Children: Impact of International Conflict

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay of St Johns, for securing this debate, for her excellent and informed opening remarks and for her service as a parliamentarian and a Minister. If I may, in anticipation of the next speaker, I want also to thank the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, for his service. He is admired, respected and trusted by all and, for more than a decade, has been our best diplomat.

I start with the obvious: this Question is not one that should excite partisan disagreement. The situation for children in conflict is, by almost any objective metric, worsening. Since 2021, one in five children are living in a conflict zone, as we have heard—a 2.8% increase. Save the Children reports a 13% increase in grave violations against children since 2021, with 76 now each day. Most concerningly, we have seen an increase of 20% in the number of children recruited by armed forces and militias.

These figures are indicative at best. There are obvious inherent challenges in reporting and verification, which makes it likely that the figures, while the best available, do not adequately reflect reality. Indeed, the United Nations has conceded that, in far too many instances, age disaggregation does not form part of the statistical methodology. In November, the UN published a discussion paper that sought to disentangle the three-cornered relationship between climate change, conflict and the erosion of children’s rights. It quotes the Secretary-General’s special representative on violence against children:

“The cumulative shocks of the climate crisis are exacerbating pre-existing crises … and … aggravating the risk factors … such as poverty, economic and social inequalities, food insecurity and forced displacement”.


Of course, Russian aggression against Ukraine and the ongoing horrors in Gaza monopolise public attention, but many of the conflicts where children are most acutely affected are happening away from the gaze of the public—at least, that of the western public. Conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Mozambique have seen observable interaction between climate change, the fracturing of food security, conflict and the recruitment of children to militia groups.

However, although climate change and the consequent climate-related stressors exacerbate the effects of conflict, many of the patterns of behaviour that lead to violations of children’s rights are dismally familiar. It was as long ago as 1996 when the UN mandate on children and armed conflict was created. It was 1999 when Resolution 1261 was passed, prioritising the protection, welfare and rights of children and efforts to promote peace and security. Since then, a further 12 resolutions designed to strengthen child protection in this area have been passed. Supranational efforts are limited in what they can achieve; it is at the national level that responsibility for the prevention of violence against children must begin.

In the cross-party spirit of today’s proceedings, I commend both the previous Government, for committing to developing a new strategy specifically aimed at helping children in conflict, and the new Government, for pledging in the King’s Speech to continue that work. I look forward to joining colleagues across your Lordships’ House to ensure that that work is concluded as soon as possible and brought forward for our consideration.

Housing: Section 21 Evictions

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Tuesday 20th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right that the vast majority of landlords do a great job. The availability of private rented accommodation is a really important part of our property sector. We are bringing forward other measures in the Bill that will focus on standards and targeting enforcement of them. There will be a new private rented sector ombudsman and a new decent homes standard for the private rented sector. The majority of people will already comply with that, and we will focus our efforts and enforcement on that minority.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

Does the Minister think that increased taxation and rising interest rates have had any effect on why private landlords are giving up and selling off their properties? She has not mentioned that at all.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, the Question was about our plans to bring forward the end of Section 21 evictions. The noble Lord is absolutely right that there are a number of different dynamics in the property market that are affecting buy-to-let landlords and housebuilders. We keep them under regular review, alongside industry, to make sure there are plans to reform the sector and increase housing supply to stay on track to deliver what people need.

International Women’s Day

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Friday 10th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure—if a somewhat daunting pleasure—to participate in this International Women’s Day debate. I confess that, when I looked at the list of speakers this morning, I consoled myself that at least I would not be the first man, so, as it were, someone else would have to break the ice—or perhaps I should say the glass ceiling—of this debate, but it now falls to me to do that. It is a privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin, and so many other excellent speeches from women who are all inspirational role models, in my view. They are all women whom I admire.

It was a singular privilege to be present personally when the noble Baroness, Lady Lampard, made her maiden speech. I am personally very grateful to her for spending so much of her time talking about gambling harm, which is an issue that I am very much in favour of Parliament and the Government addressing. I look forward eagerly to her further contributions on that and on other important subjects. She has and deserves the ear of your Lordships’ House.

