Lords
Proceedings
13 July 2026
Civil Service Pensions
My Lords, as a previous Pensions Minister, I am aware of how difficult it is to persuade young people in particular to make proper pensions provision. The danger of a scandal such as this, caused by Capita, is that confidence in the pensions system is undermined. Can my noble friend the Minister ass…
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Construction Sector: Skills Shortage
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that, as well as looking at national infrastructure, it is important to get companies involved locally through organisations such as UTCs, as in Doncaster, where they have been very effective by not only having career guidance but putting on courses …
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Resistant Hypertension
My Lords, following on from the extraordinary explanation by the noble Lord, Lord Patel, of the background and the need for specialist centres, would a pilot project undertaken by NHS research help, in case there are any delays in assessing the information before us? This is something that the NHS s…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes
My Lords, I was an OSCE observer last week at the elections in Armenia. Initial reports show that, although there was significant Russian interference, particularly on social media, its effect was mitigated because there was a very effective public education campaign. Will my noble friend the Minist…
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
VAT Relief: Business Donations
My Lords, it can often be the case that the people who might benefit most from donations such as this are not always aware of the positioning of them. I wonder whether more could be done with local authorities to ensure that there is good signposting for people—perhaps, as the Minister said, through…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
Student Visas
My noble friend is right that there is a criminal network involved in trying to secure entry to the United Kingdom through a range of illegal ways—small boats, the illegal use of asylum claims or illegal applications for student visas. We are cognisant of that and the Government are trying to ensure…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Business Improvement District Ballots: Digital Voting
I am grateful to my noble friend, particularly as she reminds me of the days when I was doing election monitoring in Moldova and Georgia, which was a fascinating experience. I very much appreciated then the work of the OSCE, and still do. She is quite right that we have to do all we can to make sure…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Nitrous Oxide
It is a very real tension that my noble friend mentions. It is important, particularly in a school or youth club context, that young people who see the use of nitrous oxide have an opportunity to talk to a teacher, parent or youth worker, both to understand the consequences of that use and to find m…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 March 2026
Equality: Break Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission
I completely agree. I would go back a stage earlier and stress the importance of health visitors. It is very disappointing that the number of health visitors has gone down in recent years. They are an incredible link to families. They are trusted and they can share information at a local level. My n…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Migraine Care: 10-year Health Plan
I can indeed say to my noble friend that a holistic approach is exactly at the core of the 10-year plan, as is the enhancement of care through expanded community diagnostics, better prevention and the use of personalised digital tools, including the NHS app. All these will be helpful in the way my n…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 March 2026
High Streets and Towns: Regeneration
My noble friend is quite right. One thing that happened as a result of Covid was seeing vaccination centres, for example, introduced into high streets. In my own regeneration scheme, part of the plan was to have a healthy hub in the middle of the town centre so that people could come and get their h…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
2 contributions
UK Domestic Visitor Levy
My Lords—
I agree with my noble friend that that was a great step forward. I should declare an interest, as I benefit from that free entry when I am on my granny duty in the recesses. She makes an important point about access to leisure and culture, which we should always aim to make as widely available as po…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 March 2026
Foreign Direct Investment
I thank my noble friend for the question. It is incredibly important that people understand that we have partnerships and relationships that go deep around the globe and that they are critically important. The trading relationships act as the gateway to having diplomatic conversations—and conversati…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 March 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
My noble friend makes an important point. As we go through the reorganisation process, it is important that we continue to pay tribute to the local government staff who are driving this forward, and that we continue to keep a focus on what local government has to offer in terms of employment. One th…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
Cyclists: Safety
There certainly is an issue with illegal or underage use of hire bikes. I take what my noble friend says with great seriousness. We are considering what else to do about this matter.
Lords
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Student Loans: Review
My noble friend makes a very important point. I went to university without a student loan, but I was part of only 14% of young people who were able to benefit from higher education. That figure now stands at more than 50%, and we need a student finance system that recognises that. I reiterate that t…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 February 2026
2 contributions
New Homes Target
We will hear from the Labour Benches, then the Conservative Benches.
It is very important that as we go through this process of building more homes, we also create the jobs to go alongside that. We have been working very closely with the sector and particularly with the developer skills group to make sure that we invest in skills as we go along this path of building.…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Under-16s Energy Drinks Ban
I can certainly confirm that to my noble friend. The new Best Start in Life hubs will take the best from previous programmes, including Sure Start. We are providing information through an online service that has had 4.5 million hits so far, and we are working closely with the Department for Educatio…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Hospitals: Delayed Discharges
I am grateful to my noble friend. I am particularly grateful as I was very active in Leeds, which has a practice going far back that is recognised as one of the foremost in the country in terms of the Home First model. I am delighted to say that it has been picked up by others. Bringing together all…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Public Trust in National Politics
My noble friend is absolutely right that one of the biggest challenges we face—and I say this as my stepdaughter is 15 years old—is what young people are exposed to online, but there is a balance here with the fact that current 13 and 14 year-olds will be voting at the next general election. We need…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Domestic Violence Against Children
My noble friend makes a very good point. She will know that the Home Office has invested £13.1 million to fund and launch a new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection to improve the response, particularly in relation to child sexual abuse. That goes to the heart o…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
Defending Democracy Taskforce
My noble friend is right to say that those who help support election monitoring overseas do a valuable job. I know that she has recently been undertaking election monitoring in Moldova. It is extremely important that the integrity of elections, not just in the United Kingdom, is maintained in the fa…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Net Zero: Civil Society and Faith-based Organisations
The question of how local communities, particularly those which have previously been involved in the high-carbon economy, can ensure that they are not left behind in the low-carbon economy is very important to us. The question of a just transition to net zero is also very important. My noble friend …
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, the noble Lord and I go back a long way. I certainly appreciate what he just said, but I ask him whether he agrees with the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, that it is important that the Bill gets to Report and that the House has the time to consider it then and not only in C…