Education Recovery
Lord Haskel Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Berridge (Con)
My Lords, the Government are determined to do all they can to help those who have been disadvantaged by the lockdowns to catch up on their education. The recovery package will not be the last word on recovery catch-up in education. Schools have done an amazing job in setting up testing, running bubbles and making their schools—which obviously are also workplaces—as safe as possible. One must not forget that, during the second lockdown in the autumn, schools remained open. The Government are committed to students catching up; we are watching the evidence that we get from Renaissance Learning carefully to see what it reveals about the differential impact of Covid in England.
The Deputy Speaker (Lord Haskel) (Lab)
My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked.
Queen’s Speech
Lord Haskel Excerpts(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Haskel (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I too welcome the maiden speeches and say farewell to the right reverend Prelate.
In thanking Her Majesty for the gracious Speech, I have to say that it consists of an unco-ordinated mixture of ideas—some good and some bad, but with no clear, integrated plan to deal with the problems resulting from the pandemic. Nor does it say how change will be delivered; it just gives the impression of government by announcement. Indeed, there are conflicting proposals. For instance, there is a Bill to increase the housing stock while leaving in place financial incentives which we know have the effect of raising house prices, making the new homes less affordable, an effect that entrenches and enlarges the existing inequalities, stimulates a housing bubble and encourages speculation—exactly the wrong sort of growth.
What is required is a comprehensive strategy to address the challenges set by the pandemic and the causes of inequality such as low productivity, low investment and skill shortages. Yes, there is an industry strategy challenge fund but, as the Public Accounts Committee pointed out, it is too focused on inputs, ticking boxes and distributing funds rather than on outcomes. This can be rectified by reinstating the industrial strategy board to monitor and measure the progress of a strategy and measure what we have achieved year on year; to achieve our long-term objectives, that is what we will have to do. Without it, the Government are marking their own homework yet again.
The speech offers free ports with special low-tax zones, but experience has shown that all they do is shift jobs and investment around the country, rather than generating high-value new business. We should remember that exports from free ports to the EU and many other markets are restricted, and this kind of activity does little for skills training, raising productivity or increasing our R&D expenditure up to the government target. The share of national income paid out in wages, salaries and benefits has been in steady decline, while the returns on capital investment have been steadily increasing. An industrial strategy should even this out and, together with an employment Bill, that would make the outcome much more equitable.
An important part of our industrial strategy would seek to develop our own domestic industry but, where this is unfeasible, our strategy should prioritise co-operation with our allies. This means that we must seek equivalence and mutual recognition of standards, particularly in services, technology and manufacturing. This will make it easier for overseas and European firms to invest in UK industry and for UK industry to become integrated in their supply chains.
A special part of our strategy must be our concern for the young. Job insecurity is a common complaint among young people, a complaint caused by temporary contracts, agency work, zero-hour contracts and a lack of training. The training Bill is welcome, but will be less effective unless the apprenticeship levy is sorted out and an employment Bill accompanies it.
It is easy to make plans and mark them yourself, especially when the Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that current plans show an 8% cut in most departments, while NHS spending needs a big rise. Yes, some elements of this strategy appear in parts of the gracious Speech, but it needs to be drawn together. Will the Government create a strategy that we can all unite behind and will make progress instead of sliding back to where we were?
Education Return and Awarding Qualifications in 2021
Lord Haskel Excerpts(3 years, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Berridge (Con)
My Lords, the recovery scheme summer schools are funded to £200 million and there should be enrichment activities. I am delighted to say that all the wraparound facilities in schools for essential purposes will also be open on 8 March; I am sure that many students are looking forward to being back doing PE and all those other activities when they return to school next Monday.
The Deputy Speaker (Lord Haskel) (Lab)
The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, has withdrawn, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone.
Baroness Blackstone (Ind Lab)
My Lords, in the light of the Sutton Trust’s report last week on the hugely negative effects of university closures, especially on disadvantaged students, will the Government consider advancing the date of their review on when remaining students can return to university, particularly since leaving it to the Easter holidays will give little notice to universities, which need to plan to make a much-needed full return?
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Lord Haskel Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Baroness Berridge (Con)
My Lords, since the UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, successive Governments have not incorporated it directly into domestic law. However, breaches of that convention can form the basis of actions in the domestic courts, and we have taken seriously any criticisms from the UN in relation to protecting children’s rights here in the UK.
Lord Haskel (Lab) [V]
My Lords, in the Second Reading debate on the CHIS Bill, the Government made it quite clear that in order to catch criminals and terrorists, they will continue to permit the use of children in covert and, yes, even criminal activities. This is despite the acknowledged danger to their mental and physical well-being, even with the promised safeguards. Is the reason why the Government will not incorporate the convention and make the well-being of the child paramount that they would have to stop the use of children in those activities?
Baroness Berridge (Con)
My Lords, I have outlined the usual practice, which is why this convention is not incorporated directly into domestic law. As the noble Lord outlined, there are safeguards in relation to juveniles in those circumstances. We are known throughout the world as having one of the best systems to protect the rights of children in law.
