Lords
Debate
28 April 2026
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I am very grateful to noble Lords for their remarks. I will not detain the House for long. I want to say just a couple of things.
One is that this Bill is about so much more than the reserve power. We should take a moment to think about what we have done. We have done some really signific…
Lords
Debate
20 April 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank the Minister for explaining things in great detail from the Government’s perspective.
I will speak to Motion B1, which the Minister said has already been met. The Local Government Pension Scheme already has mechanisms to review and amend employer pension contributions and funding …
My Lords, it is beyond doubt that mandation is, rightly, the most serious and contentious issue in the Bill. We have made our views on this very clear, as have many other noble Lords. The state should not be directing the investment of assets held by private funds. The power that the Government are …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Warwickshire County Council (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2026
I start by thanking noble Lords for their contributions and questions. I will endeavour to answer them and to get the SIs in the right order as I do so. Before I turn to the questions and the reasonable points that have been raised, I reiterate the important strategic role that devolution has to pla…
We could argue about the figures but, in the academic year 2025-2026, it was the case that the Government made a small cut to the adult skills fund in the very challenging fiscal context that we inherited. There have been no further reductions, nor will there be for this forthcoming academic year.
…
Lords
Committee Stage
13 April 2026
National Employment Savings Trust (Amendment) Order 2026
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords for their questions and I will try to answer most of them if I can. I will respond first to my noble friend Lord Davies and thank him for his support for this order and its aims. In relation to CDC, this order is obviously focused on certain benefits that N…
Lords
Proceedings
24 March 2026
Youth Unemployment
My Lords, preparing young people for work should start within the school system—that was touched on in questions from the Benches opposite. Can the Minister say what efforts are being made, working with the DfE, to include career management and education? Surely the earlier the young are set on the …
Lords
Debate
23 March 2026
5 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I start by referring to the reference the noble Lord, Lord Davies, made to “Mastermind”; I am tempted to say that I have started so I will finish. I thank the Government for bringing forward these technical amendments, which seek to protect schemes from unintended consequences arising from…
My Lords, I will speak briefly. We welcome the intent behind these amendments. We have spoken with campaigners and representatives of affected members and understand the concerns that sit behind them. Those concerns are real and deserve to be taken seriously. I have listened very carefully to the re…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
19 March 2026
5 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have amendments in this group, which broadly seeks to refine the Government’s scale requirement as set out in the Bill to reflect the fundamental principle that size is not everything. We have heard a lot about that in this short debate. For the sake of brevity,…
My Lords, I have spoken to my amendment and as warned in my remarks, I wish to test the opinion of the House.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 March 2026
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, we again understand the intention behind this amendment from the noble Viscount, Lord Thurso, supported by the noble Lord, Lord Palmer. We also recognise the strength of feeling that exists on the question of pre-1997 indexation; I listened carefully just now to that strength of feeling be…
Lords
Debate
16 March 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I want to start by thanking my noble friend Lord Fuller for commencing our discussions on this important Bill, which is now on Report. We on these Benches look forward to an effective and constructive Report and hope that we can work with noble Lords across the House to make the improvemen…
My Lords, I will address Amendment 12, which stands in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott. This amendment addresses an issue that sits at the very centre of the concerns we have raised throughout the passage of the Bill: how contribution rates in the Local Government Pension Sche…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
12 March 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
My Lords, I am so grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate. I love listening to maiden speeches, when we get an insight into the range and depth of experience coming into this House. Today we heard three magnificent examples. If anyone outside is listening, that exceptional ri…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 March 2026
Pension Schemes: Ministerial Powers
My Lords, to be clear, the Government designed this power specifically to backstop the Mansion House Accord, and that is our intention. I am always open to suggestions of ways to make that clearer than we have tried to do so far. I had a great opportunity to talk to many Members of the House about t…
Lords
Proceedings
4 March 2026
Security Update
My Lords, the Minister spoke about taking tough steps and the seriousness of this. Can I press her further on the location of the Chinese embassy? I know that she attempted to answer the question from my noble friend Lady Finn, but why has the decision been made? Surely this is one occasion on which…
Lords
Committee Stage
3 March 2026
2 contributions
Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2026
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, for introducing her Motion. If that was the first time she has done so, I commend her on how clearly she set out her case. I thank her for giving us the opportunity to debate the incredibly important subject of housing support. I also th…
Of course, there are still issues about tiers and responsibility. One of the challenges is that local government reform is going on, which is one of the reasons why we need to make sure that we work with local authorities so that, by the time we get to that point, we have taken account of that. But …
Lords
Oral Questions
2 March 2026
Child Poverty Strategy
My Lords, I absolutely agree with the noble Viscount, and I have said many times from this Dispatch Box that, for many families, work is the best route out of poverty. Of course there will always be those who cannot work, and they deserve a welfare state that supports them, but this Government have …
Lords
Committee Stage
23 February 2026
7 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
I hope noble Lords have had a restful recess. It is a pleasure to open the first debate on the final day in Committee on this Bill, and I look forward to hearing further and final contributions from noble Lords on this stage of the Bill.
