Plurilingual and Intercultural Education

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Like all Members of the House, I have the deepest respect for the courage of very young women in Iran, in particular, and the process they have led. I am sure my colleagues at the Foreign Office are listening to the noble Lord’s comments.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, a knowledge of foreign languages opens doors, particularly for business. What encouragement, in the form of in-service training or financial help, is given to the private sector to work with government in order to ensure that we encourage UK plc to open doors through the use of language?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Obviously, the Government support continuing professional development for people in work—this includes our commitment to a lifelong loan entitlement—so that we as an economy and as workers within that economy can stay agile to the requirements, whether languages or more broadly.

Foreign Languages: Economic Value

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Tuesday 29th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I do not have time to answer the noble Baroness’s question in full, but I remind her that the uptake of French GSCE is slightly up between 2017 and 2021, Spanish is up very substantially from 85,000 students to 109,000, and 41,000 participants in the Turing scheme, 48% from disadvantaged backgrounds, have been allocated funding this year.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that a diplomat or business person trying to negotiate in a foreign language which they have not mastered can be dangerous, but nevertheless a basic knowledge of the language can ease the path to good negotiation?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I absolutely agree with the noble Lord. Indeed, returning to diplomats, more than 70% of FCDO staff in speaker slots, which require language skills, now have a valid exam pass in their target language compared to 39% in 2015.

Capita: Turing Scheme Contract

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Thursday 27th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

Capita may have been the lowest cost, but what experience does it have of higher education and international student exchange? How many fewer students do the Government expect to go to the EU as a result of this change from the Erasmus scheme? In addition to that, should we not see this in the context of the Government seeking to reduce ties with the EU?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Capita is administering the grants in relation to the scheme, and it has huge experience of that. It works with 21,000 schools, with almost all local authorities and closely with the Department for Education. If I may say so, the scheme is intentionally offering more opportunities to disadvantaged children who want to go to countries where they do not have to speak a foreign language. Over 60% of applications are for outside the EU.

Children in Care

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, I assure the House that this is a priority area for the Government. We committed in our manifesto to a review of the care system, which will cover key issues facing vulnerable children and young people. The Government have invested £5 million from our innovation programme to develop new approaches to care placements. This includes supporting local authorities to increase their capacity in residential care and to improve their commissioning practices.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, what priority is given in the guidance to placing children near their homes?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, it is always a priority to ensure that children are placed as near to their home as possible. However, there are certain circumstances where this is not wise, such as getting them away from the impact of gangs or where there are deep disputes in their family—but the emphasis is very much on keeping them locally. We have two initiatives, Staying Put and Staying Close, which are both aimed at keeping children locally. Staying Close encourages foster parents to keep the children in care beyond the statutory age, and that is starting to work.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Student Work Placements

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, the last question was not just about advice but possible indemnity—insurance if there is any accident. What is the position in respect of that?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, most SMEs have what is called a combined business insurance policy, which includes such things as indemnity limits for public liability. I am therefore comfortable that that would be covered, but that of course would be up to the employer to check.

Schools: Indoctrination

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Tuesday 6th February 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, unfortunately I do not have all that information to hand, but I will of course write to my noble friend.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, when schools close, is there any attempt by the Government to follow up where the students go to see whether they are simply going to other schools that reopen and teach in the same way?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, we introduced some statutory changes to requirements on schools quite recently. It is now a requirement that a school notify the local authority of what are called deletions from the register, whether the parent has formally notified the school of the destination of the child or not. Local authorities are made aware of closing schools in those situations.

Brexit: Gibraltar

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, this is an admirable report, which sets out the key challenges facing Gibraltar after Brexit. The Government of Gibraltar recognise the complexity of the issue and call for a measured, multifaceted and indeed nuanced response. I will make but three observations.

