Lords
Proceedings
13 July 2026
Climate Change: Housing Insurability, Mortgage Lending and Financial Resilience
My Lords, on the issue of financial resilience and climate change, has my noble friend seen the CBI report that came out a few weeks ago, showing that the net-zero economy is now worth over £100 billion and is promoting growth in all parts of the UK? Having said that, what does he make of the leader…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
IVF Treatment
My Lords, with the abolition of NHS England, ICBs will be given many more responsibilities in the future. However, does the Minister agree that their record on IVF, where they are not following the clear, specific guidance that they have been given, does not induce confidence in ICBs’ performance? I…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Civil Service Pension Scheme
My Lords, following on from the question from the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, is it not a fact that government has become vulnerable because so many services have been outsourced and there are very few companies that can win contracts? Therefore, there is not much option but to use Capita. Do we not h…
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Nottingham Maternity and Neonatal Services
My Lords, to continue this theme, the report describes a bullying and toxic culture, with junior midwives not being sufficiently supported when dealing with complex cases. It was a culture that did not allow them to refer such cases up the chain. There was a constant turnover in senior midwifery lea…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
23 June 2026
Carbon Budget Order 2026
My Lords, this has been a very interesting debate so far. I thank my noble friend for his very detailed explanation of the order before us. I am not sure that we are spending much time on the detail of the order, as he requested, and we are clearly turning this into a debate about net zero and clima…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
UK Defence Capability
My Lords, on this issue of reprioritisation, given the fiscal restraints we are operating in, it is pretty clear that some resources will have to be found from other expenditures in government. Does he think the Government are doing enough to get across to the public why this is so important at the …
Lords
Proceedings
3 June 2026
Cabinet Manual: Guidelines for Government Formation
My Lords, does my noble friend reflect that when the noble Lord talks about chaos, we should go back to the coalition Government, when his party signed up to austerity, which caused such damage to our country? It also agreed to the disastrous NHS reform Bill brought in by Andrew Lansley—the noble Lo…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
AI Growth Lab
The specific proposals around the AI growth lab are separate from considerations on the development of superintelligent AI and the risks that poses. We are extremely fortunate in the UK to benefit from the AI Security Institute, which is testing those models and is also able to advise the Government…
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am addressing the point of impact assessment, which had not been properly debated.
My Lords, this has been an incredibly long time coming. This Bill has endured 15 days in Committee and six days on Report in your Lordships’ House. It has been a mammoth of a task, but throughout the Bill’s passage, I am pleased to say that we have executed our duties in this House as diligently as …
Lords
Oral Questions
24 March 2026
Public Transport: Accessibility
I am delighted that my noble friend raised that. It is one of several stations that have been completed in the West Midlands; all are accessible and all will make travel around the West Midlands easier, which will improve economic growth and access to jobs and homes.
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Migraine Care: 10-year Health Plan
As I know my noble friend is well aware, the eligibility criteria are set independently by NICE. They are based on clinical evidence and cost-effectiveness, rather than being set by Ministers. However, it is worth saying that the introduction of oral CGRPs, which do not require specialist initiation…
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
Can I just go back to the point the noble Viscount raised a minute or two ago? He said that such investigations must be undertaken with great sensitivity. He referred to the investigation of rape cases. I put it to him that all experience shows that the police and, indeed, prosecution authorities so…
Lords
Proceedings
18 March 2026
Digital ID: Public Consultation
My Lords, I endorse what my noble friend has said; I hope we all give this a great deal of support. Does he agree with me that it is a great pity that the pilot scheme abolished by the coalition Government in 2010 was not allowed to run? All the indications are that it was very popular with those wh…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
UK Public Servants: International Secondments
My noble friend is absolutely right, and it suggests quite how unserious Reform UK is about governing. We have an independent Civil Service for a reason. It acts without fear or favour; it is subject to a stringent code of conduct, and it is there to make sure that our public services are delivered.…
Lords
Proceedings
9 March 2026
Energy Markets
My Lords, can we come back to the North Sea and the Opposition’s obsession with it? Can my noble friend confirm that between 2010 and 2024, production in the North Sea halved? It is a super-mature basin that, even if new licences were to be granted, would have a marginal impact. On the issue of gas …
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Crown Estate: Wales
My noble friend is absolutely right that we need to think about energy security. One thing that is coming out of what is happening, tragically, in the Middle East at the moment is that, because oil and gas prices are set internationally, this impacts on every country’s economy. That is why we need t…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 March 2026
Assisted Dying Legislation: Isle of Man and Jersey
My Lords, I do not know how many more ways I can find to say that the Government are neutral on this Bill. My noble friend the Chief Whip has made extra days available on Fridays: we still have four more to go. How that time is used is a matter for your Lordships’ House, bearing in mind that the pos…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 March 2026
Carbon Budget 6
The continued presence of nuclear power as a low-carbon power source is, and will be, an integral part of carbon budget 6 being met. It would be very difficult to catch up with those carbon budget 6 figures without nuclear power. It will come and go a little bit, in terms of retirements of nuclear p…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
AI: Labour Market Changes
My noble friend is right. We will not stand by but will look proactively at the evidence of impacts on the workforce. Yes, we acknowledge that some work will be replaced by AI, but, at the same time, new jobs will be created and we have to ensure that our workforce right across the country adopts ne…
Lords
Debate
23 February 2026
3 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Patel, made some very interesting points, and I am interested in hearing my noble friend the Minister’s response to his amendments. I doubt I have had as many emails as the noble Lord, in view of his expertise in the whole area of medical training and development, part…
My Lords, does the noble Baroness accept that the royal colleges certainly can give moral leadership? I also refer her back to the last junior doctors dispute, about 10 or 11 years ago. As she will remember, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, I think it was, set up a group to look at all these i…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
10 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
My Lords, I thank my noble friend. Coming back to the issue of legislation and the need to ensure that there can be expulsion of Members in these circumstances, would she also accept that the expulsion of a Member is a very serious matter indeed and that, clearly, there need to be safeguards to ensu…
Lords
Debate
10 February 2026
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
The noble Lord talks about splits. Could he remind me which Government signed this country up to mandatory targets on net zero by 2050?
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Government Website: Registering a Death
The issue is under constant review. Work continues towards the introduction of electronic registration of deaths in England and Wales to minimise the burden on bereaved family members at a difficult time. As my noble friend has said, this system was introduced for perfectly legitimate reasons to imp…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Public Transport: Remote Communities
I agree with my noble friend absolutely. More to the point, the ferry operators recognise that, too, as befits the ordering of new ships with reduced carbon emissions and the experimentation to the Isles of Scilly to which I previously referred.
Lords
Committee Stage
9 February 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, in proposing that Clause 53 should not stand part of the Bill, I should emphasise that I am not opposed to the clause—far from it. We have now had three debates about the role of local government in the health service, and I want to probe how far the Government are really prepared to devol…
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend. It has been a really interesting and encouraging debate. I share the view, concern and thrust of the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, and I thought my noble friend was pretty positive in response.
The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, made a ve…