Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Student Work Placements

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the noble Lord is right that these work placements are extremely important, and that there is not a one-size-fits-all placement. We have just completed an initial industry placement pilot with 21 providers, and 20,000 placements will take place over the next year as part of the capacity and delivery plan. We will evaluate how these placements have gone and make recommendations drawn from these experiences. This will include whether they have been most successful delivered in a single block, on day release, or by any other pattern. We are also looking at how we can help SMEs more by producing guidance on how they can best take advantage of this facility.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, work experience works when it is done well. Although, as the Minister said, the Government publish some guidelines for the 16 to 19 year-old work-study programme, SMEs can struggle in the short term as well as in these longer-term programmes if they are not properly prepared and helped. Who is responsible for ensuring that all work placements reach a good standard, so that it is not just a question of checking workplace safety beforehand but of ensuring that they deliver for the benefit of the student and of the company?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, we are in the process of issuing a package of guidance for businesses, particularly aimed at SMEs; there are 10 areas of guidance in this first batch, including on how to implement industry placements, engaging students and parents or guardians, engaging staff, and the business case for industry placements. We have to accept that this will be an iterative journey as we embark on it at such scale, but we are committed to ensuring that these placements are of high quality.

Academies: Gender Pay Gap

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, my noble friend is quite correct. It is not about any disparity between a man and a woman doing a job—that was outlawed in this country 40 years ago. I take my noble friend’s thanks for the achievements of the Inspiration Trust. Most of the credit must go to my chief executive, who is a woman—Dame Rachel de Souza. We have other exceptional women running trusts: Lucy Heller of ARK and Maura Regan of the Carmel Education Trust. Indeed, at the primary level, 65% of head teachers are women, which shows that there is every opportunity for women in the education system.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for the very helpful answers that he has given my noble friend Lord Storey and others. However, is not the real problem here that disproportionately high pay is being channelled up to a tiny number of male-dominated posts at rates far higher than the local authority-run schools can pay? How does the Minister justify that, especially to the 74% of the teaching profession who are hard-working, highly professional women?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Baroness asks a very interesting question. The pay in maintained and academy schools is actually very close. For example, the data to November 2016 shows that a maintained secondary school head teacher earned £88,300, compared to an academy secondary school head teacher who earned £92,500. However, the maintained head teacher had a 1% increase in that year, whereas the academy head teacher had a 0.4% decrease. In the primary sector, the comparisons are even closer, at £62,400 for a local authority school and £65,500 for an academy. I do not accept that money is being drawn up to mostly male teachers. As I mentioned in my earlier answer, 65% of primary heads are women. If we look at the starting pay for teachers, we see that, for a graduate teacher between the ages of 21 and 30, the average pay is £27,000, compared to £25,000 for all graduates. That does not include the very generous pension scheme that exists in the teaching profession, which has a 16.4% contribution and is underwritten by the Treasury.

Queen’s Speech

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, in the minutes available to me, I want to concentrate on those aspects that relate to my own portfolio for the Liberal Democrats: business, innovation and skills. Having said that, noble Lords might be relieved to know that I do not expect to be speaking for too long. In all, the Government have made 30 announcements and 28 of those, by my reckoning, have already been made before. However, there is no mention of the deficit or how the Government are going to address the black hole of £7.5 billion they left themselves in the Budget this year. As we approach the referendum, the business world is holding its breath, and so, apparently, are the Government, by failing to look forward to the medium and long-term future of business and the economy of this country.

The gracious Speech starts with a claim that the economy is strengthening. This is patently not the case—economic growth slowed in the first quarter of this year, with the economy growing by only 0.4%. Construction output fell by 0.9%: so much for the party of the builders. Just this week, the CBI downgraded its growth forecast to 2% for 2016, down from 2.3%. The Speech asserts that there will be legislation,

“to ensure Britain has the infrastructure that businesses need to grow”.

However, legislation is not going to solve our infrastructure crisis. The Government’s own spending plans, which require no public borrowing by 2020, are what is putting the constraint on our ability to invest in housing, road, rail and digital infrastructure.

