Budget: Reduction of Waste
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts(6 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Bates
The noble Lord is absolutely right. Of course, as part of our clean growth strategy, we have an ambition to reduce the level of food waste by half by 2030. The Courtauld initiative is also aiming to reduce food waste between 2015 and 2025. It is also part of the ambition of sustainable development goal 12. So all the strategy, all the rules and all the ambition are there—we just need to see the action.
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)
My Lords, given the nearly 40% cut in local authority funding this year, can the Minister say what incentives he intends to implement to encourage householders to increase recycling to assist councils to meet their recycling targets and reduce expensive landfill and fly-tipping?
Lord Bates
In terms of landfill, of course it was the landfill tax introduced by the Conservative Government in 1996 that has reduced the amount going into landfill by some 70%. On local authorities, it is not just about money; it is actually about ambition and determination. We have neighbouring local authorities with varying recycling rates. Lewisham has a recycling rate of 18% but Southwark has a recycling rate of 35%, while Trafford has a recycling rate of 60%. We think that it is not just about money; it is about learning and the political leadership that will ensure that we deliver this.
Agriculture and Food Industry
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)
My Lords, I, too, thank my noble friend Lord Plumb for securing this debate and giving me the opportunity to talk about a very important aspect of my life and the lives of countless citizens in the country.
Other noble Lords have talked about the importance of large-scale farming, food production, animal welfare, the greenfield agenda and soil. I have enjoyed and learnt much from these contributions. I will concentrate on the role of the growing number of very successful farmers’ markets. Whether one lives in or near a small market town or in large urban areas, farmers’ or produce markets are a key attraction.
While unusually spending the weekend in London recently, and looking for something to do on a Sunday, it was suggested that we go to Alexandra Palace for the produce market. It is a splendid market in a lovely setting with many varied and interesting stalls, most of them quite different from the ones I am used to frequenting at home. On a beautiful sunny day, eating our purchased lunch at the top of the hill, the view was stunning. I was delighted to have the opportunity to do that.
In Somerset we have a wide range of farmers’ markets within easy travelling distance. My favourite is in Crewkerne on the third Saturday of the month. There are numerous stalls offering a wide variety of produce: locally grown vegetables, French-style patisserie and cakes, gluten-free flans and pasties, a marvellous fish stall selling Weymouth-caught crabs and lobsters, sea bass and whole haddock, a variety of different cheese stalls and, of course, free-range poultry and carefully reared meat from West Country buffalo, as well as cider, wine, preserves, flowers and plants. These markets provide a vital outlet for growers and producers.
The stall holders attend a number of produce markets ranging from two a month for the gentleman selling his wife’s homemade chutneys, jams and honey through to Wootton Organic Dairy, whose owners attend 20 markets a month throughout Somerset and Dorset, and Beech Ridge Farm selling free-range ducks and chickens at two to three markets a week for 50 weeks of the year. One gentleman who sells only the most delicious cherries is currently attending five to six markets a week, but his season is extremely limited. For the rest of the year he is an adviser to cider growers.
That brings me on to the importance of the cider industry to the county. In years gone by, the cider industry and Somerset were synonymous. Then, sadly, cider fell out of public favour and many traditional apple orchards were grubbed up and a number of specialist strains were lost. However, cider is now very much back in favour and many local producers regularly win prizes for their cider at agricultural shows such as the Royal Bath & West Show, which is held outside Shepton Mallet at the end of May each year. If one believes the television adverts, drinking cider will greatly enhance your life. I welcome this turnaround in the cider industry’s fortunes. While touring the stalls last Saturday, I was delighted to talk to the gentleman from Wraxall Wines. He was selling fine white and rosé wine. He attends four markets a month and sells from a shop at the vineyard as well as on the internet. The vineyard is also now benefiting from Waitrose buying his white wine as it adds a range of English wines to its shelves—long may this last.
