Future UK-EU Relationship on Professional and Business Services (EU Committee Report)

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, I add my admiration for the noble Baroness and her excellent report. I am beginning to feel left out, having not been a member of the committee, since it is evident that it was an excellent process with some really important results. I am delighted that there has been such a tremendous rush to join this debate, even if not all noble Lords have shown up, because it is a demonstration of the really important part that businesses and professional services play in the United Kingdom.

When I was young, many years ago, I was told—the noble Lord, Lord McNally, will know more about it than me—that the trade unions for miners and steelworkers would go into No. 10 for beer and sandwiches. My aim and aspiration, when I was responsible for leisure and hospitality, was that there should be a CBI debate on leisure and hospitality—the industry and jobs of the future. But it is business and professional services that are now involved in so many jobs and businesses, and so many small businesses; two-thirds are not in London and the south-east but really across the economy.

I pay tribute to the many trade bodies that have worked so hard for business and professional services, but particularly to the Business Services Association and Mark Fox, who for 13 years has worked so hard with his small team to ensure that these aspects are fully considered. In business services, they include ICT, business process outsourcing, facilities management, construction and infrastructure services and managed public services. They point out that in today’s economy, many contracts span more than one category; they are together in the real economy, even if they are not always linked by statisticians. Of the services and projects provided by businesses large and small, 70% is business to business, with the remainder being provided in the public sector—that is before we get to the professional services that support them, which are equally vital to our economy and often dominate the debate.

The UK business services industry is globally acknowledged as being at the cutting edge of service transformation and technological creativity. For some parts of business services, such as business process outsourcing, exports are integral. To quote the committee’s report:

“The EU is the UK’s largest market for exports in professional and business services, accounting for 37% of professional and business services exports.”


The UK

“ran a trade surplus of £12.4 billion with the”

EU’s professional business services. It is a highly lucrative and important market, and one we have, rightly, to nurture.

I pay tribute to the Ministers, my noble friends Lord Grimstone and Lord Callanan, and the many officials in the Department for International Trade and BEIS who have worked so hard to work with industry and acted as a go-between. Although much progress has taken place, we appreciate that there are still some outstanding and tricky issues. We have talked about the creative industries and the recognition of qualifications.

What does the Minister see as the critical and exciting role of business and professional services in the green economy as we move towards COP 26? I believe that this will provide further jobs, opportunities and wealth creation.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Henig) (Lab)]

The noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, has withdrawn from this debate, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Bhatia.

Hydrogen Economy

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Monday 19th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, the reality is that we need to develop both. The UK has expertise and assets to support both electrolytic and CCUS-enabled hydrogen production, and by enabling multiple low-carbon production routes, we can drive cost-effective supply volumes through the 2020s—in line with the 2030 strategy that I mentioned earlier of 5 gigawatts of hydrogen to be produced.

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

The Prime Minister said that in our decarbonised future, we will cook breakfast using hydrogen power before getting into our electric car—although perhaps a hydrogen fuel cell bus or train would be preferable. Can my noble friend update us on how soon the Prime Minister’s ambition may be realised of cooking breakfast using hydrogen power? What progress can he report on the first houses to be built with hydrogen boilers and hobs?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend asks her question at an excellent time, because I visited a demonstration hydrogen home last Thursday and, despite some scepticism from the Opposition Benches, I was able to cook an egg using a hydrogen hob, and I confirm that the person who ate it has so far survived satisfactorily.

Private Sector: Environment and COP 26

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The industrial strategy challenge fund has 10 challenges, and one of these, as the noble Lord will be aware, is the transforming construction fund, with £170 million of public funding and £250 million of private funding, providing safer, healthier and more affordable buildings that use dramatically less energy.

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

Building on the role of enlightened international businesses and with the exciting international leadership offered by COP 26, will my noble friend ensure that the magnificent Siemens wind turbine blade factory and Green Port Hull have the opportunity to showcase the pivotal role of the private sector in enabling all operations to move to a net-zero future? I declare my interest as chancellor of the university and sheriff of the city.

Comprehensive Economic Partnership (EUC Report)

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted to speak in this debate, and congratulate all those involved. Fortunately, I am in the minority as someone who was not a member of the International Agreements Sub-Committee, so your Lordships will be spared my insights on that matter—but I have certainly enjoyed the comments from members of the committee, and will quite soon regard myself as an expert as well, I am sure.

I am delighted to have been present for the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Darroch. I have always thought of him as a man of erudition, insight and wisdom. As someone who has served in Brussels, Washington and Japan as well as Whitehall, he evidently has a huge amount to offer us in our deliberations. My only disagreement is that I heard him say that he had always been treated with “matchless courtesy” and “forensic accuracy” when he appeared before committees. Any colleagues who have previously been in another place would not necessarily describe finding those things in a parliamentary Select Committee—but long may it last, and it may be a sign of things to come.

