International Women’s Day

Lord Hendy Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Hendy (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, a year ago the TUC found that 52% of women had experienced sexual harassment at work. For young women aged between 18 and 24 the figure was 63%, nearly two-thirds. That is disgraceful.

As the UK gets back to work after the ravages of the pandemic, I propose three steps to the Minister for tackling harassment at work. The first is to suggest an amendment to the Equality Act 2010 to impose a duty on every employer to maintain every workplace free from harassment, violence and bullying. Currently an employer may be vicariously liable but the constraints of the law on vicarious liability make that difficult to establish. A duty on the employer would place a responsibility on its shoulders to take positive steps to prevent, investigate and penalise such conduct.

The second step would be for the amendment to broaden Section 26 of the Act to specify bullying as well as harassment as unacceptable conduct. Bullying might be defined as unwanted conduct at or connected to work, whether or not related to a relevant protected characteristic, where the conduct has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the victim, and where the perpetrator has or reasonably appears to have a more powerful position than the victim whether by reason of status, authority, apparent capability to harm or reward the victim or otherwise. I appreciate that this issue is not confined only to women but women certainly suffer more bullying than men at work.

Thirdly, on Tuesday I asked the Minister’s colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, if consideration had been given to the UK ratifying the International Labour Organization’s convention 190 on violence and harassment, which was adopted on 21 June 2019. He said that he would write to me about it. The convention is directed against violence and harassment at work, particularly gender-based violence and harassment, and stresses the importance of a work culture based on mutual respect and dignity of the human being. It would be an important symbol of commitment at home and abroad if the UK were to ratify this important convention. Will the Minister bring her pressure to bear?

Educational Opportunities: Working Classes

Lord Hendy Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest: I failed my 11-plus. I was a late developer; I do not want to talk about it. I want to talk about adult education, which is particularly relevant by reason of the deficiencies in the education of working-class children, which have been set out by many noble Lords this afternoon, in particular my noble friend Lady Morris in her powerful speech. I thank her for initiating this debate.

When I was about 10, I remember helping my dad cut the hedge in front of our house in Hayes, Middlesex. It was on a main road. A big lorry pulled up, and the driver jumped out and said to my dad, “Can you read?” My dad said yes, and the driver took him around the back of the lorry. Chalked on the back of the lorry was the driver’s destination depot. He could not read it. My dad read it to him. He said, “I know how to get there”, and off he went.

Ten years later, in the holidays while doing a degree, I worked in a warehouse in Greenford. One tea break, I was sitting next to an old chap who had been working there for years. He was reading the Sun. I took my nerve in both hands and said, “You shouldn’t be reading that. That really is rubbish,” and he said, “I’m not reading it; I’m looking at the pictures. I can’t read”. It was true; he was looking at the pictures, including the demeaning page 3 pictures, and so on.

I have thought about those two vignettes many times in the decades since those events. I always imagined that the problem was some deficiency in the education system caused by the Second World War, when those men were young. But now, looking at the figures, it appears that virtually nothing has improved. There are 9 million people in this country with literacy and numeracy difficulties, and half of them are unemployed; there are 2 million fewer publicly supported adult learning places than in 2004; and there has been a 50% drop in student numbers in higher education in the past five years or so. In those circumstances, the Government’s slogan that they will “unleash the UK’s full potential” appears laughable.

The reasons for adult education are perhaps obvious, but I cannot improve on the language of two of our leading academic experts, Nigel Todd and Professor Sir Alan Tuckett, who last year wrote:

“the need for adult learning has never been greater. All the key challenges we face involve adults learning, adapting behaviour and helping to shape change. Whether we look at climate change, a rapidly ageing demography, the need for better alignment between services and people’s well-being, or urban renewal, it is today’s adults who will need to engage, adapt and shape change. To renew democracy, to rebuild a culture in which everyone’s voice can be heard, and tolerance and diversity respected, we need strategies involving people in learning together throughout the life-span. And report after report from the United Nations, the OECD, the International Labour Office and the World Economic Forum highlight … the rapid spread of robotics and artificial intelligence … which threaten to eradicate many white collar jobs … To be clear: adult learning matters. It can transform lives, fire new enthusiasms and satisfy old curiosities. It can be a route to gain or maintain employment, and the means to sustain livelihood … It offers opportunities for people to rub shoulders with others from all backgrounds and to strengthen social capital”.

I commend it.