Baroness Jones of Whitchurch — Hansard

Lords Proceedings 2 July 2026

Employment Tribunals

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that managers and senior leaders of businesses need greater investment in the skills and ability to resolve workplace conflict at the earliest point, rather than letting those disputes fester and become entrenched? This would give a better impact on productivity,…

Lords Proceedings 20 May 2026

King’s Speech

My Lords, I am pleased to speak in this debate on the gracious Speech and to welcome the focus on public sector reform and delivery. This is my first intervention since I was appointed the chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. As noble Lords know, ACAS is independent of govern…

Lords Oral Questions 9 March 2026 2 contributions

British Business Bank

My Lords, the British Business Bank’s investments are aligned with its strategic mandate, which is agreed with the Government and sets the bank’s overall strategic direction. It includes four objectives, the first of which is to support our most promising businesses in the industrial strategy priori…

My noble friend is right to ask about mandate and risk appetite. This is the direction that the British Business Bank is taking, guided by its new strategic mandate. It is increasingly taking bigger bets to enable innovative British companies to scale and stay in the UK. The Government have provided…

Lords Oral Questions 25 February 2026

AI: Labour Market Changes

I thank my noble friend for all the work she did when she was a Minister at DSIT, especially in this whole area of AI. The AI and the Future of Work Unit is designed to ensure that AI adoption strengthens rather than fragments local economies. Working with mayoral combined authorities, local enterpr…

Lords Oral Questions 24 February 2026

Quantum Technology

My noble friend asks an important question. There is no doubt that UK quantum companies look pretty attractive at the moment. We have a good idea of where those companies are, what their skills are and what is going on across the quantum space, but I believe there is a need to have all the levers in…

Lords Oral Questions 27 January 2026 2 contributions

Best Start Family Hubs

My Lords, we now know without doubt that Sure Start worked. It delivered twice as much in benefits as it cost, with positive impacts on health, SEND identification and educational outcomes. That is why the Government are investing over £500 million to rebuild crucial family services. Best Start Fami…

As my noble friend mentions, early years is a real priority for this Government, starting with our plan for change and a national target by 2028 to increase the proportion of children achieving a good level of development when starting school. We have followed this up with statutory targets for ever…

Lords Proceedings 22 January 2026

Retail and Hospitality Sector

My Lords, I will start my speech with the special crisis that pubs face, outlined with figures from the British Beer & Pub Association. In addition to the business rates problem to which I will refer later, pubs face multiple policy changes that will affect sector costs. First, there is the issu…

Lords Oral Questions 20 January 2026

Parental Leave and Pay Review

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that and pay tribute to all the wonderful work she did on the Employment Rights Bill. The whole country has good reason to be grateful to her. I am sure she still bears the occasional scar, which she may polish occasionally. That is a great idea; we would be hap…

Lords Oral Questions 8 January 2026

New Homes: Target

My noble friend is quite right to raise the issues around empty properties. Our Government have been working to make sure that we give councils the powers that they need to drive forward work on empty properties as quickly as possible. We will enable that with new powers for local councils through t…

Lords Oral Questions 15 December 2025 2 contributions

Technology Adoption Review

The review’s recommendations were incorporated into the industrial strategy and since its launch we have begun to deliver on our commitments. For example, we have allocated £99 million of funding to allow for the expansion of the Made Smarter programme to support increased adoption of technologies s…

I thank my noble friend for her commitment and sponsorship of this important area. Long-term certainty is critical in driving private sector investment. That is why we are expanding successful programmes such as Made Smarter Adoption, and making changes to government procurement and regulation. To m…

Lords Oral Questions 11 December 2025

Social Media: Scam Adverts and Fraudulent Content

I am grateful to my noble friend for that. The Government have already signed a United Nations resolution against fraud, and we are hosting a conference in Vienna in March next year to try to bring together international action on the very issues that my noble friend has mentioned. Independently, I …

Lords Oral Questions 17 November 2025

Artificial Intelligence Legislation

I thank my noble friend for her interest in this area. I can highlight that the AI Security Institute was established to provide the Government with exactly this kind of evidence and respond effectively to emerging AI risks. It has tested more than 30 frontier models, including OpenAI, Google DeepMi…

Lords Oral Questions 3 November 2025

AI: Workforce Training

I thank my noble friend for highlighting the many challenges faced by SMEs. The Government are actively supporting SMEs in adopting AI through Innovate UK’s flagship programme, BridgeAI. This initiative targets sectors with low AI adoption but with high growth potential, including construction, tran…

Lords Oral Questions 11 September 2025

Merck Research Site

I thank my noble friend for her work over the past year as a Minister in two departments, which I think she did brilliantly. There are indeed other companies that are investing. In the same period, Moderna has invested £1 billion in the UK, and BioNTech has invested £2 billion in the UK. There is si…

Lords Oral Questions 4 September 2025 10 contributions

Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply but I do not share her optimism that dynamic alignment with the EU’s SPS regime will be compatible with our membership of the CPTPP. The CPTPP’s processes depend on the assessment of equivalence, rather than alignment or harmonisation, between two party’s…

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that the Opposition’s obsession with being isolated from the rest of Europe is very damaging to Britain and the industries?

