Inclusive Society

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Wednesday 14th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady Lister on her brilliant introduction to this important debate.

This pandemic has revealed some unpalatable truths about the way we have been living. The first one we spotted was the positive impact on the environment of the first lockdown. Others took longer to surface. Michael Marmot drew a comparison with Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in 2017. The storm killed 64 people, but the longer-term impact on the infrastructure led to thousands of deaths. After two months, mortality had risen sharply for the poorest people, somewhat for those on middle incomes, and least for the highest group. A huge external shock had thrust the underlying inequalities in society into sharp relief.

That is what the pandemic has done to us. Covid did not strike equally. It disproportionately hit disabled people and many minority ethnic communities. It hit those living in poorer areas or in overcrowded housing. It hit those whose jobs or finances meant they could not stay home in relative safety. The aftermath will not be spread evenly either. Examples of inequality abound, but I will highlight just two. The first is employment. The Resolution Foundation report mentioned earlier by my noble friend Lady Royall showed that 16 to 24 year-olds account for nearly two-thirds of the fall in payrolled employment. Within that group, there was further inequality. Before Covid, 25% of economically active black young people were unemployed, versus 10% of their white counterparts. By the end of 2020, that had opened up, with 34% of black young people unemployed and 13% of white.

The second example is debt. A report from the Joint Public Issues Team, representing a group of churches, estimates that some six million people in the UK have been swept into debt as a result of Covid. Low-income families with children seem to have been especially badly hit, seeing their wages falling fastest while the cost of living increased. So they were pushed further into debt, while higher-income families could pay off debts and save more. Has the Minister read that team’s report, Reset the Debt, and its proposal for a jubilee fund to help address pandemic debt? If so, what does he think of it?

Like Hurricane Maria, the pandemic hit unevenly because of pre-existing inequalities. People tended to do better if they were already privileged—if they had chosen their parents with care, if they lived in the right area, and if they had a secure job they could do from a safe and comfortable home. For all the levelling-up rhetoric, unless we change course, we are heading back to the old normal but worse: to a world where poor countries suffer the worst effects of the climate damage they did not create; to a Britain where a man living in Warfield Harvest Ride in Berkshire can expect to live to 90 while one in Bloomfield in Blackpool is likely to die at 68, where poverty is rife and where racism is—yes—still widespread. While we are here, when I hear past wrongs, from discrimination to slavery, defended on the grounds that in those days we did not know any better, it brings to mind a quote I saw recently from the writer Teju Cole, who asked: “We who?”

We all agree that a good country is one which enables its citizens to flourish. We should have learned by now that a good society is one which recognises that the flourishing of each depends upon the flourishing of all, and that a society structured to enable some people to flourish at the expense of others is ultimately bad for everybody. It is not surprising that the poor do better in more equal societies; what is more interesting is that the rich do too, according to the evidence, as does society as a whole.

Surely the time has come for us explicitly to recognise our interdependence and pursue the common good, to tackle inequality and to invest in the infrastructure of our shared life—our communities and public services—and in a revitalised welfare state fulfilling its original ambition to be a companion service to the NHS, which pools risk across the population and across our lifetimes. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

The noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Razzall.

[Lord Razzall (LD)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, rightly wants to build an inclusive society in the post-pandemic world. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute defines the inclusive society as

“empowering and promoting the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, economic, or other status.”

Noble Lords will know that this reads very like the preamble to the Liberal Democrat constitution, and it touches on the principle of community politics so dear to many of us. Noble Lords have concentrated on different aspects of inclusion—or our current lack of it—from housing to poverty to children’s problems, to name a few. I have three suggestions which will change our lives, increasing inclusiveness, if the Government have the courage to implement them.

First, as the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, said, and the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, implied, we should take power away from Whitehall and transfer it to our communities. When I was first elected to Richmond Council in 1974, 75% of revenue was raised locally and only 25% came from central government. This is now reversed, with inevitable Treasury control over spending and much central funding to local government being ring-fenced. Do we really believe that this trend has meant better government and more inclusivity?

Secondly, if we want to provide proper inclusiveness for the elderly, who, after all, ought to benefit from what we want to achieve, surely we must now have a solution to social care. The Dilnot report was over 10 years ago. The coalition Government legislated before 2015, but those proposals were scrapped when the Tories had an overall majority. Boris Johnson said he had a plan for social care in 2019. Where is it?