This trade agreement is a tremendous achievement that enables Britain to reassert our long-standing commitment to open, rules-based free trade as we leave the EU, stepping back on to the international stage as an independent, competitive trading nation with a global perspective.

I need to declare my interests: first, I am on an advisory council for a Japanese research-based pharmaceutical business and, secondly, I am a long-term director of the International Chamber of Commerce UK, an organisation which is unequivocally committed to free trade and has worked relentlessly over the years and in many ways to assist in this critical area of policy development, which is all too easily jeopardised in today’s world.

Japan is one of the largest, most open economies in the world, with 4% of world’s GDP. It remains our fourth-largest non-EU export partner and 12th including EU countries. Great credit should be given to the key International Trade Ministers who have invested massive energy, commitment and tenacity in this outcome. When visiting Japan recently, I was struck by how highly our Ministers are praised for their determination, energy and positivity, in particular the former Secretary of State for International Trade, the right honourable Liam Fox MP, and the present Secretary of State, the right honourable Liz Truss. A wonderful addition to the team has been my noble friend Lord Grimstone, a seasoned expert in many parts of the world and a wily, knowledgeable individual who greatly adds to our activities to secure effective, positive trade agreements.

Of course, this is only the beginning. I was influenced by the late Minister, Ernest Marples, who said, “You don’t need brains to be a Minister; the civil servants have them all”. I pay credit to the civil servants at the Department for International Trade, particularly Antonia Romeo, who from a standing start have developed a highly effective department. Thinking of the noble Lord, Lord Darroch, joining us, we are also much indebted to successive, highly-talented ambassadors, most recently Paul Madden—who my noble friend Lord Lansley referred to—Sir Tim Hitchens and Sir David Warren. When I was around, there was Sir John Whitehead, Sir John Boyd and Sir David Wright, all of whom were shrewd and wise in developing those commercial relationships and highly knowledgeable and effective.

Like others of my generation, I was influenced by the injunction of my Prime Minister at the time not overly to focus on the EU but to befriend and emulate Japan, a country where she found so many areas for common cause. Japan is the future. Over subsequent decades, as the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, said, we have seen investment, trading relationships and so forth develop. I led a delegation with Sir Richard Sykes, Prescribe UK, on the important pharmaceutical industry. We have heard about electronics, the motor industry and whisky—an ongoing saga even in my first visit in 1987 with, I believe, my noble friend Lord Howell. Anyone who heard yesterday’s debate in another place will have witnessed the degree to which Members of Parliament up and down the country, particularly those from the north-east and Wales, talked about their important trading relationships with and investments from Japan.

As with all agreements where trust is required to deliver sustainable results, soft power plays a central part. Our positive relations with Japan go much deeper than the commercial and economic. I have mentioned the tremendous work done by the British Council and VisitBritain over the decades. In 2019, the UK was ranked fifth for the most desired overseas travel destinations among people in Japan. Our cultures, though different in many ways, share a profound mutual fascination. When the V&A’s William Morris exhibition went on tour to Tokyo, more people visited it there than did in London. I remember Sir Geoffrey Cass, then chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company, talking about the rapt, massive audiences who followed its performances there.

I hope that all my noble friends have purchased my noble friend Lord Howell’s delightful book, The Japan Affair, in which he details 35 years of the Japanese-British relationship based on his regular articles for the Japan Times. I for one strongly endorse his argument that we should recognise the strategic significance of this agreement and build it wider.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

I am sorry to interrupt the noble Baroness. It would be wise if she could conclude her remarks.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

Whether this agreement is a great leap forward or a simple step, we will learn from it and, I hope, in future develop it. I am delighted that it was with Japan that we made this first trade agreement.

Japan Free Trade Agreement

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

I enthusiastically congratulate my noble friend the Minister and my right honourable friend the Prime Minister on a successful conclusion to the UK-Japan trade deal. What could be more fitting than the first post-Brexit trade deal being between our two great enterprising and trading global and island nations? Who would be more than delighted than the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who instructed me 30 years ago as an intimidated junior Minister to “Forget Brussels—Japan should be our friend, ally and close trading partner for the future”? However, does my noble friend agree that it is now for British industry and commerce to take full advantage of this historic deal, showing the world what the best of British can deliver? How will this historic agreement progress the UK’s accession to the CPTPP?

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for her generous comments. I know that she is a great expert on Japan so it is particularly welcome that those comments came from her. She is of course right that we see this agreement as a gateway to the trans-Pacific partnership. Some 90% of global growth comes from beyond the EU, so both Japan and the wider Pacific region are vital for Britain’s future economy. We have no doubt that the finalisation of this Japan agreement will greatly help in that process, not least because Japan will hold the chair of the trans-Pacific partnership countries next year.

