Queen’s Speech

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness and to take part in this well informed debate. I wish to concentrate on two issues: first; how education needs to be much more rounded in order to produce not just academically qualified young people but healthy bodies and healthy minds too; and, secondly, I want to say a few words in support of the state of the good old British pub. In the gracious Speech, there was mention of the children, schools and learning Bill. When I served in another place, I often visited local schools, colleges and businesses in my constituency. In schools, I was able to see the excellent job that many teachers do in helping young people get to grips with the basic skills that they will need in later life and we should congratulate our education professionals on the work that they do. They are dedicated, tolerant and long-suffering, sometimes in the face of unacceptable behaviour from a minority of pupils and all too often their unreasonable parents. One issue that concerns me is the reduction in physical activity in schools. The selling-off of school playing fields is a terrible thing and the failing to make maximum use of existing playing fields also adds to problems such as disorder and obesity. I remember meeting some young people one summer who were hanging around on the street corner complaining that they had nothing to do. Less than 50 metres away was a school with a playing field that was unused, crying out for activities to be organised to use up the energies of these young people. I often wonder what happens to sportsmen and women after they finish their sporting careers. Surely, we should make use of those people who have been used to maintaining a fitness regime to teach our young people what they need to do to become fit, stay fit and develop skills that would enable them to take an active part in ball games, athletics, swimming and other activities—activities that would not only keep them healthy, but through which they would also meet people they would otherwise not meet and form friendships which may last a lifetime. It would be much cheaper for the new Bill to contain provisions for a small budget for each school to enlist the help of sports professionals after they have retired to keep playing fields in use during school holidays and at weekends—far cheaper than the clean-up costs of dealing with bored young people becoming unfit and obese, taking up bad habits such as smoking, drinking to excess, taking illegal drugs and falling into crime. It might also increase the pool of sporting talent from which our national teams can be selected. At a meeting of the Central Council for Physical Recreation a few years ago, the guest speaker was the great Welsh rugby maestro Cliff Morgan. He told us that a quarter of 16 year-olds show early signs of heart disease. I know a thing or two about heart disease. It costs the nation an absolute fortune. We must help to prevent young people leading a lifestyle which will lead to development of problems of this kind early in their lives. Thankfully, many organisations outside our formal education establishments invest in our young people. I give my own local football club, Cheltenham Town, as an example, and declare an interest as a vice president. Cheltenham Town is using the power of sport to inspire, motivate and educate thousands of individuals within the local community. Only last weekend, more than 200 youngsters from Leckhampton Rovers, supported by their parents and friends, took over the Whaddon Road ground for a football bonanza. The purpose behind Cheltenham Town's programme is to build a better community. Nelson Mandela once said: "““Sport has the ability to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. It is more powerful than Governments. Sport has the power to change the world””." Let us not forget those who are disabled. We all marvelled at the success of our Paralympians in Beijing. Those who help disabled young people do a wonderful job. The National Star College, located just outside Cheltenham, provides profoundly disabled young people with the technical equipment to develop their skills, including sporting skills. The private sector has a responsibility too, not just in sport, to ensure that it concentrates on our young people during this downturn. I was delighted to read comments by Richard Steer of Gleeds, the construction industry project managers, urging the construction industry not to give up on the graduate. He argues that industry needs to develop local talent in areas such as quantity surveying and project management now, otherwise, when the upturn comes, we will need to import those skills in the future, probably at higher cost, on short-term contracts from abroad. I hope that the Government will bear these factors in mind during the passage of the new Bill. On the plight of the community pub, I declare an interest as a former chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group. Two years ago, the group was concerned to learn that five pubs a week were closing across the United Kingdom. Many of these were in small communities, where the local shop and post office had closed and, apart from the church, the pub was the last social facility in the village. The group decided to conduct an inquiry to gain a full picture of what was happening. Research took two years and produced some alarming figures. Today, instead of losing five pubs a week, the nation is losing about five pubs a day—it is losing 36 a week. This is a net figure. Beer sales are down 16 million pints a day since the peak of 1979, reaching the lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. More than 40,000 jobs have been lost in the sector in the past five years. A further 43,000 job losses are projected over the next five years. The pressures escalated further following the Pre-Budget Report. Pubs were denied any potential benefit from the VAT cut because of another hike in excise duties. Beer taxes have increased by 17 per cent this year alone. Not only that, the cost of implementing the VAT change is estimated to be around £30 million, a price which will have to be paid again when VAT is restored to its previous level in a year or so. Further pressure has been put on pubs through the impact of irresponsible high street trading from supermarkets and high volume on-trade outlets with offers of ““two for the price of one””, ““drink as much as you like for £10”” and happy hours. I am pleased that the Government seem to be addressing some of these practices but more needs to be done to prevent the practice of ““pre-fuelling””. A pub does not just sell beer. It is a social centre providing meals and snacks, raising money for local charities and diversifying offerings all the time. Pubs provide a place where the consumption of alcohol is regulated. They use local produce to provide nourishing meals and are a source of great comfort to many pensioners and families. When a pub closes, all that goes, jobs are destroyed and the Treasury is out of pocket. Prompted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, an organisation, Pub is the Hub, was formed. It has had a number of successes in turning non-viable shops, pubs and post offices into single viable businesses. In places where this has happened, instead of losing all three services, the local community now keeps all these services, and others. Some of the ““Pub is the Hub”” successes now provide libraries, school meals and centres where pensioners can go and read the papers and get coffee at half price before 11 o’clock. Yesterday, Michael Turner, chairman of the British Beer and Pub Association, made a speech at the Parliamentary Beer Group and BBPA reception in the House of Commons. He said: "““The British pub is the heart of the local community, the envy of the world, and the home of responsible drinks retailing, where not only the sale, but also the consumption of alcohol is supervised. It is a national treasure, and is a key part of our tourism industry.""British beer consists of a wonderful array of traditional and handcrafted ales, together with world famous lager brands. There is a tremendous diversity of colours, flavours, styles, and textures, and there is something for everyone. It is an industry to be … proud of.""Together these two industries employ 600,000 people; … are responsible for duty and VAT of £6 billion; and are part of an industry that makes total tax contributions of £25 billion””." It would be a tragedy if, when the Olympic Games come to Britain in 2012, our friends from America, Europe, Japan and elsewhere cannot find a decent pub where they can enjoy traditional British hospitality. I hope that the Government will look very closely at the report produced by the Parliamentary Beer Group and act on the recommendations.