Education Recovery

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Monday 7th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the resignation of Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner, what steps they will take to develop a long-term plan to help pupils make up for lost learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to ensuring that children and young people catch up after the disruption of the pandemic. As the next step in these efforts, we have announced an additional £1.4 billion of funding for high-quality tutoring and great teaching. This brings our total recovery package to more than £3 billion. We will consider the next steps ahead of the spending review, and catch-up is for the lifetime of this Parliament.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I cannot really believe that the Minister is comfortable defending the indefensible following the chaotic events surrounding what can only be described as the Government’s bargain basement recovery plan for school pupils. The promise of jam tomorrow is highly unlikely to satisfy many appetites. When Sir Kevan Collins presented his plan, costed at £15 billion, to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister reacted by moving the decimal point one place to the left. Perhaps he thought that Sir Kevan would not notice, but Sir Kevan is nobody’s fool. He is widely respected throughout education and across the political spectrum, and now he is lost to the vital task of education recovery. As the Minister said, planned spending on school recovery is now around £300 per pupil, but that compares with £1,600 per pupil in the United States and £2,500 in the Netherlands. Can the Minister explain why her Government believe that children in England need so much less support than their American and Dutch contemporaries?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the Government wish to thank Sir Kevan for his work. He supports the tutoring and teaching proposals we have outlined. In relation to the methodology, it is not accurate to make a comparison between different jurisdictions. For instance, the £3 billion I have outlined does not include the £400 million that has been spent on remote learning, including on 1.3 million devices, the Covid costs recovery fund, the workforce fund et cetera, so we are not comparing like with like when comparing different jurisdictions.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, we know that this Government have a self-confessed distrust of experts and prefer to shamble from crisis to crisis, yet they appointed the expert Sir Kevan to this vital role and the Prime Minister appeared to be supportive. The money that Sir Kevan’s well-researched report identified to help all children—particularly disadvantaged children—to make up the devastating educational losses of Covid was decimated. Why did the Government appoint Sir Kevan if they had no intention of listening to his authoritative findings?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as I said, the tutoring and support for teaching that I outlined were part of Sir Kevan’s plan. More than £1 billion is going into tutoring for young people. That should pay for 100 million hours for children and young people across England by 2024. Those are disadvantaged young people. Using a “per pupil” analysis is not accurate when certain pots of money have been targeted at, for instance, tutoring disadvantaged children and summer schools are available to secondary schools only.

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, in many families, the main breadwinner has died as a result of Covid-19, leaving their spouse a widow or widower suffering not only the grief of bereavement and poor mental health but facing immense financial pressure at a very uncertain time. What special steps will the Government take to assist and support the children of such new widows or widowers in catching up on learning lost during the pandemic?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord raises an important and tragic consequence of the pandemic. I visited a school about two weeks ago where 70% of the students were close bereaved. In this regard, the task of schools is immense. The money that I have outlined—the universal catch-up money, the £650 million which is in schools’ banks now—can be spent on additional pastoral support. We announced during Mental Health Awareness Week that we have invested £17 million to train up mental health support leads in more than 7,800 schools. I note that bereavement is not a mental health need, but it may be that that workforce also does bereavement support.

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

I refer to my interests as recorded in the register. My noble friend will be aware that many disadvantaged pupils lose ground over the summer in terms of both their physical fitness and their academic ability compared to their better-off counterparts. Even at this late stage, can the Government take action for this summer to roll out nationally much more strongly pioneering work—like the work promoted by Mayor Andy Street in the West Midland—to bring the facilities of schools in the summer to the benefit of disadvantaged pupils for physical activity, meals and catch-up academic work?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend is correct. We have now had three reports from the government-sponsored research by Renaissance Learning and EPI in relation to disadvantaged children falling behind. In addition to the summer schools that I have outlined, it seems that the majority of secondary schools have bid to do summer school for their incoming year 7. The holiday activities fund has now been rolled out across all local authorities so that children can get the balance of nutrition, activity and some education.

[Lord Tomlinson (Lab)]

Does the Minister accept that Sir Kevan Collins made a fundamental error of judgment when he accepted the appointment as commissioner for education recovery? His fundamental error of judgment was that he believed that the Prime Minister’s definition of priority for education recovery was in the same ballpark as his own, and in that he found he was sadly mistaken.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I can only repeat our thanks for the work that Sir Kevan Collins has done. Much of what the noble Lord outlines is a question for Sir Kevan himself. However, as I said, more than £3 billion is being invested in recovery. The subject of further recovery money will be part of the spending review. It is important that we follow the evidence from the research I outlined in terms of areas of the country that have had a differential impact. For instance, SEN children and disadvantaged children seem to have been impacted most.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, if the Government intended to be so parsimonious with spending to help children recover the schooling lost during the pandemic, might it have been more sensible to have given Sir Kevan a budget to work with? Can the Minister say how much the Government are prepared to spend and whether they will note the campaign by Marcus Rashford to increase the amount?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as I have outlined, money for recovery is the subject of the spending review, which we hope will be a multi-year review this time. In addition to the funds I have outlined, there was a commitment for the core schools budget to go up by £2.6 billion for 2020-21 and by £2.2 billion for 2021-22. All this is welcome extra money for schools, but no one underestimates the tasks that schools are doing both educationally and pastorally at the moment.

[Baroness Eaton (Con) [V]]

My Lords, lost learning will not be made up just by giving large sums of money to schools. Some 80% of attainment is attributable to pupil-level factors, such as parents knowing how to encourage learning and good relationships at home. The need for family support has become increasingly salient during the pandemic. How are the Government helping councils and their local partners to develop family hubs, which have delivered well in this area?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

The noble Baroness is correct that family hubs have delivered well. The Government are investing £14 million and we have just finished a procurement for the National Centre for Family Hubs to ensure that best practice is spread across local authorities. These hubs should bring together charitable as well as statutory services, ranging from birth through to 18 or 19 years old, so they should provide the support that families need.

[Baroness Donaghy (Lab) [V]]

The Minister knows that this is a mess. When Conservative MPs met the Prime Minister’s PPS and two Education Ministers, they were told that

“there has been a big mess-up over the last few days for no reason.”

So there is a revolt in the Conservative ranks. What process took place that made the choice of Randstad preferable to the National Tutoring Foundation, which was set up by the Education Endowment Foundation? Sir Kevan Collins himself was briefly CEO of that foundation. If the Government are not prepared to pay up or trust schools, how will they ensure that the children most disadvantaged by lockdown will be helped?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as is required, the department ran a commercial procurement for the next years of the national tutoring programme. Randstad won that procurement, so a contract has been signed. But schools are trusted; that is why, as a development of the tutoring fund, £579 million will be going to schools themselves. Schools might want to employ a local tutor or use existing staff; particularly for those with special educational needs, using staff that pupils have an existing relationship with is often of great benefit to those students as well as others.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, the Disabled Children’s Partnership is calling for dedicated catch-up funding for services for disabled children and their families such as therapies and respite, to address the disproportionate impact that they have felt during the pandemic and to allow them to heal. Can the Minister outline what action she, along with ministerial colleagues, will take to address this important issue?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, in respect of the different funds, there have been three announcements for recovery: the initial £650 million catch-up, then the summer schools, then the £302 million recovery premium, and now we have the school-led element of tutoring. All are weighted for specialist settings, whether SEND or AP, so schools are free to use that revenue in the manner they see fit and for the purposes that the noble Baroness has outlined. We do recognise that those settings need a higher per-pupil allocation.

[Lord Knight of Weymouth (Lab) [V]]

The Government state that their package should ensure that extra support is available for every disadvantaged child. Following on from what the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, has just asked, can the Minister reply in the context of those with SEND in mainstream settings? Inclusion is a really important principle for disabled children to be able to prosper. Exactly how much of the additional £1.4 billion that she talks about will be spent on the therapies and health services that disabled children in mainstream schools need?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, in respect of the premium of £650 million that I mentioned, although it is weighted, the schools can choose how they spend that money. In respect of tutoring provision, which is school-led, schools can choose to spend that, for instance, on one-on-one provision for SEND children who are in mainstream settings. We have weighted a number of these per-pupil pots but, of course, we trust the schools and school leaders, who are obviously closest to the pupils, to know how to spend that money, what tutoring provision to buy, or whether to run a summer school specifically for SEND children.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

My Lords, to give a slightly different angle to this problem, 400,000 people may fall homeless in the next period according to the Rowntree Foundation, and 1 million people have been warned that they may be evicted. If this hits schools, imagine the damage it will do to the children who are the most dispossessed, as well as those who are living slightly above the level of dispossession but may also be drawn into that. Will the Minister raise these issues with other Ministers? This is becoming a desperate situation.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, when children and their families are at risk of homelessness, there are obviously certain obligations on the school. A child can be removed from a school register only for specified reasons that the school must outline. If schools do not know of such reasons, they have to liaise with local authorities and make inquiries to be satisfied that the child is on a school register elsewhere. If the child is not on another register, they are a child missing from education. So we have processes in place to track children to make sure they are in education, but I will pass on the noble Lord’s comments to colleagues in MHCLG in relation to homelessness.

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, just a year ago, the Secretary of State was berating teachers and their representatives, accusing them of scaremongering and not putting children first when they asked reasonable questions about Covid transmission in schools. Indeed, the Government used children and their educational interests time and again as an excuse for entering into successive lockdowns late. What does the sorry episode of Sir Kevan’s resignation say about the sincerity of those past claims by the Government, and what does it say about the so-called “levelling-up” agenda and the Government’s financial and moral priorities going forward?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are determined to do all they can to help those who have been disadvantaged by the lockdowns to catch up on their education. The recovery package will not be the last word on recovery catch-up in education. Schools have done an amazing job in setting up testing, running bubbles and making their schools—which obviously are also workplaces—as safe as possible. One must not forget that, during the second lockdown in the autumn, schools remained open. The Government are committed to students catching up; we are watching the evidence that we get from Renaissance Learning carefully to see what it reveals about the differential impact of Covid in England.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Haskel) (Lab)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked.

Queen’s Speech

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows: “Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for the most gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament”.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, on behalf of your Lordships’ House, I thank Her Majesty for her gracious Speech and am grateful for the privilege of opening today’s debate on the Motion for a humble Address. Today I shall outline the Government’s plans to support the economy, business, education and health to build back better from the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it is important to stop and recognise those 127,629 people who have died with Covid, those who are bereaved and those who have long Covid, and the tireless work of our NHS, businesses, charities and key workers, who still had to work even during the lockdowns. It is due only to their efforts that we find ourselves in the position to build back better, for which I am sure your Lordships are also truly grateful.

Vaccines are the way out of the pandemic, and the rollout has been a huge national effort. As someone who had their vaccine in Westminster Abbey, I can testify that we are working with faith leaders and grass-roots organisations across our diverse communities, as well as charities, and have listened to their ideas to get vaccines to as many people as possible. Over 35.5 million people have now received their first dose of a vaccine, and over 18 million have received their second dose. All those 50 and over, clinically vulnerable, or who are health and social care workers have been offered a vaccine, so we can confidently say we are ensuring that the most vulnerable have protection from the virus.

