Social Cohesion and Community during Periods of Change

Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie Excerpts

Friday 6th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)]

I thank the most reverend Primate for his very moving opening to the debate, and I congratulate my new noble friend Lord Sharma on his quite excellent maiden speech. We are extremely lucky to have him on our Benches and I welcome him as a Member of this House.

You do not need to be a member of the International Relations and Defence Committee of your Lordships’ House, as I have the privilege to be, to appreciate how much change and global uncertainty we face. In our committee’s report, Ukraine: a Wake-up Call, we looked at lessons the UK should learn from the war in Ukraine, where social cohesion and cohesion of purpose have played a central role in all stages of the Russian invasion, showcasing them as essential components of defence.

Yet, here in the UK, defence has become something other people do; it is delivered by our Armed Forces, with the action usually taking place in some remote foreign field. This detachment and lack of understanding of what defence really means is becoming apparent in the debate around defence spending. No Government of any colour, it seems, are concerned about announcing increasing spending for the NHS, but the debate about why, how and when we might want to increase our percentage spend on defence is hampered by procrastination and vague promises.

Given that Russian forces have continuously targeted critical national infrastructure in Ukraine, and that here in the UK we experience numerous cyberattacks from malicious actors—only this week the National Cyber Security Centre highlighted the gap between the risks we face and our ability to mitigate them—is it time that we looked to the Scandinavian “all of society” approach, where we ask for more collective preparedness? Both Sweden and Latvia have recently released booklets with information about how civilians should react in a crisis or conflict situation. The Czech Republic has launched grey-zone exercises for the private sector. Germany has a long-standing tradition of social resilience, predominantly through its Technisches Hilfswerk—THW—a federal agency that provides training in disaster relief and boasts thousands of volunteers who provide rapid and efficient technical relief in emergencies anywhere in Germany and often across Europe. These solutions are as relevant in a crisis caused by extreme weather events as they are in a public-health emergency or a conflict.

In preparation for today’s debate, I came across the UK’s equivalent, the website prepare.campaign.gov.uk. I consider myself an interested and relatively well-informed citizen in this space, yet I had no idea before now that this existed. Can the Minister tell us whether they are any plans to develop the Prepare campaign and to raise its public profile? Does he know how many unique visits the website has had to date? He might have to write to me on that.

My experience in the healthcare and disability sectors have illustrated that there are too many areas where our society is not cohesive or well prepared. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of London referred to the Covid inquiry module 1 report, which concluded that emergency pandemic planning

“generally failed to account sufficiently for the pre-existing health and societal inequalities and deprivation in society”,

and that there was a

“failure to engage appropriately with those who know their communities best, such as local authorities, the voluntary sector and community groups”.

Essentially, our pandemic plans were made by fit and healthy individuals who failed those with pre-existing health issues because of a lack of understanding of what services were essential to them. In my organisation, Cerebral Palsy Scotland, I see such a lack of understanding filter through everyday life, not just emergency planning. Our charity’s mission is therefore to build a stronger, more supportive community for our beneficiaries.

The noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Drefelin, referred to the NCVO briefing. As it says, charity resilience and community resilience go hand in hand. Local charities in particular, as the noble Baroness said, have deep roots in our communities. Yet these organisations, of which mine is but one, which are delivering essential services that the state cannot provide, are feeling threatened like never before thanks to the increased costs of employment, together with reduced funding opportunities. This will affect beneficiaries as well as public services.

The sector is facing a perfect storm and, as I have said before, I am deeply concerned. We face a situation in which organisations are closing due to cash flow, not because of their effectiveness or their impact. The charity sector is in crisis. If they are not shutting, they are cutting.

Social cohesion and strong, supportive community life are indeed essential, but too often there is a sense of “them” and “us”. This Government, I am afraid to say, seem to think that all things public sector are good, and that those of us in the private, charity or any other sector can just be squeezed a bit more to pay for it. This is unsustainable and short-sighted during challenging times.

Instead, I suggest that strengthening and protecting the UK’s national resilience and its critical national infrastructure is the responsibility of us all. It cannot be left just to government, the public sector or the military. We need a collective understanding of the risks and a collective effort to mitigate them. Only then, I believe, will we strengthen our community life and foster greater social cohesion.