Sport Sector: Financial Support

Lord Addington Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for repeating last week’s Statement. Normally, it is undesirable to have such a gap between the debates in both Houses, but, in this case, it allows us to consider recent developments.

Labour welcomes the additional financial support for the sport sector, and I repeat the thanks expressed by my colleague, Alison McGovern, for the hard-working Treasury and DCMS, who have had to deal with complex financial returns at speed. It is regrettable, and I do not like to sound curmudgeonly here, but Ministers chose that process at such a late stage. However, these funds will nevertheless provide a lifeline for the range of sports that receive them, and for that reason they are very welcome.

Last week, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State reiterated his desire for this money to be going out in weeks and certainly for some of it to be disbursed before Christmas. Is the noble Baroness able to provide any updates on the planned timescales, particularly in the light of today’s wider economic announcements? Can she express in percentage terms what amount she expects to arrive at with organisations before year end? I very much hope that the department has learned lessons from its experience with the Culture Recovery Fund, which, as we all know, took some time to start distributing moneys.

In response to a question on equal access for funding by women’s sports, Mr Huddleston said that there would be an appropriate proportion for women’s sport. What, in the Minister’s view, is an appropriate amount? Again, I would appreciate a percentage. I know, from previous comments, that the Minister shares my view that we must not allow the pandemic to reverse the excellent progress and good work in women’s sports over recent years, but that will be possible only with appropriate financial help and support.

The noble Baroness will not be surprised if I ask for an update on the Government’s planned fan-led review of football governance. We have been told that preparations are in progress without any dates being named. Ministers continue to point out that it was a manifesto commitment of theirs. Given this, we would expect there to be some more urgency.

I wish to probe a little on Monday’s announcement that a limited number of fans will be allowed to return to sports stadia once the national lockdown is lifted and the tier system resumes. Allowing up to 4,000 fans to attend outdoor sporting events and up to 1,000 spectators at indoor events is a welcome step forward after an unprecedented period of professional sport being played behind closed doors. Noble Lords will know that these numbers are the absolute cap, with a percentage system in place for clubs with lower-capacity stadia. Can the Minister provide the evidence base behind the 4,000-person attendance limit?

Manchester United’s Old Trafford can ordinarily host well over 70,000 fans. Even the old wooden stands at Goodison Park will fail to emit their customary creak with just 4,000 fans present. Twickenham Stadium has a capacity of 80,000. While it is not desirable to have these grounds full at this time, on what basis was it determined that they were unable to safely host a higher number? Premier League clubs have spent large sums preparing their grounds to accommodate socially distanced fans. Similar steps have been taken by rugby clubs and others in anticipation of reopening their doors. While they will be excited to welcome even a small number of fans back home, doing so is likely to result in financial losses, which will become unsustainable if the cap is not revisited.

Therefore, when are we likely to see a detailed road map for increasing sporting capacities? Will DCMS commission new test events to inform such a road map? Has any consideration been given to previous test events and the data they have provided? I draw attention to the case of Brighton & Hove Albion. There was approval in principle for crowds of around 8,000; that would move individual fixtures from loss to profit. Even for lower league clubs, which desperately need that additional income, the current offer is unlikely to satisfy demand from season-ticket holders who have paid up front. I am told that AFC Wimbledon, which has just completed its historic return to a new stadium at Plough Lane, had over 3,000 season-ticket holders last year and are expecting that number to climb. If the area remains in tier 2, it means that the club will admit only those who have already paid, rather than making new money.

I stress that we do not want to rush this. We need to be confident that stadia of all ages and sizes can cope with the return of fans and that there are appropriate protocols in place, not only around grounds but on transport networks as well. However, sports clubs at all levels need to see progress, not just one-off announcements. This is true in relation to support from government and clubs’ ability to raise their own funds. I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Botham, for example, will be hoping that Lord’s is able to welcome a higher number of spectators when cricket returns next summer—otherwise he, like the rest of us, will be obliged to watch remotely and that cannot be right.