Science Research Funding in Universities (Science and Technology Committee Report)

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, it is always a privilege to speak after my noble friend Lord Willetts, who is a source of wisdom, experience and intellectual authority. I strongly agree with him on the ODA point, having been a PPS at the ODA with my noble friend Lord Patten of Barnes when Geoffrey Howe was Foreign Secretary and it was part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In my opinion, it had a great deal of merit.

Let me congratulate most warmly the noble Lord, Lord Patel, and the distinguished Science and Technology Committee. They add real authority and integrity to scientific debates in this place. I need to declare my interests. For the past 14 years I have been chancellor of the University of Hull, in which I take enormous pride. I took over from Lord Armstrong of Ilminster. For 30 years I have been a governor or an emeritus governor of the London School of Economics. For many years I was a pro-chancellor at Surrey.

Perhaps I should also declare that I have always been strongly under the influence of my noble and close kinsman, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Chesterton. All families have their snobberies. When I became a Cabinet Minister—I think only the eighth woman—my family members were pleased and congratulated me. But when the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Chesterton, became a fellow of the Royal Society—the third in the family to do so—there was jubilation, waving of flags and massive celebration. It was evident that being a fellow of the Royal Society was very much more significant than being a Cabinet Minister—so there you go.

As has been said, this report was published a long time ago, and the response by the right honourable Chris Skidmore MP, again, was just on a year ago, and much has happened in that time. I hope that we can all still agree with the Minister’s closing points in his response then that the UK remains committed to creating mutually beneficial opportunities for research collaboration, including in our universities, with both our European and international partners.

Since then, as has been said, the tectonic plates have been shifting. Covid-19 has had a profound effect, but it has also generated a showcasing of the quality of British science, whether in research towards a vaccine or in providing critical recommendations for quarantining and lockdown. So I hope that it has reinforced the public and media appetite for promoting research and innovation.

A key theme of my early work was trying to make sure that the London teaching hospitals were closely related to the medical schools and their local universities. Each time the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, who was then rector of Imperial, made another step forward in his research or innovation programme, he would write and say that closing hospitals is never popular for a Minister, but that if I had not done it they would not have been able to make the progress that they had made. I took great comfort in this, and also at that time worked most happily with the chair of the committee, the noble Lord, Lord Patel.

As a social scientist, let me continue to reinforce the importance of social science. The University of Hull is not one of the great, elite global universities but is always hugely committed to and serious about specific areas of research. It is world leading in applied health research, incorporating wider areas such as education, criminology and environmental sciences. Its insights are extraordinarily important in the development of policy formation. Hull, like so many others, has had an excellent track record in EU research. With others, I ask the Minister to update us on the Government’s ongoing discussions with the EU concerning Horizon 2020. It really has been the generator of a vast amount of research, innovation and collaboration.

Collaboration is the hallmark of the best research. Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, one of our most outstanding vice-chancellors, speaks in this month’s FST magazine about the importance of national and international collaboration, and I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Willetts for his work as chairman.

Finally, I will say that, along with the responses we await on many subjects, the noble Baroness had unkind things to say about Dr Augar. More important perhaps is Dame Shirley Pearce’s independent review of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework. She and her team were commissioned by the former Secretary of State. There has been no response whatever for more than a year. It was a tremendous report, with an ONS survey and expert committees. It has been a gross discourtesy not to respond for more than a year. As we make our plans to go forward, there are many encouraging signs and there is more to do. We need a coherent road map if we are indeed to become the scientific superpower that the Government claim is our aim.

Race in the Workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, I give heartfelt congratulations to my noble friend on the diligence, pragmatism and determination of her report. The evidence is excellently produced; I strongly endorse her conclusions—with minor modifications—and I am delighted that she has not overcomplicated it. As one would expect from an extraordinarily successful businesswoman, she has produced a coherent report that people can follow and take up its relevant practical points.

I have an inkling that race has never been an issue for my noble friend. She is a businesswoman, regardless of her ethnicity. It is interesting that many leaders who have achieved change have begun by avoiding, while not exactly denying, their own characteristics. It was often asked about the first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher: “What did she do for women?”. The noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, who is blind, fulfilled an extraordinarily senior Cabinet position. I have never known my noble friend talk previously about ethnicity. I feel the same in my own career; originally, I would wear only a black, blue or grey suit, as one of 22 women in the House of Commons. However, there comes a moment when those of us who have broken through a barrier feel duty bound to stand up and help, support and give a pragmatic way forward, not just an aggressive rant.