We will bring forward a landmark health and care Bill this Session. This will promote collaboration, ensuring that every part of England is covered by an integrated care system, and it will reduce bureaucracy by simplifying the provider selection regime and ensure that NHS England remains accountable, while maintaining its clinical and day-to-day operational independence. We will also enhance patient safety, delivering a new independent body to investigate healthcare incidents, which I know is legislation that your Lordships have seen before.

Throughout the pandemic, the NHS has worked incredibly hard to keep services going, going truly above and beyond. Today marks International Nurses Day. This year more than ever we must thank nurses for their incredible work in fighting a global pandemic—and sadly, of course, some have paid the ultimate price.

We now face the challenge of NHS catch-up and recovery, with over 4.7 million people currently waiting for care. The Government will support the NHS, as throughout the pandemic, and will ensure it has what it needs. We have confirmed an additional £3 billion for the NHS for this financial year, on top of the long-term settlement, to support recovery, including around £1 billion to begin tackling the elective backlog and around £1.5 billion to help ease existing pressures in the NHS caused by Covid-19.

The pandemic has also taken its toll on people’s mental health. We have published our mental health recovery action plan, and will provide around £500 million for mental health services and investment in the NHS workforce, to ensure that we have the right support in place over the coming year. We are also working towards reform of the Mental Health Act to give people more say over their own care.

Experiences during this time could have an impact on the health, well-being and opportunity of our youngest children throughout their life, even though they may not have been conscious of living through a pandemic. As demonstrated by the Leadsom review, the care given during the first 1,001 critical days from conception to age two has a significant impact on a child’s future. Attending early years education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and positive outcomes, which is why we prioritised keeping early years settings open as much as possible, in line with health and safety requirements, during the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, even when early years settings had to close, we continued to fund entitlements, which are currently around £3.6 billion a year.

The Government are committed to ensuring that no child is left behind because of learning lost over the past year. We will put in place a long-term recovery plan to allow us to build a better and fairer education system. We have already provided £1.7 billion in the past year to enable education settings to support children. The package includes significant funding aimed at addressing the needs of disadvantaged pupils. The recovery premium will be allocated to schools based on disadvantage funding eligibility and the expansion of our tutoring programmes will provide targeted support to children and young people hardest hit by disruption to their education.

The Government’s vision is for every school to benefit from being part of a strong family of schools, because multi-academy trusts are the best structure to enable schools and teachers to deliver consistently good outcomes. Seventy-five per cent of sponsored primary and secondary academies that have been inspected are good or outstanding, up from their previous grade of inadequate, compared to around one in 10 of their predecessor schools. We plan to release up to £24 million through the next phase of the trust capacity fund to help trusts grow, and we have recently launched a “try before you buy” trust partnerships model for schools to experience the benefits of being part of a strong trust. Following its autumn visits, Ofsted reported that many schools in trusts had found the support they received invaluable. What it found further cements our belief in the unique strength of the academy trust model. We are also clear on the need to improve schools where there is long-term underperformance by bringing them in to strong academy trusts—a key manifesto commitment. These include schools which have been judged “requires improvement” or worse by Ofsted in their last three consecutive full inspections. This will ensure that these schools also have access to the support of a multi-academy trust.

I turn now to HE and FE. Our universities have a long and proud history of being institutions where views may be freely expressed and debated. However, there are growing concerns that fear of repercussions is preventing open and robust intellectual debate. Over the course of this Parliament, with legislation introduced today, in the other place, we will strengthen freedom of speech and academic freedom in higher education in England. Duties on higher education providers and students’ unions will be strengthened, with clear consequences introduced for any breach. We will ensure that higher education providers in England are places where freedom of speech can thrive and that academic staff, students and visiting speakers feel safe to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions. In addition, UK students will be able to study and do work placements across the world through the Turing scheme, a new international educational exchange scheme. The scheme is backed by £110 million and provides funding for around 35,000 UK students in schools, colleges, and universities to go on placements and exchanges overseas, from September.

Skills are one of the Prime Minister’s key priorities and, in this Session, we will bring forward legislation to reform the post-16 education and skills sector. I am grateful for the exceptional effort of the further education sector, which adapted so quickly to remote education during the pandemic. The skills and post-16 education Bill will form the foundation for the reforms set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper laid before the House earlier this year. I thank noble Lords for their thoughtful welcome for the White Paper. As part of the Bill, we will introduce a lifelong loan entitlement, giving people the opportunity to study flexibly at colleges and universities across their lifetime. We will improve the training available by making sure that providers are better run, qualifications better regulated, and providers’ performance effectively assessed. As this Government are focused on improving communities, rather than just providing a ladder out of them, we will put employers at the heart of the skills system to ensure that local provision meets local needs so that people can thrive where they live. Together, these reforms will ensure that people can get the skills they need to succeed.

Supporting our highly skilled, regulated professions to deliver vital services is key. Our regulators must have the autonomy to set the standard required to practise in the UK. The Professional Qualifications Bill, introduced into this House just now, will establish an effective regulatory system for professional qualifications. It will facilitate the recognition of professional qualifications that meet the needs of all parts of the United Kingdom and support our professionals to deliver their services in overseas markets.

The Government are also committed to our role as a global science superpower. To complement UKRI as the steward of our R&D system, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill will create a new agency focused specifically on funding high-risk, high-reward research. With £800 million invested in ARIA by 2024-25, it will diversify the R&D funding system. The agency’s leaders will be able to experiment with innovative funding mechanisms and push the boundaries of science at speed. To also ensure that we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero and our 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution, we launched the green jobs task force, in partnership with skills providers, unions and business. We are also providing over £1 billion for public sector buildings, including schools, to install heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures. This will upgrade school buildings and reduce carbon emissions.

The UK is taking advantage of its new-found freedoms as an independent trading nation. The subsidy control Bill will create a new domestic subsidy control system, to provide certainty and confidence to businesses investing in the UK. It will protect against subsidies that risk causing distortive or harmful economic impacts and ensure a consistent approach throughout the UK. It will ensure that the UK meets its international commitments on subsidy control and provide a legal framework that reflects our strategic interests and national circumstances. The Bill will enable public authorities and devolved Governments to design subsidies that deliver strong benefits for the UK taxpayer.

This Session we will also introduce legislation to support workers. The national insurance contributions Bill will introduce NI relief for employers in freeports, employers of veterans and the self-employed receiving self-isolation support payments. This Bill supports the delivery of the 2019 manifesto commitment to create 10 freeports across the UK to promote job creation, by providing a relief from NI contributions for eligible new employees for three years, up to earnings of £25,000 a year. The Government are also supporting veterans to secure stable and fulfilling employment as they transition to civilian life by encouraging employers to hire veterans. There will be NI relief of up to £5,500 per year for each hired veteran. We also want to ensure that self-isolation payments will not attract NI contributions. The Bill will also clamp down on the tax avoidance market, enabling action to be taken against promoters of tax avoidance schemes.

Public service pension reforms were introduced in 2015, and the Government agreed to allow those closest to retirement to stay in their legacy schemes. This was later judicially challenged, where it was found, inter alia, to be unfair to younger members. We will now be giving all eligible members a choice between legacy and reform scheme benefits for the period from the date the reforms were made to April 2022. We will continue to reward public servants with pensions that are among the very best available, in a way that ensures they are fair, affordable and sustainable. We will also bring forward reforms to help recruitment and retention in the judiciary, continuing to attract and retain high-calibre judges.

As we now exit the pandemic, I hope noble Lords will be assured that we will support the NHS, plan the education recovery carefully, upskill adults and drive innovation. My noble friend Lord Callanan and I look forward to hearing the valuable insights of many noble Lords today, especially the maiden speeches from the noble Baroness, Lady Blake of Leeds, and the noble Lord, Lord Lebedev, and—sadly—the valedictory speech from the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth.

Covid-19: Pupil Referral Units

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they have given to students in Pupil Referral Units during the COVID-19 pandemic; and whether such students received the same treatment and prioritisation as those in other education settings.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, it will be no surprise to noble Lords that, on the 28th anniversary of the death of her son, Stephen Lawrence, the noble Baroness, Lady Lawrence, is here asking a Question on behalf of others, and I pay tribute to her for that. The Government recognise that education is a key protective factor for vulnerable students, and we therefore prioritise those in alternative provision. These settings remained open throughout the pandemic. Support included last summer’s £7.1 million alternative provision transition fund for year 11 pupils to make a successful transition to post-16 education, additional support through the workforce fund and, most recently, increased levels of funding for mass asymptomatic testing.

[Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for talking about my son, Stephen. Since the pandemic, have pupils in pupil referral units been supported and prioritised, as those in other educational settings have? What is the impact on their education? Are they being monitored to return to mainstream school? As we know, the majority of people in pupil referral units are boys from the black community.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

The Government were keen to ensure that alternative provision got additional support, so the Covid catch-up fund was triple the amount put into mainstream provision—£240 per pupil rather than £80. An additional £730 million has been put into the high-needs budget this year. The Government are acutely aware that in these settings are some of our most vulnerable young people. I also draw attention to the amazing staff who, during the pandemic, did much to protect them.

[Baroness Blower (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I salute my noble friend Lady Lawrence on Stephen Lawrence Day. In a statement at its recent conference, the NEU said that it is a symptom of poverty and racism that the majority of those in pupil referral units are working-class and black students. Does the Minister agree that, as the pandemic has laid bare the extent of racial inequality, to begin to tackle this in education schools need resources to prevent exclusions, including smaller classes and engaging a flexible curriculum, and much more investment in pastoral systems?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the cohort within alternative provision is incredibly mixed, and only just over 40% of those in such settings have been permanently excluded from mainstream education. Of those, 70.7% are white British, an overrepresentation, since 65.4% of the population is white British. However, the noble Baroness is right that 3% are of black-Caribbean heritage, while they represent only 1% of the population. Also, 3.7% in alternative provision are Asian, while 11.4% of pupils are of British-Asian heritage. Who is currently in alternative provision is a complex picture.

