Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

Debate between Lord Liddle and Baroness Berridge

Wednesday 21st April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the commission outlined a number of reviews, including those that the noble Baroness outlined, and they were broadly in agreement with many of them. They took the recommendations of the Lammy review seriously, many of which have already been put into effect and others are in train. I shall come back to her on her kind offer of a meeting.

[Lord Liddle (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I will go back to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hannan. Do the Government regret the manner in which this report was pre-briefed by No. 10 in what looked like a deliberate attempt to stir up controversy with independent scholars and lifelong campaigners who have worked to eradicate the scourge of racism from our society? What is to be gained by pursuing these culture wars? Should action in future not be based on objective evidence? If that is the case and we are basing action on objective evidence, why did the Minister not welcome the plea from the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, for companies to be required to publish data on ethnic-minority pay gaps between people with equivalent qualifications and abilities? Surely we have to make progress this way.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, it is deeply regrettable, as I have outlined, that reading many of the media reports and the commission’s report is like moving from one planet to another. The commission had its own independent communications advice and no one wants to see an issue go from robust disagreement —which is what we have always had a strong history of in this country—to personal abuse directed at various individuals who have given their time for nothing. As I have outlined, we agree that there should not be an ethnicity pay gap, but we disagree about the mechanism to change that. The history of our politics is that we agree on the ends, but disagree on the means to get there.

Education Settings: Autumn Opening

Debate between Lord Liddle and Baroness Berridge

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, the laptops are the property of the local authority or the multi-academy trust; when they were loaned out to students, it was of course expected that they would be returned. Tens of thousands of 4G wireless routers went out as well, because we recognise the problem that wi-fi can be patchy, if not non-existent, in certain parts of the country.

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, I greatly welcome the £1 billion catch-up package mentioned in the Statement. But I know from experience of the way in which government works that there is a big gap between allocating a sum of money and ensuring that it actually reaches those schools in the most deprived neighbourhoods and the children who are most at risk of being left badly behind. How are the Government addressing this question? What sources of information are being used? Are local authorities involved as sources of advice on where the money could be best allocated? On the tutoring programme, are the Government considering innovative methods of delivery, such as those pioneered by Teach First in the last decade and more?

[Baroness Berridge]

The noble Lord is correct. When you have £1 billion, it is important to make sure that it gets to where it needs to go and delivers what it should. That is why £650 million will go directly to schools. Part of that is to enable them to purchase the subsidised tutoring. We trust the school system; giving the majority of the money to the schools is best. Only they know who, of the pupils in front of them, need what. We will publish further details on the £350 million for the national tutoring service. We are looking at making the best use of that money, including remote learning, without forgetting that, in certain schools, there will be a demand for a physical presence. There will be flexibility in that fund. Noble Lords will learn more about the £350 million tutoring fund soon.