Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 94A, along with the noble Baronesses, Lady Benjamin and Lady Cass, and the noble Lord, Lord Nash. In the interests of time I will not talk about the other amendments, but I commend the noble Baroness on her introduction of this group of amendments.
There …
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 31 in the name of my noble friend Lady Ritchie. It would clarify that the request for assistance to end one’s life must come from the terminally ill person, leaving no room for doubt over whether someone else is able to make the request for them. This may seem lik…
On this particular point, there is something fundamental that would equip all of us in this Committee, irrespective of our views on the principle of the Bill before us, which is the equality impact assessment—it is lacking. The equality impact assessment came forward from the Government only at the …
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Computer-generated Child Sexual Abuse Material
The legislation is clear that this type of material is illegal and punishable by offences under the law. Ofcom is now drawing up resources and an examination of priorities to be able to report back to the Home Secretary by April on how we can enforce that legislation. There are extreme penalties for…
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, Amendments 16A and 114A, which were tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, address the fact that for the last 10 years there has been a substantial backlog of applications for deprivation of liberty safeguards assessments. This backlog grew after there was a Supreme Court ruling in 201…
My Lords, just in advance of withdrawing the amendments, I would like to put on record the magnitude of this issue. In the last recorded year, there were 141,925 people who had the deprivation of liberty safeguards—DoLS—standard authorisations granted, and only 3% of the applications that were fully…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Match
I am grateful to my noble friend and hope I can help her by saying that my understanding of what has been said to date is that UEFA was not directly represented at the meeting, but was involved in wider discussions on the admission of fans. The Home Office was not party to those wider discussions, b…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
2 contributions
Children: Social Media
We understand parents’ concerns about the impact of social media on children. We have taken some of the boldest steps globally to ensure that online content is genuinely age appropriate. It is important that we protect children while also letting them benefit safely from the digital world. We are cl…
We are taking serious action here in the UK through the Online Safety Act. We are also looking very carefully at the evidence that is available about the impacts of social media, screen time and media use on children’s development. At the moment, we do not see a causal relationship between screen ti…
Lords
Debate
9 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Baronesses, Lady Bertin, Lady Kidron, Lady Benjamin, Lady Kennedy, Lady Boycott and Lady Shawcross-Wolfson, the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, all of whom who have made significant contributions. I…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Non-Crime Hate Incidents
It is an important use of non-crime hate incidents. As I said earlier, there have been 82,490 race hate crimes, 7,164 religious hate crimes and a range of other offences falling within that. One reason why it is helpful is that it guides where other government resources can go, such as the £70.9 mil…
Lords
Debate
21 November 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I am very grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. I will make a point that has been raised on a number of occasions, about what happened in the other place and the number of hours that were dedicated to the Bill there. It is important to put on record that this House received a Bill that is very …
Lords
Debate
14 November 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I speak briefly in support of the point made by the noble Baroness. I entirely understand why many Members of the Committee regard the suggestion to replace “capacity” with “ability” as wholly inadequate. The challenge that has been made by my noble friend Lord Markham and others is entire…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
2 contributions
Goodmayes Hospital Mental Health Facility
My Lords, what happened at Goodmayes Hospital was totally unacceptable and I offer my sincere condolences to Alice Figueiredo’s family and loved ones, who have suffered an unimaginable loss. The trust failed in its basic responsibilities to Alice, and I expect—and we are working to ensure—that it wi…
I am grateful to my noble friend for raising this in this way. National guidance is being developed, which is expected soon—in January—on plastic bag use in mental health settings. The Thirlwall inquiry has also recently reviewed progress against the important recommendations of the report of Profes…
Lords
Proceedings
11 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
My Lords, earlier this year, UNICEF released a report entitled Sudan’s Child Rape and Sexual Violence Crisis , which gave some harrowing accounts of armed men raping and sexually assaulting children as young as one. I listened very closely to what my noble friend the Minister said. Specifically, wha…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
2 contributions
Artificial Intelligence: Safeguarding
My Lords, safeguarding people experiencing suicidal ideation or a mental health crisis is a priority. We recognise the growing use of generative AI chatbots and the potential risks that they can pose, particularly when people seek support during moments of acute distress. Whether content is created …
My noble friend describes a disturbing situation. The independent regulator, Ofcom, has made it quite clear that if an AI service searches the live internet and returns results, it will be regulated under the Online Safety Act as a search service. Ofcom can take robust enforcement action, including …
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Antisemitism: Universities
I am sure that the work of my noble friend Lord Mann is something that university vice-chancellors should look at very carefully to inform their work. As I have said, we have already written to vice-chancellors, but we will follow this up with further meetings with them. I will certainly undertake t…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
2 contributions
MBRRACE-UK Report 2025
My Lords, although the maternal mortality rate has slightly decreased recently, this report makes it quite clear that further urgent action is needed. That is why this Government have launched an independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services, with interim findings expected in De…
My noble friend is quite right in her observation. The maternal care bundle will be a real focus for change and tackling inequalities. Maternal mental health is one of the areas that has been identified for urgent action, because of the ability to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities. Identified…
Lords
Proceedings
15 October 2025
Manchester Terrorism Attack
My Lords, my eight year-old daughter already has to go into and out of her Jewish school every day with a heavy security presence. There are security guards on the door and there are security doors in and out. She asked me if we should stop going to synagogue following the horrors of the Manchester …
Lords
Debate
19 September 2025
7 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, like many noble Lords, I come at this debate from a point of personal experience. My mum, Judy, was 62, a fit and healthy Macmillan nurse, when, out of the blue, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given weeks to live. She was taken to a hospice three weeks later, barely conscious, …
I am very grateful for the intervention, and I was just about to come on to that, but I will answer that now. The answer is yes, absolutely. The intention is that all the evidence accumulated and amassed during that time will be published for everyone in the House to interrogate and consider in adva…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 September 2025
Suicide Reduction
I thank my noble friend for her comments and kindness. She is quite right that maternal health is absolutely key and to speak about the impact not only on mothers but on their children. We have developed a considerable programme for mental health well-being. We are also recruiting 8,500 mental healt…
Lords
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
Palestinian Territories: Development Support
I think the noble Baroness’s question is incredibly constructive and it is our view that the Palestinian Authority is the only viable leadership for a future Palestinian state. As she said, Sir Michael Barber has been doing work for some time now on trying to improve capacity and to work with the Pa…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
3 July 2025
Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, I am aware of the time and I will be very brief. It will not surprise your Lordships’ House that I rise to offer the strongest possible support to my noble friend. Responding to the noble Lord who just spoke, I note that I have been strongly campaigning against arms sales to Saudi Arabia, …
Lords
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
Music Festivals: Hate Speech
My noble friend goes right to the heart of the Question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham. Individuals from any community, in this case the Jewish community, have the right to enjoy their lives without intimidation, threat or harassment, or indeed calls for death to be implemented on section…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 June 2025
2 contributions
Perinatal Mental Health
My Lords, this Government recognise the importance of perinatal mental health services. Spending on specialist community perinatal mental health services continued to increase in 2024-25. The latest NHS figures show that integrated care boards spent £212 million that year, which is an increase of £1…
I pay tribute to my noble friend for her work as the chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. I share her great concerns about the rate of suicide among new mothers in particular. The NHS planning guidance is not an exhaustive list of everything the NHS does. I am sure my noble friend will reme…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2025
Conflict in the Middle East
My Lords, I have received a number of messages from British nationals who are currently in Israel, including the following, which I share with permission: “About to have 50 missiles. So scared. I don’t care about me, but it makes it so hard with a young child. I am covering my child with my body whe…