Julie
Morgan: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy. I certainly welcome his constructive remarks
and the fact that he wants us all to work together on these important
issues. I am pleased to speak in support of the Queen’s Speech
and its concentration on the economic situation as the overwhelming
priority of Government. I was particularly pleased to see the emphasis
on skills and training. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State
emphasised the importance of training when he spoke to the National
Assembly for Wales about the Queen’s Speech and the importance
of getting people back to work by helping them to gain new
skills.
Skills are
central to employment and this is something that the Governments in
Westminster and Wales have always recognised. I want to talk about
skills at greater length later on, but I want to start by referring to
the Equal Pay and Flexible Working Bill, which has been mentioned today
but has not been discussed in any great detail. It is a far-reaching
Bill that aims to help all our citizens to fulfil themselves, and it
brings together some very important legislation. It has significant
implications for Wales.
I was pleased
to attend a meeting in Cardiff with the Minister for Women and Equality
before Christmas to discuss the Bill with all the different
agencies—or stakeholders, as one of our colleagues described
them earlier. One of its aims is to tackle age discrimination,
particularly in the field of goods and services. That will be of huge
importance in Wales and will affect the quality of care that elderly
people receive when they go into hospital, for example. My elderly
relatives have had as much care offered to them as younger people, but
I know there is a great deal of concern about older people when they go
into hospital. They feel that their age may count against them in the
treatment they are offered or receive. That has been raised by
constituents in my surgery on many occasions. The Bill will tackle that
issue by ensuring that people are dealt with equally. In Wales we now
have the benefit of the first Commissioner for Older People in the
world. That will help us tackle age discrimination.
I also hope
that the Bill will tackle the racism that undeniably exists in society.
Young black Caribbeans make up the group most likely to be unemployed.
In Cardiff, the highest unemployment is concentrated in those wards
with the greatest number of people from ethnic minorities. Young black
men, as I think we all know, are also over-represented in the criminal
justice system and I hope that the Bill will tackle those
issues.
Yesterday’s
uplifting occasion has already been mentioned a few times today. I know
that we have all been uplifted by the inauguration of Barack Obama as
the first African-American President of the United States. That will
give hope and confidence to young black people in Wales, as it will
make them feel that they can achieve anything they want. That, together
with the equality measures that the Government are going to introduce,
will change our society.
Hywel
Williams: What is the hon. Lady’s opinion on the
idea of inserting equality conditions into publicly funded contracts,
so that third parties will be required to look at issues of equality
when employing people and acquiring business
services?
Julie
Morgan: I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention.
I think that it would be a good direction to go in. It would raise
those issues when people apply for jobs and might help to correct the
imbalance that exists.
Let me return
to the issue of skills, which was emphasised so strongly in the
Queen’s Speech and in the responses by the Secretary of State
and the Assembly. I was disturbed to learn about a potential loss of
skills to the south Wales area. During the last Grand Committee I
mentioned the loss of jobs in GE Healthcare. Those jobs are likely to
be replaced by others—which is great—but they will
require different skills. It might be a problem for those highly
skilled research chemists to get other jobs in the Cardiff
area.
The
Queen’s Speech emphasised the importance of education and
skills. I am very concerned about the effect that the proposed move of
the office of the international baccalaureate from my constituency in
Cardiff, North to another European country, probably the Netherlands,
will have. The international baccalaureate employs 330 people in
Cardiff—that is 70 per cent. of its entire staff worldwide. Most
of those are highly skilled graduates and the office has been in
Cardiff for 20 years. Most of the staff are not in a position to
relocate, and will be left looking for jobs in a difficult economic
climate. They have the skills, but it will be difficult for them to
find comparable jobs. It is interesting to think about what sort of
reskilling could be offered to them in this present
situation.
Mrs.
Gillan: Conservative Members share the hon. Lady’s
concerns over this issue, particularly in light of the high-skilled
jobs that we face losing from GE Healthcare. As I have mentioned in
other debates, this is an example of losing highly skilled jobs that
will not come back. It will be difficult for people at some of the
levels that we are talking about to translate into another role or to
retrain. I offer the hon. Lady support from this side of the
Committee.
Julie
Morgan: I thank the hon. Lady for her welcome support. The
Queen’s Speech emphasised the importance of economic stability.
