King’s Speech

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Friday 19th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great privilege to participate in this debate on His Majesty’s gracious Speech. I congratulate the noble Baronesses, Lady Monckton and Lady Smith, on their excellent maiden speeches. The noble Baroness, Lady Monckton, is a leading force in her work for children with disabilities, and I am sure they will both make extremely valuable contributions to your Lordships’ House.

The premise of my desire to speak in this debate is that I truly believe we can create life-changing opportunities for all families through simple and inexpensive tweaks to the education system, with the desired knock-on effect into healthcare. The children’s well-being Bill will require free breakfast clubs in primary schools. The phrases “You are what you eat” and “Healthy body, healthy mind” ring true. Food education is critical, so if we can teach children from a young age the necessity of eating well and enjoying a balanced nutritional diet, that will be the cornerstone for them to reach their full potential in every aspect of their lives.

While it is essential for children to have breakfast, they must also learn the difference between what is good and bad for them. Ultra-processed foods currently account for around 80% of calories in packed lunches and 65% of calories in school meals, so providing children with more ultra-processed food at breakfast must be avoided at all costs.

The manifesto also refers to the national curriculum and flags

“protecting time for physical education”.

This is a welcome commitment, as currently only 47% of children and young people are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s time guidelines for taking part in sport and physical activity, despite every set of medical research proving that the benefits of exercise are huge.

The children’s well-being Bill also refers to one in four children living in poverty, which is a shocking and unacceptable statistic for a developed economy. Generational poverty can be solved. Basic financial education would help and demonstrate that just £6 per week invested from the age of 18 at a 7% annualised return would produce a tax-free lump sum of £135,000 by the age of 68, which could then fund the stability of a home purchase for the next generation.

On healthcare, the Secretary of State has correctly said that the health of the nation and the health of the economy are inextricably linked. If we put into place the right plans for food education, physical education and financial education, the NHS crisis will be over and gross domestic product will increase incrementally.

So I ask the Minister: who will run these breakfast clubs and how can we ensure that the breakfast offered is nutritionally excellent and not high in sugar? Can the current daily mile programme in schools become the daily three miles and made compulsory for every school in the country as part of the curriculum? It would ensure that all schoolchildren meet the Chief Medical Officer’s guideline of 60 minutes of exercise per day. What steps will the Government take to ensure that there is an appropriate element of investment in financial education in the curriculum?

From a healthcare perspective, for both physical and mental health, prevention is better than cure. If we can instil in our schoolchildren a love of good food, a love of exercise or team sport and the desire to invest for their and their families’ future, the majority of issues that people have to deal with on a regular basis disappear.

I will leave noble Lords with a statistic: a 20% reduction in the six major disease categories that keep people out of work could raise GDP by £26 billion annually within 10 years and produce fiscal savings from increased tax revenues and reduced benefits payments of £13 billion annually, again within 10 years. That is £39 billion saved every year.