I want to close with one final question regarding the Prime Minister’s recent announcement. We know from the Independent SAGE group that the ability for families to mix at Christmas may require new restrictions in January and beyond. If that comes to fruition, is it the Government’s intention that attendance at sporting events would become an exception to restrictions or do we face the prospect of clubs opening their doors in December, only to see them being slammed shut in the new year?

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, it a good thing that we have this debate, even if it is nearly a week late. The old adage that a week is a long time in politics must be ringing very loudly in the Minister’s ears at the moment, because we have had many announcements that add to this Statement. The biggest, shall we say, elephant in the room— or dog that is not barking—is what is happening with arrangements for the upper tiers of professional football. If the Minister knows anything, now would be a good time to tell us. I would understand if no arrangement has been reached, but if anything can be told about that it would help us.

To return to what is said in the Statement, we need a little more flesh on the bone. For instance, I live in the village of Lambourn in the “Valley of the Racehorse”. There, the National Trainers Federation has been asking how the money going to the racing establishment is going to trickle down to its members. Without people who look after the horses, you do not have any event. It is not that straightforward and there are details to go through.

The noble Lord, Lord Bassam, has already had a good go on the fact that getting some fans into the grounds will help a few clubs. But one of my noble friends has pointed out to me that certain lower league clubs are getting gates of 18,000—I think Portsmouth does, if my noble friend the Chief Whip has told me right. He is nodding at me, so I am fairly safe there. If that is the case, how will this potential lifeline and way out compensate them? The reform of football has been made more pressing by Covid. We should be looking at the fact that the current model is virtually unsustainable. I do not think that we should forget that at any time.

On rugby union, I heard a question today that I want to ask the Minister. What do you do about the money for the Olympic sport of sevens, which was cut due to this? I have heard that an arrangement is coming to help with that, which is good news, but rugby union may well be the last sport to play again. Let us face it, old prop forwards like me know that we form our own special non-socially distanced, germ-spreading little units around the place when we play the game. When do the Government expect there to be sufficient immunisation to allow us to come back? Intelligent things have been done about trying to get a different version of the game played. Rugby union may be the best example, but all sports have these questions. Will the Government have some form of timescale to allow the fans in and the playing of the game in all circumstances, especially at community level?

We may have gone a little wider than the Statement in this debate but a lot has happened. It would help if we could find out now exactly what the Government are thinking.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Barran) (Con)]

I thank both noble Lords for their questions and their welcome to this funding. I echo the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, in thanking the civil servants in both DCMS and the Treasury for their incredible work on this package.

The noble Lord, Lord Bassam, started by asking about timings for the disbursement of these funds. This package is aimed at those clubs really facing an existential threat, particularly as a result of the recent lockdown and the inability to allow fans back and the income that comes with that. We are keen on and committed to getting the first tranche of funding out by year end. More detail will be published about that shortly. There will also be an independent board overseeing the disbursement of the funds.

The noble Lord also asked about funding for the women’s game. I must confess that I heard my honourable friend the Minister for Sport be slightly more vehement about the importance of those clubs receiving funding from the Government treating women and women’s sport exactly the same as men’s. The criteria for this fund are identical for women’s sport and men’s sport.

I fear that I will disappoint the noble Lord regarding a further update on the fan-led review. As he noted, it is a manifesto commitment and we are committed to doing it. Progress is being made but no firm date has yet been settled on.

Both noble Lords talked about the importance of returning fans to stadia. We are all enormously keen to get fans back and delighted by the recent decision that in tiers 1 and 2, in particular, there will be capacity for up to—in tier 1—4,000 fans in the open air. As the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, noted himself in a later comment, the decisions about the number of fans in a stadium are based not purely on the capacity of the stadium but also on the design, entrances, exits and travelling arrangements. We have done a number of pilots which have helped inform our thinking. We will watch and learn from the opening-up that is shortly to be with us, and then we will build on that. But we really do feel optimistic about the prospects for this as we go into the new year, and particularly beyond Easter.

