Queen’s Speech

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, I shall focus on the section of the gracious Speech relevant to education and training:

“Further reforms to GCSEs and A-levels will be taken forward to raise standards in schools and prepare school pupils for employment”.

On reforms to school exams, none of us could doubt that in a fast-changing world school learning and assessment need constant updating. However, it is one thing to express this as a high-level intention but quite another to implement any such reforms. I have been a school teacher and have worked for an assessment and awarding body, so I know what it feels like to be on the sharp end of politically led changes. This was long before I ever imagined I would be on the political end.

We note the involvement of higher education institutions but reforms to GCSE and A-levels will call for experts across the board to translate the aims into a syllabus, a curriculum, teaching materials and rigorous assessments. The tests and benchmarks must have the respect of those who sit the tests and those who use the results for access to further study or employment. Let us not forget our teachers, who find themselves often with inadequate time and resources, tasked with translating the reforms into exciting and engaging classroom experiences for the students in their charge. I echo the words of my noble friend Lord Storey in paying tribute to those who have the responsibility to foster learning and aspiration in the next generation. I also hear the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Patel, about shortages in science and maths teachers.

In a previous reform, this autumn will see the introduction of languages in the primary school curriculum. This measure will give young children the excitement of understanding different communications and cultures. It should strengthen the country’s woeful reputation for speaking only one language, and if in doubt speaking English very loudly. Only 6% of the world population speaks English as a first language. If we are to equip our young people with tools to succeed in a globalised world, mastering more than one language at an early stage will be enriching in both their personal and their working lives. Primary schools are already engaged in identifying which language or languages will be most appropriate for their teachers and children. For this measure to be successful, secondary schools will build on the skills and mastery of their feeder schools and from there into GCSE and A-level. It is greatly to be hoped that the tide is turning and the numbers of those continuing language studies will grow.

We have seen our language deficit highlighted in initiatives from the British Academy, the Chartered Institute of Linguists and the British Council. The Government have listened and taken action in different departments. The Foreign Office recently opened a state-of-the-art language learning centre, with the Foreign Secretary’s open aim that everyone working in that department should use the facilities to gain proficiency in one at least of the many languages on offer. The military saw the closure of its highly specialised centre of language excellence at Beaconsfield but earlier this year opened a language and culture centre at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham. Future adults embarking on these professional programmes will find their task easier and more rewarding if language learning within schools has been improved.

I ask the Minister—or perhaps even my noble friend the Education Minister, who is in his place—in his aim to reform GCSE and A-level, how far the proposed reforms will be taking into account the expertise of those in the different branches of the education sector. There has been a tendency in previous education reforms to listen more to policy experts than to those working on the front line. Will pilots be built into the development of these reforms? The timescales are very tight, but better by far to discover glitches and inconsistencies with a limited control group than to roll out full-scale untested revisions to the unfortunate masses.

Any serious intention to prepare young people for employment—and, indeed, for life—needs to place more emphasis on subjects such as citizenship and PSHE. Crucial, too, is provision for wide-ranging careers information, advice and guidance. I hope that in the last Session of this Parliament, and with the aim in the gracious Speech to prepare school pupils for employment, we shall see tangible progress in these areas.

I have not time to expand on apprenticeships except to applaud the valuable growth in apprenticeships—growth in numbers and in respect as a genuine alternative to university.

We look forward to working within the coalition to build on what has been achieved over the past four years to give all our children the best possible opportunities to live rewarding and productive lives.

Senior Judiciary: Women

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Tuesday 1st April 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of women in the senior judiciary; and what steps they are taking to increase that number.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Faulks) (Con)]

My Lords, the Judicial Office produces and assesses annual statistics on the diversity of the judiciary, including gender diversity. The last publication was in April 2013 and the next one is due shortly. The Government are committed to playing their part in increasing judicial diversity, which includes the number of female senior judiciary. We introduced measures in the Crime and Courts Act 2013 to increase judicial diversity, including the equal merit provision and salaried part-time working.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

I thank my noble friend. Although the Government should not interfere with judicial independence, there is public interest in the judiciary’s composition, which the Government have a responsibility to monitor. Given the lack of women in the senior judiciary, will the Government encourage a fresh look at the criteria for those roles to ensure that the competitions, for some of them at least, attach weight to the distinct qualifications and experience that women candidates have and take account of the different ways of operating and career paths of these women compared with the men against whom they are being assessed?

