NHS England: HIV Prevention

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen]

As I said earlier, we have difficult decisions to take. It is not up to the Government to decide this. As with all new drugs, these are properly assessed for cost and effectiveness to see how they can be commissioned in the most sustainable and integrated way.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Are the Government content to let expensive legal wrangling on this matter continue? Is it not time that the Secretary of State thought of using the powers that he possesses to intervene in this tragic and costly dispute?

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen]

I think that we are about to get a decision on the dispute; in fact, we thought it would be this week. It will probably be by the end of this week or the beginning of next.

Record Copies of Acts of Parliament

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2016 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lexden]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place to implement the undertaking given by the Paymaster General to provide funding for public Acts of Parliament to continue to be printed on vellum, following the House of Commons resolution on 20 April.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Lord Bridges of Headley) (Con)]

My Lords, this is a matter for Parliament. Following the debate in the other place, the Commons Administration Committee is discussing the issue this very afternoon. We will consider the next steps when it has concluded its deliberations.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

I congratulate the Government on offering assistance to help preserve this very long and deeply cherished tradition, which has great practical importance since vellum lasts so much longer than paper. Should we not be particularly conscious of the strength of feeling that has been exhibited in the other place in favour of retaining vellum, especially in view of the resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament in 1849 that there should be no change without the express consent of both of them?

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

I am very delighted to be discussing this pressing issue today because there is not much else going on. I respect what my noble friend has to say but I gently repeat that the recording of Acts of Parliament is a matter for the two Houses. We very much hope that a way forward can be found to continue the use of vellum. If that is not the wish of this House, a way will have to be found, but, as I say, we await the outcome of the committee’s meeting this afternoon.

European Union Referendum: Young Voters

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, I must at once pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, for this debate on this most pressing issue, and for his tremendous, unremitting work to counter the grave underregistration of young people in our country today. Earlier this week the Evening Standard reported that some one in five young people in London were not registered. As president of Bite The Ballot, an organisation that is greatly admired in this House as elsewhere, the noble Lord is playing a conspicuous part in a continuing campaign of the highest importance.

With the deadline for registering for the referendum rapidly approaching, Bite The Ballot, as we have heard, is working intensively to try to get 500,000 more young people registered and to produce simple, factual and neutral information to get those who are registered to cast their votes. That will make a pleasant and a welcome change after the deluge of exaggerated and tendentious claims that have come from both sides in this campaign so far. Everywhere there is an intense desire to have serious, well-informed and balanced material to assist voters in this crucial referendum. One suspects that the appetite for such material is especially strong among the young.

The Government, for their part, are making available substantial extra resources to help tackle our country’s serious problem of underregistration, and there are other initiatives, too. Last month, universities, further education colleges and sixth-form colleges received letters from Ministers, urging them to promote registration. Mr Nick Boles, Minister for Skills, wrote:

“I want all of us in the further education and sixth form community to do everything we can to encourage those eligible to register to vote”.

Words of greater eloquence more calculated to inspire the recipients of Mr Boles’s letter to take action might have been better, but the message was undeniably clear.

In his reply to this debate the Minister may perhaps be able to tell the House what indication universities and the “further education and sixth-form community” have given the Government as to the results of their endeavours so far. Has interest in the referendum been boosted by debates in student unions on Britain and the European Union, which would stimulate registration to vote? Academic institutions in the tertiary sector can do so much to draw young people fully into participation in the great national decision that will be made on 23 June.

Any discussion of underregistration leads ultimately to schools. I have with some frequency drawn attention to the excellent work done in Northern Ireland by its highly respected Electoral Office under what has come to be known as the Northern Ireland schools initiative— although budget cuts now threaten that office’s future work. Regular visits to schools by its staff in recent years have helped make Northern Ireland’s registration rate among 18 and 19 year-olds much higher than the Great Britain average.

The importance of the Northern Ireland schools initiative is underlined in the recent all-party report, Getting the Missing Millions Back on The Electoral Register, which I commended to the House earlier this month. The first of the 25 recommendations in the report calls on the Government to replicate the initiative in the rest of our country by issuing special guidance to electoral registration officers so that,

“registration may be incorporated into school life”.

As we consider the millions missing from the registers for the referendum, is not that recommendation of particular long-term importance?

Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2015

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark]

All I can say to the noble and learned Lord is that the commission briefing says there is a benefit of accuracy but also, of course, a risk to completeness—which it ranks as of equal importance.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, I will strike a more positive note in relation to this order than noble Lords who spoke from the opposite side. This is an important order. It has a clear and explicit purpose: to complete the transition to a new system of electoral registration that is infinitely superior to the one it replaces.

The great majority of those registered electors carried over from the old system have now done what was required to make themselves a full and enduring part of the new arrangements. All those who have not done so have now been reminded at least nine times in one way or another of the need for action. Through the deadline that the Government set in July, as they were empowered to do under the 2013 Act, they have in effect issued a final call for action, one that was rather usefully publicised widely over the national media last weekend.

This deadline of 1 December has been strongly endorsed by a body referred to perhaps unduly dismissively by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, namely the Association of Electoral Administrators, which represents the people who run our elections. A report it published in July concluded that,

“the end of IER transition should be December 2015 to provide certainty for the important elections in 2016 and the European Referendum whenever that is held”.

The organisation’s chief executive, Mr John Turner, added that,

“it is crucial to have the most accurate register possible and have confidence that everyone on the register is who they say they are”.

There are names of people on the existing electoral registers who would not heed any call for action or respond to any deadline, whether that was 1 December 2015, 1 December 2016 or 1 December 2026. This is because the names relate to people who do not exist. One of the great merits of this order is that it bears down on electoral fraud. Deep disquiet has existed for years in our country about electoral fraud and malpractice. It is unquantifiable, but recent well-publicised cases before the courts exhibited it in its full ugliness. Judges in some of these cases have expressed the gravest concern. The Conservative general election manifesto promised to ensure that,

“the Electoral Commission puts greater priority on tackling fraud”.

This order can perhaps be regarded as the first step in giving effect to that most welcome manifesto commitment.

No one will be robbed of the right to vote by this order. Anyone qualified to vote can register at any point, either before or after 1 December. One of the great benefits of the new system is that registration can be accomplished online in a matter of moments, as nearly half a million people found on registration deadline day before this year’s general election.

Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL]

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful that the noble Lord, Lord Low, said what he did. I declare my interest as a former charity chief executive and having had a connection with the charity sector for many years; and as a regulator on four separate occasions, though not in the charity sector, I can speak on regulation with some insight.

There has been a bit of a witch-hunt this summer. I am not saying that charities are getting it absolutely right, but there has been a huge focus on those charities that, from time to time, were getting it wrong, and on the admitted gross inadequacies of the Fundraising Standards Board. I do not quibble that we need an independent and effective regulator, but I hope that we are not going to be dragooned by the witch-hunt that the Daily Mail has led in quite an extreme fashion, to the point where charity fundraisers are now being followed around in the streets, in public places and in meetings of charitable donors and beneficiaries, just in case something can be picked up that can be used by the newspaper.

We have also had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction from some of the other players. The Information Commissioner is steadily redefining his position on data protection issues in charities, to the point where a charity now cannot phone a volunteer, who may have volunteered for that charity for many years, unless there is express permission in place that the charity may phone them. If they have signed up to the telephone preference scheme that would also prevent the charity from phoning.

We are in the position where some of the interpretation of the existing regulation is becoming incredibly counterproductive, to the point where my concern is that charities that are trying hard, that had good codes of practice, that have trustees who are interested and that enforce their rules with the agencies that work with them, are now being penalised. That makes their business not just of raising money, but of talking to their donors, who in many cases are also beneficiaries, more difficult.

I cannot support the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lady Hayter. The Fundraising Standards Board is so unfit for purpose that when the Government or the charitable sector make a decision following the Etherington review, I very seriously advise that they do not call it the Fundraising Standards Board, but that whatever new regulatory function comes forward is called some entirely new name. I would also be extremely nervous about enhancing the role of the Charity Commission in this area. I do not think, in the 45 years that I have been connected with charities, that I have ever seen a Charity Commission that feels more hostile to the sector that it undoubtedly is regulating, but which it is also there to promote and enhance. I believe that the Charity Commission needs to examine its soul on how it is currently behaving and how it has done for the last year.

