Retail Strategy

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Wednesday 10th July 2019 Westminster Hall

[Liz Twist]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He could have been reading my mind.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

All our minds.

[Liz Twist]

Yes, indeed. I was going on to say that I was really pleased that USDAW, the shop workers’ union, launched its industrial strategy for retail last month to a packed room. I was really impressed by the work that had gone into developing that strategy and by the outcomes it wants to achieve, which are presented under three helpful headings: “Economy and Community”, “People and Productivity” and “Changing Perceptions—Retail Jobs are Real Jobs”. Even in the opening speech of a debate, where I am not so restricted for time as other speakers might be, I do not have enough time to cover all the detail in those three areas of the report. However, I certainly commend it to the Minister, if she has not seen it already; she should look at it, because it has a wealth of positive points and positive ways forward.

What is USDAW calling for? Under the “Economy and Community” heading, it is calling, as others have, for a fundamental reform of business rates; a review of town/city centre parking charges and other transport issues; reform of the tax laws to ensure that companies pay their fair share of tax—for example, by preventing the avoidance of corporation tax—and to create more of a level playing field between online and bricks-and-mortar retailers, which I have already touched on; closing the pay gap between chief executive officers and the lowest paid workers; stronger corporate governance rules to curb asset stripping, which has been one of the issues the retail sector has faced; ensuring that business failure cannot be rewarded with excessive bonuses and pay-outs, as was the case with British Home Stores; and a review of the role and functions of the Competition and Markets Authority, in light of the increase in proposed mergers within the sector—USDAW is really encouraging us to consider the CMA’s role to see whether it reflects the changing retail environment.

Under the heading “People and Productivity”, USDAW is calling for a minimum pay rate of £10 per hour for all workers, irrespective of age; the introduction of legislation to tackle underemployment and insecure work by providing a minimum contract of 16 hours a week for those who want to work that long; contracts that reflect the actual hours that people work and not the hours on their paper contract, which are often exceeded; and legislation to ensure that workers have guaranteed seats on the boards of large companies, with the same duties and responsibilities as other directors, and with measures put in place to ensure that those in such seats reflect the gender breakdown of staff across the company.

The third area is “Changing Perceptions—Retail Jobs are Real Jobs”. That is something that is really close to my heart, having met so many shop workers over the years; in fact, my mum was a shop worker for many years, so it really is dear to my heart. USDAW is calling for an increased focus on retail across Government policy and decision-making mechanisms, to reflect the importance of the sector; promotion and recognition of the benefits of working in retail, to help to develop talent and increase retention levels, because retail offers employees greater flexibility than most sectors, and often allows them to work around their family/caring commitments or studies; and a challenge to the overt perception that women simply work in retail for “pin money”, or that retail is just a stopgap.

A key part of challenging those perceptions is the skills agenda, which means recognising that retail jobs are not just jobs that anyone can do. Dealing with customers day in, day out is a hugely important skill. First, it is a contribution to the social environment that all of us live in; indeed, for many people, it may be the only contact they have with another person. Also, it is a huge skill to deal politely and kindly with other people, and that needs to be recognised. However, further skills will also need to be developed in the future. As we have heard, retail is changing, and different skills are needed, for example in IT and other areas. Therefore, there needs to be some kind of clear path for career progression, to increase both productivity and job satisfaction. I was going off the USDAW script a bit there, but I feel very strongly about that.

I will return to the Government’s industrial strategy. I have already said it is lacking in detail, given the size and importance of the retail sector. The Retail Sector Council brings together Government and industry to

“seek to encourage growth and positive change in the sector as it adapts to rapidly changing consumer habits”.

The workstreams for the Retail Sector Council include business costs; skills and lifelong learning, which I have just touched on; the industrial strategy; employment; the circular economy, which I am told is the environment, wrapping and things such as that; and consumer protection. From the council’s website, I understand that its work will feed into the work of Government Departments, where appropriate, to contribute to and inspire initiatives that support the council’s objectives. It will work, for example, with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government around high streets and communities.

One thing I would stress, as members of the British Retail Consortium have already stressed, is the need for much greater co-ordination between Government Departments, to ensure that when a decision is made by one Department, the knock-on effects are not felt by another. The kind of petty example I refer to quite often is the need, when we talk about, and perhaps reform, business rates, to consider the impact on local government. We must seek to ensure that that longer-term issue is not just passed to someone else.

However, there are other issues to consider as well. Clearly, there are issues about benefits, and particularly in-work benefits, which will also affect the economy, as well as decisions by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We all know that it is complex to achieve such co-ordination, but it needs to happen. We also need a retail sector deal, to put retail on a par with other sectors that have already launched such initiatives. As I say, with 11% of the workforce in retail, we really need that deal.

I have a couple of specific things to ask of the Minister. The first is to urge her to look at USDAW’s industrial strategy for retail. It contains a huge amount of detail—I have just touched on some of it—and looks at the growth and development of the retail sector in the future. I very much hope that she and her officials will meet USDAW to go through its report, which is an important document, and will look at its proposals. Secondly, the Minister should look to establish a real vision for retail, not just by tackling known problems, but by developing a vision for the future and setting up a retail sector deal to give retail its due importance alongside other sectors.

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[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist) for securing this important debate. We have already heard powerful contributions on both sides of the Chamber about how the Government’s lack of a clear, coherent and holistic retail strategy is damaging our high streets and shopping centres, not to mention the livelihoods of those trying to make a living in the sector.

I will begin by recounting a couple of conversations I had with business owners in Batley and Spen. A couple of months ago in Batley, I called into a restaurant called Mi Nonnas. It is a really nice coffee shop and lunch destination. The owner showed me painful statistics demonstrating the fall in his revenue due to the controversial changes to our bus routes, which have completely decimated his restaurant’s footfall. He told me that he has not taken a wage, and that the situation is really stressful for him and his family. His is not the only local business affected by those changes. Sadly, since 2010, we have lost 3,000 bus routes nationally, and central Government cuts have seemingly little regard for the wider consequences for retailers.

