisis about where new jobs will come from. Other noble Lords cited the disasters for our visible exports to the EU, and our trade balance is becoming a nightmare. Singapore-on-Thames indeed—it is more like Singapore in 1941.

I was struck by a letter from a nurse in the paper a couple of days ago. It referenced this £3.50-a-week increase. It is funny, she said, as that is what her hospital car park charges for an hour’s parking. My sense is that we need to get back to a period of income policy, because the social crisis requires a social contract.

I played a part in that for the TUC in the 1970s. It was much maligned at the time, but was in the national interest. I was interested in the suggestion made by the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, who in the 1970s had a very good feel—and still has a good feel—for income distribution and the social partnership needed. I am not quoting him, but I drew the inference that there is a need to reinvent a body like the National Economic Development Council to deal with the relation between the two parts of the problem.

15:07
Lord Wharton of Yarm Portrait Lord Wharton of Yarm (Con)
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My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register and congratulate all noble Lords who made their maiden speeches today—in particular my noble friend Lord Cruddas, who has an incredible life story, having built an impressive business and contributed significantly to our political life already. I am sure that he will contribute significantly to this place as well. It is good to see him here with us.

The Budget had a number of positive things in it, not least the investment we saw in Tees Valley, referenced by my noble friend Lord Sharpe. We will see not just the free port but the movement of significant numbers of Treasury jobs to Tees Valley and the investment that has already been unlocked by GE, which is related more to the free port than some noble Lords would care to admit. That is more significant than anything that I have seen in that area, which I used to represent, in my time in politics. It is more than I could ever have imagined would happen when, as the Minister responsible, I brought forward and through the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill, creating the metro mayors. I give all credit to Ben Houchen for the incredible things he has achieved so far. I hope and am confident that he will go on to achieve much more in future.

Less positively, I raise my concern about the proposals to increase corporation tax. I am pleased that there is a delay. I hope that it will give an opportunity for circumstances and policies to change. I have spent much of my political life campaigning for sound finances in government and low taxes, particularly for businesses in our economy, to encourage investment. Therefore, a significant tax rise is unwelcome, although I recognise the difficult circumstances in which the Chancellor finds himself.

As a number of Members have, I also flag my concern about the proposals to cut our overseas development aid budget. It does a great deal of good across the world. A quick cut like this is doubly harmful because of the long-term nature of the contracts to which much of ODA is committed. I hope that that will also be reconsidered by the Government in due course.

15:09
Lord Loomba Portrait Lord Loomba (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I also congratulate all those noble Lords who made their maiden speeches today, and I look forward to hearing from them in the future.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget announcements last week to extend Covid-19 support and relief, strengthen public finances and encourage investment are all positive steps. However, I am concerned that the Government have failed to address a fundamental weakness in the UK economy, namely our overreliance on imported goods and an outsourced supply chain.

I declare my interest here, as I started my fashion business in the north of England in 1964. All my supplies were manufactured in Manchester or Leicester. I still remember that, in those days, Marks & Spencer used to sell goods made in the UK only. From the late 1970s, manufacturing shifted to the Far East and factories in this country closed.

I believe that this country has the expertise to create a 21st-century domestic supply chain, and the Chancellor ought to be targeting investment in this area through fiscal policy. I urge the Government to think carefully about how to revive domestic manufacturing, which would increase employment, reduce imports and give us greater opportunities to export our goods around the world.

15:11
Lord Blunkett Portrait Lord Blunkett (Lab) [V]
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I too congratulate new Members on their excellent maiden speeches, made in difficult circumstances.

I reinforce the points made by my noble friend Lord Eatwell at the beginning of this debate and my noble friend Lord Hain later on about the juxtaposition of last year’s Budget with last week’s, in respect of public spending outside of what has had to, by necessity, be invested in maintaining our economy, health service and well-being. I point out that the major cut in future investment is about our recovery; it is about what is described as the levelling-up agenda.

I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wharton, on his new post, but I was sorry that he did not mention knowledge transfer, the importance of anchor institutions and particularly research in terms of regenerating those parts of the country which do not have the benefit of the golden triangle. I believe very strongly that the levelling-up agenda will be achieved only by open, transparent analysis of the strategy that is needed for industrial investment and investment in the new industries of the future, including artificial intelligence and robotics. The lack of transparency in designating Richmondshire and Derbyshire Dales as tier 1 for the levelling-up funding, while Barnsley and my own city of Sheffield are in tier 2, is frankly breathtaking.

