Queen’s Speech — House of Lords, 2017-06-29
Topic: Domestic Commerce
John Lee (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, many argue that tourism should be within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. However, it is within DCMS and that is why I speak on it today. I declare an interest as the chairman of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions I have long argued that tourism is the number one industry in more parliamentary constituencies than any other single industry. Although I did not expect it to be in the gracious Speech—as indeed it was not—I did expect it to figure rather more prominently in the election manifestos of the major parties. Sadly, there was little specific or original comment on tourism; mostly, there were bland comments about supporting the industry. However, I was amused by the statement in Labour’s manifesto: "Labour will ensure that tourism becomes a national priority again" Perhaps someone on the Labour Benches can tell me when Labour made tourism a priority in the past Currently, the industry is reasonably prosperous. The Tourism Alliance forecast a 10% increase in inbound tourism for 2017, helped by the devaluation of the pound. But while adult domestic tourism to our cities has held up well post the appalling terrorist atrocities, the latest evidence is that there has been a noticeable reduction in children’s visits The turmoil and uncertainty caused by Brexit is bad news for tourism. I sometimes think that Brexit supporters thought that withdrawing from Europe would be just as easy as cancelling one’s membership of the local leisure club, in so far as they thought about it at all. Some 66% of visitors to the UK come from the EU and air traffic agreements are of crucial importance, but the major area of concern lies with the non-British nationals without whom our hospitality industry would collapse. Currently, 4.5 million people are employed in tourism and hospitality. It is our fourth largest industry by employment. A KPMG report for the British Hospitality Association estimated that 24% of this workforce are non-British nationals, including 75% of waiters and waitresses, 25% of chefs and 37% of housekeeping staff. Brexit has created massive uncertainty for these people and the Government should have guaranteed their continued settlement months ago, as so many in your Lordships’ House have argued and voted for Most importantly, it is ludicrous that so many job opportunities in this sector are spurned by our own nationals. Frankly, there should be no youth unemployment at all in this country. It is estimated that there will be an additional 7,000 coffee shops by 2025 and that 15,000 hotel rooms are under construction in London alone. In Richmond, Surrey, where we now live, virtually every other restaurant, bar and tea room is advertising for more staff One area of job creation opportunity lies within our penal establishments. Our level of recidivism is appalling but Timpson, the retail chain, is to be applauded for its efforts in this area. I was delighted that its chairman, John Timpson, was awarded a richly deserved knighthood in the recent Honours List. Ten per cent of the Timpson workforce are ex-offenders and it runs a range of training operations in a number of our prisons. Why can our major coffee chains and other hospitality players not do the same? There has to be a real opportunity here to provide a career pathway out of a life of crime. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Gloucester commented earlier on youth offenders I recently wrote to Whitbread about this—its two major divisions being Premier Inn and Costa coffee—and it replied quite encouragingly. Whitbread needs to take on 3,000 people annually to sustain its growth. It has invested £2 million in its WISE programme—that is, Whitbread Investing in Skills and Employment—and 800 people are currently undertaking Whitbread apprenticeships. Costa recently commenced working with offenders and ex-offenders; particularly encouragingly, last month Costa’s UK HR team had a meeting with the National Offender Management Service at the Ministry of Justice. Clearly, it will take some time to establish a proper infrastructure and support system but I wish it well. Other major players in this sector should follow Whitbread’s lead I urge the Government to work with hospitality employers, perhaps by providing some form of incentive or resource. There has to be a real human and economic opportunity here.