The reasons put forward by the international baccalaureate for its
proposed move will work against economic stability in Wales. The
planned relocation is part of a global restructuring of the company,
which will produce three hubs worldwide. The proposal
has nothing to do with financial circumstances, the credit crunch or any
economic problems—the international baccalaureate is doing well.
According to a presentation made to its staff, one of the reasons for
not staying in Cardiff is that it is “too remote.” What
hope is there for the rest of Wales if Cardiff is considered too
remote?
Mr.
Llwyd: I congratulate the hon. Lady on her early-day
motion and the work that she is doing in that regard. On the question
of remoteness, does she not find it strange that Atlantic college, one
of the first advocates in Britain of the international baccalaureate,
was not too remote then to be using this system, although apparently it
is
now?
Julie
Morgan: The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. It
seems incredible that Cardiff should be considered too remote.
Particularly in the world of e-mail and video conferencing, there seems
absolutely no reason for the loyal staff in Cardiff to be rejected in
the way that they seem to have been. I am appealing to the Secretary of
State and his Minister here today to do what they can to change the
mind of the international baccalaureate, as a decision is due to go to
the board on 5
February. The
success of the measures in the Queen’s Speech will be hampered
by the perception of Wales that organisations such as the international
baccalaureate appear to have. The other reason given for relocation was
skills. The international baccalaureate suggests that, at the scale
that the organisation plans to be by 2020, it will be difficult to
recruit the right skills set, implying that Wales will not have the
right types of skills available. However, it seems to me that the
skills required are the very ones that we have now in
abundance—skills related to education and administration. There
are four universities within 10 minutes of the location, the Welsh
Joint Education Committee just down the road, a big local government in
Cardiff council, the Welsh Assembly Government, the civil service and
Cathays park—all those things, let alone the joys of living in
Wales, with the sea, the mountains and the cosmopolitan city. Many
international organisations do not realise how international and
cosmopolitan Cardiff is. Somehow we have to get rid of the idea that
Wales is some sort of backwater—there is no doubt that the IB
thinks
that. In
a letter to the board of governors of the international baccalaureate,
the protesting staff said the following—quietly, of course,
because they are not allowed to speak
out: “We
are not convinced that relocating the Cardiff office is a necessary
part of the plan. The claim that we are too Anglo-Saxon and do not have
an international mindset is highly contentious and the need to reduce
international air travel to counteract global warming negates any
claims that Cardiff is too
remote.” I
feel a great deal of sympathy with the staff when such points are being
made by that internationally acclaimed
organisation. No
one is against restructuring and streamlining organisations to make
them more effective, but if the international baccalaureate is moving
to three hubs across the world, why can one not be in Cardiff? Seventy
per cent. of its staff are there already. The idea of remoteness or
lack of skills should be rejected. The international baccalaureate has
made a big contribution to education in Wales, as the hon. Member for
Meirionnydd
Nant Conwy said—Atlantic college in St. Donats was the first to
take it up and other educational organisations have done that now. The
international baccalaureate is taught in Whitchurch, a high school in
my constituency, and it has been an inspiration to have the Welsh bac
in Wales. If the IB moved from Cardiff, that would be a huge loss to
Wales. It would be difficult to absorb the skills that the staff have
in other existing provisions and, with the current state of sterling, I
cannot believe that any money would be saved by relocating to the
eurozone. It seems a fundamental problem that international
organisations frequently do not recognise the skills that we have in
Wales—perhaps we do not always recognise the skills that we
have. I hope that some of the measures in the Queen’s Speech
will go some way towards changing
that. I
am drawing to a close now. Another impending loss to south
Wales—again, nothing to do with the credit crunch or
anything—is the proposal to transfer business processing from
the Legal Services Commission office in Cardiff, possibly to Bristol. I
have an Adjournment debate on that at half-past 4, so I shall not go
into it in any detail now. However, that is another blow to the south
Wales economy that is nothing to do with the credit
crunch. I
have mentioned the equality Bill and I strongly support the child
poverty Bill and many of the other measures. I welcome the fact that
the Government are still committed to people with children under the
age of 16 being able to request flexible working. There was some
concern before the Queen’s Speech that that measure might not be
included, but it still is. The Bills announced in the Queen’s
Speech will give the tools needed to help us through this difficult
period. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to put the case for
the staff at the international baccalaureate in
Cardiff. 3
pm Mark
Williams (Ceredigion) (LD): First, I would like to echo
the concerns about the International Baccalaureate that the hon. Member
for Cardiff, North has voiced. Certainly, we on the Liberal Democrat
Benches share those concerns strongly. I would like to focus most of my
remarks on the long-awaited Marine and Coastal Access Bill, which some
claim is overdue, but I do not want to be too measly—it is here
now and we welcome it. It comes at an important time for my
constituency and for the many people who earn their livelihood on the
seas and those involved in eco-tourism along the coast of
Ceredigion.