Much of what has been put in this Budget is a reversal of the previous Chancellor George Osborne’s policies, with a decrease in corporation tax and a change in tax thresholds, and a change to the past agenda for what are now described as freeports. This has been mentioned several times. Freeports are a reinvention of enterprise zones from the 1980s. It is not going backwards that we need; it is a strategy for the future.

15:13
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere Portrait Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)
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My Lords, I also congratulate noble Lords who have made their maiden speeches today. It is nice to see my old comrade, the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, opposite and my noble friend Lord Cruddas, whose experience will elevate and ennoble our counsel.

There are three ways to cut a deficit: you can raise taxes, cut spending or try to grow the economy so that the deficit falls in proportionate terms. I have to say, I am astonished by how quickly a consensus formed on all Benches, here and in another place, that the first of those was the correct option, because raising taxes is not a long-term solution to a debt and deficit problem.

Essentially, the higher you raise the tax, the more that you find you are squeezing the revenue-producing bit of the economy to sustain the revenue-consuming bit, and people change their behaviour in consequence. When tax rates get to a certain level, people will begin to work shorter hours, take earlier retirement or, indeed, move their activities to friendlier jurisdictions.

By the way, this is not some abstruse point of the Chicago school of economics that has never been tried; we saw in practice that cutting tax rates leads to greater revenue with the successive cuts in corporation tax to 19%, with each successive reduction leading to more income for the Treasury.

Instead of raising taxes, we should be looking intelligently to cut taxes, especially those on employment and investment, to get companies hiring again. I would have liked to have seen cuts in national insurance both for the employer and for the employee. If we get the economy growing then we get more people at work, we get them earning and paying taxes, we are shelling out less and, left to itself, the deficit will dwindle and fade.

15:15
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Portrait Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]
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I declare my position as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I welcome our tranche of maiden speakers and start with three other welcomes.

First, my noble friend Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb addressed what she called the pathetic layer of greenwash that covers this budget, and I welcome the words of the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, who said that every fiscal event has to be directed towards achieving our climate objectives and made it clear that this Budget does not.

Secondly, I welcome the opening words from the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, attacking the disastrous impacts of austerity and the fallacy of the thinking behind it in a way that Labour was singularly failing to do in 2015, when I was taking part in general election debates.

Thirdly, I welcome the modest increase in corporation tax in the Budget—a reversal, if a delayed one, of the encouragement of the increasing parasitism of giant multinational companies sucking wealth out of our communities and failing to contribute to the infrastructure and services that make those profits possible.

Some ideas, however, have yet to move on. The noble Lord, Lord Balfe, while opposing pay rises for our NHS workers, spoke of “living within our means”. He is, I say respectfully, talking economic tosh. The fallacy that a national budget is like a household one has clung on in the UK, when it has long been a historical artefact elsewhere. Of the £485 billion being borrowed in the financial year 2020-21, £450 billion will be owed to the Bank of England, which is not going to send in the repo man.

However, while the rhetoric of austerity has at least changed, the reality has not for many areas of government, particularly local government. Having dealt with the brunt of the Covid crisis, councils are being forced to raise council tax to fill the holes in their social care budgets. The National Audit Office tells us that at least 25 local councils are on the brink of bankruptcy. Local government provides the services that people use and rely on every day: libraries, bin collections, bus services and social care. The austerity will be seen and suffered. That is the choice made in this Budget by the Government.

15:17
Lord Taverne Portrait Lord Taverne (LD) [V]
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My Lords, one glaring omission from the Chancellor’s Budget speech was an assessment of the likely economic consequences of Brexit. The early signs are not encouraging, with dramatic falls in trade between Britain and the European Union. There has been a drop of some 20% to 70% in exports and imports to and from Germany, France and Italy. Of course some of that is due to the pandemic, but there are strong complaints from business about the effects of red tape and a variety of bureaucratic obstacles. Borders, including that between Northern Ireland and Britain, are anything but frictionless, as we were promised.

Good relations with the European Union are essential. However, the Financial Times wrote a scathing leader about the abrasive approach of the Cabinet Minister in charge of our EU relations. Even more important is trust. Why should the European Union trust a Prime Minister who is prepared to renege on the withdrawal treaty and to do the same for the agreed new checks on trade with Northern Ireland? The former French ambassador to the UK has publicly described him as an inveterate liar, and much the same has been said by one or two of Biden’s close allies.

For all these reasons, we are likely to face a serious deterioration in our trade with the European Union and a consequent drop in the value of the pound, a rise in interest rates when we are deeply in debt and, to say the least, very little chance of Boris Johnson’s dream of sunny uplands.