The second conversation I had was at a lovely needlework and wool shop in Heckmondwike. The owner told me that footfall had really reduced because the last bank had left the community. The people who use her shop are often older people who knit and sew. They are less likely to take a longer journey to go to a bank, so they take their business elsewhere; considering that the UK has lost almost two thirds of its banks and building societies over the past 30 years, that will not change any time soon. A fifth of the population are 2 miles adrift from their nearest branch, likely with a substandard bus route to boot.

The massive hike in business rates announced last year is another issue that constituents mention to me regularly. In an age when people shop online, our local independent retailers need a leg up. They need vision and creative thinking. They are hamstrung by antiquated rates systems, which price too many independent retailers out of the market. Although I welcome the short-term rate relief for some businesses announced in last year’s Budget, it is nothing more than a sticking plaster. While our high streets are increasingly dotted with vacant shops, the big supermarkets get a cut in rates and online giants such as Amazon pay a fraction of their multibillion-pound turnover. That does not make sense to me. With the collapse of big brands such as Toys R Us, which had a store at Centre 27 retail park in my constituency, it is clear that these issues go way beyond our high streets.

The retail sector accounts for more than 3 million jobs in the UK, yet it is often overlooked. The British Retail Consortium warns that 74,000 jobs were lost last year, and that up to 900,000 will be lost by 2025. That would be a staggering blow to the sector. We need a clear retail strategy. The fact that the Government’s industrial strategy, which was unveiled almost two years ago, has yet to create a sector deal for retail speaks volumes. The Government’s Retail Sector Council, which was designed to address key challenges facing the sector, meets a paltry three times a year. That is not good enough. As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (Faisal Rashid), who is no longer in his place, local authorities have to bid against one another for money from the future high streets fund. There is no guarantee of success, and the fund goes nowhere near far enough to address the myriad issues that have been raised in the debate.

How do we move forward? Let us start with the basics. We need to ensure that people can access our businesses. Public transport is crucial. We need to invest in buses and trains to end this downward spiral. We must not have communities where there are no banks left. I applaud NatWest, which has a pilot scheme to bring a number of banks under one roof and offer a limited service to businesses. We need to escalate such opportunities, and perhaps Government should drive them.

I am delighted that the Labour party recently committed to introducing a network of post banks based in post offices in the hearts of our communities. It is really important for older people in particular to be able to access their money, and that business owners do not to have to travel too far with cash in their pockets, or put their workforce at risk by asking them to carry large amounts of money around on buses and elsewhere. Our business rates system also needs fixing. Nothing but a comprehensive review and overhaul of the system will suffice, so I am pleased that the Labour party is committed to doing exactly that, along with taxing online retailers, implementing free wi-fi and banning ATM charges. Like colleagues, I commend USDAW’s brilliant Save Our Shops campaign, which focuses on levelling the playing field between traditional and online retailers, improving pay and conditions, and changing perceptions of retail jobs.

We are just not having the conversations that matter with policy makers. It is down to us as Members of Parliament, and to trade unions, to try to get those conversations going. I do not think policy makers understand the myriad challenges for villages such as Birstall, or bigger communities such as Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. Having short-term fixes and Departments working in silos certainly is not cutting it.

A clear retail strategy that looks at the whole picture is overdue. We need great ideas for making our high streets more community focused, tackling loneliness and introducing flexible workplaces and leisure opportunities, and for bringing culture—buskers, art and so on—to our high streets and greening them. We need to ensure that our retail survives and can transform our towns and villages, bringing us a sense of place and home, and making our communities great places to live and work.

Evidence-based Early Years Intervention

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2019 Westminster Hall

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. I, too, thank the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) for securing the debate. I am grateful to have the opportunity to debate early intervention. We have heard some fantastic contributions.

I particularly note the experience of my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton South (Dr Williams) with the Health and Social Care Committee. As a GP on the frontline, he understands the impact that early intervention can have on the outcomes for the most vulnerable. I was blown away by the startling statistic of 1 million brain connections being made every second.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) made a good contribution about partnership working, which is certainly something we need to look at from all angles. My only concern is that, in my constituency, there is the ambition for partnership working but it does not always happen. For example, if a child has seen domestic violence the night before, the school is not told. We need to ensure that there is great partnership working across the board. I will certainly steal his idea for the event, so I thank him for sharing the information about that.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Drew), who is no longer in his place, talked about mental health. We need to get on with the Green Paper and see where we are. My hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Martin Whitfield) said that this was about the data, which is the point of the report. Once we have the data, we can respond.

I thank the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Martyn Day) for his contribution. He spoke about child poverty and said that we needed to ensure that combating it is at the forefront of everything we do, because how can we improve a child’s life chances if they go back to terrible housing, unemployment, debt concerns and so on? We absolutely need to tackle child poverty, and there are some excellent pilots and ideas coming out of Scotland and Wales that England and the Government should look at very carefully.

Having heard the contributions, I think it is fair to say that early intervention is a diverse matter and a cross-party concern; it is of great importance to politicians and families. I put on the record our appreciation of the Science and Technology Committee for its work in producing this report. It is thorough and informative, and makes a number of interesting points. In particular, the idea of using data more efficiently—a theme that runs through the report—is certainly food for thought for me, for local authorities and hopefully for the Government, because without the data, nothing will change. That certainly proved true when we were looking at the gender pay gap; only with data, so that we know where we are falling behind, can things change.

