Lords
Oral Questions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
Grass-roots Music Venues
My Lords—
The Government have been very clear that the lower multipliers will broadly reflect the scope of the current retail, hospitality and leisure business rates relief, which is centred around retail, hospitality and leisure properties that are reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public. If …
Lords
Debate
22 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, as my noble friend Lady Doocey explained, Amendment 431 seeks to place a statutory duty on every police force in England and Wales to disclose its use of algorithmic tools where they affect the rights, entitlements or obligations of individuals.
We are witnessing a rapid proliferation of …
I thank the Minister. Much of what he said about developing an alternative to the ATRS has been encouraging, but, obviously, quite a lot will also depend on—and he went on to talk about data protection—whether officers are trained in how Article 22 of the GDPR operates in terms of automated decision…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Knight. Like him, I have been involved in debating online safety issues—from the internet safety Green Paper through to the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, and then seeing the Online Safety Bill become an Act. I declare an in…
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 418. I also support Amendments 417 and 419, which were spoken to so well by the noble Lords, Lord Banner and Lord Alton, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Goudie and Lady D’Souza—powerful testimony. Collectively, these amendments provide a necessary pathway for turni…
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this is already proving to be a crucial debate in the passage of this Bill. I support Amendment 416E, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Young of Acton. Sadly, my noble friend Lord Strasburger is unable to be with us to support the amendment, which he has signed, but I hope that I reflect his …
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Digital ID
My Lords, the Liberal Democrats strongly opposed the previous proposal as a serious threat to privacy, civil liberties and social inclusion, so we welcome the Prime Minister’s U-turn in saying that digital ID, after all, will be voluntary. Can the Minister therefore confirm that no citizen will face…
Lords
Debate
15 January 2026
10 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Doocey for eliciting a very useful debate, as was the intention. I particularly welcome some of the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, but say to him that a Crime and Policing Bill might possibly be the place for discussion of the use of live fac…
If the noble Lord accepts the fact that controls are required, which he did not in his earlier comments, I think he would be greatly reassured if you had to have judicial oversight of the use of live facial recognition, which is useful in circumstances other than purely policing. What we are talking…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
14 January 2026
Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes
My Lords, we on the Liberal Democrat Benches welcome the Secretary of State’s Statement, as well as her commitment to bring the new offence of creating or requesting non-consensual intimate images into force and to make it a priority offence. However, why has it taken this specific crisis with Grok …
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
2 contributions
AI Systems: Risks
I join noble Lords in thanking my noble friend Lord Fairfax for securing the debate and for speaking so powerfully, as ever, on the subject.
When I attended my first university course on AI in 1999, AGI was more a theoretical thought experiment than a serious possibility, so the warnings from the d…
My Lords, I will quickly respond. We have to be very careful about what level we regulate at. AI is multifaceted: at different stacks we have the infrastructure, the data level, the model level and so on. At which level are we going to regulate? We are trying to work with the community to find out w…
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, we strongly support Amendment 358 in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Vaux, Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Holmes of Richmond, and the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Cotes, who have made the case extremely well today. I pay tribute to the Fraud Act committee chaired by the noble Baroness…
My Lords, my Amendment 359 would create a new offence of digital identity theft. I am very pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Holmes of Richmond, has signed and supports it.
