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House of Lords
Wednesday, 10 January 2007.
The House met at three of the clock: the LORD SPEAKER on the Woolsack.
Prayers—Read by the Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham.
Tributes: Lord Cockfield
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): My Lords, I rise to pay tribute to Lord Cockfield, who died on Monday. He was born in 1916, and was educated at Dover Grammar School and the London School of Economics. In 1938 he joined the Home Civil Service, starting at the Inland Revenue. He was called to the Bar in 1942.
Before joining this House, Lord Cockfield had a long and distinguished career, holding many posts across government. He was considered to be one of the greatest authorities of his generation on taxation, as well as being a statistician of renown. He was raised to the peerage in 1978, and very quickly joined the Government Front Bench. I am told, and I am sure that many Members of longer standing will remember, that he was a notable performer at this Dispatch Box, with his own particular manner of delivering answers.
In government, Lord Cockfield first served as Minister of State for the Treasury and then as the Secretary of State for Trade from 1982 to 1983. He held a further Cabinet post as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1983 to 1984.
He was Vice-President of the European Commission between 1985 and 1989 and, rather unexpectedly, became a champion of the European project. He is regarded as one of the principal architects of the European single market. He continued his interest in the European Union when he returned to this House. In a debate on enlargement of the European Union in December 1999, he said:
“The successful enlargement of the European Union to comprise virtually all the countries between the Atlantic and the borders of the former Soviet Union would be the greatest achievement of the 21st century”.—[Official Report, 7/12/99; col. 1213.]
I am sure that he was glad to see so much of the project completed in his lifetime. He is survived by a son and a daughter and I believe that the whole House will wish to join me in sending our condolences to them.
Lord Strathclyde: My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness the Leader of the House in paying tribute to the late Lord Cockfield, a colleague whom Peers on all sides viewed with affection and respect. The noble Baroness set out the facts of an extraordinary career. It is hard to overestimate the scale of the noble Lord’s talent. He started life with no advantage. Indeed, his father was killed before he was born. He joined the Customs as a junior clerk at the
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For a decade, he was a leading figure in British and European politics. He was a Cabinet Minister in days when there were three or four Cabinet Ministers in your Lordships’ House, and government was no worse for that. Then he was Vice-President of the Commission from 1985 to 1989. His name will be linked indelibly with the single market in the EU, the blueprint of which he in effect wrote himself. Whatever our views of the twists and turns that the EU has since taken, the single market is a giant achievement. It would not have happened but for his energy and vision, for which he will be long remembered.
The noble Lord sadly lost his wife soon after leaving politics, but he attended here regularly until very recently and in his 90th year. We always welcomed him, and we benefited from his deep wisdom. Our sincerest sympathies go to his family. They should feel honoured by his memory.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, we on these Benches associate ourselves with the memory of a wonderfully anti-political politician. He was one of the most understated people, whom one nevertheless heard talk with an underlying passion about political issues. As I got to know him in his later years, I found that you had to listen very hard to catch the underlying humour of some of the things that he said. He loved to pretend that he was dry and technical, even when he was not.
He was chairman of the Price Commission under the Conservative Government of 1970 to 1974. My noble friend Lady Williams has reminded me that she re-appointed him when the Labour Government came in because, although he was clearly a Conservative, he was recognised to have an entirely fair-minded and balanced approach to competition.
The most remarkable memory of him was his achievement in introducing the single European market. It was perfect for him because the 1992 programme was a collection of extremely dry and technical issues, but he managed, with the help of President Delors and others, to package them into a politically saleable programme.
He had a remarkable rapport with Jacques Delors as President of the Commission—remarkable because they were such very different characters, who nevertheless got on extraordinarily well. Madame Delors and Monica Cockfield also got on remarkably well in that peculiar world of Brussels. There were accusations in the British press that he had gone native when he went over there. He had not, but he
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He was much more adventurous than many people knew. He once told us that he and his wife had gone around the world in 1968 on a cargo boat and, when they were in the South China Sea during the Tet offensive, their cargo boat, like others in the area, was asked to call in and stand off the Mekong Delta just in case there were large numbers of Americans to be evacuated from the mainland. So their journey was rather delayed.
He had a passionate commitment in his later years to informing the younger generation about the real benefits of European co-operation, and the Lady Monica Cockfield Trust provided, in a particularly close relationship with the University of Sussex and the Sussex European Institute, scholarships for young British students to learn more about Europe. I enjoyed many conversations with him in this House and I, like many others, will miss him.