Speaking of digital, the Government’s lack of ambition on broadband is staggering. The universal service obligation for broadband being proposed is for 10 megabytes per second by 2020. That is not close to what we need to be world leaders in the digital economy. The Government’s idea of ultrafast broadband is 25 megabytes per second. South Korea already has speeds of 1 gigabyte per second and rising. The reason why our speeds are so poor is that the Government refuse to invest in new technology. They, and BT, are relying on out-of-date copper-wire technology because they refuse to make the money available for the rollout of fibre-optic cabling to homes. We cannot compete on the world market relying on copper cables. It is like trying to win a Grand Prix on a sit-down lawnmower. If the Government were serious about being a world leader in the digital economy, they would support fibre-to-home broadband, spending money on vital infrastructure, support business to invest in new technology, such as 3D printing, and offer solutions to problems such as the collapse of our retail sector in the face of changing technology, which risks putting 900,000 people out of work by 2025.

We support the objective of being at the forefront of new forms of transport, including autonomous and electric vehicles; we welcome the trialling of autonomous vehicles in the UK. It is important, however, that vehicles are built to run electronically in order to improve air quality. It is also essential that insurance issues are ironed out to determine accountability and that any software vulnerabilities are eradicated.

Time is short, and I know that other colleagues want to talk about this, so I will just briefly mention the support given to the northern powerhouse. The infrastructure announcements are welcome, but although the Government continue to use the rhetoric that featured in March’s Budget, there is actually underinvestment in the north. It accounts for only 1% of currently planned or in-operation infrastructure projects in terms of transport linkage. Moreover, why should Liverpool be ignored as part of the northern powerhouse? Nor is there any mention at all of the so-called “Midlands engine”. Is that now stalled in the Government’s eyes? It certainly needs a bit of revving up.

The announcement on business rates—allowing local authorities to retain business rates—has already been announced in last year’s Autumn Statement. Devolution of business rates has long been a Liberal Democrat policy, but we hope that the Government do not use it as an excuse to cut funding further to local authorities. Proof of this will be shown in which local authorities lose out in the settlement.

I welcome the better markets Bill, even though most of the details have been expressed before. I welcome the objectives expressed, and we look forward to receiving more detail. I hope that we can work together to make sure that those details and objectives can become a reality.

Lastly, I touch on the universities Bill. Noble Lords may recall the Browne report of 2010, which recommended a total free market on fees. These proposals mean that many people would need to make the decision about where to study based on cost and not on academic standards. It is no secret that the Liberal Democrats have struggled on fees, but this is something that we succeeded in holding back the Conservatives from implementing when we were in coalition. We will oppose these measures as bad for students and unnecessary for the long-term finances of universities.

That is all that I have to say on the Queen’s Speech, other than that it is a missed opportunity to look at the medium and long-term future of Britain and bring forward new, innovative plans instead of just rehashing the old ones.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 24th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of parenting and early attachment, and that is why we increased funding for early intervention and child care from £4.3 billion to £4.5 billion over this Parliament. One of the key roles of children’s centres, which are being used by a record number of parents this year—more than 1 million parents are now using children’s centres—is to communicate best practice. Our new early-years teacher qualifications have a focus on attachment.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

9. What steps he has taken to implement fair school funding for Solihull.

[The Minister for Schools (Mr David Laws)]

Past school funding levels have been very unfair to some parts of our country, and we have announced that we will significantly boost funding in 2015-16 by more than one third of a billion pounds for the 60 least fairly funded local authorities.

[Lorely Burt]

The formula funding protection for Solihull sixth-form college, as with all sixth-form colleges, runs out in 2015-16. What advice would my hon. Friend give to the principal and governors in developing their strategic plans?

