King’s Speech

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Thursday 9th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, I will speak about education and skills. Although the King’s Speech included an encouraging paragraph on this topic, there was rather a dearth of specific action, legislative or otherwise. It is good to hear that:

“My Ministers will strengthen education for the long term”.


But we need to know more about how this goal will be pursued in the shorter term, beyond a consultation and White Paper, which could presumably take us close to the end of the current Session, if not of the Parliament.

The principle of introducing an advanced British standard, bringing technical and academic routes into a single qualification, sounds like a promising move towards a baccalaureate-style system. But how will it be brought about, and in the time available?

Seeking an answer, I consulted the public policy paper on the advanced British standard published last month, and I was delighted to read that:

“Education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet. It is the best economic policy, the best social policy and the best moral policy”.


I strongly agree—so how is the silver bullet going to be forged?

The paper sets out some excellent aspirations. Greater parity of esteem between academic and technical routes has long been a sort of holy grail, and the Government are right to pursue it, even if defunding well-regarded existing qualifications such as BTECs in favour of T-levels may not be the right answer, at least in the short term. More teaching hours for pupils, as in other countries, must be good, especially if that enables them to study a broader range of subjects than at present—but how will teachers to deliver those extra hours be recruited, motivated and retained? The paper also sensibly envisages alternative qualifications for the so-called forgotten third of pupils who find it hard to pass GCSE exams in English and maths at 16, and as a result are condemned to an often prolonged cycle of morale-sapping resits before they can make further progress.

The gracious Speech spoke of increasing the number of young people undertaking high-quality apprenticeships. I say amen to that, but what are the Government’s plans to make it happen, given the poor take-up of apprenticeships to date, particularly among 16 to 19 year-olds, and widespread employer concerns that the apprenticeship levy is not flexible enough, and that few small businesses find the support available to them adequate to persuade them to offer apprenticeships? I hope the Minister can tell us.

I will also say something about education for 11 to 16 year-olds, as a member of the House’s committee on this subject. We have heard from many witnesses about issues that badly need to be addressed. These include the baleful impact of the English baccalaureate measure in crowding out subjects not included in the five EBacc pillars, notably arts and creative subjects such as music. Another concern is the unreasonable pressures imposed by GCSEs, resulting from their excessive content, their rigorous assessment and the resulting high level of stress that they impose on pupils and their mental health. GCSEs are also far from ideal for many less academic subjects—the more practical subjects.

A further concern is the current imbalance between knowledge and skills, with insufficient focus on key technical subjects such as digital and green skills. I am confident that the committee will come up with excellent ideas for tackling such issues when it publishes its report shortly, but I am less confident of the Government’s likely commitment to implementing them beyond “looking at further improvements to GCSEs”. Perhaps the Minister can reassure me.

There is only a passing mention in the ABS paper of the importance of careers advice and guidance. Much progress has been made in this area over recent years, thanks to the efforts of the Careers & Enterprise Company, the National Careers Service, local careers hubs, and careers leaders in individual schools and colleges. But there is still some way to go to ensure that all students are made aware of the range of career pathways available to them, including through employer encounters and work placements. What plans do the Government have to produce an updated careers strategy, building on the success of the previous one in 2017, and to ensure that schools deliver the minimum number of employer encounters required by the Skills and Post-16 Education Act?

I accept that forging a silver bullet to deliver a world-class education system is a long-term project which could indeed take up to 10 years. That underscores the need to seek a strong consensus on the approach to be taken, across government departments, across the devolved nations and regions—some of which, including Wales, Scotland and Manchester, are pursuing ambitious education ideas—across education institutions, teachers, parents and pupils, and, of course, across political parties. This should not be a party-political issue. I hope that the Minister will be able to tell us how the Government’s laudable commitment to a world-class education and skills system will aim to set a clear and widely agreed long-term direction, rather than one open to abandonment or redesign with each change of Administration, as has happened too often in the past.

The theme of the debate today, given that so much of the King’s Speech was about long-term laudable aims, is: what can actually be achieved in the current Session that does not then find itself becoming a dead end?

National Health Service: Major Conditions Strategy

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Monday 18th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely correct. That is set out in the long-term workforce plan: a move much more upstream to prevention and primary care, of which community nurses will be a key part. The recruitment is in place for it all. Yes, a lot of people might see the action as being in the acute sector, but a lot of people really enjoy working in the community as part of their lifestyle. The hope and expectation is that it will appeal to a lot of people in those areas as well.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, less survivable cancers such as pancreatic cancer are often characterised by vague, non-specific symptoms, making them hard to diagnose. Will the major conditions plan include making funds available for symptoms awareness campaigns to ensure that these signs of deadly cancers are not missed? Will it also cover increased funding for research aimed at increasing survival rates for pancreatic cancer, which is the deadliest common cancer? Survival rates have hardly changed in the past 50 years, whereas for leukaemia there has been a surge in survival rates following an increase in funding for research.

