European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness completely. It is important that young people, indeed all citizens, learn about the European Union and I accept that we need to do more. Yet the noble Baroness will not be surprised by the criticism that I, as an education Minister responsible for citizenship, would get were it suggested that we should do more to promote the European Union—it would be ““propaganda””. The noble Baroness will not be surprised at all by that but that is indeed an issue and a problem the Government face all the time when people suggest it. It was particularly true when the euro was brought in across many parts of the European Union. I for one was keen to—and did—produce something for young people to make sure that they knew what the euro looked like, that they understood what it meant. That was not least because teenagers have a habit of travelling across the European Union and not knowing what the money looks like could lead them into some difficulty. We did, therefore, produce a lot of information, but this is an issue that we always have to deal with. I am very grateful that the noble Baroness raised the importance of making sure that young people are educated, because I agree completely with that. I could go into a list, which I have, of all the different aspects of information that we produce. I will not do so, for I sense the weariness of the House even before I begin. We do make sure that we have on the website all of the available information, which is particularly relevant for young people. That is available at www.europe.gov.uk, where anyone is able to obtain as much information as possible. Where I join with the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, in his amendment is in my commitment to ensure that people get as much information as possible in the appropriate manner to enable them to understand the European Union. When we held the presidency, I tried extremely hard to get media attention on some of our work on civil justice which was relevant to people’s everyday lives, and I found that almost impossible. If, as a result of this discussion, all noble Lords would join me in trying to find ways to promote the European Union in our media, in the broadest sense, I would be more than delighted. The amendment is not necessary because we already produce a lot of information. We seek to circulate it as widely as possible. We want members of the public to look at the Foreign Office and No. 10 websites, and we have blogs from the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Europe, which are run weekly and, I gather, attract a great deal of interest and comment from members of the public. I am sure that noble Lords will support them in that.