Lord Williamson of Horton: My Lords, I join others in expressing our regret at the death of Lord Cockfield. He was a major figure in public life, in the government of our country, and in the European Union for very many years during a long period of public service.
I knew Lord Cockfield well over many years, and had experience of his relentless progress towards his objectives, occasionally falling under the tank tracks as he moved across the lawn. It is quite remarkable how he combined in one life different careers and different types of expertise and knowledge, some of which have been referred to. He was a very able economist and statistician, with degrees from the London School of Economics, and he was president of the Royal Statistical Society. He was a civil servant in the Inland Revenue and the Commissioner of the Inland Revenue. He was finance director and managing director of Boots Company for quite a long time. He was chairman of the Price Commission. He was Minister of State at the Treasury and he was Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade.
Throughout western Europe, it was recognised that when he was appointed a Vice-President of the European Commission, he was the single-minded driving force behind the creation of the European single market. This made a major contribution to the increased trade and greater prosperity of millions of citizens. As he came from a Thatcherite background, it might have been thought that he would not fit easily into the European institutions, but he became an unexpected hero with his persistent determination to remove barriers to trade and to extend the freedom of trade within the Union. That great single market of almost 500 million people is his memorial, but I would like to remember today also what at other times he contributed to national life and to the work of this House. There are few politicians who have had a greater direct impact on the lives of so many, and he will be greatly missed here.
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The Lord Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham: My Lords, we have heard of a very distinguished career—indeed, of a man of five careers; the fifth career being in Europe—of a man of formidable intellectual ability, of a man of great personal energy and hard work and of a man with professional focus who never craved personal popularity. We on these Benches certainly want to associate ourselves with all that has been said in tribute to him today throughout this House.
As Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, I shall pay tribute particularly to the role that he had in one of our great industries in the east Midlands: the Boots Company. He was first its finance director, then its managing director and then its chairman. He not only headed up a leading commercial company in our local and national life but was also heavily involved in the historic great works of philanthropy, benefaction and charity.
Arthur Cockfield also had a very active interest in the successful development of the University of Nottingham, which, as noble Lords will know, was founded on the philanthropy of Jesse Boot, the enterprising Nottingham chemist, who was later to become Baron Trent. Lord Cockfield served as a member of the university’s court of governors from 1967, which was a period of significant expansion. During that time, eight new halls of residence were constructed on campus, and research schools developed and flourished. The period led also to the establishment of a new medical school at the university, which has grown to be one of the world’s leading medical schools in human tissue development and research in cancer and the biosciences. When he initially became a supporter of the university, it had two campuses; now it has seven, including one in Malaysia and one in China. So he was a key man at the right time for Nottingham. He actively believed the university motto, sapienta urbs conditur: a city built on wisdom.
Employment: Office Cleaning
3.18 pm
Lord Harrison asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Whether in the light of their work-life balance policies they will support the British Cleaning Council’s campaign to promote a return to daytime office cleaning.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Truscott): My Lords, hours of work are a matter for agreement between employers and their employees, subject to the requirements of the working time regulations.
Lord Harrison: My Lords, given that most office cleaners are low-paid women who work part-time and have family responsibilities, will the Government actively support the British Cleaning Council’s call for a return to daytime office cleaning, which will allow and enable employers to recruit, train and retain a more reliable, productive and motivated
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Lord Truscott: My Lords, my noble friend was a very diligent Member of the European Parliament, where we worked together, and is a no less diligent Member of your Lordships’ House. In supporting the work-life balance the Government have supported the employee’s choice on their working hours. We have been actively encouraging employers to think more creatively about the hours that workers should work, rather than just the usual nine to five. We have introduced a series of measures to improve workers’ conditions and to give them protection. In particular we introduced the national minimum wage, ensured that workers are not obligated to work for more than 48 hours a week and introduced an entitlement to four weeks’ paid leave and to rest breaks. We have introduced a range of other measures such as the right to take time off work to deal with family emergencies, flexible working hours and two weeks’ paid paternity leave.
Lord Sheikh: My Lords, I declare an interest. I am the chairman and chief executive of an insurance broking organisation that provides insurance cover to the cleaning industry. Our organisation is also a member of the Cleaning and Support Services Association, which is broadly supportive of daytime cleaning. Some 900,000 people are employed in the cleaning industry in the United Kingdom, but only 24 per cent of the work is undertaken in the daytime. In European countries such as Sweden, about 78 per cent of commercial cleaning is undertaken during the day. Do the Government intend to introduce daytime cleaning in the various government offices?
