King’s Speech (4th Day)

Lord Vallance of Balham Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Lord Vallance of Balham) (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, it is a great honour to open this adjourned debate on His Majesty’s most gracious Speech. Today’s debate will focus on economic growth, infrastructure and employment, but before I turn to today’s debate I should say that I believe it is customary for new Members of your Lordships’ House to offer some personal remarks.

I start by saying how grateful I am to the many noble Lords of all sides and the wonderful and patient staff here who have already made me feel most welcome. I also thank my supporters for my introduction last week: the Minister, my noble friend Lady Jones of Whitchurch, and the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, who has provided advice and support to me on more than one occasion.

My family comes from Cornwall, and I grew up in a small hamlet called Greenbottom, near Truro. My mother came from the Isles of Scilly. However, when thinking about the name I should bear when taking my seat on these red Benches, I decided that perhaps neither Greenbottom nor Scilly were quite right. I plumped for Balham. Some of your Lordships of a certain vintage will recognise it as the famous gateway to the south.

I am a doctor and scientist and have worked in the NHS, academia, industry and government. It is an enormous pleasure and privilege now to be joining your Lordships’ House with its reputation for expertise and wisdom. I am at heart a scientist. Karl Popper said:

“Science may be described as the art of systematic oversimplification”.


He reminded us that

“Knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite”,


while

“ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it”.

However, in my time as the Government Chief Scientific Adviser I found that the scientist’s approach does not always align perfectly with that of others. A scientist will often be pleased to find that the results of new experiments showed that what they held to be true was in fact wrong and the world is not quite as they thought it to be. This process of discovery and self-correction is, of course, at the very heart of the scientific method.

I discovered, however, a little philosophical difference. In some political and media circles, changes resulting from new evidence may not always be so readily welcomed. Indeed, they are instead that most dreaded of things: a U-turn. I look forward to welcoming changes based on scientific findings, advances in technology and innovation.

I shall turn to today’s debate, but first I must extend a warm welcome on behalf of the whole Chamber to my noble friend Lord Timpson and my noble and learned friend Lord Hermer, who have been introduced today, as well as to the noble Lord, Lord Petitgas, who will give his maiden speech today and I hope share some of the invaluable business experience he brings to your Lordships’ House. Your Lordships will also hear from my noble friend Lord Livermore, who will wind up this evening. With his deep experience, and the expertise and insight in evidence on all sides of the Chamber, I look forward to the debate ahead.

The programme of legislation put forward in His Majesty’s gracious Speech is, in essence, about potential and how to realise it. Noble Lords will know that talent, energy and ambition are found in abundance right across the four nations of our union, from the Isles of Scilly to the Shetlands. However, they will also know that, far too often, our communities are unfairly held back by an economy that does not deliver for them.

Decades of low growth and lower investment mean that we risk falling behind international competitors, and it is hard-working people who will pay the price. That is why, as we set about the work of rebuilding Britain brick by brick, innovation by innovation, we have made growth our national mission. Without growth, we cannot answer the profound challenges that our country faces. It is growth that will provide the good jobs that hard-working people deserve, improve the public services they depend on and make people better off, and it is growth that the measures set out in His Majesty’s gracious Speech will deliver.

That plan starts with economic stability. We have been clear that we will not risk public trust or market credibility in the pursuit of political convenience. To put it simply, that means no more unfunded spending commitments. Each of the measures set out in His Majesty’s gracious Speech has sound money as its bedrock. Every decision will be shaped by strong fiscal rules designed to deliver a balanced budget and drive down the national debt.

The Budget Responsibility Bill will enshrine that commitment—the fiscal lock—in law, ensuring that every significant change to tax and spending is subject to independent assessment from the OBR. My noble friend Lord Livermore will have more to say on this later. Stability is where we start, but your Lordships should not take that stability to signal a lack of ambition. Long-term growth—growth that involves every person and every community, in a strategic partnership with business—requires change, and His Majesty’s gracious Speech shows that we are ready to turn the page.

Since the global financial crisis, the United Kingdom has been plagued by low productivity. Today, real average weekly earnings have only just returned to 2008 levels. Millions remain stuck in insecure work, and millions more are without work at all; the number of workers inactive due to long-term sickness is close to an historic high. These headline statistics also hide insidious inequalities. The national gender pay gap stands at over 14%, and a quarter of reported sexual harassment takes place at work. This is patently appalling. I am sure noble Lords will agree that, in modern Britain, it cannot continue.

