Special Educational Needs: Employment Support

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I know my noble friend feels very strongly about this, and I hope he welcomes the Government’s commitment to introducing a new national professional qualification for SENDCOs that will replace the existing qualification, and the commitment to increasing the number of educational psychologists in our schools, which we have already started to deliver on.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her answers to date, but I would like to probe a little further. Last month, in the SEND and AP improvement plan, the Government committed to publish guidance to support

“effective transitions between all stages of education, and into employment in adult services”.

Given that the Secretary of State acknowledged that parents have lost trust in the system, is the Minister able to give parents a timeline for when they might get this important guidance?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The first guidance we will deliver will be on early language support, autism and mental health and well-being. Those practice guides will be available by the end of 2025. I do not have the date for the transitions guidance but I will be happy to write to the noble Baroness with that.

Higher Education: Financial Pressures

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, as a former teacher, I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this issue. As noted in the register, I am the chair of trustees of the Council for Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre.

I do not need to tell noble Lords taking part in this debate about the strengths of the UK’s higher education sector. Whether it is our fantastic HE colleges or our world-famous universities, the teaching and research they give us should be a source of immense pride. That is why it is so important that the Government are alive to the risks the sector faces, and that they take a proactive approach to supporting providers and their students to weather them. I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Knight for bringing these matters to the attention of the House through this debate. Indeed, universities and higher education institutions face a perfect storm of rising costs, with EU structural funds ending and an increasingly combative Government raising fears about capping international students.

In June last year, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published a concerning report into the financial sustainability of England’s HE sector. The number of institutions with an in-year deficit has risen more than sixfold, from 5% in 2015-16 to 32% in 2019-20. It would not be fair to draw attention to any particular provider, but we know that when organisations look to balance their books, they often have to cut staff and subjects. This can be devastating for students and regional economies alike.

I am sure that noble Lords across the House will speak in more detail than I intend to on the second and third aspects of the debate, and I am certain they will do a sterling job. I wish to focus on the threats to local communities, and particularly the key role the Office for Students must play in supporting providers, considering the central contribution they often make within their surrounding economies. There is value in probing the regulatory role of the OfS, particularly how well it monitors the financial sustainability of the sector, and its role in protecting students from fallout when things go wrong. As my noble friend highlighted in the blog he published last week prior to this debate, the university sector brings much-needed skills to local communities: 73% of UK university students study locally, or go back to the region they grew up in to work. However, when the sector struggles, the impact on the local community is widely felt.

I will mention an institution that I relied heavily upon when teaching at Hawthorn High School, in Pontypridd. The University of Glamorgan, now the University of South Wales, generously gave of its time and facilities to my A-level students in preparation for their radio coursework submissions. It allowed us access to a fully equipped radio studio, when all I had in school was a double cassette recorder. This engagement not only allowed students to produce the best technical examples of their work but took youngsters from backgrounds where university was not part of their experience into the campus itself, where they saw that they too could look to engage with a university education in their future lives. It was an important aspect of the university within the community, and I could share many more examples, if time allowed.

The National Audit Office report noted that it collects a great deal of data on institutions to check the validity of the economic model, but smaller institutions question why they have to give the same amount of information as large ones. Perhaps the Minister could address this concern in her remarks and say whether the Government agree with the remarks of smaller institutions regarding information overload. When they speak to the Office for Students, perhaps they could ask how this could be reviewed and refined. I believe that the OfS is trying valiantly to refresh its comms approach. I hope it will improve the situation, and I trust it will set robust metrics to measure its success on this. What is the Government’s view on whether the OfS is communicating effectively.

As well as having clearer comms, the National Audit Office review recommended that the OfS should

“improve where necessary and then reauthorise student protection plans for all providers to ensure they remain adequate and can respond to new risks.”

The Office for Students must get this right. The “responding to new risks” part of the recommendation is absolutely crucial. Threats to the sector are evolving all the time, so the OfS must see its role as proactive: to foresee these risks and see them off before a university fails. Although the OfS sees the risk of multiple provider failures remaining low, the consequences for an area of its local college going under are simply too catastrophic for the regulator not to do everything in its power to set the conditions for success.

On this basis, I have several questions for the Minister. Are the Government satisfied that the OfS has the appropriate clout—I mean the regulatory tools and powers—to monitor the financial health of institutions effectively? Does the Minister believe the OfS is sufficiently alive to the financial instability of many institutions, and does it see its role as preventive or simply reactive? Should a provider fail, is the regulator confident it could mitigate the damage to the undergraduates and staff, and to the surrounding local economy? What is the Government’s overall assessment of the financial stability of the sector, and what are they doing to support it?

