Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2026
Child Poverty
My Lords, it is a real pleasure to introduce this debate on the first UK-wide child poverty strategy, and strategy for England, since 2010, during which time child poverty, particularly deep child poverty, has worsened. I am grateful to the noble Lords taking part, and I hope that the debate will pr…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
2 contributions
Refugee Move-on Period Pilot Evaluation Report
My Lords—
My Lords, I cautiously welcomed the increase to 42 days, though those on the ground warn that the 56-day period, which was piloted, is needed to ensure that refugees can move on from Home Office support successfully. If the 42-day period is to work, in order to avoid the confusion reported in the ev…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I very much welcome the gracious Speech’s emphasis on economic security, which is of particular importance to people on low incomes, and its reference to the Government’s belief that no child should be held back due to poverty. The child poverty strategy, including the abolition of the une…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I very much welcome the gracious Speech’s emphasis on economic security, which is of particular importance to people on low incomes, and its reference to the Government’s belief that no child should be held back due to poverty. The child poverty strategy, including the abolition of the une…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
21 April 2026
2 contributions
Immigration and Asylum (Provision of Accommodation to Failed Asylum-Seekers) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I find myself in the happy position again of agreeing with the Government. I commend them for these regulations, which go some way to addressing the risk of abuse of our asylum support system. These changes are a good start, but they could go further. I have one or two questions for the Mi…
The intention is to have a 42-day period. We are publishing the evaluation very shortly. If my noble friend will allow me, I would rather reflect on this with my colleague, Minister Norris, who deals directly with these matters, on the mechanism to achieve that—but I will certainly write to her on t…
Lords
Proceedings
14 April 2026
Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules
It is always a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett. I am hugely grateful to the noble Lords, Lord German and Lord Dubs, for providing an opportunity for the House to discuss the Government’s changes to the asylum, refugee and settlement system.
I should begin with…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
2 contributions
Child Poverty and Homelessness: Asylum and Settlement Policies
The Government will ensure that the needs of vulnerable people, including families with children, are fully considered as part of our asylum and settlement reforms. We remain committed to assessing all proposals carefully to create a system which is both fair and sustainable. Ministers are working c…
I say to my noble friend that the aim of these measures is to reduce misuse of support, not to make people homeless or to increase child poverty, which it is a core mission of the Labour Government to eradicate. We will not deny support to those who genuinely need it and who have no way to support t…
Lords
Proceedings
24 March 2026
Youth Unemployment
My Lords, I am glad that my noble friend the Minister talked about those who are not “sitting on benefits”—to quote the noble Lord, Lord Palmer—because the assumption is that all those young people are just sitting on benefits. In fact, I was shocked to find that 44% of the young people we are talki…
Lords
Debate
12 March 2026
2 contributions
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, for introducing this Bill. Her passion for this policy is evident and I am sure that she is very glad finally to bring it to us 615 days after the current Government took power. The Green Party called for the end of the two-child benefit cap durin…
I have given the same answer about the levels a number of times. The cap has to be reviewed by 2027. The Secretary of State will review it at the appropriate time, certainly within the statutory deadline, and he will make the judgments he makes at the time. I am happy to convey the comments made on …
Lords
Oral Questions
2 March 2026
Child Poverty Strategy
My Lords, my noble friend raises an important point. I assure her that the strategy, when it was being developed, looked at all children. We want to recognise the impact of poverty on children, whether or not they made any choices—because, as children, they do not make choices—contributing to their …
Lords
Debate
23 February 2026
2 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, Amendment 11 would add to the list of priority groups people who have been recognised as in need of international protection, who have arrived as a Hong Kong British national or who have arrived on a safe and legal humanitarian route. I will speak simply to this amendment, but I have some …
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, and the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed of Tinsley, for their support for Amendment 11. I am also grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Howe—I thought his response was very fair.
There was clearly very strong support for the noble Barones…
Lords
Committee Stage
10 February 2026
Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026
I thank my noble friend the Minister for presenting the regulations. I will make a brief grouse that one of the sets of regulations we are debating was not on the table, and it was not even in the Royal Gallery. I know it is only three pages, but it should have been there, so I hope some action will…
Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank my fellow signatories to Amendment 221, those who supported a similar amendment in Committee, and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, UNICEF UK and the NSPCC for their assistance. I also thank Minister MacAlister for a helpful meeting to discuss it.
In a nutshell, the amen…
My Lords, I thank those who spoke in support of the amendment. I am disappointed with my noble friend’s response, although I welcome what she said about upskilling officials. I hope that that will be done in conjunction with the stakeholders to whom she referred, with whom the Government have had re…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of Amendment 208, to which I have added my name; I also express support for the aims of Amendment 206 as a fellow member of the Select Committee which the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, mentioned.
The noble Baroness, Lady Morgan…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Child Poverty: Faith-based and Voluntary Sector Organisations
My Lords, my noble friend makes a really important point. Any of us who met people with lived experience as part of this process have learned things that we will never forget. The most memorable one for me was when I met a young woman. When she was a child, her family was evicted from social housing…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Two-child Benefit Cap: Foreign-born Children
My noble friend is so right. The cost of failing to tackle poverty is too high—for those children but also for our country. Hungry children do not arrive at school ready to learn. Poorer children are more likely to have mental health difficulties by the age of 11. They are more likely to have poorer…
Lords
Debate
28 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I am pleased to speak in support of Amendment 107, to which I have added my name, moved by such a warrior against poverty, not least as it provides an opportunity to welcome the Government’s landmark child poverty strategy. Sadly, the Opposition did not think it important enough to ask for…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 January 2026
3 contributions
Asylum and Immigration: Children
Policy development is ongoing for reforms across the across the asylum and immigration system. Child impact assessments will be conducted throughout the policy development process to consider the impact of the reforms on children, in accordance with Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigra…
I can give my noble friend the assurance that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an essential framework which will guide both Ministers and officials in drawing up the appropriate policies to ensure that we look at the safeguarding, welfare and best interests of the child. M…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 January 2026
Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy
As the noble Baroness identifies, training is critical to the whole-society approach that the strategy sets out, and policing is a key part of that. That is why £13.1 million has been provided to set up the national centre for VAWG and public protection, which will improve policing and deal with man…
Lords
Debate
19 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I am pleased to support Amendment 77, to which I have added my name. I take this opportunity to thank my noble friend the Minister for the helpful meeting that I and stakeholders had with her to discuss the other issue I raised alongside this in Committee.
As my noble friend has said, I a…
Lords
Debate
14 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I support Amendment 97, to which I have added my name. In Committee, I likened the waiting for Wales argument to a legislative Waiting for Godot. Well, Godot has arrived in the form of a very thorough evaluation of the first three years of the Welsh legislation. The overall message, as we …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
National Plan to End Homelessness
What my noble friend says is indicative of the issues we have in this area of making sure that we work across government to solve some of these problems. The Home Office has committed to strengthening data-sharing processes with councils for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness wit…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Universal Credit: Two-child Limit
My Lords, my noble friend makes a really important point about the scarring effects of poverty. Our aim is to make sure that everyone who can work, does, with all the help they need to do that. That is what this Government have been doing. We are investing heavily in childcare to make it possible to…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Carer’s Allowance: Overpayments Review
I will say to my noble friend that one of the differences, as I began to explain to the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, is that carer’s allowance is not a means-tested benefit. If someone is on a low income and is doing some caring, they can also apply for a means-tested benefit, such as universa…
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly to express my strong support for everything that the right reverend Prelate said. I will not repeat the principled case I made in Committee, but I thank my noble friend the Minister for the letter he sent me after the debate. In it, he stated that
“it is important to …