Queen’s Speech

Baroness Morgan of Cotes Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to speak in today’s debate. We have heard many fine speeches, but I think that it is right to congratulate those who have given their maiden speeches and the very fine valedictory speech that we heard. I wish the right reverend Prelate a very happy retirement from this place. I also draw the House’s attention to my interest on the register as a board member of the Careers & Enterprise Company.

As other noble Lords have mentioned, the gracious Speech has, of course, been given in the context of the last 14 months of the pandemic. In the time available today, I will touch on four issues arising from, and related to, yesterday’s Speech. First, one of the lessons from the past year is that our economic recovery should not just be about growth but about growing our nation’s overall well-being. I am privileged to serve on the Covid-19 Committee with the noble Baroness, Lady Chisholm, and the noble Lord, Lord Hain, whom the House heard from earlier. Our first report, released last month, talked about the impact of the growth in our digital life on our well-being. As we think more and more in the course of this year about the recovery of the public finances—and, we hope, a multi-year spending review, which is much needed by the government departments within which the Bills announced yesterday will be delivered—I hope that the Treasury will finally embrace the move towards looking at the economy in terms of overall well-being, not just the hard numbers.

My second point is that we have heard much, quite rightly, about the Government’s desire to level up, which is often pitched in the context of infrastructure. We hear a lot about road and rail connectivity, and I do not doubt that those are important. I certainly know that the delivery of 5G infrastructure and gigabit broadband is extremely important in light of the experience of the past year. However, we do not hear anything in the context of infrastructure about childcare. Women’s employment has been hit hard by the pandemic; more women than men have been furloughed in many cases. Without accessible, affordable and easy-to-find childcare, many working parents will find it hard to get back into the labour market after the pandemic. Without them and their involvement in the labour market, it will be very hard to grow our economy in the way we all want.

The third point, as has already been highlighted by the Covid-19 Committee, is the rapid growth of digital technology and living our lives online. While, as a former Digital Secretary, I would of course champion the important contribution that all tech businesses can make to our economy, we also have to recognise that the proliferation of illegal, and legal but harmful, content is causing psychological harm which undermines the well-being of our nation, particularly of children. I therefore firmly welcome the Government’s commitment to bringing in the online safety Bill and welcome its publication in draft form today. I also welcome the fact that online scams will be tackled. However, the Bill has to be about more than just picking out the content that we do not like; it has to be about changing the culture within the platform companies that offer opportunities for user-generated content to be shared. When the Bill reaches this House, the Government will find that many noble Lords want enforcement action against individual senior managers of those companies to be on the table from the start, not just subject to a two-year review.

My final point is on the skills and further education Bill, which has already been mentioned. As a Member of Parliament, I valued my work with the excellent Loughborough College, even when the students gave me a hard time about my work as their local MP. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, who is not in her place now, highlighted the important part of the Bill about employers being involved in working with colleges to assess local needs. I perhaps differ from the noble Baroness’s response to that—I think it is a very good idea—but I hope that Ministers will be able to set out more clearly, either tonight or in the course of debating the Bill, how local needs are to be assessed and defined, because that is going to be very important. We clearly have a very changing labour market, as a result of the pandemic, new technology and, as other noble Lords have mentioned, things such as green jobs. We will also be able to see the impact on the labour market once the furlough scheme has finished. That will be a key feature of this forthcoming Session and beyond, because employment is one of the key drivers of our well-being, which is where I started my remarks, and I think it is what the Government’s focus on levelling up is all about.