Student Loans

Baroness Wall of New Barnet Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lucas (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Wall of New Barnet (Lab)]

My Lords—

[The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)]

My Lords, we have not yet heard from the Conservative Benches.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I am sure that the Government are considering the conclusions of that report. I am happy to follow up on that with the noble Lord.

[Baroness Wall of New Barnet]

My Lords, it is music to my ears and, I am sure, to those of the noble Baroness, Lady Garden of Frognal, who has obviously been very involved in apprenticeships, to hear the Minister say how important they are. How does the Minister feel about the progress that is not being made in attracting women to take some of the STEM subjects apprenticeships? Many of us have been working hard to achieve that.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I entirely agree with the noble Baroness that it is critical that women have access to these jobs and, in fact, to whatever career they so desire. Another obviously important thing is making sure that our schools are providing high-quality education for all students of all backgrounds, male and female, so that they have every opportunity they can in life to do what they so desire.