Cultural and Education Exchanges

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Alderdice (LD) [V]]

The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and other colleagues have clearly laid out the risks of our young people, especially artists and students, being disadvantaged by the loss of the Erasmus scheme and the difficulties in accessing work and travel visas. I declare my interests at Oxford University, as noted in the register.

However, it is not the particular needs of students and the issues relating to the replacement Turing scheme to which I wish to refer. Before Brexit and Covid, there was already a widespread move away from international and cross-cultural engagement towards nationalism and what one might call community introversion. Like many other problems, this has been exacerbated and accelerated by the pandemic, not only because of the difficulties of travelling but because, when faced with the anxiety created by the risks of travel and engagement with others we do not know well, turning back towards known people, places and activities is only natural.

We cannot therefore assume that, in the post-pandemic era, people will naturally create, or even take up, opportunities to engage with other communities, countries and cultures, despite it being hugely enriching and maturing. We will need to provide extra encouragement and facilities for young people to engage with those in other countries.

There are already networks that could facilitate this with those young people less likely to go to university. I am referring to international networks associated with faith communities—among Christian communities, the Scouting and Guiding movements, the Boys’ Brigade, the Girls Brigade and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme—and those organisations of other faith communities. My early experience of other cultures came through such networks, and the value and connections were maintained long after the visits. They are inexpensive because accommodation is often provided by families associated with the organisations. Can the Minister advise us whether the Government are prepared to consider including such approaches to enable our young people to expand their cultural awareness and experience?

Covid-19: Children

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Thursday 17th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lady Thornton. I congratulate and commend my noble friend Lady Morris of Yardley on her well-argued and well-documented speech, and I wish her and my noble friend from the other place who is now here, the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, very happy birthdays.

This is a timely debate, considering the levels of deprivation and poverty throughout many parts of the UK, which have deepened, and considering that lives have become tougher for many people as a result of the pandemic, not least those of children and young people. They have had to do their schoolwork, their play and recreation in totally different ways. Lest we be in any doubt, young people and children depend on social interaction, whether in their family, their community or with their friends. In the last 14 months, that has been sadly lacking for many young people.

Young people have been affected greatly, particularly regarding education, health and ever-expanding inequality. I want to focus on health, well-being and the needs of young people and children, and to ascertain from the Minister how the Government will address the requirements of this group. If the Government are serious about levelling up, in the context of Northern Ireland, where waiting lists for various types of health appointments, and waiting lists generally, are much higher than in other parts of the UK, there needs to be a UK-wide strategy for young people in order to deal with those waiting lists and in particular illnesses in the mental health sphere, and to ensure that we can all deal with those issues on that UK-wide basis.

Throughout the course of this pandemic, young people have seen, on average, a generally declining state of happiness as they have experienced greater negative impacts on their mental health and well-being—a point that has already been referenced by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton. That is perhaps because of that increased amount of isolation and lack of social interaction. This also seems to be having an on-average higher impact on females, those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs or pre-existing mental health needs.

As already referenced, YoungMinds conducted a survey on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of young people aged 13-25 who had, at some point in their lives, reached out for mental health support. The survey of 2,438 young people found that: 75% found the most recent lockdown harder to cope with; 67% thought the pandemic would have long-term negative effects on their mental health; and 79% believed their mental health would start to improve once the restrictions were lifted. We know that things are more complex and complicated than that. The Government should be focused on reviewing, building up and reforming the mental health support available in schools. I do not believe what we currently have is capable of handling a rebuilding of young people’s mental health.

In conclusion, the Government have a responsibility to ensure that private local mental health charities that people depend on survive the economic hardships of the pandemic. Could the Minister indicate what assistance and support the Government will give them to do just that? I am in no doubt that the Government should be focused on ensuring the building up of local mental health charities and support groups, as local groups have a better ability to assess and understand the case-by-case situation of young people struggling with mental health.

I look forward to the Minister’s answers on these issues.

