Lords
Debate
3 July 2026
Local Plans (Burial Space) Bill [HL]
My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed of Tinsley, on coming so high in the ballot; I hope his luck continues in his dealings with the Government on the Bill. I am one of those who support his efforts. I, too, would have welcomed the presence of some bishops today, given the natu…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Prisoner Early Release
Does the noble Lord agree that tagging has an important part to play in this—the investment in new technology should cover that—and are the Government going beyond that to explore implanted chips?
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Civil Service Pension Scheme
My Lords, did the contract that was signed by the previous Government have penalties in it if the party failed to deliver what was required of them, and if so, are they being implemented?
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Global Governance
My Lords, is it not a fact that, if we are to secure international agreements, we are dependent on the Chinese being willing to enter into them, and in particular our close friends the Americans, who are showing a preference not for international regulation but to lead the world, have competitivenes…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Artificial Intelligence: National Security Implications
Is my noble friend the Minister aware of the growing desire for the UK to have an independent sovereign entity in this field? That is going to cost a great deal of money, of course. First, can she copy the letter that she is sending to the noble Lord on the Cross Benches to the whole House? Secondly…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Working From Home (Home-based Working Committee Report)
My Lords, I am grateful to the committee for its work and its recommendations, and in particular very grateful to the chairman, the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, for a very comprehensive introduction.
I have some form on this. Rather like the noble Baroness, Lady Bottomley, I rememb…
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
Middle East: Economic Update
My Lords, the Treasury gets criticised for being too short-termist these days. I am wondering whether it undertakes market research among the public about the extent to which there may be an opportunity to get greater investment from them if we were ambitious enough to try one or two tactics such as…
Lords
Proceedings
21 April 2026
2 contributions
House of Lords: Legislative Procedures
My Lords, it is helpful to review and consider the effectiveness of our procedures. I will continue to advocate for any changes through agreement in the usual channels and through the Procedure and Privileges Committee. I have no plans to set up a modernisation committee at the moment.
I always hate to disappoint my noble friend. There are many strengths to the work that we do in here on scrutiny, but I agree that, as it draws to a close, the current Session of Parliament has presented some challenges and at times has tested our procedures. I am always interested to hear proposals…
Lords
Debate
20 March 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My intervention will be brief and is addressed to the noble and learned Lord. Does he believe that his amendments will ever be adopted and incorporated into a piece of legislation that will be passed in this Session? If in fact, as we read in many newspapers and in other media, it is unlikely to be …
Lords
Proceedings
17 March 2026
Spring Forecast Statement
My Lords, let us examine the Chancellor’s Statement from a slightly different perspective. We are told that welfare spending will increase by roughly £18 billion. If I understand the figures correctly, that is approximately 0.63% of GDP. We need always to think about things relatively, and 0.63% of …
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
2 contributions
NHS: Corridor Care
My Lords—
The first thing that needs to happen is that people need to be cared for in the hospital. As I said in answer to an earlier question, everybody should be assessed according to their need. If there is a shortage of beds, it is for that hospital to manage. There will always be a difference of demand. …
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Digital ID
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister not agree that this is a typical example of what is now alleged to be “broken Britain”? We were moving forward in 2010 to deal with the changes that were taking place, and it was abandoned by the alliance. It was thrown out, and here we are again with the …
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
Technology Adoption Review
In many areas—in fact, the entire industrial strategy and particularly the Technology Adoption Review —that has been done in concert with the private sector. It is an incredibly important part of the approach. To take one example, the skills package in construction takes that approach forward; both …
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Facial Recognition Technology: Safeguards
That is a very interesting question. The Home Office is examining the use of drones and how they can be used in relation to a range of matters. If my noble friend will allow me, that matter is important in the context of the Question but is also potentially tangential to it. I will examine what he s…
Lords
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Ukraine: Forcible Removal of Children
My Lords, will the Minister, recognising how sensitive it is at the moment to ask questions, say something about where we are with a coalition of the willing? Given that periodically the USA indicates that it will not allow NATO to go in certain directions, there is a case for the coalition of the w…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Public/Private Partnerships: Shares
My Lords, the 10-year infrastructure strategy set out our approach to private finance and infrastructure through a variety of available models and approaches. Public/private partnership models are one mechanism available to bring in private finance to infrastructure projects. The strategy set out th…
I thank my noble friend for his question and I will pass on his good wishes to my Treasury colleague, whose full attention is on organising for next year’s elections but also on his duties in the Treasury. As I said, the Government will always consider carefully which model is most appropriate for a…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Water Companies: Private Ownership
I thank my noble friend and of course we look forward to his Question on Monday. Ahead of that, I can say that this is exactly what the response to the Cunliffe review will be doing—both in the White Paper and then in future legislation. We will consider a range of options for the way we harness the…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
Drink-Drive Limit
The reason why I stated in my Answer that we were deeply considering the concerns raised was because the opportunity of a new road safety strategy gives just the opportunity to consider whether reducing the limit is the right thing to do. That is what we are going to do. In that process, I have hear…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Education in Prisons
I thank my noble friend for the question. In over 70% of the meetings I have, AI is mentioned. Often, it is mentioned as a way that will solve problems much further down the line, but it is about how we can embrace it now to get the advantage of it. Digital learning is important in prisons and somet…
Lords
Proceedings
14 October 2025
Digital ID
My Lords, I welcome this initiative and I have listened with interest to the two opposition spokespersons. In 2010 and 2011, they abandoned the work that had been done, and we have fallen so far behind. We have seen people come into the country and work unregistered—not paying tax and not being part…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
Prisoners: Reoffending
My noble friend is right; this is absolutely vital for a number of people who leave prison. Some 49% of people go into prison with drug and alcohol problems. I have set up a drug and alcohol advisory panel with Dame Carol Black and others. I have also taken it one step further: I have been to an AA …
Lords
Debate
19 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, as legislators, all sorts of laws pass through our hands—the good, the bad and the ugly. All are consequential for our fellow citizens, but rarely does a Bill weigh as heavily as this one. Wherever we stand, this law change could have a seismic impact on social attitudes to life, illness a…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
Deforestation
As part of the good food strategy and other ways to ensure that we have high standards of animal welfare and people eat healthy diets, we are also looking at what are called novel foods. But clearly, we have to ensure that they are properly produced and are a healthy alternative.
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Open Artificial Intelligence Service
The Government are committed to building sovereign AI capabilities spanning hardware, software and data, and they have established a sovereign AI unit. This is backed by up to £500 million. The unit will advance UK strategic interests through supporting promising companies. We recently published the…
A lot is going on. What is being considered is investment in companies, but things that have happened include the formation of a new AI computer infrastructure—Isambard-AI went live this summer. The AI Security Institute is determined to make sure that we have the ability to look at risks of future …