Work must pay, no matter who you are. The employment rights Bill is born from that belief. It will empower British people with workplace rights that are fit for a modern economy by helping more people to stay in work—and ensuring that work puts more money in their pockets. It will not just grow the economy but will ensure that the benefits of growth are felt by all.

A modern workplace is necessary for sustainable growth but it is not sufficient. That brings me to infrastructure. Tomorrow’s economy brings demands, from laboratories and gigafactories to large-scale computers and digital infrastructure, and of course the infrastructure requirements for clean energy. Yet, from roads to railways and reservoirs, Britain’s basic infrastructure is too often the stuff of yesterday. This is not for want of trying. Many businesses have told us that they are ready to build, but burdensome planning regulations and a fragmented investment landscape prevent them from doing so.

In our cities, the sight of brownfield land sitting unused and abandoned is all too common. This House may recall the tale of a £2.5 billion data centre blocked for spoiling the views over the M25. Far be it from me to take a view on the aesthetic merits of one of Britain’s great scenic motorways, but I am confident that we can all agree on one thing: confused infrastructure and investment policies are a brake on Britain’s growth. To kick-start our economic engine, we must remove that brake. In His Majesty’s Gracious speech, we have taken our first steps to doing that.

By accelerating the planning process for housing and streamlining the delivery of major infrastructure projects, the planning and infrastructure Bill will unlock much-needed development at an unprecedented speed and scale. We will also consider how we can remove blocks to the growth of our data-centre sector—the largest in Europe—including changes to planning rules, designating the sector as critical national infrastructure, and introducing a stable regulatory environment to improve security and resilience.

Infrastructure will be a driving force behind our industrial strategy. Guided by the Industrial Strategy Council, which we will put on a statutory footing, this long-term plan will provide business and investors with the certainty and stability they need to invest and grow.

The national wealth fund is anchored in those same values. It will align the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank under a permanent institution that provides a coherent offer for business and a compelling proposition for investors. By working closely with regional mayors, the fund will strategically deploy public capital to deliver long-term growth and prosperity for communities in every corner of the country. By mobilising billions more in private capital, its impact will be transformative, creating thousands of good jobs for British people in the industries of the future.

Science and technology can improve the lives and life chances of our citizens by driving economic growth, improving public services, and providing resilience and security. Government has a vital role to play in making that possible. It is only by realising the full potential of technological innovation that Britain’s businesses will succeed, Britain’s public services will modernise and the British people can prosper. Our task therefore is to accelerate innovation, investment and productivity as essential elements of Britain’s industrial strategy. Our approach combines discovery and delivery, opportunity and security.

The strength of Britain’s research sector already provides us with a clear competitive advantage. These islands are home to four of the top 10 universities in the world. We have many more world-class institutions that create the knowledge we need for the future. They act as catalysts and anchors for innovative start-ups and scale-ups. The phrase “Silicon Fen” may lack a certain something, but the story it points to is remarkable. Last year, Cambridge was the most intensive science and tech cluster in the world. It is not just Cambridge: from small satellite manufacturing in Glasgow to compound semiconductors in south Wales, diverse science and tech clusters are creating opportunities for communities up and down the country.

Yet, in each one, the same challenges put prosperity in peril. A lack of laboratory space is stifling the expansion of a life sciences sector which, until now, has been one of our great industrial success stories, employing over 300,000 people and generating over £100 billion in turnover. At the same time, firms are struggling to access the capital they need to grow, and rigid regulation prevents them bringing innovative products to market. If we are to face up to these challenges and provide opportunities for these firms to grow a more productive and prosperous economy, improve our public services and make people better off, we need change.

Once again, the starting point for change is stability. We will scrap short-term funding cycles for certain types of R&D activity, replacing them with 10-year budgets that will provide researchers with an opportunity to form meaningful partnerships with business and to take a long-term view—partnerships that support the cutting-edge research and development needed to remain at the forefront of global innovation.

