Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Student Work Placements

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend appreciate that it is much more difficult for a small business to have someone in to learn exactly what it is all about than it is for huge concerns, which can take people without affecting staff numbers? I am pleased to say that as a dentist, we had a number of people come to see what it was like, and I am delighted now to go to a dentist who went into dentistry because of her visit to our surgery.

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, as someone who has run SMEs for nearly 40 years I can speak with some commitment to that important part of our economy. My noble friend is right that it can be more difficult for a small business to accommodate these sorts of placements. However, they can also be much more flexible and give a young person much more exposure to every aspect of that business. As I mentioned, we are providing the resources and guidance to employers, and this whole programme will develop over the next couple of years.

Education: Newly Qualified Teachers

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness makes an extremely point. I know that this issue concerns us all—and Ofsted. We are committed to reducing teachers’ workload. We conducted the workload challenge and we are following all the recommendations from that. Our larger multi-academy trusts are developing extensive support programmes for their teachers to take a lot of the workload off them so that they can focus on the most important thing: teaching in the classroom.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as I have a granddaughter who is just completing Teach First, a two-year course. Is the Minister aware that not only do the people benefit from doing these courses but the pupils benefit because they have very bright, interested people teaching them in those two years? It is understandable that they should have all opportunities open to them—teaching or anything else—at the end of that time. Does he agree?

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely with my noble friend. Teach First is expanding its programme to all areas of the country. It will have nearly 1,500 new recruits this summer, and it has some very high-quality, well-educated people.

Schools: Volunteer Reading Helpers

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that some years ago, when my children were small, the local libraries used to run a big programme in the school holidays? Schools issued a list of books and the librarians’ encouragement for those children gave them a love of books and literacy. Surely that could be used again in the same way now.

[Lord Nash]

My noble friend makes an extremely good point on the importance of librarians. They can be crucial because they influence the books that are chosen. It is about not just learning to read, but what our children read and improving their knowledge.

Social Mobility

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Holmes on the debate, which is very timely. I am also delighted to have been here for the maiden speech of my noble friend Lady Couttie. I served for 10 years on Westminster City Council and my husband served for 25 years, so I am particularly delighted that she comes from that background.

It was interesting listening to the speeches. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, for example, stressed the need for more development and encouragement in the ages of nought to five. I absolutely agree, because I was chairman of social services. In some of the ethnic groups, their only idea of how to care for their child was to keep them sedated and sit them in a big cardboard box in the kitchen while they did other work. Those children made no progress because they had no stimulus or outside interest; whereas other families were very active in encouraging their children to take interest in things, and they were given incentive and encouragement. That is very important.

My family background is that my grandparents went to Australia and ended up in Parkes because that was the end of the bullock train. You could not go any further. Then, by chance, my father got an education. There was one rich family in this town, which still has only about 10,000 people, who came to my grandfather, who ran a small dairy farm and said, “The education at this college is all paid for, and my boy won’t go, so I would like you to send one of your children”. It was offered to the eldest son, and he said, “No, it’s too late for me. I think the next boy should go”. That was my father.

My family said, “No, we cannot really spare him because we have got to get round and sell the milk”. The eldest boy said, “Well, I will do a double round”. Through that, my father got to that college, and he went from there to Sydney University. It was the first ever graduating year of pharmacy from Sydney University. Later, he was the deputy premier of New South Wales, and apparently the world’s only Minister for Public Health and Motherhood, so he achieved quite a lot. There were nine children in our family, and I think, because of that, he realised how very hard it is, and he brought in child endowment, which here we call child benefit, to help families.

He met my mother at Sydney University. She was very keen on education, and she had had to come from Queensland because there was no university there. She graduated in 1912, and was determined that all her children would get an education. My father did very well financially, but after he died things went terribly wrong, and the last two children did not get a penny. That was probably good for me, because I had to turn around and do something for myself. My father had believed we should all be worthy of our place in society. We should not just be sitting back because someone had made a financial success of things. That proved to be very important.

I think it is very important for all children to have encouragement from their families. They can have that encouragement only if the families know what the opportunities are and have an interest in the child achieving something. It is not a straightforward situation.

I found, in dental practice in Old Street, which was never smart in my day, in the 35 years I was there, the real problem was that so many of the parents or grandparents had very little English. This is where we can see the relevance of the statement that has been made today, that adult education is important, not only child education. People would come in for treatment, and a child would have to accompany them to explain what the problem was and then to translate what the dentist said to the parent or grandparent. Those women were completely cut off from society. I remember that Keith Joseph always said, “You can’t teach your children how to wash clothes unless you know how to wash clothes”. I think this is true. This cycle of deprivation has to be broken if we are going to give people opportunities for social mobility.

I see that the report issued by the Library mentions that the OECD in 2010 said that it is easier to advance in Australia and Canada than it is here. I think that is only because those countries are so much less developed. What concerns me more is a statement that London is pulling way ahead of other parts of the country in terms of opportunities in education. That should not be. It is very important that all the other big cities do everything they can to help their people.