[The Lord Bishop of London]

My Lords, we welcome the increased level of catch-up funding for pupil referral units, but will the Minister tell the House how the Government will ensure that the funding alleviates the pressure on staff and students that they faced during the pandemic?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as mainstream state-funded provision, the staff costs are still paid regardless of attendance. The initial feedback is that the £7.1 million in transition funding, which enabled the staff to ensure that AP ends at 16 and there is a successful transition into post-16, was successful. We are looking at whether that can be extended for a further year.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, Stephen Lawrence’s memory should be for a blessing. I commend JW3’s Gateways programme, which provides integrated education and vocational provision for vulnerable young people and those experiencing mental health challenges within the Jewish community. Additionally, the trustees of JW3 should be congratulated, since they are in the process of establishing the first PRU in the Jewish community after consulting a wide range of Jewish schools in north-west London that are desperate for such a PRU to exist. Can the Minister consider how the department could assist the trustees to ensure that the new PRU becomes a centre of excellence?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is pleasing to hear of that kind of community response to these issues. Noble Lords may remember that there are, of course, non-maintained special schools, which apparently include some alternative provision. Many of those that remain are Jewish or Catholic in their religious ethos, but it is open to any community to open a registered provider within the independent sector. I will be pleased to write to my noble friend to outline how that might be possible within the state-funded alternative provision sector.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, PRUs cater for some of the most disadvantaged, disturbed and sometimes dangerous students. I taught in one for a while, and it was an unforgettable experience. The NEU found that there was a 17% rise in the number of pupils with education, health and care plans in pupil referral units last year. How are the Government ensuring that every child with an EHCP is being educated in the most appropriate setting for them?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, there is a very high level of those with not only EHCP but SEND generally. Around 80% end up in some form of alternative provision. The AP settings are part of the SEND review so that they can be considered together. We recognise that this is often not the most appropriate place for young people to end up, and we will look at how to change the dynamic that is operating.

[Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick (CB)]

My Lords, given the proven likelihood that PRUs can be highways to hopelessness, driving vulnerable young people towards long-term criminality, what is the Government’s assessment of why PRUs tend not to lead to successful educational and social outcomes? Also, given the opportunities of the Oasis Restore secure school, funded by the Ministry of Justice and opening in Medway next year, how involved will the Department for Education be in defining and inspecting the curriculum, as well as underpinning the well-being of all those educated in this new, remarkable school?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, our aspirations are the same for all young people, regardless of where they are being educated, but it is true that some young people who end up in alternative provision are, for instance, of secondary school age but with only a primary school reading age. Therefore, the classic traditional measures of educational performance must be looked at in terms of the progress which that young person can make. Many of the AP settings are acutely aware of the safeguarding of their students. Many work closely with the 18 violence reduction units to safeguard their pupils, and I will write to the noble Lord about the first secure school, which is within the Ministry of Justice’s provision.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I add my tribute to my noble friend Lady Lawrence of Clarendon, for the great strength of character that she has shown following the callous murder of her son, and for the work that she has done in establishing the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Many pupil referral units have been forced to cut services for vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils because of the severe reduction in funding following the drop in referrals during the pandemic. There is real concern in the sector that the increased level of recovery funding for PRUs announced by the Government is unlikely to be sufficient to meet the anticipated surge in demand. Does the Minister accept that the Government must heed those concerns and review the per-pupil element of the funding formula to ensure consistency and parity of funding with mainstream schools?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, obviously some young people are dual registered, so they are mainstream as well as AP funded. During the two formal lockdowns when schools were closed, the guidance from the department to local authorities was that they should pay the top-up element that they pay to these provisions. If a pupil referral unit that is still an LA-maintained unit is in financial difficulty, obviously it goes to its local authority; in relation to the other alternative provision—the just over 40% of the sector that is academised—I can assure the noble Lord that we are keeping a close watch on the financial situation of that provision.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that many children who end up in these units come from backgrounds where they do not have supportive families and people who are keen on education? Does the Minister also accept that these are the groups in which undiagnosed special educational needs—I remind the House of my declared interests in this field—do not get spotted until much later, if at all, and probably in the prison system? Do the Government have any process by which to pick up on the backlog of identification caused by the pandemic and the missed school experience?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is precisely for those reasons that we must consider AP in the context of the SEND review and work out why some conditions are not being spotted early enough. For instance, it seems that in an all-through setting—we now have some all-through schools—spotting it in early years or reception is vital to the educational progress of those young people. As I have outlined, we need to look at why so many young people with these needs are ending up in alternative provision and with late diagnosis of conditions.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now come to the fourth Oral Question.

Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Wednesday 21st April 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

I am afraid the next speaker, the noble Baroness, Lady Hussein-Ece, is not present in the Chamber or in the ether, so we will not be able to hear from her and we will go straight to the Minister.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government will not be rejecting this report outright. When I began to read this report, it did not match, in my view, what had been reported in some parts of the media about it. I commend it to noble Lords to read. It is 258 pages long, so it will take a bit of diary time to do that. It is an evidence-based report; it is our first official attempt to look at ethnic disadvantages and advantages. First, dealing with the theme of the noble Baroness’s speech regarding structural racism, the report commends and stands by the Macpherson definition of institutional racism. As we stand here, the day before Stephen Lawrence Day, I think it is important to recognise that. It has stood the test of time.

In the areas the commission was reporting on, the evidence base did not support structural racism findings. However, the report is incredibly clear that racist incidents, racist prejudice and racism exist today in this country and should be dealt with and condemned wherever they are found. It is not an offensive report. It does not glorify racism but stands against it. The noble Baroness recognised that we are not the Britain of the 1950s and 1960s. That is not to say we are a perfect country. As the report outlines, the commission hopes that it is

“a road map for racial fairness.”

We are still on a journey in relation to this.

The 10 commissioners did this report as volunteers. They were not paid to do it and are all present, as commissioners, standing by the report. They did not seek to blame ethnic-minority individuals for their lot in life. I regret to say that that is a misrepresentation of the report.

In relation to the criticism that the United Nations has made of the report, unusually, the UK Government have responded to say that, again, that is a misrepresentation of the report. I do not mean to do a disservice to the report but, compared with the media reporting, it is a tad dull in the way its narrative is written. It is not the stuff of the headlines. The UN response has misrepresented it. It is not a matter of disagreement here, which we all welcome around reports put into the public domain, but when that strays into the line of misrepresenting the evidence and the findings, we have to speak out. The Minister for Equalities in the other place will write to the United Nations group to outline what we believe is a misrepresentation of this report.

I can quite categorically say to the noble Baroness that no, No. 10 Downing Street did not write the report. The communication strategy was by an independent person not connected to No. 10. There is no false binary here in the report. It is evidence based. It commissioned research from the University of Oxford. It included the white-majority population for the first time in a report such as this. Within our population, it attempted to separate out different groups with different experiences.

The noble Baroness is, though, right to draw attention to the fact that, unfortunately, Covid has led to a recent increase in young, black unemployment. We are looking at the response to that. There are various initiatives, funded particularly with some London boroughs, trying to redress that. With Brent and Newham, we are looking at the Black Training and Enterprise Group and the Moving Up programme. There are also, of course, some geographical disparities in where job losses have been, so we have to look at the granular data as to why that has been an outcome at the moment, and at the causes of that, to redress it. Obviously, across the whole population of this country, we are trying to drive up the skills base and increase the profile of apprenticeships in order for people to get the skills that they need.

It is important to outline the commission’s response to the criticism of its remarks about slavery. It says this:

“There has … been a wilful misrepresentation by some people of the Commission’s view on the history of slavery. The idea that the Commission would downplay the atrocities of slavery is as absurd as it is offensive to every one of us. The report merely says that in the face of the inhumanity of slavery, African people preserved their humanity and culture. The Commission’s recommendation for Government to create inclusive curriculum resources is about teaching these histories which often do not get the attention they deserve.”


It is important to put accurate comments on the record in relation to the commission’s remarks on slavery.

We are looking seriously at the 24 recommendations. A group has been formed within the Cabinet Office, chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to look at the recommendations put forward.

In relation to the role of the family, the commission is very clear:

“We reject both the stigmatisation of single mothers and the turning of a blind eye to the impact of family breakdown on the life chances of children.”


That is a balanced statement. This is the first commission to look at the effect of family structure. Like me, many noble Lords will know of families who have lost the other parent due to death. To suggest that we would say to them that there is not a huge impact on their children puts the matter in a less political context.

I have to disagree with the noble Baroness. As noble Lords will be aware, I often stand at this Dispatch Box on behalf of the Department for Education. There have been incredible achievements across education among certain ethnic groups. We have seen an incredible rise in particular in the number of black African boys going on to higher education at the moment. I do not recognise the noble Baroness’s characterisation of structural racism across our system. That is not to say that there are not incidents within our schools that need to be dealt with as and when they happen, and we would of course expect any member of teaching staff treating any pupil in that way to be subject to disciplinary measures.

The report is a careful, evidence-based piece of work that we will look at. It is very illustrative of the different achievements in different sectors of ethnic-minority groups—for instance, the incredible educational performance of some second-generation British south-east Asian communities—but that is not to say that we do not have issues to deal with around educational participation in, for instance, the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It is a complex and nuanced picture that is Britain and England today, and we will look at the recommendations carefully.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

My Lords, we come to the 20 minutes for Back-Bench questions. There are 16 Back-Bench speakers, so noble Lords can do the arithmetic; if they can keep questions focused, we would be very much obliged.

[Lord Lucas (Con) [V]]

My Lords, will my noble friend join me in thanking all those millions of people who, over the last 50 years that I have been politically conscious, have made this country a much friendlier place for ethnic minorities? The noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, reports that, on average, there is one report of a racial incident at a school every two and a half years—it would have been more like every two and a half hours when I was young. Does my noble friend share my commitment to living up to the commission’s vision of how Britain can continue to do better—a vision of unity and equity, and of shared values, history, culture and future? Will she look carefully at all the ways in which the state is supporting the philosophies that seek to set us against each other?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, yes, the Government commend the ambition of this report, which is for us to use it as

“a road map for racial fairness.”

I hope noble Lords have understood that, although we are not the country we were, and we are not in a perfect place—the commission does not say that—we want to work together. We applaud all those people who have stood against the injustices that we have seen decline over the years. We recognise that anywhere racist incidents exist, we all have a responsibility. It is not just government; wherever we see such incidents—many of us will have seen them in our own lives on public transport and places such as that—we must all speak up. We all have a responsibility to get to a racially fair society.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the CBI, of which I am president, recently launched Change the Race Ratio, an initiative to promote ethnic-minority participation in business. The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities made 24 recommendations. However, the disclosure of the ethnicity pay gap—one of the most transformative steps a company can take to address race inequality at work—was not one of them. Surely this should be a recommendation, as closing the UK’s ethnicity pay gap is about making our society fairer and more inclusive. Do the Government not agree that diverse companies perform better on every metric and that transparency should be the watch- word? While progress has been made on race inequality over the past few decades, there is still a long way to go.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, yes, diversity of governing boards and businesses is indeed a strength. We obviously agree that people should be paid in accordance with their work and that there should not be an ethnic pay gap. However, it is the mechanism by which we get there that I believe we are in disagreement on. The report states that, when companies publish ethnicity pay gaps, they should also publish action plans and diagnoses as to how they are going to close that gap.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am sure the Minister recognises that the ideology that puts race and gender as always subservient to economics and class, which seems to underlie this report, was developed in the now discredited and defunct Revolutionary Communist Party. Given that the commission was appointed by No. 10, is the Minister proud that it is the ideology of the RCP that is now driving social policy at the centre of this Government? It does not understand what is going on in our society and people are rather offended by that.

