King’s Speech

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Friday 19th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Baker, who enabled the development of the University of Plymouth’s technical school when I was deputy vice-chancellor there. I also want to acknowledge the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, who has been so supportive to me since my appointment here. She will further reduce the representation of the far south-west by her move, but I wish her well.

It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate and to congratulate the newly appointed Government Ministers, who, I am aware, are committed to reducing child poverty, enhancing educational opportunity for young people and making access to healthcare, including dentistry, more timely as quickly as possible for our population. I draw attention to my interests in the register, particularly as a non-executive director of NHS England.

It is intended to ensure that free breakfast clubs are set up in primary schools, so that every child can start the day ready to learn. Could the Government consider providing breakfasts for an accompanying adult at least once a week as part of this initiative? This would enable interactions between those caring for children at home with each other at school and model the benefits of a good breakfast, which many disadvantaged adults often do without. Parents would meet each other and form networks that could be advantageous for local communities. It would also enable regular contact with school staff, including mental health specialists. I would be pleased to explore this concept further, as a form of early years support for families, consistent with the agenda of cross-government action to enhance young families’ lives through investment in prevention and early intervention in the NHS.

I particularly welcome reform of the Mental Health Act, which is long overdue. The reform should result in a reduction in the inequalities in the current disproportionate use of detention which first emerge in childhood. An article in the Independent recently reported estimates that black and mixed-race children account for 36% of young people detained in acute mental health services, despite making up only 11% of the population. The Bill needs to prioritise fast access to community-based services as a right. This will involve significant investment in training staff to work in emergency situations to keep patients and service users safe, while maintaining their rights to independent advocates to assist in negotiating appropriate person-based treatment plans. Can the Minister confirm that it is the Government’s intention to ensure workforce planning in this domain as a matter of urgency, so that once the revised Act come into force there is no delay in implementation due to a lack of well-prepared community-based mental health workers?

I cannot overemphasise the need to ensure safe staffing in health and social care if the ambition to reduce NHS waiting lists and assist many people back into paid employment is to be achieved. The RCN reminds us in its excellent briefing that Ministers should have due regard to

“having enough staff to meet the health needs of the population”

and that numbers should be

“based on transparent assessments which address inequalities”

UCAS reports that applications to study nursing at university have fallen by 27% since 2021. We are also increasingly reliant on agency and bank nursing. A redirection of funds from, for example, agency nursing to uplift training bursaries and increase apprenticeship opportunities, and loan forgiveness for university fees following periods of NHS-funded care service work would assist significantly in retention and recruitment.

Central to the health of the nation is adequate housing for all, as recognised in the King’s Speech. It is impossible to study when living in a hotel room, perhaps with two younger siblings. It is also difficult to prepare adequate nutritious food in such circumstances. Can the Minister explain whether priority will continue to be given to families living in temporary accommodation as new homes are built for social rent? If so, what timetable are the Government setting for ensuring that no child in Britain today is uprooted in the middle of the school term and moved from one hotel or hostel to another, due to councils having such a dearth of available homes to place such families in?

There is much in the King’s Speech that is so positive about health and social care. However, time is of the essence. I urge that while there must be a focus on reducing waiting lists for NHS care, an equal regard should be given to promoting the nation’s health and preventing avoidable illness. For this reason, I end my contribution by congratulating the Government on their willingness to take forward public health interventions relating to smoking, vaping, junk food and energy drinks. The legislation proposed will result in a healthier population and an associated reduction in NHS costs in treating preventable disease. It will be a pleasure to contribute when the new legislation comes to the House.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education Settings

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Monday 4th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for her question. The short answer is yes. We have had a dedicated team in the department following up and calling, in some cases several times, all the responsible bodies concerned. I wrote to all of them today, stressing the importance of returning the questionnaire by the end of this week.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

I thank the Minister for the briefing earlier today, for the Statement and for the Government’s swift action, despite the fact that this is a very difficult time to be challenged in this way. Can the Minister confirm that most students who would receive free school meals are either being provided with an equivalent meal if being taught on alternative premises or that relevant financial allowances are being made to their parents to provide appropriate nutritious meals during their absence from school? Secondly, will she ensure that, if alternative provision in terms of buildings is necessary, adequate child protection assessments will be made before children are sent to other premises?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

In relation to the noble Baroness’s question about free school meals, children who are eligible for free school meals will continue to receive free school meals in the setting that they attend, if it is not their normal school, and my understanding is that they will get a voucher or equivalent in the event that they have any days at home. The noble Baroness raised the issue of making sure that there is an adequate safeguarding assessment of any alternative sites. Our experience from the first 52 schools where this has happened is that, in the vast majority of cases, alternative sites have been other schools, which obviously makes that much more straightforward. However, the noble Baroness raises a good point in relation to that, and obviously we are particularly concerned about vulnerable children and children with special educational needs.

