Business Community

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, for initiating this important debate today. I have long admired her work across a number of areas, such as equality, elder care and corporate ethics. It is also a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox of Soho, who is a true champion in the cause of digital online skills.

I take noble Lords back to the Victorian era. In those days, Britain had no government welfare state. It was the church and in particular Quaker families who recognised the power of business to improve the lives of the poorest in society. Companies such as Cadburys, Rowntree and Fry came out of that movement and became very successful, but their inspiration was driven more by prophecy than profit. Indeed, in my home city of Birmingham, the Cadbury company built Bournville, a whole community of homes for its employees.

Coming now to modern Britain, it seems that one of the major challenges facing us is unemployment, especially youth unemployment. In the UK, youth unemployment is still approaching 1 million, and the fact is that it is even higher in other European countries, such as Greece, Spain and Italy, does not mean that we can be complacent. Business is becoming increasingly globalised as we continue to outsource manufacturing and service industries to low-wage economies.

Recently, I was a guest speaker at a London Fashion Week event held in the Jubilee Room. It may be the first time in parliamentary history that the House of Commons has staged a fashion parade. I hasten to add that I was not part of the fashion parade. Then more recently I attended the launch of Dance UK, an organisation formed only a few days ago which tries to promote dance across the whole range. It reaches from the enormously successful brand of “Strictly Come Dancing” to ballet, hip hop and African dance. Having attended those two events, the thing that I became most aware of was frustration among the young people who want to enter the world of fashion and music but are finding it so difficult to get finance or scholarships. Even when they entered those professions, it is hard for them to stay within them. The UK is a centre of excellence for fashion and music. Those industries are great exporters of our talent and, of course, they are especially attractive to young people. I believe that we need more paid apprenticeships and scholarships for those particular industries to combat the problem of youth unemployment. However, I am not going to ask that more money should come from the public purse for that. There are industries, such as the banks and hedge fund companies, which make vast profits. The UK is especially strong when it comes to the finance sector, and I would like to see the Government looking more to that sector to help combat youth unemployment.

The professional football industry in this country has a strong influence, especially when we consider that most cities have at least two major clubs. For example, Manchester has United and City, while Merseyside has Liverpool and Everton. I am a patron of Aston Villa, but since it is at the bottom of the league, I shall gloss over that quickly. However, the Premier League is amazingly wealthy, especially from television revenue. Although I know that most clubs have community programmes, the image which has emerged is that of millionaire superstars who are remote from the problems that many of their adoring fans face on a daily basis. How encouraging it was to hear this week of players from Carlisle United, in the lowly fourth tier of professional football, helping the residents of Cumbria who have been affected by the dreadful floods. I hope that that sets a trend whereby some of the football clubs become even more involved in their communities. There are reserve players at Aston Villa who are millionaires, so they can afford to offer some of their time. They cannot score goals, but they can offer their time. Indeed, when we think about it, most of the larger, wealthier clubs are situated in the poorest inner city areas, and many of their fans are unemployed. It is a tragedy, in my view, that these players do not recognise their responsibility to help their communities.

Closer to Parliament, the Westminster Volunteer Centre works with a large number of companies such as Asda, DHL and William Hill to provide mentors for 14 to 18 year-olds. In my own small way, I try to mentor a number of young people. Growing up as a young black man from Birmingham, born of a single mother, I found it very difficult to locate the right mentors, and I would suggest that mentoring is a key factor. I know a little about Greggs, the high street bakers. It runs its Breakfast Club Programme in primary schools in poor areas. Marks and Spencer runs its own Marks and Start work experience programme for unemployed people. The noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox, may like to know that a couple of weeks ago I went into Marks & Spencer, where there was a young black boy who had just started work experience. He was so polite and so grateful for the opportunity, so well done to Marks & Spencer.

It is not just big business that can make a difference. The Voice of Local Shops Survey polled more than 1,000 independent retailers across the country, and found that 80% of store owners are involved in their community in some way. Indeed, 71% collected for a local or national charity, and 25% provided sponsorship for local schools and sports teams. I was recently appointed as one of the board directors of the International Small Business Congress, which represents small companies, not only in the UK but globally. The organisation is especially keen to recognise racial and cultural diversity. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, understands those problems and I thank her for her comments. It is very difficult when you are black people and you look at society and do not see people like yourself at the top. When I was at school and doing my O-levels and A-levels, I went to see the careers master. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, “I want to be a barrister, sir”. He went red in the face and said, “I don’t think that would be a good idea, John”. I said, “Why not? Am I not doing reasonably well?” He said, “Well, you’re coming top in every subject but, John, you need to understand that black people don’t do that sort of thing. I can get you a job in the Post Office”. I have nothing against the Post Office, but I did not want to work there. I happened to have a strong mother who said, “Look, John, if you want to be a barrister, you get yourself there”. Mentoring is vital, especially for people who do not have parents like my mother.

Schools and universities can also be a catalyst between business and society. For some years I was chancellor of Bournemouth University, which has a proud tradition of providing graduates for local businesses, and I was privileged to open its business centre and strengthen the link between academia and business. Lastly, Business in the Community produced a report entitled It’s Time for a New Contract between Business and Society. It made the point that the prosperity of business and society are tied together, and one cannot succeed without the other. It seems to me that a bad attitude is like a flat tire. Unless you change the flat tyre, you cannot make progress. Any business must have a positive attitude if it is to move forward. It is that positive attitude which business brings that can help resolve the major challenges facing the United Kingdom.