[Mr Laws]

My hon. Friend will know that funding after 2015-16 will be determined in the next spending round, and we cannot make precise commitments now about funding in that period. We have been considering the options for funding large programmes such as those containing five or more A-levels, the international baccalaureate, and large vocational programmes, and we plan to announce how those will be treated after 2015-16 in the near future.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

I do not think that the hon. Lady heard my first point, which was that prices are falling in real terms in England for the first time since the Family and Childcare Trust study began. Under Labour, they went up by 50%. On Thursday, I visited the excellent Medlock primary school in her constituency, which offers places to two, three and four-year-olds. Staff told me of their plans to open from 8 until 6 to provide parents with more care. That is happening across the country—[Interruption.] I hear what the hon. Lady says. At present, most nurseries in Manchester are open from 9 to 3. If they opened from 8 to 6, that would be more than 60% extra.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

Thanks to the success of our long-term economic plan, my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were able last week to announce not just an extension of tax-free child care, but the extension of the pupil premium to the early years, marking a step forward in making this country not only more economically efficient, but more socially just.

[Lorely Burt]

I warmly welcome the additional money announced in the Budget to support early education for children from low-income families. What will that mean for nursery providers in Solihull?

[Michael Gove]

We are consulting on exactly how we should distribute the additional cash in order to ensure that it goes to the very poorest families, but I am aware that in the west midlands generally—and in Solihull particularly—there are families in desperate need of support, and I hope we will be able to extend that to them as quickly as possible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

One positive thing is that we are now getting a growth of specialist institutions that provide small businesses with a type of finance—Aldermore provides asset-based financing or new kinds of invoice financing to deal with cash flow or investment as required. However, the hon. Lady is right to say that there is a particular problem in that area of the market.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

I recently had the privilege of opening the first bank in my constituency to be approved under the new Government fast-track system—Paragon bank—and it was full of praise for the help it received from my right hon. Friend’s Department. Does he share my aspiration that that will herald the beginning of much greater diversity and choice in the banking sector, and particularly help for small businesses?

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is right and I thank her for her kind words. Ultimately, what will change the problem is breaking the traditional monopoly of the big four banks. Many new banks are now coming into existence, and the more flexible licensing regime operated by the regulators is playing a significant part. I believe that 20 new banks have recently been licensed and, within a few years, I think we will see real competition and diversity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 24th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

No, not at all. In these matters, I often pay close attention to what Lord Adonis, a former schools Minister, says. He argued last week that we need more free school places in areas where there is a lack of high-quality school places. That is a different view from the one taken by the hon. Gentleman. I take the view that Lord Adonis is right—we need to give parents a choice where schools are poor—and therefore, not for the last time, the hon. Gentleman is wrong.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

T3. Tudor Grange is a good non-faith-based secondary school in my constituency, but the governors have angered many parents in the school’s catchment area by attempting to introduce a faith school as a feeder school, whose children would take precedence for admittance over children in the local authority catchment area. Will my right hon. Friend advise me on whether this would constitute indirect discrimination under the Equality Act 2010?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue. I know Tudor Grange and its outstanding head teacher, Jennifer Bexon-Smith. She is committed to helping children in difficult circumstances and is sponsoring an academy in Worcester, I think, so I cannot believe that she would take a decision that would discriminate against children in need of high-quality state education. The admissions code is clear about these matters, and I look forward to talking with my hon. Friend to make sure the public are reassured.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Timpson]

I once again express my gratitude to the hon. Lady for the serious and significant contribution she has made to the work my Department has done to try to tackle the important problem of children who are placed out of area in residential care—the number is almost 50%, which is far too high. That is why we have already made one change, whereby Ofsted must now report to police the location of all children’s homes. We will go further with changes to much of the regulatory framework to improve the “out of sight, out of mind” culture. I am happy to discuss with her in the coming weeks how we implement that, as I have discussed it with her in the past. An announcement will be made very shortly.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

T9. I have recently participated in a cross-party inquiry into unwanted pregnancy. We found that there were gaping holes in understanding not only of the mechanics of sex, but of how relationships work. In a letter to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson), the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), admitted that academies are not required to teach sex education. Given the life-changing consequences of such ignorance, does the Secretary of State agree that sex and relationships education should be compulsory in all schools?