Safeguarding of Young Children

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Tuesday 24th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Obviously I cannot comment on what will be in the review on Thursday, but in the care review led by Josh MacAlister there is a particular focus on independent domestic violence services.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, can the Minister comment on the shortage of health visitors in many parts of the country and the reduction in investment in them? In the past, they have been absolutely key in identifying at-risk families early and preventing long-term abuse.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Baroness is right: health visitors play an incredibly important role in identifying families that need support and children at risk. I know that my colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care are looking at this as part of the wider workforce strategy.

Schools Bill [HL]

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

2nd reading & Lords Hansard - Part one
Monday 23rd May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to speak in this Second Reading and draw attention to my interests in the register. I was the founding chair of Marine Academy Plymouth, now a successful member of the Ted Wragg multi-academy trust. In addition, I have a long-term interest as previous chair of the Acorn schools in Cornwall, working with students with special needs, and I now sit on the quality committee for Outcomes First, a company which owns several schools supporting children with a range of special needs. In addition, I have a family member involved in secondary school teaching.

I welcome the Schools Bill, particularly the emphasis on enhancing a sound approach to monitoring all children through their school attendance and following up those whose attendance is sporadic, which has a negative impact on their potential to learn and lifelong chances. The pandemic has shown us that we must follow up these children quickly and not leave it till the end of term.

The encouragement for all schools to become academies is, in principle, something I fully support. However, a similar approach was adopted to promote that all NHS trusts become foundation trusts, and is one which we now question following the recent pandemic, looking to other forms of partnership to provide best solutions. Do the Government intend to force all schools to either become or join an established academy trust, even if governors and parents support remaining within the local authority through other kinds of partnership schemes?

The emphasis in the Bill on ensuring equal opportunities for all children through a national formula for funding pupil places is clearly fair. However, in severely deprived areas, is there not an argument for considering not only pupil premium allocation but significant additional investment in new and improved school buildings, IT and sports facilities? I remember when the Conservative Government were elected and the schools building programme which had been instigated under the previous Government was in question. That meant that the money for which we had fought for Plymouth was at risk. I have to say that I came with the then principal and saw the then Education Minister, the right honourable Michael Gove, and the funding came forward in Plymouth to build the new school extension that we had already anticipated. If you go and look at that school, which is now an all-through school, taking children at three through to 18, you will see that it is an example of where new buildings made a significant difference.

Grammar schools are, quite understandably, to be protected. Will these selective schools get the same pupil allocation as other academies, despite the fact that they take fewer students from poorer wards?

As the noble Lord, Lord Altrincham, has well articulated, there needs to be a greater emphasis in the Bill on the mental and physical health support provided to students and teachers in school. Too often teachers are undertaking health roles.

I understand that all schools will be required to provide school lunches and will receive funding for those entitled to free school meals. That seems to focus on lunch. Is there not an argument for providing school breakfasts as well? Will this be the subject of local authority funding rather than central funding?

Please could the Minister explain whether there will be an increased emphasis on reducing the number of children referred to pupil referral units? Should we perhaps say that all academies over a certain student-roll size—for example, 3,000—be required to make provision within the academies themselves for pupil referral units? This is a really important issue, and one that I hope we will explore as we take the Bill through the House.

I welcome the tightening of managing teacher misconduct, but I ask the Minister to clarify the definition of “teacher”. Is it someone with a nationally recognised qualification and/or a graduate who is contributing to teaching?

I note that there is an expectation that all academies should offer teachers the opportunity to access the teacher pension scheme, but what about other terms of service protection for teachers who move from one academy to another? For example, I am aware that some academies employing teachers count their first day of work in the new academy as day one, despite them having over five years’ teaching experience, for rights to sickness benefits outside those of statutory requirements.

