General Elections: Party-political Spending
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn(12 months ago)
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Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the Government have no plans to limit the size of donations made. We have procedures in place to ensure that there is transparency over those donations and, as we are discussing today, spending limits for candidates and parties in elections. That is how we govern the use of money in our political system.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, I hope that the House and the Minister will forgive me for asking a tangential question. Is it not time that the Government restored the special fund that put those with disabilities on an equal footing in campaigning in a general election?
Baroness Penn (Con)
I hope that the noble Lord will forgive me for acknowledging that it is a slightly tangential question; I may need to write to him with a fuller answer. I remember the establishment of the fund; it was established for very good reasons, so I am happy to take that away and look at it further.
Bank Accounts
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the Government have taken an interest in this issue, which is why we issued a call for evidence earlier this year that covered freedom of speech and bank account closure. That is the right avenue through which the Government should seek to address this issue, rather than through their shareholding in a particular bank.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, I am fully in favour of the Government protecting the rights of the “Coutts one”, as they should be protecting the rights of the 1 million who cannot get a bank account. But is it not perverse, on the day that the Prime Minister has rightly apologised for the egregious treatment of LGBT people in the Armed Forces, for the Home Secretary to widen this debate into a full-frontal attack on equality, diversity and inclusion? Is that not totally unacceptable as well?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I think the point we can all agree on is that the right to lawful freedom of speech is fundamental. Where that has been seen to be brought into question through the provision of services, we have cause to worry.
Banks: Closures and Shared Banking Hubs
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Penn (Con)
I absolutely commend building societies and all businesses that have a commitment to local communities and are thinking about how they can make their services as accessible as possible. There are many different routes to ensuring accessibility. We should focus on the outcome for the customer and embrace the different routes that this can be delivered by.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, the bigger the profit, the less customer service there is. This has happened over the last decade. There are still some banks pretending that they are disabled by Covid and that is why you cannot get through on the phone, and the local branch is closed so you cannot actually talk to anyone. Will the Minister ask the banks to start putting the customer first and ensure that there are facilities available, not just at the odd hub but in local communities, which, in the past, could rely on serious, person-to-person customer service?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, a process has been put in place to allow communities to make the case through LINK for where they need access to further services, and there is a commitment that if something is deemed necessary, it will be implemented. The noble Lord is right that it is essential that the interests of consumers are properly considered in all areas of financial services. There is the new consumer duty, which is due to be implemented later this year and will take forward some of his suggestions.
Cross-Government Cost Cutting
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn(1 year, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Penn (Con)
My noble friend is right: we must ensure that when we undertake these exercises, we really are delivering efficiency and value for money gains, rather than short-term fixes for departments’ budgets that, in the long term, may create other problems. I can reassure him that no figure is attached to the current exercise; it is about working with departments to see where they can find efficiency savings to help them manage the pressures they are under.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree that what she has just said underlines the total failure of the short-term and damaging fixing over the last 12 and a half years?
Baroness Penn (Con)
No, I would not agree with the noble Lord at all. Efficiency savings are something that Governments of all colours have striven to deliver, including in previous comprehensive spending reviews under the Labour Government. It is absolutely right that, when we look at departmental spending, we build in an assumption of improved efficiency and value for money, but also that, at this time of increased inflationary pressures, we put even more work into looking at where we can achieve efficiencies and release savings to be reinvested into those budgets.
Insurance Industry: Travel Premiums
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My condolences too for a very great woman. I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Baroness Penn (Con)
The Government continue to work closely with insurers and the independent regulator to ensure that everyone has access to suitable and affordable insurance. The Financial Conduct Authority requires firms offering retail travel insurance to signpost consumers to a directory of specialist providers if they are declined cover, offered cover with an exclusion or charged a significantly higher premium for the medical coverage element.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, in March 2020 there was an outburst of gross discrimination against people on age grounds that nearly locked people in their own dwellings because they had reached the age of 70. Perhaps the Minister can go back to the Association of British Insurers, which produced a review in 2018, and point out that many of its members are raising exponentially the fees required for cover for people over 70, 75 and 80. Given that only 7% of over-65s claim in any given year, surely it is possible for us to ensure that people who are living longer, fitter and able to travel can do so and have the cover necessary to make that possible.
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, travel insurance is fundamentally designed to cover medical expenses, where age can be a risk factor. The Government do not intend to intervene in commercial decisions made by insurers, as this could damage competition in the market. The new rules that I referred to in my Answer came into place in April 2021—after the example the noble Lord gave. They mean that firms need to signpost consumers to a directory of specialist providers if the medical premium they are being charged is significantly higher than normal. The Government continue to want to promote financial inclusion, and have the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum in place to ensure that they consider all questions around financial inclusion.