As noble Lords can probably tell, I am a great advocate for farmers’ markets. I can buy fresh gluten-free flans which are not available in supermarkets. My husband can buy huge, irregularly shaped scones to have with his tea, and we can then go and have a really nice cup of coffee in a family-run café and have a relaxing catch-up. We and other fans like us support several markets, including that at Montacute House run by the National Trust. Montacute hosts a regular market six times a year, which also encompasses a craft market that is especially popular in the run-up to Christmas.
Jonathan Hoskins from North Perrott Fruit Farm gave me the background on how farmers’ markets have grown up in the south Somerset area. In 1994, he and other small farmers were looking for an outlet for their produce, so they started a monthly market in Chard, the rationale for holding the market only once a month being to encourage local shops to stock their produce. Over time, the offer has transformed into popular farm shops, with many villages now having a farm shop. Success has grown from the markets and there is a balance to be struck between the farmers’ markets and the farm shops, although farmers’ markets remain an important part of their business. However, Mr Hoskins was keen to point out that farms cannot be sustained on farmers’ markets alone and need other outlets for their produce. Previously, he brought only his apples to the markets but has since moved into apple juice. Now his farm sells 40,000 to 50,000 bottles a year. In addition, he runs a very successful nursery and farm shop, which also has a café selling coffee and homemade cakes. The shop also stocks milk, bread and newspapers. These are basically loss leaders, but are of service to the community.
My research on Saturday showed that, of the 20 stallholders present, six also sold on the internet, either delivering themselves or sending their produce by courier; three also attended events such as the cheese festival in Sturminster Newton; one supplied wholesalers; two supplied local shops; six had their own farm shops; and one, although not having a shop, sold from the farm. Some businesses were small cottage industries; for others, farmers’ markets were the main outlet for their produce, with considerable turnover.
I hope I have demonstrated in some small way how important farmers’ markets are to local growers and farmers, and to their economic survival. They provide a platform for them to showcase their excellent produce. They bring people together in a busy, vibrant social atmosphere, even when it is snowing and freezing cold. They provide the public with the opportunity to taste and experience really fresh, well reared produce and for the public to realise that food does not just arrive on supermarket shelves in brightly coloured packaging, where it may have been sitting for a little while. I hope the Minister will agree with me that farmers’ markets contribute to the economy, should be supported and are here to stay.
Women: Contribution to Economic Life
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts(10 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)
My Lords, I am pleased to be able to take part in this debate today on a topic of significant importance in this day and age and one which is dear to my heart. Like many, I have received a wealth of data and information to help support my arguments. I am delighted that my colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Palumbo, has chosen this topic for his maiden speech. I look forward to hearing what he has to say and wish him well.
As we have already heard, getting women into the workplace is an international problem. A report published in the Economist in October 2012 stated that in the next decade nearly 1 billion women are likely to enter the global labour force, but their economic potential is largely unrealised. If female employment rates matched those of men, GDP would increase by 5% in America and 9% in Japan by 2020. The impact would be even larger for developing countries, home to most of the world’s women who lack adequate education and support, both social and political. Increasing female employment would increase GDP significantly in countries such as India and Egypt, where female labour participation rates are below 30%. In Egypt, GDP would increase by 108% and in Britain by 13%.
When first elected as Leader of Somerset County Council in 2001 in the middle of the foot and mouth crisis, I chaired the Cabinet of six women and one man. My male colleague frequently made reference to the fact that he was the “token male” and obviously felt uncomfortable. His female colleagues, however, were perfectly satisfied with the situation. However, it was not long before the other men in the group started to whisper and plot to “get rid of some of these women and replace them with men”. There being more men than women in the group, at the next annual meeting they did, in fact, replace two of the women with men. The women were devastated as they had worked hard, got to grips with their briefs and done a good job. The replacement men were only satisfactory in their roles but terribly proud of themselves for their achievement in having got promotion to the “inner circle”, as they saw it. Sadly, behaviour such as this is typical of the ethos which exists in some workplaces. Why is it that some men feel so threatened by women? Is it that we are better at juggling—if you are to have a job and bring up a family, it is essential that you are an expert juggler—or is it some other reason?