The sub-theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is to highlight the importance of gender equity in the sphere of transformative and digital technology, and that is the space I want to speak from. Last year, the NHS celebrated the vital role that hundreds of thousands of women played in the pandemic. As we reflect on the fact that about 77% of NHS staff are women, we must also pause to honour the prominent role that female scientists have played throughout the pandemic, and especially in developing an effective vaccine against Covid-19.

Women make up only 30% of the world’s researchers. Despite this statistic, the work of many female scientists has been instrumental in developing effective vaccines. I cannot pay tribute to them all, but I will refer to a few. Professor Sarah Gilbert was an integral part of the team that designed the platform that underpins the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Dr Katalin Karikó, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania, made synthetic mRNA a possibility for Covid-19 vaccines. Dr Kizzmekia Corbett, along with colleagues at the NIH, was instrumental in the development of that mRNA vaccine by Moderna.

Like some other noble Lords, I had the privilege on Wednesday night of hearing Professor Sharon Peacock deliver a Lord Speaker’s lecture in which she outlined the role that she—and other inspirational women—played in our response to the pandemic. While her account of the challenges she faced as chair of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium was both searching and lucid, I and others were struck by the description of her route into science. She left school at 16, attended night school to redo her GCSEs alongside full-time work, and qualified as a nurse before being accepted, after two attempts, into medical school—all while bringing up three children. She then undertook postgraduate medical studies and somehow combined this with a history degree undertaken on the side.

Globally, women and girls bear the most severe consequences of sickness and poverty. Malaria is just such a case, where women and girls not only are more vulnerable to the disease itself—it causes an estimated 50,000 maternal deaths and 200,000 stillbirths every year in sub-Saharan Africa—but act as the first caregivers and healthcare providers when family members fall ill. Like Covid, malaria is a global challenge we have in common, but a common challenge that has asymmetric effects. In the context of this debate, it is also a field in which female scientists, community organisers and aid workers are taking a lead. Through its participation in multilateral institutions such as the Global Fund and Unitaid, the UK has contributed to a dramatic improvement in the international picture, with 10 million lives saved and more than a billion cases prevented.

In appreciating this, it is particularly heartening that so many British and British-backed women are in the vanguard of the malaria fight. It is always invidious to single out individuals from a truly collective effort, but from the work of Professor Katie Ewer at the Jenner Institute and Dr Cristina Donini at the Medicines for Malaria Venture, to those on the ground such as Suzy Haylock, who has spent 20 years of her life as a community health worker in Honduras providing testing and treatment, the anti-malaria effort exemplifies what can be achieved when women are empowered and given the space and resources they need to devise solutions to a truly global issue.

International Women’s Day is a celebration but it is also a call for action. If there is one lesson that can be drawn from Professor Peacock’s example, it is that equity cannot be achieved through a system that works as a Procrustean bed, demanding that everyone follows traditional pathways into senior positions. Instead, we need to appreciate that, if true equity is to be achieved, we need an approach in which the efforts of individual women to rise to senior STEM positions are met with appropriate requital from those institutions that would benefit from their perspective, insights and energy. Of course, we have seen incremental but slightly halting progress in this area, with the gender imbalance easing at the rate of a couple of percentage points per year.

From Women in STEM’s statistics, there is more to be done to reduce the gender gap in STEM fields. Overall, the percentage of female graduates with core STEM degrees is steadily growing; however, the split is still just 26%. This figure is also translated into the STEM workforce, with women making up only 24% of it. This shows that work needs to be done to encourage women both to study these subjects and to transition into the workforce. The fields of computer science, engineering and technology show the largest gender imbalances—from current students to graduates, and according to workforce figures. I trust that the year that lies before us will show greater progress still, and that society will benefit from greater access to the skills, dynamism and dedication of all those women who still face institutional barriers when seeking to fulfil their ambitions.