Today, we continue to discuss important issues relating to pe…
My Lords, I am very conscious that I spoke at some length in my opening speech, so I will be brief in closing and do not intend to question the Minister too much on the points that she made. I will say only that, as my noble friend Lord Kirkhope rightly said, pensions are complex and need to be well…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
Jobs Market
To echo the words of my noble friend Lady Smith, all this is around reforming welfare and the way to get people into work more comprehensively. These are serious, deep-seated issues that we must take time over, but as I have said, the Milburn review, which is about tackling NEETs—which I think the H…
Lords
Committee Stage
5 February 2026
7 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I will mainly speak to and concentre on the government amendments in this group. I start by thanking the Minister for setting them out so clearly. We welcome the additional clarity that they provide.
In particular, these amendments ensure that the Financial Assistance Scheme and the PPF p…
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 187A, 188A, 189A and 203ZA tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann. She has long been a formidable and principled advocate for pension savers and much of the Committee will be sympathetic to the underlying concerns that she raised in her remarks. In particular…
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Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Two-child Benefit Cap: Foreign-born Children
My Lords, I am sure the noble Viscount knows that, although we are lifting the two-child limit, the Government are not lifting the benefit cap on the total amount that any household can get. The benefit cap encourages parents to take responsibility and work towards financial independence. There is, …
Lords
Committee Stage
3 February 2026
5 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I hope that the Committee will think that it makes sense if I begin with the four amendments in this group tabled in my name. I start with our probing stand-part question on Clause 45. This is a short clause, but an important one. It makes changes to the Financial Services and Markets Act …
My Lords, I speak briefly to Amendment 175, tabled by my noble friend Lady Noakes and supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles. This amendment relates to new Section 117D, the best interests test as set out in Clause 48. This new section establishes the test that must be satisfied before a unila…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
26 January 2026
4 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak in strong support of a number of carefully drafted amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, and once again ably supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann. I will also speak to my Amendment 127.
My Lords, briefly, this group again underlines a central point that we have been making: mandation should not be in the Bill. Time and again, we have heard concerns about the risks of picking winners and the unintended consequences that inevitably follow. I raised these issues on the previous group,…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
22 January 2026
8 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, supported by my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott, I am glad to be leading off in another group of amendments, largely designed to probe the Government and clarify their thinking, plans and rationale on the small pots regulations in the Bill. Indeed, I know that many industry bodies are watc…
My Lords, I will conclude fairly briefly. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions and the Minister for her reply. I thank in particular the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, my noble friends Lady Noakes and Lady Coffey, and the noble Lord, Lord Palmer. I see, as the Minister pointed out, that the…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Parental Leave and Pay Review
My Lords, leave from day one is about the ability to give notice. For statutory maternity and paternity pay, there is already a significant period of qualification of working for the employer. If the noble Viscount is seriously suggesting that businesses would reject all potential mothers and father…
Lords
Committee Stage
19 January 2026
4 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, and the noble Lord, Lord Palmer, for their amendments in this group. I also thank other noble Lords for all their other contributions in Committee so far this afternoon. Our debate on this group has stimulated a most valuable discussion. Of course,…
My Lords, we come to another busy group, in which the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, and I have amendments. I will speak only to our amendments so that other noble Lords have time to set out their reasoning and questions to the Minister. I look forward to hearing them. Essentially, this group c…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
14 January 2026
5 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, we have a changing of horses: I will speak to the four amendments standing in my name and under the name of my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott, which together develop and expand on the arguments already made from this Dispatch Box on the LGPS. These amendments address four specific concern…
My Lords, even with policy areas as complex as public service pensions, we readily acknowledge that different measures and benchmarks can produce materially different outcomes. Given the scale, duration and complexity of the LGPS, it is surely reasonable to expect those comparisons to be made explic…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
12 January 2026
7 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, it is a privilege to open today’s debate and to begin what I am sure will be five engaging and constructive days of scrutiny on this Bill in Committee. The proposed new purpose clause, in my name and those of my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott and the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, is not an…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this relatively short debate. Many of the points raised strongly reinforce the view that my noble friend and I are seeking to advance: that this is indeed a framework Bill, which in its current form would benefit from greater explanation, gre…
+5 more contributions in this session