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

The noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Razzall (LD) [V]]

My Lords, it is no surprise that there are a number of key omissions from the gracious Speech. We all have our favourites. First, where are the detailed proposals to level up? The Tories won the election in 2019 and did well last week because the electorate believed that they had a plan to turn this slogan into action. Why do we have to wait until later this year to discover what that plan is?

Secondly, as other Members have said, why have the Government’s proposals for social care been reduced to one sentence?

“Proposals on social care … will be brought forward”,


the speech says. We have been many times through the history of the majority Tory Government since 2015, ducking the implementation of the Dilnot recommendations from 2009. As other speakers reminded us, the Prime Minister said in 2019 that he had a detailed plan for social care. Where is it? Is it that he is frightened by the reaction to Theresa May’s proposals in the 2017 election campaign?

Thirdly, there is no reference to what steps will be taken to ameliorate the effect of Brexit. Where are the sunlit uplands promised in the referendum campaign? Both the Bank of England and the OBR expect negative long-term effects on the UK economy from the trade deal signed with the EU; the Bank estimates that, in the long term, UK trade will be 10.5% lower and GDP and productivity 3.25% lower than with frictionless trade. Of course, it is SMEs who are the worst hit.

I have given examples in the past of businesses seriously damaged by the effect of the trade deal, such as the SME selling second-hand combine harvesters, which has to pay inspectors to produce complex certificates for the machines, causing significant cost and delay. There is also the bike manufacturer struggling to cope with different VAT regimes across 27 countries; the Scotch whisky producers with labelling requirements that often require small companies to set up a distribution company in Europe, significantly reducing profit; and the Nottingham company—it makes synthetic hairpieces for cancer patients—whose essential just-in-time supply chain in Germany has now collapsed. These examples are not indicative of the teething troubles that the Government talk about. They are examples of real damage that Brexit has done to many SMEs without any apparent economic advantage.

As the noble Lord, Lord Bridges, told us, the major omission from the gracious Speech is any reference to a credible fiscal framework to ensure the smooth reduction of the gigantic government debt, now in excess of £2 trillion, albeit with a significant proportion held by the Bank of England. A recent report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, with participation from the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, and Lord Darling, has five key recommendations. First, the date of fiscal events such as the Budget should be fixed well in advance, not decided on the whim of the Government, and should be subject to greater parliamentary scrutiny. Secondly, the OBR should publish reports ahead of these events, addressing key issues and numbers, not just giving them privately to the Treasury. Thirdly, the Chancellor should outline fundamental fiscal choices under different scenarios to be assessed by the OBR—

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

We will move on as the noble Lord has lost his connection. I call the noble Lord, Lord Lucas.

Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the support of both noble Lords. We are all waiting with bated breath for next Monday when our children can return to school—I am sure that many parents are as well. I join the noble Lord, Lord Storey, in paying tribute to the staff who have worked tirelessly during this period.

Unfortunately, the new variant at Christmas took us all by surprise with its speed. The levels of community transmission meant that we had to shut down schools for the second time. It was made clear to staff that exams were cancelled and that teacher assessments would be the way ahead, so certainty was given at that point. This is a genuinely robust proposal. As noble Lords will be aware, we had to consult. Ofqual and the DfE put out a joint consultation. There were more than 100,000 responses—maybe the largest ever—the majority of which were from students. It is good that they were obviously interested enough to put forward their views.

Teachers will have been getting on with teaching as much of the curriculum as possible. Whether students are to be assessed by examination or by their teachers, that curriculum has to be taught to those children. There has been no confusion among teachers that that has been their job by way of remote education for the majority of students.

By Easter, the exam boards will issue their guidance. Departmental guidance was issued on the same day as this Statement, so some information is already available about the list of materials and evidence on which teachers can rely in order to assess grades. Grades will be assessed on evidence. There will be both internal and external quality assurance. Internally, the head teacher will have to sign a declaration that they have acted in accordance with the guidance and instructions given by the exam board. There will shortly be a consultation on what should be in that declaration. We are relying on the professionalism of head teachers as to how grades will be assessed within their school.