Adverse childhood experiences are often linked to an increased risk of health and social problems as adults. Early intervention seeks to resolve problems as early as possible, to stop them happening before they become too difficult to resolve. Although I was very happy to see money going to the police and fighting knife crime, as it should, so many of the problems of the young people affected by knife crime could have been addressed much earlier—when they were under five, even. If we get things right under five, so much else will fall into place for those families and those children.

While it is generally accepted that high-quality early intervention improves a child’s outcomes, programmes are entirely the responsibility of local authorities, and effective national data does not exist. The overall thrust of the Committee’s report about gathering local evidence to support nationwide strategies is welcome, but we must also be sensitive to local authorities’ unique knowledge of their communities and build on that knowledge to create a national strategy.

I will speak to some of the Committee’s proposals that really stood out for me, and will note the response received from the Government. The numbered paragraphs quoted will be from “Evidence-based early years intervention: Government’s Response to the Committee’s Eleventh Report of Session 2017–19”.

In the strongest possible terms, I would like to associate myself with the Committee Chair’s remarks about Sure Start in the report, which are cited in paragraph 10 of the response. The lack of clarity from the Government on Sure Start is nothing short of an outrage. We have been holding on for a consultation, or even an announcement that the consultation has been cancelled, for far too long. Instead of the Government providing that answer at any stage—there have been plenty of opportunities for them to do so through written questions, oral questions, Select Committee questioning and even in their response to this report—they have still not given us a clear, definitive answer.

Today we are joined by the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, who is probably the only Minister in the Department for Education whom I have not asked about this issue. Perhaps he could let us know if it is still the policy of the Department to hold an investigation. Was one ever started and, if so, when was work last done on it?

The loss of so many children’s centres and Sure Start centres is truly devastating for so many communities, and the way that this issue has been bundled and passed around the Department for Education is indicative of its overall attitude towards children’s centres. When I challenged the Minister for School Standards, whom I shadow, he emphasised that this issue should not just be all about buildings. My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West made the point that sometimes the building is the point, because people can go in to find a multitude of services on offer to them. Women in crisis, for example, can go to a centre on the pretext of getting their baby weighed, but use the opportunity to talk about domestic violence. Buildings are important.

As for early intervention, these centres had open doors and they were at the heart of their communities, and staffed by professionals. Their ability to ensure that families were aware of childhood experiences and to signpost services, where necessary, was so important. I was very lucky to spend a whole day at a number of the Sure Start centres in the constituency of the right hon. Member for North Norfolk, and I heard for myself about the impact that those centres have had on the outcomes of the children attending them.

I have said before how moved I was by hearing from the people who used the Sure Start centres. There was one woman in particular who was illiterate, but was taught to read by workers at a centre, so that she could read to her children. We know that literacy has a massive impact on the outcomes of young children; it improves their confidence, their articulacy and so on. I weep for the many closures in North Norfolk, and I hope that, under a Labour Government, perhaps that situation will be reversed. These centres do incredible work.

Regarding Ofsted inspections, I would be interested to know why the responsibility for maintaining and ensuring the quality of children’s centres is an issue for local authorities. Why is that appropriate for children’s centres, but not, say, nurseries or colleges? What distinguishes children’s centres from everything else that comes under Ofsted’s remit is not completely clear.

Paragraph 13 suggests:

“The Government should work with researchers and practitioners to examine how new specifications on the free childcare it funds could increase the use of evidence-based programmes”.

That is an interesting point and it deserves further investigation. Funding for childcare hours has been generally very simple; eligible parents apply, and the providers receive the money from local authorities. However, there has been very little obligation on the provider, having provided the hour of childcare, to disclose anything about the families or the children going there. This is an interesting point: is there an obligation on nurseries to collect data on their children and their outcomes?

I caution that the budgets for delivering free hours are already very tight, and having worked with practitioners for some years, I know that training opportunities are reducing, so staff capacity to capture data is potentially limited, so further thought would have to be given as to where the funding would come from to upskill the staff in these centres. Also, at what stage would that training be carried out? I would suggest that it is quite complex and sensitive training. Is it level 3, degree level or somewhere in between?

We need to be honest with ourselves: successful early intervention happens when local authorities are strategic and resource programmes properly. However, we cannot hide from the fact that the climate has been made far more challenging in recent years by savage local authority budget cuts. Early intervention programmes have been cut so severely that often children are referred multiple times before help is offered. Parents who reach out for help go round in circles, desperately asking for support, only to be disappointed.

This firefighting approach is costly; dealing with a crisis is obviously far more expensive than taking preventive measures. Addressing the issue when it first appears would save the Government money in the long term. However, local authorities are under increasing pressure to slash budgets after a decade of austerity.

The National Children’s Bureau has reported that more than one in three councillors are warning that cuts have left them with insufficient resources to support children, and it was recently revealed that 41% of children’s services are now unable to fulfil their statutory duties. These cuts have consequences. Early intervention grants—the very grants that keep children from entering care—have been slashed by up to £500 million, with almost £200 million of cuts still to come. Early intervention budgets are down by £743 million in the last five years. Over 1,200 Sure Start centres have been closed, and other children’s centres have had their offers reduced and hollowed out. The budgets for children’s centres across England have decreased by 42% in the last five years.

In my constituency of Batley and Spen, headteachers have told me how cuts to their school budgets—a part of cuts of 8% across the country—have meant that the staff who would normally do early intervention and spot children’s needs have had to go in staff cuts. The most highly paid member of staff in the building, which is often the headteacher, is the one who has to do the early intervention—who sits with the child who has anorexia to make sure they eat their lunch; who takes the disabled child swimming; or who even helps to get a child out of bed and ready for school. That cannot be right and is obviously not sustainable. We need to reverse these cuts to our school budgets, to support teachers in doing their job.

