Queen’s Speech

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)]

My Lords, I am going to mention some points on the Bills that relate to my brief and then touch on the BBC charter review, as a number of noble Lords have done before me. The Higher Education and Research Bill is, to my mind, six years too late. Since 2010, we have been passive witnesses to a radical experiment across our higher education system. In that time, it has been transformed out of all recognition with its vouchers for borrowed fees and maintenance, financed by hugely increased personal debt. None of the policy implications of this was ever exposed to full scrutiny in Parliament.

There is considerable concern about the White Paper and the Bill for the following reasons. The supply-side changes now being proposed for the establishment of new private and company universities constitute a policy that seems to lack any evidence base except in the United States, where the evidence is not inspiring. The policy might impact adversely on many existing institutions, particularly those which currently do most for widening participation and social mobility. The new teaching excellence framework is a welcome initiative, but it needs a lot of time and very careful consideration before its introduction, so as to minimise unintended consequences, not least through the explicit linking of fees with what seems to be a very narrow range of indicators of teaching excellence. While the legal protection for the dual-support system for research in England is welcome, as is the speedy implementation of Sir Paul Nurse’s far-sighted report, the reservations mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Rees, in his powerful speech will need to be borne in mind as these proposals are taken forward.

We on this side have wider concerns, which do not seem to have been addressed, including how to reverse the disastrous collapse in part-time degree enrolments; what is to be done to grow postgraduate work and research studentships; how we can provide better entry routes for adult students and those who want to retrain; and what links will need to exist with the new apprenticeship schemes, particularly for levels 4 and 5 and the institutions that provide these courses. What is the role of the IFA, and how will it interact with the new HE infrastructure architecture?

My noble friend Lord Mendelsohn mentioned our concerns about the digital economy Bill, and the worry that the Government are repeating the problems of the past, and being unambitious about the future and the new infrastructure that is required. We also need to know exactly what is on offer under the USO; there seem to be too many get-out clauses. However, we will be supporting strongly the clauses implementing the EU directive on parental controls, in line with our support for the Bills over successive years introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Howe.

We strongly support the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill, and we welcome the news that there is to be another intellectual property Bill, as last year we had to make do with some secondary legislation—and for IP aficionados such as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, that simply is not enough.

A significant number of the contributions made today have dealt with the BBC White Paper, and the continuing unease which many Members of your Lordships’ House feel about the proposals. The excellent speeches by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, my noble friend Lord Macdonald, the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, and others have set out the main issues. The key issue here is whether the Government discharge their responsibility to the nation to set out the role and financing to be allocated to the BBC for the period ahead in a consensual or in a partisan way. It is welcome that the Culture Secretary has been forced to back down on some of the most damaging proposals, which his department had apparently trailed in the press. But on a number of key issues there still seems to be evidence of political motivation, which will not only undermine the BBC’s long-term ability to fulfil its role, but will also destabilise the broader broadcasting ecology of the country.

On the unitary board, for example, there must be a guarantee that the non-executive appointments should be appointed by an independent appointments committee, established by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, under Nolan principles. The power to review the new charter after five years is inappropriate, at variance with the agreement to an 11-year charter period, and will undermine the BBC’s ability to plan and invest for the long term. As others have said, it also cuts across the role of Ofcom, and the proposal should be dropped. The move to accelerate the opening up of in-house production activity to contestability in all areas except news and current affairs may have unforeseen consequences, and the BBC should be trusted to do this at the appropriate rate. More generally, the Government should steer clear of being seen to try to influence programmes or scheduling. The call for the BBC to become “more distinctive” surely reveals that the Secretary of State is both commercially and ideologically opposed to the BBC. As my noble friend Lord Cashman said, the charter review should not be used to make the BBC output so minority-interest and “distinctive” that hardly anybody likes it, so that in time few people would miss it and it can be privatised.

Finally, on a minor point, but one that is still important and which may be illustrative of the whole, I notice that in the existing charter the BBC has the responsibility to bring the UK to the world and the world to the UK across all genres of programming. Can the Minister explain why the White Paper has dropped this wider purpose, relegating the role of understanding the UK and the world to being delivered only by news and current affairs? The BBC is the linchpin of the UK’s PSB ethos, and the envy of the world. The overwhelming majority of the public want the BBC to continue to inform, educate and entertain, and to survive and thrive. I hope the Government will listen to the people who use the BBC’s excellent services, menus and all, and do the right thing.