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[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as I have outlined, there will be detailed analysis of the recommendations that are given. The methodology that the noble Baroness outlines is not one that I recognise from the parts of the report that I have read. It is an evidence-based piece of work that looks at the causes of disparity and at other factors such as cultural issues, family, social class and geography. I will pass on her comments to the commission about the methodology.

[Lord Dholakia (LD)]

My Lords, the Statement does nothing to allay the fears of the black and ethnic minority community about this report. We seem to have come full circle from the report on the Brixton disorders by Lord Scarman. A lot of research has been done since then that clearly identifies that racism and racial discrimination are a daily reality in the lives of the black and ethnic minority community in Britain. Socially and economically they occupy the same place that was allocated to them in the earlier days, and institutions and organisations have little awareness of our culturally different communities. Will the Minister examine some of the reports by the Commission for Racial Equality, which was responsible for issuing legally enforceable non-discrimination notices to some of our institutions? Equality has no meaning unless it is properly and ethnically monitored. I want to see the day when black and brown faces in this country do not have to look over their shoulder to see if they are welcome.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I can allay the fears that the noble Lord outlines, as the report recognises that:

“Outright racism still exists in the UK”.


It does not detract from that. I will ask officials to look at the reports that the noble Lord has outlined. One report that has been drawn to my attention and that is in a similar vein was by the Runnymede Trust in the early 2000s; the noble Lord, Lord Kakkar, was involved in writing it. We need to look at the causes of these disparities. We will not change the outcomes for people if we do not diagnose the causes properly. Then, we can get the right solution and change the outcomes. That is what we are passionate to do for better outcomes for all the communities that the noble Lord outlines.

[Lord Farmer (Con)]

My Lords, I must commend the Government on their considered response to this careful and measured report. I have two questions. First, will sufficient time be given here to debate the issues that it raises, and early enough to inform the Government’s deliberations? Secondly, will the Government emulate the commissioners’ courage by acting on evidence about the benefits of stable family structures and being proactive about preventing family breakdown where possible, because of its myriad contributions to poor outcomes for children?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it will be a matter for the parliamentary authorities and the usual channels as to whether time is allowed for debate, but of course, noble Lords have that opportunity as well. Yes, the response will take seriously the recommendation —I think it is framed as a “Support for Families” review—to look in more detail at the effect that family structure can have on someone’s outcomes, particularly educationally and economically.

[Lord Woolley of Woodford (CB)]

My Lords, yesterday was a momentous day. Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. President Biden responded by stating that we must acknowledge and confront systemic racism. In spite of the overwhelming evidence from many, including the medical association, representing 150,000 doctors, Dr Sewell’s report stated that the evidence they found did not show systemic racism. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of black and white young people who took to the streets to protest for Black Lives Matter were dismissed in the report as well-meaning idealists but wrong in their assertion of systemic racism.

Yesterday the government Minister Kemi Badenoch, who seemed to attack anyone who did not agree with her, including the excellent race equality organisation the Runnymede Trust, none the less stated, to my great relief, that no one, not least the Government, is denying institutional racism as distinct from verbal racism. She went on to say that it is not everywhere, and I think we can all agree with that. But the report said, and the Minister confirmed, that Dr Sewell and his commissioners did not find systemic racism in this report from the deluge of evidence, including from myself. Given that dramatic but welcome U-turn in acknowledging systemic race inequalities, were the commissioners incompetent or in wilful denial?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as I have outlined, the evidence that was considered by the commissioners, as we understand it, is that they did not find institutional racism in any of the sectors. I will come back to the specific comments from the other place that the noble Lord has raised but I understand that context to be, as I have outlined, that institutional racism is a concept that we respect and understand, and the commission stood by the Macpherson definition, but there was not the evidence base here. Of course it is difficult when feelings are running high—obviously, I note that it is an important day today, particularly for the criminal justice system in America—but when the evidence does not lead you to that conclusion then we have to respect that. As I said to the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, a critique of the methodology may be wanted, but these are the conclusions of 10 respected commissioners: that the evidence did not lead to that conclusion, as uncomfortable as that can sometimes be.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, in this report of over 250 pages I read two perfunctory narrative mentions of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ethnic minority groups—arguably the most discriminated against in the UK—and a few insertions in the Department for Education tables. They are absent from the sections on health, employment and criminal justice, where data exists, often explicitly racist. The report’s conclusions ignore their situation. Did the commissioners speak to anyone, or take any evidence, from these communities? Does the Minister concede that this kind of omission can only, sadly, reinforce the superficial and unscholarly aspects of the report?

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[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, with regard to Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, the report makes the specific recommendation that the Government should improve the way in which they collect ethnicity data. As I understand it, and I will write if I am incorrect in saying this, the commission worked with MHCLG, which, as the noble Baroness is aware, is working on a strategy that is soon to be launched in relation to GRT. That will be the main government action on GRT. I know from past experience that the noble Baroness will welcome the action that we need to take on GRT, particularly on educational underperformance.

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, the report cites the evidence that you are six times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police if you are black than if you are white; that the vast majority of stop and searches are for drugs, not weapons; and that as a result class B drug offences amount to nearly half of prosecutions of all ethnic minority groups. This evidence gives rise to the perception, which the report fails to mention or address, that the police are there to target black people, not protect them. As the Minister mentioned, Stephen Lawrence Day is tomorrow. A witness to the Macpherson inquiry into his tragic death 20 years ago said that the black community felt overpoliced and underprotected. What has changed? How can progress be made if black people do not have confidence in the report?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, in the report there are a number of recommendations in relation to crime and policing. One is about setting up independent safeguarding partnerships locally. There is also, obviously, the recommendation that police forces should reflect the communities they serve. On the point specifically raised by the noble Lord, there is an innovative recommendation that exposed the commissioners to an allegation that they supported the legalisation of drugs because they wanted to see the increased use of out-of-court penalties for the kind of class B possession that they outlined in the report. We are looking seriously at those recommendations but obviously, we know that our police forces should reflect the communities that they serve and that everyone should have confidence that the police are there to protect them, not target them.

[Baroness Verma (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that it is important to consistently measure progress, or the lack of it, as we do with gender? This Government have been at the forefront of challenging companies and public sector organisations on gender issues. The report agrees that racism is still deeply imbedded and, exists across many sectors of life, and that the colour of your skin remains a big issue. I have grown up in this country; I know what it feels like to be discriminated against and called names. It is important that we start by examining how employment across Whitehall is monitored and ensure that career support is provided for people entering with non-traditional qualifications. Will she look at why, in authorities like mine in Leicester city where more than 50% of the population is non-white, there seems to be not one person of colour in a director role at the local authority offices?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for outlining the non-traditional qualifications route to a career in Whitehall. We have recently announced the delivery of 30,000 apprenticeships by next April, and we will look seriously at the commission’s recommendation to have a targeted campaign or initiative in relation to the take-up of apprenticeships. There is a consultation out currently—I think it was launched only yesterday—on flexible apprenticeships, to try and make those more available. I cannot comment on the employment statistics of a local authority.

[Lord Sikka (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, in 2020 the big four accountancy firms had 11 black partners out of a total of 3,000. Deloitte had one, Ernst & Young and KPMG had two each and PricewaterhouseCoopers had 6. The big eight accountancy firms have only 17 black partners out of a total of 4,000. There is also an ethnicity pay gap of up to 37%. Is the noble Baroness concerned? If so, will she order an independent investigation into big accountancy firms?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, yes, of course I am concerned about figures showing a lack of representation like that. There have been various initiatives such as the Parker review and the review conducted by the noble Baroness, Lady McGregor-Smith. We have been working closely in government on the Hampton-Alexander review and are looking at that piece of work. I will note the statistics the noble Lord outlines when we are looking at that review.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, to an extraordinary degree we see racial questions in this country through the prism of the American south—a subculture anomalous within North America, let alone within the wider English-speaking world. We saw that in some of the atrocious and shocking language directed at the authors of this report. One MP posted a picture of a Klansman and the authors were called “Uncle Toms” and worse. These are not words with cultural resonance in this country. Will the Minister join me in thanking the authors for giving up their time from a sheer sense of service and patriotism to produce this forensic and factual paper? Will she add her voice to mine in saying how important it is that these issues are not be left to race professionals, but should allow people like the authors of this report—who have distinguished themselves as scientists, educators, economists, and in all the fields that enrich our national life—to have their voices heard?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as I have outlined, robust disagreements in this scenario sadly descended into abuse of the commissioners, which is not acceptable. The first recommendation ironically outlines more work needing to be done on online abuse. I am concerned that the treatment of these commissioners may mean we see people less likely to come forward to volunteer for public services, if that is the treatment that they expect.

[Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I echo the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, and the noble Lords, Lord Dholakia and Lord Woolley. Since Scarman, again and again reports have reiterated that we live in an inherently unequal society predicated on race, gender, religion and socioeconomic conditions such as class and wealth, as well as access. Work undertaken by the right honourable David Lammy and recently by my noble friend Lady Lawrence directly challenges the Government’s assessment and findings, and asks for immediate long-term action to address structural discrimination and inequalities as they impact our citizens of minority heritage. I join my colleagues in this House and the other place, alongside thousands of British experts, including highly respected academics, in making clear that this shocking attempt to misrepresent and deny experiences of racism and islamophobia will be challenged so that justice prevails. Will the Minister consider urgently meeting Members of this House as a way forward?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the commission outlined a number of reviews, including those that the noble Baroness outlined, and they were broadly in agreement with many of them. They took the recommendations of the Lammy review seriously, many of which have already been put into effect and others are in train. I shall come back to her on her kind offer of a meeting.

[Lord Liddle (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I will go back to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hannan. Do the Government regret the manner in which this report was pre-briefed by No. 10 in what looked like a deliberate attempt to stir up controversy with independent scholars and lifelong campaigners who have worked to eradicate the scourge of racism from our society? What is to be gained by pursuing these culture wars? Should action in future not be based on objective evidence? If that is the case and we are basing action on objective evidence, why did the Minister not welcome the plea from the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, for companies to be required to publish data on ethnic-minority pay gaps between people with equivalent qualifications and abilities? Surely we have to make progress this way.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is deeply regrettable, as I have outlined, that reading many of the media reports and the commission’s report is like moving from one planet to another. The commission had its own independent communications advice and no one wants to see an issue go from robust disagreement —which is what we have always had a strong history of in this country—to personal abuse directed at various individuals who have given their time for nothing. As I have outlined, we agree that there should not be an ethnicity pay gap, but we disagree about the mechanism to change that. The history of our politics is that we agree on the ends, but disagree on the means to get there.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Statement has now elapsed. My apologies to the three noble Lords who were not called.

Family Policy

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Monday 19th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Farmer]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Lord Chancellor on 17 June 2020 (HC Deb, col 902), what progress they have made towards joining up family policy across government so that it is “fit for the 2020s”.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, families play a primary role in caring for and educating their children. The right honourable Secretary of State for Education is charged with driving family policy across government. The Government announced £27.3 million for the family fund in 2021-22 to support over 60,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities and serious illnesses. We are also investing over £14 million to champion family hubs.