Speaking of the necessity for speed of change, I cannot let this debate go by without sharing a quite extraordinary statistic. When thinking about the barriers that women face in entering previously male-dominated professions, and mindful of my own observations about gender imbalance when I was Secretary of State for Defence, I happened across some truly extraordinary statistics on women in aviation. While only 5.5% of pilots in the UK are women, and 4.7% in the US, India leads the world in easing this gender disparity, with 12.4% of all pilots there being women. This is a direct result of key players in government and industry recognising the contribution that women must make and adjusting their employment policies accordingly. This combination of state incentives and private sector recognition of the commercial, not merely moral, value that is derived from diversity is something we could all reflect on.

Disappointingly for those who enjoy having stereotypes and prejudices confirmed, the data gathered in a study by Johns Hopkins University—believe it or not, it was entitled Gender Differences in General Aviation Crashes—found, over 14 years of observation, that male pilots had a greater propensity for accidents than women did, a conclusion buttressed by a further study by the US Army.

The Indian Air Force experimental scheme to induct women fighter pilots was started in 2016. Initially, three women pilots flew fighter jets; now, it is 16. I just hope that all the role models in your Lordships’ House can find room on their Benches for a woman Top Gun as an inspirational role model for young girls.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate both of my noble friends Lord Coaker and Lord Morse on excellent maiden speeches. I am privileged to know both well and know that they will make valuable and valued contributions to the work of your Lordships’ House. I draw attention to my entry in the register of interests, particularly the reference to my relationship with St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and BioRISC, a research initiative that has set itself a challenge to provide cutting-edge evidence-based information about existing and emerging biological security threats and interventions.

I will make three brief points. The first draws on BioRISC’s work and advice. Biodiversity continues to decline at an unprecedented rate, as shown by the 2019 ground-breaking report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and the 2020 report Global Biodiversity Outlook. Our natural environment underpins the delivery of clean air, water and food production, as well as promising solutions to the climate crisis. We have been reminded over the past year of the inextricable link between human health and the health of the natural world.

Public investment on environmental policies has had, at best, mixed success, as illustrated by the failure of many agri-environmental schemes which, despite costing billions, are accepted as having achieved little in preventing the dramatic decline of nature on farmland. This is unsurprising since, typically, their design and implementation have not been informed by the best available evidence from a wide range of sources. In medicine and public health, not using the best available evidence would be unconscionable, but it appears to be acceptable in this space. Does the Minister think that existing processes consistently use the best available evidence on the effectiveness of actions to inform decision-making and, if not, what mechanism will the office for environmental protection deploy to ensure the transparent use of the best available evidence, enabling scrutiny by experts and members of the public, to ensure that taxpayers’ money for our environment is spent cost-effectively?

Further, and also about evidence, six years after receipt of the completed report of the Government’s own Lead Ammunition Group recommending that lead ammunition be phased out, on 23 March, the Environment Minister Rebecca Pow announced plans to do just that. The fifth sentence of Defra’s press release is:

“A large volume of lead ammunition is discharged every year over the countryside, causing harm to the environment, wildlife and people.”


It accurately summarises the extensive harmful consequences of its use, which makes a compelling case for regulation as soon as possible to protect human and animal health and to enable us to move towards a greener and safer future. But, inexplicably, it goes on to announce the commissioning of

“an official review of the evidence to begin”

that day,

“with a public consultation in due course.”

Information on the impacts of lead ammunition on wildlife, the environment and human health has been known for years. The LAG report was informed by a comprehensive review of all available evidence. Given the Government’s view that extensive harm is being caused today, why have they commissioned a further evidence review?

Yesterday, speaking on the BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show”, America’s climate envoy John Kerry said,

“I’m told by scientists that 50% of the reductions we have to make (to get to near zero emissions) by 2050 or 2045 are going to come from technologies we don’t yet have.”


UK FIRES, a major research programme funded by BEIS through UKRI, and comprising six leading universities, a consortium of UK-based industries and several policy advisers, in its report, Absolute Zero, published in November 2019, told us the same and set out the first description of the delivery of zero emissions in the UK with today’s technologies. The report informed the Council for Science and Technology’s letter of 20 January 2020 to the Prime Minister on whole systems and was the topic of a debate in your Lordship’s House on 6 February 2020.