The economy will not be the only beneficiary, because innovation is an enabler for every one of our national missions. Take artificial intelligence. Today, the UK ranks third in the world for AI talent, start-ups and inward investment. If you go to the so-called Knowledge Quarter—or, as some people call it, the new square mile—in King’s Cross, you can see what those statistics look like in reality. Sandwiched between the station and the Francis Crick Institute—Europe’s largest biomedical laboratory—a new crop of companies is growing out of the coal drops from which Britain’s first Industrial Revolution was born. Goldman Sachs estimates that AI could double the rate of growth since 2010—but that is just part of the picture. Many of the businesses there are harnessing the power of AI to discover solutions to some of our most pressing social and environmental problems.

This is not some distant future. Noble Lords will know that industry is already feeling the impact of the rapid development of large language models. Technologies such AlphaFold, developed by DeepMind, have shown the transformative effect that AI can have. By predicting the shape of almost every protein in the human body, AlphaFold has ushered in a step change in the understanding of disease and the measures we need to tackle it. We can expect to see more examples like this. This is not an opportunity that we can afford to miss. From breast cancer screening and stroke detection to fraud prevention and personalised education, this Government are committed to harnessing the power of AI to transform how we deliver public services and boost living standards right across the country.

To do this, we must champion our domestic science and tech sector; and, in a country where 25% of people struggle to engage with the internet and digital devices and 2.1 million people live largely offline, we must remain relentlessly focused on driving up digital skills to ensure that the opportunities of our modern economy are open to all.

We must also lead by example by delivering modern digital government that promotes the responsible and innovative use of technologies, with public services that are more productive, less time-consuming and, frankly, more in tune with how we live our lives. The public sector must walk the walk as well as talk the talk. My department, as the centre for digital expertise and delivery, has been tasked with making that happen.

None of that, of course, is possible without data. We have committed to creating a national data library that will make it easier to access data, deliver data-driven public services, support research and create opportunities for economic growth, while maintaining strong safeguards. These principles also underpin the new digital information and smart data Bill. Putting digital verification schemes, the National Underground Asset Register and smart data schemes on a statutory footing will accelerate research, innovation, investment and productivity. Improved data sharing and standards will make public services more efficient and accessible. In all of this, we will prioritise protecting people’s data. We will modernise the Information Commissioner’s Office and give it new, stronger powers; and we will introduce reforms to data laws to address the uncertainty that prevents the safe development and deployment of new technologies.

We cannot seize the opportunities of innovation without getting regulation right. Regulators must be equipped to deal with the pace at which new technologies are developing, particularly when they cut across traditional industries and sectors, as they increasingly do. In 2022, more than two-fifths of businesses said that regulation was an obstacle to success. That is why we are establishing a regulatory innovation office. By enhancing regulatory innovation to update rules, speed up approval timelines and co-ordinate issues that span existing boundaries, the office will transform the journey that new technologies take—out of the lab, on to the market and into our lives.

Trust is a central part of this journey. That is why we will bring forward highly targeted legislation to introduce binding regulations on the handful of companies that are developing the most powerful AI models. Ending the regulatory uncertainty for AI in the UK will strengthen public trust, enhance security and boost business confidence.

Nowhere are security risks more apparent than in cyberattacks. In light of last week’s global IT outage caused by a failed software update, ensuring that our digital systems are safe and resilient feels more important than ever. In the last 18 months, we have seen devastating cyberattacks at the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Mail and the British Library. A recent attack on the NHS resulted in thousands of appointments and elective procedures being postponed, impacting health provision right across the capital. The CEO of our National Cyber Security Centre, Felicity Oswald, said earlier this year that these are risks that we cannot afford to ignore. I am sure noble Lords will agree. To reduce the damage from further attacks, we must urgently update our cybersecurity regulations. That is what the cyber security and resilience Bill will do, strengthening our defences and ensuring that digital services that are more essential than ever are protected.

His Majesty’s gracious Speech has set out an ambitious long-term strategy to unlock Britain’s potential. To deliver sustained growth that will bring prosperity and opportunity to every British person we must build strong and secure foundations anchored in an unwavering commitment to fiscal responsibility and rooted in advances in science and technology. With those foundations, the work of immediate change can begin. From employment rights and regulation to infrastructure and investment, our reforms will rebuild Britain’s economy. By combining discovery and delivery, opportunity and security, we will fix our broken public services and make lives better for British people.