Lords
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
2 contributions
Youth Unemployment
My Lords—
This is precisely one of the questions that Alan Milburn will consider in his review. There appears to be a growing number of young people who are out of work for whom mental health issues are part of the reason. For many of those young people, it may well be that they would be better off in appropr…
Lords
Committee Stage
5 February 2026
5 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, this amendment has the distinction of being in a grouping all of its own, which obviously shows how important it is. The proposed new clause in it would require the Secretary of State to publish a report within 12 months on
“the impact of consolidation in the occupational pensions market”…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that; it gives me some reassurance, and I am always happy to say when that happens. The aim of the amendment is to improve the Bill, not to undermine it. Some of the things that the Minister has suggested may happen are already happening. When figures are quoted qu…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Child Poverty: Faith-based and Voluntary Sector Organisations
That is a great question, if I may say so—there are some good questions coming out today. We absolutely are not interested in talking solely to large charities. We are interested in talking to them too, but we need to engage locally. As I am sure the noble Lord knows, one way that this Government ar…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Two-child Benefit Cap: Foreign-born Children
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right about the effects of this. The Labour Party in government pledged to tackle child poverty. What this Government have brought forward is a child poverty strategy which, including removing the two-child limit, will bring another 550,000 children out of pove…
Lords
Committee Stage
3 February 2026
4 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank everyone for their contributions. It might take 300 years to get it right, but we do not have 300 years; we are trying to get it right in the course of a few meetings, as the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, pointed out. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, gave us the view from the coalface wit…
My Lords, I have just a short comment. The Minister needs to explain why existing protections are insufficient and how this power will be constrained in practice. The concern is that lowering the evidential bar for intervention risks undermining legal certainty, which we have before intervention, an…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
2 February 2026
Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this Statement to the House. The Government say the WASPI women should have known about the changes. I am reminded of a quote from the book The Hitchhiker ’ s Guide to the Galaxy :
“But the plans were on display … you found the notice, didn’t you? … It wa…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 January 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate. As we know, this group addresses the use of scale, as measured by assets under management or monetary value, as a determinant of scheme quality.
The noble Lord, Lord Fuller, gave the example of the Orkney trust. I ask myself: wh…
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, on having a group of nine amendments all on her own. We normally share groups rather than have them all on our own. This group considers how scale requirements interact with default pension arrangements where most savers remain invested. I h…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
22 January 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, as has been expressed, this group establishes the foundation of the value-for-money framework. We welcome the ambition to improve outcomes for savers. However, the effectiveness of value for money will depend on how it is defined, measured and implemented, and I welcome the comments from t…
These are obviously probing amendments. They are all to do with the jargon: if we are arguing about the jargon, how much more confused will the normal punter be in trying to understand the jargon. This group focuses on how value for money is expressed, enforced and communicated.
We support the prin…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Parental Leave and Pay Review
The noble Lord raises a very important point. I am pleased to say to him that, yes, the review is considering specifically whether the current support available meets the needs of self-employed parents. That is explicitly referred to in the review’s terms of reference. He is right that, currently, s…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Youth Unemployment
There are certainly larger numbers of young people who, by virtue of mental health issues, are not in the labour market. That is why we have asked Alan Milburn to focus on this issue, why the Secretary of State for Health has initiated a review into the growing numbers of young people experiencing m…
Lords
Committee Stage
19 January 2026
7 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for putting these amendments down and speaking in detail about them. We also heard good words from the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, the noble Viscount, Lord Thurso, and the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. I almost thought, “Is there any point in getting up a…
This seems like a good moment to come in. I first ask the Minister: do the Government agree that a responsible use of surpluses should strengthen confidence in DB schemes and not leave members feeling that prudence has benefited everybody but them? In this, I disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Fulle…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
Rare Cancers Bill
My Lords, I begin by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Elliott of Whitburn Bay, for introducing this Bill in such a clear and moving manner. I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate and echo the sentiments that they expressed. It is pretty clear that many of your Lordships from all Ben…
Lords
Committee Stage
14 January 2026
4 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, as has been stated, this clause introduces compulsory mergers of Local Government Pension Scheme funds, and the word “compulsory” worries me. We on these Benches accept that consolidation can sometimes improve efficiency and governance, but compulsion—I emphasise this—is a serious step tha…
I apologise. I did not see you.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The noble Lord is right that both the security services and the Government have taken a very serious view of the threat of the Iranian regime at home and abroad. That is why the Government have undertaken to impose the financial sanctions and travel bans I referred to in my answer to my noble friend…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Youth Guarantee Scheme: Evaluation
Of course we do not want to displace the unemployment, but, as I suggested in responding to my noble friend, there is something particularly challenging and important about young people who do not even get the opportunity to get into the workforce and to have the chance of a successful future. That …
Lords
Committee Stage
12 January 2026
4 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I thank everyone for their contributions. I do not intend to go on at length.
It is a novel view, is it not, that a Bill should have a purpose? This ought to be applied to many other Bills to show what their purposes are. This Bill has a wide range of powers affecting consolidation, inves…
I simply ask the Minister to explain how local accountability will be preserved, how fiduciary duties will be protected in practice and why so much of this is not in the Bill.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Palmer, who, like me, has become a regular on the pensions circuit here. As this debate draws to a close, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed with such seriousness and expertise this afternoon. For my part, I will try to touch on the…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Universal Credit: Two-child Limit
My Lords, I think I have made my views clear on the impact of this policy. It is, in essence, a failed social experiment which has been pushing 100 children a day into poverty. We simply cannot allow that to happen. We want to support families. Most parents want to work to support their kids. Alread…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments Review
My Lords, I am afraid the noble Lord will also have to be patient for just a little longer to hear what the Government will do in response to this. It was a very detailed report of over 100 pages, with lots of detailed recommendations; we have been through it in an equally detailed manner and will p…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
Jobs Market
On the unemployment figures, different things are going on under the surface if one digs down into the figures, which I am sure the noble Lord has done. For example, he may be aware that two things are going on. On the quarter increases and on the unemployment level, a chunk of that is driven by you…
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, as we consider the amendments brought forward by the Government, I want to begin by recognising the diligent and constructive work undertaken across this House throughout the passage of this Bill. We have examined almost every clause in detail, identified weaknesses and proposed sensible, …
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her constructive approach. It has not always answered all the questions but it has gone a long way towards that. I put on record our thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, for his constructive initiatives on which some of these amendments are based, and to the noble …
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, in July, this House agreed my amendment on trade union political funds with a large majority. The amendment would maintain a position where new members have to opt in to make a contribution to a union’s political fund. This was debated in the House of Commons and rejected. I have had a con…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 October 2025
People with Disabilities: Employment
We have indeed. Despite being a Minister, I have not yet completely calibrated the scale that runs from, at one end, “in due course”, to, at the other end, “very soon”, but it is very much not at the “in due course” end. Watch this space; it will be out very soon.
Lords
Debate
23 October 2025
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords—in fact, that was so nice that I would like it to carry on, but the Chief Whip will kick me from behind if it goes on any longer. However, I will say a couple of things. In response to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leicester, we have already begu…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
Jobcentres: Staffing Levels
My Lords, I may be an optimist but I am also very positive. I believe in our staff, and I understand that there are times when this can be a really stressful job: there is no question about that. But we have been looking really carefully to make sure that we can predict demand levels and manage our …