Over the next five years, it is predicted that universities alone will help set up more than 20,000 new businesses and provide more than £11.5 billion of support and services to industries and not-for-profit companies. Instead of the worrying trend of treating the sector as a convenient political arena for a culture war, it is imperative that the UK Government do everything they can to protect the jewel in the UK’s crown.

International Higher Education Students

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that it is regrettable that universities, and particularly their international students, increasingly are seen by some vocal commentators as a convenient political battlefield rather than existing for the public good? Given reports that the Government are considering reforming migration rules for international students, can the Minister confirm whether a comprehensive impact assessment has been conducted around the proposed changes?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

Quite obviously, in all areas of policy there are different aspects which we would consider in great detail—the economic impact, our international soft power, which I mentioned, and a number of others.

Schools: Data, Digital and Financial Literacy

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

If one looks from the other end of the telescope, the noble Earl will be aware that the Government were proactive during Covid in making sure that children who could not access a laptop and the internet were given equipment to be able to do so.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, my party has long been calling for reform of the citizenship curriculum to include practical life skills such as budgeting and, most importantly, young people staying safe online. Are the Government still committed to keeping the curriculum in England as it is at present, despite large gaps in the current provision for the children and young people of the 21st century?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I have the advantage of having the citizenship curriculum in front of me. I should like to reassure the noble Baroness and the House that it absolutely covers the issues that she raises. It looks at saving, spending and use of money through key stages 1 and 2 but, in particular, budgeting and managing risk at key stage 3 and beyond.

Children: Bereavement Support in Schools

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for the invitation; I would be delighted to meet with them.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, as the Minister will know, the Government’s £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return training programme was launched in 2020, with the aim of helping children to process the impacts of the pandemic. What is the Government’s assessment of equality of access to this programme between deprived and affluent areas across the United Kingdom?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I do not have the breakdown that the noble Baroness refers to. She referred to the 2020 return programme, which was followed by the recovery programme in 2021. Looking at those two years, I am aware that 14,000 schools and colleges, out of roughly 22,000 nationally, got those resources.

Education (Non-religious Philosophical Convictions) Bill [HL]

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 3rd February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, we have heard that the Bill would introduce a requirement for maintained English schools to include non-religious worldviews, such as humanism, in RE lessons, and we have heard views sincerely expressed from across the spectrum. If only I could convey my thoughts with such insight and as lyrically as my noble friend Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, but at least I know where places are in west Wales.

I commend the noble Baroness, Lady Burt of Solihull, for her efforts on this issue—she has been a tireless campaigner across several legislative vehicles—and I thank Humanists UK for its briefing on the issue. As she noted, Wales has already changed its curriculum.

The place of religion and belief in the education system in England is incredibly complex and comes from a time when our society was much less diverse and much more religious than it is now. In recent opinion polling, more than two-thirds of young people in Britain state that they do not belong to any religion and, as many noble Lords stated, we must acknowledge that the UK is rapidly changing in its demography. The 2022 census showed that less than half the population in England and Wales now describe themselves as Christians. In one decade, there has been a 57% rise in the number of people who are not following any religion at all. We are in a world where intolerance and hate speech are starkly apparent due to social media, and conventional media—anyone who watched the BBC last night saw intolerance very well displayed in certain programmes. I urge the DfE to think soberly about how to use the levers it has to equip children to navigate this extremely challenging world.

The aim of the Bill appears to be to ensure that cultural education is balanced and non-exclusionary. In this modern and increasingly secular society, where children and young people are exposed to all views online—in the previous debate, we heard about the dangers of the metaverse—this would provide an excellent opportunity to discuss a variety of topics and issues. Each local authority must establish a standing advisory council for RE—SACRE—to advise it on the provision of RE and to convene any agreed syllabus conferences. Each SACRE comprises four representative groups: Christian and other religions, the Church of England, teachers’ associations, and the local authority.

I chaired the Newport SACRE for many years, and I experienced the inclusivity that came from representatives being able to meet to discuss what were increasingly mutual objectives. Despite overall concerns about the validity of a SACRE in our increasingly secular world, Humanists UK itself has said that it is willing to see SACREs continue as a challenge for consultation between teachers, local religion and belief communities, although it continues to argue that humanists should be included equally with religious people on these bodies, as many increasingly are. The Bill would provide for such inclusion.

I am aware of the Government’s commitment not to make changes to the curriculum. I know myself how difficult it would be to expect teachers—an already overloaded workforce that is undervalued, under pressure and underpaid—to cope with yet more reforms. Therefore, as much as is feasible, we do not want to add to the pressures already on them. There is a downside to piecemeal changes such as this, but the Bill is extremely helpful in highlighting the need to refresh this important area of the curriculum, and we believe that the Government should be open to discussion and review. I hope the Minister will reflect on these matters and consider how best to take them forward.