[Lord Farmer (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her reply. The Lord Chancellor was referring to current lack of support for separating couples, whose conflicts may be amplified by 2020-style no-fault divorce reform, which legalises one party unilaterally leaving the other without recourse. Mr Justice Cobb’s Family Solutions Group highlighted the role of family hubs, a classic cross-departmental policy in supporting separating couples. Can my noble friend say what progress has been made in providing such support in readiness for these legal changes to divorce?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, we are creating the new national centre for family hubs to provide expert advice, guidance and advocacy to support local councils in developing those family hubs. They will be very much locally grown and locally specific and should be part of the relationship support network for families who need it.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that all government departments should recognise the vital importance of family to the well-being of society, particularly of course in the field of taxation policy? To that end, will the Government consider the case for including in all draft legislation of relevant departments a family impact assessment?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, indeed, since 2014 there has been the family test, which I believe is led out of the Department for Work and Pensions, which asks government departments to consider the impact of their policies on families.

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP) [V]]

My Lords, strong families are the bedrock of a strong society, and we need to ensure, especially now, that families get the support they need at the time that they need it. Can the Minister outline what further help will be given to fund support for relationships, marriage and reconciliation, especially for those who do not have support networks such as other family members to rely on for help and advice?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, that is precisely why the Government committed to championing family hubs to provide a locally based—through local authorities—support network. The noble Lord may be aware that the family justice reform group is also looking at matters for those families to try and avoid, if at all possible, people coming through the family justice system and encouraging them to resolve things amicably.

[Baroness Eaton (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the troubled families programme is a commendable example of the benefits of a cross-government approach to policy. However, there is still insufficient co-ordination of support across departments for families to ensure that children and young people achieve better outcomes. In which specific cross-departmental policy areas is the Cabinet-level lead for families, the right honourable Gavin Williamson MP, bringing together ministerial colleagues, and what progress has been made?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is correct: what has now been renamed the Supporting Families programme has been successful at supporting families with some of the most complex needs. It has shown that they can avoid the need for further statutory services and for some of their children to go into care or the criminal justice system, as a result. There are various cross-government issues which are dealt with and led partly by the Secretary of State for Education, such as the care leavers board, which he chairs jointly with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

[Baroness Tyler of Enfield (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I refer to my interests in the register. Given that the adversarial nature of the family law courts is unhelpful in many cases, and that separating couples often need much earlier help addressing emotional distress and practical issues to encourage effective co-parenting after separation, as well as ensuring that children’s needs remain centre stage, could the Minister say what steps the Government are taking to ensure a closer link with, and easier access to, relationship support in the family justice system?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, as I have outlined, the family justice system currently has a review into these matters, looking at a potentially more investigative approach to family justice. We also hope that the family hubs will give local authorities the option to bring together not just statutory services but the charitable and voluntary sector, which often provides support in the circumstances that the noble Baroness outlines.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

I commend the Government on their Supporting Families programme. Could my noble friend tell the House what is being done to help families whose children have missed out on education during the pandemic to catch up, and whether the Government would consider building grandparents into family policy, as wider families can often help with dysfunctionality?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the catch-up in the education section of building back after the pandemic is focused on children catching up their education, but particularly disadvantaged children. On many occasions, noble Lords have asked about the laptops that they have received, and a specific element, £302 million, is a Covid catch-up premium built on the pupil premium. She is right that, in considering family policy, we changed the coronavirus regulations to recognise informal childcare support bubbles, where grandparents and others are giving support.

[Baroness D'Souza (CB) [V]]

My Lords, during a debate on family food banks earlier today, a local government spokesperson said that the priority seems to be just getting the money out of the door and bemoaned the lack of consistency and equal standards across the country. Does the Minister agree that budgets could be immeasurably more cost-effective, if administered and monitored by a senior-level Minister, with the department able to provide guidance on, and fair distribution of, the available government funds?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, getting the money out the door is very important, but I take the point that the noble Baroness makes. As the Minister responsible for the efficiency and commercial function of the department, we rely on and give grants to local authorities. We then trust them on the ground. For instance, we have given an additional £40 million to the Covid-19 Support Fund. However, when it comes to contracting with providers, there are procurement processes and contract monitoring, which is an increasingly professional function of the department.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, until January 2018, there was a Minister of State for Children and Families with the right to attend Cabinet. The post was then downgraded to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, which does not give the current holder the necessary clout either to be heard or to be properly effective. Many parliamentarians have today added their names to a letter from UNICEF UK to the Prime Minister, calling for the reinstatement of the Minister for Children and Families with the right to attend Cabinet, and urging him to deliver a national address directed to children and families to set out his vision of what building back Britain means for them. Does the Minister support these suggestions?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the current Minister for Children and Families, the right honourable Vicky Ford MP, works across government on many issues—for instance, online harms, at the moment, and the issues that have been raised by Everyone’s Invited. The independent Children’s Commissioner today launched her Big Ask to talk to children about their experiences. The group that the noble Lord outlined will get a reply from the Prime Minister, but it is beyond my pay grade to comment further.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that there is a degree of confusion about who takes the lead in various family issues? What decisions will be made about which departments lead on certain problems? For instance, if it is finance, will the Department for Education or the DWP lead? What is the process by which that decision is made?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, decisions are made on an issue-by-issue basis. As I outlined in terms of care leavers, the dual chairmanship of that is clear. It is important there is also a degree of flexibility so that, as issues arise, a responsible Government are able to work across departments. For instance, the Home Office, DCMS and the Department for Education have been meeting in regard to safeguarding in schools. I have a meeting with the Home Office on violence against women and girls this afternoon.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We therefore go on to the second Oral Question.

Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Friday 16th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, first, I thank the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee for its detailed examination of the Bill. Both the committee and my noble friend Lord Blencathra have raised some noteworthy points about the importance of parliamentary scrutiny. I thank him for his mild praise and mild criticism of the response of the Department for Education.

Although the Government do not agree that the amendment tabled is the right approach in this instance, I reassure the Committee that the Government agree that guidance should not be used to circumvent scrutiny and should only be used where it is proportionate.

I welcome the approach that the honourable Member for Weaver Vale took when drafting this Bill. It is done in a straightforward and sensible way to ensure that our approach can be flexible to adapt to the sector’s needs. There is a great deal of support for this Bill, as noble Lords have outlined this afternoon, because of the importance of affordable school uniforms for families.

The amendment before the House would require the uniform guidance to be laid before Parliament with it only coming into force by an order subject to the negative resolution procedure. However, that process is better suited to a broader and more controversial set of provisions. The approach taken by the Bill is appropriate for this narrow and uncontroversial issue and standard practice for issuing statutory guidance to enable the Government to provide swift and helpful guidance to the sector.

On the points raised by my noble friend Lord Blencathra and the noble Lord, Lord Watson, this guidance will play a significant role for schools when they are determining their uniform policies. The Bill requires the appropriate authorities of relevant schools to have regard to the guidance when developing and implementing their uniform policies. This is standard legal wording used to describe the duty to follow statutory guidance. The crux of this phrasing is that schools must have a good reason if they wish to depart from this guidance and they cannot choose to ignore it. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the guidance requires the level of parliamentary scrutiny which my noble friend’s amendment would require. Indeed, the approach taken in the Bill is not inconsistent with our wider approach to statutory guidance.

I assure noble Lords that the Department for Education produces a large amount of detailed and technical statutory guidance to support schools and the wider education sector which is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny. No other piece of statutory guidance published under the provisions of the Education Act 1996 is subject to the level of scrutiny which my noble friend’s amendment would require. It is important that such guidance is responsive to the needs of the sector and can be updated rapidly to keep pace with events. There is nothing to prevent Parliament from scrutinising guidance at any time.

This Bill is simple and straightforward, as is often the case with Private Members’ Bill. However, it does not follow that, just because a Bill is small and deals exclusively with a certain type of guidance, that guidance should therefore be subject to parliamentary procedure. I do not believe that the subject matter of this Bill indicates that it requires additional scrutiny, as it is one which is narrow in scope and on a subject of broad consensus.

The Bill is clear that the guidance issued under it is specific and limited in scope. It relates to one element of a school uniform policy which needs to be addressed—namely, the cost. It is not the only piece of guidance which a school will consider when developing its uniform policy. It will be used in conjunction with other pieces of guidance, such as the current non-statutory guidance and the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. It is other documents which provide broader or more comprehensive guidance, such as codes of practice, which are often—but even then not always—subject to the negative procedure.

As has been exhibited this afternoon, there has been a remarkable amount of cross-party support for this Bill. The Government have welcomed the valuable and considered debate during the passage of the Bill so far, and we have been keen to take into account the views raised in Parliament in developing the statutory guidance. During debates on this Bill, there has been consensus about the key issues to be covered in the guidance: namely, the use of branded items; the role of single suppliers; and the overwhelming support for second-hand uniform. Even when there is a difference of opinion on the detail, it is understood across the House that these issues are key to meeting the aims of this Bill and ensuring that parents do not struggle to meet the costs of school uniforms.

I reassure the Committee, and especially my noble friend Lord Moynihan, that the Government have clearly set out our position on school uniform and the proposed content of the statutory guidance for the House during this legislative process and that this is a matter of public record. Furthermore, at Second Reading of this Bill, I committed to sharing a draft of the statutory guidance. On Tuesday, it was shared in the Libraries of both Houses so that Members could have sight of it—I double-checked that we have called it the “draft guidance” not the “daft guidance”.

I hope all noble Lords will agree with me when I say that the draft statutory guidance already takes into account the views which have been raised by all those involved in the debate so far. It provides a clear framework for schools which enables them to take decisions in the light of their local context and circumstances. I assure all noble Lords that we will continue to engage with parliamentarians and key stakeholders before we finalise the guidance, to ensure that it is as clear and helpful as possible. This of course includes talking to schools and parents, to ensure that the views of those affected by the guidance have been fully considered. As part of those discussions we will also explore the different measures that can practically be implemented, and we will use this feedback to inform the implementation timetable, which will then be included in the final statutory guidance. My noble friend Lord Moynihan will, I believe, have an opportunity on Monday to talk in more detail about the Children’s Minister issue at Oral Questions.

As I have previously stated, subject to Royal Assent and the completion of the aforementioned stakeholder engagement, I hope to be in a position to issue the guidance in Autumn 2021, at which point the department will ensure that all affected schools are aware of the new guidance. While schools will not be required to make sudden changes to their uniform policy for September 2021, we would expect them to start thinking about the changes that they may need to make once the guidance is issued, and potentially introduce some of the more straightforward measures quickly, such as clarifying in their published school uniform policy whether an item is optional or required, so that parents can begin to see some of the benefits quickly. I hope that this has clarified the position for the noble Lord, Lord Watson.

The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, asked for reassurance that the Bill will not affect a school’s right to decide whether they have a uniform. I can reassure him on that. It is for a school’s governing body or academy trust to decide whether there should be a school uniform policy at all and, if so, what it should be. This Bill will not change that, but, as the draft statutory guidance makes clear, a school should consider the cost implications if it decides not to have a uniform.

