My Lords, I view Amendment 218—and Amendment 219, which seeks to amend it—as one of the most important amendments we have had the privilege of debating across the House. It is not party political at all, other than the odd swipe that the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, found necessary to give. Being serious, agriculture is a major industry in this country, and we have a unique opportunity now to get a grip on how we take it forward.
Yesterday, a number of us took part in the Second Reading of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill. Among the issues debated was the question of the arrangements for importing seasonal workers, particularly for places like Lincolnshire. I am sorry to say to the Minister that it was none too clear to me, on our Benches, nor on the other Benches, what the way forward was.
I live in an agricultural county, in Bedfordshire, and agriculture does not wait. I walked round my kitchen garden only this morning, and due to the amount of talking we have done on these screens, there are a fair number of jobs that need doing. Agriculture does not
wait, and it is not the same every season. I used to do a lot of work for the Mars Corporation, and with certain areas of their work you knew exactly when the season would hit—but you do not know with agriculture, so you need a flexible system.
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Looking at the details of this amendment, it mentions “practical training”. The Minister knows, as well as I do, that, it does not matter what industry you look at, we have been told many times that practical training in this country is nowhere near as good as it is in Germany. We must find a way forward.
We have here in Bedfordshire a first-class agricultural college—Shuttleworth College—and there was one just outside my constituency in Northampton. I do not know how many there are in the country, but they have got to be brought into this discussion on how we can move forward on formal qualifications and practical training. There has to be a linkage.
When I read economics at Cambridge, many of the most stimulating lectures that we received in those days came from lecturers and professors from elsewhere in the world, who came for two terms and were creative thinkers. With the type of products we are dealing with, I suggest that our students need the same.
I have spoken before about horticulture. It is true that part of the answer lies—as I believe the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said—in ensuring that we have got robots in that area. That is beginning to happen with strawberries and raspberries, and it has obviously been around with apples for much longer. However, is there an incentive for that industry? I do not know, I am not a specialist here—but I need and want to see leadership as we move forward. I listened with care to the noble Lord, Lord Carrington. He had some wise words about monitoring and measuring performance. This proposed clause, on which I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, is really vital.
On Amendment 219, some of your Lordships will know that I was chair of the housing committee in the London Borough of Islington some years ago. Others may know that I have been a fervent advocate of the mutual movement across the House, and one or two of you may remember the Mutuals’ Deferred Shares Act 2015, which went through your Lordships’ House with support across the Chamber. My personal view is that this is a wonderful opportunity to bring in the mutual movement, so that we can have affordable housing in the relevant areas allied to the needs of agricultural work. I believe the Government are keen on mutuality, and it is important that we see some real progress in this area, and some provision through housing associations, the friendly society movement and other groups for affordable housing. We need to get something on the statute book if that is what is required. I personally would like to see them as charities, so that they would not be sold off.
I say as an aside to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, that there was nothing wrong with right to buy, because there was council housing being neglected—as I know only too well from my experience in Islington—and we did not have the resources to keep it up to scratch. The money from right to buy should have gone back
into social housing, but of course it did not; that is what should have happened, and I admit there was an error there.
I do not need to speak any further on these two amendments. I think they are exciting; they may need some tweaking and may need to be looked at again, but I thank the noble Baroness for triggering one of the most exciting and important debates we have had on the Bill.