That is the reality of the situation that local authorities and schools face. For all their talk about local leadership, the Government need to accept that no matter how good that leadership is, funding cuts are tying one arm behind their back. As the right hon. Member for North Norfolk said in his opening remarks, this issue is about political will, and the incentive and commitment to turn around the lives of the most vulnerable.

In conclusion, this report is broad and far-reaching, cutting across many Departments and ministerial responsibilities. I commend the Science and Technology Committee for its tenacity in pursuing this issue, and I am sure that we will all use its report as a basis for our parliamentary questions and interventions. The data in the report is excellent, and I congratulate the Committee on it. It has certainly had an impact on me, and I hope it will have an impact on the Government as well.

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[Chris Skidmore]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue, which I am happy to raise with the relevant Minister. I am meeting the Minister with responsibility for mental health shortly to discuss mental health issues surrounding students, and I will make sure the issues are placed on the agenda for my discussion with her.

[Tracy Brabin]

Although we welcome the recent announcement of 5,000 additional health visitors, can the Minister say whether there will be an opportunity to collect data on how many visits a child has? To increase the number of visits from the statutory five, we need the data to enable us to know whether the extra health visitors are having the impact that I know the Government want.

[Chris Skidmore]

I will come to the question of health visitors later in my speech, but I will be more than happy to pass on the hon. Lady’s point about the collection of data and look at what evaluations might be possible. I will certainly make sure that hon. Members’ contributions are reflected in my discussions with the Department.

Local authorities are receiving £16 billion between 2015 and 2021 to spend on public health functions, which includes funding to support the healthy child programme and the mandated five health visits, which the hon. Lady mentioned, for children between the ages of nought and five. We are seizing the opportunities presented by such moments with families. A key piece of partnership working between the Department and Public Health England will see the Institute of Health Visiting train up to 1,000 health visitors in 2019 to identify and support children with speech, language and community needs early. The health visitors will then cascade the training to provide even greater reach. It is important to make sure that an evaluation takes place to make sure it is as effective as possible.

On the recruitment of additional health visitors and the quantity of visits, health visiting services are commissioned by local health authorities, and health visitors are employed by the local health service providers. However, the Government will continue to work with partners, child development experts and professional organisations representing health visitors to ensure that the healthy child programme remains an effective and evidence-based framework providing good health, wellbeing and resilience for every child.

On the wider issues around early intervention and making sure it is adversity-targeted among the early years workforce more broadly, it is crucial that early years practitioners are well trained to protect young children from the impacts of adversity and trauma. As part of the early years foundation stage statutory framework, service providers are obliged to ensure that all staff have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues and are equipped to identify and address signs of abuse and trauma. We want to equip the early years workforce to deliver outstanding services, to adopt evidence-based approaches, to learn from best practice and to deliver quality outcomes. The Government are supporting that with a professional development fund and similar programmes, such as the newly established Social Work England, which will ensure that social workers receive the highest quality initial education access and continuing professional development.

[Chris Skidmore]

The right hon. Gentleman has stolen the latter part of my speech. When it comes to the broader point, I recognise that the Committee’s work, for which the Government are extremely grateful, reflects on the development of a national strategy. Currently, the Government do not consider the formal publication of a national strategy to be necessary. However, the Government will seek to review the approach through the spending review and the upcoming prevention Green Paper, which will build on the November 2018 Department of Health and Social Care report “Prevention is better than cure”, and its priorities. Also, we will look forward to the value that the early years family support ministerial group will add to the Government’s approach. Although I cannot commit in today’s debate to taking forward a national strategy, the Government are certainly working on a future Green Paper and the approach might change.

It is important to reflect on a balanced collection of the evidence that demonstrates what works, which will then inform any future approaches as part of the future prevention Green Paper. I realise that my response does not entirely answer the right hon. Gentleman’s question, but I want to reflect on the fact that the present does not necessarily rule out a change of direction in future.

Various Members mentioned children’s centres. The Government believe that children’s centres have an important role to play in early intervention, but it is right that local councils continue to decide how to use them as part of the wider system of local services. As part of our local government programme, local authorities are looking into how early years services can be improved. The right hon. Gentleman raised the question of Ofsted inspections. When inspections of children’s centres were suspended, there was at the time an agreement that they were not fit for purpose. However, children’s social care services and all registered early years prevention, including that delivered in children’s centres, remain subject to robust and regular Ofsted inspections.

When it comes to the consultation that has been mentioned and the delay in moving forward, the Department still needs to understand how local authorities effectively use centres to improve outcomes as part of their broader strategy before we go further. That is why we will be investing in What Works, which I will talk about later in my speech, working with the Education Endowment Foundation and delivering the £8.5 million local government programme. The programmes will inform the next steps in our strategy, including any future consultation. We need to look at the evidence from the programmes before deciding whether a consultation is indeed the correct way ahead.

[Tracy Brabin]

The Minister probably will not be able to answer this, but is there a timeframe for the consultation on What Works? Is it a two-year strategy? How long will local authorities have to wait to get something out of the Government for their children’s centres?

[Chris Skidmore]

I will talk later in my speech about issues around evaluation, What Works and the Education Endowment Foundation. As for the timeframe that the hon. Lady asked about, if I am unable to provide an answer in this debate, I will ensure that the Department writes to her and the Committee about it.

On the free hours provision that the hon. Lady mentioned, the proportion of disadvantaged two-year-olds taking up a Government-funded place continues to increase and has risen to about 72%—higher than ever before—so the entitlement is still successfully reaching the families who need it most. The 30 hours provision continues to help a wide range of families, and a lone parent has to earn only around £6,500 a year to access the 30 hours of free childcare. Parents are also eligible if they are self-employed or on a zero-hours contract. We will continue to provide local authorities with lists of potentially eligible parents in order to support them and directly target hard-to-reach families. It is important to reflect on that when we look at the evidence. There is an opportunity for positive data sharing and using data to inform local authorities.