Lord Truscott: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his question. The fact is that 87 per cent of employees are either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the hours they currently work. As for daytime cleaning, many workers, including cleaners, work during daylight hours. Many prefer to do so because they can, for example, work early in the morning and then deliver their children to school. Many employees choose to work earlier rather than later. My own department, the DTI, has 127 cleaners. The earliest cleaning shift starts between 5 am and 6 am. Some 18 cleaners work full-time, and about 70 per cent of the cleaners work part-time in the morning.
Lord May of Oxford: My Lords, does the Minister agree that there is an interesting if perhaps peculiar connection between this Question and efforts to ameliorate climate change? The pernicious and wasteful habit of leaving all the lights on all night in buildings in the City, in Westminster and elsewhere is—at least in my experience during my years at the DTI, where I tried to stop it—attributed to the nocturnal or—more accurately, in ecological terms—crepuscular activities of the cleaning staff.
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Lord Truscott: My Lords, that is an interesting point. The Government are doing an awful lot in this field, and there is a good news story to be told. For example, as a result of the work of the Women and Work Commission, led by my noble friend Lady Prosser, we have introduced a £500,000 quality part-time work fund which will support projects to increase the number of senior and quality jobs that are available part time. Under this Government there are now twice as many women judges as there were 10 years ago.
Lord Truscott: You may laugh, my Lords, but for too long there has been a glass ceiling for women in this country. The Government are introducing measures to enable women to work the hours they want to work and to ensure they have the opportunity they require to develop their careers. That is the right path to take.
Lord Howarth of Newport: My Lords, surely one must recognise that there will often be real practical difficulties in organising daytime cleaning of busy working premises. Will my noble friend agree that employers, both direct and indirect, ought to provide a decent package for cleaners including, at the very least, the national minimum wage, a pension contribution, sick pay and holiday pay? Given that, all too often, unfortunately, that is not the case, will my noble friend say what further steps the Government intend to take to ensure that all employers meet proper legal and ethical standards?
Lord Truscott: My Lords, my noble friend makes a serious point, and these are serious issues. The Government have established two vulnerable worker pilots, one of which is in the City of London and focuses on the cleaning sector. The two-year pilot is about developing local partnership with unions, businesses and other groups to ensure that vulnerable workers have the rights that they are entitled to and that they develop their skills. Further to my noble friend Lord Harrison’s earlier point, a member of the British Cleaning Council is on that practitioner panel. These are serious matters, and I don’t quite understand the joke here.
Lord Razzall: My Lords, I will not be tempted into asking the Minister whether, in his view, women judges do their own cleaning. Does he not accept that there is consensus in your Lordships' House and elsewhere that this is an overregulated economy and that further regulation in this area would therefore be inappropriate?
Lord Truscott: My Lords, we need to protect workers. Returning to the question of whether judges clean, I hope that male judges do their share of the cleaning at home.
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Taxation: Green Taxes
3.26 pm
Lord Barnett asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the climate change levy plays a crucial role in enabling the UK to meet its Kyoto Protocol target. An independent evaluation by Cambridge Econometrics, commissioned by HM Revenue and Customs and published alongside the 2005 Budget, has examined the effect of the levy since its announcement in the 1999 Budget and its introduction in April 2001. The study concluded that the levy could deliver cumulative savings to 2005 of 16.5 million tonnes of carbon and by 2010 annual carbon savings of over 3.5 million tonnes a year, well above the 2MtC estimated at the time of its introduction.
Lord Barnett: My Lords, I think that I have to thank my noble friend for his Answer. I welcome him to Treasury matters. With his vast experience in that field, he will know that he can throw away his brief and give me the real answer, which should be: none or, at best, very little. Is he also aware that his predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, told me during the pre-Budget debate that there are a range of taxes which are seeking to change behaviour? Would the noble Lord care to tell us the range, or at least list a few of the taxes, to give us a better idea of how that answers my Question?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, I am sorry that I have not wholly satisfied my noble friend on this occasion. The climate change levy includes an aggregates levy and a landfill tax. We also have a number of environmental taxes, which are there to condition behaviour. We seek to shift economic activity from polluting activities to employment activities and those that do not contribute to carbon emissions. We take pride in the fact that we are making great progress on the Kyoto Protocol, but we recognise that the Stern report indicates just how much will need to be done to change our economy and economic operations to safeguard the planet.
Lord Lawson of Blaby: My Lords, does the Minister agree with Mr Ian Pearson, who, I gather, rejoices in the title of Minister for climate change—an awesome responsibility, I must say—that Ryanair represents the irresponsible face of capitalism? If so, what do the Government propose to do about it?
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