The noble Lord, Lord Addington, asked specifically about rugby union and rightly pointed out the risks in the scrum—to the long list of which a new risk has now been added for those brave enough to go into the scrum. We are obviously aware that this is a close-contact sport and will have particular challenges. We aim to give more detail on how we hope to address the points that the noble Lord rightly raised around vaccination in particular. We are working and hope to be able to publish a not-later-than date. As I mentioned, the Health Secretary has been very optimistic about seeing a significant change in conditions around Easter. We all look forward to that.

The noble Lord, Lord Addington, also asked about trainers. Obviously, with the £40 million going to racecourses and the ability for racing to take place, there will be a trickle-down benefit to trainers from the prize money from those events.

I felt that the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, was not at his most generous when he talked about the progress and implied that there would be a stop-start pattern. I think that we have come a really long way. There is light at the end of the tunnel for both grass-roots and professional sport. We have a lot of hope, based on the vaccine results announced recently and on the level of testing that we are now achieving. We are very grateful to the Sports Technology and Innovation Group for its advice on how we can bring fans back as quickly as possible.

Covid-19: Football League

Lord Addington Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

On the support needed across the English Football League, as I have said a couple of times, we have been very clear that those with the broadest shoulders within the football family and at the top of the pyramid need to bear that cost. We have been reassured by the Premier League that it has no intention of letting any club go bust because of the pandemic. Work continues on returning fans to stadia, including with the Sports Technology and Innovation Group, looking at every possible means to return fans as quickly as possible.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, will the Minister take this opportunity to reassure the football family that the Government like our structure of promotion and relegation, which is very important to the structure of our football and the nature of its community basis, and that any clubs at the top whose ownership may come from a culture where you have a franchise and a guaranteed fixture list know that this is something that they will not get away with here—at least, not with government blessing?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Lord raises something fundamental to the way our game is organised in this country, and I believe the Government see it as critical going forward.

English Football: Project Big Picture

Lord Addington Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am not sure whether the noble Lord heard my right honourable friend the Secretary of State before the Select Committee this morning, but he was clear about the priority that he places on the fan-led review. We are clear that there is a short-term financial issue facing the football family, which the Premier League and the English Football League need to get together to sort out. Longer term, the fan-led review will be a crucial part of addressing some of the other structural issues to which the noble Lord referred.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, would the Minister agree that one important factor in the current structure of English football is the possibility of promotion to the top table—or rather the “vague possibility”, in certain cases? Will the Government preserve that at all costs, because the ultimate capitalistic model of the sport is of a closed league, where you have guaranteed fixtures and a guaranteed income from television revenue, and I do not think that we want that?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I would guess that the prospects for promotion depend a little on who you support—but I leave it to each noble Lord individually to decide on that. We are clear that the principles of fair competition must prevail as we move forward with the review.

Professional and Amateur Sport: Government Support

Lord Addington Excerpts

Thursday 1st October 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Alderdice) (LD)]

I call the noble Lord, Lord Bassam of Brighton. No? Then I call the noble Lord, Lord Addington.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, when we talk about the future of professional and amateur sport, will the Minister give us some idea of what emphasis is being given to encouraging people to partake in sport, at whatever level, as opposed to simply watching it, and how the two balance each other? These are two very important aspects of the Question. Can we get clear guidance on the Government’s thinking on both matters?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Barran) (Con)]

The Government have been very clear on the value of sport, both amateur and professional, and encouraging people to take part. We have welcomed many of the online initiatives over the lockdown period in particular, and have supplied funding through Sport England to the tune of £210 million to ensure that those facilities and clubs survive.

Covid-19: Women’s Sport

Lord Addington Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran]

My noble friend is absolutely right. Women now make up an average of 40% of board members across bodies funded by Sport England and UK Sport. Three-quarters of these sports have already achieved the gender benchmark of 30%, as set out in the Code for Sports Governance. My noble friend may have seen that on 11 June the Sports Minister announced his intention to review the code more broadly, with a view to introducing a target for more black, Asian and minority-ethnic representation on the boards of sports governing bodies.

