Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Lord Katz Excerpts

Thursday 18th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

My Lords, I formally move the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lord Lucas and I will speak to it in my closing remarks.

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)]

I think we have yet to have a full discussion on Amendment 483, as well as Amendment 483A, so perhaps we could proceed to that discussion.

[Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court (CB)]

My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of Amendment 483, which I have put my name to. The noble Lord, Lord Layard, has set out the arguments very eloquently. I would merely like to add the perspective of a former Treasury official.

Economic growth, or the lack of it, lies at the heart of the country’s problems. Without it, we simply will not be able to afford the costs of an ageing population. The Government will be forced to raise taxes even more than they already have and public services will deteriorate further, alienating an already alienated electorate. There is little the Government can do to promote growth in the short term. As an open economy, Britain is likely to grow only as fast as global demand permits, and we all know the effect of increased protectionism, but the Government can do something about the medium and long term.

We all know what drives growth: good infrastructure, competition, innovation, and a sensible tax system—but, above all, skills. Successive Governments have done a good job on education. Attainment in schools has improved and there has been a dramatic expansion in university education over the last 50 years, which, for the most part, has been reflected in the living standards of graduates. However, that still leaves 50% of school leavers who do not go to university who are poorly served by a vocational educational system that compares badly with our competitors’.

Technical and further education has never been prioritised sufficiently, and I can understand why. The media, the Government and the Civil Service are all dominated by graduates. Technical education is not sexy. The lags in the impact of any reform are long and variable. The plain fact is that there are not many votes in it, but sometimes Governments can do the right thing for future generations. I welcome recent announcements by the Government of a youth guarantee and the extra support for skills in the spending review, but they need to go further. An apprenticeship guarantee provides a golden opportunity to make a step change in provision and long-term economic performance.

I recognise that money is hard to come by, but the Treasury is an economics ministry as well as a finance ministry, and it needs some positive announcements to offset the inevitable gloom in the forthcoming Budget. I encourage the Minister and her department to engage actively with the Treasury. It should be possible to, for example, tweak the apprenticeship levy to give it a greater youth focus. If the money cannot be found now, the Government should at least set out a timetable, and if they cannot set out a timetable, they can at least sign up to the objective.

As the noble Lord, Lord Layard, said, a previous Government passed the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. It can be done, and I call on the Minister to act.