Educational Settings

Lord Cashman Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

I am grateful to the most reverend Primate. At the moment, the Government are responding step by step to the scientific evidence that we have. Unlike in many situations, it is not possible for us to predict what might happen in the medium and longer term. We have only the scientific information to hand at the moment. I add to the tributes paid when I say that I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking to the head of the Church of England Education Service and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, who are leading on Church of England schools, and the Catholic Education Service. We are going to need all their assistance. In particular, these groups have a lot of DBS-checked people who can give further assistance to our schools, and they are sometimes geographically placed right next to the local school.

[Lord Cashman (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, as a non-affiliated Member, I would like to raise a special plea with the Minister. Parents will be forced to make very difficult choices between care provisions for their children and work. This will have dire economic consequences, particularly for those on zero-hour contracts and the self-employed. The hospitality sector, where a lot of these people work, is decimated, including theatres, art establishments, cinemas and other associated venues. Therefore, I plead with the Minister, to make the case to the other departments that it is absolutely vital that we have employment protection, as well as access to benefits, for the self-employed and those on zero-hour contracts.

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, the Government are keenly aware that, in taking the decisions that we have in relation to movement of the public and schools to suppress the peak, there are massive implications for the economy, and a raft of measures have been introduced in relation to that. We have made changes to arrangements for statutory sick pay: it is now payable on first day off, and self-isolation is viewed as a sickness. The minimum income floor has been lowered in relation to self-employed people. But, yes, there is much work still to do on alleviating the effects on the economy for us all.