Carer’s Leave: Government Departments

Lord Flight Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, it remains to be seen how that policy goes forward. Obviously, as the noble Lord said, the Government are implementing a comprehensive reform programme and investing £5.4 billion over three years from April 2022. He has expressed a certain cynicism about it, but I hope it will lead to improvements in social care more broadly.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, there is one particularly difficult issue. If people are working and take time off, they expect their remuneration to be reduced accordingly. However, equally, if they were unable to be part-time carers, someone else would have to do the work. Care, particularly mothers’ care, should be provided and not rationed according to the jobs that people do.

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I am not responsible for the degree of enlightenment or otherwise of employers, but I am sure that many people will have heard the words of my noble friend. The Government, in all humility, want to be a good employer and act as a model to other employers. That is why providing paid special leave for carers is part of a wider suite of employee benefits which helps us attract—and, more importantly, retain—good people in our great Civil Service.

Budget Statement

Lord Flight Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, I first thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Newcastle for a most moving and human contribution to this debate. Secondly, I could not help thinking that my noble friend Lord Lamont, sitting here, would have made a very good Chancellor in today’s difficult times.

Chancellor Sunak has delivered a bold Budget that I believe is both political and high risk. It obviously seeks to support the Government’s levelling-up policy. He has been driven by the substantial increase in UK economic growth this year, which was well above the OBR forecast of only 4%. The actual figure turned out to be 6.5%, with 6% expected next year. As a result, the Chancellor has indulged in higher spending all over the place, including £4.6 billion per annum for Scotland.

Unemployment, at 4.5%, is better than the 5% forecast by the OBR, as well. I suspect that Chancellor Sunak is hoping for a feel-good factor to underpin politics and help sustain growth. He may be under strong pressure from the Prime Minister, who clearly wants economic achievements to cash in at the next general election.

Amazingly, all government departments will have substantial fund inflows. Unbelievably, Sunak’s Budget has pledged £150 billion of extra government spending this year. Overall spending will be up 3.8% per annum in real terms, compared with the 2.5% forecast in March. The tax burden had already been increased by £36 billion in the summer Budget.

Even more strangely, Chancellor Sunak ended his speech by asking if we recognise that the Government have a limited delivery power, when he has bought into an expansion of the state to a size not seen for 70 years. Was this a Conservative Budget? I have to comment, certainly not. There was virtually nothing for businesses large and small, other than the cut for one year in business rates. Bank taxation was up from 25% to 28%. No government department had a reduction in spending.

Last year, the Government borrowed £320 billion—15% of GDP; 2020-21 borrowing will be a further £183 billion. SMEs are desperate for a reform of business rates; they got an increase from 19% to 25% in corporation tax and an increase in wages. The national living wage has been increased by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour.

The £36 billion of extra NHS spending over three years already provided for has, astonishingly, had a further £6 billion added to it. Health spending has risen from 3.9% of GDP in 1978 to 8.4% next year—in cash terms, an increase of 78% over the last decade. Experience with the NHS proves the old adage that free goods have unlimited demand. The NHS also employs 1.3 million people, far more than should be necessary if it were well run. A complete review and restructuring of NHS management and rationalisation are needed.

During the height of Covid problems, Keynesian measures were justified to keep the economy alive, but we are past this stage. The only justification of the Budget measures is to deliver higher growth and higher tax revenues. The main concern is the impact of a rise in inflation on the public sector. The reforms to universal credit, where the taper rate will come down from 63p to 55p, will cost a further £2.2 billion next year.

It is difficult to understand why Chancellor Sunak opted for large tax increases rather than spending cuts. It is tempting to surmise that the Prime Minister had some input, both in crafting an “all in it together” Budget and in improving pay, particularly in the public sector, ahead of a potential general election in two years’ time. The Government will be fortunate if the increase in inflation yet to come remains manageable. At some stage, a more traditional Conservative approach to restraining excess government spending will be required.

Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill [HL]

Lord Flight Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 25th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bird, on his lively introduction, but I regret to say that I am in the camp of my noble friend Lord Moylan. The points that he made, particularly about capitalism, are absolutely right.