First, any deal following Brexit will carry more risks and be less advantageous for Gibraltar than the status quo—hence the negotiations, in essence, will be about damage limitation. We have, as the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, stated, a moral responsibility: 96% of the people of Gibraltar voted to remain, and I am puzzled that certain Brexiteers such as Farage, who claim to be Commonwealth men, seem to indicate that they know the interests of Gibraltar better than the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, and the Deputy Chief Minister. What are the current benefits to Gibraltar, which led to such an overwhelming vote? The UK, as an insider, is its advocate in Brussels and of course in New York; in addition, UKRep is its eyes and ears in Brussels, placating at an early stage proposals which might harm the interests of Gibraltar. Clearly, these two roles will no longer be possible, at least to the current extent, when we are outsiders.

Secondly, what then are the principles on which we should embark on negotiations? Clearly, we have to listen very carefully to the concerns of Gibraltar over the single market, financial services and the border, and keep its Government wholly in touch with developments. To this end, the proposed joint ministerial council must help. We must also make crystal clear to our Spanish colleagues, with whom we otherwise have excellent bilateral relations, that there is no point in their seeking to make life more difficult for Gibraltarians after Brexit, as El País appears to suggest. Indeed, any such action would be counterproductive, as there is no question of the British Government countenancing a change without the agreement of Gibraltar. We also have to ascertain which EU benefits Gibraltar is likely to lose and consider ways and means of replacing them after Brexit. We should also stress the social and economic benefits to both Spain and Gibraltar of a frictionless border and be ready flexibly to search for new structures to facilitate future co-operation.

Thirdly, what are the prospects after Brexit? Who knows the likely spirit of our negotiations with our partners in the European Union? The Prime Minister’s priority is immigration, which is not relevant to Gibraltar, but not the single market, which is. Our aims and interests are best served if we seek to improve our bilateral relationship with Spain, emphasising the mutuality of interest. The heading of the final chapter of the report carries the warning to all of us: “An uncertain future”.

Higher Education and Research Bill

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 9th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Smith of Finsbury]

I take the point from the noble Lord, Lord Judd. However, I think that it would be important for the avoidance of doubt to ensure that there can be no doubt about the ability of a very focused university, concentrating on a particular range of subjects or type of subject, none the less to stand tall and clear as an accepted university. Laying aside the point about “must” and “extensive range”, the whole thrust of this amendment and the principles behind it are absolutely in the right direction. For heaven’s sake, let us put this into the Bill and then set about making one or two adjustments at a subsequent stage of our discussions to get it specifically right. The broad principles enshrined in the amendment are absolutely the right ones that we need to focus on. I make two observations in relation to that.

First, academic freedom and autonomy is not a luxury for a university; it is part and parcel of what a university is. It is rightly said that a university does not teach people what to think but how to think, and that happens through debate, discourse, discussion, research and the contestability of ideas. It arises from a clash of minds and, above all, from no one in a university being told by anyone—government or anyone else—what to think. Secondly, in the ghastly jargon of the age, we are, I fear, living in a post-truth society. Universities, par excellence, are about truth and evidence. They are about making sure that we pay attention to knowledge and reality. I particularly like the phrase in Amendment 1 about,

“the pursuit, dissemination, and application of knowledge”,

because a university absolutely has to do that: pursue knowledge and research, attend to it and discuss it, test it, then disseminate and apply it. It has a duty to its students, to itself as a research community and to wider society. This amendment gets it broadly right. It does not have every single word right, but let us put it in the Bill and then make it even better when we come to further stages of discussion.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, my declaration is simple: I am not a vice-chancellor, a chancellor or a master of a college but I join in the paean of praise for much of what is done in our universities today and I share many of the concerns.

If one seeks to define the open society, surely the role and status of a university in that society would be an essential part of it. Having lived for some years in a totalitarian society when I served behind the Iron Curtain in the 1960s, I saw the pressures on those universities, and I think there is a great danger that we take for granted the freedoms which we enjoy in our own university system.