Qualifications
Lord Haskel Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Haskel
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking (1) to rationalise the number of, and (2) to set standards for, qualifications to ensure that such qualifications are of value to (a) individuals, and (b) employers.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)
My Lords, we have announced reforms to higher technical qualifications and are consulting on reforms to qualifications at level 3 and below to provide clearer and simpler qualification choices post-16. We are strengthening the links between the classroom and the workplace by basing the majority of technical qualifications at levels 3, 4 and 5 on the same employer-led standards as apprenticeships and T-levels, ensuring that young people and adults develop the skills that employers need.
Lord Haskel (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I am pleased to hear that the Government are at least trying and do something about qualifications. For many people, the way to improve their chances of getting well-paid and secure work is, of course, to get a qualification. However, they are faced with some 13,000 qualifications currently available, many providing little or no value to either individuals or employers. Will the Government organise a review of the credibility of each qualification and an assessment of the rate of return, to help those taking this very sensible step to improve their chances?
Baroness Berridge (Con)
The noble Lord is correct that there is a bewildering array of qualifications. At level 3, there are over 12,000 qualifications. The consultation that is out at the moment will make clear the role of a qualification that is not an A-level or T-level. Over 2,500 level 3 qualifications are in scope for their funding to be reduced or removed, due to low or no enrolments.
European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Economic Partnership Agreements and Trade Agreement) (Eastern and Southern Africa States, Southern African Development Community States, Ghana and Ecuador) Order 2018
Lord Haskel Excerpts(5 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Haskel (Lab)
My noble friend is absolutely right to ask how trade policy agreements and treaties will be determined after we withdraw from the European Union. In fact, this is a matter that concerns your Lordships’ Constitution Committee, and it has launched an inquiry to investigate the efficacy of our role in the scrutiny of treaties and how this should be handled post Brexit. I am sure that it will welcome the Minister’s undertaking regarding consultation and engagement.
At the moment, these arrangements are scrutinised by the European Union Parliament and the Commission, and we receive them for approval as secondary legislation. The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee looks at this but of course, as other noble Lords have said, there is very limited scope for comment because the arrangements have already been agreed.
I sit on the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and our work is to see how these treaties slot in and work with UK law. We had two examples at our meeting yesterday. One dealt with CITES, the arrangement regarding international trade in endangered species, and the other was the Nagoya agreement, which deals with animal tissues—both important matters. The purpose of the statutory instrument is to ensure that these arrangements continue after Brexit, and all the committee did was to make sure that the wording was more appropriate; it did not change anything else.
However, the Explanatory Memorandum promises a further document that will attract the affirmative procedure and transfer powers of enforcement from the Commission to the Secretary of State. So my noble friend is right: here, we are concerned only with the mechanics, not with the rights and wrongs of the arrangement.
My noble friend gave the figure of 40. A paper prepared by an experienced clerk to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee says that in the last seven years the UK has been party to 225 new treaties. By treaties, he means agreements with a specific country or with an organisation such as Euratom, or a thematic agreement such as the convention on pollutants. We have also had statutory instruments putting in place the mechanism for enforcing sanctions against other countries. For instance, we recently had one against North Korea.
The noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, made the point that at present the principle of these arrangements is agreed elsewhere. Our work in future will be to scrutinise them from the point of view not only of UK law but of UK usage: the way we do things; compatibility with our values, way of life, standards and priorities, as other noble Lords have mentioned.
So my noble friend is absolutely right to raise this matter. These treaties will require a lot of scrutiny, consideration and careful thought. I join my noble friend in asking the Minister to come forward with proposals on how these matters will be determined after our withdrawal. I am sure that your Lordships’ Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee will also be interested in the Minister’s response. This is intimately bound up with my noble friend’s amendment calling on the Government for proposals on how trade policy will be determined. These treaties affect so many of the non-tariff barriers that noble Lords have raised. These non-tariff barriers are now much more important than financial tariffs, especially to a country such as ours, where services are a major part of the economy. I support my noble friend’s amendment.
Baroness Fairhead
I thank noble Lords for their contributions. If I breached convention, I offer my apologies particularly to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara. I was aiming to address some concerns and did it in a different way. Some of these points are absolutely apposite to the SI, while others talk about the future; I will just glance on these, because I understand the issues.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara, the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, and the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, talked about a number of challenges, such as the development benefits and merits of EPAs versus unilateral preferences. There is a little bit of history here, in that some of our previous unilateral preferences were deemed not to be WTO-compatible, so we had to move to a different mechanism. We have chosen EPAs because they are much more development-focused, and the aim is to promote and increase trade over time. Having studied EPAs and preferences, I have seen that not all but most countries get better access under EPAs than they would under preferences.
For example, two-thirds of markets are open to Ghana—which I visited recently—for tariff-free access under preferences, but 100% under the EPA. Its prepared fish, coffee beans and cocoa would be affected. I went to a tuna-processing factory while there and heard that they were particularly keen that we continue that EPA, because they saw the benefit. Opening up needs to be done over time, as we agreed, because these are developing countries and liberalisation takes time. In addition, we provide support through improving trade facilitation and customs rules. A lot of our development funding also supports these nations. We are here not to create foes but friends. We are here to build mature, long-term trading relationships, and to open them up asymmetrically. I am happy to confirm, by way of demonstrating that these are seen as attractive, that all parties to the EPAs have expressed an interest in rolling them over to provide continuity. If they were really so unhappy about them, I do not think they would do that.