Health: Pancreatic Cancer

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I understand that the leader in this field is GRAIL. This blood screening is happening in America right now, and NICE is undertaking studies in this field to see whether it should be brought to the UK. We will have its findings. I agree that pancreatic cancer is an area where early detection is key. It is not just about the screening but about people going to their doctor if they have any concerns at all, as I say. We have non-specific symptoms pathways to help doctors to detect what is wrong.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, the UK ranks 29th of 33 countries for five-year pancreatic cancer survival rates. At the very least, we should ensure that pancreatic cancer patients get the best possible treatments in the short time usually available to them, with over half dying within three months. One such treatment is pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy—PERT—which helps them to eat and digest their food, but only about half of pancreatic cancer sufferers are offered this treatment. What are the Government doing to understand why this is the case and to ensure that all pancreatic cancer patients who need PERT are offered it?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord. This case has also been brought forward by the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, who could not be here today, but he is very keen on this as well. We have now put PERT into NICE guidelines, so it should be offered. I am meeting my noble friend Lord Moynihan to make sure that these things are being taken up, and I would be happy to extend that invitation to the noble Lord.

British Heart Foundation: Tipping Point Report

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Tuesday 8th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I believe that extensive, detailed research is being done in those areas under the overall guidance of Sir Chris Whitty. We will share this when we have the results.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, what assessment has been made of how many extra deaths could have been prevented by faster access to defibrillators? What steps are the Government taking to increase the availability of defibrillators, particularly in the light of the current severe supply problems affecting them and their parts?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I am afraid I do not have information on the number of deaths. I will investigate this. I can say that I am sure that we have all seen a great increase in the number of defibrillators and we very much encourage this.

Defibrillators

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2022 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Aberdare]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to widen the availability of defibrillators in both public and private settings, including schools.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Kamall) (Con)]

The Government encourage organisations across England to consider purchasing a defibrillator as part of their first-aid equipment. Many community defibrillators have been provided in public locations, including in shopping centres, through National Lottery funding, community fundraising schemes, workplace funding or by charities. There are now more than 43,000 registered AEDs in England, and from May 2020 the Government have required all contractors refurbishing schools or building new ones through centrally delivered programmes to provide at least one automated external defibrillator, or AED.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, each year, some 60,000 people in the UK suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Fewer than one in 10 survive and every minute of delay in receiving defibrillation reduces their survival chances by 10%. I recently attended a drop-in event to introduce the world’s first personal defibrillator, which is around 1/10th of the size, weight and price of current models and actually fits in my jacket pocket. Have the Government considered how development such as this might affect their approach to widening access to defibrillators? Will the Minister agree to meet me and leading resuscitation organisations to discuss ways of increasing access to and awareness of defibrillators in schools, workplaces, sports locations and even homes?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank the noble for raising the issue of this particular defibrillator. I am personally not aware of it, but I would be very happy if the noble Lord would send me more information on it—it sounds just up my street when it comes to innovation, as it were. We are working across the UK, with different sectors. In some ways, it is almost like a channel marketing campaign. How do we get defibrillators out to as many locations as possible? There is the Circuit and the National Defibrillator Database, and there will be an app that will allow people to find their nearest defibrillator. We are working with schools, educational institutions, sports grounds, transport, the Health and Safety Executive, the British Heart Foundation, Resuscitation Council UK and other partners.

Health and Care Bill

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Lords Hansard - Part 2 & Committee stage
Monday 31st January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for introducing these amendments as he did and for giving us the assurance that John Baron, who had worked so hard on all of these issues around cancer care and cancer outcomes, has been fully consulted and is fully supportive of them. I was heartened to hear his stress on early diagnosis. All too often at the moment, patients are diagnosed in emergency departments when presenting late because their condition, for whatever reason, has been missed. We certainly need more early diagnostic tests to be available.

I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, for speaking about a cancer which, in my experience in palliative medicine, is often within our domain. Indeed, I hope that the Minister might be able to find a way of supporting my colleague Professor Katherine Sleeman at King’s, who wants to establish a What Works centre, for a remarkably small amount of money, in order to roll out best practice in the way that the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, recommended. I do not expect the Minister to answer that now—perhaps we can discuss it later—but there certainly is a need to roll out best practice widely, not only from the cancer centres but out into the cancer units and beyond those to the general NHS.