I am sure that the Etherington review will talk a huge amount of sense. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, and the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, both have in-depth knowledge of what they are talking about and are people of huge stature. I hope that whatever emerges from the Etherington review can go forward on a voluntary rather than a statutory basis. I believe that charities are very willing to look at how the public can be reassured. However, we need to make sure that all these changes, and all the anxiety that has been evinced over the summer, do not result in our lurching to a position where charities incur considerable costs in ensuring compliance with a statutory regulatory regime. Right regulation may not be light regulation, and therefore may involve considerable compliance costs. The one thing we do want to make sure is that charities are able to carry out the huge amount of work that they do for the public good in the best, most effective and publicly acceptable way, and in a way that has least dead-weight regulatory cost, because that is in the interests of the beneficiaries we all serve.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, as a former general secretary of the Independent Schools Council, I wish to add to the comments of my noble friend Lord Moynihan to underline the seriousness with which the council takes the obligations and undertakings that it has given during our debates, and to make clear that it looks forward to remaining in touch with those Members who take an interest in its affairs as it seeks to build up the not inconsiderable partnerships that it already has with state schools and local communities to the benefit of all three participating parties.

[Baroness Chalker of Wallasey (Con)]

My Lords, I have read the proceedings on the Bill in earlier sittings of your Lordships’ House. I was not able to be present because, as many noble Lords will know, I have responsibilities in Africa connected with many of the charities which fall into the categories we are discussing. I support what the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Old Scone, has just said. The interactions between certain charities and the Charity Commission of late reflect a sad situation. I believe that Sir Stuart Etherington’s committee will give us very valuable advice. I realise that it cannot report before we finish our discussion on the Bill. However, it must be very clear that future regulation has to be very transparent because there have been too many occasions when certainly I have wondered at the meaning behind the work of certain charities. Therefore, we need to have clear guidance determining charities’ declarations of the management of their organisations. Many of them are now so large that they require much more financial supervision than they have at present. I am certain that the committee will respond on that basis.

I will say no more at present but I, too, emphasise that it is important to have a further debate in the months ahead when the Bill comes back from another place. I very much hope that I can arrange to be here rather than in Africa when that happens.

Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL]

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Heyhoe Flint (Con)]

My Lords, I speak in support of the principles of this amendment. I urge the Minister to spend more time in the summer considering the excellent concessions that my noble friend Lord Moynihan and the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, have managed to achieve. In the past, as has been documented, a high proportion of our medal winners and test series winners—is this perhaps a moment when we should hold a minute’s silence for the England men’s cricket team?—and of the successes and indeed the membership of those teams has come from the public school sector. We should consider the amendments seriously; we can give the opportunities to those at grass-roots level who never get the chance to play on decent facilities. We can build from the grass roots more successful national teams, in which we take such pride.

It is not so much about winning medals and various series, but it should be a matter of good governance for independent schools that are charities. You could almost change the meaning of CSR from corporate social responsibility to charitable social responsibility. We should give those who have never had the chance to play sport on quality facilities a chance to move forward and reap the accolades that many of those from public schools have achieved. I am not in favour of statutory legislation to ensure that this happens but hope that independent schools can find it in their hearts to share their facilities with the community, and that the Government will accept the guidance of the Charity Commission to give all youngsters a sporting chance, not just those who have the backing of deep pockets and privilege.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, I begin by declaring, or rather repeating, my interests as a former general secretary of the Independent Schools Council and the current president of the Independent Schools Association, one of the constituent bodies of the council. When I spoke in Committee, I sought to emphasise above all the diversity and variety of independent schools. Diverse and varied though they may be, there are some things that ISC schools as a whole have in common: they are fully committed to working with their communities and state schools. The determination to contribute to and share in the life of their local communities and state schools arises naturally from the charitable ethos and purposes of ISC schools. That point was firmly underlined in the manifesto that the ISC published earlier this year as its contribution to the education debate as the election approached. The manifesto stated that,

“the mission of all schools, whether state or independent, is to educate children to achieve their full potential. Any barriers real or perceived between the two sectors are counterproductive”.

The manifesto went on to give a clear pledge:

“Partnerships between the independent and maintained sectors are an established part of the educational landscape … We propose that … Best practice and current activity is collated and shared to encourage greater participation”.