[Lord Faulks]

This is a difficult problem and the more that I have read about it the more difficult I think it is. It was much debated during the passage of the 2013 Act. The Government are doing their best to encourage diversity but the problem probably starts much earlier, in the structure of the relative professions. The number of women applicants for High Court positions is, sadly, still relatively low. That is less the case in the lower judiciary. The position is that there is one woman in the Supreme Court, and 19 out of 108 High Court judges are women, as are seven out of 38 Lords Justices in the Court of Appeal. This is a regrettable state of affairs and, clearly, we hope that things change.

Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2012

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, the proceedings have moved very quickly and we are missing some speakers for the next debate. I therefore propose that the Committee adjourn for 10 minutes.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Colwyn)]

My Lords, I suggest that the Committee adjourn until half-past four, which is 10 minutes.

Leveson Inquiry

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I will now repeat a Statement made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. The Statement is as follows:

“With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a Statement following yesterday’s developments in the Leveson inquiry. Although I intend to respond fully to allegations about my conduct and that of my department when I present my evidence to Lord Justice Leveson, I believe it is important to update the House on actions that have been taken as a result of evidence released yesterday.

We are 273 days into a process whose early stages will last until October. This is not the time to jump on a political bandwagon. What the public and all colleagues want to hear is Lord Justice Leveson’s views after he has considered all the evidence. I do, however, think it is right to set the record straight on a number of issues in light of the evidence heard yesterday at the inquiry.

Specifically on the merger of News Corp with BSkyB, I would like to remind the House of the process I followed. Throughout, I have strictly followed due process, seeking the advice of independent regulators and, after careful consideration, acting on their advice. I have published all advice that I have received from Ofcom and the OFT, together with correspondence between myself and News Corporation, including details of all meetings I have held in relation to this process. As part of this process, my officials and I have engaged with News Corporation and its representatives, as well as other interested parties, both supporters and opponents of the merger.

Transcripts of conversations and texts published yesterday between my special adviser, Adam Smith, and a News Corporation representative have been alleged to indicate that there was a back channel through which News Corporation was able to influence my decisions. That is categorically not the case. However, the volume and tone of those communications were clearly not appropriate in a quasi-judicial process, and today Adam Smith has resigned as my special adviser. Although Adam Smith accepts that he overstepped the mark on this occasion, I want to set on record that I believe that he did so unintentionally and did not believe that he was doing anything more than giving advice on process. I believe him to be someone of outstanding integrity and decency and it is a matter of huge regret to me that this has happened.

I only saw the transcripts of these communications yesterday. They did not influence my decisions in any way at all, not least because I insisted on hearing the advice of independent regulators at every stage of the process.

I will give my full record of events when I give evidence to Lord Justice Leveson. However, I would like to resolve this issue as soon as possible, which is why I have written to Lord Justice Leveson asking if my appearance can be brought forward. I am totally confident that when I present my evidence, the public will see that I conducted this process with scrupulous fairness throughout”.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

The noble Baroness asked some highly pertinent and relevant questions on this rather complex and difficult matter. I will answer as best I can while recognising that most of the evidence will be pulled together for presentation to the Leveson inquiry and may not be readily available at this stage.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State answered extensive questions this morning in the House of Commons on many of the matters that the noble Baroness raised, including the fact that before he took over the BSkyB bid he was on record as having expressed some sympathy with the Murdoch media. He reported that to the Cabinet Secretary and it was fully discussed. He assured the House of Commons that, from the time he took over responsibility for it, he took steps at every stage to demonstrate his impartiality, to ensure that there was openness and objectivity in the process.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State cited in particular four decisions, each of which were against News Corporation’s wishes: first, that he was minded to refer the bid to the Competition Commission; secondly, that he would not accept the bid until Ofcom and the OFT had advised on issues of plurality; thirdly, that he would extend the consultation more widely; and finally, after the Milly Dowler evidence, that the coalition Government would set up the Leveson inquiry to try to ensure that all these matters were very fully looked into. Now that BSkyB has withdrawn its bid there are matters that no longer need pursuing in that respect, although obviously the reasons behind that and all the factors leading up to it are still open for debate.

The noble Baroness mentioned Adam’s Smith’s resignation. He stated in his resignation letter that,

“the content and extent of my contact was done without authorisation from the Secretary of State. I do not recognise all of what Fred Michel said, but nonetheless I appreciate that my activities at times went too far and have, taken together, created the perception that News Corporation had too close a relationship with the department, contrary to the clear requirements set out by Jeremy Hunt and the permanent secretary that this needed to be a fair and scrupulous process”.

It is certainly a matter of regret that Adam Smith has resigned, but he has obviously taken that decision in the light of events as they have unfolded. The noble Baroness asked whether his role had been agreed by the Permanent Secretary. As I understand it from my right honourable friend, the Permanent Secretary was indeed in discussion regarding the roles at every stage. There is a complex set of contacts at many levels for such a bid, but my right honourable friend has given assurances that he operated with transparency throughout.

On the details of meetings and communications, my right honourable friend stated that he published all relevant material and meetings, and that these are still available on the DCMS website. For the sake of clarity, in response to a PQ from Mr John Mann, he stated:

“Records of meetings, telephone calls held between officials and press officers with outside parties and records of telephone calls and email exchanges between officials and Ministers and outside parties are not recorded centrally and would incur a disproportionate cost to collect”.—[Official Report, Commons, 7/9/11; col. 616W.]

In the light of all that has been published today, we are more than ever aware of just how amazingly convenient e-mail can be and just how amazingly dangerous it can be when misused. Undoubtedly, the evidence that is available will be presented in full to the Leveson inquiry. If there are aspects of other matters that the noble Baroness raised that I have not covered but could, I will indeed take her up on her offer and write to her afterwards.

[Lord Fowler]

My Lords, although I am very touched by the Government’s faith in the independent review—my noble friend might remember that that was not always the view of her department when refusing to set up an independent review—I wonder whether she agrees that not everything should wait for Leveson, particularly in one respect. Is it not a fact that the current way of deciding media bids is, frankly, now bust? Do not politicians need to be taken out of the decision-making process and a demonstrably independent system, with either Ofcom or the Competition Commission deciding, set up, and set up now? If that change requires new legislation and there is no room in the programme, we can all think of a Bill that can be dropped to make way.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

There is one aspect of my noble friend’s question to which I shall resist replying at this stage. He is absolutely right. Under the Enterprise Act 2002, the Secretary of State has the power to intervene in the public interest and in a quasi-judicial capacity. My right honourable friend is on record as stating publicly that there are very strong arguments for politicians to be taken out of discussions on these sorts of matters and for them to be undertaken by the regulators. We will certainly look to be taking that forward.

[Lord Low of Dalston]

My Lords, I do not envy the noble Baroness having to answer questions on matters which are so obviously a matter of the personal responsibility of the Secretary of State. However, does she agree that the focus on the Leveson inquiry in this instance is a complete smokescreen? The terms of reference of Leveson, which I have just looked up, are entirely general and directed towards the future. It is not the role of the Leveson inquiry to pronounce on the Secretary of State’s handling of the Murdoch bid for BSkyB. Does the noble Baroness not agree that the Secretary of State has to answer to Parliament and not to Lord Justice Leveson?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

The noble Lord is quite right that Leveson has a very broad remit. However, it is a vehicle for all manner of evidence to be brought into the open and fully discussed. It appears to be doing an extremely thorough job on that basis. The Secretary of State is very well aware that he needs to answer to Parliament, which is one reason why he gave the Statement today followed by a full set of answers to questions. That will continue to be the position. We are not simply pushing these questions to the back of Leveson, but once you have set up an inquiry of this nature, you might also ask—and indeed Lord Justice Leveson has also asked, having set up the inquiry—that it be allowed to proceed.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury]

I thank my noble friend for repeating the Statement. As so often, I find myself echoing my noble friend Lord Fowler. Does the Minister agree that this affair demonstrates that there should be safeguards to ensure that no one organisation should be in a position to own a disproportionate share of the British media—which, by the way, is possible thanks only to the Communications Act 2003 and despite prescient warnings by my noble friend Lord McNally and the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam—and finally, as my noble friend said, that decisions on media mergers should not be taken by politicians but openly and transparently by an appropriate and independent regulatory body?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I entirely agree with my noble friend. As I mentioned in my reply to my noble friend Lord Fowler, these measures are under way. We are not intending to delay taking this forward. We recognise that in the past the Murdoch empire was an enormously powerful factor for both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. The coalition Government have now set up a thorough inquiry into those matters, which we hope will come up with some really good answers.

[Lord Puttnam]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Puttnam]

My Lords, while entirely agreeing with the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, that the situation must change, many of us worked in this Chamber for two years on the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Communications Act 2003 to ensure that no Secretary of State was ever placed in the position in which Jeremy Hunt placed himself. We thought that we had achieved that. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, that we need to find another way forward.

However, I have a greater concern that I will put to the noble Baroness. On 9 July 2009, David Cameron, who was then the Leader of the Opposition, made a speech that became known as the “bonfire of the quangos” speech. He mentioned only two quangos but picked out Ofcom as one that needed to be trimmed back and to have its powers curtailed. I do not think that there is anyone in this Chamber or in the other place at the moment who would suggest that this is a moment for Ofcom’s powers to be curtailed. Three months later, the Sun came out in support of the Conservative Party. Was this a coincidence, and could politicians of all parties think twice before they start talking about reducing the power of regulators and regulation?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

The noble Lord makes a very powerful point. What he said about Ofcom was of course proven to be absolutely valid in the light of the events that unfolded. The sequence of events unfolded fairly rapidly, and the power of the regulator and the respect in which regulators are held have been enhanced by what has happened. We certainly see that Ofcom still has a role to play in matters such as this.

On the matters concerning my honourable friend the Prime Minister, I cannot comment directly.

[Lord Smith of Finsbury]

My Lords, as a former Secretary of State I re-emphasise the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler. Matters relating to media ownership, public interest and plurality are surely matters to be determined by Ofcom or by the Competition Commission, not by any Secretary of State, however honourable.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, we are hearing consensus from all sides of the Chamber on that, and I entirely agree with the noble Lord.

[Lord Cormack]

My Lords, is there not another issue we should be considering: the exact role of special advisers? I cast absolutely no aspersions on Mr Jeremy Hunt, for whom I have a very high regard, but it seems to me that while special advisers have an understandable role in liaising with party politicians and so on, they should not usurp the role of the career civil servant. I believe—I raised this as long ago as the early 1970s in another place—that Governments of all parties have tended to be careless in the way in which they have used special advisers. This is not the first example we have had in the past 12 months. Could we have a review of the exact role, position and duties of special advisers within government departments?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My understanding is that in this case the special adviser was one of a number of people, including officials, who had particular roles in respect to the BSkyB bid—but I hear what my noble friend says and if there are matters I can write to him on, I will do so.

[Lord Myners]

My Lords, while the House has very many concerns about plurality and media ownership, the issue here is a very narrow and precise one. It is about ministerial accountability and compliance with ministerial regulations and the code. This is not to be left to Leveson, who will take a long time and no doubt do a very good job. This is a Secretary of State whom I hold in high regard—I have been very impressed by the way in which Mr Hunt has conducted his affairs, particularly in support of arts institutions—but the simple fact is that there was a complete breakdown of control within DCMS and for that the Secretary of State, who appointed the special adviser, must take entire responsibility. I cannot believe that there was not daily contact between Mr Adam Smith and the Secretary of State and, as we have seen from the e-mails, decisions to be announced by the Minister were disclosed to News Corporation in advance—textually precisely accurately. This is also a breach of Financial Services Authority regulations, which the Permanent Secretary of DCMS should immediately investigate and report to the FSA. Will the noble Baroness confirm that that will be done, and explain why the Secretary of State is not taking responsibility for the people he appointed and who reported to him?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My right honourable friend in the other place this morning pointed out that he had a number of people in the department working for him to whom he gave responsibility for particular tasks, and he did not then monitor them in precise detail—but I hear what the noble Lord says.

[Lord Martin of Springburn]

I put it to the noble Lady that the impression I got when I listened to the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister was that they were far keener to allow this matter to go to Leveson than to speak to the House. Perhaps she could convey to the Prime Minister that in my experience, if a Prime Minister or a Minister of the Crown in some way feels that they can hedge the situation over to Leveson, it is highly likely that my successor, the Speaker, will allow an Urgent Question and even, in a very serious case, put aside the business of the House. Only two or three years ago, when Mr David Cameron and the Cabinet were in opposition, they put the case that Ministers must come to the House and be accountable. They cannot have it both ways.

I will ask another question on the point that has already been raised about special advisers. I am deeply concerned at their behaviour. Is it the case that special advisers have a code of conduct? If they do, then the young man, Mr Smith, would have known that he was in breach of that code by breaking a confidence and giving information before it was conveyed to the House. Today the name of Damian McBride was shouted out. It is alleged that Mr McBride, as a special adviser, was keen to blacken the name of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor when they were in opposition, and of the honourable Nadine Dorries. It is sad situation when the taxpayer has to pay for people who are not only incompetent but prepared to blacken the name of decent men and women.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

The noble Lord asked a number of questions. I was in the Chamber during Prime Minister’s Questions and while the Secretary of State was making his Statement. On his point about the Secretary of State being accountable to the House, I say that my right honourable friend was doing just that in coming to the House to take questions in great detail for well over an hour from Members of the House. I hope that he proved himself accountable to the House on that front.

The noble Lord asked about the role of spads and whether they have a code of conduct. My understanding is that they do. They perform an incredibly useful function, as successive Governments have discovered—but obviously, if something has gone wrong, that needs to be looked into on an individual basis. He also mentioned some of the evidence that we saw in the media today. We need to be somewhat cautious about taking at face value all the reports that appear in the media. This is the very aspect that we are discussing today, and it might be wiser in some respects to wait until the evidence has been fully investigated so that we know which parts of the reports of the media are true and which are somewhat creative.

[Lord Davies of Stamford]

For the avoidance of doubt, will the noble Baroness confirm to the House that what the Government are asking us and the country to believe is that a special adviser, whose office was no doubt next door to that of the Secretary of State, who saw him several times a day, who worked in close collaboration with him and had been appointed by him as a person of trust, without any instruction from the Secretary of State, without any encouragement, without any connivance, took it upon himself to become deeply complicit with one particular party to a highly controversial decision that the Secretary of State was going to have to make, got into the business of leaking documents, talking about tactics and substance, exchanging views, and never thought to tell his Secretary of State what was going on, to check with him that he was happy with that or to report to him on any of the content of those exchanges? Is that actually the story that the Government is inviting the House and the country to believe?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

Once again, the noble Lord is fielding reports from the media that have not necessarily been substantiated, and it would be wise to wait to see which of them are true. All I can say on the question of Adam Smith’s role is to refer to his letter of resignation in which he states that,

“the content and extent of my contact was done without authorisation from the Secretary of State”.

[Lord Inglewood]

Does my noble friend agree, first of all, that the allegations made about the Secretary of State are extremely serious; and, secondly, that the Secretary of State’s Statement in the House of Commons was an explanation of what occurred but what we need to see is the evidence on which the explanation was based so that Parliament and the public can make up their mind about the events that have occurred?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

Yes, my Lords, what my noble friend says is probably right.

[Lord Bates]

Are we not missing something of the big picture here? The questions over News International have not appeared only in the past 18 months. They have run beneath the surface, at the core of public life in this country, for some 15 years. Now what we have is an inquiry that is tasked to look at this. I, too, looked at the terms set out for the Leveson inquiry. The case has been made that they are not relevant, but they are exactly relevant. What is being considered now is the relationship between press and politicians and, specifically, the extent of unlawful or improper conduct within News International and other media organisations. That is highly relevant. We now have an inquiry that is two-thirds of the way through its consideration, which should be allowed to consider this important issue in the round—and which this Government actually set up.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I agree with my noble friend that that is the position, and that a lot of lessons will come out of the Leveson inquiry that could range very much wider than the remit that was set for it. We certainly hope that the end of the inquiry will not be the end of the matter and that these various disturbing cases will be taken forward and we will reach a resolution.

[Lord Storey]

Where are we up to on the Government’s commitment to a statutory register on the lobbyists of public affairs committees, and when are we likely to see legislation enacted?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My noble friend is quite correct that in January the Cabinet Office announced that it was looking actively at a statutory register of lobbyists. It was interesting that we saw in the debate just before this one support for the positive power of lobbyists to make valuable changes to things going forward. On the actual dates, I am afraid that I do not have the answer, but I will write to him.

[Lord Beecham]

Will the Minister say whether the Government think it right that they should seek from the most interested party in an application of the kind that has precipitated this affair a comment on the submission of another interested party opposing that application?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, there were many aspects of the matter that need more inquiry and further looking into. On the issue that the noble Lord raised, we need to look at exactly what happened and who was told what, and why. There may well come out of that lessons about what we could learn to do better in future. But he is right that that is certainly an area of concern.

[Lord Stoneham of Droxford]

I congratulate the Minister for handing these questions in difficult circumstances on behalf of the coalition Government. Would she like to join in congratulations to the Department for Business for the way in which it conducted itself during these troubles? Also, while we have had a number of attacks on the role of special advisers, we should also congratulate the behaviour of the special adviser in that particular department during this time.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I thank my noble friend. We can see that there was much that went correctly in the Department for Business—but as we all know, the matter was transferred to the DCMS. On all these things we need to look and see what went right and what went wrong and try to do it better next time. This is definitely not the end of this particular matter.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Doocey]

This amendment is almost identical in scope to the one moved in the other place by the right honourable Member for Carshalton and Wallington, who is also chair of the Liberal Democrat policy committee on justice. It concerns the proposals in the Bill to remove legal aid for appeals against official decisions—

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I apologise to my noble friend but it is very difficult to hear what she is saying. I invite noble Lords to leave the Chamber quietly and not to walk in front of Members as they speak.

[Baroness Doocey]

The amendment concerns the proposals in the Bill to remove legal aid for appeals against official decisions about entitlement to welfare benefit. These proposals will seriously inhibit claimants’ access to justice, will not deliver the savings that the Government hope for and will create very serious problems for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

The amendment is more modest in scope than the one that I proposed in Committee. It would retain legal aid only for people with complex welfare benefit issues, to help them to challenge government decisions by appeal to a First-tier Tribunal. It would not retain the provision for legal aid to help with more general tasks such as form-filling, nor would it go beyond what is currently available.

Nearly six out of every 10 cases which currently receive legal aid for welfare benefit issues involve either disabled people or families with seriously ill or disabled children. The Government consider that these cases have a low priority when compared to safety, liberty and homelessness, but some disability benefits provide or protect liberty, particularly in relation to mobility and maintaining independence, which are so important. These benefits are crucial to many disabled people; they provide just enough money for those people to avoid poverty and to make some small contribution to the additional costs resulting from their disability.

The importance of maintaining legal aid for claimants can be judged by the fact that in six out of every 10 successful appeals against employment support allowance decisions, the claimants were originally deemed to have no factors affecting their ability to work. The Government’s own equality impact assessment acknowledges that disabled people and individuals with specific disabilities are likely to experience a greater impact under some of these changes. The decision to press ahead with the proposals despite that assessment sends a very confused message to the disabled people that the Government have promised to protect.

Legal aid for welfare benefits costs about £25 million a year. Limiting advice to reviews and appeals, as proposed in the amendment, would save £8.5 million, which would reduce the total cost to £16.5 million a year, which is less than 1 per cent of the legal aid budget—but, crucially, it would help 100,000 people. If claimants are denied legal aid to appeal against wrong decisions, their situation will get worse, intervention at a later stage will cost much more and there will be a knock-on cost for other public services.

We are also likely to see a much greater backlog of tribunal cases because panels will be faced with clients who are unable to put together a coherent case because of their lack of welfare benefit knowledge. Tribunals were designed to be informal, inexpensive and accessible but for large numbers of people the very thought of attending a tribunal can be very intimidating. How can the Government seriously expect people with no legal knowledge to be able to negotiate the complex nature of welfare benefit law and to have the expertise needed to be able to decipher more than 9,000 pages of advice from the Department for Work and Pensions? These people are going to have major problems mounting an appeal because they will have no idea what to appeal against. As Judge Robert Martin said:

“If the tribunal is not supplied with the best evidence, the quality of justice is likely to suffer”.

To make matters worse, the Bill is being proposed at a time when the Government are carrying out one of the most substantial reforms of the welfare system in a generation. This will almost certainly result in a huge number of mistakes and a similar increase in the need for appeals.

Surely our overriding duty in this House is to protect those people who are unable to protect themselves. The consequences of wrong decisions for disability benefit claimants can be catastrophic. This amendment would allow some of the most vulnerable people in our society to fight for the benefits to which they are entitled. I commend it to the House, and I beg to move.

House of Lords: Reform

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Scott of Foscote]

My Lords, there is really very little to say that has not already been said very eloquently by those who have spoken before me. That feature of the debate that has taken place yesterday and today allows me, I hope, to be brief. I wish to associate myself particularly with the coruscating speech delivered yesterday by the noble Baroness, Lady Boothroyd, and with the speeches delivered today by the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, and the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames, and also with the many speeches delivered to your Lordships by those who have opposed the notion that election of Members of this House would be a desirable constitutional innovation.

This House has long been the subject of reforms to its membership. The reforms have always been pragmatic ones designed to make the House better able to discharge its constitutional functions. The reforms began—so far as I know; there may have been earlier ones—in 1878 when provision was made by statute for life peerages to be awarded to eminent judges or lawyers, and these became the first Law Lords. The reforms were designed to make the House better able to discharge its then constitutional role of being the final court of appeal for the kingdom. That was a wholly pragmatic response to the proposal by Prime Minister Gladstone to remove from the Lords its appellate jurisdiction. A general election brought in Disraeli as Prime Minister in place of Gladstone and the creation of Law Lords to sit on appeals to the House was the result.

The Parliament Act 1911 was a procedural reform introduced to prevent a Tory-dominated House of Lords from defeating legislation desired by the Lloyd George Liberal Government. That too was a pragmatic response to a need for the House to be in a satisfactory state. The 1958 Act extended to anybody the possibility of the grant of a life peerage and this too was a pragmatic response to the growing criticism of the hereditary character of the then membership of the House. The 1998 Act started the process of removing hereditary Peers from membership of the House but this Act, like the 1878 and 1958 Acts, owed little, if anything, to doctrine and everything to pragmatism—what would enable the House more efficiently to fulfil its constitutional role until a final decision about membership of the House could be reached. These reforms have since 1958 enabled a constitutional balance between the Commons and this House to evolve. I know of no criticism of that balance except that the Members of this House, bar the remaining hereditaries, owe their membership to appointment and not to election. Subject to that single criticism, the House has since 1958 discharged its constitutional functions without serious criticism of its membership.

Is that criticism justified? Your Lordships have heard over the past two days all sorts of criticisms of the proposed Bill and the details contained in it. Having listened carefully to those criticisms, I should have thought that the proposed Bill was a bad Bill, but that does not dispose of the underlying question of whether an elected House of Lords should be preferred to an appointed House, either wholly or in part.

A fully or mainly elected House would undermine the balance between the two Houses that has evolved since at least 1958—perhaps earlier. It would produce constitutional complications, disputes and deadlocks, the outcome of which would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to foretell. In the words of the noble Lord, Lord Butler, it would produce a “destination undefined”.

In considering the proposed reform of the House and whether an elected or an appointed House is to be preferred, there are only three relevant questions. First, what is the constitutional function of the House? Secondly, what attributes of Members of the House are needed for the discharge of those functions? The third question is whether election of Members of the House by members of the public is a necessary attribute for the discharging by Members of the House of their functions.

At present, the roles of the House are threefold. First, its reviewing and advisory role in relation to the House of Commons is applicable mainly to primary legislation but also to secondary legislation, particularly under the procedural reforms proposed in the report of my noble friend Lord Goodlad. The scrutiny of legislation is to identify whether any unintended consequences are to be discerned that might be thought to be undesirable, and whether the legislation as drafted will produce the consequences that were intended for it. Those scrutiny processes are highly desirable for the production of sound legislation and are performed by this House to a degree of satisfaction to everyone.

The second role of the House is to provide a venue for the introduction of politically non-controversial legislation. That role can be set aside for the purposes of the present argument, because an elected House would be able to discharge that role as well as would an appointed House.

However, the third role of the House is of critical importance. It is the function of holding the Government to account. That may arise in an almost infinite number of respects—some scientific, some technical, and some that are connected with the Armed Forces, legal matters, matters of medicine or other technologies. The “degree of expertise” is a phrase disliked by the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde. I would accept “diversity of experience” as a better use of language. That diversity is of huge importance in enabling the holding to account of Ministers to be discharged to its optimum effect. The House as presently constituted contains that diversity of experience. It is by no means confined to the Cross Benches, and is to be found in all parts of the House. It must be very rare for an issue to arise that calls for discussion or debate in the House where no one in the House has experience—expertise, if one likes—of that subject. I can certainly remember no such case since I have been in the House. That informs our debate; it enables questioning of the Minister to be effective and searching.

The next question is whether elections would produce Members of the House as well able to discharge their important constitutional function of holding the Government to account as does the House as presently constituted. The expert knowledge and experience of Members is clearly of great importance, as I have said. The independence of Members is also important. Members of political parties, as well as Cross-Benchers, are independent in the sense that, once they are here, they stay here. They are not subject to discipline by government Whips if they choose to vote or speak against party policy. That independence is important and obtainable under the House as it is constituted at the moment.

I do not believe that an elected House could match the qualities I have just mentioned. The manner in which individuals are appointed is certainly open to criticism. I entirely support the introduction of a statutory Appointments Commission—

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I apologise for interrupting the noble Lord, but he has exceeded the guidance time.

[Lord Scott of Foscote]

I have exceeded my time by a minute and I apologise for that. I entirely support the introduction of a statutory Appointments Commission tasked to produce a balanced House. That is important, and consistent with an appointed House.

Social Mobility Strategy

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Tuesday 5th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords—

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, we have not yet heard from UKIP. May I suggest that we do so and then hear from the noble Baroness?

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords, the House will be relieved to hear that this is not a European question. Does the noble Lord agree that teacher training is the soil in which the roots of our education system feed, and that it has been very unsatisfactory for many years, serving the poorest children worst? For instance, the average A-level attainment of those entering bachelor of education courses has often been as low as two Es at A-level, according to government Written Answers. I know that the Government are seeking to address this problem. Can the noble Lord give us any news of progress in this deep but fundamental area?