Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill [HL]

Lord Grocott Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

My Lords, I am happy to add my support for the Bill. I imagine it must be quite pleasing to the organising committee and others to find that everyone who has contributed today in their different ways has expressed the same sentiment that has come from the city and region itself, across the political divide and across the region: support for this successful bid and a successful Games.

We have heard wise words from the noble Lord, Lord Coe, who described vividly the swing of emotions at the different stages in the development of the Games, which I dare say will be repeated, although perhaps we will learn from experience. We have heard from at least three natives of the city: the noble Baroness, Lady Burt, and my noble friends Lord Rooker and Lord Hunt. I cannot claim the same pedigree. I have been living and working in the West Midlands for only 54 years; they have a better claim to fame for the region than I have.

The success of the bid has been welcomed across the board, despite the daunting prospect of being four years hence rather than the normal seven. The Games will provide an opportunity to showcase the region and the city. Looking at the figures in bits of briefing that we have received, I noticed the figure of a global audience of 1.5 billion. How on earth they work these figures out I do not know but, even if they are a few million out either way, it is still a pretty staggering audience and something any commercial organisation would die for. Seventy-one countries and territories will take part and there will be 1 million spectators, which will presumably mean many visitors to the region. The Games will showcase our region, which is one of the pillars—one of those contemporary words we use these days—that the organising committee describes as important.

All this will encourage visitors to the city itself. As I said, I am not native to the city but I know it is a sporting city. The Games will be in July and August, which is at the height of the cricket season and the beginning of the football season. County cricket can be viewed, at Edgbaston, as can Premier League football. Thanks to Aston Villa, there might be others, although of course Aston Villa’s success is not universally welcomed across the city. Still, it is a sporting city.

It is also a vibrant city, as my good noble friend Lord Snape spelled out, especially the area of Canalside, where, believe me, there is some life on a Saturday night. There is a wondrous symphony hall. I hope people will not just be watching sporting events but will see what else goes on in the region. I should declare my interest: the splendid, wonderful and magnificent conservatoire, the result of work at Birmingham City University, whose board I was on until recently, is terrific and I hope anyone visiting the city visits it.

Of course, we hope that it is not just investment in the city that we are attracting but wider investment across the region—not just Perry Barr, where a lot of the investment will take place. My noble friend Lord Snape has already mentioned the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. Investment will come to different sports in Coventry, Leamington and Cannock Chase, to mention just three, and others.

As the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, said, the Bill is limited in coverage. I love the phrase he used: “I am now going to address those issues that are not in the Bill”. That gives us wondrous scope for the future. So I, too, will address a couple of issues not in the Bill, the main one being finance. The Bill is just 33 clauses long and only one refers to finance. I notice that in one of the briefing papers we got, the section on finance opens by saying:

“The funding of the Commonwealth Games overall is complex”.


I find finance complex at the best of times, but when the people promoting the Games say that it is complex I get a bit daunted.

Perhaps the Minister could let us know a bit more about that, as far as he is able. He has already said that the cost will be £778 million in total—a more specific figure than we have seen before; so far everything else has been guesstimates—with three-quarters coming from central government and the rest from the region itself, generated within the region. Could he explain to me how the balance works in specific cases? I am not at all clear about it, although maybe others are. Does the money go specifically to local authorities in the region from the centre? Does it go to the organising committee? How is it spread among them? Is it three-quarters in all respects? These issues may all sound like nuts and bolts but they are pretty important to the local areas concerned. How is the central funding disbursed?

My noble friend Lord Rooker mentioned security in particular. Like him, I have a close relative in the police force in the region. I hope that the cost for security will be borne by central government because, believe me, the police forces in the West Midlands really cannot take any more clobbering than they have had over the past few years. I will try to keep this as non-partisan as I can, but that is the truth.

The only slightly anxious word of warning that I bring into all this is to mention that we in the West Midlands, maybe with some justification, have a certain amount of paranoia about funding that comes to our region. I shall say a couple of sentences praying in aid the funding for HS2. It seems to us—stop me if I am wrong or being paranoid, neither of which would be the first time—that when Crossrail is built in London, which is a vastly expensive capital project, there are objections but expenditure goes through far more simply than that for building a high-speed line from London to Birmingham. When it benefits Birmingham, there seem to be objections all along the way, mile by mile. In fact, I think at least one of the candidates to be our next Prime Minister is not too struck on the scheme. It would be lovely if we had HS2 now, by the way; it would be of help to the Games. I do not want to be paranoid about that, but I will be paranoid about one more item while I am at it. The West Midlands is represented in this House by 27 Members—my noble fried Lord Rooker mentioned this—whereas London and the south-east have 275 Members. I know that London and the south-east are bigger than the West Midlands but they are not that much bigger.

Now that I have got those grouses out of the way, I will finish on an upbeat note. Without repeating what has been said, I believe that the legacy of the Games is hugely important. I spoke on the phone to the people on the organising committee last week and they gave absolute assurance on this front, saying that the legacy sub-committee of the main board is chaired by the chairman of that board. What is the input of central government in ensuring a proper legacy from these Games? I very much welcome the Bill and its importance to our region. I hope that people who come to the West Midlands will not just stay in Birmingham and watch the Games; I hope they will come to the wider reaches of the West Midlands. Perhaps while they are there they will visit the world-famous Ironbridge Gorge Museums, which is a lovely day out, and take a little trip on the Telford Steam Railway. Regardless of what they do, this is of potentially huge benefit to our area, and I welcome it and the Bill.

