International Women’s Day

Baroness Donaghy Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Donaghy (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady Rafferty on her wonderful maiden speech. She is as qualified to speak about women succeeding in science as I am unqualified. She has done so many pioneering things in nurse education that I must confine myself to but a few of them: the first nurse to graduate with a doctorate from Oxford University—a DPhil in modern history; in 2008, she was seconded to the Department of Health to work with the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, on the Next Stage Review of the NHS; a member of the Prime Minister’s Commission on the Future of Nursing and Midwifery between 2009 and 2010; and a member of the Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales, which reported in 2018. She is a past president of the Royal College of Nursing, and in 2017 was nominated as one of the 70 most influential nurses in the 70 years of the NHS. She was a member of the Times Health Commission in 2023-24, and she holds degrees and honorary degrees from a range of universities.

Closer to home for me, my noble friend was dean of the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King’s College. I was a non-executive director at King’s College Hospital in the 1990s, and I was proud to chair appointment panels for the first consultant-level posts in palliative care, so I hope my noble friend Lady Rafferty does not mind if I bask in her reflected glory. Her analysis of what has happened in nurse education and training has some remarkable parallels with what has happened in teacher education and training—a subject which I know a bit about.

I thank my noble friend—Nurse Rafferty, Professor Rafferty, Dame Anne Marie Rafferty, Baroness Rafferty—for her maiden speech and in anticipation of the distinguished contribution she will make in this House.

On the subject of today’s debate, I wish all participants a happy International Women’s Day for 8 March and thank the five maiden speeches made or to be made.

The noble Baroness, Lady Brown, who has just finished her term of office as a distinguished chair of the Science and Technology Committee, recently called for the Government to review what she called the high upfront burden of current visa fees, which are higher than those in any comparable country. The noble Baroness, herself an engineer, said that the barriers faced by postgraduate students and early career researchers amounted to

“an act of national self-harm”.

Since 2022, the cost of a five-year skilled worker visa has increased by 22% to almost £12,000, and the upfront immigration health surcharge, which they also have to pay for, has risen by 66% to £1,035. Is the Minister able to tell us what steps the Government are taking to attract much-needed scientific talent to this country?

The noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Malvern, talked about a strong pipeline of qualified students into HE and careers in STEM areas, and said that the programme included strategies to raise girls’ participation in mathematics post-16. However, on 29 January, an announcement was made about changes to the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, meaning that, from 1 April, there will be a reduction in the number and type of events available. Similarly, the Government are cutting the Stimulating Physics Network and computing hubs. MEI, which runs the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, has been forced to terminate the 40 area co-ordinator contracts. I appreciate that we have taken over an education service with a history of underfunding and neglect, but is the Minister able to give more information about how the Government will mitigate the effects of these cuts?

The UK has the largest female health gap in the G20. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has stated that the upcoming 10-year health plan and the spending review 2025 are a good opportunity for the Government to deliver on their manifesto promise that never again would women’s health be neglected. For every £1 pound additional investment in obs and gynae services, it is estimated that there is an £11 return on investment. Absenteeism due to severe period pain, heavy periods, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts is estimated to cost £11 billion per year to the UK economy. As the royal college says, supporting women’s health is vital for the UK Government’s targets of economic growth and increasing the UK workforce.

The PwC Women in Work analysis said that, if sustained until 2030, continuing progress on female participation rates could contribute to a productivity uplift of 0.3% per annum, an appropriate UK GDP increase of £6.2 million a year. Can the Minister update the House on the steps the Government are taking to increase women’s participation in the workforce?

Finally, it has been an absolute privilege to take part in this debate, not just to celebrate International Women’s Day but to hear our five maiden speeches.