Externally, the exam boards will be able to inspect a school where they have concerns about the way in which grades are awarded to students. As the noble Lord, Lord Storey, said, this will be random, but it will also be risk-assessed. It has been made clear to schools that a significant misalignment with historical data could be a reason for a school falling within the Ofqual risk profile for assessment. Obviously, we are trying not to peg it to historical data, because certain institutions are improving, but we are making it clear to schools that such data are relevant, though not determinative.

The noble Lord is correct. We need to make sure that we communicate clearly to parents and children that teachers are assessing grades, and grades are awarded by the examination boards. Students will not pay for appeals. An appeal to a school will be of an administrative type. For instance, a child might say, “I’ve got this grade, but have you really taken into account all that assessed artwork that I did?” That kind of appeal is based on process. The examination board comes in if there is a substantive appeal. That is the appropriate boundary between schools and examination boards.

Regarding timing, teachers have until 18 June, so they will get the materials by the end of spring term. They will have to put their assessed grades in by 18 June, and the results dates are 10 and 12 August. That should allow time—we are talking of higher education providers in particular—for any appeals to be put forward, hopefully without prejudicing the transition to the next stage. I just want to pay tribute to the work of Sir Jon Coles, both for the department and for Ofqual. His departure is a matter for himself and Ofqual.

This is an important reassurance on testing, for parents, teachers and students: yes, we are providing support, and have been for the last half term, for the costs of the tests and administering them on school premises. That arrangement will continue. Those schools that applied for expenditure on the basis of full reopening, and have not had to spend that money, can reclaim that cost through, I believe, the NHS Test and Trace service.

It is envisaged that the independent training providers, which will receive tests to do home testing along with everybody else, will use the community testing facilities for that three-week period. As I am sure most noble Lords will know, many local authorities have provided access to asymptomatic community testing sites for those three weeks until they join up with the remote testing system.

Teachers will be assessing, and content will have been taught to, all cohorts—there is no minimum level—such that every student will be able to be assessed with a grade, and students will be assessed on what they have been taught.

In response to the noble Lord, Lord Storey, yes, we do trust head teachers to assess these grades, and they have welcomed the guidance. Over this period, the department has had to issue guidance to schools about how to make schools safer for pupils in line with PHE guidance on bubbles, ventilation, sanitation, et cetera.

For the reasons outlined by the noble Lord, Lord Storey, the national tutoring programme has been extended to the 16 to 19 year-old cohort. The laptop provisions we outlined have been extended to FE colleges as well. Many have been buying those through the bursary fund, but they can now access the central allocation. Also, £102 million has been allocated to tuition for 16 to 19 year-olds for this academic year. Funds are up on last year because of the expected increase in the size of the cohort. So we do have a rigorous plan.

Mental health and well-being have always featured as part of the guidance, and there has been funding for mental health and well-being in return to education, so there are experienced professionals to advise schools. I can assure noble Lords that there will be no performance tables this year. As I have outlined for the noble Lord, Lord Storey, there will be both internal and external quality assurances—by the school and by the exam board.

Finally, private candidates were one of the cohorts particularly affected last year. We consulted on that, and there will be a number of assessment centres. A list will be put up soon. Multi-academy trusts have volunteered to assess private candidates, so private candidates can look at a list. We are assisting with the cost of this. Private candidates can go to an assessment centre and ask to be assessed on the same basis as for a teacher-assessed grade. Obviously, there are separate lists of materials et cetera for those students. Assessment can be done remotely, so a private candidate is not limited to the provision in their town, which might happen not to include an assessment centre. So we are confident that the method we have outlined will put the assessment of private candidates on a par with that of pupils who are within an exam centre. I am also pleased to say we have this year managed to find a way to get those private candidates who were affected last year assessed. I am just grateful to know, as I am sure we all are, that this time next week school will just be finishing for everybody.

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

We now come to the 30 minutes allocated for Back-Bench questions. I ask that questions and answers be brief so that I can call the maximum number of speakers.

Schools: Online Learning

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con) [V]]

The instruction given to schools on the amount of remote education also included that teachers were to monitor whether children were engaging with that education. It is not possible for the department to collect that kind of granular data on a day-to-day basis. Teachers are in front of the students virtually and we put the obligation on them to monitor that. If they were aware that children were not engaging remotely, they had the ability to bring them into school as a vulnerable child.