I look forward to working constructively on the Bill in its passage through the House because I firmly believe that it is necessary to improve and enhance the education that pupils receive in future.

Child Safeguarding

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Monday 6th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

My Lords, on my noble friend’s last point, I know that he is aware, and extremely supportive, of moves that this Government are making to focus more on early intervention and on the first thousand days of a child’s life. In terms of whether the review will look specifically at family breakdown, I am not aware of that although clearly that appears relevant in this case. If it is different to that, I will let my noble friend know.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, can the Minister let us know whether the review will look specifically at the effect of closing schools on this case? Many of us fear that although Arthur sadly lost his life, many other children have probably been abused because they have not been going to school and the schools have not been involved in monitoring and feeding back.

Multi-academy Trusts

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Wednesday 10th July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

I am afraid it does not, my Lords, because the Harris trust is delivering the most extraordinary level of education improvement in the country. If you take the cost of that senior management team and divide it by the number of pupils in that trust, you will see that it is extraordinarily good value.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I declare my previous interests as chair of two academies, but I am very concerned that we are not monitoring the length of stay of chairs in certain academies. It becomes very difficult for them to manage some of the resources in relation to very competent and articulate principals. Is the Minister reviewing how long some governors have been in post?

Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

To reiterate, the right to withdraw is in the parent’s gift until the three terms before the child is 16. It is extremely difficult to predict what an exceptional circumstance would be, but paragraph 41 shows how clearly it is entrenched in this guidance:

“Parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE. Before granting any such request it would be good practice for the head teacher to discuss the request with the parent and, as appropriate, with the child to ensure that their wishes are understood and to clarify the nature and purpose of the curriculum”.


Schools will want to document this process to ensure that a record is kept.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I warmly welcome this new legislation, particularly in relation to mental health. However, I am very concerned that independent schools will not have to conform. People who go to independent schools are just as likely to suffer from mental health problems as those in state-funded schools. We should review this situation, because the demands are far more likely to fall on the NHS than on the private sector, if we have a group of people in independent schools who have not had what we are declaring is sound health promotion. I ask the Minister to consider this issue seriously.

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

Let me clarify the definition of an independent school: while academies are defined as independent schools, they fall within these regulations, so I can reassure the noble Baroness on that point. We are still in the stages of finalising the independent school guidance, and will address the issues raised.

Academies: Gender Pay Gap

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, perhaps I should address the Inspiration Trust first, as I was indeed its founder. The chief executive took on 14 schools, seven of which were in special measures when we took them on. All are now out of special measures. Thousands of children are getting a better education than they were five years ago, and that is the essence of what autonomy of pay is all about. Where we have excess pay and there is poor performance, as I said to the noble Lord, Lord Storey, I am bearing down on that. No one is more messianic about the misallocation of taxpayers’ money, but we need to strike a balance between autonomy, where good teachers and good leaders are given the chance to develop and improve schools, and those who are not good are held to account.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, how does the Minister think that some of the questions that we have heard so far address the gender pay gap? I believe that the gender pay gap in academy schools—I declare my interest, having been a chair of two and currently a trustee of one—is associated with the subjects that each gender teaches; in other words, people who teach physics are traditionally paid significantly more than those who teach arts. That shows that we undervalue some subjects in these schools.

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, unfortunately there is a market in different skills and professions. We know that we have a shortage of good physics teachers, and in order to bring physics teachers into the profession we need to offer additional incentives. However, looking more broadly across the gender pay gap, academies do not look as bad as people might suggest. For example, while in the top quartile men occupy 23% of the total workforce but have 32% of the jobs, the situation in the middle quartile is almost even, with men occupying 23% of the workforce and only 25% of them having upper-middle jobs. Therefore, I think that we are seeing great progress on this. It is also worth pointing out more generally that in 1997 the gender pay gap stood at 17.4%. Today, it has been reduced to 9.1%. I do not suggest that that is enough but it shows that we are making progress across our economy.

