Vol. 750 Tuesday No. 89 17 December 2013 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions Social Mobility: Public Schools .................................................................................1133 Independent Panel on Forestry Report .....................................................................1135 Ticket Reselling............................................................................................................1138 G8 Summit on Dementia...........................................................................................1139 Unsolicited Telephone Communications Bill [HL] Third Reading...............................................................................................................1143 Children and Families Bill Report (2nd Day) .......................................................................................................1143 Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill Second Reading ............................................................................................................1217 Grand Committee Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) (Consequential Provisions: Primary Legislation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2013 Motion to Consider................................................................................................GC 255 Smoking: E-cigarettes Question for Short Debate ....................................................................................GC 258 EU: Financial Transaction Tax (EUC Report) Question for Short Debate ....................................................................................GC 270 Barnett Formula Question for Short Debate ....................................................................................GC 286 Written Statements ....................................................................................................WS 127 Written Answers .........................................................................................................WA 169 £4·00 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. 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The first time a Member speaks to a new piece of parliamentary business, the following abbreviations are used to show their party affiliation: Abbreviation Party/Group CB Cross Bench Con Conservative Con Ind Conservative Independent DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party Ind Lab Independent Labour Ind LD Independent Liberal Democrat Lab Labour Lab Ind Labour Independent LD Liberal Democrat LD Ind Liberal Democrat Independent Non-afl Non-affiliated PC Plaid Cymru UKIP UK Independence Party UUP Ulster Unionist Party No party affiliation is given for Members serving the House in a formal capacity, the Lords spiritual, Members on leave of absence or Members who are otherwise disqualified from sitting in the House. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2013, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1133 Social Mobility: Public Schools[17 DECEMBER 2013] Social Mobility: Public Schools 1134 Baroness Trumpington (Con): My Lords, I ask the House of Lords Minister whether he agrees that this particular Question is a damned silly one. Tuesday, 17 December 2013. 2.30 pm Lord Bates: My Lords, the brief says that there are no damn silly questions in your Lordships’ House. Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Derby. Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab): My Lords, the Minister and, indeed, the House and the whole country know Social Mobility: Public Schools that public schools are not charities. Their existence Question and treatment as charities brings charity law into disrepute. Why do we not end that arrangement, and if 2.36 pm we need to subsidise private education—many might well want that; I do not know—transfer responsibility Asked by Lord Lea of Crondall for subsidy from charity law to the Finance Act? Then To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment we can have a full debate in Parliament, in the House they have made of the degree to which those educated of Commons when it is dealing with Finance Act at public school disproportionately occupy senior issues, on what that level of subsidy should be. positions in both public and private sectors in the United Kingdom; and whether they have plans to Lord Bates: The noble Lord raises an interesting reduce any imbalance. point which begs the question of why, if that was the key issue to be addressed, his Government did not Lord Bates (Con): My Lords, improving social mobility tackle that over their 13 years. The point is that this is is the principal goal of this Government’s social policy. intergenerational; it stretches over a long time and the The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission solutions will take a long time coming. The problems was established to monitor the progress of government have been a long time coming, too, and this Government employers, the professions and universities in improving are focusing particularly on the work of people such social mobility. Current evidence shows that, while as Graham Allen on early intervention in specialising improvements are being made in some areas, there is and targeting the help at the poorer families to redress still much work to be done. that balance. Lord Lea of Crondall (Lab): My Lords, I thank the Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD): Does the Minister agree Minister for that reply, which I think means no. I have that— two supplementary questions. First, would he not agree with the recent and widely reported observation Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab): This side, by Sir John Major to the South Norfolk Conservative my Lords. Association on 8 November: “In every sphere of British influence the upper echelons of Baroness Hussein-Ece: Does the Minister agree that power in 2013 are held overwhelmingly by the privately educated until we tackle growing inequalities, we cannot hope or the affluent middle class. To me from my background I find that truly shocking”? to tackle social inequality? When you have a situation in which more than 60% of young black men in this Secondly, would he accept that to give tax relief to public country are unemployed, how on earth are we going to schools as charities is also truly shocking? Charities achieve social mobility? are supposed to be about assistance from the rich to the poor, not from the poor to the rich. Lord Bates: My noble friend raises a very important point, which is that the route back into social mobility Lord Bates: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for comes through the place of work. That is why we are his question. He quotes Sir John Major; let me offer opening up 1.5 million apprenticeships and why bearing him a quote from Alan Milburn in November. In down on unemployment—it is a fact that we are now responding to criticism about why the previous in the 17th month of falling unemployment among Government had not done more to advance social the young—is so critical to raising the prospects of the mobility under their 13 years in office, he said that it is, young people, as we so want to do. “wrong … to argue this is the consequence of the actions of any one government. Deep-rooted … and flatlining mobility have been decades in the making”. Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: My Lords, I That is why this Government have introduced the apologise to the noble Baroness, Lady Hussein-Ece. pupil premium, which is targeted at disadvantaged Even where two similarly qualified graduates attended pupils; free childcare; and an increasing number of the same university, what happens afterwards is that apprenticeships. As for the noble Lord’s point about the privately schooled graduate is 8% more likely to charity status, that is for the Charity Commission. Of get a top job than someone from the state schools—even course, it has to demonstrate that there is a public at that stage. What are the Government doing with benefit to that status, and I know that many independent their own recruitment policies to make sure that that schools take that very seriously and forge many sort of unfairness does not appear within the Civil partnerships with schools in the state sector as well. Service? 1135 Social Mobility: Public Schools[LORDS] Independent Panel on Forestry Report 1136 Lord Bates: That is a very good question