[Michael Gove]

All academies have the opportunity to depart from the national curriculum, which is entirely appropriate, but I do not think—[Interruption.] Honestly! This is a serious subject, and I am afraid the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is not doing it the service it deserves—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Timpson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why, under the Children and Families Bill and the work we are doing with the Family Justice Board, we are trying to drive every element of unnecessary delay out of the court process and are bringing in a 52-week maximum limit on the time a care case should take to ensure that, where there is an opportunity for a child’s adoption placement to be made permanent, that happens sooner rather than later and they can get on with their life and form those all-important attachments with their new family.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

4. What steps he is taking to ensure that the funding formula for school sixth forms and sixth-form colleges is fair and equitable.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills (Matthew Hancock)]

In 2010 we committed to ending the historical disparity in post-16 funding so that by 2015 schools and colleges will be funded at the same level as one another for the first time, on a per-pupil basis. Transitional protection will apply for four years from 2011 to give institutions time to adjust.

[Lorely Burt]

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer and to the Secretary of State for his correspondence. In Solihull and elsewhere, differences in funding for sixth-form colleges and state schools are putting sixth-form colleges under great competitive pressure. Will the Minister assure Solihull sixth-form college, and all sixth-form colleges, that he will introduce remedies as quickly as possible?

[Matthew Hancock]

I am a strong supporter of sixth-form colleges, which do excellent work, including Solihull sixth-form college. I congratulate the newly formed all-party parliamentary group on sixth-form colleges. I regularly meet the ministerial working group on post-16 funding to discuss the implementation of the fair per-pupil funding system, and I will bear my hon. Friend’s comments in mind.

Personal, Social, Health and Financial Education

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Westminster Hall

[Amber Rudd]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right. There is the Pearl index, which I am sure he knows about, which assesses the effectiveness of contraception. In the age group that we examined, condoms have an effectiveness rate of something like 70% to 80%; so perhaps another reason why there should be some form of relationship education is that, as we know, drink unfortunately plays a large part in whether young people will use the right form of contraception.

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

We took evidence from various groups as part of our inquiry. One of the most telling statements was from a gentleman from Brook, who said that aspiration is the best form of contraception. The whole context of aspiration and where children want to go with their lives is important and should be included in PSHE.

[Amber Rudd]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We took some interesting evidence from Simon Blake of Brook, whose participation was helpful. That point about aspiration and ambition was echoed by the group of young people from the Respond Academy—a youth group from Hastings led by JC McFee—that the hon. Lady and I interviewed in the evidence session. They said that they need some form of guidance and relationship education. They need the reasons not to get pregnant, and they need help with forming relationships.

Certain people object to that, and their objections are on two fronts. First, they say that if relationship education is entered into, at some point a judgment will be made. They ask, “Is it right for the Government to be involved in judgments about when, or whether, young people should have sex?” We must respond by saying, “Of course it is right. We are the adults. Every mother and father knows that we need to help our young people in making such decisions.” No one wants young people having sex before they are ready for it. They need help and emotional guidance, and we must address that need. That objection is one that we just need to take on.

The second objection is, “Is it for schools to do this? Is it not for the families?” I have received some such objections, and my response is, “We have to deal with the world in which we find ourselves.” Of course we would prefer it if parents were able to give the education to their children, but in a world in which young people are saying, “We need help and guidance,” it is incumbent on us as the Government to say to them, “We need to respond to that.” If young people are not getting the help and guidance from their families, we must ensure that they get it from some other place, and that could be in schools.

[Lorely Burt]

rose—

[Caroline Nokes]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) on bringing this matter to the Chamber. I want to concentrate on a couple of health education issues in particular. I spoke to the hon. Lady before the debate and mentioned some of my concerns about sex education, and I want to speak about sex education in primary schools.

