Technical and Further Education Bill

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 1st February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register. Like many people, I was really pleased to hear our Prime Minister state in her speech about global Britain on 17 January at Lancaster House that our new modern industrial strategy is being developed,

“to ensure every nation and area of the United Kingdom can make the most of the opportunities ahead ... we will go further to reform our schools to ensure every child has the knowledge and the skills they need to thrive in post-Brexit Britain”.

I see the Bill as a building block to achieve this, which is why I am pleased to give it my support.

When I think about the Bill, I also think about some of the young people I have met over the years. The ones you remember are the real gems and those who have managed to achieve something. I remember being called to a police station to see a young lad we were trying to help. He had been getting himself into trouble with great regularity. I remember the policeman saying, “If we don’t do something with him, he’s going to have a career path that we don’t want”. I asked the lad, “What are you going to do with your life? What job are you going to do?”. He replied, “All I ever wanted to do was crazy paving”. When I asked why he was not doing that, he said, “Because people have said it’s not serious enough”. I went out and talked to builders, saying, “Come on, will you do this?”. There was a builder who employed the lad and he never put a foot wrong again. Whether that was careers advice, I am not sure, but he understood what he wanted to do and, once he got the opportunity to do it, he thrived. I just hope we can find a way to remember him as the Bill goes through this House.

I am very grateful to numerous organisations for the briefings they have provided. I cannot refer to them all but will mention the Edge Foundation, the AELP and the Centre for Social Justice.

Much has been said and promised about improving the life chances of those who for too long have not been able to fulfil their potential and for whom social mobility is something that people talk about but not something that they have experienced. I have tried to avoid repeating what others have said or pre-empting what some might say today, but I must reinforce the point that, as far as education is concerned, not everyone is suited to an academic route, and the emphasis in the Bill on the technical route is very welcome.

When I asked my father whether he thought I should go to university, his careers advice to me was, “No, Debbie. People in our family don’t do that. Join the WRENs or the police force. You’ll get a good pension and have a good time”. I did not take that advice. I did not go to university either but, without being arrogant, I like to think that I have not done too badly.

One of the recommendations from the Independent Panel on Technical Education, established by the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, states that two education routes into employment should be provided to students at 16—the academic and the technical—with the potential for students to move between the two. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, did not like that concept, but when you do something technical or practical, sometimes the light comes on and you suddenly realise that you can do something that you did not think you could. I agree that there should not be any hokey-cokey between the two, but we should keep our minds open on that. The report recommends that the technical route be improved so that it becomes as clearly delineated as the academic route. We need to do that and we need to help parents understand that. Parents think they are letting their children down if they do not go to university, when sometimes it is quite the opposite. I do not have children myself, so I had better not make judgments about parents in that way.

There is a concern that apprenticeship providers are seeing the majority of the apprenticeships on offer go to older people rather than to 16 to 18 year-olds. I am quite sure this is not the intention, but I would be grateful if my noble friend the Minister could tell the House what measures will be put in place to monitor this. I am a fully paid-up member of the idea that the earlier the intervention, the better. We need more apprenticeships for young people entering the labour market for the first time. Of course those who are already employed should benefit from apprenticeships and further training, but not to the detriment of our younger people.

I understand that, initially, 15 types of technical routes will be established. It is quite understandable that we have to start somewhere, but if young people are to take advantage of the apprenticeships on offer, they need both the technical and creative skills that employers are looking for. A purely academic curriculum at school, such as a narrow EBacc, will not provide this. A broader baccalaureate is required, featuring slots for both technical and creative subjects, to help young people develop these skills. Although the EBacc consultation is not specific to this Bill, it would be helpful to have some idea of where the Government stand on this and when they will publish their response the EBacc consultation.

At the end of the day, we must create the talent pipeline that new industries and technology demand. To do this we must offer all young people the opportunity to study practical and technical subjects from an early age. Both the EBacc consultation and the ad hoc Select Committee on Social Mobility, of which I was a member, recommended that this should start at the age of 14. I am well aware that I am known as somebody who pushes my luck sometimes—well, I am going to push it again. I ask that we really think about starting this process for young people at the age of 14. It would enable them to develop the project management and problem-solving skills, the capacity for team work and the resilience that employers are crying out for. Will my noble friend the Minister give us his and the Government’s thoughts on this?