On the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, by “minimum” in the guidance, we mean the smallest number possible.

I would also like to reassure the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, on his point about the cost of additional uniform items. The draft statutory guidance is clear that, when designing a PE kit, for instance, we want schools to apply the same consideration to cost as they do for the rest of the uniform. Regarding extra-curricular activities, schools should avoid requiring parents to purchase additional uniform and instead use items which are already required as part of the PE kit or everyday classroom wear. No child should feel unable to participate fully in PE, or represent their class or school, because the required uniform is too expensive.

Many noble Lords, including my noble friend Lady Altmann, raised the issue of pupils not complying with a school’s uniform policy. Let me be clear that this is a matter to be resolved by the school. We expect schools to ensure that parents and pupils are aware of the school uniform expectations and the sanctions that will be imposed for persistently failing to comply with the school uniform policy. School leaders are best placed to determine whether non-compliance is likely to be as a result of financial hardship and to resolve the issue in a way that is supportive of the affected families and does not deny the pupil an education on the grounds that they are not wearing the correct school uniform. As I have outlined, the PE kit is covered by the statutory guidance.

In response to comments, particularly from the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, about single supply arrangements, schools should be able to demonstrate that they have obtained the best value for money in their supply arrangements, but we do not intend to ban single supplier contracts. To ensure that there is competition and transparency, we want schools to regularly tender their school uniform contracts, and our draft statutory guidance is clear that exclusive single supplier arrangements should be avoided unless regular tendering competitions are run in which more than one supplier can compete for the contract. The period stated in the guidance is at least every five years. This approach will not diminish the value that sole suppliers can offer; often, they can ensure year-round supply, allowing the supplier to provide a full range of sizes and securing economies of scale.

I assure the noble Lord, Lord Watson, that the draft statutory guidance provides information for schools on what they should consider when they are tendering their school uniform supply contracts. The department provides guidance on procurement for schools. In finalising the statutory guidance, we will continue to engage with stakeholders, as I have said, to ensure that the framework in the guidance supports competition and transparency in the operation of single supplier contracts.

The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, asked the interesting and most basic question about what a school uniform is. Most people understand that school uniform is the specific clothing that a school requires its pupils to wear, which is why it is important that now, under statutory guidance, it will have to be published on the school website so that parents will know to exactly what the school is referring.

In answer to a further question from the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, the Bill does not cover all aspects of school uniform. It covers only cost, so that is why the mandatory language of “should consult parents” is used in this guidance on costs and the language of encouragement is used for other aspects of uniform covered by the non-statutory guidance. There was a reason behind the change of language in the guidance.

The noble Lord, Lord Watson, and others asked about school uniform grants. Rather than subsidising expensive uniform policies by providing uniform grants, which sometimes happens, we should focus on making school uniform affordable for all families by issuing statutory guidance. However, we would not want to prevent local authorities continuing to offer help with uniform costs in cases of financial hardship or schools offering support where they choose to do so.

It was encouraging to hear many noble Lords, including my noble friends Lord Blencathra and Lord Flight and the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, talk about the importance of second-hand uniform. It is encouraging to see the internet and a number of apps inspiring a market in second-hand clothing generally, including school uniform.

I thank my noble friend Lord Blencathra for meeting me and Nick Gibb, the Minister for School Standards. It was interesting to reflect on how we have arrived, after five years, at the brink of the end of a Session, and to hear of all the parliamentary sitting time that has been lost in the Commons and the Lords to the pandemic.

I thank all noble Lords for their contributions today. The Bill will help families across the country. I hope that my noble friend Lord Blencathra will not press this amendment to a vote in the light of the points I and many other noble Lords have made about the Bill’s importance to families.

[Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, for his amendment. It will be no surprise to him that I do not support it but, like many noble Lords, I have a lot of sympathy with the wider principle about parliamentary scrutiny to which it speaks. It is very important. However, for the reasons given by the Minister and others, I do not think this is the appropriate Bill with which to put a flag in the sand to ensure that that principle is achieved. The Minister gave various reasons for that, with which I agree.

When one reads the guidance, it is difficult to see it being turned into the language of statutory instruments. In the cause of accessibility, it is much better presented as guidance. That said, by tabling the amendment, the noble Lord has ensured that the draft guidance has been made available to Peers and parliamentarians generally and that we have had this debate today. That is to be welcomed; I welcome it and thank the noble Lord for ensuring that it happened. We have heard some very helpful comments on the draft guidance and a very full response from the Minister, which I found extremely helpful and look forward to reading more closely in Hansard.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for doing as she typically does by responding in considered and detailed form to many of my questions and those of other noble Lords. I wonder whether she would elaborate on one point on school clothing grants; I mentioned that the guidance refers to it. Although she said the Government’s emphasis was on keeping down the price of uniforms themselves—I welcome that, of course—short of nationalising the Schoolwear Association and making it the single supplier for the whole country, I am not quite sure how the Government could achieve such an aim.

I am concerned that cash-strapped local authorities—and multi-academy trusts, which are also not exactly well off—will struggle to cope with the many responses from parents to schools in the wake of the Bill’s enactment, and with the highlighting of the availability of the grants. Will the Minister again consider providing additional resources to make sure that local authorities and MATs can meet the demands that come their way after the Bill is enacted? I am happy for her to write to me about this.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

I will take the opportunity to write to the noble Lord. It is a matter for local authorities whether they choose to make grants available, but we are not proposing to introduce school uniform grants. As I have outlined many times to noble Lords, there has been an increase in general school funding over these three years to enable some schools that want to assist to do that. If the noble Lord requires any further details, I will write to him.

[Lord Blencathra (Con)]

My Lords, naturally I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate on my amendment, especially to the Minister for her response. I first wish to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, for her kind words to me. I will take some of the credit—indeed, a lot of the credit —for forcing the Government to produce the statutory guidance and the memorandum before this debate, which I think we all found helpful.

I congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, on being able to put firmly on the record what he thinks on this matter. He was done an enormous disservice in the press a couple of weeks ago, with gross misreporting of what he had said—indeed, what we had all said. I think the headline was, “All Peers call for complete abolition of school uniform and kids to go around scruffily dressed as from tomorrow”. They were appalling headlines. I congratulate the noble Earl on speaking again today.

I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Moynihan for putting on the record that we should pay attention to the comments of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, which—this is nothing to do with me being chair; it is long before my time—has done tremendous service to this House in producing guidance on what it thinks is inappropriate delegation.

I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Watson of Invergowrie, who said the principle of my amendment is right. I think nearly everyone who spoke today agreed that the principle of my amendment is right; the only thing wrong with it is the timing. If we were to go ahead with it, it would sabotage the Bill. I made it clear that I have no intention of doing that.

I am therefore disappointed that the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, for whom I have tremendous respect, has inadvertently done me a disservice today in suggesting that my amendment seeks to block the Bill. All I have done is make four points—the same four points made by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. I remind the noble Lord of those wonderful days between 1997 and 2001 when he was in government and my late friend Eric Forth MP and I were in charge of sabotaging every Friday Bill that came up in the Commons, most often with the connivance of the Labour Whips behind the Chair, who were as appalled at some of these measures as we were. My friend Christopher Chope was just one of our protégés. As the football manager says, “The boy done good. He’s coming on well”—but he is not a patch on Eric and me in our prime. If I wanted to block this Bill, there would be 20 amendments on the Order Paper today and I would be filibustering until midnight, but that is not what I intend.

So I shall not detain the House long nor repeat all my earlier arguments, even though I believe that the arguments which I have advanced and those in the Delegated Powers Committee report are superior to the Government’s case. There is no right or wrong answer here; it is a matter of belief in how much scrutiny this Parliament should give to regulations, guidance or circulars from the Executive. I have no particular grievance with the department nor with my noble friend the Minister, who is an excellent Minister; there are far worse offenders as far as inappropriate delegations of ministerial power are concerned, and the Delegated Powers Committee, which I am privileged to chair, constantly draws attention to them.

In the past few years, we have seen extensive abuse of Henry VIII powers, now tacked on to every Bill ad nauseam. Bills use only negative and affirmative procedures, and never are they made or draft affirmatives; we see the test for the Minister making laws reduced from necessity to one of “appropriate”, or, in this Bill, whatever the Secretary of State considers “relevant”. We now see the extraordinary term “protocols” used instead of “regulations” to avoid parliamentary scrutiny, and skeleton Bills are a regular occurrence without any justification for them in the memorandum.

All departments have got into the habit of building in excessive delegated powers and attempting to stop Parliament having a look at them, even through the negative procedure. I am sorry that my noble friend the Minister drew the short straw today to take this general criticism of far too much of our legislation having inappropriate delegations. Having said that the statutory guidance should be introduced by order, this whole Bill is only about making statutory guidance, and it should be judged on its merit and not in comparison to masses of other education legislation.

In conclusion, while my amendment is absolutely right in principle and in practice, and should be passed, I am aware that there is only one argument against it: that this excellent Bill would fall if I went ahead with it. The House should not be in a position to face that unacceptable Hobson’s choice in future, but I beg leave to withdraw my amendment today.

Initial Teacher Training Market Review

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Knight of Weymouth]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation they have undertaken with providers about the market review of initial teacher training.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, the initial teacher training market review is focused on how the sector can provide consistently high-quality training in a more effective and efficient market. An expert advisory group has been appointed to make recommendations to the Government. Ian Bauckham is the review chair and has held early discussions with ITT network chairs and others. We have committed to wider sector engagement in late spring, and your Lordships are the first to be told that we are now going to conduct a public consultation on final proposals before they are implemented.

[Lord Knight of Weymouth (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her Answer and welcome the latter part of it in particular. I also remind the House of my education interests in the register. I hope that this review is truly independent, unlike the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. So far, it appears to have alienated virtually every provider of teacher training in the country, with the likes of our top universities now questioning whether they will continue with initial teacher training because of the potential infringement on their academic freedoms and issues of financial viability. Can the Minister assure the House, in the context of that consultation, that the evidence and principles upon which the review might proceed will be properly consulted on so that, as a sector, we can properly debate how the service of teacher training might be revised in future?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the review chair Ian Bauckham is a man of great integrity who has conducted a number of tasks for the department, so we have every confidence that he will engage widely with and receive views from across the sector. The core content framework is a structure, so the curriculum is developed by universities and therefore academic freedom is retained.

[Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con)]

The Government have, rightly, long identified service leavers as being ideal candidates for teacher training. With predicted end of service dates being based on age and length of service, many start retraining up to three years before leaving. My concern, though, is that much of the support is not available until after they leave. Will my noble friend consider making that support as flexible as possible so that they can access it before they leave?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the expertise of former members of the Armed Forces is an important supply for teacher training, and many initial teacher training providers do offer their courses part-time so current personnel can make that transition. In shortage subjects, such as chemistry, bursaries are available of £24,000.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, although the initial teacher training market review group has been meeting since the autumn, its deliberations have been shrouded in secrecy. What has leaked out is the suggestion that the Government will introduce a new system of short-term contracts following the review, which has led, as my noble friend Lord Knight has said, to many universities warning that they may withdraw their teacher training provision as a result. I welcome the Minister’s announcement just now of consultation later this year. Can she explain why the so-called expert advisory group undertaking it does not contain a representative from a university, despite that sector currently producing around one-third of newly qualified teachers?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is important that we conduct this review to ensure that the market provides for the 25% increase this year of those applying for initial teacher training. Professor Samantha Twiselton is actually on the staff of Sheffield Hallam University, and I can assure noble Lords that, as universities are involved in providing, I think, 47% of initial teacher training, they will of course be key in the review’s progress.

[Lord Storey (LD) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister is clearly impressed with initial teacher training in this country, judging by her detailed reply to my Written Question on this subject, for which I thank her. As the Minister’s department is publishing an international strategy for exporting English initial teacher training as the gold standard, does she now think that there is a quality problem, or not?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the noble Lord’s comments about the Written Answer, which is also informed by the right honourable Nick Gibb, the Minister whose portfolio area this is. In relation to quality, we want to ensure that every person who goes to initial teacher training has that joined-up experience gained from the academic path and being in the classroom. We want to build on the good quality and have asked that the review look at the sufficiency of teacher supply, which is an issue in some parts of the country.

[Baroness Coussins (CB)]

My Lords, over four years ago, at the Government’s request 15 universities developed a modern languages pathway to qualified teacher status, alongside the languages degree. In the light of the current shortage in this subject, are these programmes part of the market review, and is their future, along with school-centred MFL training, to be safeguarded and continued?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, this review covers the full breadth of the initial teacher training market, so that we can build on the quality that we have. The institutions that the noble Baroness refers to will be able to make their views clear during the public consultation on any recommendations from the review, and there will be stakeholder engagement during the spring. I will take back the noble Baroness’s comments about those institutions and write to her on whether they are part of that process.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Government on their aim of ensuring more standardisation in initial teacher training programmes so that we have consistent standards of basic training for all our teachers. Does my noble friend agree that good quality teaching has been at the core of trying to help so many children through a difficult year, and that our teachers have risen to an exceptionally difficult challenge over the past year?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, good quality teaching is not the only, but the single most important, determining factor in the quality of education, particularly for disadvantaged students. At a time when not only are we reviewing initial teacher training but, as of September, £130 million will be invested annually to provide two years of professional development after initial teacher training, it is key to put teachers’ professional development on a parity of esteem with that of accountants and lawyers, for example.

[Baroness Janke (LD) [V]]

My Lords, there are concerns that the market review will recommend a less diverse, highly centralised provision of initial teacher training. What assurances can the Minister give that specific and diverse local needs will be addressed and respected in any future ITT provision?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, maintaining a good quality and efficient market for initial teacher training is a key part of the review. Some 240 organisations are accredited by the department at the moment; we are aware that in all, some 1,000 organisations deliver programmes. We have therefore asked that the review look at these aspects, and in particular teacher sufficiency across England.

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I draw attention to my interests as recorded in the register. I understand the Government’s desire for an efficient and effective market. That, however, does not guarantee that regional inequalities are addressed. I urge the Minister to make a risk assessment of the quality, supply and regional needs of initial teacher training and to publish the outcome.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the recommendations will be published and consulted on, and, as I have outlined, teacher sufficiency across England is a key part of the review. As to the early introduction of the early career framework, 1,900 teachers were part of the first rollout in the north-east, Greater Manchester, Bradford and Doncaster, so we are particularly aware of the need to ensure the best quality of teaching across England.

[Lord Lucas (Con) [V]]

Will the Government put in place a system to ensure that students interested in entering ITT have a clear view of the quality and reputation of the provider as perceived by schools that have employed their graduates?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

Ofsted will be reintroducing its inspections following the introduction of a new framework for initial teacher training, which is the main quality mark for people considering initial teacher training. School-centred initial teacher training is now a vibrant part of the market. Teachers are trained by multi-academy trusts and others, and we are in an age where it is much easier to find out about the reputation of the institution, people’s experiences of it and other peer-to-peer comparisons through LinkedIn and other platforms.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now come to the third Oral Question.

The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Monday 22nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Watson, for tabling this debate, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and the use of unregulated independent and semi-independent provision for children in care and care leavers. As someone who lived independently at the age of 16, it is something that I have personal experience of. I also thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee for its detailed examination of the regulations. I will deal with the five points raised by the former Children’s Commissioner during my speech, but there will be points at which noble Lords will recognise that the Government digress from her recommendations.

I am sure that noble Lords who have spoken know that every child deserves a place to live, where they feel safe and secure and receive the care and support that they need to thrive, enabling them to achieve the best possible outcomes in life. This is equally important for children in the care system, who have often had a difficult start to life. The statutory duties are very clear on local authorities. They must make individual placement decisions in relation to children based on their best interests, while considering their stated wishes. Having dedicated foster carers, excellent children’s homes and high-quality independent and semi-independent settings for older children who are ready for it is critical to this endeavour. We need a range of options for care placements and support that reflects the diverse needs of children in care and care leavers. There is no intention to change the position that children can leave care, or voluntarily come into care, at the age of 16, and make it a default provision for children over the age of 16.

Noble Lords have highlighted the former Children’s Commissioner’s call to increase the number of placements for children. As the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool, stated, we are investing capital of £24 million in the estate for secure children’s homes, which is a tiny part of this provision but a very important one. We are also developing plans to support local authorities to create more children’s home placements through additional investment.

Noble Lords have also rightly highlighted the need for local authorities to have a range of placement options to meet the needs of children that they look after. We have also invested part of the £200 million children’s social care innovation programme on improving commissioning and capacity of residential care, as well as funding seven fostering partnerships to improve local commissioning. These projects will boost the development of best practice, as outlined by the noble Lord, in commissioning and sufficiency planning to be shared nationwide. This will be critical in ensuring that local authorities can learn from the best to deliver their statutory duties that I have outlined.

While a placement in independent or semi-independent provision can be the right option for some older children, where it is high-quality and meets their needs, it is never right for those under the age of 16. These settings are simply not equipped to meet their needs or keep them safe. Children of this age should be placed in children’s homes or foster care, which is why we have laid these regulations that will ban the practice of placing children under the age of 16 in unregulated independent and semi-independent settings from September. The department will be working closely over the coming months with those local authorities most impacted by the introduction of the ban.

However, on the recommendation by the former Children’s Commissioner to ban this for under 18s, this is where the Government do not agree. We have more older children in the care system and coming into the care system at an older age. We must ensure that there is an option to facilitate development of their independence as they prepare for adult life and leaving care, something that she highlighted in her report. We know that there is good independent and semi-independent provision where local authorities are making careful decisions in meeting the needs of the children that they look after. We have also seen good examples, such as where young people are placed in shared housing with 24/7 support, or supportive lodgings where they live with a family and receive support and advice but are afforded freedoms such as cooking and cleaning for themselves and getting themselves to work, education or training, all of which are important skills to learn. Of course, 16 year-olds can be care leavers and opt into those kinds of arrangements if that is assessed to be best for their needs.

We know that these settings are often used for young people who are, for instance, remanded into local authority accommodation when a placement back with their family, or in a children’s home with other children, or foster care, would not be appropriate. This is in the best interests of the young people in a small number of difficult cases, and we obviously do not want to curtail the ability of the courts to make such an order for children, which means they are on bail rather than on remand. They can also be the best option to meet the needs of older children who have come into care much later and do not want to live in a family-based environment any more. This is sometimes the case, particularly for unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children who have come independently to this country and do not want to be placed in a family environment. We also have a certain number of voluntary care leavers aged 16 who have voluntarily left their family situation and do not want to be accommodated in a family situation again. That is a very sad situation to have to deal with.

Local authorities must take the views of these older children into account. It is crucial that local authorities can facilitate this type of placement for older children when they are ready for it. If they have not reached the stage in their lives—whether they are 16 or 17—where this type of setting could meet all their care needs, they should be placed in a children’s home or in foster care. The decision is about what is in the best interests of the children.

The Government recognise the concerns, outlined by all three noble Lords who have spoken and also raised by the committee, that some independent and semi-independent accommodation is low-quality, as highlighted by various media reports. We agree that we must do more to improve this, and that is why we will introduce national standards. These will not be minimal. This is the same type of regime that regulates schools, boarding schools et cetera. It will be an Ofsted-led registration and inspection regime for settings that accommodate 16 and 17 year-olds; we are doing something about this. We will consult on this shortly, and I hope that noble Lords will respond to that consultation. This will not be symbolic; it will introduce proper standards for this accommodation group and will, hopefully, assist with wider provision.

We welcome the valuable information that we will get from the Competition and Markets Authority report that noble Lords also mentioned. I will write the detailed letter to the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, that she asked for.

It is important that all these decisions are based on the best data. We have issued two further datasets in relation to this type of accommodation, as well as the qualitative research we released earlier.

I reassure noble Lords that we have received strong support for these reforms, including from the young people whom we have consulted. Over 70% of respondents to the consultation agreed that an Ofsted-led quality and inspection regime would best support this. The Government look forward to working closely with the sector, and care-experienced young people, to design the new regime of national standards and Ofsted regulation. This will no longer be properly described as an unregulated sector; it will be regulated. We will also legislate to give Ofsted additional powers in relation to illegal, unregistered children’s homes.

As highlighted by noble Lords, the former Children’s Commissioner also called for the strengthening of the role of independent reviewing officers and for the Government to better define what care looks like for older children, both of which we consulted on last year. We believe that the banning of placements for under-16s and the system which I have outlined will be an appropriate way to regulate this sector. We do not believe that an extended role for the IROs would be necessary to achieve this.

Local authorities must continue to make care placement decisions that meet the needs of children, putting in place the care and support that they need. The new national standards for this sector will make clear what we expect of these settings, and standards are obviously already in place for children’s homes.

Noble Lords mentioned the independent care review. There is a call for evidence at the moment in relation to that, which we hope this sector and others will respond to.

Finally, nothing we have done changes the individual decisions local authorities should be taking in the best interests of children. The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, outlined the needs and wishes of these children, and at an older age, their stated needs and wishes are obviously a key factor in the decision. However, there is no default or automatic position for these children; it is clear to local authorities that they must make individual decisions. A placement in this type of environment and accommodation in certain cases is not a second best but is made in their best interests, and it is often their stated wish.

I hope I have reassured noble Lords that we will introduce the necessary reforms to this sector without delay, and I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate.

Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Bill

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to all those who have contributed to this debate today and pay particular tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Blower, for sponsoring the Bill, and to the honourable Member for the City of Durham. It was a pleasure to meet the noble Baroness and I thank her for her efforts in developing the Bill and leading it successfully through this place. The importance we all place on safeguarding is underlined by the cross-party support and collaboration which has characterised, and I hope will continue to characterise, the passage of the Bill so far.

