My Lords, I rise with equal measure of pride and humility to have this opportunity to be speaking in your Lordships’ House for the first time. May I begin by recognising the long history of this Chamber and the immense warmth of the greeting I have felt from Noble Peers from all sides of the House, as well as from all officers and staff - THANK YOU – and I have great confidence that this warmth will remain a constant support for my time in this place.
I am also grateful to my noble friends Lord Howard of Lympne and Baroness Verma for introducing me to the House early this summer and for their encouragement and guidance over the last 20 years, as I have made my way from political campaigner to London Mayoral adviser and eventually to this place.
I appreciate that every individual’s journey is not an easy one, but as a proud British Sikh, a born and bred Londoner and a Conservative (as well as being a Tottenham Hotspur Fan) I must say that my own path has had its unique up and downs.
I want to thank my wife, Sigita, for her on-going support and good patience and the daily inspiration and love I receive from our two young boys Rajveer and Amrit. But of course I stand here on the shoulders of my parents and grandparents and the challenges they overcame; living through post partition India, building new lives in different parts of the world, the prejudice they faced, the dignity they showed and the values they instilled in me are a huge part of why I am here today and I would like to recognise my late grandfathers:
Sardar Jodh Singh Ranger, born in 1913 in Harial - later to be Pakistan - moved to Mombasa, Kenya in 1948 and worked in the docks of East Africa. He pooled his savings and bought a petrol station 1966 which he ran day and night for almost two decades. Sending my father to the UK in 1968 he and my grandmother joined him in 1984.
My maternal grandfather, Sardar Gurnam Singh Sahni was born in 1927 in Rawlpindi (later to be Pakistan) and from an early age he followed his father, Ajeet Singh Sahni, into local politics. At the age of fifteen he became the General Secretary of the Rawalpindi Student Congress, becoming president in 1944. He moved to the UK in 1961 and as a man who highly valued his community he founded the first Indian newspaper in the UK, The Punjab Times in 1965 and was a leader for the growing Sikh community, serving ten years as President of Central UK Gurdwara - their love and guidance is greatly missed.
My Lords, in my own case I am delighted to have joined the cohort of turban wearing noble Lords; Lord Suri, Lord Sahota and Lord Singh of Wimbledon, and I recognise them for what they have achieved for this country as well as for their community. It also fills me with pride to be the first British born turban wearing Sikh to sit in this House. In a world where we are still fighting wars on religious differences – I hope that this country, my country – modern Britain can act as a beacon as to how diverse cultures, religions and even political values can sit and work together in peace to achieve progress.
Over the last 25 years, my career has enabled me to be part, in some small way, of the technological change we see around us. I have been fortunate to be involved in projects, programmes and policies that have delivered innovating public services. In 2003 I was part of the team that delivered the Oyster card for London. It was the first application of ‘contactless technology’ in a western society, our first brush with e-money and an early example of personal digital data being captured on mass, AND the first time people had to totally trust the machines!
This project changed my perspective on the power of good tech delivery. In the proceeding years I sought out roles that would harness innovation and deliver positive outcomes and societal change.
When invited in 2008 by my friend, Boris Johnson to join him at City Hall as his Transport Advisor I started by establishing the London Electric Vehicle Partnership, paving the way for London to become an early adopter of EVs - we also delivered the most user friendly (and app enabled) cycle hire scheme in the world - and returned the iconic Routemaster bus with a 21st century design and latest hybrid technology – championing cleaner air for London. I did ALSO convince the Mayor to establish the office for Digital London because it was becoming ever clearer that we were on the cusp of a generation defining industrial change – the beginning of the digital era.
My Lords, during the last decade, we have all witnessed the initial phase of digital transformation in UK public services. Which means that today, if you want to renew your passport, or pay your council tax, or update your driving licence online, you can.
But something is missing: the user experience does not feel integrated or elegantly designed. Yes, I can use my NHS app and manage my income tax digitally, but I need to visit different website and applications to do so. That is because services are designed around the way government is organised – they are not yet citizen-centric.
Contrast this with our experience as consumers. Our interactions with the mega digital bemouths like Apple, Google or Amazon feel effortlessly intuitive and joined-up. These service providers already know us and what we might need and are an example of what great user-centric experience looks like. They are the bench mark and opportunity for public services over the next decade and beyond.
My Lords, we are all aware that the future of digital is brimming with opportunity BUT I also know from my time in industry that in the years ahead, what we debate and decide in this chamber will need to sit alongside what tech businesses around the world decided to do.
My Lords, I humbly suggest that this House will need to do ever more to be relevant in the fast moving digital world AND to ensure we retain that most valuable of commodities - public trust in our ability to generate legislation that is relevant and inclusive. We will need to:
inform – about the capabilities of digital technology
promote - the opportunity it brings.
And protect - from the risks…the potential of information overload and the loss of privacy, and the need to ensure cyber security for our online and offline lives. As well as maintaining control as we create and deploy technologies like AI.
My Lords, As I look forward to playing my part in this House, I see on the horizon the emerging challenge of how we will help shape a fast moving digital society that can be digitally fair, inclusive and secure. And will hopefully mean my children, and God willing - their children – will be able look back and say we protected and advanced society when faced with OUR greatest moment of technological migration, when society transformed and we helped build a better future for us all.
Comments