School Governing Bodies: Diversity
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I said it was not just a hope and that it is the Government’s intention to achieve that. It is already in place in the majority of trusts. We will work with the sector to find the best way to deliver on that intention.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, that when you reach a certain age you are still in touch with young people and the education service. Will the Minister go back to her colleagues and take a look at whether guidance could be given to the founders of multi-academy trusts about how many of their relatives and close friends should appropriately be trustees?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I believe that the Government provide clear guidance for trusts on their governance arrangements. The Government will always make sure that that is the case.
NHS Test and Trace
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the Innova test has gone through the rigorous Porton Down assessment process that the UK uses for coronavirus testing approved by the MHRA, the independent regulator for medicines and medical devices in the UK. I reassure the noble Lord that there is rigorous assurance work in the lab and in the field to ensure that Innova tests consistently perform to the required standard.
Lord Blunkett (Lab) [V]
My Lords, will the Minister go back to her department and the Department for Education to see whether we can get some consistency in the advice given by directors of public health in relation to sending children home when someone in the year group or the bubble—whatever advice might be given at any time—tests positive? There are some quarter of a million young people out of education today because of the varying advice. It would be good if we could sort this out.
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I assure the noble Lord that I will take up that point with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. We are piloting a programme of daily lateral flow tests as opposed to self-isolation; perhaps that might help avoid such situations in future.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Working Parents and School Closures
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn
Lord Blunkett (Lab) [V]
My Lords, the TUC has highlighted the challenge. Surely the only answer in the short term is to use the February half-term break to vaccinate all teaching and non-teaching staff and get the children back into school. Perhaps the Minister will take that back to her colleagues in Cabinet.
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I am happy to take that back, but as regards the vaccination schedule, we are following the initial first wave set out by the JCVI, which goes by clinical vulnerability and particularly by age. I know that we will consider further waves after that and that we will consider the latest evidence, including on transmission and the impact on workers and public services.
Special Educational Needs
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, we are determined to deliver lasting improvements to the SEND system, taking into account the impact of Covid-19. We remain committed to the cross-government SEND review and intend to publish findings early next spring. The SEND Futures research study is progressing well. The value-for-money feasibility study was published on 5 November and fieldwork for the longitudinal study, which will track the outcomes and experiences of children, is set to commence in March.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
My Lords, before Covid there was a welcome in this House for the capital spend on additional physical places for special educational needs, but a deep worry, which has been reinforced by Ofsted’s most recent report and by the knowledge we have across the country, that young people with special educational needs and disabilities are the ones who have lost out most during the Covid crisis. Surely the Government will now come forward with programmes that will use the existing £350 million for tutoring, but without the charge on schools of having to find a quarter of the cost, which is making it prohibitive in terms of being able to deliver the kind of support that all of us would wish for.
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the Government absolutely recognise that children with special educational needs have been hard hit by the Covid crisis. We are pleased that the vast majority of them are now back in school. I say to the noble Lord that in the other part of that catch-up package—the £650 million to support schools to make up for lost teaching time—specialist settings are getting £240 per funded place in comparison with mainstream schools, which get £80 per pupil. That additional weighting is to reflect the higher costs of specialist settings.
Public Health Restrictions: Government Economic Support
Debate between Lord Blunkett and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I do not want to speculate too much about what may happen months into the future. That seems a long time away from where we are now, given the pace of change. We need to distinguish between the short term, when we must do everything that we can to support the economy while we fight the pandemic, and the medium term, when we will need to get public finances back on a sustainable footing. My honourable friend the Chancellor announced today the work at G20 level of international co-operation for the economic response to this crisis.
Lord Blunkett (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I am on record as being in favour of a local rather than a national fiat in dealing with this pandemic, but since Tuesday, 28 million people are now in either tier 2 or tier 3, and where businesses are not mandated to close, inside and outside of tier 3, they are dying on their feet, because in tier 2 and tier 3, people cannot meet others except for their families outside the home. Surely it is now time to provide a much more comprehensive approach than the Government have managed in this phase so far?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the financial support that the Government provide to businesses is not limited to those in tier 3. We have the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund for those in the arts and the VAT cut to 5% for those in hospitality, and we have billions of pounds in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. In the Winter Economy Plan we said that we would extend the terms of those loans to halve monthly repayments for most of those who take them out, and of course, there will be no repayments and no interest for the first year while businesses struggle with their cash flow.