National School Breakfast Programme

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Thursday 5th September 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Baroness makes important points. There is both a macro and a micro issue here. For example, today I looked at the LIFFE futures price for wheat: it is £130 a tonne. When I last worked on my father’s farm in 1978 it was about £100 a tonne. Food has never been cheaper. We have had a revolution in the provision of food in this country and, indeed, in the western world. We need to understand why these families are struggling to produce meals at home. A great deal of that centres around education. I appeared before a Select Committee yesterday on holiday hunger and we need to learn a lot more about this. We have introduced the infant free school meals in the past couple of years. That programme is feeding 1.5 million children and has an 85% take-up.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that much of the funding for these schemes comes from the soft drinks industry? Can he confirm that it is difficult to avoid a conflict of interest when those that might be providing sustenance which is not always as healthy as it should be are involved in schemes such as these?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Lord is quite right. I should perhaps declare my own interest as someone who grows 3,500 tonnes of sugar beet every year. Of course, a lot of that sugar does not go to the right places. The levy is designed as a pump-primer for the system. We want to see this money encouraging schools to start breakfast clubs that are sustainable in the long term. Noble Lords will be aware that we have just announced a tremendous funding settlement for schools over the next three years. I am confident that there are now resources coming into schools that will enable them to sustain them.

Schools: Modern Languages

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Tuesday 9th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I am not a fuddy-duddy, but, while I appreciate and support more modern foreign languages being taught, does my noble friend not agree that the standard of English, particularly its grammar, in our schools and universities is now at its lowest level for a long time? Would he not agree therefore that we perhaps also ought to encourage the study of the classical languages, such as Latin, which helps all students understand English grammar better?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My noble friend is right; I do not think he is being a fuddy-duddy at all. We have seen a degradation in grammar; I am a martinet in the department when I receive poorly written subs—I send them straight back. I commend to the House the small charity Classics for All, which is doing as my noble friend suggested—taking Latin into areas of deprivation. I have a few references to it here which might hearten him:

“What I hadn’t expected when I started teaching Latin classes here was the students’ sheer joy of learning Latin for its intrinsic beauty and the excitement of etymology! Students actually love declining and conjugating. They see a beauty in the language of ancient poets and warriors”.


Even a child, Mohammed, said:

“I just love it. It’s just fun”.


I did not have the same experience when I was learning Latin.