The primary recommendation of Absolute Zero, reflected by the Council for Science and Technology, is that the Government should create a delivery authority to guarantee compliance with the Climate Change Act. It reminded us that the London 2012 Olympics were delivered on time and on budget by such an authority which, interestingly, adopted a principle of using no new technologies to guarantee risk-free delivery. The delivery authority would need to be substantive and enduring, able to hold accountability for delivery across different government departments and through to 2050, and necessarily an exemplar of the whole-systems approach recommended by the CST to co-ordinate across the government departments charged with emissions responsibility in different sectors.

The Institute for Government, in its report Net Zero: How Government Can Meet its Climate Change Target, said, at page 9,

“Government should also assess gaps in delivery capability and consider creating the net zero equivalents of the Olympic Delivery Authority to tackle infrastructure challenges, such as housing retrofit and renewable heat.”


Do the Government plan—

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I remind the noble Lord that the advisory speaking time is five minutes.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

I am finished, my Lords.

Planning: Net Zero Emissions Targets

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Monday 19th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the question relates to transport, which is not my area of expertise. However, we have published the first phase of the national decarbonisation plan for transport. I am sure that the policy experts will be looking into that, as will my colleagues in the DfT.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the Government’s policy of incentivising a housebuilding boom could contradict their net-zero ambitions. Some time ago, the Committee on Climate Change recommended that the Government develop policies to minimise the whole-life carbon impact of new buildings. What progress has been made in this area? How would the Minister describe how the Government envisage the role for the planning system, permitted development and building regulations in delivering a sustainable built environment?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, we believe that it is possible to build homes, to grow our economy and also to decarbonise. As a nation, we have decarbonised our economy faster than any other G20 country. Our economy has grown some 78% while decreasing emissions by 44%. We have a clear set of planning policies to encourage further decarbonisation. Central to that is the future homes standard, which will be in effect from 2025.

Rough Sleeping

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend is right that we see more people who are either EU or non-EU foreign nationals on the streets of London. We encourage local authorities, including those in London, to connect those people with family and friends. We can also provide legal support, as well as helping them into work or training where appropriate, so there is flexibility for local authorities to do that for this group of people.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I acknowledge the progress of Everyone In, but the debate in the other place exposed some very disturbing factors, such as the Minister admitting wide variances across the country of the delivery of rough sleeping and homelessness services and, shockingly, that many homeless people eventually end up in poor-quality, publicly funded supported housing. What regulatory or other plans do the Government have to level up provision for rough sleepers and homeless people?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, it is a fairly consistent national picture. I went through the data with a team as preparation for this; in every region in England we are seeing a very significant drop in rough sleeping, and they are very large in the south-east and London. It is only in the north-east, which has relatively low numbers of rough sleepers and where the figure is up by five rough sleepers according to the data, that we have some concern around not seeing a reduction. But we will continue to push the policies that are working in those areas and ensure that we encourage local authorities and others to adopt those in areas where it is proving harder to do so.

National Planning Policy Statements: Climate Change

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Thursday 3rd December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the Government recognise the importance of climate change and responding to a commitment in the manifesto towards that net-zero objective. We have a plan in place to do so, and we recognise the important part that the planning regime plays. It is something that needs reform, and that is why we have set out a new approach to planning in the planning White Paper.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware of the Royal Town Planning Institute and of its January 2020 report, Five Reasons for Climate Justice in Spatial Planning. Therein it makes clear that:

“As the climate crisis deepens disadvantaged communities will bear the brunt.”


Among the strong recommendations, it identifies a need for consultation with these often neglected communities in developing planning guidelines and policy statements. To what extent have the Government incorporated that clear advice into their ongoing planning assessments?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I am sure that the climate change strategy team has read every single report on the matter and recognises the importance of having clear planks to be able to achieve the target. Obviously, at the moment those are the national carbon budgets, the net-zero target strategy and, of course, the 10-point plan.