15:20
Lord Moylan Portrait Lord Moylan (Con)
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My Lords, I, too, welcome noble Lords who have made their maiden speech. Given the shortness of the time, I have chosen to focus on one very narrow point, in fact a single line at the back of the Budget Red Book in Table C.6, which shows the EU financial settlement. It is a single line on that topic. In addition to showing the £11 billion paid in 2019-20, the outgoing sums estimated for the ensuing six years add a further £37.9 billion, much of it front-loaded to the next three years. These are net figures and do not include any gratuitous payments we might be making for voluntary participation in EU programmes. These are huge sums and should not be brushed away. They make us the world’s largest donor to the EU and make the EU the world’s largest recipient of what is, in effect, foreign aid.

To provide some context, the cut in the overseas aid budget, of which certain noble Lords understandably complain, is dwarfed by these sums, which were hastily conceded in negotiation by a former Government in the hope, now disappointed, of earning the EU’s good will and securing a generous trade deal. The temporary cut in overseas aid is worth £4 billion a year. It could be carried for nearly 10 years by this sum being paid to the EU. Of course, some noble Lords will argue that these enormous payments to the EU are somehow owed by us because they are set in a treaty, but there is talk of renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement in respect of the unworkable, economically damaging and societally disruptive Northern Ireland protocol. If that extended to a renegotiation of these payments, I can assure the Minister that many in this country would rejoice, as would many desperately poor countries overseas which it might be considered had a greater moral right to such subventions.

15:22
Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale Portrait Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Lab)
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My Lords, I have two points for two minutes. I start by referring to my interests as set out in the register and reassuring those who have made excellent maiden speeches today that we will not always have such ridiculous time limits for important debates and that they will get a chance to speak at greater length. We will look forward to hearing them do so.

In his Budget speech, the Chancellor threw money around to many new projects all over the country and new initiatives, but he completely failed to mention the fact that he is at the same time reducing our overseas development assistance by one-third in a brutal cut that has already been exposed to be likely to have fatal consequences in humanitarian situations around the world. He left others to do his dirty work instead of speaking about that himself on Budget day, but we should not be surprised because at the end of the Budget speech he referred to delivering on promises and to the Budget being “honest and fair”. Of course, that cut to overseas development assistance is neither; it is a particularly cruel measure which will select the poorest to pay for an economic, educational and health crisis that they did not create. I would welcome an assurance from the Government in this debate that there will be a vote and that the Government will not break the law in reducing ODA but will put it to a vote in both Houses and let Members of Parliament decide.

The Budget also refers in many places to connectivity across the UK and invests in a number of new projects, and I will leave debate on that for another day. I want to make one general point on that. Spending money in devolved areas and planting a flag, as the European Union used to do, on projects and spending in different communities is not a substitute for a genuine partnership on economic development between the Governments of the devolved nations and the UK Government as a whole. If we want a sustainable economic recovery that truly levels up across the country and provides opportunities for all, we need to find new ways of budgeting in this country—preparing budgets, agreeing them and then implementing them—that engage all levels of government working together rather than different levels of government in competition.

15:24
Baroness Wheatcroft Portrait Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]
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My Lords, I congratulate those making their maiden speeches today. In particular I am delighted to welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, to the House. We first met at sea—appropriately, given her transport interests—and I am sure her knowledge will benefit the House.

This was a very limited Budget for a country faced with the double whammy of Covid and Brexit. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Bottomley, that this was a missed opportunity to deal with the issue of properly funding social care. Having witnessed the tragedy that killed so many in our care homes, surely the people of the UK would have been ready and willing to confront what must be done to ensure adequate funding of social care.

The Chancellor had to offer continuing help to those whose jobs had been hit by Covid, and I welcome the steps he has taken in that direction. However, there is more that he could and should have done. Others have talked about the perilous state of our music industry and musicians; some believe that the industry could be reduced by half unless steps are taken to ease freedom of movement for the sector. I have two specific asks, which I hope the Minister might address in his closing remarks. Here I declare my interest as chairman of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

Theatres and music festivals are major contributors to the UK economy but have been among the hardest hit victims of Covid. They are desperate to get back to work but, if they are to incur the heavy costs involved in preparing for a production or festival, they need insurance. The insurance market will not provide that at anything like an affordable rate without government underwriting it. The Government have already provided that for film and television; please could they do the same for theatres and festivals?

I also make a plea on behalf of visitor attractions. For the second time, the sector will not be open over Easter even though non-essentials shops will. Here is my second ask, which I am sure the country would welcome. Could we have a special bank holiday in September? All being well, it would be a celebration of a hugely successful vaccination campaign, but it would also allow indoor attractions to benefit from bank holiday trade.

