Queen’s Speech

Baroness Jolly Excerpts

Thursday 29th June 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jolly (LD)]

My Lords, as the Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson, I would usually have spoken in response to the Queen’s Speech last week. However, I have a social care issue of which I have given the Minister prior warning and would be grateful for a response, so I am speaking now and understand that I will get no feedback on the defence element.

Last week’s defence debate revisited issues that we have raised again and again these past two years: the 2% of GNP spend; concerns about our shrinking fleet; insufficient equipment to maintain capabilities in the face of growing threats; and all this against a backdrop of concerns over Britain’s diminishing position on the global stage.

Whenever our fleet is reduced, whenever a key military capability is lost, there are howls of indignation from all sides of the House. However, the gradual hollowing out of the Armed Forces through reductions in the numbers of personnel must also be of great concern. Last year, there was a deficit of full-time, trained personnel of about 6,400 individuals, a trend which has seen little sign of abating under the current Government. This means more pinch-points in operational capabilities. This pinch is already felt in specialties requiring key skills such as engineering, but it will be felt right across the Armed Forces should the decline continue. This week, HMS “Queen Elizabeth”, our magnificent new £3 billion pound aircraft carrier, put to sea for the first time. But how valuable an investment will she be if we cannot crew her or her supporting fleet?

For the service men and women still serving, the cuts have been felt acutely. The results of the Regular Armed Forces continuous attitude survey published last month painted a picture of low morale, both personal and within units, which, along with the impact on family and personal life, were the key reasons cited for leaving the service.

The recent report of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body noted that this is due to a “perfect storm”—those are its words, not mine—of pay below the private sector, increasing national insurance, changes in tax credits and increases in rental charges under the new combined accommodation assessment system. Beyond that, service personnel feel the pressure of having to perform difficult jobs without sufficient capacity, which leaves them feeling undervalued and undersupported by the establishment. It is small wonder, then, that there has been a deterioration in perceptions of the Armed Forces offer, as compared with that of the private sector.

The Government’s solution, announced in the Queen’s Speech, is the proposed Armed Forces (Flexible Working) Bill, which would enable flexible working arrangements for regular service personnel. This includes part-time service and limited geographic employment within the Regular Armed Forces. The Bill might go some way to stem the loss of service personnel and it might provide measures that would make the Armed Forces a more attractive prospect for some, but the proposals will not necessarily allow the Armed Forces to maintain current levels of functionality.

I would be interested in seeing the evidence that suggests that the measures in this Bill will be effective. Do any NATO members have similar schemes? Is there a great call for this from families? Furthermore, the Bill does not address the major causes of the lack of manpower. As such, it provides measures only to treat the symptoms of Britain’s ailing defence capabilities but fails to address their causes. Failure to address these deficiencies puts more and more pressure on our service men and women, who make sacrifices for our defence, risking their health and well-being. This truly threatens the security of the nation.

In the Queen’s Speech there is a commitment to improve social care and bring forward proposals for consultations. I am sure many noble Lords here today await these eagerly. I declare my interests as set out in the register. For the last 18 months I have been chair of Hft, a long-established charity which provides services to over 2,000 adults with learning disabilities and employs over 3,000 staff. We pride ourselves on our quality service provision and quality approach to staff. To put this in context, I remind noble Lords that one-third of social care expenditure is on adults with a learning disability—a significant number.

That sector is under threat due to the unintended consequences of a series of employment tribunal rulings, coupled with HMRC enforcement activity, relating to the treatment of sleep in shifts for the purposes of the national living wage. This is forcing employers to fund back-payments for a number of years when everyone involved funded on the understanding that sleep-ins are not covered by national minimum wage legislation.

Many in the sector, including charities and personal budgetholders, do not have the money to fund these payments. The total cost to the sector will be around £400 million. My charity is the first to be called to pay, going back six years, and it has a deadline of 1 September this year. The payment will exceed £5 million. Once this has happened, the issue will go past the point of no return and any solution will be very complex and difficult to achieve. As other providers are required to pay, many will be forced into insolvency and have to return contracts to local authorities. Unlike Southern Cross contracts, these will be unattractive to other providers, as they will contain the six-year back-pay liability.

The key issue is timing and the urgent need to seek a suspension of current enforcement action to allow space for a considered solution. This would prevent the failure of a significant part of the social care sector but requires swift action from government. It cannot wait until the promised November Green Paper on funding social care or the Government’s proposals for consultation. Can the Minister give the sector some assurance that this issue is very high on the list of urgent actions for each of the four ministries involved, and that there is an understanding that this cannot wait until after the Summer Recess?