Secondary Schools: Autistic Pupils

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Thursday 26th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I have referred to some of the interventions. I talked about the three-year universal training contract in schools and colleges, which began in April last year. We have funded work on transition—£18 million for supported internships for those with the most complex needs. In addition to that early intervention, we also want to bring clarity to parents, teachers, local authorities and commissioners about what the nationally expected standards of provision are so that it feels like a clear, transparent and fair playing field.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, while I understand and indeed respect the Minister’s previous responses on this Question, nevertheless the Government continue to delay the publication of their SEND review consultation response. Children, many of whom will be autistic, will be unable to reach their full potential and thrive in appropriate educational settings. These children are being let down. Minister, how much longer will they have to wait?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I think I have already said that the implementation plan will be published early this year.

Children’s Private Information: Data Protection Law

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking in response to the reprimand issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office to the Department for Education on 6 November for breaching data protection law regarding children’s private information.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

On behalf of my noble friend Lady Chapman, and with her permission, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in her name on the Order Paper.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education (Baroness Barran) (Con)]

My Lords, the department takes the security of the data that it holds extremely seriously. At the time of the breach, it was already working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office. The department has made significant, positive progress in improving its processes. The ICO has recommended in the reprimand notice that the department continue with its current improvement plans, and we will publish an update in early 2023.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her Answer, notwithstanding—for noble Lords who are not aware—that the Information Commissioner’s Office formally reprimanded the DfE for prolonged misuse of the data of 28 million students over a 16-month period. The department breached GDPR by allowing online gambling companies to use pupil information to build their age verification systems. The reprimand concluded that the processes put in place by the DfE were woeful. Can the Minister confirm how this happened, how the Government will prevent such a shocking breach happening again and whether they will apologise to the 28 million students affected?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I absolutely understand why the noble Baroness probes hard on this Question. The Government have made significant changes to their learner registration system, and those were noted by the Information Commissioner’s Office in its letter to the department in November this year. We previously did not have a centralised data protection function in the department. We were in the process of setting it up when we discovered this breach, and it is now in place.

Young People: Skills (Youth Unemployment Committee Report)

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd November 2022 Grand Committee

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare that I too am a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, for leading the production of this report over a year ago and for his introduction, which provided a detailed summary of the report’s findings, together with positive suggestions for improvement. I restate my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Baker, for the introduction in 1988 of those five Baker days, which helped to put professional development for teachers on a positive footing. I will try to give him some optimism tonight as I detail throughout my speech what a Labour Government intend to do about righting the wrongs so exposed by this excellent report.

This report makes for stark reading. At the time of publication last November, 12.6% of 16 to 24 year-olds were neither working nor in full-time study, and youth unemployment was at 11.7%. It is not much better today; now that the pandemic is abating, it is just under 10%. The committee’s report notes

“Unequal access to high quality careers guidance and a decline in work experience opportunities”,


and that careers guidance often starts too late to be useful. Noble Lords may remember my Front-Bench colleagues and I attempting to amend the skills Bill to ensure careers education from year 7, but we were unfortunately unable to persuade the Government of the merits of this, as so well detailed again this evening by my noble friend Lord Watson. Perhaps now they will think again.

Under the current system, employers can use the apprenticeship levy money only on apprenticeships. Some businesses have decided not to touch their levy money, while among those who spend it, employers report spending on average 50% to 60%, meaning that around £1 billion a year is going unspent in England. As a result, the CBI, Make UK, the British Retail Consortium and other business groups have highlighted a number of problems with the system and called for additional flexibility for business. The report that we are discussing today deals with this need for additional flexibility and calls for reform of the apprenticeship levy, such that any employer receiving funding from it is required to spend at least two-thirds of it on young people starting apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 before the age of 25.

To begin to address these reforms that are so badly needed, my party has committed to a new growth and skills levy, which will give businesses the freedom to use currently unspent money, up to 50% of their total levy contributions, on non-apprenticeship training, with at least 50% reserved for apprenticeships. Clearly, stakeholders of all stripes are united: the levy is not working as it should for our young people.

Last month, my noble friend Lord Blunkett launched his report Learning and Skills for Economic Recovery, Social Cohesion and a More Equal Britain, which set out the scale of the transformation that we must deliver to equip Britain to succeed in the 21st century. Skills England, a new national skills taskforce, should be implemented to drive a national mission to ensure that young people and adults can access the training, reskilling and upskilling needed to thrive. We need to see similar focus and ambition from the Government on tackling youth unemployment, which is still above the G7 average.