[Tracy Brabin]

The Minister is being incredibly generous with his time, and I am grateful. I know that this is not necessarily his brief, but I want to flag up that I hear from maintained nurseries that eligibility for access to the 30 hours for two working parents is resulting in a widening of the disadvantage gap between children who access 15 hours as statutory and children whose parents work. Although it is a positive step to provide childcare for working parents, the disadvantage gap cannot be allowed to continue.

[Chris Skidmore]

The Government’s independent evaluations of early delivery showed that with 30 hours of free childcare about 78% of parents report greater flexibility in their working life, and a quarter of mothers can now work more hours. That is one aspect of the evaluation, but it is important that we continue to monitor all areas of the policy’s impact. We will continue to monitor the impact of the offer closely. I will ensure that the Department reflects on the comments that the hon. Lady has made about the 30 free hours issue.

On the question of protecting vulnerable children through effective children’s social care, we know that many children in need have experienced adversity and trauma, which is why we are strengthening children’s social care to ensure that it is effective and that it protects vulnerable children. The Department for Education children’s social care innovation programme has invested almost £200 million in 98 projects to develop, test and scale new approaches to supporting children in the social care system. We have also committed £45 million to the partners in practice programme, where we are working with 20 of the best local authorities to deepen our collective understanding of what excellent children’s social care services look like, while providing practical support to the sector. We are spending around £3.5 billion in total on our early education entitlements this year alone—more than in any previous year under any Government. We are supporting parents to improve the quality and quantity of adult-child interactions, as positive adult-child relationships are key protective factors against adversity and trauma. Following our successful home learning environment summit in November, we continue to work with businesses and other partners and are developing a campaign to launch later this year.

Looking beyond parents, we know that a skilled early years workforce is also key. Alongside our training for health visitors, we are investing £20 million in our early years professional development fund, which will offer training to practitioners in disadvantaged areas, particularly for the support of early language, literacy and numeracy outcomes. As I have already outlined, local areas have a key role to play in commissioning and delivering effective early intervention services to meet complex and specific needs locally. The Government want to support them in that task, as they should. I will give three examples, the first of which is the troubled families programme, where a multi-agency, whole family approach is advocated, in work with local areas to transform the way services are delivered. We committed £920 million to the troubled families programme between 2015 and 2020; we achieved significant, sustained progress with 130,000 families; and we aim to achieve a similar improvement for 400,000 families by 2020. Forty-nine per cent. of families on that programme have at least one child under the age of five.

The second example is the reducing parental conflict programme, which works with councils across England to integrate approaches and services to address parental conflict. It is supported by £6 million that we are investing to improve the outcomes of children of alcohol-dependent parents, because we know that alcohol misuse has a severe impact on parental conflict and childhood adversity.

The third example is the Department’s early years local government programme, which I mentioned earlier, which will focus on how local services work together across health, education and early help, to improve outcomes at age five. As part of that work, multidisciplinary peer reviews will support councils to identify reforms to services and to our early outcomes fund, which will provide £6.5 million of grants to local authority partnerships to improve the delivery of services. That programme will also look at what works, including effective models of service provision, and spread that learning across the sector.

As I have said, the Government remain strongly committed to the What Works initiative, embodied in three What Works centres—the Early Intervention Foundation, some of whose data analysis the right hon. Member for North Norfolk has mentioned, the Education Endowment Foundation and the centre for children’s social care. To improve the way organisations create, share and use high quality evidence for decision making and implementation, those centres are already producing a diverse range of important materials and support for local commissioners. Part of Government’s funding for the Early Intervention Foundation is being used to establish an early years transformation academy, which will provide a framework for sharing learning, including events and online material for leaders, commissioners and other stakeholders. More intensive academy work will begin in June 2019 and provide further opportunities to pool learning.

The Government will also, as we refresh individual Departments’ areas of research interest, consider including further research into early intervention methods for addressing childhood adversity. Some of the Departments’ published research aims for 2018 and 2019 already seek to tackle issues raised in today’s debate. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions will continue to investigate how best to support families in distress to reduce parental breakdown and separation. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is taking forward work to support effective local government, which is key to delivering effective early intervention strategies. The Department of Health and Social Care is focusing on research on mental health. I have outlined the work that is being done to support children’s mental health and wellbeing in schools, which will help to build resilience to adversity and trauma. Interventions in the health system more generally will be tested to maximise effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Finally, the Department for Education investigates the early years and seeks to foster childhood development for those with disadvantaged backgrounds, who are at higher risk of experiencing adversity and trauma in childhood.

Separately from departmental research budgets, UK Research and Innovation funds research and innovation across all disciplines and sectors, including disciplines directly relevant to this area. Funding for the Economic and Social Research Council has included co-funding a project with the Early Intervention Foundation. UKRI will continue to consider what future funding is most appropriate in that research area.

The right hon. Member for North Norfolk raised the issue of national data collection. There are currently two separate data collection and national reporting systems for universal health visitor review data. Data is collected via Public Health England’s interim process, which is a voluntary submission of aggregate data provided by local authorities that covers universal health visitor service delivery metrics and outcomes. However, that method of data collection is due to be superseded by a record-level collection through the community services dataset, for which NHS Digital has published the information standards and established the technical infrastructure.

It is also important that we reflect on the use and sharing of data at a local level. I mentioned the troubled families programme in connection with co-ordinating local approaches; the programme has also taken forward an early help service transformation model and toolkit, which provide practical advice on service transformation, explaining what it means, how it can be developed and how to measure and monitor progress locally. That will be shared with local partners. The local government programme will also allow local authorities to spend on digital advancements in data collection. As part of the peer review programme, best practice on data collection and sharing will then be disseminated nationally.