Up until now we have had too much of an emphasis on process. This switch in emphasis to outcomes is most welcome; I expect everyone to strongly support these amendments.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, I too am pleased to speak in support of the amendment addressing pancreatic cancer tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, to which I have added my name. I am grateful to the noble Lord for sharing a draft of his speech with me so that I have no need to test your Lordships’ patience by repeating facts and arguments that he and, indeed, the noble Baronesses, Lady Morgan and Lady Finlay, have already stated so tellingly.

I shall just emphasise a couple of points. I imagine that most, if not all, of your Lordships either know or know of someone who has died of this horrific cancer. Few survive more than a few months, unless they are lucky enough to be among the small number—I think it is about two in five people—whose cancer is diagnosed early enough to be operable. I find it quite shocking that the UK still lags so far behind other countries; as we heard, it is 29th out of 33 countries for its five-year pancreatic cancer survival rates. Research spending on pancreatic cancer is scarcely a quarter of that on leukaemia, for example, and supports correspondingly few researchers and projects. Hopefully, the noble Baroness’s friend may get some more of that.

There is a sort of vicious circle: because pancreatic cancer is so deadly, few patients are fit enough for long enough to take part in clinical trials, and few researchers are attracted to specialise in a condition that is widely regarded as a death sentence. The noble Lord’s amendment would build on the welcome audit of pancreatic cancer that he mentioned, seeking to ensure that its findings are regularly published, that they contribute to better information about pancreatic cancer and lead to specific action to address the issues identified—hopefully, the action may happen first and the audit later—while at the same time seeking to increase provision of PERT through national guidance and regular reporting.

Like the noble Lord, I wanted to mention that there are similar issues with other rare and aggressive cancers in this part of the body, such as bile duct cancer, and these too are often diagnosed too late for successful treatment. Even when surgery is available, the prognosis may be poor. Ideally, there should surely be an integrated approach to expedite diagnosis and treatment for all these cancers, and better information to help GPs and other healthcare workers to recognise their symptoms.

I very much hope that the Minister can give some reassurance on how the system being created by this Bill, including the revised NHS mandate on cancer outcome targets, will help to address the challenges of pancreatic and related cancers with some urgency, so that we can at last start to narrow the gap with other countries in treating them. I also very much support the government amendments that broaden the range of factors covered by cancer outcome objectives.

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords, I support the amendment of my noble friend Lord Moylan, which I was very proud to sign. I echo what the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, said about knowing people who have died of this terrible disease. By coincidence, having signed the amendment, I had lunch with a friend whose brother suffers from pancreatic cancer. Luckily, however, he had it diagnosed extremely early because he had a blood test that identified the biomarkers that told him that he could have pancreatic cancer. He is now being treated and has a good chance of survival. Then, by coincidence, I visited my GP to have a blood test to test for prostate cancer. Luckily for me, the results were good.

I have a mild obsession about why we are not better in this country at implementing diagnostic procedures. When I went to see my GP to talk about prostate cancer, I asked her what kind of tests were available to me, as an NHS patient, for pancreatic or other types of cancer. As a layman reading the newspapers, almost every day there is news emerging of new blood tests that could identify cancer early. It is one of my trite dinner-party lines—I hesitate to say this, because there are so many experts in the Chamber this evening—that, in effect, one can almost argue that one has cured cancer if one is able to diagnose it early enough. That is why I welcome this emphasis on looking at outcomes rather than process in how we treat cancer. I hope that over time, it will shift the emphasis away from the treatment of cancer to how soon we can diagnose it.

I therefore support the amendment and ask the Minister a simple question: when will the test for pancreatic cancer be potentially universally available to NHS patients? I found it odd, talking to my friend over lunch, that his advice to me was to get myself on a trial as soon as possible to see whether I could get a test to get a diagnosis. It seems to me that we are lagging behind in the opportunity to diagnose cancer as early as possible and treat it as effectively as possible which, of course, will enable us to save a great deal of money.

Health and Care Bill

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Lords Hansard - Part 3 & Committee stage
Wednesday 26th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)]

My Lords, I want to react very briefly to one comment that has been made in debate tonight, which is the issue flagged by my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft. It is something that is continually raised in the wider debate on assisted dying and it is the issue of incontinence being seen as so inherently tragic that people should use it as a reason to want to end their lives. It is considered an important subject; we have an all-party group on it.

Personally, I find it really difficult because I am incontinent and I have never once felt undignified by it. I cannot believe that I am the only person in the House, or, indeed, in the Chamber tonight, who is incontinent and I will happily discuss the many solutions for sorting out this problem. What I see is that people are scared to talk about it, because they think it is something that we should never discuss. I have many solutions for this. I intermittently catheterise; I use indwelling catheters; I have lots of options available to me if those do not work—medication and lots of options on surgery. There is nothing undignified about being incontinent if we support it properly.