I well remember being taught, or given—taught is perhaps too strong a word—the essentials in secondary school by a teacher. We were all uncertain about what was going on, but at 14 we were old enough to understand and have an appropriate attitude. I look at my granddaughter who has started nursery school and will start primary school in September, and I am aware that some people are suggesting that sex education should be introduced at primary school level, to five-year-olds. That is unrealistic and unfair, and it destroys innocence.

The Christian Institute says that material for children as young as five has been slammed by a leading academic. When I first heard that I wondered if it was true, and I was concerned that there was an attitude that sex education at primary school should be suggested as part of the thesis. Professor Brenda Almond of the Christian Institute says that most five-year-olds have no interest in matters to do with sex and

“wouldn’t even recognise the word”.

I believe that that is the case, and that many people in this Chamber would echo that opinion. Professor Almond also refers to a “worrying new investigation”, conducted by the Christian Institute. Commenting on sexual education material, she warns about

“comic-book-style pictures of different sexual positions”,

and activities, and explanations of the differences between heterosexuality and homosexuality. Her conclusion was clear:

“For five-year-olds! So much for an age of innocence”,

and I would say that too. To introduce sex education at primary school level to children of that age would be ludicrous and very unwise.

[Lorely Burt]

I have a lot of sympathy with the way in which the hon. Gentleman is framing his argument, but does he not agree that no one is proposing that we should start to teach the biological sexual elements of relationships to five-year olds? All relationship education should be completely age-appropriate, so a five-year-old would learn about friendships and loyalty—

[John Robertson (in the Chair)]

May we keep interventions short, please?

[Lorely Burt]

Yes. We would not start doing the curriculum at that age.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the hon. Lady for her contribution. Obviously, we have different opinions. I am clear about what I have stated and about the evidence that I have, which shows that there is an inclination among some teachers and from some education authorities to introduce such education at this early age. That is wrong, unfair, unwise and unrealistic, and the evidence that has been presented to me and of which I am aware backs that up. I would not want to see my granddaughter, or anyone’s granddaughter, being introduced to such material.

Professor Almond has clearly pointed out the emotional damage that graphic sex education could be doing to many children, destroying the simplicity of childhood, and I would reiterate that point. We are all aware that children grow up at different speeds and in different ways, and the role of the parent is important, as many Members have mentioned. Sometimes parents abdicate their responsibility, but parents who want to be part of the process should be. In many cases, it is the parents who best know how the matters should be addressed, and their opinion should be very much part of that. Ministers certainly need to take on board parents’ opinions.

I believe that sex education needs to be taken out of primary schools altogether and the responsibility handed back to the parents. We all have different opinions about that, but in this House I have the right to express my opinion, and I do so, making it very clear—as you know, Mr Robertson. My opinion is based on the opinions of my constituents, and I represent my constituents to the best of my ability, in this House and elsewhere, ensuring that their opinions are well stated.

It is also my opinion that how a family unit is made up should not be taught at school as a one size fits all, but neither should it be that anything goes, while at home mum might have a different opinion. Religious beliefs must also be taken into account in the teaching, and I fear that schools are being asked by some bodies to take too much on and are in danger of usurping the parental role. The Government must take that into account in the review of sex education for younger children.

I will conclude, because I am conscious of the five minutes and that other people want to speak. I make my point again, very clearly: in primary schools, there should be no sex education; in secondary schools there should.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 3rd December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD)]

T3. Scope recently launched its “Keep us close” report, which found that six in 10 families with disabled children said that the vital services they needed were not available in their local area. What steps is the Minister taking to implement the report’s recommendations to ensure that local authorities make vital universal services such as schools and leisure services accessible to families with disabled children, so that they do not have to travel long distances to get to them?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mr Edward Timpson)]

You will no doubt be aware, Mr Speaker, that today is the international day for people with disability, so it is apt that my hon. Friend has chosen to ask that question. Our special educational needs reforms will require local authorities to involve local families in developing a published local offer of services for children and young people with SEN and disabilities to ensure that councils understand their needs and can plan local provision accordingly.