Thirdly, nobody has touched on the problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises in our economy, which are so much the lifeblood of our communities. Destroy SMEs and you destroy the inclusiveness of many of our communities, and Brexit is doing that. The Government say that there will be short-term teething problems in the trade that so many SMEs are trying to do with the European Union. Tell that to the SME selling second-hand combine harvesters, which has to pay inspectors to produce complex certificates for the machines, causing significant costs and delay. Tell that to the SME bike manufacturer struggling to cope with different VAT regimes across 27 countries. Tell that to the Scotch whisky producers; labelling requirements often require small companies to set up a distribution company in Europe, significantly reducing profit. Tell that to the Nottingham company making synthetic hairpieces for cancer patients whose essential just-in-time supply chain in Germany has now collapsed.

These examples are not indicative of teething problems; they are examples of real damage that Brexit has done to many small and medium-sized enterprises without any apparent economic advantage, and of the serious damage done to the inclusiveness of our society in so many of our communities.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

The noble Lord, Lord Desai, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Pendry.

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[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for giving us this opportunity to reflect on the past year and to offer advice for a more inclusive and resilient society.

The Covid-19 crisis has tested us all, but for some disabled people each day was a battle for survival as the common daily barriers of general inaccessibility, poverty, lack of public transport and lack of public support services became magnified. Isolating was not an option for those needing human support, either at home or in residential care. Many lived in fear that, if they caught the virus, they would be denied life-saving treatment.

Knowing that 60% of Covid-related deaths were among disabled people, we must now address the deep health inequalities exposed during the pandemic. Disabled people demonstrated huge resilience and a determination to thrive, so now is the time to draw on their lived experience and knowledge to advance towards a more inclusive society. For example, many disabled people found being able to work from home absolutely liberating. Free from inaccessible transport and inflexible hours, their productivity increased. Working from home, so long regarded as impossible, became the norm for many of us. Embracing the virtual workplace as a mainstream, inclusive option has now been proven to work and should remain in future.

As my noble friend Lord Best said, safe homes with adequate space and good design were lockdown lifesavers during the pandemic. However, this was not the experience of many, especially the disabled and older people. One of the unhappy legacies of the pandemic has been debilitating long Covid, creating significant numbers of newly disabled people. Some have been sent home to find that their living conditions no longer meet their needs. A recent survey by Habinteg revealed that disabled people were three times more likely to have their well-being compromised during lockdown because they lived in unsuitable houses or homes. To achieve an inclusive society in a post-pandemic world, inclusive design must be at its heart. Can the Minister say when the Government will publish the outcome of last year’s accessible homes consultation? Can he assure us that all new housing will be adaptable to people’s changing needs?

This week, many pubs, restaurants and cafés are reopening, making use of pavements as outdoor spaces for al fresco eating. I welcome this, but businesses and councils must consider the safe inclusion of all disabled people. Blocked walkways and narrower pavements come at a cost for disabled people, representing no-go zones for some, especially blind people. That is why I am pleased that the Centre for Accessible Environments is now offering training to local authorities in London to ensure that, as we reopen public spaces, we do so with disability access in mind. The “new normal” must not sacrifice access for all in favour of a much-needed return to business.

Finally, can the Minister assure us that the Government’s new disability strategy will include a road map out of the social exclusions that have been magnified for disabled people throughout the pandemic? Lessons learned are crucial to its success.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

The next speaker, the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton.

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[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, like other noble Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend Lady Lister for this debate and for the strong speech that she gave at the beginning to get us going. I have torn up much of my speech because most of my points have been covered, but I particularly want to thank the British Academy for the work that it has been doing. My noble friend Lord McKenzie covered quite fully many of the points that it has made.

My one remaining point is worth repeating. The British Academy identifies a range of changes that we will need: a new, sharper array of public interventions than we have had in the past. It is making an important point. It also makes it in terms of internationalism, the national operation of the Government, local activities and local communities. This has been an enormous shock for us and it is good that we have people setting out how we might address it over coming decades, but I am one of those who believe that this is—I have said this before—a rehearsal for more difficult times ahead, which will come with climate change unless we are prepared to start addressing and changing the way we run our economy. If we try to grow in the way that we have done in the past instead of moving in a new direction, we will be hit much harder with climate change right across the board than we have experienced previously. This is an opportunity for us and we should be looking for ways in which we can address issues in quite different ways from the past.

