Covid-19: Social and Economic Inequalities

Lord Roberts of Llandudno Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, one of the best things we can do for school-age children is ensure that they are back at school and able to stay there, and that is our focus. To help those children who missed out because of school closures during the pandemic, we have a £1 billion catch-up plan, which includes £350 million for a national tutoring programme targeted at disadvantaged children. We also put £100 million into remote learning to ensure that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have free laptops and tablets, and access to the internet, to help them learn from home.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD) [V]]

My Lords, one matter that can be tackled immediately is that of free school meals for kids in the holiday season. If Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can manage it, why cannot England? We also had long-term inequalities even before the pandemic. How can one person be worth £7,000 a day, when another just manages to get £7,000 a year? We need somebody like William Beveridge, who led the great revival and change in 1942, which brought in the welfare state and National Health Service. Will the Government consider setting up a new commission that will bring about more equality?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, the Government will always consider new ideas to tackle inequality in this country. The support we have provided to people during this pandemic is unprecedented. Nearly £200 billion of support has gone into people, the economy and livelihoods since the pandemic began, and our support will continue while we need measures in place to stop the spread of the disease.