As to increasing the use of evidence-based programmes in free childcare, the Government are supporting early years settings to put in place high-quality evidence-based provision. I mentioned the £20 million professional development fund; the Government are also investing £4 million in trials focused on interventions that improve the home learning environment, delivered by the Education Endowment Foundation. Results from the trials will be available over the next two years and will be used to inform future policy for commissioning decisions.

[Tracy Brabin]

I am very interested in staff training. To return to a question that I asked in my speech, at what point—level 3, university, or whatever—would the relevant training be included? I would be very interested to hear the answer, because high-quality staffing is certainly at the heart of closing the disadvantage gap. It is about not just childcare, but education, so we need to ensure that all staff have all the tools at their fingertips.

[Chris Skidmore]

I have touched on some of the Government programmes that have been taken forward for staff training. The hon. Lady is absolutely right that we need to ensure that staff training takes place at every level, from those starting off in the early years workforce right through to continuous professional development for early years workforce leaders. I will have to write to her on her specific point about timing, as well as on the points she raised earlier. I hope that that is satisfactory.

As I mentioned, the Department for Education is reforming the early learning goals at the early years foundation stage. The first stage of these reforms will be followed by an external evaluation of the pilot, helping to generate learning in this area and allow reforms to be refined ahead of full roll-out.

The Government are absolutely committed to What Works and improving how the Government and other organisations create, share and use high-quality evidence for decision making alongside the What Works centres, including the Education Endowment Foundation and the What Works centre for children’s social care.

The Early Intervention Foundation has an important role to play in testing and communicating what works to improve outcomes through early intervention. The EIF has played a key role in bringing evidence and rigour to the early intervention debate. The Government have provided funding of £7.3 million to the EIF until 2020, and the Government will review funding for the EIF in the forthcoming spending review. The right hon. Member for North Norfolk mentioned the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s spring statement, and I am sure he will make representations to the Chancellor. I will ensure that this debate and its text are communicated to the Treasury so that it is aware of the points raised by the Committee in its report and by the debate today about the importance of continuing funding for the EIF going forward into the spending review.

I assure Members that the Government take the Committee’s report and the issues it raises incredibly seriously. I have set out our approach to childhood adversity and trauma, which includes the actions taken through programmes that are run and funded centrally. It is also about supporting local areas to ensure they are commissioning and delivering evidence-based early intervention services.

I have mentioned the specific issue of the strategy. The Government do not consider the formal publication of a national strategy to be the best approach at this time, and I have set out our current approach through the various programmes. The Government are confident that those programmes will bear fruit, but we will seek to review that approach through the spending review and the upcoming prevention Green Paper, which will build on the November 2018 Department of Health and Social Care report, “Prevention is better than cure”, and its priorities, which I set out earlier.

I have also mentioned that the early years ministerial group on family support will add to the Government’s current approach. I am sure that the Leader of the House, given her passionate commitment to this specific area and to taking forward cross-Government work, will take a keen interest in reviewing the contributions made in this important debate.

It is the role of Government to provide guidance on local approaches to early intervention, but there is a fine balance to be struck between local direction and central Government oversight. The Government believe that it is fundamentally for local authorities to determine how their services best meet the complex demands of their areas, not central Government, but we will nevertheless continue with our responsibility to support What Works initiatives and ensure that local systems are working well. The Government will also consider including further research into early intervention methods for addressing childhood adversity as we refresh individual Departments’ areas of interest. The issues that make up childhood adversity and trauma, such as verbal, physical and sexual abuse, parental separation, mental illness and alcohol abuse, are at the core of the work of numerous Departments and major programmes.

We want to ensure that we build long-lasting protective factors against adversity and trauma in the early years. The Government have invested in the early years. By 2019-20, we will be investing around £6 billion a year in early education and childcare support to cover free entitlements, tax-free childcare and the childcare element of universal credit. The Government see effective early intervention as essential to our work to bring about cost efficiency in public services and, above all, to ensure that the human factor is there to improve people’s lives and that children are not put at risk. The factors that Members have mentioned help to ensure that children have strong and healthy lives. As I have already outlined, the Government are putting research funding investment into early intervention initiatives.

Finally, as Members can probably see, I am the Minister for Universities and Science, so I wish to put on record the apologies of the Minister for Children, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), for being unable to speak in the debate. He will happily meet the hon. Member for North Norfolk to reflect on the report and take forward any issues of concern that have been mentioned in the debate.

The Government are keen to continue to engage fully, as I do—wearing a different hat, as Science Minister—with the Science and Technology Committee. We are very grateful for the conclusions the Committee came to in its report.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Tuesday 20th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Kelly Tolhurst]

Self-employment does allow the flexibility that some employed workers are unable to take advantage of, but it is right that we work on this and consider the consequences for the self-employed and small businesses. When we are evaluating and looking at how we move forward—as this Government are committed to doing—it is right that we look at this in the round, in the context of tax, benefit and other such things, but particularly, to support small businesses to continue providing the employment that we need.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my colleague and friend, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan), for raising this question. On my ten-minute rule Bill on shared parental leave, the Minister will have heard across the House the frustration with the Taylor review—that it has been a year and a half and we have not had any implementations of those recommendations. This was one of them; it is cost-neutral. Does the Minister agree that this could be the engine of change—it could be the outlier—that actually gets those recommendations put into place?

[Kelly Tolhurst]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for highlighting this issue through her Bill. We have not yet had the opportunity to debate it, but I know she met Ministers earlier in the year to discuss it. She has mentioned the Taylor review. We are committed in the very near future to doing that, and we are considering self-employment, especially with regard to shared parental leave, how we can benefit and more people taking it up.