Lord Faulkner of Worcester Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Lord Faulkner of Worcester) (Lab)
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The noble Lord, Lord Duncan of Springbank, has been unable to join the call so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer.

15:26
Baroness Kramer Portrait Baroness Kramer (LD)
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First, I join in the very warm welcome to our five maiden speakers today. I also join in the reassurances that a two-minute speech is not our normal operating procedure. I hope they will not be discouraged from active participation in this House, because we need their voices and their views.

The first role of this Budget was to provide ongoing support to the economy through to the end of lockdown. It has done that to a significant degree, but with some key and rather cruel exceptions, which I shall discuss in a moment. However, this Budget also needed to deal with the consequences of both Brexit and Covid and set in place the framework and strategy for long-term economic recovery. In that it has very largely failed.

In the short term, the Chancellor used the Budget to extend key programmes to support businesses hurt by Covid, and that is welcome. However, I still do not understand why most of the 3.8 million freelancers and contractors—hairdressers, builders, workers in the creative industries, to which many of your Lordships referred—have been excluded from any help so far, and remain excluded. Only 600,000 have been brought into SEISS; the rest remained completely abandoned. The Federation of Small Businesses has come up with sound schemes that would allow the Government to help the 1 million or so directors of limited companies, who are in effect tiny sole traders. The Chancellor refuses to include them. Frankly, that seems petty and vicious to me and confirms that the Treasury has a vendetta against that group.

The extension until October of the £20 uplift in universal credit is needed and welcome, but I do not understand why this stops when we will have so many people out of work as redundancies mount. This last year has demonstrated that universal credit needs that uplift to be permanent to be humane. Only one legacy benefit—working tax credit—gets an uplift. There is nothing, as many of your Lordships have pointed out, for disabled people and carers on legacy benefits. These people are really suffering. As I understand the Government, they are willing to give short-term help to people who are likely to return to the workforce, but for others their standard is very close to destitution.

The Chancellor said that he would come clean on the bad news. He talked about taxes—though he ducked the impact of the 5% increases in council tax—but he did not talk about cutting public spending plans. Only after the Budget did most people see that the day-to-day spend on public services will be £16 billion less than planned pre-Covid. This is despite long NHS waiting lists, the crisis in social care, children being in need of catch-up education and local authorities being under huge pressure. Disgracefully, the Government have now called for a below-inflation wage increase for NHS staff. I hope they will note the voices all over this House calling for a very different approach and proper compensation.

Even the plans to support economic growth are pallid. I have talked before about the huge shortfall in investment in the green economy and the digital economy, especially when compared to our economic rivals. Much of the investment by the new infrastructure bank will not be green—the Green Investment Bank was sold off by the Conservatives. The breakthrough fund is tiny, at £375 million, as is £500 million for e-cars and batteries—Germany has allocated €7 billion just for green hydrogen and €2.5 billion for batteries and charging infrastructure; France has allocated €7 billion just for electric vehicles. We do not have a proper plan to grow the economy and get to net zero.

Why is the “super-deduction” tax scheme to get businesses to invest limited to plant and machinery? It is an analogue proposal in a digital age. It should not exclude intangible investments, which are the backbone of the digital age. Even the reskilling and upskilling schemes reannounced by the Chancellor are inadequate to the task, when we have a generation of young people thrown off course by Covid

Eye-catching is not a substitute for meaningful. The Government reannounced their plans for freeports. The primary impact of freeports—and I have heard this from all sides of the House—is to displace jobs from one area to another. I suppose that is meaningful if the Government’s primary plan is to boost their votes in particular seats at the expense of other areas, but it is not a growth policy. As for Brexit, this Budget ignores it. When a close working relationship with the EU is needed to assure the future of financial services and the role of UK businesses in EU supply chains, we get little more than confrontation.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and no recovery is possible unless they recover. They account for six in 10 private sector jobs and many are very fragile. The Budget gives them too little too late. The recovery loan fund provides help for some, but many small firms need a mechanism to get out of debt. My party has called for a revenue loss scheme that would cover the fixed expenses of small businesses during the period when they have been forced to close. With that in hand, recovery and growth become possible.

I recognise that the Government face a tough fiscal position, but every part of our economy needs a genuine industrial and growth strategy. That is not delivered by this Budget.

15:33
Lord Tunnicliffe Portrait Lord Tunnicliffe (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, this has been an interesting and wide-ranging discussion. I welcome and congratulate those who have made their maiden speeches today.