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

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. I am sorry that Members, both remotely and in the Chamber, were not able to be reached.

Schools: Disadvantaged Pupils

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge [V]]

My Lords, I can assure noble Lords that there are regular meetings across the four nations, both at ministerial and official level. We are concerned to ensure that the mental health of students is taken into account; the guidance on safeguarding has been updated specifically in relation to that. I make it clear to noble Lords that the £650 million will be given to schools because we know that schools know their students best. They will be able to use that funding for increased mental health support if they are not among the 59 schools that currently have a mental health support team. They can prioritise what their students need most to enable them to catch up educationally; that, of course, will involve recognising that students need good levels of well-being to access the curriculum.

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

I call the noble Lord, Lord Baker of Dorking. No? Then I call the noble Baroness, Lady Bull.

[Baroness Bull (CB) [V]]

My Lords, UK household longitudinal study data shows that, in addition to the disparities in provision during lockdown between affluent and disadvantaged, private and state education, and the digital divide, there are significant regional disparities. Children in the north-east were particularly poorly served: 28% of pupils in the south-east received at least four pieces of online schoolwork each day, in the north-east this figure was just 9%. Can the Minister tell us what explanation the Government have for these regional differences and what steps they are taking to address them?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Berridge [V]]

My Lords, the £1 billion package that has been announced is focused on schools. As I have outlined, there will be further support for the further education sector, but that sector is also involved with apprenticeship training; the Government have been clear that there will be guarantees to ensure that businesses can take on new apprentices, with a particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises. There has been financial support to those providers, in addition to the further education sector which provides training for them. We have very clearly recognised that these young people are particularly vulnerable, and for those 15 year-olds who are in an AP setting, there is a specific sum of money to avoid them becoming not in education or training at this time.

[The Deputy Speaker]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Trade Bill

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Report: 2nd sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 13th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, my name is also on this amendment and I echo every word of the excellent speeches from the noble Lords, Lord Hain, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard and Lord Bruce of Bennachie, and the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames. We have an international obligation. We have signed the Belfast agreement—a long-standing, deep and binding international agreement—and somehow it seems to have been forgotten or overlooked in the frenzy of focus on some kind of “pure Brexit”, as it is called. The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames, called this the “hidden element”. It has become frighteningly clear that the Brexiteers did not understand Brexit properly. They imposed impossible and inconsistent red lines which have left us in the position we are now.

While the economics imply that staying in the customs union and single market will protect frictionless borders and supply chains and our manufacturing industry and services, it makes us a rule taker, and forces us to have some connection with the ECJ. On the political side, this has led to the drive towards dropping the backstop, as if it was a problem we should not care about—actually, we should care about it deeply—or even considering no deal, which clearly leaves Northern Ireland high and dry.

Leaving the customs union and single market cannot support an open border. Nor can no deal, or Canada-plus-plus. It saddens me that so many of our colleagues on these Benches are willing to countenance playing fast and loose with the hard-won peace achieved in Northern Ireland, for the sake of some kind of trading advantage which may or may not occur. I appeal to my colleagues on the Front Bench, and to my fellow Peers on the Conservative and Democratic Unionist Party Benches alongside me, to accept this amendment. It has already been accepted as part of the withdrawal Act. Surely we cannot, and must not, abandon the frictionless border in Northern Ireland, or cut Northern Ireland off from the rest of the UK.

[Lord Alderdice (LD)]

My Lords, I want to address something in this amendment that is important, but which has not been picked up so far. In saying so, I support the amendment, which proposes to support the Good Friday agreement. People tend to think of that in terms of the structures within Northern Ireland and between north and south. However, a key part of the agreement was the arrangement of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. For 10 years, it did not meet. The British and Irish Governments were in default of the Good Friday agreement for a decade. The European Union supported the Good Friday agreement, as did our friends in the United States.