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, both these amendments reflect a desire to give people a greater say over the final weeks of their lives. As a strong believer in patient choice, which is, after all, a very central part of this Bill, I am greatly attracted by and supportive of my noble friend’s Amendment 203.

As several noble Lords have said, we are not very good at thinking about, planning for and managing death, despite Benjamin Franklin’s observation that it is one of only two certainties in this world, along with taxes. This amendment would give people diagnosed with a terminal illness the possibility of some degree of agency in their final days. That seems to me a wonderful idea, but it does of course raise questions about who such discussions would be with, and what qualifications might be needed by the people offering them. So, while I support the amendment, I would want to know more about the practicalities of delivering it, hopefully without having to create a whole new regulated profession of mortality consultants. I hope therefore that the Minister will respond positively to my noble friend’s suggestion of discussions on how the amendment might work; I will be interested to hear his response.

On Amendment 297, which I also support, I make only two brief points. First, I very much agree with what everybody has said that tonight is not the time to be discussing the merits of assisted dying; that is not what this amendment is about. Many Members on both sides of the argument have made it clear that Parliament needs to decide this issue, and the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, seeks to find a way of making that possible. I feel the same sort of alarm as my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft in finding myself on the opposite side to that of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, but, with the greatest respect, I think he himself said we were waiting for a decision from Parliament before the Government could act on this. In that case, there has to be some way or process for making such a decision happen. That is exactly what the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, is trying to produce with this amendment. No doubt there are ways of improving how that is done, maybe by giving more time to my noble friend Lady Meacher’s Bill. This responsibility is Parliament’s to resolve, and I cannot believe that, in this great Parliament, we cannot find a way of doing it.

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)]

My Lords, I rise partly because my noble friend Lord Forsyth referred to me earlier and partly because I wanted to clarify what is happening in the Scottish Parliament. There is not actually a Bill in front of the Scottish Parliament. The Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, carried out a consultation which was very wide-ranging and closed only at the very end of December. Liam McArthur has reported that the submissions to his consultation were wide-ranging and unprecedented, and I look forward with great interest to reading some of them. You can look some of them up. I commend the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care’s website; its submission is published there. The Neurological Alliance of Scotland also published a submission—I declare an interest because I am a trustee of the latter.

Both those submissions illustrate that this is a very complicated issue, as noble Lords have acknowledged, and there are many things that need evening out before we even get to potentially having draft legislation—a Bill or whatever it is; I am still learning parliamentary procedure. I find it interesting that my noble friend Lord Forsyth mentions that there might be a majority for assisted dying in the Scottish Parliament. I remind him that there is currently a majority for independence in the Scottish Parliament, but that does not mean that the people of Scotland want independence.

In my short time in this House, I have seen many amendments that may have been worthy in their own right but were in the wrong place in the wrong Bill. I think Amendment 297 in the name of my noble friend—I feel very nervous suggesting this to such an esteemed colleague—may possibly be the wrong amendment in the wrong Bill.

Breast Screening

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Tuesday 14th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for raising the issue; I know he has been a strong champion of Africa over the years. The fact is that, when it comes to recruitment, we adopt ethical guidelines in line with the World Health Organization. I will give him one example. Recently, I had a discussion with the Kenyan Ministry of Health about sending Kenyan nurses. I asked whether we were depriving them of their nurses, and was told “No; we train far more nurses than our health system can absorb, and therefore we see this as a powerful way to increase earnings for our country.”

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, further to the question asked by my noble and gallant friend, Lord Stirrup, the Minister’s answer related to what was happening in the recruitment of new staff. Can he say something about what the Government are doing to retain existing staff?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I have previously announced government investment in retention programmes and looking at getting back those who have retired and increasing training places in medical schools and elsewhere.

Health and Social Care: Malnutrition

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Aberdare]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence and impact of malnutrition among people in health and social care settings; and what steps they are taking to prevent it.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford) (Con)]

My Lords, malnutrition is a common clinical health problem affecting all ages and all health and care settings. The Government are committed to better screening for malnutrition and improved food standards in hospitals. Hospitals and care homes must screen people for malnutrition on admission and meet high standards of nutrition care. We have announced a root and branch review of hospital food to ensure that patients receive the right nutrition and hydration.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that response. Even here in the UK, malnutrition is shockingly underrecognised and undertreated. Some 3 million people live with malnutrition, including one in 10 older people. One in six patients admitted to hospital, and about 40% of those entering care homes, are malnourished or at risk. Disease-related malnutrition is estimated to cost over £20 billion a year. What steps will the Government take to improve identification and treatment of malnutrition, not just by promoting screening in care homes and GP surgeries, which I very much welcome, but also by improving the training of GPs and other health professionals on this issue?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

