Welfare

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Richard Baker

Wednesday 11th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

What we should be talking about in this debate is root-and-branch reform of our welfare system, providing more opportunities for work for those who can work while protecting those who cannot. We should be talking about innovation and investment in employability to tackle the scourge of youth unemployment in our communities. What we should not have is the weaponisation of this debate and point scoring by a party whose record on this issue does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny.

On the Conservatives’ watch, spending on incapacity and disability benefits for working-age adults rose by £20 billion between 2019 and 2024, while progress on closing the disability employment gap stalled. When they left office, nearly 900,000 young people were not in education, employment or training and the disability employment gap stood at nearly 30%. The legacy in my constituency is that Fife has the fourth-lowest rate of 16 to 19-year-olds in education, training or work of Scotland’s 32 council areas. In Buckhaven and Methil in my constituency, one in eight of those aged 16 to 19 is a NEET, putting the area among the five worst wards in the whole of Scotland.

It is not rocket science to work out how that happened. We had a Conservative Government at Westminster failing to take the action required to provide more opportunities for our young people and to close the disability employment gap. Regrettably, we had an SNP Scottish Government cutting budgets for skills and training. I hope that Scottish Ministers will respond positively to the Prime Minister’s invitation to work with the UK Government to devolve powers and resources on employment to Scotland’s regions, as we are doing in England and Wales.

Importantly, this Government are not waiting for the final conclusions of the Milburn review, but are instead heeding the important call for change made in his interim report. We have the youth guarantee, backed by £1.5 billion of funding. We are introducing the youth jobs grant to incentivise employers to hire young people who have been on universal credit for six months. The Secretary of State recently had the opportunity to visit the youth hub in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Douglas McAllister). Young people who had never worked before are already finding jobs as a result of the support they are receiving from the youth hub.

There is plenty of evidence of what works with employability support. The community trade hub in Buckhaven in my constituency is reaching young people who were non-attenders at school, but are now getting the skills they need for the work of the future. The brilliant Enable Works scheme, where I used to work, is bringing third sector organisations together with expertise in employability. Could the work of the third sector make an even greater contribution with this vital change for disabled people, for young people and for our country?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the shadow Minister.

St Andrew’s Day and Scottish Affairs

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Richard Baker

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

I warmly congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie)—how appropriate that he should lead this debate given the history of Dunfermline not only as historical capital of Scotland, but as our capital in the great Kingdom of Fife. What a time to be a Scot with our team qualifying for the world cup finals! I am sure that the tartan army will once again be a great advert for Scotland, our hospitality and our conviviality.

As we celebrate our patron saint, let us recognise the vital role our faith community organisations play in our communities. Only last weekend, I visited St Luke’s Scottish Episcopal church in Glenrothes, where Father Gerry Dillon has established Luke’s Larder, providing a community pantry and activities to support wellbeing. This Christmas, St Luke’s and the Heart of Fife Church of Scotland will provide a Christmas lunch for people in the local community—another example of the importance of our local faith organisations.

Our patron saint’s national day is a time to celebrate Scottish civil society—not only our faith organisations, but our charities, from Fife Gingerbread, supporting lone parents and families, including through employability programmes, to Kingdom Offroad, tackling antisocial behaviour through providing safe organised off-road motorcycling activities. These charities thrive through their commitment, expertise and innovation, attributes for which Scotland has been known over the centuries.

Those attributes are also very much present in the H100 Fife scheme in Buckhaven in my constituency—a world-first demonstration project to bring 100% green hydrogen to domestic customers for the first time. That is pioneering innovation. In academia, in the third sector and in business, Glenrothes and Mid Fife is continuing the proud Scottish tradition of innovation, and releasing the potential of Scotland’s people through their skills and expertise.

We have to be more ambitious still for our country. I regret to say that we particularly need greater purpose, direction and ambition from a Scottish Government who are clearly failing to provide the leadership our country needs and, after two decades in power with far too little to show for it, are exhausted and out of ideas. That is why we need fresh leadership and a new direction with Anas Sarwar as Scotland’s next First Minister.

Perhaps I can finish on a point on which I hope we can achieve consensus. That is to recognise that in recent years St Andrew’s day has become an important day to mark the work that goes on in Scotland to tackle racism and xenophobia, not least through the work of the Scottish TUC. In a world that seems increasingly intolerant and where international tensions are heightened, that work and promotion of tolerance, understanding and compassion could not be more important and could not be more in keeping with the spirit of St Andrew. Scotland shares St Andrew as our patron saint with countries throughout the world, so as we move on from St Andrew’s day and look towards Burns night, when we remember our national bard who wrote so powerfully of our common humanity, we must note that a truly Scottish celebration does not dwell on what divides the peoples of our world, but what unites us all.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

That brings us to the Front-Bench contributions.

Business of the House

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Richard Baker

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

rose—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

As I suspect he has an important question on Scottish football, I call Richard Baker.

[Richard Baker]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating not only the famous and heroic Scottish football team on its qualification for the world cup this week, but the charity Fife Gingerbread in my constituency? It was also successful this week, as it was a finalist in the Centre for Social Justice UK charity awards. It was recognised for its stargazing strategy and brilliant work to tackle child poverty and promote employability for lone parents. Will the Leader of the House consider allocating time for Parliament to debate how we can best support the vital work of third-sector organisations in providing employability programmes?

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Debate between Caroline Nokes and Richard Baker

Committee of the whole House & 3rd reading
Tuesday 12th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Caroline Nokes)]

If there is nobody else from the Government Benches, I call—

[Richard Baker]

rose—

[The Second Deputy Chairman]

—Richard Baker.

[Richard Baker]

It has been a long afternoon, Madam Chair. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship.

May I say how much I enjoyed, as I always do, the witty and skilful speech of the hon. Member for Perth and Kinross-shire (Pete Wishart)? He has perhaps fired an early starting gun on his own campaign for election to an elected second Chamber, given that the tap on shoulder will not come for him—although his party will have to do somewhat better if he is to stand a good chance, given that he is here on his own. He spoke about donations for peerages. We can only wonder what the SNP would do with a £1 million donation, but perhaps Police Scotland know by now, given their investigations into such matters.

We have also spoken about the delivery of constitutional reform. The point that I made to the hon. Member for Perth and Kinross-shire was that Labour has been delivering on constitutional reform. I served in Holyrood for three terms: for all the talk of the Scottish National party about reform, that Chamber is in great need of constitutional reform, but nothing has happened at all on that, while in this place, we are bringing forward a significant and important piece of constitutional reform within our first five months in government.

I absolutely agree that we want a faster pace of constitutional reform in this Parliament, but let us be clear about the proposal before us. In 1997, we set out—as an initial self-contained reform that was not dependent on further reform—that the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords would be ended by statute. That is what we are here to deliver this evening. Of course, it is long overdue, as the Minister said, and that is why we have introduced the legislation so early in this Government. It is also important that this reform is a stand-alone one, so we can progress it with the utmost urgency. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) is absolutely right that by taking this Bill forward as a stand-alone reform, we give it the best chance of progressing quickly, which is what we need it to do.