Trades Union Congress: Levelling Up

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, will make a virtual contribution.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

[Inaudible]—responsibility for good industrial relations, which are of course vital for a successful economy. On the subject of levelling up, would the Minister have a word with the boss of Sainsbury’s, whose annual salary has trebled to £3.9 million while he denies a living wage to many of his hard-working employees?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Believe it or not, the pay levels in Sainsbury’s are nothing to do with the Government—it is a private sector company. If people like the service provided by Sainsbury’s, they will go to that supermarket; if they do not, they will go to others.

Fire and Rehire

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, is making a virtual contribution.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I draw attention to my registered interests. Sometimes employment contracts need updating to reflect new legislation. Under current law, if agreement cannot be reached between employer and employee, notice can be given and new contracts offered. Then employees can opt for a tribunal claiming unfair dismissal, but tribunals are taking up to 18 months to determine. What are the Government doing to speed up tribunals?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

There has been a delay from the pandemic, as in many parts of the public service, but we are doing all we can to make sure that cases are expedited as quickly as possible.

Vaccine Patents Waiver

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Monday 24th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park) (Con)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Liberal Democrats. The noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, wishes to speak virtually, and I think this is a convenient point to call him.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, now that the UK is outside the European Union, do the Government understand that being the champion of a vaccine patents waiver may be the perfect way to win friends and influence people in other countries, but may also, according to the British pharmaceutical industry, have the unintended consequence of reducing vaccine production and research?

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, intellectual property rights and their continued protection are the way to keep innovators innovating, creators creating and investors investing. That is what will lead to more research.

Net-zero Emissions

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, wishes to speak virtually. I think now is a convenient point for me to call him.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, it is estimated that 50,200 heat pump installers will be needed to install a million heat pumps by 2030. Currently, there are only 1,100 MCS-registered installers and the necessary training courses are expensive. What are the Government planning to do to train another 49,000 of them?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We are working very closely with the industry to do precisely that. The Heat Pump Association has recently launched an excellent conversion course for existing heating engineers to convert their skills. I have visited a couple of the training workshops being launched by some of the big heat pump manufacturers in this country. Of course, we are also working very closely with the DfE, which has responsibility for the skills to make sure that there is an appropriately qualified workforce to take this important work forward.

Homes: Environmental Standards

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Thursday 2nd December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The heat and buildings strategy is our long-term retrofit plan. Within that, we announced a number of forthcoming consultations; previous questions have referred to the consultation on the private rented sector. The noble Baroness referenced the visit I made to Leeds last week to look at the local authority installed measures that are going so well. We continue to invest large sums of money in these projects.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

The Government propose that private landlords will be required to pay up to £10,000 to ensure that the properties they rent out have an energy performance rating of C or better. Given that NRLA data suggests that the net annual rental income for landlords is under £4,400 a year, what financial support will be available for private landlords to make the energy improvements required of them?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

There are a number of financial packages that private landlords letting to low-income tenants can take advantage of; I referred to some of the schemes earlier. Private sector landlords are entitled to take advantage of them, but the noble Lord is right and points to one of the dilemmas in the private rented sector, which is that the investment is made by landlords but the benefit is gained by tenants through lower fuel bills.

Private Sector: Environment and COP 26

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes a very good point, and indeed we will. Already, 40 of the UK’s leading companies have joined the net-zero challenge and, as he will be aware, as part of the 10-point plan, the Government have invested over £12 billion to stimulate a green industrial revolution in the UK supporting up to 250,000 jobs.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

What help are the Government planning to give the construction industry to build carbon-neutral homes?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The industrial strategy challenge fund has 10 challenges, and one of these, as the noble Lord will be aware, is the transforming construction fund, with £170 million of public funding and £250 million of private funding, providing safer, healthier and more affordable buildings that use dramatically less energy.

Covid-19: Night-time Economy

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes an important point. I understand his concerns. In my answer to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, I outlined the support that we are providing to the sector, but I am sure that my colleagues in DCMS will work closely with the sector to understand its concerns and see what more we can do to help.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, UK Music tells us that almost three-quarters of musicians are thinking of quitting due to the drop in income and opportunities. The legendary rock drummer Bob Henrit says that we are in danger of losing a whole generation of talent. Are the Government happy about losing the tax revenues that these people are likely to generate in the future?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

No, of course we are not happy about it. We are not happy about any of the measures that have we have been forced to put in place because of the pandemic. We want to see these venues reopening, as soon as it is safe.