Universities: Impact of Industrial Action on Students

Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Sandhurst

Thursday 16th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The Government absolutely accept responsibility for those areas where they are responsible, but I think there would be a lot of resistance in your Lordships’ House if they moved to reduce the autonomy of universities.

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, I presume that the universities are not paying the lecturers on the days when they are on strike. Could those monies be used by way of restitution to the students? Might the Office for Students recommend that course, so that students could start issuing proceedings in the small claims court on a pro rata basis?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am very happy to take back my noble friend’s recommendation to the Office for Students.

Schools: Transgender Guidance

Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Sandhurst

Wednesday 25th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

By my calculations, it has been only a year and a bit since 2021. More seriously, I say that one of the important elements in our considerations is the work that Dr Cass is doing in her review. Her interim report did not touch on the implications of these issues in relation to education, but we want to draw on important resources such as her work.

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, on 5 July last year, the Minister wrote to me saying:

“We are in absolute agreement over the principle that parents should know what their children are being taught, especially in relation to sensitive topics”.


That is an important matter and, in subsequent correspondence and meetings, I was told that a letter would be sent to all schools instructing them to show parents who asked for it the material from which their children were being taught, and not to assert commercial confidentiality or copyright issues. To date—unless it has happened today—no such letter has been written. When will it be sent?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I recognise my noble friend’s concerns on this point. The department remains absolutely committed to sending the letter. He will appreciate that, with various ministerial changes, we have to get sign-off from the current ministerial team. There is no block to the letter going, and it will be sent shortly.

Schools: Financial Education

Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Sandhurst

Tuesday 12th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I was not aware of the point the noble Lord raises. More broadly, when you talk to young people, they say that a lot of their financial education comes from their parents and family, including their grandparents, so I agree with the sentiment that grandparents have an important role to play.

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, the fraud Select Committee has heard that far too many scams succeed because of ignorance on the part of the recipient. The Centre for Social Justice report, to which we have already heard reference, has found that two-thirds of primary school children receive no financial education and, notwithstanding what we have heard from my noble friend, that too many school leavers have no adequate financial education. What is going to be done going forward?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The Government share my noble friend’s concern. To be clear, in the primary citizenship curriculum pupils learn about where money comes from, how it can be used for different purposes and how to save for the future. In secondary school pupils learn about the importance and practice of budgeting, income and expenditure, insurance, savings, pensions and financial products. I think these are many of the things to which my noble friend referred.

Schools Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Sandhurst

Committee stage & Lords Hansard - Part 1
Monday 20th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am sorry; the last thing I want to do is worry the noble Baroness. I am not sure that I will be able to reassure her entirely, but I was coming to this point. Specifically on the intellectual property loophole, which I understand is the point the noble Baroness raised, if she would be agreeable, it would be helpful to meet and go through some of the examples. We would like to be confident that the law is being interpreted correctly and, without seeing the examples, it is difficult for us to establish that. If the noble Baroness agrees, we could look at this in more detail.

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

I hesitate to ask this, but I simply do not understand. The material has been relied on and shown to children in class. What good reason is there for parents not to be able to inspect that material within the school?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I think two issues underpin the point that my noble friend raises. I will finish the point on intellectual property, which is where I think he was initially; perhaps I misunderstood. We want to be clear that the law is being applied correctly. We will be honoured to take the time to establish that and clarify it for the House. That is one point.

The second point is that I absolutely understand the spirit of my noble friend’s question. When I spoke to colleagues in the department who had previously been head teachers, their answer was that they understand the sentiments that my noble friend expresses but are also concerned that one could end up in a situation in which there are vexatious requests and a school becomes unable to cope with them because of the number of them. With the permission of the Committee, I would just like to be able to explore that in more detail.

Independent Review of Children’s Social Care

Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Sandhurst

Tuesday 24th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right and, yes, that is absolutely an area of focus.

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, I want to ask a practical but important nuts-and-bolts question. Can my noble friend the Minister assure the House that it will be a cross-government and multiagency effort and not just for the Department for Education to put the review’s findings into effect?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

My noble friend is right to press on this point. This needs to be multiagency at both the local level—it must include the voluntary sector, as the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, highlighted, and statutory partners; we were clear in our guidance on the importance of this—and the central government level. We need to do that across the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office.