Education (Values of British Citizenship) Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Harries of Pentregarth and Earl of Effingham

3rd reading
Friday 15th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

My Lords, I would like to thank the long list of speakers who supported the Bill at Second Reading, as well as the Public Bill Office which helped to facilitate. The long list of speakers is an indication of how necessary it is.

Since Second Reading there are two factors that have increased the importance of the Bill. First, with the move away, in so many countries in the world, towards autocracies, dictatorships and managed democracies, it is more and more vital that pupils in our schools leave school with a sense of why British values, democracy, the rule of law, freedom of religion and the equal worth and dignity of every person matter. It is absolutely crucial that pupils should leave school with a sense of those values and why they need to be supported.

Secondly, I have heard, sadly, that there are moves afoot to subsume citizenship education into what is called spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. That, of course, is absolutely vital, but one of the main recommendations of The Ties that Bind—the report from the committee of which I was a member and from which the recommendation for this Bill came—was that this should not be subsumed in that way but should be taught in its own right. Citizenship education is, at the moment, taught so weakly in so many schools and we need to give it a clear focus. I very much hope that the Government will take this Private Member’s Bill seriously.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, again I thank all noble Lords who gave their time and effort to make their valuable contributions to the Bill. I briefly flag the input of my noble friend Lady Shephard of Northwold who drew on her extensive experience in this area, both as former chair of the council of the Institute of Education and, most notably, as former Secretary of State for Education.

His Majesty’s Official Opposition believe that mandating specific values through education risks undermining parental rights and local autonomy. We support the rights of parents and communities to instil their own values, and we fear that a one-size-fits-all approach could impose a government-defined set of values that may not reflect either local or parental preferences. The Bill could be viewed as overreach into the lives of young people, and we advocate for smaller government and less interference in individual choices, especially when it comes to personal beliefs and family matters.

By introducing mandatory teaching on values, time and resource could be taken away from core subjects. Rigorous academic standards should be the focus, with schools lasering in on traditional teaching to ensure that students are prepared for both the workforce and society, rather than on mandated values.

Finally, the term “British values” has been defined differently by many people and may lead to inconsistent interpretations. The Bill could leave room for varied, potentially biased, teaching, depending on who defines these values and how they are implemented in practice, potentially creating division rather than unity.