[Lord Addington (LD) [V]]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the biggest steps forward has been that it is normal to see elite-level female competitors taking part on our TV screens? Will the Government look at why, in great football matches of the past, the women’s competitions that were shown were not given more prominence?

[Baroness Barran]

This is a highly relevant topic. The noble Lord is right about the opportunity to broadcast some of the inspiring women’s games that have taken place. Obviously, the editorial independence of broadcasters is key, but we are also clear that the visibility of women’s sport is critical.

Premier League: Project Restart

Lord Addington Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran]

I will start with the last point first. I know that in all the work my ministerial colleagues, including the Secretary of State, have done, there has been a real focus on making sure that we do not lose momentum in the women’s game. That is very much front of mind.

On the development of the guidance, there are three levels. The step 1 guidance sets out the risk assessment mitigation plan; step 2 and step 3 guidance will be produced regarding close-contact training and games potentially being played behind closed doors. Through medical advice from government and Public Health England, we are supporting the football authorities as they take these decisions.

On funding, I have already mentioned that we see this as part of a wider football family and welcome the moves the Premier League has already made to advance money to the English Football League.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

Will the Minister give us a little more guidance about the take-up of responsibility of existing projects that are run by Premier League clubs and indeed other elite-level clubs: that is, youth engagement, development of junior teams, and so on? Can the Minister give us an assurance that the Government will not take kindly to these being dumped as non-profit-making?

[Baroness Barran]

There is no intention of the Government seeing these dumped. However, certainly as regards football, it is the responsibility of the FA to oversee the grass-roots game. The Government have made major moves in support for businesses, and we have also seen important investment from Sport England at a community level. We are keeping a very close eye on this.

Covid-19: Sports

Lord Addington Excerpts

Wednesday 13th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran]

I completely agree with my noble friend on the importance of sport and exercise for one’s mental as well as physical health. I welcome her suggestion and will share it with ministerial colleagues.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, do the Government agree that to benefit from sport, people have to be encouraged back in at grass-roots level? Will the Government give us an assurance that they will make sure that everybody knows when it is safe for children and those in the junior ranks to start attending practice sessions and training, and that this information will be made available through all normal media channels?

[Baroness Barran]

The noble Lord makes an extremely good point about communication and making sure that children hear about the opportunities available for them, so I will take that point back. I also draw his attention to the recent announcement that the Community Emergency Fund has been increased from £20 million to £35 million; that supports just the sorts of organisations to which he refers.

Charitable and Voluntary Sector

Lord Addington Excerpts

Thursday 30th April 2020 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Addington]

That the Virtual Proceedings do consider the fundraising and organisational challenges faced by the charitable and voluntary sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Motion was considered in a Virtual Proceeding via video call.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, it is a great honour to lead a debate that has been so oversubscribed. I say a tremendous thank you to everybody who put their name down, and an even bigger one to all those who tried and failed. It is a pity that we could not find slightly longer for this, but I trust that the Whips’ Office, et cetera, will be able to make sure that we have a chance to discuss other aspects of this subject in the near future.

What inspired me to think about this is the fact that the charitable sector is an incredibly important part of our society. It supports virtually all aspects of things that we do and is a very big unit unto itself. If the Library’s briefing is to be believed, and it normally is, 870,000 people work in the field. It had an income in 2017 of something like £17 billion-plus and is approaching 1% of gross domestic product. That is a big area of activity. Virtually all aspects of life have a charitable input into them. Education, care, support, social activity, the arts and sport are all covered and interact with it in certain ways, as do virtually all commercial activities. This is something we must take seriously and pay attention to, not only during the crisis but as we exit it. Everything I will say here is based on the assumption that this will end at some point.

Today has been what I describe as a blue day for news—we have had good news that possibly a treatment is out there. The red days are when we hear about things that are not going so well; but we are on a blue day today, so let us be hopeful that this situation will end. Until it does, we must bear in mind that there is a huge amount of pressure on this important sector. It has been estimated in the Library briefing—to which slight changes have been made—that in 12 weeks of lockdown it is possible that the voluntary and charitable sector will lose £4 billion. The Government have put in £750 million, which is welcome—and I appreciate that other government measures have also been taken to help—but at the Library’s estimate, this covers only 18.7% of the loss.

