Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [HL]

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, I do not as a rule speak on DCMS matters, but when I learned that there was to be a Second Reading of the Commonwealth Games Bill and the Games were being held in the young, vibrant and diverse city of Birmingham, where I just happen to have been born and brought up, I wanted to speak and express my delight. That delight is not just at the fact that the amazing city of Birmingham is to be the focus of attention for an estimated 1.5 billion viewers; it is not just because we anticipate that the Games will attract more than £1 billion of revenue to the area; it is not just because we will show the world just how to organise a successful set of Games—she said with confidence—despite having had only four and a half years to do so, instead of the normal seven; and it is not just because of the income that they will bring to the local area. It is also because the Games should leave a legacy that will remain long after the athletes have departed and the visitors have gone home.

It is on the legacy aspect that I want to focus. I look today for some assurances from the Minister, as far as he is able to give them, on what that legacy will look like. I understand that the village to be built will house 6,500 athletes and officials. This accommodation in Perry Barr has been described as “homes away from home”. What is rather more exciting for me is how many homes will be available after the Games for local residents to live in. I understand that the 1,400 new homes for the athletes’ village will constitute the first phase of a regeneration project to provide some 5,000 homes in the longer term. However, in his letter to noble Lords of 24 June, the Minister said that “a proportion” of properties across the site will be built to “lifetime homes” standards. That begs the question of what standards the rest will be built to. Will the Minister please elucidate? I also echo the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, about the proportion of affordable homes, which are desperately needed. Can the Minister give the House any further details on that?

Building homes is only part of the legacy that the Games will bring. On wider infrastructure improvements, we are having a remodelled Alexander Stadium, a world-class swimming pool—sorry, aquatics centre—two upgraded stations, local access improvements, an interchange and a Sprint rapid bus service along the A34. All are very welcome in areas that really need some regeneration. The council has secured a commitment from the lead contractor to sign up to the Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility. This charter aims to help the community by supporting local businesses, creating jobs and making sure that workers are paid a fair wage. Four hundred new jobs will be created, including 50 apprenticeships, although at the peak of construction around 3,000 people will be working on the project. Those workers will be paid at least the voluntary living wage of £8.75, as opposed to the national living wage of £7.50. The charter covers training, including pre-employment training, apprenticeships and on-site training. Local people from marginalised communities in the area will get a look-in, and talent and skills will not just be shipped in from outside. Afterwards, construction trainees will have the qualifications to continue to other work. This should come in handy in tackling the huge construction skill shortage we have now—and will have even more as HS2 continues its development.

This is all great, but will the Minister press the organising committee to ensure that the supply chain is paid properly too? The Carillion affair has left a very bad taste in the mouths of subcontractors, many of which went to the wall because Carillion and others used their suppliers to fund their own cash flow. This can be avoided by using project bank accounts where the funding is held in one central account, untouchable by the lead contractor. Suppliers will be paid on time and in accordance with contract terms. Does the Minister think project bank accounts would be a good thing, and will he recommend their use to the organising committee? The Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility expresses the sentiments and behaviour that all companies should express. All companies should have an implicit contract with the area—and its people—in which they operate.

In Birmingham we have talent of all kinds and diversity in spades. The Minister has today announced an investment of £778 million and a 75:25 split between the Government and Birmingham. I hope and trust that Birmingham City Council can meet its 25%, despite its cash-strapped situation, which has led it to sell off some of its key assets. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, has already expressed his concerns about the vulnerability of funding. Will the Minister bear this in mind and ensure that the Government will review that percentage if Birmingham struggles to meet it? No one wants to be left with the bitter taste of these Games being won only at the expense of the vulnerable.

It is incumbent on us to make every penny that we receive, from whatever source, work to create a legacy of infrastructure and skills for the future and to showcase some of the best talent in the world—not least our own.

BBC: Unfair Pay

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Tuesday 9th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I stress that the Government absolutely support urgent action on this. Of course, it was this Government who brought in the requirement for the BBC to publish salaries over £150,000, which is one of the reasons why we are talking about this issue today. The Statement makes it quite clear that the Government expect the BBC to act in accordance with what we have expected it to do as regards the gender pay gap. We understand that when you have a deep-seated and probably long-established problem, it takes some time to deal with and it is a difficult management issue. But let us be under no illusions—the Government expect the director-general and the new unitary board to deal with that. They are the people who have responsibility for that. We are pleased that the EHRC will look at this. For individuals, it has been illegal to pay people unequally because of their gender for over 40 years, and we expect all companies—not only the BBC but especially the BBC, which is a public institution —to obey the law.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister says that it has been illegal to pay women less than men for 40years. However, is not the crux of the matter that many employers, even those as publicly exposed as the BBC, will pay as little as they think they can get away with, and they think they can get away with paying women less than men? The BBC is in a pickle and it needs to sort itself out, otherwise it will be sorted out by the EHRC. Any employer worth his or her salt appreciates that women are often more hard-working and conscientious—indeed, better employees —than men. However, men know how to demand, and we are conditioned to believe that demanding things, especially money, is strident and inappropriate. But when men do it, that is assertive and appropriate. Enough already—let us have full transparency over pay for everyone. What can the Minister do to ensure that that happens at the BBC and other public bodies?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I agree with some of what the noble Baroness has said but I do not agree with the general statement that sometimes women work harder or are better at their jobs than men. We are talking about equality here. People should be paid the same for doing the same job and should be treated equally and given the same opportunities. As far as the BBC is concerned, this Government have made transparency available—both by introducing transparency regulations on the gender pay gap for all organisations with more than 250 employees and by making the BBC publish the details of employees earning over £150,000—so that we can look at this situation. We can get all organisations to do what they should be doing, which we all support, by making it transparent when they do not do so, so that their customers, employees and all the stakeholders that deal with them know the sort of organisations they are.

BBC: Equal Pay

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Thursday 20th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I think there is a slight confusion here. On the one hand, the accusation is that publishing these figures will lead to talent being attracted elsewhere; on the other hand, we are able to see the position in the BBC. I agree with the noble Baroness that it would appear that, based on this sample of 96 employees out of the 19,000 BBC employees, there is a roughly two-thirds, one-third split. I am very pleased that the director-general of the BBC has admitted that this is not good enough and is committed to narrowing the gap to make it equal by 2020. So I am pleased that we did this. We have learned some lessons. It remains to be seen whether the gloomy prognostications of those who think it will harm the BBC come to pass.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, clearly the publication of these figures has been a wake-up call for the BBC. I note that other media organisations have gleefully criticised it. Well, we will see what we will see when they have to publish their pay gap figures next year. Will the Minister confirm that, with effect from next year, all organisations with 250 or more staff will be required to publish their gender pay gap figures, thanks to the work of the Liberal Democrats and specifically Jo Swinson in the dying days of the coalition?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I am certainly not sure about the last part of that question. However, I can confirm that the regulations came into force on 31 March this year for the public sector and on 6 April for the private sector. Organisations with more than 250 employees have 12 months to publish their gender pay gap figures for the first time, and will have to every year thereafter. That means that the BBC will need to publish its overall figures by April 2018. That is a much more important measure, which will look at all the employees in the organisation, not just some of the top-paid stars.