Education and Skills Reform

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Redwood

Thursday 17th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Redwood (Con)]

Given the need for more work experience, more apprenticeships and other support from the private sector, will the Government look again at the very damaging tax rises and regulatory changes they have introduced, which have driven down vacancies in a big way and driven up unemployment? They impede success for this programme.

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Of course, we will keep the business environment under review to ensure that it provides as many opportunities as possible. I note that, in his interim review, Alan Milburn argued that it was not, for example, changes to national insurance or to the national minimum wage that have caused the numbers of young people to be out of work. The biggest increase in those numbers, of course, happened in the two years in the run-up to the last general election.

Maximum Temperature for Indoor Workplaces

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Redwood

Wednesday 15th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

First, I would say that the figures that the noble Lord cites about excess deaths from heat are obviously very worrying. Not all of those, clearly, would be related to workplaces. It is not true to say that there is no law or no ability to take enforcement against employers who do not act appropriately on keeping their workers safe, including with respect to excessive heat. The fact that the HSE is developing new guidance does not mean that this is not something where employers nevertheless have a responsibility to act and would be held to account by the HSE for that action.

[Lord Redwood (Con)]

Why do the Government think that this country has such a low level of air conditioning systems installed, and will they look again at their rather negative guidance on their acquisition?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I suspect, without being an expert on this, that one reason is that for most of the year we do not need to use them. Therefore, I think it is not unreasonable of government, certainly with respect to public buildings, to take a proportionate approach to the changes that should be made in those buildings—the adaptations which certainly will be needed in homes, schools, hospitals and elsewhere—and to provide sensible and proportionate advice, alongside considerable capital investment in order to enable that to happen.

V-levels

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Redwood

Monday 23rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is right that work experience often plays an important role in enabling young people to experience work and to reduce the risk of them becoming NEET, as does having the right routes for further study at level 3, which is part of what the V-level reforms are about. As well as this Government’s commitment to two weeks of work experience for students throughout their school career, we already have very effective industrial placements in T-levels, of course, and we will use the additional funding for the youth guarantee to provide the opportunity for young people who are out of work to experience work experience as part of the youth guarantee gateway.

[Lord Redwood (Con)]

For V-levels to succeed, they need to be linked with a good opportunity to get a well-paid job. So what measures will the Government take urgently to tackle the unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment brought about by high taxes and anti-business culture, when, for these V-levels to succeed, we need a welcoming approach by business to youth employment?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord is of course right that we need good jobs for young people. We also need investment in their education and training, which this Government are putting in place. The £1.5 billion that the Chancellor made available to support the youth guarantee and apprenticeships for young people will help to ensure more opportunities for apprenticeships, more opportunities to get young people who are currently out of work into work, and a backstop job guarantee for those young people.