Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Northern Powerhouse Rail
My Lords, can I press the Minister on the timetable? Obviously, I have a vested interest as a resident of the north. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the benefits will be felt by the early 2030s, but I understand that the final project will not be finished until the 2040s, and ther…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Greenland: Proposed US Tariffs
I appreciate that the noble Baroness takes a strong personal interest, for reasons that I understand, in what happens in Denmark and Greenland. I do not think it helps anybody to speculate about what we would do if certain things were to happen. I must also thank, as I should have done in my initial…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Meat Labelling
All trade deals, whether for import or export, are expected to meet the relevant animal welfare trade standards that we set in this country—that is what we expect as our standards. When we move forward with the proposals in the animal welfare strategy, labelling will clearly be part of it.
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
2 contributions
Independent Water Commission
My Lords, the Government have carefully considered the Independent Water Commission’s final recommendations and will respond in a forthcoming White Paper. A new water reform Bill will then follow, during this Parliament, to bring forward root-and-branch reform that secures better outcomes for custom…
I know that the noble Baroness has taken a long interest in SUDS, and I want to reassure her and the House that the Government are strongly committed to improving the implementation of sustainable drainage systems. In December 2024, we made changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to suppor…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
2 contributions
Greenland
We will hear from the Cross Benches.
I should imagine that, as in this Parliament, there will be a range of views on any issue on any given day. The key principle and guiding point that will shape the UK’s position on that question, and on any others concerning the territory of Greenland, is that those decisions should be taken by Gree…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Environmental Improvement Plan 2025
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, and all other noble Lords for this timely debate on precisely how the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 intends to deliver the legally binding targets set out in the Environment Act 2021. Given the alarming trajectory of nature decline in this…
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I speak particularly in support of Amendment 356A in the name of my noble friend Lady Morgan of Cotes. I hope that the Minister might see fit to include this in the Bill, as the noble Lord opposite argued for his amendment. It is difficult to find the right Bill. The Railways Bill is one p…
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Flooding Interventions
The noble Baroness is right that sustainable drainage is an important factor in managing flood risk. I am sure she is aware that I am personally supportive of this measure. The department is looking at it and is working with MHCLG, which, as the planning department, also has a particular interest in…
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friends Lord Shinkwin, Lord Blencathra and Lord McColl on speaking to their amendments so eloquently. They take the debate one step further than the general debate that we had about dangerous and careless cycling, particularly on pavements—the main perpetrators of w…
Lords
Proceedings
17 December 2025
Violence against Women and Girls Strategy
My Lords, Claudia Lawrence was murdered over 15 years ago, and her body has never been found. What comfort can the strategy bring to her mother, who has to spend yet another Christmas not knowing where her daughter lies?
Lords
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
Asylum Accommodation
I think the noble Baroness will know that the UK Government, with this Labour Party now as the prime mover, have invested a considerable amount of resource in improving accommodation for troops across the country, including the biggest-ever engagement in improving accommodation for service men and w…
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am grateful to have a short debate—not so much on Clause 106, which I welcome and congratulate the Government on bringing forward, but rather more on what is not in Clause 106. I am delighted to have my Private Member’s Bill still before the House, so it may yet be adopted before the end of the pa…
I am not sure whether the noble Lord replied on the definition.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
15 December 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, will the Minister respond to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Scriven: are these genuinely new training places? I put this question last week and did not really get an answer. I understand that resident doctors are concerned about the inability to plan ahead for training places, …
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I take this opportunity to wish my noble friend Lord Lucas a very speedy recovery from his operation. I also thank the Minister and the Home Office for in part adopting my Private Member’s Bill, with which the Minister is very familiar, but they do not go far enough. That is why I have tak…
The Minister referred in a debate last week to a Bill currently before the House with micromobility provisions. It would be interesting to know whether the consultation has already taken place before that aspect of the Bill. I am sure that it is in his notes, but I cannot for the life of me remember…
Lords
Proceedings
11 December 2025
Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for taking questions on the Statement today. I have looked at the provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and welcome the provisions that deal with the out-of-area taxi provisions, as do many taxi operators themselves. However, those provi…
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who contributed to this short debate. The question from the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, is possibly out of scope of the Motion before us, but I am always happy to meet with her and discuss this further. She has a detailed letter from me today explaining the Gover…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Drax
The noble Baroness will know that Drax is the largest single power producer in the UK and is responsible for about 5% of UK power. That means that it uses an enormous amount of biomass in its process, having converted from coal some while ago. The question, then, is where Drax gets its biomass from,…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Mobile Phone and Broadband Prices
The resilience of our network is absolutely critical. A fibre network is more resilient to many shocks, so the move to fibre will provide more resilience in the future. It is very important that in this transition from the PSTN to the fibre network, vulnerable customers are supported and have the ba…
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Motion B and Motion B1, which is the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay. Lords Amendment 2A, which has been sent back to us, in effect puts the Planning Act 2008 back into the position it was originally in. To that extent, it is not so ob…
My Lords, first, I remind noble Lords of my registered interest as chair of the development forums in Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire. I thank the Minister warmly for her engagement and that of her officials with Amendment 33 and for the Government’s support for it, giving this House the opportunity …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
3 contributions
Water and Sewerage Companies: Statutory Consultees
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and refer to my interest as an officer of the All-Party Water Group.
My Lords, water companies must by law provide new water and sewerage connections to housing through drainage and wastewater management plans. As relevant statutory undertakers in the nationally significant infrastructure project regime, they must be consulted on relevant applications for development…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
19 November 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I rise to ask on a point of information and declare an interest: I chair the National Proof of Age Standards Scheme board. In the list of identifications for proof of age purposes, I did not hear the noble Lord say that the PASS card was acceptable. It is a Home Office-approved document an…
Will the noble Lord respond on the mandatory conditions on the digital proof-of-age pass, which he confirmed would be published before December?
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
My Lords, the Minister made comments earlier this week about Wetherby Young Offender Institution serving the community. I visited a number of years ago and was appalled to see that respect for prison officers was taken away from them as they were being asked to wear tracksuits, which did not disting…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Police: Records
A lot of those decisions are for locally elected police and crime commissioners or, in some cases, mayors, who have responsibility via their deputy mayors for policing. We are concerned to ensure that we look at a number of areas to do with rural policing. The Government are focused on a number of a…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
Prison Services: Insourcing
The noble Baroness will be pleased to know that the prison industry actually grows £1.7 million in value of our own vegetables and fruit. We also do laundry services for all prisons, as we do for immigration removal centres and the police service. We also make everything there is in a prison cell ap…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Energy Market Reforms
Clearly, it is absolutely critical that we support families who struggle to pay their electricity bills. We do not want people to be cold in the winter. I am not aware of any plans to increase that payment at the moment; I will get back to the noble Baroness if I am wrong. It is important to bring d…