Access to safe and affordable quality childcare is key to women fulfilling their potential in the workplace and contributing to the economy of our country. The report out this week from the Family and Childcare Trust reveals that families are paying around 4.7% more on average for part-time childcare than they spend on an average mortgage. This is an enormous sum and we should be doing more to address the issue of a ready, cost-effective supply of childcare. We know from Department for Education surveys that more women would return to work if they could access childcare that did not cripple them financially. One in five working mothers said that they would like to increase their hours if they could arrange,
“good quality childcare which was convenient, reliable and affordable”.
Parents in Britain use more than a quarter—26.6%—of their salaries on childcare, more than any other European country, except Switzerland.
The return of women to the workplace after having children is not without its personal costs. As a working mother I cursed school inset days and came to dread the school holidays. Racked by guilt that I was not spending enough time with my children, I searched around for clubs and activities that I hoped my children would enjoy so that they would not have to spend quite so much time with the childminder. I reduced my working week so that I got home earlier and could go out for walks and picnics to spend some quality time with them, but I was always left with the feeling that I had somehow let them down, although they never said anything to compound that feeling.
As a country we must do everything we can to encourage women to return to the workplace after having families. We can now see examples of employers who, instead of denigrating the fact that women go off to have families, are recognising that the skills gained in this experience far outweigh those of their male colleagues. Any woman who has negotiated with a three year-old determined to participate in a life-threatening activity and done so without the resultant tears and tantrums in a very public place can well deal with negotiations between her male colleagues’ testosterone-driven ego trips. Women also bring a different perspective to problem solving which, together with their male colleagues’ approach, often produces a more rounded solution.
Some women suffer discrimination in the workplace simply because they are women. Often it is women higher up the structure of their employers who attempt to keep their female colleagues down instead of encouraging them. They have had to struggle to get where they are and wish their counterparts to have the same experience. It is certainly the case that in many professions, in order for women to succeed, they have to behave and act like their male counterparts to be taken seriously, as my noble friend Lady Bottomley so graphically demonstrated to us.
The Government are keen to encourage young people into the STEM subjects at school, but young women need to be aware that they will have a struggle on their hands. In a large hospital in the south, of 439 consultants, 74% are men and only 26% are women. In that hospital there are 53 dieticians but only one is a man. In the nursing profession only about 10% are men. This speaks volumes of how the health service views the roles of men and women. Does this also say something about how difficult women find it to juggle families and high-pressured careers? It is certainly the case that women find it easier to have careers in the NHS than in engineering, for instance.
Many women work in small businesses. The Federation of Small Businesses believes that it is vital to support female entrepreneurship. In the UK alone, 150,000 additional start-ups would have been created each year if women had started businesses at the same rate as men. The FSB has worked to promote female entrepreneurship and to look at the barriers particularly faced by women in starting businesses. Nearly half the businesses established in the past two years in retail, hotels, catering and leisure were primarily owned by women. Of the businesses that are members of the FSB, 26.9% are female-owned. The sectors with the highest proportion of female-owned businesses are: health and social work, 45.5%; education, 44%; and personal services, 42.5%. These businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. Without the services provided by these small businesses, many other women would be unable to go out to work at all.
On the international aspect of our debate today, I am indebted to my noble friend Lady Falkner for the following figures. She regrets that another engagement prevents her being present today and taking part in the debate. In response to questions to the FCO, my noble friend received the following information on the role of senior women. EU Permanent Representatives: nine men, no women; NATO Permanent Representatives: eight men, one woman; UN agencies heads of mission, New York: eight men; no women; UN agencies heads of mission, Geneva: seven men, two women; heads of mission to China, Russia, France and the US: 31 men, one woman; heads of mission to Germany and Italy: 17 men, no women; heads of mission to the 11 BRICS countries: 93 men, seven women. This really is not good enough.
We all know that women are perfectly capable of filling their place in society at all levels. We must do everything we can to make sure that no barriers are put in their way to prevent them achieving and assisting our economy in benefiting from their considerable skills. I look forward to the contributions from your Lordships during the rest of the debate and I hope that at the end of the day we can take some positive steps in going forward.