Queen’s Speech

Lord Colgrain Excerpts

Monday 16th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Colgrain (Con)]

My Lords, my background being related to employment matters, I will first comment on the economy in that context and then touch on two environment points.

I am sure that I am not alone in admitting that I did not fully master the issues attached to passporting in financial services at the time of Brexit. I was concerned that the City of London would see an exodus of talent in favour of the pretender centres of financial expertise on the continent. Now, however, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt et al have made their pitches, and it is gratifying to see how singularly unsuccessful they have been in weaning jobs from London; it has been in the thousands rather than the mooted hundreds of thousands. The fundamentals of the English language, English law and the copious and all-encompassing availability of professional services in the square mile mean that the position and importance of the City remain unchallenged—something of which we should be very proud. New concessions that may be granted to insurance companies and pension funds through the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill and the financial services and markets Bill to invest in hitherto prohibited infrastructure projects can only strengthen London’s hand.

However, we must not overlook two sources of human capital and talent which can be added to this advantage. The first, now advanced through Covid, is the increased use of part-time staff working from home. This used to be populated in the main by working parents around whom employers were trying to create better working conditions and hours. To them now need to be added early retirees and others seeking a new work-life balance. I know that the view held by my noble friend Lord Sugar and expressed by him rather forcibly at the expense of PwC last week is shared by many—including, I might add, myself. However, it is Kafkaesque to generalise, as some do, that the public sector favours staying at home and the private sector has needed to return to work. This ignores the new reality, whereby we must harness this powerful lobby of part-time workers, come what may. I hope the new employment Bill will make special reference to them.

The second, growing group is the many who have reached statutory retirement age and wish to keep working. I look around me and see the truth of this statement; 70—nay, 80—is the new 60. I was delighted when still headhunting that I was able to appoint a 70 year-old as a non-executive director for a client. The Government must do all they can to encourage older members of society to remain employed if they so wish. It is good for them to remain physically and mentally active; they will contribute to the country’s productivity and tax take, especially now with the new national insurance bands; and it is beneficial to the country and their employers to have ongoing access to their intellectual capital. Less good are the contractual issues that employers can experience around accusations of discrimination on age-related issues. Anything the Government can do in the plan for jobs Bill to make such issues less of a costly and management-time minefield would be very welcome. Can my noble friend please confirm that this will be looked into?

On environment matters, all interested parties agree that there is an urgent need for the Government to support and help structure a well-regulated and established carbon credit market. Currently, it is nigh on impossible for suppliers of carbon credits to have confidence in the efficacy of either the pricing or duration of agreements, and it is equally difficult for those seeking to offset their carbon emissions to determine where to go and at what cost. Of course, a free market will evolve over time, but we do not have such luxury as we look ahead to purported net zero. This is a textbook example of where government should show the way. Can the Minister say what the Government’s view on this will be?

Finally, in the context of the gracious Speech, it is timely to refer to the Queen’s Green Canopy, which has been taken up enthusiastically, not least by councils and schools. However, it is not being a killjoy to point out that a combination of airborne pests—most recently the spruce Ips beetle—and more traditional four-legged pests, such as squirrels and deer, means that more informed thought needs to be given to what is planted where. Otherwise, all the good intentions being shown will result in an unsightly and uneconomic outcome and a failing of green credentials.

James Pendlebury, chief executive of Forest Research, said in this Saturday’s Times that pests and diseases pose an

“existential threat to our treescapes.”

To alleviate this threat, we need to devote more attention and funding to the management of existing woodland and encourage increased coppicing to maximise the carbon retention capacity of our current silvicultural assets, fully as much as enthusiastically planting to support the Queen’s Green Canopy. This will also contribute to the burgeoning woodchip market, which can make a meaningful contribution to our renewable energy requirements, killing two birds with one stone. Can the Minister say whether additional thought along these lines will be included in the Bill?