Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2026
State of Climate and Nature
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on the very welcome Statement on how the Government will deal with the interlinked issues of climate change and nature, because there is no doubt that both are interlinked and one drives the other. We have already seen examples of nature loss in …
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Vaccine Technology
My Lords, as a member of the specialist committee in your Lordships’ House on childhood vaccinations, I ask my noble friend the Minister what interaction there is between the Department of Health and DSIT to give people greater accessibility to vaccinations. There has been a downturn in availability…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
Historical Forced Adoption
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Lord Privy Seal for repeating the Statement. The Statement referred to Northern Ireland. Today, the report from the independent panel was published, which will lead to the public inquiry. That panel found systemic failures by the state, which led to a series of …
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Farming Road Map and Profitability Review
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for bringing this Statement to your Lordships’ House this afternoon and the Government for ensuring that the road map was published, because I asked about this on several occasions during Oral Questions. I recognise that agriculture is a devolved matter…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Resistant Hypertension
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for her Answer. This Government, thankfully, have a direct focus on prevention. In view of that, the UK expert clinical consensus on renal denervation, published in the Heart journal, concluded that existing commissioning arrangements no longer accurate…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
G7 Summit
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Lord Privy Seal and the Leader of the House on the presentation and content of the Statement. I also thank the Prime Minister for his work on deepening European co-operation, and his work with an Taoiseach in Dublin on deepening British-Irish relations. B…
Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2026
Face-to-face Banking Services
My Lords, as part of the banking review, can my noble friend the Minister outline what help can be given to credit unions? They are a form of banking that provides face-to-face services, particularly to those in disadvantaged communities. I note that there is a section in the Financial Services and …
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Official Development Assistance: Bilateral Allocations
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her answers so far and confirm that I am pleased that the Government will introduce individual country allocations for ODA assistance. One of the main challenges for that assistance will be Ebola, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Wil…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
North Belfast: Violent Attack
My Lords, I totally condemn the brutal and barbaric attack on Stephen Ogilvie, and I wish him a full and speedy recovery. I commend the first responders, the PSNI, and members of the community who apprehended the assailant. We then witnessed in the aftermath the uncontrollable violence that spilled …
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
New Autism Strategy (Autism Act 2009 Committee Report)
My Lords, I was delighted to be a member of the autism committee, under the very clear direction of our chairperson, the noble Baroness, Lady Rock. I was very grateful for the direction and guidance from the noble Baroness, Lady Browning, and my noble friend Lord Touhig, who have a particular intere…
Lords
Proceedings
4 June 2026
Temporary Skilled Worker Visas: Creative Occupations
My Lords, in supporting the case for visas for those in the creative industries, I draw my noble friend’s attention to another area that I have already discussed with him: the fishing industry. That industry depends on migrant workers who come for a short period of time, but, under the current regul…
Lords
Proceedings
21 May 2026
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: Ebola Outbreak
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her response. Ebola cases and deaths are increasing on a daily basis, hence the designation by the World Health Organization. Given the severity of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, compounded by ongoing warfare, will she ensur…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Shawcross-Wolfson. I welcome the gracious Speech and a number of the important measures contained therein. In particular, I support the NHS modernisation Bill, the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which rightly seeks to place victims and s…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
2 contributions
Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps
My Lords—
My Lords, could my noble friend the Minister indicate whether ongoing discussions are taking place with the Groceries Code Adjudicator, who is the overall ombudsman, to negotiate between suppliers and the 10 largest supermarkets and to protect consumers?
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
EU-UK SPS Agreement: Food-related Standards
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for visiting Northern Ireland, particularly the Balmoral show and fishermen at Ardglass, County Down, last Friday, at my request. She would have heard quite clearly the importance of fishing, whether in the catching or the processing sector. What steps …
Lords
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Sustainable Farming Incentive: Flood Prevention and Drought Resilience
Storage ponds are incredibly important. In where I live in Cumbria, for example, the West Cumbria Rivers Trust has been working closely with landowners to do exactly that—to look at storage ponds and balancing ponds, because they have an important role to play in flood management on land.
Lords
Committee Stage
21 April 2026
Cancer Outcomes in the UK
My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for giving us the opportunity to talk about cancer today, because I am a very lucky woman: like the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, I am a cancer survivor. My cancer was picked up by routine screening, so I am just as much of a fan as the nob…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
2 contributions
Farming Road Map
My Lords, the farming road map will set the course for farming in England up to 2050. It is focused on making farming and food production more profitable and sustainable, and it will set out how farming will evolve in response to changing markets, technologies and environmental pressures. It will hi…
My noble friend has covered all the different areas that the farming road map is intended to address. Its whole purpose is as a long-term strategy: it is not quick fixes and it is not reactive. It will address many of the issues that she talked about. I cannot pre-empt what it will say ahead of publ…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 April 2026
Marine Protected Areas: Bottom Trawling
I assure my noble friend that Ministers meet regularly across government and with devolved Governments on how to ensure that we have a thriving, sustainable fishing industry right across the UK. I am aware that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland recently met representatives from the Norther…
Lords
Committee Stage
25 March 2026
2 contributions
Northern Ireland After Brexit (Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee Report)
My Lords, I speak in the gap. I was a member of the committee when this report was written. I wanted to be here to support it and suggest that it should be read, particularly by those who perhaps have only a peripheral knowledge of Northern Ireland. We were greatly assisted by our staff. I had the p…
Given the nature of InterTradeIreland, that is a matter for InterTradeIreland and is not something I can comment on from the Dispatch Box.
With regard to the specifics of the report, in short, a lot has been done, but there remains more to do, as this report by the committee highlights. Indeed, the…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Flood Detection and Prevention: Technological Assistance
I thank my noble friend for raising that interesting example. I will certainly go back and talk with colleagues about how we make sure that we adapt to changing environmental factors. We say that local flood risk management planning should follow this sort of adaptive approach over time, which takes…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 March 2026
Peatland Restoration
I thank my noble friend for her persistence in pursuing this important matter. She is asking me to undertake a lot of conversations; I like having a chat, so I will see what I can do. I cannot make any commitments about the forthcoming King’s Speech, but I just underline what I said to the noble Bar…
Lords
Proceedings
9 March 2026
Energy Markets
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on the Statement that has been made. In supporting the Government’s policy on alternative renewables, I ask that particular attention is given to Northern Ireland, where two-thirds of the population is reliant on fossil fuels, particularly oil, f…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
2 contributions
PFAS
My Lords, the PFAS plan was published on 3 February this year. It sets out for the first time the Government’s approach to minimising the harmful effects of PFAS while moving to safer alternatives. The plan includes consideration of measures to manage risks from PFAS in consumer articles. While ther…
My noble friend raises a really important issue. When deciding what action they will take to address any PFAS risks, the Government will have due regard to the environmental principles policy statement from the Environment Act 2021, which includes the precautionary principle. We know that many PFAS …