The noble Lord is absolutely right that this is an issue which is on the rise. The causes are complex and can be clinical, social or economic, but we are committed to improving this situation. That is why we have brought in the hospital food review, to ensure the safety of the food available for patients, visitors and staff, but also to look at how we can provide the highest level of care possible for patients, which includes the quality and nutritional value of the food served to them. The review will also look at the best possible methods of screening and training staff.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Aberdare Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Aberdare (CB)]

My Lords, when thinking about what to say today about last week’s gracious manifesto, I found myself facing two challenges. The first was how to address commitments that seem unlikely to be implemented before another Queen’s Speech following a general election. The second was that the Speech itself had little to say about two of the three issues I wish to cover. A third challenge is that most of what I want to say has already been said, more eloquently and better, by other noble Lords.

The first issue is education and skills. The Speech states that:

“Ministers will ensure that all young people have access to an excellent education, unlocking their full potential and preparing them for the world of work”.


It is hard to argue with that. The extra £400 million promised to further education is welcome, but it will hardly make up for years of underfunding. FE funding has declined by 30% over the past 10 years, at a time when colleges’ role in skills training is more important than ever, with the additional challenge of delivering T-levels.

The Education Secretary promised at the Conservative Party Conference,

“to give my all to make technical and vocational education the first choice for anybody with the aptitude, desire and interest to pursue it”.

T-levels should be central to that laudable aim, as should apprenticeships, which were not mentioned in the Speech. I hope that the Minister will be able to say rather more about exactly how the Government’s strategy will achieve this aim beyond providing extra funds and stating ambitious goals that no one could disagree with. For example, will they continue to support and extend the careers strategy led by the Careers & Enterprise Company and already showing encouraging results since its launch in 2017? What action will they take on the FE and technical education recommendations of the Augar review? How will they engage employers, including SMEs, both in expanding and improving apprenticeships and in meeting a greatly increased need for work experience?

My second topic concerns the creative sector. Your Lordships may be tired of being reminded that the creative industries make up one of the largest sectors in the UK economy, although perhaps not quite as large as tourism, as well as being the fastest growing, but the conditions that have made this success possible need to be safeguarded, including in relation to music, freedom of movement and a strong music education system, as powerfully argued by my noble friends Lady Bull and Lord Berkeley of Knighton. How will the Government ensure that UK musicians will still be able to travel, tour and perform abroad after Brexit without prohibitive costs and bureaucracy, while at the same time we can continue to attract top musical talent into the UK?

What are the Government’s plans for the future of the national plan for music education, launched in 2012 with the aims of giving all schoolchildren opportunities to experience and take part in music and singing? This was a notable achievement, but it needs to be refreshed. The current funding for music education hubs runs out next March. It should be renewed and increased to a more realistic level, and the effectiveness of the plan’s delivery should be reviewed to ensure that all children benefit, so that the risk of a two-tier music education culture, described by my noble friend Lord Berkeley, is avoided.

Last week, the Durham Commission on Creativity in Education published its report emphasising the urgent need for the teaching of creativity in schools to be prioritised, not just for the benefit of the arts but for all disciplines. I hope that the Minister and her colleagues will look closely at its recommendations, including for the establishment of a funded national plan for cultural education.

I will comment finally on broadband access. The Government promise to:

“Roll out gigabit capable broadband across the UK”,


and have pledged £5 billion to support this goal in the hardest to reach 20% of the country. But with a home on a hillside in rural Carmarthenshire, I count myself lucky to get broadband speeds of 10 megabits per second, if conditions are favourable and the oak trees across the valley are in the right alignment. I take the promise of 1,000 megabits with a pinch of salt and ask some questions. How much of the £5 billion will be used for developing new technologies to serve locations where a physical connection—for example, via fibre—is just not feasible? How will this UK-wide commitment apply to the devolved nations, including Wales, and how much of the funding will be allocated to them?

Thirdly, I am slightly puzzled by the lack of mention of mobile phone coverage. Will the Government look at enabling roaming in areas such as my own, where the number of providers with coverage is very limited? If you are not on the right network, you do not get any mobile phone coverage.

These issues may not have as much popular appeal as the NHS, crime and policing, social care, the environment and others addressed in the gracious Speech, but tackling all those requires resources. Skills, creativity and digital access are essential to generating those resources, so I hope they will be given due prominence in a Queen’s Speech from a Government able to implement their proposals.