The Deputy Speaker — Hansard — Westminster Brief

Lords Debate 12 June 2025

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Meston, has highlighted the problem of large sibling groups. I want to draw attention to a very specific group, which is bereaved children. Sometimes there are several children in a single-parent family and, when that one parent dies, often the children left behind are…

Lords Debate 11 June 2025 3 contributions

Holocaust Memorial Bill

My Lords, I added my name to this amendment. I heed very closely the words of my noble friend Lord Carlile of Berriew; we have to look at the balance of risks. I will not go through the details of the substances that I looked at because I do not want to fuel any terrorist activity, but I worry that …

Oh dear.

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Lords Debate 9 June 2025 3 contributions

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords, this is an extremely important amendment. I have a slight concern that the Minister in replying may say that the Crime and Policing Bill is the place for such an amendment, but the problem with the proposals in that Bill is that they are based on age, whereas this amendment is much more su…

My Lords, the long title of this Bill starts by stating that it is to: “Make provision about the safeguarding and welfare of children”. The Bill’s focus on well-being will be undermined if we allow intergenerational cycles of violence towards children to remain perpetuated. Amendment 67, along wit…

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Lords Oral Questions 9 June 2025

Social Care and Special Education Charities: Employer National Insurance Contributions

I do not think I can give a positive answer to the main thrust of the noble Baroness’s question. As she will know, and as I said already, the Government are making available £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025-26. We will set out future years’ allocations in the sp…

Lords Debate 5 June 2025

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, I was unfortunately delayed in getting here for the start of the previous group of amendments. I had added my name to the amendments on education. However, I am delighted to be here. I would have added my name to the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, if I had realis…

Lords Debate 22 May 2025 6 contributions

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords, briefly, these clauses are going to be incredibly important to empower information sharing, but I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, for having raised so many of the practical concerns. The noble Lord, Lord Meston, has just asked for some objective criteria, but from my experience in g…

My Lords, I support the amendments in this group and strongly congratulate the Government on having picked up the concept of a unique child identifier. I was part of the group, with the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, when we did not get there on previous legislation, and we were told that one reason wa…

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Lords Debate 20 May 2025

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords, in responding I hope the Minister will be able to point out that the purpose of the Bill has a golden spine running through it, and that is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The different clauses should be able to read across to the convention, and wherever the child is and wha…

Lords Proceedings 20 May 2025

NHS and Care Volunteer Responders Service

My Lords, I declare an interest as president of Attend. Can the Minister explain how, in the new system, the Government will work with an organisation such as Attend, which provides insurance, legal advice, financial services and networking to a whole series of agencies that provide volunteers acros…

Lords Committee Stage 19 May 2025

Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill

My Lords, I should inform the Committee that, if Amendment 2 is agreed to, I cannot call Amendments 4, 11, 12 or 13 because of pre-emption. Amendment 2

Lords Committee Stage 6 May 2025

Medical Devices (Amendment) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025

My Lords, I share some of the concerns raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay. As the Minister so carefully explained, it is essential that we preserve the existing regulations until they can be replaced. However, does she accept that, although an argument frequently used by supporters of Brexit …

Lords Debate 1 May 2025

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords, I declare my interests as the founder of Parent Gym and the part owner of Mind Gym. Parent Gym is a programme supporting families who have the most need across our country, and I have been advocating for parenting interventions and training for families for over a decade. I am also a commi…

Lords Oral Questions 1 May 2025

Dementia and Alzheimer’s Treatments

That is a very helpful offer which I will be pleased to accept. I compliment York on its initiatives, which set a very high standard. I will also discuss the points that the noble Baroness has raised with Minister Kinnock, who is the responsible Minister in this area.

Lords Statutory Instrument 30 April 2025

Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2025

My Lords, I declare an interest in this matter, as I have been involved in UK agriculture for my whole life. Normally, I try to be helpful and even occasionally to inject some humour into my remarks—with varying degrees of success, admittedly. But I am sorry to say that, tonight, I am cross—not with…