Budget Resolutions

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Wednesday 31st October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

As we are discussing business today, it is worth mentioning the significant announcement just this afternoon that Channel Four Television has made the brilliant decision to move to the wonderful city of Leeds. I hope that this language is not too unparliamentary, but I am as chuffed as nuts about the news. I have supported this bid all the way through, and I pay tribute to the staff and the leadership that have made it a success. The bid was submitted by Leeds city region, and I am really looking forward to my constituents benefiting for decades to come and to West Yorkshire becoming an even greater bastion of creativity.

Let us return to the substantive subject before us: austerity and this Budget. After eight long years of constant cuts, austerity has not worked for Britain and it has not worked for my constituency. Our local hospital, Dewsbury and District, has had services removed and downgraded; our high streets are losing banks and post offices; our local authority, Kirklees, has been stripped back to the bone, with 50% cuts since 2010, and there are still millions of pounds worth of cuts to fight and who knows where they will come from in the coming years; and homelessness has doubled. I cannot forget the head teacher of one of our best schools in the constituency telling me that they have exhausted their ability to make savings around the edges. They have increased class sizes to such an extent that now all they can do is remove the whole German language department to balance the books. There seems to be something particularly cruel about allowing children to start educational discovery of another language only to have it whipped from underneath them owing to funding cuts from this Government.

The biggest immediate crisis facing my constituents is that of universal credit. The fact is that there is not enough money in the system and its harsh and failing structure is causing pain in communities such as mine. This is not just an academic exercise for accountants; it is about people like us—people like you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and those on the Conservative Benches. They are people with families, hopes and ambitions.

If the House will allow me, I would just like to share a couple of examples from my own constituency. One constituent was forced to sell off his white goods and furniture to pay rent and bills. Another constituent, a former carer, Carol, who recently retired on grounds of ill health, has had to wait eight weeks and counting with not a penny of income. We are trying our best to support her, but an eviction scare is on the horizon, which is absolutely impacting on her health. She has sold off all her jewellery and clothing; she has nothing left to sell. We must be able to do better than that. These cases are unfair and unjust.

I dread to think what people like Carol and the others would do if it were not for the food banks. I know that the people of Batley and Spen owe enormous gratitude to the volunteers at Batley food bank, who keep helping and keep supporting in the face of rising demand. Demand is up 50% on this time last year, and the volunteers are helping more than 100 adults and 40 children—let that land: 40 children. In the past two days alone, while we have been listening to and debating this Budget, the volunteers have helped 26 adults and 14 children. For some, going to the food bank is acute humiliation. One food bank volunteer told me of a middle-aged father of two who was out of work for the first time having been diagnosed with cancer. Waiting for his first welfare payment, he had nothing left for food for his family. He arrived at the food bank asking for help, but it was too much and he left saying, “I don’t want to be here. It’s embarrassing. I have worked all my life; I can’t do this.” The volunteer followed him, running into the street saying, “It’s society that should be ashamed, not you.” It is heartbreaking and it is unacceptable.

We are discussing business and, briefly, I would like to mention the plight of our nurseries in Batley and Spen and across the country. The fate of many nurseries is set by the decisions of this Government. A rise in the minimum wage is of course very welcome, but common sense suggests that it should come at the same time as an uplift in funding for childcare. My real fear is that, with the extra pressure on budgets, many excellent nurseries will go out of business in the most deprived areas, where parents are unable to afford top-ups and where children benefit the most. Those businesses are calling out for support, and they are not alone. There might be fewer potholes, but the social injustice facing our country remains unanswered, and that is just not good enough.

Insecure Work and the Gig Economy

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Wednesday 20th June 2018 Westminster Hall

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley East (Stephanie Peacock) for securing this important debate. Insecure work and the gig economy are increasingly and rapidly becoming the norm. Indeed, I have spoken to youngsters out there who have never known a full-time, permanent contract or secure hours. Far too often, work in the gig economy comes with the erosion of employment rights—something that those who have worked in the creative industries know only too well. When I worked in television, we used to call ourselves the original gig economy, because just about all the work was casual and just about everyone was self-employed.

I will use my contribution this afternoon to highlight two particular points: maternity rights and pregnancy discrimination. Pregnancy discrimination is something that affects women no matter what type of employment they are in. The Women and Equalities Committee estimates that 54,000 women a year are dismissed or made redundant, or feel they have no choice but to leave their job, because of pregnancy. That is simply not good enough, but I suspect it is even worse in the gig economy. When the work is insecure and short term, the reality for many women is that once they start showing, they simply will not receive any more contracts. That is something that actors know all too well.

We need to put protections in against that culture becoming more widespread across our economy. I know that in response to the Taylor review, the Government said that they were reviewing maternity legislation, and they committed to updating the advice on the Government website this summer, but the truth is that when it comes to pregnancy discrimination the Taylor review did not go nearly far enough. It does not recommend any concrete change for pregnant women or new mothers. It makes a reference to employment tribunal fees making enforcement of rights difficult, but it does not say that fees should be scrapped. It does not mention access to antenatal care, which is a big problem for many women in casual work. It does not mention the specific health and safety needs of pregnant women and new mothers in casual forms of work, nor does it deal with their specific concerns about sick pay and qualification for maternity pay. Those issues should all be fundamental rights for all mums.

Moving on to maternity leave and pay, I think we all agree that the introduction of shared parental leave and pay is a big step forward. It is, for those in conventional employment. It is not available for freelancers or the self-employed. That is why I have introduced my ten-minute rule Bill, which would allow mums to share the maternity allowance with their freelance partners. It would cost the Treasury very little, and I know the Treasury seems quite sympathetic toward it. I simply encourage the Minister not to let this issue slip off the radar.