There are factors within our control and factors not within our control, and the big ones are invariably not within our control. What Covid has taught us is just that. It has been the biggest factor to affect the world probably since the Second World War, and there was no forecasting of it. A lot of the task of forecasting practical things that we can control already happens and can probably be improved. Think about the military, which is organised to reflect forecasting and an assessment of things that we can control.

Reference has been made to a hindsight Bill. In my experience, history rarely repeats itself. There is a danger of spending a huge amount of effort and money on something because it was important in the past but will not be important in the future. The sort of things that are forecastable include switching to electric cars and more money being spent on the NHS—lots of practical things that can be, and already are, controlled. But as I say, do not rely on government, which will always make decisions and change its views for political reasons.

As another speaker pointed out, the Bill has 44 clauses, two schedules and six parts. Goodness me—where is all this leading? It represents an attempt to control far too much and, to my mind, slightly reflects motherhood and apple pie. Of course valuable work can and should be done to assess likely future trends, but my crucial message is not to forget that the big issues will always come and take you by surprise and can rarely be planned for.

Kalifa Review of UK Fintech

Lord Flight Excerpts

Tuesday 27th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, we are certainly keen to support the creation of a centre for finance, innovation and technology. In UK FinTech Week the Chancellor announced his support for the industry, and we certainly recognise a private sector-led centre for finance, innovation and technology’s potential as an accelerator of fintech sector growth. This can be achieved through research, thought leadership and working with regional fintech hubs and national fintech bodies. The Government are committed to working with industry to make this a reality.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, as we have just heard, the Government welcomed the recommendations of the Kalifa review, which has diagnosed the ingredients, including the EIS, that have led to the UK economy blossoming over the last decade, especially the SME sector. I have been chairman of the EIS Association during this time. The UK is recognised as the best place to start and scale up a business. What aspects of the findings of the Kalifa report do the Government view as the most important?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

I gave noble Lords a sense of the key findings in my opening answer, but there are several others that I can make my noble friend aware of: for example, a task force led by the Treasury and the Bank of England to co-ordinate exploration of a potential UK central bank digital currency, and a new Bank of England account type that will allow innovative financial market infrastructures to provide enhanced wholesale payments and settlements. There are also the DIT initiatives that I mentioned earlier.

Mobile Telephones: Public Emergency Alert System

Lord Flight Excerpts

Wednesday 21st April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

The intention is for this to be a cell notice. There will be no charges for receipt of this service. The noble Lord makes a point about penetration and the capabilities of different telephones, and some people do not have or want a telephone at all. I assure him that the Government are taking all those matters into account.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, in light of the recent record, can the Minister assure the House that the Government will now proceed with the implementation of a public alert system for mobile phones, which could have an important use in any pandemic and emergency, now that we have 4G and will soon have 5G technology?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I have given that assurance to the House. As I said in my Answer, the timing has to be carefully aligned with the Covid-19 strategy to avoid confusion. The proposition is for a cell message that drops down and does not collect any personal information from those who receive it. It is a specific approach.

Economic Update

Lord Flight Excerpts

Tuesday 12th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con) [V]]

My Lords, we expect to provide over £3 billion-worth of support to local authorities over the next year, on top of the support we have already given. For example, over Christmas we provided the £1,000 Christmas support payment to wet-led pubs in tiers that were subject to lockdown. I feel the noble Lord might be being a little harsh; there has been a great deal of intervention to support local authorities and small businesses.

[Lord Flight (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate the Government and the Treasury on a remarkably quick response through very large programmes of financing. I have a simple question: we see different figures of the impact on the economy, but what was the net UK economy contraction during the calendar year 2020 and what is the forecast contraction for the calendar year 2021?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I do not have those figures to hand, but there will be ongoing economic Statements and my right honourable friend the Chancellor will address this in his Budget in a few weeks’ time. It is perhaps worth pointing out international comparisons; the way the ONS uses data here has had a detrimental impact on how it has reported on the shrinkage of our economy, because it considers outputs instead of inputs on things such as the salaries of teachers and other civil servants, who were not necessarily working because of the crisis but were still being paid. There will be more information on this, particularly in the Budget.

EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Flight Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Flight (Con) [V]]

The TCA comprises a detailed and complex agreement, which looks, in the main, to be a fair and sensible deal for both the EU and UK. It reads as though it may have been drafted by members of the Department for International Trade. It comprises seven separate parts, plus a number of annexes and three protocols. Of particular interest are the joint declarations on financial services and regulatory co-operation.

Key aspects of the TCA include tariff-free and quota-free trade in goods, and provisions made for rules of origin that will need to be met for goods to qualify for preferential trade terms. The TCA covers transport, hauliers and air travel, law enforcement co-operation, government structures and ongoing participation in some programmes. It creates a number of government structures to be managed by new partnership councils. It includes level playing field requirements to prevent distortions to trade.

The most important trade co-operation issue is that the UK has a fair deal for financial services—our largest industry. As other noble Lords have pointed out, there is still a lot to be done to negotiate equivalence. It is constructive that the Treasury—with the help of the Bank of England, I am sure—is producing a memo on undertakings. I believe we can complete and polish the deals on financial services, but it will take some time. I close by adding my welcome to my noble friend Lord Wharton.

European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

Lord Flight Excerpts

3rd reading & 2nd reading & Committee negatived & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 30th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Flight (Con) [V]]

I congratulate and thank the Prime Minister and the Brexit negotiating team on achieving a good deal and ongoing relationship with the EU. I agreed with much of the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, and the constructive comments of the noble Lord, Lord Butler.

My question for the Government is: what will the deal do for the financial services industry? From reading the co-operation agreement, it appears that little or no material changes are proposed. None presented in the co-operation agreement is specifically damaging to financial services. This is surprising given the French hostility and claims, during the negotiations, that France would win over substantial business from London.

Chapters 2 and 3 in the agreement include well-established provisions on cross-border trade in services and investment, which are expected to secure continuing market access across a broad range of sectors. Section 6 deals specifically with financial services. It includes provisions on cross-border trade in financial services and investment. The agreement provides protections that should ensure that EU and UK regulatory authorities can act to ensure financial stability and integrity, and to protect customers. The two parties agreed a joint declaration of commitment to their shared objectives, and a memorandum of understanding for regulatory co-operation has been signed.

Section 7 provides the important reform enabling lawyers acting for clients in the UK but who have business elsewhere in Europe to deal with the clients’ business across the EU. There is the important liberalisation of digital trades, which will be dealt with subsequent to its first being raised. Title VII provides joint support for SMEs but does not address the seven-year life limitation and state aid issues, which have limited EIS funding for SMEs.

Overall, the agreement looks okay for the financial services industry, but there is much more yet to be agreed. I keenly await the Government’s reaction when they negotiate areas for the financial services industry.

Covid-19: Public Health Information

Lord Flight Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I am sure that the Government—whether it is me or my colleagues who are specifically leading—are always happy to engage with the noble Baroness or anyone else who speaks for the communities concerned. I believe that the diversity and inclusion team within the Cabinet Office, for which I can answer, has allowed for better co-ordination of cross-government efforts to improve accessibility and we will continue to work on that.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, clearly there needs to be a professional review of the Covid-19 pandemic in due course to learn for the future how to better contain pandemics. Why, however, does the noble Baroness, Lady Lawrence, limit the public health review to linguistic, cultural and digital issues? Is not the priority how to contain pandemics before they become national and materially damaging to economies?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, it is, of course, highly desirable to contain any pandemic or any threat to the welfare of our citizens. We have to deal with the situation that arises; I believe that the Government have sought to deal with it energetically. We certainly have said that we will consider the lessons learned from this pandemic.

Summit of Democratic Governments

Lord Flight Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I said in reply to an earlier question that the United Kingdom sits in a range of vital and important multinational organisations, including the Commonwealth and NATO. We will remain there, and I have no doubt that the United Kingdom is very widely respected in all those fora.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, might it be worth while to convene a summit to review the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic when it has become safe to do so? How might the leading democracies work together to contain the spread of such pandemics?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, the UK has worked closely with international partners throughout the pandemic, from the development of vaccines to supporting vulnerable countries, and we will continue to do so. As I have outlined, the UK is preparing an ambitious and—we hope—unifying G7 agenda which will promote international leadership and collaboration as we recover from Covid-19. The UK also co-sponsored the resolution adopted by the World Health Assembly in May, which included agreement for an independent review.