Cardigan bay
is the jewel in our crown. A huge amount of work has gone into
developing eco-tourism along that coast, whether by spotting marine
life and developing the tourism industry in a more proactive way, or
indeed, by the fishermen of Ceredigion—the Cardigan Bay
Fishermen’s Association might not be as big as it was
historically, but it is still an important group. As the hon. Member
for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy said, there is an important relationship
between those who harvest the seas and those who work on the
land.
In December
2007, the precious ecosystem of Cardigan bay received a well-earned
reprieve from the spectre of exploratory oil and gas drilling. Although
that threat may well return, I sincerely hope that the Bill, following
amendments that some of us hope to make, will be able to build real
protection for the bay against it. Critically, that protection should
be achieved by the Welsh Assembly Government, rather than by us in this
place. Local groups, such as Save Our Seas, Friends of Cardigan Bay,
the Marine Wildlife Centre at Newquay and the Cardigan Bay
Fishermen’s Association, have long argued for a marine national
park, an idea that needs to be explored by the National Assembly and
that I hope we can pursue. Like the hon.
Member for Caernarfon, I want to focus on the immediate threat to the
bay, which is the increase of scallop dredging
there.
Hywel
Williams: Before the hon. Gentleman proceeds, would he
like to comment on the area of Cardigan bay delineated by the Crown
Estate as a possible site for an offshore wind farm? Does he have a
view on
that?
Mark
Williams: I do, and the issue needs to be explored in some
detail as that process develops. I am certainly not as hostile to the
prospect of wind turbines located some distance out at sea as I am to
building them on land, which has caused so much damage to our natural
environment with so little gain. It is an ongoing debate that we need
to have locally and that must involve the conservation movement at the
forefront of the
discussions. I
return to scallop dredging. The spectre of those large boats was
brought graphically to my attention by a constituent, Mr.
Jenkins, who described the lack of sustainability of having vessels,
ranging from 60 to 100 ft in length, towing 10 dredges per
side and ploughing up the sea bed. The emotive word
“rape” has been used to describe the effect on the sea
bed, as the dredging destroys the wildlife there and the prospect of
the development of future fish stocks. He made the point, and I echo
it, that it is not sustainable to have that level of concentrated
activity, as about 45 of those boats work along the Ceredigion
coastline. It is only a short-term activity because once all the
scallops have been fished out, the vessels will move on to new areas of
the British coast.
Forty
licences have been issued perfectly legally by the North West and North
Wales sea fisheries committee to smaller, 10-m dredges to operate
within three miles of the coast, possibly within the special area of
conservation, the world heritage site to which I referred in my earlier
intervention, so that will be the spectre next month. Many of those
groups and people involved are hugely frustrated that, despite having
that status and level of protection, the conservation of our marine
environment is being undermined, either by oil drilling or the spectre
of the dredges. That has been the responsibility of the North West and
North Wales sea fisheries committee, which in the past has placed some
restriction on dredging in the bay. Convenient representations are then
made by vested interests in the industrial scallop industry and the sea
fisheries committee relaxes the restrictions. I raise that in reference
to the Marine and Coastal Access
Bill. My
constituency contains a special area of conservation and we are looking
for protection for our bay—we need legislation. I welcome the
Bill and hope that we can be assured that it provides us with robust
and, critically,
permanent protection. I welcome the devolved nature of the Bill. The
Welsh Assembly Government’s document mentions bringing the
existing sea fisheries management and enforcement functions in-house to
the Assembly and integrating the sea fisheries committees’
functions with those of the existing Assembly sea fisheries enforcement
team, which inevitably involves abolishing the sea fisheries
committees. There have long been concerns that the voice of Wales has
been muted on those committees. | 
