Government Record on Education, Employment and Welfare

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, I also most warmly congratulate my noble friend on a brilliant speech in which she said all that needed to be said. Many of us will repeat the same message, but that is what you do in church—as the right reverend Prelate will understand—and you learn the message in the end, so I hope that I will be forgiven for doing so.

Education, employment and welfare cannot be judged in isolation. Together they determine whether people can build secure and independent lives. Much of what the Government want to happen is commendable, but too much of what has actually happened is deplorable. Mission is not the point. I have always had a great regard for the noble Baroness who just spoke, but lifting the two-child limit is not the point. This Government are so good at doing easy things. They do not seem to have any stomach or courage to introduce unpopular measures, yet most of us know that to achieve success you have to do difficult things. I had to shut hospitals. The noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, had to shut mines. If you want progress, you have to do extremely tough things. This Government too often play to the gallery and are not prepared or do not have the courage to tackle what must happen.

I will say a bit about teachers and lecturers, who provide such a vital service. It again shows commitment that 4,000 of the promised 6,500 additional teachers have been delivered, but the real problem is retention. How can we make teaching a more worthwhile activity? I have just returned from the University of Hull, where I received an honorary degree, I am delighted to say. Mine was a long service award for 17 years as chancellor, and I was being given it alongside the most distinguished noble Lord, Lord Norton, who has done decades of proper service at the university. But the ceremony was a teacher graduation, and I was so impressed by the dedication, professionalism, commitment and, above all, the support the university can offer teachers in the region the moment they get burnout. When they get depressed, demoralised and have compassion fatigue, they can provide mentors, networks and further training. I commend that example.

Much has been made of this appalling figure of 1 million young people not in education, employment or training. Those who do not study history are destined to repeat it. Many of us came into public life at the time of the race riots and terrible unrest, when young people, then Black people, had no work, no self-esteem, no recognition and no respect. That leads to crime, lawlessness and despair. The urgency of the practical steps needed to lift this generation forward cannot be exaggerated.

I commend my noble friend Lord Baker. I visited his UTC in Hull, the Baker Dearing UTC, and it is extraordinary to see the way it works with employers and the university to deliver results. At a time when there is disenchantment with university—my noble friend Lord Willetts will no doubt address this problem—more and more young people want skills, a vocation and a job. It is extraordinary how many have said, “I don’t think university is for me”. So we have to look even more urgently at technical and other education.

I support those who argue for greater regionalism. I have long been a great admirer of the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill of Gatley, whom I very much hope will be a leading light in the new Burnham Government. He argues that skills should be completely devolved, because Whitehall cannot know what each labour market needs. He makes a powerful case for joining health, welfare and employment. I very much hope that, in the same way as Andy Street did in Birmingham and as happened in Manchester, we have a better result with more regionalism, innovation and opportunity. The critical test is in delivering a complex achievable plan. Let us bring an end to government by press notices.