King’s Speech

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 9th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, today’s debate covers some of the important areas so vital to a well-functioning society, but it is regrettable that the measures announced in the gracious Speech do precious little to make a real difference to the ambitions and opportunities available to our country’s most precious resource—our children and young people. I have worked in education for much of my career, and I hope that experience will bring a helpful contribution.

Schools and further and higher education institutions continue to be impacted by the after-effects of the pandemic. It is well documented that there is a disparity in this impact between schools in deprived areas and those in the most affluent areas of our nations and regions. The biggest disparity is the epidemic of low attendance.

We face a lost generation of children. More than 1.5 million children were persistently absent across both the autumn and spring terms, which is almost double the number for the same period five years ago. Every day of education matters, so tackling persistent absence would be at the heart of Labour’s mission for education, as there appears to be no plans from this Government to get to grips with this epidemic.

A main education focus in the forthcoming legislation, if you look hard enough for it, is the proposition to replace A-levels and T-levels with the advanced British standard—although I would argue that it is an advanced English standard. During my teaching and examining career, I was fortunate to be part of the development of Curriculum 2000, which extensively rewrote A-level specifications and introduced the AS-level. I understand significant change and how carefully it needs to be implemented, and I believe that this is the wrong policy at the wrong time.

Admittedly, the post-16 curriculum in England is narrow by international standards, but that partly reflects the chronic underinvestment in sixth-form education, which is 15% lower in real terms than in 2010. Furthermore, under Conservative Governments, young people have experienced a narrowing of the curriculum far earlier than 16; it therefore makes little sense to broaden it from 16 onwards without doing more for earlier age groups. Ofsted has repeatedly warned against teaching to the test, but this is exactly what this Government have prioritised. These reforms do nothing to take on the attainment gaps that are established in the early part of the education system and only widen as young people progress through school.

The other area that was given scant attention in the Speech was the idea of low-value degrees. It is important for the Government to remember that we already have controls, so the regulator can impose sanctions for courses which breach certain minimum thresholds for continuation, progression and completion. If the Government really feel that those controls are not enough, they have had over 13 years to deal with this. Let us treat universities as a public good, not a political battlefield.

Persistent absence, crumbling schools, a recruitment and retention crisis and a postcode lottery of standards are some of the immediate issues that need to be dealt with. An extensive reconfiguration of the post-16 landscape and an attack on our universities is another unnecessary distraction. Fix the roof first, stop the rain pouring in and replace the crumbling concrete. Let us stop teachers leaving the profession in droves and ensure a proper teacher recruitment drive, so that we can fully staff our education establishments and give them the decent pay and conditions deserving of a professional workforce.

I was glad to see that Labour has commissioned the respected former chief inspector of Ofsted, Sir David Bell, to deliver an early years review to consider how to deliver new places, a motivated, well-trained workforce for high standards, and more accessible childcare; that will happen under Labour’s plans. In Breaking Down the Barriers to Opportunity, Keir Starmer set out clearly our fifth mission in government: breaking down the barriers to opportunity for every child, at every stage, and shattering the class ceiling. We will track this progress through three stages of education—boosting child development, with half a million more children hitting the early learning goals; achieving a sustained rise in young people’s school outcomes; and building young people’s life skills with an expansion of high-quality education, employment and training routes—so that more people than ever are on pathways with good prospects.

Nevertheless, I agree that it is a positive step that the Government will continue to act on concerns about the increasing number of children receiving an education outside the classroom. If we have the proposed register for all home educators, it will ensure that children are receiving a suitable education in a safe environment, with the tools and flexibilities for local authorities to check that.

In conclusion, I have spent my life as a public servant and I genuinely despair at the Government’s legislative plans for health and social care, education, welfare and public services; they are lacking in ambition and vision. I would have hoped that in at least one of these Bills, we might have seen something of true substance in one of the areas that are so crucial to a well-functioning society. As it is, it will fall to us parliamentarians to probe, push and negotiate our way to legislation that delivers real outcomes and some hope for the public. If that means sitting here until the early hours of the morning to defend the indefensible, so be it. After too many years of Conservative Governments, that is our democratic duty, and we will willingly contest for what is right and proper for the people of Britain.