Things need to be done to encourage people, particularly the young. Opportunities, encouragement, and a feeling that one can achieve something are important. Two things that I speak on pretty regularly I will comment on briefly. One is housing. Social mobility is pretty closely linked to having somewhere decent to live, where you can make a success of life. Therefore, there should be more social housing and more housing to rent and we should make sure that these holiday people do not take over valuable accommodation.

Another thing is nursing. I think we went too far—I think it was the Blair Government that did it—in saying that you had to have a university degree to become a nurse. Some of the very best nurses I know could never have got five As to get in. They were in a different category of nurse, and they were very good indeed. We should bring back that second tier in nursing which still exists in Canada and Australia. They brought in the A-levels and the superb university degrees, but they maintained that middle level as well. That is such an opportunity and a way for people to get social mobility, to enter a profession of that type and feel proud to be a member of it.

Schools: Faith Schools

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I assure the noble Baroness that there will be no bribery—I believe it is a criminal offence. Ongoing funding for all schools is done on an equal basis. When some schools are started, there are some diseconomies, and some very small schools get extra money. I point the noble Baroness to the latest figures based on 2014 key stage 2: at Church of England schools, 82% of pupils achieved the required level 4, compared to 79% of pupils at local authority maintained schools.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, I was not clear on the answer given to the right reverend Prelate. I thought that part of his question referred to the property position and whether the church owning the land would be forced to part with it or have it compulsorily purchased. It seems a bit equivalent to a housing association, where the property was also often given by someone a long time ago. Can the Minister clarify the property position for me? If he does not know it offhand, which I would not necessarily expect, it could come through in an answer. I would like clarification about the property aspect raised in this Question.

Schools: Emergency Life Support Skills

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I am not aware of any impact assessments. If I hear of any I will send them to the noble Baroness. The view of the Government is that, as with PSHE, rather than have prescriptive detail—in words on a piece of paper—of what should be taught, it is much better to encourage schools to engage with expert organisations, such as the ones to which the noble Baroness referred. They are the professionals: they are focused on a particular area and can constantly update their material.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that it requires remarkable strength to resuscitate someone simply by pushing on their chest or whatever? As a trained dentist, I went on an adult course and I was amazed by how hard you had to press on someone’s chest to revive them, although we did not have a real person to try it on. The Minister should realise that learning this as a child at school would be much more valuable than learning it at a later stage of life. For that reason, we should all support the view of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay.

[Lord Nash]

I know the experience of my noble friend in this area and I do not think I can add to the answers that I have already given.

Children and Families Bill

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2013 Grand Committee

To sum up, there is a strong case for this amendment. In particular, it would create parity across the education, health and care elements of an EHC plan. It would increase accountability for delivering services in the social care system. It would create clarity for children, young people and their families about their entitlement to social care services, and it would do all this without placing any major new duties on local authorities. I hope that the Minister will be able to address these points in his reply. I am keen to ascertain, first, whether the Government still accept the rationale for making social care an enforceable part of education, health and care plans; secondly, whether the Government accept the rationale for EHC plans, including the social care services which a child or young person is entitled to receive under social care legislation; and, thirdly, whether the Government accept that there is already a duty to deliver social care services under the 1970 Act and that a duty to deliver those services is set out in an EHC plan is not a radical departure from existing social care law. I beg to move.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)]

My Lords, I support the noble Lord, Lord Low, on this amendment. I have not taken part in this Bill so far because I do not consider myself to be an expert on education and know little about it, but my concern is that, with the timing of the Care Bill being taken in the main Chamber along with this Bill in here, the whole thing might fall between two stools. In responding to the last amendment, my noble friend Lord Attlee said that there might be some duplication. I should say that I would rather see duplication than a hole. It is terribly important that this is taken into consideration. Even for those most in need of special educational support, there seems to come a time when education comes to an end. However, care needs continue in terms of the social behaviour of the person as much as anything else, and that can be quite a worry if someone falls into bad company. It is important that their social condition as much as their mental and physical condition is watched.

The noble Lord, Lord Low, has made the extremely valuable point that this goes right across these different services. For years, I have been involved in health issues, and there is always an argument about whether health or social care should deal with certain problems. Every time, each sector wants to push them on to the other one. If this provision reached over all of the services, as the noble Lord proposes, it would do away with trying to work out how the other fellow should pay for something rather than you. It would be very valuable if we could simplify this area and I therefore support the amendment.

[Baroness Hollins (CB)]

My Lords, I speak in support of this group of amendments. They aim to achieve equal standing for social care provision in the new education, health and care plans, and they have been ably introduced by my noble friend Lord Low. I pass on the apologies of my noble friend Lord Rix, who had hoped to be able to support these amendments.