With the current environment of Brexit, we need all the man and womanpower we can muster. There remains much too much evidence of underachievement from black and ethnic minorities throughout school, into apprenticeships and sometimes at university. Therefore, if we are to be competitive and fill jobs when migration is more difficult, we have an obligation as a country more than ever before to ensure that every individual is trained and developed to the maximum of their ability. It is still not right that there are so many more exclusions from black and ethnic minorities than there are from white children and that 6% of black school leavers attend a Russell group university, compared with 11% of white school leavers and 12% of mixed or Asian school leavers. As my noble friend said, race and ethnicity are sensitive subjects and much more complex than discussing women’s issues. Different racial groups have different experiences, cultures and backgrounds and are often treated in different ways or survive better in different ways throughout our welfare and national life.

I endorse the response of my honourable friend Margot James, the Minister in another place, where she talks about this being a business-led review. Many of these policies are for business to implement—business acting in its own enlightened self-interest. My noble friend has drawn on help from Business in the Community, where Sandra Kerr has been a great force over many years in this area; from the CBI; and from Professor Susan Vinnicombe, who did so much over 20 years to draw attention to the lack of women on boards; again, not by aggressive campaigning but by relentlessly putting the evidence in the face of boards, naming and shaming, and celebrating best practice. I am delighted that my noble friend has taken this approach in her report.

I am equally pleased that in their response the Government have taken up their responsibility to act not as a legislator over business but to demonstrate best practice as an employer. I support the areas where the Government have said that they are reluctant to enforce legislation now but, my goodness, I am pleased about what is happening in the National Health Service. If the National Health Service is the biggest employer in the country, how right it is that it should demonstrate best practice. When we spoke in this House about my noble friend’s report before she commenced it, I spoke about the work that I had done with the NHS in 1993, working with the noble Lord, Lord Ouseley, talking with groups of people from black and ethnic minorities about their experience. I said then:

“I want to stress that taking action to promote equality in employment is not just a matter of moral justice or of fairness to people from minority ethnic groups. It is good, sound common sense, and it makes business sense too”.


It costs £230,000 to train a doctor. We want to be sure that every doctor’s training is well developed and they have the chance to get to the top. But why has it taken so long for those fine words, expressed in a heartfelt, sincere fashion, to translate into action?

That is why my noble friend is so right: this is not about words but action. I believe that those lessons are being learned. I am delighted that the chief executive of the NHS, Simon Stevens, himself chairs the NHS Equality and Diversity Council. A contractual requirement to drive race equality in the employment of NHS staff is written into the standard contract. Workforce data have to be published, as does information on the proportion of trust board members from BME backgrounds, the relative likelihood of BME staff being appointed once shortlisted, and on the importance of non-mandatory training and monitoring contracts. I say that because this is the Government acting as employer rather than imposing excessive rules and regulations on business. I very much hope that that will deliver a result.

Similarly, in the higher education field, if we are thinking about the pipeline and development, particularly of black and ethnic minority people such that they can fulfil their potential, all the way through we want to see people from black and ethnic minorities getting the best possible and fair opportunities. We know that in higher education there are all too few vice-chancellors from black and ethnic minorities—there are too few women but there are even fewer people from black and ethnic minorities. The noble Baroness, Lady Amos, as the vice-chancellor of SOAS, was the first black vice-chancellor, and I hope that there will be many more. However, we cannot ignore the lessons. The Equality Challenge Unit investigated the subject and came out with its recommendations last year. The House will be familiar with the themes: set up mentoring systems, formal and informal; ensure that there is representation and diversity on interview panels; set up BME networks within individual HEIs; and ensure there is access to relevant training. We hear these themes time and again, and have done for so long that people cannot now imply that they have not heard them.

There will be change only when this is owned at the highest level. Therefore, the connection with Sir John Parker’s report about ethnic diversity on boards last year is another part of the jigsaw puzzle, as my noble friend so rightly says. He points out that of the 14% BME population in this country,

“only about 1.5% of all FTSE 100 Board directors”,

are from black or minority ethnic groups. Again, we can look at the issues behind the process of recruitment—I declare an interest as somebody who has been involved in recruitment for many years. When we recruit, we tend to look in the mirror and not through the window. Inevitably, people recruit people who they know, like and trust. Many years ago, I kept appointing people to run NHS trusts who used to work for ICI. They were very good people; I did not even know that they had worked for ICI, but I kept doing it. Somebody said, “You know they are all from ICI, Secretary of State”, and I said, “My father worked for ICI in the early part of his career”. We appoint people from our university, from McKinsey, from BP—wherever your stable was, it is inevitable. Therefore, we have to go the extra mile to ensure that we have proper training to remove unconscious bias and ensure that people can genuinely fulfil their potential.

This is a generous-spirited country. We are going through the change of Brexit, and we have had real concern of late over hate crime; this is the moment to go the extra mile. My noble friend has helped to direct us in the right way forward.