Brexit: UK Universities

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I certainly recognise that a degree of anxiety is arising from the universities and research community, which is understandable. Perhaps I can give some reassurance that since the referendum result was received, the Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson, issued an initial statement as early as 29 June and has talked to many academic institutions and stakeholders about their concerns. Both the Government and the Student Loans Company took immediate steps to publish information for students and the wider higher education sector on their websites, which included information on EU nationals and student finance in England, and a focus on EU student and staff status.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, at a meeting in the House yesterday, we heard from an academic from Southampton University—one of the Russell group—that a number of senior colleagues who are EU nationals had received emails inviting them to return home to their countries. Unless the uncertainty is cleared up soon, is there not a danger that we shall lose a degree of quality in our universities?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

That is certainly one of the concerns that has arisen, and it is why the Minister has acted quickly to attempt to reassure the sector. It is essential that we move quickly to reassure all those who are based here, because it is incredibly important for the UK economy that we have skilled staff and that we have students studying here, because they provide a lot of revenue for the UK.

Education Bill

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Northbourne]

My Lords, perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, can help me. In his speech he mentioned the universal values that are common to mankind, and also the moral values of our civilisation. Can he tell me where I can find those values set down clearly? This is a very relevant issue. The various revealed religions of the world set out a set of values, whether you like them or not. I have been trying to find a clear definition of the responsibilities of parenthood. I cannot find it.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea]

My Lords, I, too, apologise for arriving late through inadvertence. I adopt everything that my noble friend Lord Touhig and the right reverend Prelate said. I say to my noble friend Lady Whitaker that it is not the teaching of one faith but of the faith that has run like a thread through our history, literature and language. To deprive our children of what may be their only opportunity to learn about that faith—

[Baroness Whitaker]

I agree with everything that my noble friend says. I have nothing against the teaching of faith. My remarks were directed solely at an act of worship.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea]

Perhaps I misunderstood my noble friend. I thought I heard her refer to the teaching of “one faith” as if it were just one among many. Surely the key point is that it is essential for us as British people to learn about our civilisation and history and about the intertwining of the religion that has been sometimes a cause of internecine conflict but always of late something that promotes tolerance and makes us perhaps some of the most tolerant peoples in the world. I hope that it will be recognised by the House that if children were to be deprived of what may be their only opportunity to learn an essential part of their history and of their very being as British people, it would be a very sad day.

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

I do not know why my noble friend repeats the story that we are trying to stop people understanding the background, history and traditions of this country. Nothing is further from the truth. We are saying that of course one should be able to teach all faiths at any time; we have no problem with that. However, we should not insist on collective worship from which some people are excluded.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Anderson of Swansea]

Are there precedents for a majority of parents asking that there be no collective act of worship?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I am afraid that I do not know specific figures. I understand that overall there appear to be few cases of parents triggering such a thing. If we have better particulars I will send them to the noble Lord.

Parents can withdraw their children from collective worship if they wish to do so. Sixth-form pupils, as we have discussed, have this right. We think that the balance in allowing sixth-formers to decide for themselves whether to attend in line with their increasing maturity and independence is about right. We think that parents should be able to exercise those rights on behalf of children of compulsory school age. We would expect that, in exercising this right, parents would take their child’s views into account.

It is a sensitive area in which schools have to balance the rights of parents to have their children educated according to their religious or philosophical belief and those of children who have the right to manifest their own religious belief. They also have the right to express their views on matters that affect them. In practice, we think that schools are able to balance those competing rights and we would expect both parents and schools to take account of the views of children in making such decisions. We believe that schools can and do use the current system for collective worship to make provision for a variety of different perspectives. The situation we have arrived at, which I recognise is unsatisfactory to my noble friend Lord Avebury, is one that successive Governments have considered fair and flexible, and this Government continue to take that view. With that, I hope that my noble friend Lord Avebury will feel able to withdraw his amendment.