The business case for the Bill is beyond question. We live in a great country, which, despite the challenges we face, can have a great future, not just for business but for its citizens—for all our young people. Our Prime Minister made her commitment to this quite clear in the speech I referred to earlier. According to the ONS, the UK productivity gap is approximately 17% with the G7, 12% with Germany and 39% with the USA. We need to work hard to close the gap. This will be done through a robust industrial strategy and business and government working together to innovate and deliver, but, most of all, by making sure that our human capital—I include everybody in that—can play their part in our success.

I leave the House with one more anecdote. I knew a young man who was a member of a dysfunctional, non-traditional, chaotic family—noble Lords get the picture; it was not good. We discovered that he had a great talent for art. He did his foundation course in a studio school and is now studying at—I am going to need help here—the École des—.

[Noble Lords]

École des Beaux-Arts.

[Baroness Stedman-Scott]

Thank you; my French is not that good. His aspiration is to work in the Musée d’Orsay. That is the kind of excitement and aspiration we want for our young people. The Bill is a good start to that process and I hope it succeeds.

Higher Education and Research Bill

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Committee: 6th sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 25th January 2017 Lords Chamber

Amendment 361 agreed.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Stedman- Scott) (Con)]

My Lords, if Amendment 362 is agreed to, I cannot call Amendment 363 by reason of pre-emption.

Amendment 362 not moved.

Armed Forces: Capability

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robertson of Port Ellen]

It is difficult to mount any form of attack on the noble Earl who is so gentle and so apparently reasonable that we are all disarmed at the end. But there is a long-standing belief that no plan survives the first engagement with the enemy. Since the SDSR was published last year, we have had the Brexit referendum, with profound implications for the direction of British defence policy.

Secondly, Donald Trump has been elected as President of the United States of America, with all the statements that he has made about NATO undermining, in many ways, a lot of the solidarity that is there. So there is a genuine reason for looking at SDSR 2015, if only to look at the activities of President Putin now that he is a major player in the Middle East.

I asked a question in the middle of my speech which the noble Earl may have missed. What will be the cost of the devaluation on the defence budget? Perhaps he could write to me.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Stedman-Scott) (Con)]

My Lords, the time allotted for this debate has now elapsed and I must put the Question. The Question is that this Motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed.

Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

My Lords, I draw attention to and declare my interests as laid out in the Members’ register of interests. Along with other noble Lords, I welcome the Bill and the steps that the Government are putting in place to improve the life chances of children in care and care leavers, an aim which all our hearts should beat in concert to achieve. It is tragic when any young person is taken into care, and this Bill should enable us to redouble our efforts to give those young people an opportunity to have a second chance to have stability in their life and, most importantly, to succeed.

The human cost of not doing this is vast. If I understand it correctly, 11% of all homeless people have been in care. Of those who end up in adult prison, 25% have been in care. I really hope I have got this figure wrong, but 70% of those involved in the sex industry have been in care. Of teenagers who become pregnant, 22% have been in care. In addition, 39% of those in care end up being NEET. These are hardly the outcomes we want for these young people, and I do not think any one of us would want to tolerate such bad performance.

My contribution to this debate is based around the commitment to offer all young people in care and care leavers a personal adviser from the age of 18 to 25—an extension to the existing commitment to the age of 21. However, I have said this many times and will say it again: this is too late. My experience, and the experience of others, is that where this support service can be brought forward to the age of 14, the outcomes achieved are beyond question.

The other point is that we are going to offer this to them if they want it. Young people have their moments. Sometimes their judgment is not quite what we would like it to be, and no matter how much we sing to them, they do not take our advice. I do not agree that they should get this support only if they want it, and fully agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Hughes, that we need to encourage them all to take up the offer. Reflecting on the stats I quoted earlier, I hope we have it in our power, capacity and commitment to these young people to make sure that they do. I have seen for myself the difference that this support can make. If we could get it to them earlier, we could prevent so much of what we have talked about this evening. Early intervention is best.