In recent days, much has been made of this Chancellor’s supposed departure from the Osborne economics of the early 2010s. We have seen the former Chancellor criticise the planned increase in corporation tax, while others have rightly observed that the freezing of personal tax allowances will reverse the recent trend of taking low earners out of income tax altogether.

However, when we look at this Budget in the round, it is striking just how similar it is to the austerity Budgets of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition Government. This is backed up by the IFS, which, as others have noted, believes that the Chancellor’s spending plans are likely to be undeliverable, at least not without inflicting considerable pain on individuals, families and public services.

We recognise the difficult economic situation the country faces because of Covid-19. After all, the Government’s mismanagement of the pandemic saw the UK experience the worst downturn of any major economy. Rather than use this Budget to plot a route to strong, sustainable growth, the Government have instead chosen to implement cuts and continue perpetuating the myth that the country’s finances operate in the same way as those of the average household.

Although some lessons appear to have been learned in relation to the phasing out of coronavirus support, Mr Sunak has pushed through a council tax hike and confirmed a cliff-edge withdrawal of the universal credit uplift. These decisions will leave many struggling at a time when we should be lifting people up, not forcing them back to the insecurity of the past. In the words of the Resolution Foundation, our upcoming economic recovery

“will not feel like a recovery for millions of households.”

As is often said, politics is about choice. Sadly, while the Government can find cash for Downing Street makeovers and lucrative contracts for firms run by Conservative donors, we are told that the country cannot afford to uphold its moral duty to our hero nurses in the NHS or those in desperate need in places such as Yemen.

The Budget largely skipped consideration of several of the key issues facing our country: strengthening our economic foundations; protecting family finances; and fixing the social care crisis. Let us not forget that, when he stood on the doorstep of No. 10, the Prime Minister told us that he had a plan for social care. Where is it?

This is not a levelling-up Budget. It is an austerity Budget that will damage our economy and our society.

15:36
Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)
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My Lords, it is a privilege to close this debate on behalf of the Government. I thank noble Lords for their many insightful and considered contributions. In particular, I welcome the maiden speeches of the noble Lords, Lord Bellingham, Lord Benyon, Lord Cruddas and Lord Khan, and the noble Baroness, Lady Foster.

Given the number of speakers and the limited time I have available, I hope noble Lords will forgive me if I am not able to address all the points raised. Perhaps noble Lords would like to write to me if they do not feel that the issues have been addressed satisfactorily.

I start with the noble Lords, Lord Eatwell and Lord Risby, on overall spending, borrowing and debt. In 2020-21, this Government increased day-to-day departmental spending by £20 billion, with a 6% increase in nominal terms. In 2021-22, excluding Covid, there was a further increase of £22 billion, or 6% nominal. In addition to substantial near-term support, the Budget supports an investment-led economic recovery to level up across the UK while trying to be honest about the need also to repair the public finances in the medium term. Without corrective action, borrowing would rise to unsustainable levels, leaving underlying debt rising indefinitely. Although borrowing costs are affordable now, interest rates and inflation may not stay low for ever. Indeed, a 1% increase in inflation and interest rates would cost us more than £25 billion a year.

My noble friend Lord Hunt asked about jobs and full employment. The Budget sits alongside a comprehensive package to support people into jobs, as announced in the plan for jobs. The 2020 spending review built on previous commitments to provide £3.6 billion of additional funding in 2021-22 for the DWP to deliver employment support to those who need it most. This includes £1.4 billion of additional funding to sustain the doubling of the number of work coaches to 27,000, the £2 billion kick-start scheme to help young people at risk of long-term unemployment and the £2.9 billion restart programme to help those who have been unemployed for more than a year.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth and the noble Lord, Lord Watson, asked about early years and children. The Government recognise the acute impact of the pandemic on children’s lives—particularly the impact from lost learning. That is why, following the £1 billion education catch-up package announced last year, the Government are making available £700 million of further funding to help young people in England catch up on lost learning as a result of Covid.

The noble Baroness, Lady Goudie, asked about the effect of the pandemic on women’s careers. It is no doubt that many women have borne the brunt of this crisis, particularly mothers. Since March, we have provided unprecedented levels of support to businesses and individuals; cumulatively, 11 million jobs have been supported by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Provisional estimates show that the number of females furloughed increased to 2.3 million as at 31 January and the number of males to 2.2 million. Temporary measures have been put in place to restore entitlement to parents in receipt of government coronavirus support schemes who would normally be eligible for tax-free childcare and/or 30 hours of free childcare but, due to the consequences of Covid, are not able to receive it. Households with anyone aged under 14 can form a childcare bubble, which allows friends or family from one other household to provide informal childcare.

The noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, asked about stamp duty relief. Extending the stamp duty holiday will reduce the risk of a fall in house prices in the short term, which is building momentum and encouraging confidence in the housing market. The housing market drives the wider construction industry; by helping maintain momentum in the market, the extension of the stamp duty holiday will protect hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it.

The noble Lord, Lord Fox, asked about council tax. The Government are providing local authorities with additional funding for Covid-related pressures and giving local authorities the flexibility to raise council tax bills across their budgets. These increases are in line with similar flexibilities in previous years. To give local authorities additional flexibility in making these decisions, we will allow them to defer up to their full 3% adult social care precept in 2022-23.

My noble friend Lord Forsyth is worried about tax rises. We continue to provide substantial economic support to people in need and have committed an additional £65 billion in this Budget across 2020-21 and 2021-22. We are trying to be honest about the steps that will be taken following the record-breaking levels of borrowing and higher debt. Announcing a credible plan to repair the public finances over the medium term supports the Government to continue to have the space to borrow in the short term to support the economy. The OBR forecast is that, under the Government’s plans, the economy will rebound strongly next year.

The noble Lord, Lord Palmer, asked about the freezing of personal allowances. The decisions that we have made to increase the personal allowance over the last few years mean that fewer people than ever are paying income tax. Freezing the personal allowance and HRT is progressive and fair. The highest-earning households will contribute more of the revenue: the 20% highest-income households will contribute 15 times that of the 20% lowest-income households. Nobody’s take-home pay will be less than it is now. Anyone earning £12,570 or less in 2025-26 will still not pay income tax.

The noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, asked about business rates. The Government have provided over £16 billion of support for businesses affected by Covid with their rates bill since March last year. This measure builds on the full business rates holiday for eligible properties in retail, hospitality, leisure and nurseries in 2021, worth over £10 billion. The Government have also decided to freeze the business rates multiplier in 2021-22, saving businesses in England an estimated £575 billion over the next five years.

The noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, asked about inheritance tax. The Government are aware of recent reports, including from the Office of Tax Simplification, and will respond in due course. Inheritance tax makes an important contribution to the Exchequer of some £5 billion a year, so we need to consider carefully any wide changes to it.

My noble friend Lord Caithness asked about productivity. Building on industry best practice and our international peers, we will launch a new world-leading management skills training programme to upskill 30,000 SMEs across the UK over the next three years.

My noble friend Lady McIntosh asked about the failure to provide support to aviation. The Government recognise the challenging circumstances facing the aviation industry. We will publish a consultation on aviation tax reform in the spring. The aerospace sector and its aviation customers are being supported with almost £11 billion made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters and the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility, together with grants for research and development. This includes £8 billion of UK export guarantees. The Budget built on this, renewing support for airports and ground handlers through first six months of 2021-22 to help meet their fixed costs, such as business rates.

The right reverend prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth worries about social care. Throughout the pandemic we have continued to support social care providers to manage the impact of Covid. This includes over £4.6 billion in grant funding for local authorities to address Covid pressures across all their services, including adult social care; over £1.9 billion of enhanced discharge to accelerate discharge from hospital; over £1.1 billion for the infection control fund to support care providers in stopping the spread of the virus; free Covid-related PPE through the Department of Health’s PPE portal until the end of June; and £120 million for the workforce capacity fund to ease workforce pressures in adult social care. The Government remain committed to sustainable improvement of the social care system and will bring forward proposals this year.

My noble friend Lord Young of Cookham asked about council tax. We are providing £670 million of grant funding to help local authorities in 2021-2 to continue to support more than 4 million households least able to afford their council tax bills.

The noble Lords, Lord Gadhia, Lord St John of Bletso and Lord Bruce, raised apprenticeships, skills and training. The Government are making significant investment as part of our plan for growth. Apprentices of all ages will support our economic recovery and the payments to employers will be increased so that they receive £3,000 for each new apprentice hired between 1 April and 30 September of this year, regardless of the apprentice’s age. We are also investing £126 million to triple the number of traineeships next year. The Government have invested significantly in further education, including £1.5 billion of capital funding to bring the entire college estate up to a better condition.

My noble friend Lady Gardner asked about rebalancing the tax burden to help the high street. Retail is changing dramatically and the high street is too. We want to help business manage this transition. The Government published a call for evidence for the fundamental review of business rates in July 2020, which includes questions on this topic, and we will respond in due course.