I am particularly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, for raising the importance of protective measures for young people in a sports context. The distressing reports we have seen this week highlight yet again how vital it is to have an effective, transparent and relevant safeguarding regime. As the Minister responsible for out-of-school settings, I will look at these matters in detail. The noble Lord also raised the issue of children in supported accommodation. Where a child cannot live at home, it is one of the state’s most important responsibilities to ensure that they are kept safe and flourish. That is why local authorities have a duty to provide services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area. The situations he refers to concern accommodation, rather than education, but I am sure he is aware that we are banning, as of this September, the use of that accommodation for under-16s, and there will be a consultation on national minimum standards for those over 16 accommodated in that way.

The Bill will help streamline and simplify the current safeguarding system. It will give clarity on safeguarding to providers, students, apprentices and parents, making it easier to understand the protections that are in place. It will make the Secretary of State for Education directly accountable for ensuring that the terms of funding for post-16 education and training providers include safeguarding duties, further demonstrating the Government’s commitment to safeguarding. The Bill will ensure that safeguarding duties on providers of post-16 education or training will in future come from one of two sources: from the statute or the funding agreement with the Secretary of State. All providers must have regard to the statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education.

Our post-16 education and training landscape is diverse. It has evolved over time, as the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, outlined, to respond to our diverse education and training needs, but within this diversity a potential anomaly has been identified which might give rise to some confusion over safeguarding duties. It is important that I take this opportunity to reassure the House that all children in post-16 education and training are currently protected by safeguarding arrangements; I can reassure the noble Lord, Lord Watson, in particular. However, there has been complexity over the origin of those duties and, in safeguarding, it should be simple and clear. So, for example, the safeguarding duties at the moment for providers of T-levels or training to apprentices aged 17 and below are determined by the statutory regime applicable to that provider type and through funding agreements. In contrast, safeguarding arrangements in 16 to 19 academies are a condition of funding agreements.

The specific obligations in these funding agreements will differ according to when the agreements were entered into. Inconsistencies in these obligations make safeguarding more complex for providers than it needs to be, and this will increase the risk of things going wrong. The origin of the safeguarding duties was raised by those providers. It is an attempt to future-proof: if it is the Secretary of State’s obligation to put it in a funding agreement, it matters not what kind of provider evolves in the future; it must be within the funding agreement.

On the question raised by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, there is no change here to the funding of special educational needs placements; we have just brought into scope the specialist 16 to 19 providers. It will apply to any provider in the 16 to 19 sector where there is a contract and it is funded through the ESFA, which is basically public funding. The Bill will also ensure that the same safeguarding obligations that currently apply to schools are clearly placed on academy trusts in the 16 to 19 sector.

The Bill makes clear that all providers should have regard to the statutory guidance. To answer the noble Lord, Lord Young, there are annual updates to the guidance, but one year they will be technical updates and the following year substantive updates. It is unfortunate that, during Covid, we were in the process of doing the round of substantive updates, because the threats for children in education evolve and develop at pace. We now include specific sections on peer-to-peer abuse, on child exploitation, on county lines and so on. Unfortunately, the guidance needs to be looked at annually but, as I said, it is substantive one year and technical the next. However, having one set of guidance will make it simpler for providers to know what their duties are.

On the question raised by the noble Baronesses, Lady D’Souza and Lady Massey, the Secretary of State for Education is responsible for driving forward the policy on families and has appointed a specific adviser. We recognise that there is more to do on cross-government co-ordination but, to answer the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, in the Department for Education we have a mental health strategy task force group that is led by the Minister for Children and the Minister for Universities, Ministers Ford and Donelan.

The post-16 education and training provider landscape is diverse, but the safeguarding duty should be clear and universal. The changes in this Bill are important but technical. A provider which is already fulfilling its safeguarding duty would not need to make any practical changes. This Bill should not lead to any additional costs or burdens on education or training providers—in fact, quite the opposite.

The Government are pleased to be able to support this Bill. It simplifies the current system and clarifies the duties and obligations on education and training providers. Ultimately, its overwhelming purpose is to keep children safe in education.

Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, for introducing this Bill and all noble Lords for their contributions today. I also congratulate the honourable Member for Weaver Vale for getting this Bill through the other place unscathed.

The Government encourage schools to have a uniform because of how it can contribute to the ethos of a school and create a common identity among pupils. As many noble Lords have said, it is a social leveller. I must therefore disagree with the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty. I happened to be out on the street when the Grey Coat Hospital secondary school was dispersing, and you just could not tell who was from what background because they were all in that distinctive grey uniform.

The Bill will reinforce the role of school uniform while reducing the cost to parents, which is a key point that the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, outlined. I know that noble Lords will want to know the intended contents of the statutory guidance and I take this opportunity to set out our proposed approach.

In relation to branded items, which have been the topic of much debate, the Government’s current non-statutory guidance advises that schools should keep such branded items of uniform to a minimum, as multiple branded items can significantly increase costs for parents. We plan to maintain this approach in the statutory guidance and specify additionally that their use should be limited to low-cost or long-lasting items. The guidance will provide information to schools about ways in which they can achieve the benefits of a branded item while keeping the cost to parents low. As the noble Lord, Lord Clark, said, this might involve the use of sew-on or iron-on logos, among other approaches, which was also mentioned by my noble friend Lady Gardner.

By taking this approach, we will set a clear expectation that schools should not overuse branded items—I agree with my predecessor, as the noble Lord, Lord Watson, outlined, that this should not be a barrier to access to the best schools for disadvantaged children—while allowing schools to take sensible decisions based on their own individual circumstances. I have become aware, for instance, that some multi-academy trusts, such as Outwood Grange, which have a number of schools across a number of towns, have taken the decision to have the same uniform across all schools in their trust, thereby driving down the price of branded items for parents. In addition, Outwood provides students their first set of uniform for free, to further support parents with the cost of school uniform.

I will address the issue of sole-supplier arrangements, which many noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Randall, raised. The department’s current non-statutory guidance recommends that schools avoid exclusive sole-supplier contracts unless a regular competitive tendering process is run, to secure best value for money for parents. To address the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Watson, and the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, trusts which have done this have been able to secure value, including commitments to avoid excessive price rises. It also helps with the point about stock across the year, which was also made. We intend to maintain this approach in the statutory guidance, while providing further information for schools on how to tender well, which will ensure that there is competition and transparency within schools’ supply arrangements. This approach will not punish good suppliers: their emphasis on quality and value for money will be rewarded as standards across the industry improve; nor will it diminish the value that sole suppliers are able to offer in terms of ensuring year-round supply, allowing the supplier to provide a full range of sizes and securing economies of scale.

The noble Lord, Lord Hain, referred to the situation in Wales. The Government’s approach is not to subsidise what can be overpriced uniform. The situation in England is more varied and the statutory guidance will be appropriate for parents and families in England.

Many noble Lords raised the issue of second-hand uniform. I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, that statutory guidance will cover the provision of second-hand uniform, which can play a valuable role—an essential role, actually—in keeping the costs of school uniform reasonable for all parents. I would like every school to ensure that arrangements are in place so that second-hand school uniform is available for parents. It was pleasing to hear the examples from the right reverend Prelate of the bespoke second-hand shops and initiatives in the north-east.

My noble friend Lord Trenchard spoke about VAT. Clothing for under-14s is already exempt from VAT, at a cost of around £2 billion a year. There are no plans to extend the VAT exemption to older children. I note with interest the comments of my noble friend Lord Moynihan about the use of technology and the emergence of online second-hand shops.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham raised ethical issues. We want schools to give high priority to cost considerations and value for money, but that does not prevent them taking account of other issues which are important in their local context, such as ethical sourcing. There is a waste resources action plan out of Defra, working with the supermarkets, which many noble Lords have said is where a lot of families get their non-branded items, and there is a voluntary agreement at the moment, called the sustainable clothing action plan, which the Government are supporting.

The noble Lords, Lord Storey and Lord Bourne, the right reverend Prelate and the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, mentioned independent schools. In choosing an independent school, parents are making that choice in terms of paying the fees, and school uniform costs are something that they need to take into consideration. I take on board the point made by the noble Baroness in relation to scholarship children, and when I next meet the Independent Schools Council, I will raise this issue of scholarship students.

The noble Baroness, Lady Bull, and others made reference to the behaviour policy and the bullying that can take place. Of course, behaviour and any exclusion decisions are for the school and the governing body, but that is part of Ofsted’s inspection regime so, in that respect, it would be monitored. As for what happens if a parent has a concern about the cost of school uniform, or a complaint, that is to be made directly to the school and is not a matter we intend putting under Ofsted’s purview. If the parent is not happy with the result of complaining to the school, they can come to the department about it. We understand that sometimes, when schools change leadership and there is a new head teacher, et cetera, there can be a change in uniform policy but, of course, there should be consultation in relation to that. Under the statutory guidance, they must have regard to that, including the cost of school uniforms.

In response to the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, hospital schools will not be within the purview of the Bill because we feel they are in a unique situation and it would be inappropriate to bind them in that way.

Many noble Lords are eager to know when the statutory guidance will come into effect so that parents can benefit from it. I share this view, but we need to ensure that schools can implement changes in a timely and considered manner, to prevent parents incurring additional costs from short-notice policy changes, and particularly having to waste uniform already purchased. Subject to Royal Assent and appropriate stakeholder engagement, I would like to be in a position to issue the guidance this autumn. While schools will not be required to make sudden changes to their uniform policy in September, we expect schools to start thinking about the changes they need to make once the guidance is issued. I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, that we will set out clearly in the statutory guidance when we expect schools to implement the requirements.

I say to my noble friend Lord Blencathra that the passage of the Bill thus far has generated valuable and considered debate, and the Government have been keen to take into account the views raised in Parliament in developing the statutory guidance. I reassure noble Lords that, as I have done today, the Government will continue to clearly set out our position on school uniform and the content of the statutory guidance for the House during the legislative process—that is a matter of public record. I commit to sharing a copy of the draft statutory guidance so that noble Lords can have sight of it. I assure all noble Lords that we will continue to engage with them and with key stakeholders before we finalise the guidance, to ensure that it will be fit for purpose. This includes representatives of schools, parents and other interested parties, such as the Children’s Society and the Schoolwear Association, whose members, to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, supply uniforms both on the high street and online.

The noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, raised valuable points regarding future revisions of the statutory guidance. I reassure noble Lords that, should the guidance be revised significantly in future, the Department for Education will assess the economic impact of changes and undertake similar stakeholder engagement. Obviously, I am happy to meet my noble friend Lord Blencathra to, I hope, assuage his concerns. There is no intention here to bypass parliamentary scrutiny and I hope that by agreeing to share the draft statutory guidance I have allayed his fears, but we may have to explore, in that meeting, whether having regulations, when something like this probably needs to be amended quite frequently, is actually the best use of the important role that Parliament has in scrutinising this.

The Bill, as noble Lords have outlined, will help families across the country who may be struggling to afford school uniform. The Government support the Bill and ask noble Lords to agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and resist the temptation to table amendments: I urge noble Lords to support her in that.