Heritage Rail: Young People

Lord Grocott Excerpts

Wednesday 5th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

My Lords, I am not just being pleasant, polite and traditional when I say thank you to my noble friend for introducing this debate; his commitment to heritage railways is second to none. I also want to thank very much indeed Chris Austin, who is described variously as secretary or clerk to our committee and known to so many people for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the railway. He has had a lifetime in the industry in one way or another and, more than anyone else, has been responsible for our reports. I have been in a lot of all-party groups over the years but I am very proud of the work this one has done and in particular of two very substantial reports, copies of which I have here. They are substantial pieces of work and are Chris Austin’s work more than most, and those involved in heritage railways. They have been brought to the attention of the Government without a Civil Service secretariat, something we associate with most reports that are presented to Parliament. Thanks to Chris are massively in order.

The specific subject of today’s debate is young people and heritage railways, but that really cannot be discussed except in the context of our previous Report on the Value of Heritage Railways, which highlighted the value that such railways present to many local economies up and down the country. They are continually bringing benefits—and not just economic benefits—to their areas and, of course, they are expanding all the time. I can barely believe how this industry or sector has expanded in, as my noble friend said, a matter of just 60 years, beginning with the Talyllyn railway—literally a very small railway that is half the gauge of a standard gauge railway. At the time, that seemed about as much as could be managed, but the sector went on to take on standard gauge lines. I remember going to Bridgnorth shortly after the line was closed and, if anyone had said to me then—with the weeds growing, the saplings coming through and the dilapidated buildings—that that would be a thriving railway line now, I would have said, “I would love to believe you, but I can’t really get my head round that”.

Today, as we have heard, there are more than 100 heritage railway lines, involving at least 22,000 volunteers and 3,500 or possibly 4,000 full-time equivalent employees. Many of them have a turnover in excess of £1 million a year, with a total benefit to local economies estimated at £250 million. In addition, most trains on these lines run on time and at no cost to the public purse, in contrast to those of a number of train operating companies.

Our report emphasises the importance of young people to the future of the sector. There is perhaps an image of heritage railways as being about people of roughly my age with a nostalgia for steam playing at trains in a kind of amateur way, chuffing up and down a few miles of track and being drivers and guards and all the rest of it. Well, there may be a bit of that, but it is far more significant. I pray in aid the range of skills that you will see functioning on an average heritage railway today, where the volunteers may include engineers, plumbers, planners, electricians, accountants, surveyors, carpenters, lawyers—all people giving of their professional skills in their spare time. They are not just maintaining existing railways but for ever opening new extensions and new lines. It is an ever-expanding industry. The relevance of that to young people in particular—and we could all give examples from the railways that we are familiar with—is that 16 and 17 year-old youngsters, working alongside professionals such as those that I have described, derive tremendous benefit, which may quite possibly include economic benefit for themselves and employability benefits later on. It is almost like a traditional apprenticeship where they are working with senior people with skills.

Perhaps I should declare my own specific interest in this at the moment as I am—you will be excited to know—president of the Telford Steam Railway; I happen to have some brochures with me, if anyone would like to come along. That railway is only a small line, but it has a turnover of £1 million a year and has big ambitions. Due to various rules and regulations—some of which emanated from the EU, I am afraid—the coal-powered station has closed down and we now have a redundant branch line, but we are hoping to run passenger trains on it. However, that is a diversion. I simply wanted to say that there are examples from that railway of youngsters benefiting. One young chap who worked with a skilled engineer now has an apprenticeship with Network Rail. Two youngsters who worked as guards on our railway went on to be guards for a couple of train operating companies. So there is an obvious benefit to young people who can acquire skills.

Of course, those may not be just economic skills. As the right reverend Prelate has already mentioned, heritage railways can also prepare people with all the advantages that we recognise from volunteering, such as turning up on time, involvement in collegiate activity and developing confidence. If you have been working on a heritage railway, and then you start an apprenticeship with Network Rail, on the uncertain first few days, weeks and months at work, you have a basis for discussions with the people who are now your colleagues. People get a lot of confidence from that.

I emphasise again that the skills required for heritage rail are not all rail-specific, by any means. If your interest happens to be catering, you can find an outlet at most heritage railways. The same applies if it is retail, marketing or even journalism—pretty much every heritage railway produces quite an impressive magazine. There are a whole range of non-rail-specific skills, talents and potential careers available to our young people through heritage rail. It brings not just economic benefits but social benefits as well.

I hope the value of this report is that it will draw to the Government’s attention the significance of our heritage railways. They are not an amateurish operation by elderly people who are more or less just chuffing up and down a line. They are professional organisations and are professionally run, although without pay in most cases, with young people coming on within them. I hope that the Government will listen to what we are saying and act on it, helping in the numerous ways they can.

Public Sector Television Content

Lord Grocott Excerpts

Thursday 25th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I accept, as I said before, that this is a complex area. We are talking about not only linear, satellite and aggregators, but about TV and videos which are just on the internet. As noble Lords will know, as well as looking at the prominence regime, we are looking at online harms generally. We expect to publish a White Paper on that in the winter.

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

Should any further evidence be required, was not the powerful support for and huge importance of the five main channels demonstrated by the colossal viewing figures during the World Cup? Some 26.5 million people, 40% of the population, were watching this listed event. It is a long time since the last review. Is it not time for another review of the listed events, which have been steadily eroded over recent decades, because they are hugely important to and popular in the country as a whole, and very unifying, in that people talk about them?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I completely agree about the unifying aspect of these events, and it is worth bearing in mind what the noble Lord has said. We should not be under the illusion that the PSB viewing figures are unimportant. Together, the PSBs command a 55% share of all TV viewing, and they spend £2.6 billion a year on original UK content.