The noble Lords, Lord Eatwell, Lord Hunt and Lord Fox, are concerned that the Government do not have a proper plan for growth. Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth was published under the Covid recovery, post-Brexit transition and our longer-term economic growth strategy. The plan tackles long-term problems and helps to deliver growth that creates high-quality jobs across the UK. It strengthens the union as well as achieving the people’s priorities, levelling up the whole of the UK, supporting our transition to net zero and supporting our vision for a global Britain.

The noble Lord, Lord Hain, worries that we are cutting fiscal support too soon. We have always said that we want to protect lives and livelihoods and be guided by the best scientific advice available. This is why we have provided an unprecedented package, with a cumulative cost of some £350 billion, to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods and to support businesses and public services. The package set out by the Chancellor in this Budget allows people in businesses to plan and prepare in line with the expected easing of restrictions announced last month in the Prime Minister’s road map. Schemes such as the CJRS and SEISS and support for businesses are continuing beyond the end of the road map.

The noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, worries about excluded groups. The Government have acknowledged that we have not been able to support everyone in the way that we might have wanted. The CJRS and SEISS are designed to target support to those who need it most and to protect taxpayers against error, fraud and abuse, while also trying to reach as many people as possible. Individuals will be able to qualify for the new SEISS grants based on their 2019-20 tax returns, with around 600,000 self-employed individuals being newly eligible. This brings the total eligibility for SEISS 4 and 5 to 3.7 million people. The furlough scheme has helped pay the wages of some 11 million jobs, with £53 billion having been claimed. Local authorities in England will receive a top-up worth a further £425 million to their allocation from the ARG, which has already provided local authorities with £1.6 billion.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, my noble friend Lady Gardner and the noble Lords, Lord Monks, Lord Hain and Lord Dodds, asked about universal credit. The Government have always been clear that the £20 increase was a temporary measure. We are now shifting our focus to supporting people back into work and we have a comprehensive plan for jobs, which this Budget builds on.

The Government will spend over £55 billion in 2021 on benefits to support disabled people and those with health conditions. The Government have implemented a range of measures to make accessing disability benefits easier and to protect existing claimants during the current situation. This includes temporarily suspending face-to-face assessments.

My noble friend Lord Forsyth asked about the under-25s, who of course have particularly suffered in this pandemic. The measures in the Budget seek to address this, alongside promoting the Government’s belief in fairness and the aim to promote equality of opportunity.

My noble friend Lord Lamont and the noble Lords, Lord Macpherson and Lord Bilimoria, are worried about the rise in corporation tax. The Government are providing businesses with over £100 billion of support to get through the pandemic, so it seems fair that we ask them to contribute to the recovery. At 25%, the headline rate will remain one of the lowest—or the lowest—in the G7, and the full rate will be paid by around only 10% of companies. A small profits rate of 19% for businesses with profits of £50,000 or less means that around 70% of actively trading companies will be protected from the rate increase.

The noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, asked about the super-deduction. Many world economists are big advocates of full expensing as a tool to boost investment alongside a low corporation tax rate. With the super-deduction and one of the lowest rates of corporation tax, the UK’s business tax regime will be among the most competitive in the world. The super-deduction will help firms to become more productive, safeguarding and creating new jobs.

The noble Lord, Lord Palmer, is worried about incentives for avoidance or evasion. There are anti-avoidance provisions that apply to counteract arrangements that are contrived or abnormal or that lack a genuine commercial purpose. There are also existing capital allowance rules that apply, including the exclusion of connected party transactions from first-year allowances.

My noble friend Lord Caine worries about the differential between corporation tax in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Despite the change, companies operating in Northern Ireland will continue to benefit from a headline rate that is competitive in the G7, and this will be payable by only a minority of corporate taxpayers in Northern Ireland.

My noble friends Lord Caithness and Lady McIntosh and the noble Lords, Lord Haskel and Lord Rooker, asked about freeports. Leaving the EU means that we have the opportunity to do these things differently. We have developed an ambitious new freeport model to ensure that towns and cities across the UK will benefit from new trade opportunities, attracting new investment and employment. In addition to a simplified customs process, our freeports will offer measures to incentivise private businesses, carefully considered planning reforms to facilitate much-needed construction and additional targeted funding for infrastructure improvements in these freeport areas to level up communities and increase employment opportunities.

On displacement, our focus is on encouraging new investment to create new businesses and new economic activity, which will create jobs in deprived communities. Specifically, bidders have had to explain how their choice of tax sites minimises the displacement of economic activity from wider local areas, especially other economically disadvantaged ones. This has been rigorously assessed as part of the assessment process, and we are confident that the risk of harmful displacement will be minimised.

