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Debate on the Address

My Lords, I am delighted to have the opportunity to respond on behalf of my party to this key area of the humble Address. We have been treated to a wide-ranging, expert and thoughtful debate. We had a masterful exposé of smoke-and-mirrors accounting from my noble friend Lord James of Blackheath, a robust defence of the Conservative stewardship of the health service from my noble friend Lord Fowler, along with an incisive analysis of the crisis in HIV/AIDS. My noble friend Lord Colwyn pointed out in a measured way the problems facing dentists and I would hope that the Government would take up his offer of speaking to the profession. I had a wonderful vision of the noble Baronesses, Lady Emerton and Lady Murphy, deep sweeping and deep cleaning hospitals. It would be a brave bug that stood in their way or, indeed, a brave Minister. The noble Lord, Lord Soley, made a good pitch to appear on ““Thought for the day””. He could advocate his reasons why we should not be a ““walk on by”” society—a theme that I wholeheartedly endorse. The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, highlighted the importance of flexible working to help women's progress in medicine. As a dyslexic, I have enormous sympathy with the views expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Warnock. In the past six hours, we have had passionate and powerful speeches—all sprinkled with a good deal of common sense. I would love to mention every contribution because each deserves to be mentioned, but I fear that I will be foiled by the constraints of time. My noble friend Lord Howe set out the challenges we face in health and adult social care and how targets distort services. He explained why we feel that the Government's Health and Social Care Bill falls a good deal short of the rhetoric of setting the NHS free from meddling politicians and putting power in the hands of patients. My noble friend also spoke in his customary exemplary fashion and with sensitivity on some of the more controversial and difficult issues that will face us in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Inevitably, it will stir deep emotions on both sides of the argument because it raises issues of conscience. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Warner, the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, and my noble friend Lady Cumberlege on state-sponsored fatherlessness. This should not be a matter of party policy and I join my noble friend Lord Howe in calling for this issue to be decided on a free vote across the House. I hope that the Minister will be able to assure us on that when he responds. Much of the success in delivering good health adult social care will depend on a well trained and motivated workforce. It is the same in children's services and education. Under the leadership of David Cameron, the Conservative Party has done much research and taken a good, hard look at where we can find solutions to the difficulties that overwhelm so many of the vulnerable in our society. Part of that is our Social Workers' Commission, which has been so kindly mentioned by the noble Earl, Lord Listowel. It was set up by my honourable friend Tim Loughton MP, and I had the great privilege to serve on it. Under the patronage of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and the noble Lord, Lord Laming, the commission's experts had no affiliation to the Conservative Party, but shared a desire and dedication to inform the debate and to find solutions—the same desire that the noble Baronesses, Lady Pitkeathley and Lady Howarth of Breckland, expressed today. We hope that our report, entitled No More Blame Game—The Future for Children's Social Workers, will stimulate a constructive debate because there is no doubt that children's social workers operate very much at the sharp end of children's services. We will need all their expertise to deliver the best possible outcomes for looked-after children. The Children and Young Persons Bill is rightly ambitious for those children who, for the most part, find themselves in the care of the state through no fault of their own. We welcome many of the proposals but, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leicester said, they are long overdue. I can assure the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, that, like the Liberal Democrat Front Bench, we will give the Government a hard time on anything that falls short on providing the best care. For too long our debates have concentrated on the outrageous number of children in care, 60,000, who are moved from pillar to post, away from all that is comfortable and familiar. That affects not only their emotional well being, but jeopardises their chance of decent qualifications. While I acknowledge that the figures have improved, it is still small wonder that only 12 per cent of looked-after children gained five good GCSEs. It is good that the Government are committed to ensuring placement stability in the two years before GCSEs, but placement stability in an area where a child has roots and friendships should be a desired outcome at all stages of a child's life in care. We welcome the Government's intention to listen to children and to young people, regarding important decisions that affect their future. I remember listening to a young girl in care who said that it was so dispiriting always to be talked about rather than talked to. I join the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, in warmly welcoming the Government's commitment to ensure that young people are not forced out of care before they are ready and to provide them with support and guidance for as long as they need it. Never again must we hear from the inspectors of 16 year-olds cast adrift into an uncertain future with all their worldly goods tied up in a black bin liner. Is it any wonder that so many of those who leave the care system enter the prison system—failed first by their families and then by the state which professed to care for them? If they slip through the net, we must ensure that they are properly cared for while in custody; that they know that someone still cares for them on the outside; and that we will do all that we can to stop them reoffending. That includes education, vocational skills, communication skills and the arts, so powerfully expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, and the noble Baroness, Lady Massey of Darwen. I so agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Hornsey, about the arts raising much needed levels of self esteem. I cannot leave the subject until I mention trafficking. It is a hideous trade, as we have heard so graphically from my noble friend Lord McColl. In March of this year, in our annual International Women's Day debate, and again in June in a debate on trafficking, I mentioned the plight of a particular group of young people who are often overlooked. That is the scandal of young girls who leave the care of the state and are then trafficked within our own borders, mostly for sexual exploitation. These children just disappear. Last year, 48 victims of child trafficking went missing from the care of just three local authorities. That is a shocking figure, and one that we simply cannot ignore. It could not possibly be a gracious Speech without an education Bill. We have now had three manifestos, 11 Acts of Parliament, 10 strategy documents, nine Green Papers, eight White Papers and six Secretaries of State, and yet almost half of 11 year-olds cannot read, write and add up properly, and in the past five years key stage 1 results at age seven have flat-lined. In their latest Bill—the Education and Skills Bill—the Government propose to raise the education participation age to 18 by 2015. The desire to ensure basic literacy and numeracy and to create a competitive and well skilled workforce is worthy, and the underlying ambition of the Government is sound. The educational charity Edge has called it a noble objective and went on to ask, "““who wouldn't support more young people becoming engaged in education, employment and training?””