In summary, although I believe the Government should move swiftly to implement elements of the Taylor review, I would encourage them not to limit their thinking. Pregnancy discrimination is rife and by some measures it is getting worse. Freelance mums and dads deserve the flexibility afforded to other families. That is a matter of fairness, so now please let us get on with it.

Sainsbury and Asda Merger

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Monday 30th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffiths]

I understand very clearly the points my hon. Friend makes. He may not believe it to be a merger, but this is a merger within the legal definition that will be considered by the CMA. Clearly, there will be changes to the way the business is run to make it efficient and to keep it running well into the future. The assurances that Sainsbury’s and Asda have given us are that they will continue to run them as two separate businesses. I hope I can reassure my hon. Friend that, from the information we have been given, those head offices will continue.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

Asda is a substantial employer in my constituency. With £500 million of efficiency savings coming down the track, will the Minister tell us what discussions he had, in the meeting with the chief executive officers, about how to protect jobs and the number of hours worked by employees? Each job loss has a massive impact on my community, which is already suffering under Tory austerity.

[Andrew Griffiths]

Asda and Sainsbury’s believe that the way to protect those jobs is by making the business efficient, effective and able to compete and improve its market share. The shareholders will be asked to vote to approve the merger deal, so they, too, believe that—otherwise they would not vote for it.

I think the hon. Lady needs to be careful not to cause undue concern. The public assurances provided by both Sainsbury’s and Asda so far are that there will be no job losses in stores and that there will be no store closures. Clearly, the aspiration behind the public utterances from Sainsbury’s and Asda is that they want their businesses to improve. The recent takeover by Sainsbury’s of Argos saw efficiencies and improvements in that business that lead to more people being employed. I am responsible for any merger and competition issues, which will be considered by the CMA. I urge her to engage with, and make her points to, the businesses themselves.

Taylor Review

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

1st reading: House of Commons
Wednesday 7th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffiths]

I thank my hon. Friend for the great effort and the huge amount of work he has put into standing up for the rights of those young people who are being abused in relation to internships. He has raised that issue many times in the House, and I can reassure him that we are cracking down on sectors where unpaid interns are doing the job of a worker. There will be proper enforcement, and young people who feel they are being abused in that way will be covered. The enforcement will be strengthened, and we will ensure that those people get the wage they deserve.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

While I of course welcome the publication of the Taylor review, may I press the Minister a little bit further? As my hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey) said, the Taylor review recommends ending the Swedish derogation that allows agency workers to be employed for extended periods on worse terms and conditions than the person working by their side on a more permanent contract. Is the Minister still considering that recommendation, or is he going to ignore it?

[Andrew Griffiths]

I can be absolutely clear with the hon. Lady that we are very attuned to the impact of the Swedish derogation and how it can be used unfairly on workers.

Fireworks

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Monday 29th January 2018 Westminster Hall

[Susan Elan Jones]

My hon. Friend makes a good point and there are similar examples in other constituencies, although the one he refers to is especially serious.

People who wear hearing aids have concerns, too. According to The Independent, the petition organisers claim that random fireworks can be a nuisance to those who wear hearing aids. Individuals with those devices can turn the volume down or remove the hearing aid completely if they have prior notice of fireworks events. However, when fireworks are not expected, the noise they produce can cause significant pain and discomfort to hearing aid users.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend is making a very fine argument. I was approached by a constituent who went to an organised event and she and her husband were subjected to an attack by young people with fireworks. Although there is a £5,000 fine for selling fireworks to under-18s, it would be good to collate the numbers, to find out how many people have been fined for selling fireworks to underage people. Does she agree that people should be able to enjoy a community event without having to worry about being under attack when they leave?

[Susan Elan Jones]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The petitioners refer to the lack of proper statistics as an issue.

Unorganised, spontaneous firework displays are worrying for many children and adults with health concerns. Many of those who care for children know that the loud noises generated by random firework displays can distress children who live with autism, hearing difficulties and certain mental health conditions. Some families can—and do—find it difficult to explain to affected children why the displays occur so often and without warning, especially throughout the winter months and not just on bonfire night and new year’s eve, and during the spring and summer, when it seems that any event can be marked with a sudden loud volley of firework sounds. For some people, that can be very disconcerting.

Taylor Review: Working Practices

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I cannot accept the premise behind the hon. Gentleman’s question. We are not seeking to end zero-hours contracts, because too many people want them and the flexibility associated with them, but we are seeking to root out abuse where it exists.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Taylor review recommends that the Government should make it easier for people in flexible arrangements to take their holiday entitlement. In the past, the Minister has struggled to explain the Government’s powers in this area. Will she tell us what powers currently exist to enforce the payment of holiday pay and, with the summer fast approaching, will she act on the Taylor report’s recommendations swiftly?

Oral Answers to Questions

Tracy Brabin Excerpts

Tuesday 27th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Joseph Johnson)]

Fear not, Mr Speaker, legislation is not required to deliver on that commitment. It remains a priority for the Government and for the delivery of our industrial strategy. We want to get to 2.4% of GDP for our R and D spend, and we have a longer-term ambition of 3% after that.

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

T3. Research by Citizens Advice found that half the people on zero-hours contracts, and two thirds of people on temporary contracts, worryingly believe that they are not entitled to paid holiday. Kirklees citizens advice bureau has found employers deliberately misleading workers about their rights. What steps is the Minister taking to make sure that workers are aware of their rights to a fair holiday? What repercussions will there be for companies that mislead staff? Can the Minister confirm when the Taylor review will be published?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)]

The hon. Lady is right to draw attention to workers who are misled and workers who believe erroneously that they have fewer rights than they do. We are absolutely committed that any individual, whatever contract they are on, is entitled to their rights. We have increased the powers open to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to enforce those rights.