The noble Lords, Lord Fox, Lord Oates and Lord Haskel, my noble friend Lord Lansley and the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones and Lady Hayman, asked about our commitment to climate change and net zero. The spending review committed to spend £12 billion on green measures to support the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan and boost the UK’s global leadership on green infrastructure and technologies, ahead of COP 26 next year.

This Budget builds on this by encouraging private investment, using the tax system and continuing with the direct government support announced at the spending review. This is supported by Budget measures that continue to lay the foundations for the transition to net zero—for example, the green gilts and plans for a linked green retail product to be offered by NS&I and the UK infrastructure bank.

A number of noble Lords asked about the NHS. The Government are completely committed to the long-term plan, which provides a cash increase of £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24, with a £6.3 billion uplift in the next financial year. Those plans have not changed. The spending review 2020 announced a further £3 billion for the NHS next year to support its recovery from the impact of Covid and confirmed our commitment to ensuring that the NHS has the certainty it needs to plan. We continue to be committed to ensuring that the NHS gets the support it needs for the pandemic, as evidenced by some £58.9 billion of resource spending that we have committed this year, with £18 billion for the NHS.

The allocation of any funding beyond 2021-22 will be a matter for the spending review later this year. We have already announced in the last spending review in 2020 a £1.5 billion injection to improve NHS waiting lists, for mental health and for the workforce. This funding will help to tackle backlogs in the 2021-22 year as part of the £55 billion to support public services.

On NHS pay specifically, no pay award has yet been announced for NHS staff for 2021-22. As is normal practice, the Department of Health and Social Care has published evidence setting out what figure is affordable within its budgets. The independent NHS Pay Review Body and Doctors and Dentists Remuneration Review Body will report on pay for 2021-22 later this year. The pay review bodies will consider the unique circumstances that NHS staff are working in and the need to recruit, train and motivate suitably able and qualified people, as well as the Government’s financial circumstances.

The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, asked about the levelling-up fund and is worried about pork-barrel politics. The methodology note for the levelling-up fund index was published yesterday. The £4.8 billion levelling-up fund will prioritise bids from places in England, Scotland and Wales with the most significant need.

Deputy Speaker, might I indulge in a couple more minutes?

Lord Faulkner of Worcester Portrait The Deputy Speaker (Lord Faulkner of Worcester) (Lab)
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You should ask your Whip that question.

Lord Agnew of Oulton Portrait Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)
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Thank you. The noble Lord, Lord Wigley, asked about funding for Wales. All four nations will receive above average levels of investment from EU structural funds in 2021-22, continuing to support existing projects and programmes. Levels of investment from the EU structural funds will also be higher in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2021-22 versus the current year. We will ramp up new HMG funding over time so that total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match EU receipts, reaching around £1.5 billion a year. In addition, to help local areas to prepare over 2021-22 for the introduction of this new fund, we are providing £220 million through the community renewal fund to support our communities to pilot programmes and new approaches.

The noble Lords, Lord Empey and Lord Taverne, are worried about the NI protocol being bad for trade. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that Northern Ireland makes the most of the arrangement, and the Budget announces that almost half of the £400 million new deal for Northern Ireland funding package has been allocated across four areas, subject to business case. I offer my own personal reassurance that I am working on this as the HMRC Borders Minister and doing everything that I can to make the friction as minimal as possible for traders in Northern Ireland.

Lastly, noble Lords asked about the movement of civil servants out of London. Again, this is important to me as the Government’s Property Minister. As noble Lords will know, we recently announcedly moving MHCLG to Wolverhampton and the Treasury to Darlington. There will be an announcement on the Cabinet Office’s second HQ shortly. The key is not about numbers of civil servants but the percentage of the senior Civil Service that is outside London. At the moment, a shocking 68% of senior civil servants are in London. That is what we are trying to address.

I thank noble Lords again for their contributions. The Chancellor has been clear about the challenges we face. This is a Budget that, as he rightly said, meets the moment, that continues to protect jobs and livelihoods, and which starts the work on the building of the economy. I beg to move.

Motion agreed.

Contingencies Fund (No. 2) Bill

Second Reading (and remaining stages)
16:00
Bill read a second time. Committee negatived. Standing Order 44 having been dispensed with, the Bill was read a third time and passed.

Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniform) Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

British Library Board (Power to Borrow) Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Forensic Science Regulator and Biometrics Strategy Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Filters (Children) Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Prisons (Substance Testing) Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill

First Reading
The Bill was brought from the Commons, read a first time and ordered to be printed.
House adjourned at 4 pm.