My Lords, I am grateful for the report and I see that the recommendations include the creation of a national academy of police leadership. I declare my interest, as the First Civil Service Commissioner, as a regulator for entry into the senior Civil Service. I argue that, at that level of leadership…
My Lords, all European countries are struggling with coming to terms with new realities and what that requires for their defence and equipment to be appropriate to modern warfare. However, irrespective of the money and the percentages spent, if we do not start the national conversation—which we have…
My Lords, following the Question from the noble Earl, Lord Russell, before we have all those solar systems in place, I urge the Minister to audit major hospital trusts on their back-up power systems, and in particular to ensure that the refrigeration facilities are available continuously for the sto…
My Lords, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led to some shortages in critical supply chains. I am particularly thinking of fertiliser, which is important for food production here and globally. Have the Government made any assessment of how long it will take, assuming that the current agreement…
My Lords, the noble Baroness mentioned all the organisations that we are working with. Could she say more about how supportive of, and in line with, our colleagues from the United States we are on this policy?
My Lords, some local authorities have in the past identified places such as churches, which may provide cool shelter during very high temperature periods. Are the Government doing any work with local authorities to make information available for those kinds of preventative action as and when it migh…
I thank the noble Baroness for the question. I am not familiar with the particular problems she referred to, but I am happy to find out more and come back to her.
I need to be careful about the monetary figures, but I can reassure the noble Baroness that the programme is going ahead according to schedule and will deliver what we need for our deterrent programme.
My Lords, when asked about the deployment of a multinational force, the Secretary of State for Defence in the House of Commons said:
“Any deployment of a multinational force into Ukraine will take place only after a peace deal”.
That is fine. He then said:
“Secondly, the role of that force is pri…
My Lords, like other Members of your Lordships’ House, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, for initiating today’s debate and speaking so eloquently that in many ways her speech alone will have given the Minister plenty of questions to answer. I pay tribute also to the work she has do…
The Charity Commission has monitored, is monitoring and will continue to monitor the performance of any organisation that meets charitable objectives. I know it is already examining some areas that the noble Baroness has brought forward. It is a matter for the Charity Commission to make a judgment o…
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, for his work in bringing together this report and giving us the opportunity to debate it. I add my thanks to him for his fascinating speech today and his wider contribution to this House, and I wish him well for the future.
The authors of thi…
My Lords, I am in favour of the amendments from my noble friend Lady Coffey. This has been a fascinating debate about the issues that we have with the devolution settlements across our United Kingdom. It is not only about the issues across the English-Welsh border, which have been so ably demonstrat…
That is a really important point. Clearly, we are in conversations with countries such as Ireland to ensure that we work as closely as we can with our friends to try to ensure that we have the protection we need. Suffice it to say that we need 360-degree protection.
My Lords, there are moments which stick in your mind because they tell you that “something has changed”. Sometimes it is obvious, such as when the Brandenburg Gate was opened and the Berlin Wall fell, but at other times it takes a bit longer before it becomes clear just what has happened. I had one …
My Lords, we often talk about the way in which liberal democracy is in retreat in the part of the world that we have just been hearing about, particularly in Russia. I wonder whether we have not put that question back to front. The Russian state was founded in 882. If we look at the period between i…
My Lords, I, too, begin by thanking the many members of the public and Members of this House for the letters I have received, as many others have, and for the power of the personal testimonies that have been brought to me. I have been particularly struck by the hand-written letters which have been s…
I thank the noble Baroness for her question and for her work in this area. She will be aware that the fast-track internship programme started in 2000 and has had many different iterations, and therefore there are well-established assessment processes in place to make sure that changes work effective…
My Lords, there is time to hear from both noble Lords. We will start with the Labour Party.
The latest data suggests that it is about 2.5% of total energy consumption. That will increase, and is being taken into account. It is clearly important that, as we move to more renewable sources of energy and come off reliance on gas, we have an increased supply. It is also why the Government annou…
My Lords, I declare my registered interest as an honorary captain in the Royal Navy. I refer to the Statement:
“We will establish continuous submarine production through investments in Barrow and Derby that will enable us to produce a submarine every 18 months”.
That is a pretty ambitious timetabl…