The amendment is deliberately tightly framed. It targets the foundational act that underpins so much modern fraud and serious …
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Computer-generated Child Sexual Abuse Material
The noble Lord should know that my view is that Grok is creating degrading non-consensual images, that that is an absolute disgrace and that Grok should take action on it. It is simply not acceptable. Ofcom has powers to tackle this. I will give a similar answer to the noble Lord that I gave to the …
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
Government Communications: X
My Lords, we do not spend a penny of government money on advertising on the platform. However, what is always useful when these questions come forward is that it makes you look in more detail at the subject matter. Not only are 19.2 million British citizens registered with X, but 10.8 million famili…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
Preschool Children: Digital Technology
The noble Lord makes a very important point: in all this work, it is important that we are evidence led—as I suggested, we are developing that evidence through ongoing research—and, secondly, that we are able to provide clear information for parents and for early years settings, for example, with re…
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this group of amendments addresses a vital aspect of public protection, closing the loopholes that allow registered sex offenders to evade detection and monitoring by changing their identity. Effective management of offenders in the 21st century requires a justice system that is not only l…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his response. I am glad he focused on risk mitigation, and I think we got there in the final few paragraphs of his response. We need to take very seriously what he said, and I hope that if anything he said needs qualification, he will write to us subsequently, beca…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
Technology Adoption Review
The noble Lord is right that attracting high-calibre talent to this country is incredibly important. We have a number of ongoing initiatives to do that, including the Global Talent Taskforce, as well as through academia, as my noble friend the Minister with responsibility for science and technology …
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
UK Research and Innovation: Ethnic Minorities
Yes, much of this was about postgraduate students, but it is true in the workforce. The Office for Students recently issued guidance that makes it clear that staff and students should be free to undertake academic research within the law, and should not be restricted or compromised in any way becaus…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
2 contributions
Social Media: Scam Adverts and Fraudulent Content
The Government take seriously the criminal abuse of online advertising to promote scams, distribute malware and launch phishing attacks. All social media platforms and advertisers must play a role in driving out fraudulent activity. Under the Online Safety Act, the largest social media and search se…
I am grateful to the noble Lord. I met with Ofcom recently. I know that the facts he has laid before the House are correct, but Ofcom wishes to proceed at pace to ensure that it can bring that regulation into power as soon as possible. Early in the new year, I will produce the revised fraud strategy…
Lords
Debate
9 December 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, we have heard some very powerful and emotional speeches, and I very much hope that, having seen the unanimous support all around the Committee, the Minister will respond positively today. I wholeheartedly support the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Bertin; I would have added …
My Lords, it has been a privilege to take part in today’s Committee. I think anyone reading Hansard subsequently will get a much better insight than they ever had before of the risks and experience of young women and girls in today’s world, sadly. It has been a privilege listening to all the speeche…
Lords
Debate
19 November 2025
7 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, on these Benches, we support the intent behind this blizzard of government amendments. Of course, as the Minister says, the effect of these amendments and other consequential changes is to apply tougher maximum penalties and provisions relating to offensive weapons in Scotland and, in cert…
Before the Minister sits down, I thank him for what he said. I am slightly baffled. There is no Bench more strongly against compulsory digital ID than the Liberal Democrat Benches, so I find the Minister’s assurance that the analogue form of identity will continue—and digital ID in this instance, wh…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Space Debris
The noble Lord makes a very interesting point. The Government are currently funding innovation in debris mitigation and removal. We support the research and development of UKRI and Innovate UK and are funding private companies such as Astroscale and ClearSpace to carry out in-orbit servicing trials.…
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I must say, I admire the range of interventions made by the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra. I do not want him to fall back on his seat, but on this occasion, we have some sympathy with the two amendments he has put forward. This group addresses the establishment of the new civil penalty regime for onli…
My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, has so concisely described—he gets more concise as the evening goes on—this group deals with the sanctions applied under the online weapon advertising regime.
We very much welcome the Government’s commitment to ensuring accountability for businesses and…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 November 2025
Artificial Intelligence Legislation
The issues to which the noble Lord refers have, of course, been extensively debated here. One outcome of conversations during the passing of the data Act was a commitment to have these discussions. I also think it would be premature to decide the nature or timing of legislation until those discussio…
Lords
Debate
10 November 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I knew there was a reason why I was so nice about the earlier amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra. I am afraid we do not agree with Amendment 26. The amendment focuses on the power to issue closure notices, a measure which deals directly with the security of the home, which we b…
My Lords, this group, so well introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool, and spoken to by the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Stedman-Scott and Lady Jones, focuses on putting the victim first, a principle that we wholeheartedly support.
Clause 6 aims to streng…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
10 November 2025
7 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, in moving Amendment 1, I will speak to other amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Doocey.
I welcome the start of Committee and the opportunity to engage in detail with Part 1 of the Bill concerning anti-social behaviour. We on these Benches recognise the imperative to ma…
My Lords, I think it is the Matterhorn at this stage, rather than Everest, but we will see. I thank the Minister for his very full reply, and I thank all noble Lords for their support for this set of amendments that I and my noble friend Lady Doocey put forward. The Minister has set out his stall; h…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
10 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
My Lords, alongside my noble friends and the irrepressible noble Lord, Lord Baker, I very much welcome today’s Statement. It talks about “boosting digital literacy through a reformed computing curriculum to allow pupils to navigate the opportunities and challenges of AI and much more”. What is the “…