." However, it feels that it is an initiative that will be doomed to failure unless the Government address why young people drop out in the first place. We share that concern. By simply dictating that it will be compulsory to stay in education or training until 18, the Government run the risk of overlooking and thus perpetuating the reason why so many of our young are disenchanted with education—and there are many reasons why they are disillusioned and lack incentives to work. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation pointed out in its excellent report on poverty and social exclusion of December 2006 that it is often because the Government fail to take into account the importance and influence of families and communities in this area. It is therefore hardly surprising that the number of 16 to 18 year-olds not in education, employment or training has gone up under this Government from 160,000 to 220,000, considering that the UK has a higher proportion of children in workless households than any other EU country. As the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, so rightly said, compulsion does not seem to be the solution to the real, underlying problem of a lack of skills. The Government's proposal to compel young people to stay in education or training until they are 18, backed by criminal sanctions for failing to do so, is an example of the Government appearing tough on skills deficiencies without being tough on the causes of skills deficiencies. Of course we on these Benches want to see more young people studying and training until they are 18, but the Government's proposal is not well thought out. There are problems that must be tackled much earlier on. Sir Paul Judge, the president of the Association of MBAs, says that to get an MBA, the most internationally recognised degree in the world, requires a minimum of 500 hours of classroom teaching. At the other end of the scale, our children spend roughly 6,000 hours in school between the ages of five and 11. If an MBA can be taught in 500 hours, then one would expect that all but children with the most severe learning difficulties could learn how to read in 6,000 hours. Indeed, teachers largely agree that a child should be taught to read and write in less than 250 hours, yet nearly half of children leaving primary school at 11 do not reach the required standard in basic reading, writing and maths, and just over 90 per cent of those below standard in English at age 11 are still below standard at 16. Something in the system is very wrong, and it is tragic because without those basic building blocks all the excitement that education has to offer and the moral imperative to let young people unlock their potential, of which the noble Baroness, Lady Warwick of Undercliffe, spoke, will not be realised. The business community recognises that though there is a pressing need for skilled workers, it will not be fixed by forcing people to continue for an extra two years in an education system that has already failed them. Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors, criticised the proposals for being all about new duties, duties for parents, duties for local authorities and duties for young people, adding, "““our view is that compulsion is no panacea for early under-achievement””." The issue is particularly worrying for small businesses. As the daughter of parents who had a small cake shop, I saw at first hand the strain it put on my parents and the few people who worked for them when, for whatever reason, a member of staff was absent. I worry that the compulsion element to accredited training will simply mean that small businesses will not employ 16 year-olds. They might just be the entrepreneurs the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Hudnall, spoke of. Like my noble friend Lord Pilkington, I have the highest regard for the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, and do not doubt for one moment his desire to see standards rise and for each child to fulfil their potential. But when the Government have failed at the basics, it is not enough simply to spend more money, pass more laws and add more regulation to fix the effects of the problem and not the cause. In a similar fashion, the Government's proposals to institute a diploma scheme to improve vocational training cannot be criticised for their intentions. The reform of vocational learning is an important and worthy goal. We support it but feel that the Government again are going about tackling the issue the wrong way. We would never criticise an attempt to create robust, recognisable standards for vocational training, and we see the value of a vocational qualification that reflects the completion of a strong practical course designed to equip young people with the necessary skills to make serious contributions to the workforce. In seeking to ensure that diplomas offer the highest possible vocational standard, it is important not to confuse this search with the parallel necessity of ensuring strong academic standards. The new diplomas in academic subjects muddle these two different ideas. As my noble friend Lord Pilkington of Oxenford said in his barnstorming speech, to gain respect vocational qualifications have to stand in their own right. The Government suggest that the new diplomas will focus on science, languages and humanities as broad subjects. That seems to suggest a confusion of emphasis between academic knowledge and rigour and a more practical skills-based approach. I do not want to suggest that skills-based teaching is, or should be, without some sort of academic component. However, we must not let the praiseworthy ambition of reforming vocational learning weaken our attempt to improve academic standards. I turn very briefly to apprenticeships. The noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Huyton, mentioned apprenticeships and how important they were. We will look carefully at the draft Bill because we are concerned that of the current 150,000 apprenticeships, as the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said, many are never completed. It is possible to go through a whole apprenticeship without having any practical experience. The Government are right to be ambitious for our young people. We look forward to a lively and busy Session, and to playing our part in improving the outcomes of our children and young people by improving government legislation. That is what your Lordships' House does best. As my noble friend Lord Howe said, I have more than just a feeling that along the way a few such improvements may be forthcoming.