Lords
Oral Questions
22 April 2026
Burial Provision in England and Wales
The Law Commission report, which we welcome, was published on 18 March this year and is the first part of a wider project that will also consider the legal framework for new funerary methods and the rights and obligations in relation to funerals and the deceased. That last sub-project is expected to…
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will o speak to Motion K1, tabled by my noble friend Lady Barran. The Government are rightly acting to give local authorities the power to prevent children subject to a child protection plan being withdrawn from school. However, the scope of the Bill is clearly too limited, even with the…
My Lords, I am grateful for all the contributions to this debate. I start by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for her comments, and also say that I am totally confident she will keep a good check on how this goes forward. I am very appreciative of her role.
The Government recognise the vita…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
Humanist Weddings
The noble Lord makes a number of good points. One of the issues here is the question of the independent celebrant, because not everybody thinks it is a good idea to license independent celebrants—for example, humanists think it is not a good idea to license independent celebrants. That is why this h…
Lords
Debate
9 February 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I have four amendments in this group, three of which, like that just proposed powerfully by the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, seek to explore the thinking behind the four-year minimum prison sentence required by Clause 3 to trigger the duty of the Crown Court to make a prohibited steps ord…
My Lords, I begin by commenting on two parts of the noble Lord’s amendments. I find it difficult to understand how his Amendment 16 would work in practice. These orders have to be made at the point of sentencing; they cannot come later on as an afterthought or at a later hearing. More importantly, I…
Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak in support of Amendment 221, cogently moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, to place child’s rights impact assessments on a statutory basis for the purposes referred to in her amendment.
In Committee, the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, referred to the
“shared …
Lords
Debate
28 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I support Clause 31 and government Amendment 120. I also support Amendment 121A, which would extend the scope of what Clause 31 seeks to achieve, which is to prevent concealment of the real reasons for attempts to withdraw children from school, in particular by parents or a parent with som…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 January 2026
Asylum and Immigration: Children
The UK Government are committed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I give that commitment to the noble Lord: that is what we are committed to. The policies that we are bringing forward, which are subject to consultation, will be in line with those policy objectives.
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I strongly support Amendments 99 and 101, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran. These are designed to tackle the sad and difficult problem of successive removals of children and babies from their parents, in particular from their mothers.
When a child is removed permanently unde…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 January 2026
Age of Criminal Responsibility
My Lords, there are certain cases where the offending is so serious that a criminal justice response is required. For example, everybody in your Lordships’ House will remember the case of the killing of James Bulger, in which two 10 year-olds were involved. The important thing is that every effort i…
Lords
Debate
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I wish to speak in support of Amendment 49, specifically relating to sibling contact, to which I have added my name. In doing so, I do not want to repeat what the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, said, other than to stress, as she did, the importance of maintaining and developing sibling contac…
My Lords, I too support these amendments. The debate in Committee threw a light on the working of the deprivation of liberty jurisdiction, which, one could not help noting, was not altogether familiar to many.
Typically, these orders are made when parents cannot provide good enough care and the chi…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Domestic Violence Against Children
One of the key areas is ensuring that, through the education system, we strengthen relationship education, personal relationship education and, in particular, respect for young girls. That is a very difficult job, because there is a mass of social media that has an exact opposite approach to the typ…
Lords
Debate
14 January 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, we should be grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, for returning us to this important topic of family group conferences and for the refined amendments she has now presented, including Amendment 3, to which I have added my name. They would embed what is now established as good practi…
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, is unable to be here and has therefore asked me to lead on this amendment. It follows on from that moved by the noble Baroness in Committee on 22 May last year. As I have said, the noble Baroness regrets that she is unavailable, but I want ju…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, said, we really have to make a choice between court-based decisions and the panel, as the Bill provides for in its present form. There is merit in both. There is a strong case for the use of the expertise and skills of the Family Division of the…
Lords
Debate
16 December 2025
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I was at St Thomas’ at 8 am and will return to Guy’s at 8 am tomorrow re my lack of balance, but I was determined to speak on this important Bill. I have informed the clerks that I will do so sitting down.
I welcome the Bill warmly and applaud the work of my noble friend the Minister and …
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, we should be grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, for her probing Amendments 335A and 335B, raising the problem of wrongful retention of children in the context of the criminal law and, in particular, the Child Abduction Act 1984. Essentially, that Act criminalised the wrongful ta…
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
Mental Health Bill [HL]
My Lords, I want to acknowledge the extensive discussions about how the Act will apply to people with learning disabilities and autistic people. We know that Clause 3 will not be switched on until sufficient community support is in place. Developing the right community support is key to ensuring tha…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 November 2025
Financial Provision on Divorce
I, too, congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on introducing this debate, and I congratulate her and the noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, on their tenacity in bringing these issues before the House.
A lot has happened in society since the 1970s, when Parliament last intervened, and the heavy…
Lords
Debate
10 November 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I too agree with much of what the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, said, and I have added my name to his Amendment 12 to ask the Government to amplify the basis upon which exclusion orders might be made and the quality of the evidence required. An order excluding someone from his or her hom…
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 238A in this group, which is in the same terms as an amendment that I tabled and withdrew in Committee, reserving the right to return to it later. I have decided to bring it back for further consideration and will seek to reinforce the arguments for it.
This tak…
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I wish briefly to support Amendment 69, for the reasons advanced by the noble Earl. I just want to raise one question. The amendment would provide for guidance promoting the use of mediation. I would like to know whether the expectation of that amendment, if agreed, is that mediation shoul…
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I support Amendments 469 and 470 and have added my name to Amendment 502F. However, I suggest that altogether more forthright and comprehensive embedding of the UNCRC into English law is now both appropriate and overdue, even if that cannot be fully achieved under this Bill. That conventio…
Lords
Debate
16 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I want to underline, in respect of Amendment 462, the importance of the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, about reducing the pressures on CAMHS. The family courts are being frustrated, as I know from recent experience, and impeded in reaching necessary long-term decisions about…
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 209A concerns the scope of exceptions to home loss payments in Clause 103. The compulsory acquisition of property, particularly a dwelling, is a serious step for which clear and proper justification should be required. The person displaced is usually compensated by a statutory ho…
My Lords, I am grateful for both the supportive remarks from the Opposition Front Bench and the considered response from the Government. I would like to think about that—in particular, the wider implications of what is being proposed—more closely. On that basis, although I reserve the right to retur…
Lords
Debate
12 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will address two points. When you read the debates in the other place, you immediately see a strong focus by proponents of the Bill on the pain and suffering of the terminally ill individual in the period leading to death. That distress and suffering also impacts the lives of the family …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
2 contributions
Female Genital Mutilation
My Lords—
My Lords, I am grateful for the noble Lord’s question and agree with the points that he has made.