The Bill is set to encourage new ways of working, delivery and true innovation, and I hope that local authorities will look at the complete set of offerings before deciding how best this can be achieved. What would the personal adviser ideally be? They would not just ring the young person up now and then and see how things were going. They would not just write now and then but would be in face-to-face contact—weekly would be the real offering. As for funding, I am not quite sure how we are going to pay for this; I live in hope that there will be some additional funds to do this. The whole sector would work with the Government, because this is ripe for social investment and for a social impact bond. I am looking forward to the launch of the life chances fund on 4 July, because it will take away all the protests about how we cannot do this or cannot do it properly—I think we can. My noble friend Lady Shephard referred to ThinkForward; Tomorrow’s People was fundamentally involved in its delivery. All young people aged 14 who need it— not just those who want it—should have a personal adviser.

I will share some good statistics with your Lordships: 96% of 17 and 18 year-olds are currently in education, training or employment; 60% of school leavers achieved at least 5 GCSEs at grades A to C; and 85% of 14 to 16 year-olds have shown statistically significant improvement in attendance at school and in behaviour—the very fact that they have turned up has made people’s hearts sing.

I have tried to find stats for the effectiveness of the current personal adviser role. I do not wish to make negative judgments about things I do not have the facts on, but the only thing I could find out was that 25% of care leavers have lost contact with their adviser by the time they reach 21. We need some benchmarks for what our personal advisers will do. If we get this offer in the Bill right, it will make significant changes to the life chances of our young people, who are precious to us and who deserve the very best we can give them.

Education and Adoption Bill

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Stedman-Scott)]

There being an equality of votes, in accordance with Standing Order 56, which provides that no proposal to amend a Bill in the form in which it is before the House shall be agreed to unless there is a majority in favour of such amendment, I declare the amendment disagreed to.

Amendment 15C disagreed.

Childcare Bill [HL]

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

My Lords, I am pleased to speak on the Bill. I applaud the Government for bringing it to the House, as it is so important for working families, but also, most importantly, for children. The Bill honours the Government’s manifesto pledge to provide 30 hours of free childcare for working parents of three and four year-olds. We all know the value of work and its importance for the financial stability of households, as a result providing a more secure environment for families and children. I thank the organisations that have provided briefings on the Bill. From what I can see the issues raised are broadly consistent, and I am sure that by now the Minister will understand where his homework on the Bill needs to be done.

Rather than me setting that exercise, I will give my view of what the Bill needs to do. While increasing the capacity of childcare provision, we need to ensure that quality is delivered consistently across the country; the increased capacity can only be achieved by investing in a highly skilled and motivated workforce; and we need to make sure that the review of cost and funding required to do the job properly will be undertaken and measured in the way we contribute to that in every sense. The Government are making a huge commitment to double free childcare from 15 hours to 30 hours, which will be a real help to working families. That will generate some long and intense debates in the consultation period and will help the Bill in its passage through the House.

When introducing Bills such as this, I expect that there is an element of “not being able to do right for doing wrong”. I have been involved in a number of things where people have almost set the answer before the questions have been debated. Therefore, as questions have already been asked about the lack of detail, I congratulate the Minister on setting out the Government’s intention to consult with parents and the childcare sector on how the extra hours will be delivered and funded. With added input from this House, I am sure that the detail will become clearer.

I was disturbed to read in the briefings I received from Save the Children that one in four children arrive at primary school with poor language and communications skills, which rises to one in three children in the poorest communities. As we all know, that has a knock-on effect, because it leaves children in a position where they struggle to progress at school, and if it is not dealt with it has a further negative impact on their continuing educational attainment and working lives. I understand that almost half of independent nurseries do not employ a single early years teacher. Such a role would go a long way to help with the development of language and communication skills. Therefore, can the Minister say whether that issue will be given due consideration in the review of quality and funding? We all know and sign up to the value of early intervention, and such an investment at this stage in a child’s life would generate significant returns and save costs further down the line.

Another point, which was already raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, is that we must ensure that childcare services for children with special educational needs and disabilities are given due consideration in the Bill. I understand that many childcare providers give excellent services to children with special educational needs and disabilities, and I know that all of us want to see those standards of excellence consistently provided across all provision. I hope that we can work to get the Bill to do that. Can the Minister ensure that that will be an important part of the review?