I digress from the main topic to reflect, in the week when we have all been paying tribute to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, that the biggest change that took place during his lifetime was not the Second World War or other wars, or AIDS or other pandemics on a smaller scale, but the fact that the world’s population has grown from 1.8 billion when he was born in 1921 to 7.4 billion in 2021, and is projected, unless we do something about it, to rise to 10 billion. That will create enormous troubles in so many other areas, enormous inequalities and enormous numbers of deaths unless we start paying more attention to it than we have done so far.

I have been trying to engage the Government on this. There is no point me asking the Minister to respond to my questions because I am sure he will not. I have had so many written responses that have said nothing. Why is this—the world population growth and how we should start to address it—not on the agenda of COP 26 in November? Why do the Government find it so difficult to talk about this subject? Why do we find it so difficult to engage with the faiths—and I am a man of faith—about the fact that there are very big responsibilities held by the different churches to do with how our numbers continue to grow in a way that is damaging God’s planet in a way that none of us wants? I take a different angle from that taken by others so far, but this is all part of the same piece. What we need is an inclusive and joint approach to finding solutions that will benefit all in society and not just the rich, as we have seen in recent years.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

The next speaker, the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick.

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[Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for this debate. As we emerge slowly from a global pandemic, it is very timely, as all noble Lords have said. Domestically and globally, lives have changed. Many people have suffered the loss of loved ones, livelihoods and opportunities. Society has shown a capacity to respond in unexpected ways, but we must learn from that. The world is more interconnected than ever; we cannot defeat a global pandemic by national measures alone. But surely now is the time for measures to make society more inclusive at home and abroad. That is why, for me, the savage cut in the UK aid budget is such an unconscionably bad decision. The UK signed up to the SDGs with their clear aim to eradicate absolute poverty and “leave no one behind”. Yet, knowingly and deliberately, the UK Government are pursuing a policy that will leave millions behind. The Government know perfectly well that the 0.7% contained its own economic corrective. The downturn in the economy reduced the measure of 0.7% and prompted cuts of almost £3 billion. So reducing the proportion from 0.7% to 0.5% is leading to a slash-and-burn retrenchment, with deeply damaging consequences at home and abroad.

At a time when the world needs vaccines and the poor need support to survive and rebuild, we should be increasing aid, not cutting it. The development and distribution of vaccines is an international effort, in which the UK has played a leading, but not isolated, role. It is welcome that the UK supports COVAX and will offer surplus vaccines to poorer nations, but that headline obscures the fact that many aid programmes are being cut or cancelled. The Government face challenges in the Commons, which is why they are avoiding a vote, and may face a judicial review of the aid decision. So it is no wonder that it is reported that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are at odds over when and how to reverse the cuts. Announcing at the G7 that 0.7% would be restored next year would set a good example and perhaps avoid the most damaging cuts to research and ongoing programmes.

At home, Covid-19 has, of course, caused disruption and setbacks not witnessed in our lifetimes, but these have fallen unevenly. Those who can work from home can do so only because many of their fellow citizens provide essential services at a risk to themselves, not always with a fair reward. Health and social care workers in the front line have carried a heavy burden and it is reported that many will leave the profession, which we will have to rebuild in a fairer and more balanced way. While millions have benefited from furlough, millions have also been left out and struggled. All this has taken a toll on the nation’s mental health, which was already in crisis before the pandemic began.

What furlough and other measures have shown is that, when they choose, Governments can find the funds for survival. That is why I believe the time is right to roll out universal basic income. Universal credit has proved itself to be cumbersome, bureaucratic and unfair. We still need a benefit system for certain short and long-term purposes, but providing a universal basic income, even at a modest level, would give everyone a minimum below which they could not fall. It would not by itself eliminate poverty, but it would prevent destitution and provide some peace of mind. I do not accept the argument that it would deter people from working. It would not be enough for that for a long time, and people know that aspirations require prudence and work, something explicitly acknowledged by Beveridge. To be universal, everybody should get it but, just like child benefit, UBI could be taxable.