Statements of special educational needs specify the special education provision that must be provided by the local authority. The Government have now recognised that health should also be an enforceable part of the new EHC plans, and the Bill has been amended accordingly. But if education, health and care plans are to live up to their name, we need to decide how to put the final piece of this jigsaw in place, which is the duty to provide the social care services that are set out in the plans. This is critical to children and young people with learning disabilities, a significant number of whom need care to help them to achieve their educational and personal aspirations. Let us imagine the position of a parent. They receive an education, health and care plan for their child which sets out all the education, health and social care provision that their child needs. Their child has a legal right to receive the education and health components of the plan, and the parent can hold those agencies to account if the services are not delivered.

However, the social care element seems not to be as enforceable. If the social care services identified in the plan are not delivered, there is nothing that they can do about it. We know that there can be problems with the way in which social care is currently delivered. Ofsted’s thematic inspection of social care for disabled children in 2012 found that social care was not always well co-ordinated and that many social care plans were not detailed enough or focused on outcomes. In a small number of cases, children had no plans or reviews were not held. Surely, those are precisely the types of problems that EHC plans are meant to solve.

We know that similar amendments were tabled in the House of Commons. The Minister in the other place said that he saw the rationale for placing the same duty on the provision of social care as for health and education. Therefore, what is the Government’s objection to these amendments? In many ways, they have already done the hard bit. Placing a specific duty on health to deliver the services set out in EHC plans is a major step forward and should be commended. That is why it is hard to understand a reluctance to consider the duty to deliver the social care part of an EHC plan.

As my noble friend Lord Low has helpfully set out, there are existing duties to deliver social care. This seems to be a matter of aligning existing legislation rather than creating a whole new set of duties. Parents’ expectations have been raised. This Bill will create education, health and care plans, and people will expect the plans to be delivered. At the moment, we are only two-thirds of the way there. I urge the Minister to consider taking the final step to create the truly joined-up plans that everyone is hoping for.

Schools: PSHE

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness is quite right that we need to up our game in this regard, particularly in relation to internet pornography. As noble Lords will know, quite a lot is going on in relation to the internet at the moment. SRE in particular is a vital part of training, and we hope that the Ofsted examples will improve that. The draft science curriculum includes clear requirements for pupils to be taught about their bodies, physical development and reproduction.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Can the Minister tell me why there is no interest at all now in education on dental prevention in schools? Although children still have tests for eyesight, hearing and so on, the dental examination has been discontinued. Can he ensure that teachers will interest children in prevention? Hearing that Manchester has not only one of worst mortality rates but the worst dental health makes you think that it is rather important.

[Lord Nash]

My noble friend raises a very good point. All schools should focus on their pupils’ diet and health, including home health, because we know that so many pupils suffer from poor parenting. I will write to her more specifically about what we are doing in this regard.

Children and Young People

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

The Government have strongly encouraged local authorities to have a senior educational officer known as a virtual school head to track closely the progress of every child in care and ensure they receive the support they need. Children in care are entitled to free early education for two year-olds, the pupil premium while at school and the new 16-to-19 further education bursary. Every child in care has to have a personal education plan setting out how they will be supported to fulfil their potential. Every school, including academies and free schools, has a legal duty to have a designated looked-after child teacher, and children in care get top priority in school admissions.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, I asked a Question many years ago about adoption, and it has been asked again many times since. The age at which children are adopted is still far too high. Could we not avoid having so many children in care by applying more widely the concurrent adoption system, whereby a parent hoping to adopt can have the child to foster at a very early stage, even before the age of one year? All the world recognises that bonding works far better if a child comes to a family as early as possible. Would that not save us having ever so many unattractively aged children who people do not seem to want to adopt, sadly?

[Lord Nash]

I share my noble friend’s concerns on this. There is no doubt that the average time taken for a child to be adopted—two years and seven months, and a further year for a black child—is far too long. It is also true to say that would-be adopters in the system have not been well treated, when they should be welcomed with open arms. We are determined to reduce the time taken for adoption, and have introduced adoption scorecards to compare the performance of different local authorities, which varies widely. We have also published draft laws to stop ethnicity being a barrier to adoption. We are addressing the adoption recruitment problem by streamlining the adoption approval process, and we have published draft laws that promote the idea of fostering for adoption much earlier.

Education: Special Educational Needs

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Monday 25th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

Is the Minister aware that people training to be dental chairside assistants are allowed to sit the relevant exam only three times? I met one such person recently who has failed the written exam twice and has now discovered that she is dyslexic. She says that to get special assistance she will have to produce many hundreds of pounds, and that if she does not get that assistance and does not pass the exam the next time she will not be allowed to continue in employment although the dentist who employs her is completely satisfied with everything that she has done. She has passed all the other sections of the exam except the written part. What help is available to people like her?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I afraid that I am not aware of that case, but perhaps I could have a word with my noble friend afterwards and look into that on her behalf.