I support the aim and principles of the Bill and look forward to the dialogue that we will have as it progresses. I hope that we will all be mindful of the opportunity we have to increase and improve the childcare that children will receive as a result of the Bill.

Queen’s Speech

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

My Lords, I was delighted that Her Majesty’s gracious Speech referred to our Government’s commitment to give new opportunities to the most disadvantaged through education and welfare reform. I want to use my time today to talk about our responsibility and commitment to help young people, particularly, but not exclusively, if they are leaving the care system: helping them make a good transition to adulthood by preventing them from becoming NEET—or, if they are already NEET, helping them to get and keep a job. This is essential if they are to lead a fulfilling life, fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. One thing that the election made clear was that, in order to achieve this, our country needs a thriving economy and a complete commitment to ensuring that everyone gets a fair crack of the whip.

Welfare reforms have been implemented and—yes—more needs to be done, but it has to be right that work must pay. None of us can be in a party, a Government or a society that appears soft on people who do not want to do anything, but we all want to be part of a party, a Government and a society that wants to be strong in its resolve to help those who need our help. Abraham Lincoln made many speeches, which are quoted often. He is credited with the following:

“You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong … You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer … You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich”.

After those points were made and the phrases coined, it turned out that they were said not by Abraham Lincoln but by an obscure German vicar 50 years after Lincoln died. However, whoever said them, they have complete resonance with us today.

Time is short, but, suffice to say, strengthening and stabilising communities and families has to be a major priority for this Conservative Government if we are to begin to make the much-needed progress in the battle to improve social mobility.

A child who grows up without the safe, stable and nurturing relationships that are usually provided in a loving family is at a significant disadvantage when they try to make their way in the world. When they have been removed from their parents and been in the care system, the state’s major responsibility as the corporate parent must be to ensure that they benefit from other close relationships that can help them forge a strong sense of identity and security.

I join the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, in congratulating the Government on the progress that they have made on adoption for young children. However, only this week we learned the extent to which teenagers in care are moved from placement to placement, undermining any chance that they have to settle and build secure relationships with those who care for them. One-quarter of teenagers in foster care are now on at least their fourth placement. I know that the Government will be as committed to this group of young people as they have been to others and I really look forward to progress being made for them.

Although the adoption reforms announced in the Queen’s Speech are welcome, we must not forget that this is largely a solution for younger children, as I have said. Last year, there were 40,000 children aged 10 to 18 years old in care. Of these, only 70 were adopted. We must take this opportunity to raise our game here.

Sadly, outcomes for those who have recently left care are often poor. As the former chief executive of Tomorrow’s People, I know just how important a job is to provide young people with a sense of purpose and self-worth, and with a structure of routine. Therefore, I remain deeply concerned that at least 38% of young care leavers are NEET.

Almost always, what is necessary for young people to reach their potential is someone who believes in them and will push them to achieve. I am a fellow at the Centre for Social Justice, which recently published the Finding Their Feet report on improving outcomes for care leavers. This emphasised the central need for continuity of relationships. There is a clear, proven and effective way for disadvantaged children to get that one relationship with someone who believes in them and will push them to achieve in life: by introducing a highly trained coach to work with them. I have spoken about this many times and am so sorry to tell noble Lords that I have got no intention of letting this one go.

An initiative called ThinkForward, which is delivered through Tomorrow’s People in partnership with the Impetus Private Equity Foundation in Tower Hamlets, Islington and Hackney, is right now transforming the lives of young people. Young people can go there if they are at risk of becoming NEET, are in care or are vulnerable. They get a coach at the age of 14, and many young people have been the beneficiaries of this service. Some 96% of them have not gone on to become NEET. This is a grand way of proving our commitment to those on the margins, to love them and get them through so that they can indeed have a job. A coach for all who need it is a worthy aspiration and one that I will continue to pursue. I am absolutely convinced that we may not need to spend more money but instead spend what we have in a better way.

I am looking forward to my Government doing a number of things, and I completely support them. I am an optimist. With fervent intent, we can have a very strong economy. We are going to reform the welfare system with diligence and care and, with passion beyond anything, make sure that we nurture those on the margins of our society to give them opportunity and aspiration to make sure that they can succeed.