As we face the digital age, artificial intelligence, robotics and the challenges of climate change, millions could be left behind. With vision, aspiration and a spirit of altruism, we could lay the foundations for a more inclusive society.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

The noble Baroness, Lady Goudie, has withdrawn, so I call the next speaker, the noble Baroness, Lady Healy of Primrose Hill.

[Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Lister for securing this debate and for her powerful introduction on how to build an inclusive society in the post-pandemic world. I want to take the opportunity to highlight a timely book, to be published on Friday: The Dignity of Labour, by Jon Cruddas MP. I must declare an interest: he is my husband.

The pandemic has taught us hard lessons: we all need each other, and rights and freedoms cannot exist without a shared state of being that involves obligations on how we live together. Without a concerted effort by government, too many will face job losses, food poverty, insecurity in housing, permanent disadvantages in education and income for the young, especially among young and ethnic minorities, and a bleak future for the vulnerable in the post-pandemic world.

The pandemic has also taught us that all types of jobs should be respected equally, as we witness the dignity portrayed by carers, health workers, bus drivers, refuse collectors, supermarket staff and all those young gig workers delivering food. But what about those worker’s rights, their future and their dignity at work? Why, in this age, do vulnerable workers have to go to court to try to get basic rights to sick pay, holiday pay and safe working conditions, as those Deliveroo couriers recently had to? The Government have a moral duty to protect their citizens, including in their employment.

Last week, US President Biden announced a jobs plan that includes massive federal investment in transport, housing, the environment and social care, paid for in part by reversing Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for companies and the wealthy. Some 18 million jobs created over the next four years would be, Biden promised,

“jobs that you can raise a family on”

and which

“ensure free and fair choice to organize and bargain collectively.-

Jon Cruddas argues powerfully that we must recognise the centrality of work in the politics of the common good. Now, as we plan for the post-pandemic, we should make the world of dignified work the backbone of an ethical appeal for a national fair deal, crossing economic class and geographical divides. National and local government need to ensure that standards are met.

The Dignity of Labour proposes a democratic transformation of the lives of those doing low-paid, insecure but vital jobs. A new “good work covenant” would start from the assumption that all labour, not just knowledge work, should be both fulfilling and a source of self-esteem. New national colleges for skilled work could turn social care, for example, into the respected and well-rewarded vocation that it should be. Among other proposals is a special covenant for key workers, encompassing new entitlements to housing, travel and public services. To protect rights, a new statutory single definition of “worker”, decoupled from contractual status, should be instigated. This would align the rights of all employees and other categories of worker with day-one protections, including sick and holiday pay and post-pandemic full PPE and the ability not to work in unsafe environments—the right to stop the job.

Jon Cruddas argues for a new pandemic reconstruction force for jobs and growth in every region, which could oversee a new, one-year jobs guarantee with accredited training, living wage or the union-negotiated rate. This would be funded by national government but delivered at regional and local levels by councils, unions, business and Jobcentre Plus. Special emphasis would be placed on community-action programmes, especially ecological regeneration. This book sets out a practical way forward to build an inclusive society in the post-pandemic world.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, has been temporarily disconnected, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Hendy.

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[Lord Bhatia (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, as the Monitor states:

“We live in unprecedented times. The global community has been broadsided by a pandemic that has upended our lives socially, physically, psychologically, and financially … The impacts of COVID-19 are so profound that even re-emergence … won’t look like 9/11. It won’t look like the 2008-09 global economic collapse. This time it’s different, because it’s intertwined with a global public health threat that … re-centres the public good. The old paradigm that prioritized economic growth above population and community wellbeing has become a massive casualty of the pandemic. COVID-19 exposed an already fragile ecosystem COVID-19 has exposed what many of us already knew: public health is the key driver of everything, from community wellbeing to a thriving economy. If ever there was a time to embrace a Health-in-All-Policies approach to government decision-making, it is now. COVID-19 has exposed the short-sightedness of austerity budgeting, where governments prioritized tax cuts over needed investments in public services—in health and mental health, education, child care, social supports, affordable housing, public transit, long-term care, and more.”


This is not the time for political parties’ views. Maybe the time has come for a national unity Government, as in 1945, when both political parties came together and agreed to deal with the crisis.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Watkins of Tavistock) (CB)]

I call the previous speaker, who has now reconnected: the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer. Lady Miller? No. We will move to the next speaker, the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker.