Skills: Importance for the UK Economy and Quality of Life

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 9th May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Addington. He always speaks with such engagement on this topic.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, for bringing this important subject to our Chamber today. I know that he has a strong interest in the subject, as do many Peers who have engaged in this debate that demonstrates the cross-party support for the importance of skills in our society. I was particularly pleased that the noble Lord alluded to the learning undertaken by our Welsh forefathers. Modern Wales has much to be commended on in its innovative work. At Skills Competition Wales, over 280 talented young people from across the country were recognised for their outstanding vocational skills at an awards ceremony at Trinity Saint David University in March this year.

I congratulate both our maiden speech contributors. I am sure that we will welcome their future contribution to the House.

In Breaking down the Barriers to Opportunity, Keir Starmer set out clearly Labour’s fifth mission in government: to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, at every stage, and shatter the class ceiling. We will track our progress on this mission through three stages of education: boosting child development, with half a million more children hitting the early learning goals by 2030; achieving a sustained rise in young people’s school outcomes; and building young people’s life skills with an expansion of high-quality education, employment and training routes, so that more people than ever are on pathways with good prospects by 2030.

The Office for National Statistics, based in Newport, estimates that there were 851,000 young people not in employment, education or training between October and December 2023. That number has risen by 20,000 compared to the same period in 2022, and accounts for 12% of all 16 to 24 year-olds.

Education is at the heart of Labour’s mission to expand opportunity. From our earliest years through to learning or retraining as adults, gaining knowledge, skills and qualifications, and exploring our interests and abilities, enables us to build the lives that we want, and the society that we share. Today, the best education that our country has to offer is not available to every young person. The opportunity to learn and train as an adult is limited and available to too few. At this point, I want to acknowledge the work of the Open University; it is a marvellous organisation, initiated of course by Harold Wilson.

Our mission to spread opportunity means enabling everyone to access the opportunities that excellent education brings. Despite much talk, the Government have not developed the apprenticeships and skills pathways that will allow adults to reskill and upskill throughout their life. The result is that we have too few people who have the skills we need for growth. So what will Labour do to redress this huge deficit? Retraining and upskilling will need to be locally based and tailored to the needs of each community: plumbers to fit new heat pumps; engineers to lead the application of AI; and solar power fitters to harness renewables. We will set up new technical excellence colleges in all parts of the country, so that people have the specialist skills that local businesses need, and transform the apprenticeship levy to give employers the flexibility they need to train their workforce in new and relevant skills.

During National Apprenticeship Week in early February, Labour took the opportunity to announce further changes and policy initiatives. We set out our plans to boost skills training and drive economic growth, as data revealed that a decade of decline in apprenticeships and training is holding Britain back. Apprenticeship starts have declined, and the Government have failed to equip individuals and the economy with the skills to meet national challenges, including the transition to net zero and rising demand for digital skills. To reverse this downward trend, we will train over 1,000 new careers advisors to provide professional advice and guidance at schools and colleges, alongside high-quality work experience for young people.

Labour will give businesses the flexibility that they are asking for to train their workforce and deliver growth. We will start by turning the apprenticeships levy into a growth and skills levy. The Government’s current levy has seen millions of pounds that should be used for skills training going unspent, even as businesses report growing skills shortages. Giving businesses flexibility will ensure that this money can be better spent on a greater range of training courses, including basic English, basic maths and digital skills, so that businesses can fill gaps and people can gain new skills.

As part of a wider package of reform, we will establish Skills England, a new national body, driving forward a national ambition to meet the skills needs of the next decade. This will be driven by pushing power and decisions on skills spending out from Westminster to local communities, so those communities can better match up skills training with their local business needs and grow local and regional economies. My noble friend Lord Griffiths made many apposite points regarding the need for skills in, for example, the creative sector. Young people and adults are ambitious for their families’ futures; they want to learn new skills and get new jobs, or progress at work, but they are being let down. We will reverse this trend. We will give businesses the flexibility that they need to train people up, from digital technologies to the green skills needed to tackle climate change.

An important aspect of the skills agenda is digital skills, again noted by my noble friend Lord Griffiths. We lack a properly developed strategy. We need a digitally literate population. If we fail, we will be left with a lack of opportunity, particularly in employment. We rely on the internet, as many noble Lords have said, for applying for jobs, accessing education and training, banking—except for my noble friend Lord Griffiths—paying bills and accessing other services. People find employment online and many social media sites are available where professionals can network. Last year’s consumer digital index, which is run by Lloyds Bank and commissioned by the DfE, reported that there are about 13 million people in the UK with very low digital capability, which means they

“are likely to struggle interacting with online services”.

Furthermore, we need to provide adults with the opportunity to improve their literacy skills. The National Literacy Trust estimates that more than 16.4% of the adult population are functionally illiterate. How can people improve their digital skills if they do not already have good literacy skills?  

Adult skills spending has been cut under this Government. Last December, the Institute for Fiscal Studies pointed out that 

“total adult skills spending in 2024–25 will still be 23% below 2009–10 levels. Spending on classroom-based adult education has fallen especially sharply”. 

This is driven by falling learner numbers and real-terms cuts in funding rates. In 2024-25, it will be more than 40% below 2009-10 levels. This is very damaging to our economy, and the situation needs to be reversed.   

Digital skills are crucial for the future of our economy, businesses and workforce. That is why a core pillar of Labour’s industrial strategy is to harness data for the public good and to transform digital skills. Young people need to understand developing technologies to be able to use them. Our curriculum review will embed digital literacy and skills throughout children’s learning.   

Can the Minister say how the Government are working with businesses to understand the digital skills needs of the future? How can all skills needs be best met now, and what can the Government do to future-proof our skills needs as a country? I add my support to the noble Lord, Lord Willetts, who questioned the defunding of BTEC courses. I look forward to the Minister’s response on these extremely important matters.

Despite the rhetoric, the Government have overseen a decade of decline in skills and training opportunities which is holding Britain back. From digital to green skills, childcare to social care, a Labour Government will harness the talents and abilities of the British people so we can strengthen our economy and break down barriers to opportunity. We will provide more training opportunities so people can gain new skills, access better jobs and grow our economy. That is the difference we will make.

Higher Education: Arts and Humanities

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Wednesday 1st May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

This is a very important subject and, I may say, goes wider in terms of critical thinking and understanding the information that we receive both in reality and online. I do not have the specific figures for religious studies on their own, but historical, philosophical and religious studies have declined over the last three years, as the right reverend Prelate said, but only by 5%. Multiple issues impact on that, but I think we also see young people seeking debate, and the moves that we have made as a Government on free speech within our universities are critical to underpinning that.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government indicated that they would publish a cultural education plan by the end of last year, but they have given no commitment on a date for publishing. If they are keen, as we are, to put creativity at the heart of education, can they now give us a timeline for the publication of the plan?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am unable to give the noble Baroness a precise timeline, but the Government have already acted on cultural and creative education, for example through our investment in the institutes of technology: all 21 of these will be open by this autumn and seven are already working directly with creative, film and entertainment industries, addressing just the sort of cultural and creative jobs that I know the noble Baroness aspires to.

Educational Trips and Exchanges

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 25th April 2024 Grand Committee

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, I begin by expressing my shock and disbelief at the events in Ysgol Dyffryn Aman yesterday. I cannot believe what happened. My thoughts are with the teachers and pupils, who now have to pick up after these terrible events, and with the emergency services that dealt with it so swiftly.

I had a long teaching career and, at Hartridge High School in Newport, a challenging demographic of prior low attainment and poverty. Our engagements with partner schools in Bayeux in France and Castellammare di Stabia in southern Italy were crucial links in widening horizons and helping the creation of positive learning environments. The regular trips and exchanges developed among our pupils and theirs gave an understanding of culture, a mutual respect for each other’s languages and traditions, and value for all pupils irrespective of attainment group. Teacher-pupil relations were strengthened in and out of class, and communications between schools, teachers, pupils and parents were enhanced through regular fundraising and cultural events. I look back on those times as some of the most pleasurable in my career.

Sadly, the picture today is in serious decline. The School Travel Forum said that there were 2,922 fewer trips in 2023 than in 2019. The Sutton Trust report said that 50% of school leaders had made cuts to trips and outings; this has doubled since 2019, representing the highest percentage increase of any budget cut in the survey.

We know that, between EU countries, school trips can move freely without individual documentation. This acts like a group travel document, and includes pupils who are not EU citizens but resident in member states. Sadly, we no longer have access to this scheme in our post-Brexit world.

Other organisations, such as the Association for Language Learning, the School Travel Forum and Tourism Alliance, have indicated that post-Brexit issues have reduced trips both to and from the UK. I would be grateful if the Minister could give an update on any efforts that the Government may be making to pursue further bilateral youth mobility partnerships with our international partners.

School trips allow children to have experiences that they may not necessarily have in their lives currently. They can have a positive impact on well-being—seeing somewhere new and being with friends in a different context. Children are able to get to places that they may not otherwise experience. They also share experiences with many of their friends and not just a select few. We need a richer, broader curriculum for all students, and travel experiences both within and outside the UK have a significant role to play in this enrichment.

School Inspections: Funding

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Wednesday 17th April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

It would be up to the trust, in relation to an academy, or the local authority to address those specific weaknesses. The department has led on the development of a framework of professional qualifications: leadership qualifications for heads, executive leaders and senior leaders. All those frameworks are clear about the role of leaders in complying with the law in relation to safeguarding and statutory guidance. As my noble friend knows very well, that statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, is extremely clear on recruitment practices, DBS and wider appointment checks, but also on referrals back to the Disclosure and Barring Service if someone is dismissed or removed.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

Ofsted reports have seen a sevenfold increase in references to sexual assault since 2017. Mentions of safeguarding issues have doubled and mentions of sexual harassment have risen from zero to 106. How are the Government ensuring that the regulator is able to identify where safeguarding problems exist on a regular basis if further funding is constrained?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The fact that Ofsted is identifying more issues of this type reflects a few different things. Clearly, as in society more broadly, sadly, we do not know whether some of these issues are increasing in volume or whether we are just getting better at identifying them. For the safety of children, it is crucial that Ofsted identifies them, but it is even more important that the schools identify them, and do so early, because Ofsted inspections are periodic and children need to be safe every day.

Independent Schools

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I agree with the noble Earl. Independent schools have shown themselves to be areas of great innovation, but we also see important innovation in our state sector. Particularly where the two come together, we see some of the best results.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

Over nine in 10 students study at state-funded schools. Teacher recruitment is in crisis, there is poor mental health support for pupils and school buildings are collapsing. If the Government will not support Labour’s pledge to end tax breaks for private schools, can the Minister tell the House how they intend to fund solving the multitude of problems facing the state school sector?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I remind the noble Baroness that teacher numbers are at an all-time high. I do not deny that there are recruitment challenges, but it is important to be fair about the context. I also remind her that pupil funding next year will be at an all-time high in per-pupil terms. I refer her to the recent results of our pupils in the international leagues tables for both reading and maths, and the dramatic improvement in their performance over the last 14 years.

Higher Education

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 7th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted that my noble friend has brought this debate to our Chamber today. I commend him for the decades of work he has dedicated to the pursuit of better educational opportunities for all. I have the distinction of having been a serving teacher under his stewardship of the portfolio: prior to devolution of education to the Welsh Government in 1999, I had two years of working for the dynamic Secretary of State, now my noble friend Lord Blunkett, who was determined to ensure higher standards in literacy and numeracy and the introduction of the inspirational Sure Start programme, bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support. Unfortunately, this model was disbanded in England in 2011, but I am pleased to say that we kept it in Wales, under the banner of Flying Start. It is still running today, helping the most disadvantaged children and supporting their parents.

I cannot cover all the excellent points made by my noble friend, but some of his most salient are about an holistic approach to the young people of the future, getting them into the right place and giving encouragement. Higher education is indeed for them. It is about breaking the cycle of disadvantage, and lifelong learning is indeed at the root of this.

Many noble Lords have already commented on how higher education institutions play a critical role in driving innovation, producing a skilled workforce and facilitating regional development across the nations and regions. By operating sensitively and in close connection with the places and communities in which they are situated, universities have a distinct role to play in intraregional equality. They can serve as crucial social and cultural infrastructure, offering spaces, services and structures that foster community cohesion and strengthen social and cultural ties, as noted by my noble friend Lady Blackstone, and humanities are indeed a vital area of study.

When I taught for many years at Hawthorn High School in Pontypridd we gained the status, through a series of collaborations, of a university school. For many of our pupils, although the University of Glamorgan—later the University of South Wales—was physically situated in their community, it was as alien a structure to them as any other building in the town. Through various joint schemes and use of the campus facilities, including a wonderful radio studio, it gradually dawned on our pupils that the university was a place to continue their studies after leaving school, and that they could—in most cases, and as I was—be the first family member to go to university.

Universities provide a strong return on investment. We have an uncertain future ahead for our economy and labour market, and high-skilled jobs will be essential to guarantee the United Kingdom’s success. Demand is growing for individuals to be equipped with higher-level skills, as discussed by my noble friend Lord Howarth of Newport and the noble Lord, Lord Johnson of Marylebone.

London Economics estimated, based on the 2021-22 academic year, that the economic footprint of higher education providers contributed 768,000 full-time jobs, £71 billion of gross value added, and £116 billion of general economic output. This does not take into account the wider economic benefit of higher education on productivity, innovation from world-class research, increased wages and so forth. I am sure that my noble friend Lady Chapman demonstrated the value of her university education with so many erudite and insightful comments; I have no doubt that her sons will eventually be persuaded by her to attend university.

The Government report in July 2023 on higher education set out certain reforms, such as improving access to level 4 and 5 courses, and reducing fees for foundation courses which are classroom-based. Some issues that resulted from the report were that, in terms of limiting recruitment to certain courses, academics argued that these courses are accessible for disadvantaged students and important for social mobility and supporting the local economy. Labour argued that basing the outcome of courses on earning potential was limiting, and would restrict opportunities for disadvantaged students.

Many commentators have highlighted the lack of reference to universities in this Government’s levelling-up agenda. It has been reported that building a university in a town is the

“best way to level up a locality”.

There is a pool of graduates, many jobs, and a large influx of spending.

Education is at the heart of Labour’s mission to spread and expand opportunity. From our earliest years, through to learning or retraining as adults, gaining knowledge, skills and qualifications and exploring our interests and abilities enables us to build the lives that we want and the society we share. There was an excellent reminder by my noble friend Lord Watson of Invergowrie of the depth, breadth and success of the Open University in lifelong learning.

Today, the best education that our country has to offer is not available to every young person. The opportunity to learn and train as an adult is limited and available to too few. Our mission to spread opportunity means both enabling everyone to access the opportunities that excellent education brings and giving everyone opportunities throughout our education system.

Our world-leading universities and the research they undertake should be a source of pride and are one of Britain’s great strengths. The 2021 Research Excellence Framework found that the vast majority of UK university research was either “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”. University spin-outs, which commercialise this innovation, can directly drive up economic growth. However, we lag behind countries such as the United States in generating and scaling spin-outs. A Labour Government will track spin-outs from universities with a dashboard to identify what is working and where there are barriers. As recommended by Labour’s start-up review, we will work with universities to ensure that there are a “range of options” on founder-track agreements, helping boost spin-outs and economic growth.

Universities are anchor institutions and, at their best, are civic actors working with partners across local and regional communities to respond to the needs of that place. We welcome the work of the Civic University Network to establish peer review learning to support and expand the work of universities in responding to the needs of their local communities.

Will the Minister say whether limiting recruitment on certain courses reduces the accessibility of university education for disadvantaged young people? As I said earlier, universities are central to breaking down barriers to opportunities for young people, by exposing them to new communities, new people and new experiences, as I saw with my pupils when they engaged with university life. It is therefore, as many noble Lords have mentioned, a shame that the levelling-up agenda gives little recognition to the effect that universities and colleges have on local areas. Why do the Government neglect due recognition for the levelling-up qualities of universities and not want to incentivise more young people to take part in higher education? It is a wasted opportunity, and one which we will hope to redress. Our desire is to build on the legacy of the previous Labour Government’s target for 50% of young people to go to university to reverse the trend of declining numbers of adults participating in education and training. We will press on and ensure that the ambition of any young person to pursue higher education regardless of background or geography is realised.

Skill Shortages in Business and Industry

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Wednesday 28th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am aware that we are doing a great deal of work to try to understand some of the issues that the noble Lord rightly raises, and which are particularly acute in some of our shortage occupations. I am not aware whether we track specifically how to encourage people to return, but I will take that back to the department.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

Apprenticeship schemes are essential for developing vital skills in young people, yet in the last decade apprenticeship starts have fallen by one-third, while over £1 billion raised by the apprenticeship levy goes unspent every year. Does the Minister accept that the apprenticeship levy requires a total revision of how companies are encouraged to offer apprenticeships?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Apprenticeship starts fell because we had to do so much work with what we inherited as an apprenticeship system to make sure that we offered the quality that employers required. I do not agree that the apprenticeship levy requires a major overhaul. In the last two years, the levy has effectively been fully spent; where it is not spent by levy-paying employers, either they can spend 25% of the levy on companies within their own supply chains, so enhancing that productivity, or it can be spent by small and medium-sized enterprises. I wonder what the noble Baroness would say to them if her party was to be elected and go through with its proposed policy.

Ofsted: Pupil Absence Rates

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Tuesday 13th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

As the right reverend Prelate knows, Ofsted is about to start its Big Listen exercise, so maybe that is one of the questions that could be asked. He asks an important question about how the data will be used. There is more we can do within the department on analysing and breaking down the data into more actionable insight for schools, and we will start engaging with trusts and local authorities on that very shortly. We need to be careful to make sure that children who really have major barriers to coming to school and whose attendance is very poor are not conflated with those who are in school nine or nine and a half days out of 10. It is about how we get those ones, too, over the line.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

We have a crisis of attendance in our schools. Research from the Centre for Social Justice reveals that more than one in four parents think that school is not essential every day. It is essential. What can the Government do to repair the relationship between schools and families, which has deteriorated greatly in recent years?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Again, we have to be very careful not to make sweeping generalisations. We are seeing lots of green shoots in terms of attendance and higher-level attendance, particularly in transition year groups such as year seven, when children go from primary to secondary school. There are important things we can build on, such as having open, honest, regular communication with parents, pointing out if a child has not been coming into school and trying to understand why. But more importantly, celebrating with a parent a child’s attendance or performance in school is to be encouraged.

Schools: Special Educational Needs

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Monday 12th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I can only refer again to what I just mentioned: the £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to deliver additional new specialist places, which will of course be closer to where children are. I absolutely share the noble Lord’s concerns about children having to travel out of area.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, school absences are one of the key issues for our school system, but absence rates are, by one measure, 10% higher for autistic children and even higher for children with a SEND statement? What assessment have the Government made of the interaction between the lack of provision for SEND support and absence rates? How do the Government plan to target the persistent absence of SEND pupils in particular?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Baroness knows that absence rates for children with special educational needs have always, rightly or wrongly, been higher than those for children without special educational needs. In part, there is an assumption that such children may also experience greater incidence of ill health. The Government are focusing on a very detailed analysis, looking at patterns across different schools and identifying which practice is working to make sure that those children are back in school, and then sharing it through our attendance hubs. That is important, because we know that children with special educational needs, more than any other children, thrive when they are in school all the time.

Education: 11 to 16 Year-olds

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 8th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I respect my noble friend enormously, but I think that the evidence overall does not support that. We need to make sure that children have a really strong grounding in mathematics, sciences, English language and English literature, particularly if we want them to follow vocational courses. We have seen in other countries—for example, in Scotland—what has happened with a very well-intentioned policy. I have no doubt about the motivation of those who introduced the Curriculum for Excellence, which looks very like some of the elements that your Lordships are raising—but look at what has happened to our schools in Scotland.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

Some 80% of secondary schools are not required to follow the national curriculum, which has led schools to prioritise early teaching of GCSE courses over the variety of subjects intended for key stage 3. Can the Minister tell us whether the Government will support Labour’s call to reform the curriculum to deliver a better foundation in core subjects, which will ensure that children do not miss out on creative and practical ones too?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

There is plenty of room in the curriculum; I refer the House to the 2011 review of these matters by the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, which made it clear that the curriculum has space within it for all the subjects which the Government value and which the noble Baroness refers to.