Schools Update

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Monday 17th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

Well, the whole purpose of the funding formula, which is for England only, is to treat everybody much more fairly. As for comparisons with Wales and Scotland, I hope that parents will make them, because they will be able to see that what has been happening in the Welsh education system is no lesson for the future and that what has recently been happening in the Scottish education system is deeply disturbing.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, will the Minister clarify that additional CPD—continuing professional development—required for teachers, school nurses and health visitors in relation to the manifesto commitment on child and adolescent mental health improvement will be funded separately and will not have to come out of the standard formula?

[Lord Nash]

I do not think that I can confirm that, but we are investing £1.4 billion in child and adolescent mental health. We will produce a Green Paper on mental health later this year, and we have worked closely on a number of pilot projects between mental health and schools. I shall look at this and write to the noble Baroness.

Technical and Further Education Bill

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Report stage (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 27th March 2017 Lords Chamber

Finally, on Amendment 1, which I highlighted at Second Reading, we are talking about many students from some of our most deprived communities—and we talk a great deal about social mobility. If their parents are entitled to tax credits—which just takes them up to a living wage—when they are encouraged to take up an apprenticeship and do so, their financial support goes. Therefore, that is a disincentive to carry on an apprenticeship. There is evidence to show that because of this disincentive, quite a number of students have not taken that opportunity. This amendment will help to ensure that we protect the very people we want to encourage to take up apprenticeships.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, I support Amendment 16, to which I have added my name. It is very clear that many young people who take out government-backed loans believe that they give a quality indication to the provider, to which they then enrol to study. It seems extremely unfair that, in the event of such a provider becoming unable to continue, they would go to the back of the queue for the repayment of their loan.

When meeting the Bill team, who have been extremely helpful, we heard evidence that everybody tries to find an alternative provider so that the student can complete their programme, and that is clearly the most desirable outcome. The most undesirable outcome is if a student is unable to complete the programme and is left with debt, even if that debt does not have to be repaid immediately. Our amendment is intended to protect students in such circumstances so that their loan is repaid by a provider if they cannot find an alternative provider with which to complete their course.

We want to encourage people to undertake this kind of technical education, and I commend the Government on their Bill because it will encourage young people to do far more local-based technical education and should get both young and more mature people into work, which, after all, is the overall aim of the Bill. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will be in a position to take this matter away and to come back with something at Third Reading that will protect students in the future.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, I too will speak mainly on Amendment 16, spoken to by my noble friend Lady Wolf, although I regret that I am not able to support it, so I hope that that is not the end of a beautiful noble friendship.

I am concerned that Amendment 16 would make it harder for independent training providers, which provide a significant proportion of the technical education we so desperately need, to compete on fair terms with FE colleges. I should perhaps declare an interest as having been an independent training provider in the distant past.

The effect of the amendment as worded would be to increase the price of such courses offered by commercial and charitable contract-funded providers in order to cover the cost of underwriting the loans made to students with an external financial institution. This would mean that the cost incurred by the vast majority of loan recipients, who will not suffer curtailment of their studies due to insolvency, would increase, even if only by a relatively small percentage. It might also discourage high-quality independent providers from offering loan-funded courses, not just because of the extra cost but because of the extra administration and bureaucracy involved, thereby limiting the range of options available to learners and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Cohen, said, providing a barrier to entry for potential new providers.

The amendment would not apply to FE colleges and other bodies covered by the insolvency regime being created by the Bill, so learners at FE colleges, which might be at least as likely to fail, would be protected by a special insolvency regime without any extra cost.

FE college loan-funded courses already have the additional benefit of being exempt from VAT, so most independent providers are already likely to face a 20% cost disadvantage. Apart from that, the cost and complexity of setting up the sorts of schemes proposed in Amendments 14 and 16 seem likely to considerably outweigh their effectiveness or value. If some special provision for independent training providers were needed, it would surely be better to take a similar approach to that proposed for colleges based on government underwriting, as I believe has happened in practice in the past. Of course, in some cases, independent training providers may even be partly owned by further education colleges, as was the case with the provider First4Skills, which was 60% owned by the City of Liverpool College and had to call in the administrators. I am not clear how the amendment would address a situation such as that.

Finally, I know that many independent training providers would be happy to help put a clear mechanism in place so that learners could easily transfer to another provider if their existing provider failed. For all those reasons, I believe that the amendment is not the right way forward.