In the context of the Good Friday agreement and addressing our difficulties, the suggestion that Ireland should be with the 27 countries which are negotiating with the UK, or having negotiations on their behalf, actually ignores the Good Friday agreement. If Britain and Ireland were not fulfilling it, the European Union should have been pushing the British and Irish Governments to come together to reach agreements that they could bring to Brussels together. There have been suggestions that this would be a breach of European Union understandings; it would not. However, not doing it is a breach of the Good Friday agreement.

If the British and Irish Governments have already agreed, or would agree over the next few months, on the main north-south economic and transport issues—agriculture, agri-food business and electricity—and agree that they would approach Brussels and request that these issues be dealt with on an all-Ireland basis, because they already largely are, it is highly likely that Brussels would accept that, whatever the other issues. It would not require a backstop; it would be a frontloading. The key thing is that the British and Irish Governments need to work together on this. That is what the last clause in the amendment says. In some ways, this ought to be the first clause, and the first stop, not a backstop: that the Governments come together and propose something.

People have repeatedly said that it is not appropriate for Ireland and the United Kingdom to negotiate together, because this is something between the UK and the EU as a whole. However, that simply does not work if people believe that they and the EU support the Good Friday agreement, which requires and mandates direct negotiations between London and Dublin on all joint issues. This has not been happening and I appeal to the Minister, as I appeal to Ministers in the Republic of Ireland, to come together on this issue. Ireland should be a bridge between the UK and the EU, not a bulwark for the EU against the UK.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend, who speaks with great authority on this issue. In following him, I will use one example to highlight the importance of this amendment in maintaining the spirit and including the contents of the agreement. I use the example of today’s announcements on the proposed tariffs that may be applied on a no-deal Brexit and the Written Ministerial Statement on how that will impact on the Northern Ireland border, already referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Kerr. I was grateful for an opportunity to have a conversation with the Minister about this today.

The proposals for the tariff regime, which would be an increase of 489 tariff lines on goods from the European Union and would have to have some form of mechanism across the border of Northern Ireland, need to be seen in the context of operating within a year. This is not simply an emergency or temporary proposal, and a year is a long time in the context of some of the statistics referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Hain. There were 46 million vehicle crossings at the 15 Northern Ireland border locations in the last year, according to the Northern Ireland statistics agency—3.8 million of those were goods vehicles, nearly three-quarters of deliveries involve small businesses, and two thirds of cross-border trade is bilateral agri-food and intermediate trade. That means these are small businesses—as already referred to, 80% are low-value—and often individual businesses trading on a self-employed basis, but every one of those people will have to be registered with an economic operator’s index number, or EORI. Only one-sixth of all businesses have so far registered, so the system, even as published today, is not operable, but new processes and procedures have to be carried out. The Government are giving no advice to Northern Ireland businesses on that. They believe a unilateral action, against the spirit of the Good Friday agreement and the spirit of an all-island economy, is the way forward.

How can it be a unilateral approach if tariffs will not be applied to goods coming from Ireland, but will subsequently be applied if those goods are part of intermediate trade with Great Britain? Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was asked at lunchtime where the checks would be carried out. She said that she believed it would be at “a border in the UK”. This is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury today. What does that mean? If one is tolerant, one may forgive her not knowing the terminology of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, but that is unforgivable, given that she said she will vote for a no-deal Brexit in the other place this evening. What kind of consultation is being carried out, not just with the Irish Government—which, as my noble friend indicated, is urgent—but with businesses on both sides of the border that will be operating?

Linked with the long-term basis is the fact that the unilateral approach is not WTO-compliant, unless the Government trigger one element in WTO processes on public morals. There are some dispensations that can be provided, in extremis, on the basis of public morals that can set aside a system where we will not apply tariffs from one country, if we have no intention of applying them to the rest of the world. It would be a retrograde step if the Government activated a public morals clause at the WTO on a situation as delicate as that on the Northern Ireland border. The Government are setting aside security and border integrity as the basis of the unilateral no-deal proposal. The Government should see sense and support this amendment, because it provides the framework for these consultations to be carried out.