To that end, the ISC is now involved in detailed discussions with the Charity Commission and, as we have heard, is preparing a large website entitled Schools Together, to be launched later this year, which will set out in greater detail all that is being done now and encourage the rapid expansion of further partnership activity in all possible areas.

The first part of the amendment states:

“Independent schools which are charities must engage actively with local communities and state schools with a view to sharing resources and facilities”.

This pushes at an open door. The issue before us is how the goal, in which we are all united, should best be achieved. Because independent schools vary so greatly in size, resources and facilities, what they can do to carry forward sharing and partnership will inevitably vary too. Think, for example, of the many small schools, particularly those in rural areas or on confined urban sites, one of which I visited a few days ago in order to present the annual prizes. The school has some 200 pupils. It has no playing fields but opens its gym to the local community. It has established a number of means-tested bursaries and has just raised £8,000 for the NSPCC.

I stress the lack of uniformity within the independent sector. Where uniformity does not exist, surely flexibility is imperative. It is for that reason that I believe it would be inappropriate to require the Charity Commission to publish guidance setting out the minimum that independent schools that are charities must do, as the second part of the amendment proposes. To be fair and equitable, the Charity Commission would have to lay down a minimum for each of the ISC’s 1,267 member schools, taking the varying circumstances of each one into account. That is clearly impractical. There is also a point of principle at issue here. All charities are required to provide public benefit. Would it be right to single out independent schools alone for binding guidance on minimum standards?

Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill [HL]

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2015 Grand Committee

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

My Lords, I must take issue with the statement from the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, that the teaching in public schools is always better than that in state schools. I might well take issue with that but I certainly do not take issue with the fact that they have much better facilities, and that is what this is really all about.

We do not need to rehearse yet again the long-standing and tortuous arguments about what constitutes public benefit. In my intervention last week about funding the Charity Commission I talked about the quid pro quo that charities would expect in return for contributing to the funding of their regulator. Here we focus on another quid pro quo: in addition to the huge advantage that charitable status confers, independent schools are encouraged to further engage with local communities and make their facilities available for sports and arts purposes. Noble Lords have acknowledged that there is a lot of this about. There is some very good practice and it relates not only to the last Charities Bill. I remember that when I chaired the New Opportunities Fund, which did a great deal of work putting lottery money into schools, there were some excellent examples of co-operation between public and state schools. As we have heard, though, it is very patchy. Too many of the sharing facilities and projects that go on are dependent on the history of relationships between that school and its local community. Even more concerning is that they are sometimes dependent on relationships between individuals, usually teachers. This is not satisfactory.

Facilities and coaching are important, as we have heard, so far as sport, arts and music are concerned, and they are disproportionately available in the public school sector. Only this morning, we heard that the Olympic legacy has not been realised so far as participation is concerned, and too many independent schools think it sufficient to say that facilities are available to local communities whenever their own students do not need them or they are not in use. When one headmaster was asked when the facilities were available, he said, “Any evening after 9 pm or any bank holiday, but funnily enough no one seems to want them then”. Quite.

I very much support these amendments. The only anxiety I have is one that we have raised many times before in this Bill—the issue of giving the Charity Commission more responsibility without increasing its resources. This is quite a heavy policing function that would be placed on it, and that will need to be taken into consideration, but I support the amendment.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a former general secretary of the Independent Schools Council and as the current president of the Independent Schools Association and of the Council for Independent Education. As I recite these names, it perhaps gives an illustration of the diversity that exists in the independent sector, which, viewed from the outside, is often depicted as a rather monolithic affair determined to keep on its own side of a Berlin Wall. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this debate so far has indicated.

I am very glad indeed to hear the acknowledgements of the widespread support that is given by the Independent Schools Council to the growth of partnership activity. The results are summarised in a publication called the ISC Annual Census 2015. A great deal of detailed material is going to be made available in September on a website Schools Together, which will give a great wealth of case studies and examples of what schools are doing in sharing facilities with their local communities and state schools. It will be an extensive website because there is so much to record.

I think the issue comes to this: is there a role for the law in this matter? We are at one in acknowledging that much has been done. I stress the ISC’s continuing encouragement for the further expansion of such schemes and have very serious concerns about the implications of an attempt to specify how independent schools that are charities should demonstrate public benefit. All charities are of course required to provide public benefit. Would it be right to single out independent schools for specific guidance on what they should do? I also question whether this would be expedient because schemes for sharing facilities that are likely to succeed will do so when they reflect a deep and genuine desire on the part of state schools, local communities and independent schools to be involved in them.