+8 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 3 September 2025 5 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, before the formal Third Reading of the Employment Rights Bill, I will make a brief statement on its devolution status. During the Bill’s development and parliamentary passage, the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets has regularly corresponded and engaged with his devol…

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Burns, for tabling this amendment, which I acknowledge is a simple tidying-up one, following changes made to the Bill on Report. It is non-controversial tidying-up amendment and therefore we are content to accept it.

+3 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 23 July 2025 8 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

The words that the noble Lord just said come from the Opposition Benches and do not reflect what we are intending by the Bill, or indeed these particular clauses. I will first speak to government Amendments 156 to 158 in my name, which are minor but important technical amendments to Schedule 10. Am…

I am going to carry on. When exercising this power—

+6 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 23 July 2025 5 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords we have had an extensive debate that indeed feels a bit like another day in Committee, but I know we all want to move on so I will try to be as brief as I can. Amendment 147 was tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Burns, and I thank him for the ongoing engagement that we have had on the topic o…

Political campaigning, which the noble Lord will know is clearly spelled out already in the legislation, requires some of these issues to be paid for out of the political fund, Indeed, my own union, UNISON, operates two separate political funds, as my noble friend Lord Prentis explained in Committee…

+3 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 21 July 2025 3 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, I will begin with Amendment 111ZA, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and Amendments 168, 169, 171, 172, 175 and 176, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, whom I thank for his engagement on these important issues. I start by reassuring all noble Lords that we agree that AI sho…

My Lords, I will speak first to government Amendments 112 to 116. The school support staff negotiating body will recognise the essential roles and responsibilities of over 800,000 support staff working in our schools, supporting our children to achieve and thrive. Like the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, I…

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Lords Statutory Instrument 21 July 2025

Online Safety Super-Complaints (Eligibility and Procedural Matters) Regulations 2025

That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 9 June be approved. Relevant document: 29th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee . Considered in Grand Committee on 15 July .

Lords Proceedings 18 July 2025

Strategic Defence Review 2025

On all sides, the international rule of law and rules of war are being broken, and for that, above all, we must be alert, prepared and defended.

Lords Proceedings 17 July 2025 7 contributions

Post Office Horizon Inquiry: Volume 1

My Lords, I thank both noble Lords for their comments. The inquiry under Sir Wyn Williams has asked some wise and penetrating questions and has scrutinised more than 2 million pages of evidence. I extend my thanks to Sir Wyn and his team for their commitment to confronting the impact of this terribl…

I thank my noble friend. He is quite right that this scandal occurred over many years, and it has taken a long time for both the previous Government and now this one to really get to grips with the action that needs to be taken. That is why the report from Sir Wyn is so important to provide extra cl…

+5 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 16 July 2025 3 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, this Government were elected on a manifesto to provide unfair dismissal protection from day one of employment—not two years, not six months, but day one. To deliver this commitment, we will remove the qualifying period for these rights. The Government recognise that, from time to time, em…

My Lords, as we have said before, we will continue to consult on this but that is our preferred option at this stage. We think that is a reasonable balance between the current arrangements and some of the proposals we have before us today.

+1 more contribution in this session

Lords Committee Stage 15 July 2025 7 contributions

Online Safety Super-Complaints (Eligibility and Procedural Matters) Regulations 2025

My Lords, as the Online Safety Act sets out, the Secretary of State must make these regulations under Sections 169(3) and 170(1) of the Act. They enable the super-complaints regime to operate by establishing the eligibility criteria that entities must meet to submit a super-complaint, as well as the…

My Lords, I welcome my noble friend’s comments, which set the context for this interesting statutory instrument. In the process of consultation that led to the final decisions, was there time for the department to begin to implement the Parkinson rule? When my noble friend and I last met some time …

+5 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 14 July 2025 3 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, this amendment is on the important issue of non-disclosure agreements. NDAs have their legitimate purposes, but they should never be used to take unfair advantage of workers and to cover up workplace misconduct. Evidence has emerged in recent years that some employers have been doing just …

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their support for our amendment. I assure your Lordships that we will follow it through to full implementation. The noble Lord, Lord Lucas, asked a number of specific questions. There will be further consultation on the regulations, but I assure all noble Lords…

+1 more contribution in this session