We must look at how charitable organisations can survive to meet the needs that will still be there at the end of this period. One reason why I thought this an appropriate subject of debate for the House of Lords is that I do not think there is another group in the country that has as much interaction with, or knowledge of, charities. I do not know how many times we talk about people from the sector who brief us. I draw the attention of the House to my declared interests as president of the British Dyslexia Association and as a trustee of the Atlas Foundation—very different charities covering very different sectors—and I am involved with others as well. All were formed to act on issues that existed before the pandemic and the lockdown occurred. I hope that charities will be there to take on these issues afterwards, but unless we can find ways of supporting them through this they will not be. Without them, we will find ourselves with huge holes in sectors that make life effective and tolerable.

I will give some examples from areas that I know about. The minute that the schools were shut down, the British Dyslexia Association found itself with a huge number of people asking, “How do I support my child at home?” It has had to host online seminars, with huge numbers of people taking part and huge demand for more to come in. This is occurring at a time when the organisation’s income is falling. We could go through many different examples of how and why this kind of thing is occurring. But it is fundamental to charitable activity that you get people together— for example, at a dinner or a sponsored run or walk— and they get other people to give them money. You undertake the thing as a mass group and you hand over the money—great. You also stimulate people to set up standing orders and so on at that time. You make sure they are aware of the projects. You build up publicity to ensure that charitable foundations and suchlike, which are often formed by businesses, pump in a certain amount of money, and that donations will come in from wills drawn up for the end of life when houses are sold and so on. All these activities are either banned by the lockdown or have become much less profitable.

Many charities that have their portfolios invested in the general economy suddenly discover that their investments are reducing in value or dividends are not being paid out. This is doubly true for the charitable foundations. All the money going into these groups to support their work is disappearing or being reduced. This means that we will have a shortfall. Many charities work on the assumption that the money they are raising today will be spent in a certain amount of time. They will have to go to reserves. The whole sector is under enormous pressure—and added to the financial pressures are the individual and unforeseen demands of the crisis. This is all coming together, making it impossible for us to see where we are supposed to go. The longer the lockdown goes on, the worse this situation will get. Charities cannot really plan for their own future; this is beyond their capacity. We must look to the Government to help.

What is in it for government? If people are successfully educated—to go back to the dyslexia charity which I have talked to your Lordships’ House about often—you make sure that people are identified and supported through their education. In the long term, success in education is probably the biggest determinant of success in life: you will be reasonably successful, and you will be able to pay your bills and go forward. If things break down here, you are making sure that oncosts and pressures will affect you later. That is just one example.

Britain’s status overseas is raised by the actions of our charities to help nations that have a less well developed economy than us or have other problems. These charities are under particular pressure. Other charitable operations are taking place now that would not normally be, and the economy is shrinking, so there is going to be a problem, and a point at which we will have to say who gets the money. For the general public, it will probably be the problem in front of them at the time, not something in the future. All charities will be pressurised; they will find themselves curtailed and squeezed at virtually every level. We have to think of better ways of helping and supporting them, to make sure that the functions they have taken on are still there later.

I have some more examples. I have dealt with many autism charities: for instance, I have recently been talking to Autism Hampshire, a small charity that offers supported living and runs a series of care homes for people with autism. If it is not getting a reserve of money in, can it run these homes in future? Will that group be able to function properly? We must always keep our eyes on what happens next; if we do not, getting through this will not bring about results that are beneficial to our society. We need something which means that we can go back to a decent level of civil existence. If we come out of lockdown through a series of staged activities, as seems to be happening in the rest of Europe, we must make sure that we interact with charities as they go through those stages.

Government help is available in various forms, but has the sector been informed about it? Are the Government saying, in sector-by-sector blocks: “Here is the information you need in an easily accessible form”? If they are not, much of it will be wasted.

I have seen this in the past when working with people: “Oh yes, the information’s there. Click once here, go through that site, click twice, then ask for the booklet, and then it comes back to you”. Most people will have given up by that point; in particular, if amateurs are running an organisation, they are not going to follow through to find out what is going on. I have spoken to theatre groups that are running large theatres as charities, with youth wings and professional performers—the whole panoply. If they are under pressure, they have to know where the help is, particularly if staff have been furloughed or lost. You have got to make it as simple as possible. In this situation, the Government have to make the help available as easily available as possible. I hope that when the Minister replies for the Government, she will be able to point out where this has been done, or where it is going to be made simpler still. If the sector does not know where the help is, it might as well not be there.

If this situation continues and there is continued pressure, everything will get a little bit worse and the intervention will have to be more aggressive. We have to make sure that everybody knows there is assistance, or the state will have to start to take over some of these activities. If the state has to do that, there will be greater pressure on budgets all round. Will the Government please make an undertaking that they will assist those groups which take on the work that they have otherwise done? To put it bluntly, if you want more vulnerable people in society, you make sure that they cannot go to a dance group for the over-60s in a local church hall or school. When we go through this process, are we going to make sure that everyone knows when the school will be available and what appropriate groups can go in and act? That is a fundamental part of what is going on.

Such levels of communication will be complicated, but they will be needed. At the moment, the message is “Stay at home”. When we want people to go out, to be active and engaged and do positive things for society and for themselves, we will have to know that that is the message.

As I bring my arguments to a close, I call upon the Government to make sure that information about the infrastructure to help is communicated and emphasised at every point, and made as simple as possible. Without that, we will not be able to access the good will which is undoubtedly there, in most of these sectors, to help us come out of this properly. The organisation and financial structures of charities now will dictate what they can do when this process ends. The Government must take this seriously and address it in future planning. If they do not, I am afraid that much of the good work may be spoiled, and our society will be much weaker and more vulnerable in the future. I thank noble Lords for listening.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Addington]

My Lords, I thank everyone who has taken part in this debate, particularly the Minister for her detailed response. I hope that when the guidance is published, the department will heed my vision that it be easy to understand by non-professionals. I got a smile there, which we do not often get. I think that is a key thing for everybody taking part in this: whatever we do, it will probably not bring us back to where we were, but to get to the best place we must be able to understand what is being done. That was a message I took from everyone in the debate and I hope we can all actually gather together to see that, even if we do not agree that the Government are doing all of what we want, at least what they are doing is done well. Having said that, I thank all noble Lords for taking part and I look forward to the next time we discuss the issues that have been raised here.

Motion agreed.

Olympic and Paralympic Games 2021

Lord Addington Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Addington (LD)]

Does the Minister agree that the success story of British sport in the last couple of decades has been based on certainty and funding? Will she give a guarantee that all programmes, not only the Olympics, will at least have certainty about what they are going to receive so that they can plan properly? The worst thing that could happen is for somebody to have their funding cut or reduced half-way through.

[Baroness Barran]

I absolutely agree with the noble Lord that certainty in funding has been critical to our sporting success. As I mentioned earlier, we are working with all sporting bodies to understand the particular pressures within their sport and what we can do to support them.

Sport England: Female Activity

Lord Addington Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran]

The noble Baroness is quite right that disability can be a barrier to an active life and participation in sport in particular. Sport England is working with health and social care charities on the We Are Undefeatable campaign for those with long-term health conditions, 44% of whom have taken action. In the latest Active Lives survey, the group with the biggest increase in participation were those over 61. I know that there can be many barriers; I met a young woman in Yorkshire on Friday who plays blind cricket for England, and the barrier for her was transport to the station to be able to go and train. Barriers exist in many different shapes and sizes.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, the This Girl Can campaign has shattered stereotypes and changed the way we look at all of this. For that it must be commended and I hope it will continue to get support. Are the Government using this campaign to get out their whole message on public health and information, because they have something here that has worked and is surely applicable to everybody, not just among females and not just in terms of sport?

[Baroness Barran]

The Government have certainly tried to take the learning from this campaign and apply it as widely as possible.