Local wishes should determine what happens. It is important to remember that independent schools vary greatly in size and character. More than 50% have 350 pupils or fewer. Only a tiny minority have large endowments; the vast majority are wholly dependent on fee income. What they can do will vary from place to place depending on size and on how local communities and state schools wish to work with independent schools. I emphasise that the 1,200 schools belonging to the Independent Schools Council are keen to work with local schools and communities, contributing to the activities of local communities and work in state schools. These things are innate to them these days, forming part of the charitable ethos and purpose of the schools.

If partnership schemes are to deliver benefits to all involved—local communities, state schools and independent schools, which are enriched by partnership—I suggest that the best course is to give every encouragement to voluntary local arrangements and not seek to impose a set of requirements across the board, which I suppose would be known these days as a one-size-fits-all approach.

[Viscount Bridgeman (Con)]

My Lords, while supporting the sentiments behind these two amendments, I have a small difficulty with the drafting. Surely in proposed new subsection (5) of both amendments, engaging fully implies aspirations towards an ideal. I feel that this does not lie easily with the word “minimum” in proposed subsection (6) of the two amendments. For example, a school that very reluctantly complies with the minimum requirements may be well aware that it is not engaging fully. The local community and, indeed, the Charity Commission, may feel the same way. Therefore, if these two amendments find favour with the Government, I suggest that they should be redrafted so that the two proposed subsections are absolutely compatible.

Voting: UK Overseas Citizens

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2015 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lexden]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will fulfil their commitment to extend full voting rights to all United Kingdom citizens overseas before the referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Lord Bridges of Headley) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to making a permanent change to remove the 15-year time limit on the parliamentary voting rights of British citizens living overseas. The Government are currently considering the timetable for doing so and will set out more detail in due course. At this stage I am afraid that I can make no commitment that it will be possible to make this permanent change in time for the referendum, the date for which is yet to be set.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

I have long supported the extension of voting rights to all our fellow countrymen and women living outside this realm. As it happens, I have also long supported my noble friend, whom I welcomed to the Conservative research department 23 years ago. This is my first opportunity to welcome him here. I thank him for his comments about the importance of this issue, which, as he knows, stirs very strong feelings indeed, not least among the estimated 2 million who live in other EU countries. Will he do all he can to expedite the Bill to give them votes for life, which was promised in the Conservative manifesto?

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

My Lords, my noble friend is quite right; he marked my work some 23 years ago. It was quite a daunting experience then, so I do not look forward to his marking of this answer. I cannot go much further than the Answer that I gave. All I will say is that I entirely share his sentiment that Britons abroad do, indeed, retain strong links with this country through family and friends. Many others remain fully up-to-date on British affairs thanks to today’s modern communications. I pay tribute to the work that my noble friend has done, along with many other noble Lords such as my noble friend Lord Norton and the noble Lord, Lord Tyler. The Government remain committed to fulfilling their commitment.

Defence Review

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Wednesday 25th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I was not aware of the issue that the noble Lord has just raised. The next security and defence review will certainly look at how to squeeze the most out of the defence procurement process.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Returning to current spending, will the £25 million allocated in the Budget to military veterans be extended to former service men and women in Northern Ireland?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I am assured that it will be extended to Northern Ireland and that the MoD is quite clear that this is a UK scheme and not just a Great Britain scheme.

Electoral Register

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

I thank the noble Lord for his normally generous comments. The sheer heavy weight of the Labour Government’s ID proposals seemed to me and many of my colleagues to make it an unavoidable failure. There is a debate about the shift to a digital relationship between the citizen and the state, which we will have to have, and about convenience against privacy, which we need to have as we move forward. My right honourable friend Francis Maude and others working on the Government Digital Service have made a good deal of progress in that regard.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Does the Minister have any information about the growth in the number of 18 to 21 year-olds on the register?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

Since 1 December, some 700,000 16 to 24 year-olds have applied to register. We do not have an exact figure on what proportion that is because the figures on how many 16 year-olds will be eligible to vote in the election are not exact because we do not have all their birthdays.