My noble friend Lord Knight of Weymouth posed some far-reaching questions on the future needs of young people in education today, and how those needs have to be future-proofed. We must make much more use of developing the green economy and technology in developing young people’s skills. My noble friend Lord Watson referred to the careers aspects of this transformational report.

In taking this forward, Labour will be focused on how we deliver growth and enable people to take up good jobs in towns and cities across the UK. That is why Keir Starmer has already said that we will adopt my noble friend Lord Blunkett’s recommendation to introduce flexibility into the apprenticeship levy, flexibility that businesses are telling us they need to access the range of skills relevant to their workplaces. They will be able to spend money on short, modular courses, or pre-apprenticeship training, helping people to get new opportunities.

After more than a decade of failed Conservative policies, it could not be clearer that it is working people who will drive economic growth in this country, and we will focus on enabling people to succeed. As it stands, skills budgets are disparate, incredibly centralised and, more importantly, clearly not working. If we want young people to get on, we must devolve and combine these budgets, so decisions about training and upskilling are made closer to the people, businesses and communities who need them—those with real skin in the game. There is a tangible need for skills policies to be better aligned with regional economic policy and local labour markets, to deliver a more local, tailored approach to skills provision.

Analysis for the LGA by the Learning and Work Institute shows that the number of people improving their skills or finding work could increase by 15% if councils and combined authorities were better able to co-ordinate and bring together employment and skills provision across a place. Labour will merge the various education skills funding for adult streams, such as the shared prosperity fund and Multiply, with the existing adult education budget. This will then be devolved to combined authorities which, in collaboration with central government, will direct skills spending in their region and use their convening power to ensure that skills provision in their area is aligned with the local labour market, bringing together representatives from new local skills improvement partnerships, FE colleges, universities and local businesses. Skills England will co-ordinate the framework within which combined authorities deliver skills funding to make sure that local outcomes and local priorities are aligned with our industrial strategy and help us meet the challenges the country will face over the coming decades.

We will introduce a list of approved qualifications that businesses could spend their flexible levy money on, which will be developed by a new body in collaboration with businesses, unions and wider experts. We will include modular courses in priority areas which lie at the core of our industrial strategy, including digital and green skills, social care and childcare, which will boost training opportunities with a view to supporting national ambitions such as the transition to net zero. Functional skills and pre-apprenticeships training will help to tackle key skills, especially around basic digital skills. SMEs, which do not pay the levy, will be able to reclaim 95% of co-payments on approved courses in the same way.

Furthermore, Labour is committed to a complete review of the school curriculum, which was mentioned by noble Lords in the debate this evening. We would ensure that young people are equipped for the world and workplace of the future, not of the past. Among other things, we will look to reform the citizenship curriculum so it embeds practical life skills—looking at budgeting or understanding employment contracts—and digital competency, so that all young people gain the digital skills that they will need to thrive. We will ensure that this review is carried out by expert opinion because we want to give young people the best start in life and ensure that they leave our schools ready for the future.

I can go through the Government’s record on this issue to date—I am not normally a negative person, but apprenticeships have declined by almost 200,000, 11 million adults lack basic digital skills, and 9 million lack essential literacy or numeracy skills. There were 4 million fewer adults taking part in learning in 2020 compared with 2010.

What are we to do? A headmaster told me once, “Debbie, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.” He was right. He had it on a T-shirt which he liked to wear.

I end by quoting from the conclusion of my noble friend Lord Blunkett’s report:

“If there is not a step change which re-balances the economy, lifts the productivity and growth in regions across the nation to the levels seen in London and the South East, then the danger of stagflation will continue, the country will stagger on accepting mediocrity, gradually sliding further behind those countries who are determined to equip their nation for tomorrow’s world.”

Child Hunger in Schools

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I will say two things in response. First, of course we will keep the policy under review. But I am sure that the noble Lord would accept that you cannot take funding for free school meals separately from other elements of support for vulnerable families. Secondly, the point that I have been making is that the support for those families, under this Government, has been targeted and extensive.

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, the food strategy of just this year said that it hoped it would spark a school food revolution. This has not happened. The Chefs in Schools report makes for stark reading and includes shocking revelations about the sheer scale of child hunger. When will the UK Government follow the Welsh Labour Government’s lead in providing breakfast clubs and investing in all our children?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I have already referred to the point about breakfast clubs. The Government are already investing in breakfast clubs and we remain open to new evidence, but our focus is on the most vulnerable.