Social Capital

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Monday 25th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The right reverend Prelate makes an important point. My noble friend Lord Greenhalgh has been working hard, in his role as Faith Minister, to bring faith communities together. I am happy to share an obvious example with the House, which is the role that faith groups are playing to support the vaccine rollout, and to manage misinformation and disinformation about the impact of vaccines.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con) [V]]

My Lords, while young people have mainly been spared the ravages of disease during the pandemic, they have suffered the economic and social consequences of the pandemic response, which we have had to follow, probably more than anyone else. Does my noble friend agree that we need to rebuild social capital and offer this group hope? Will she endorse the proposal of a funded year to serve, which was offered and suggested by the Repairing our Social Fabric programme at Onward? I declare my interest as the chair of that programme.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend about the impact the pandemic has had on young people. That is one of the reasons that the Chancellor announced a review of youth provision outside schools, which will be reporting in May this year. I thank my noble friend and his colleagues at Onward for providing excellent analysis and research on the year to serve, and I am happy to continue a further conversation with him about that proposal.

Grassroots Sporting Fixtures and Facilities

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Lord is right to highlight the importance of physical activity among young people. We are grateful for all the action of Sport England and others to encourage that, both at the moment and, I am sure, well into the future. The noble Lord may be pleased to hear that, last week, specific clarification was made about the status of youth workers, many of whom will be carrying out sporting activities with particularly vulnerable young people; they have been confirmed as key workers.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, I want to carry on the theme of grass-roots sport for schoolchildren. I live in London and when we were in tier 4, before the national lockdown, guidance went out from the department about what sort of activities could continue, but it caused great confusion at the local level. One local rugby club was open and another was not, and the football club was not sure what to do. Given that this patchwork of provision cannot be sustained if we are to get young people exercising after the lockdown, I encourage my noble friend’s department to give much more direct guidance about what can be done, so that we see that provision come back at the earliest possible opportunity.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for highlighting those specific examples. If he can share more such examples with me and with officials, we can make every effort to ensure that there is clarity, so that when we do bring back grass-roots sport, the maximum number of children and adults can benefit.

Professional Football

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran]

I thank the noble Lord for his generous words. Like him, I look forward—who knows for how long—to debating these issues with him and other noble Lords across the Dispatch Box. He will be aware that the Sports Minister has been very vocal in his concern about what happened at Bury and nearly happened at Bolton. I share his concerns but, equally, the decision about whether clubs should be readmitted or not is for the English Football League, and is one where the Government can share their experience and act as a sounding board but not where we can get directly involved.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, for the reasons pointed out by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, what has happened at Bury Football Club is a tragedy for that community. It is sadly a fate that happened to the football club I support—Wimbledon FC, now AFC Wimbledon. The truth is that, without further radical action, it will be a fate endured by many more football clubs. Does my noble friend agree that these clubs need greater protection from greedy and incompetent owners? Does she also agree that encouraging greater fan and community ownership of these clubs is the best way to fix football’s broken business model? I impress on her the urgency of this. We cannot wait for the FA to act; it has no track record of doing so. I encourage the Government to do more.

[Baroness Barran]

With regard to tightening up the regulation, my noble friend will be aware that the English Football League has announced a “lessons learned” review, which we welcome. It will include a review of the eligibility criteria for directors and owners. It is also discussing with other clubs the potential introduction of a salary cap. On the relationship with fans, my noble friend will remember that there was a review in 2016 which made recommendations about removing barriers for fan ownership. The fans fund was set up with funds to advise fans in an emergency about making bids for their local club.