Lord Nash

22 parliamentary sessions on record in this archive

22 sessions
Lords Proceedings 16 June 2026 2 contributions
Social Media Ban for Under-16s
My Lords, I express my gratitude to the Government, including our Minister, the Secretary of State for DSIT and Minister Narayan, for coming to the conclusions that they have as a result of the consultation. They have listened and are clearly determined to act effectively. I add my gratitude to the …
But, given that apart from in relation to VPNs the Government have gone further than I was asking for, I commend their approach and particularly like its dynamic nature, which enables them, under the powers taken in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, to come forward with not just part 2 in Ju…
Lords Debate 28 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, here we are again. It feels a bit like doomscrolling to keep returning to this subject. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Nash, and all those who have supported him for pushing water uphill successfully, defying gravity. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for appropriating, with her pe…
Lords Debate 27 April 2026 3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak to my Motion A2. Before I do, however, I wish to say that if the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, decides to divide the House on Motion C1, I will support her. I hope, though, that some other accommodation has been made. Motion A2 is deliberately drafted so that a successful vote…
My Lords, I speak in strong support of Motion A2 tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. As I said the last time we debated the Bill, we are united in this House in our objective to protect children online, yet we still differ on how to achieve it. The noble Baroness’s amendment represents the pr…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords Debate 20 April 2026 3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I think we have all agreed that there are troubling aspects of social media usage among young people, which are taken very seriously. It is very appropriate for parents, teachers and policymakers to be concerned and to discuss how best to help children navigate the digital world. From prev…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the time she gave last week. It enabled me to better understand where she and the Government are coming from and gave me the opportunity to highlight why I think school uniforms and their cost are important, hence my amendment. As your Lordships may recall, I benef…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords Debate 25 March 2026 4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I welcome the government consultation, but I am distressed by how very wide its scope is and, as the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, said, how very vague the outcomes seem to be. The arguments that I put forward in my AI chatbot amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill also apply here. These a…
My Lords, as mentioned earlier, Google and Meta were today found in the Supreme Court of California to be guilty of causing pain and suffering to a plaintiff who had brought the case. The jury has initially ruled that $3 million in damages will be paid for that pain and suffering. The jury is now co…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords Debate 18 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the amendments in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, and others; I commend them on bringing them forward. Social media companies have captured our children’s attention, and now AI chatbots are coming for their affection—and worse. In legislating against harms caused by…
Lords Debate 2 March 2026 2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, as this is the first time I have spoken on Report, I draw attention to my interests in the register, particularly the fact that I am—and have been for many years—an investor in many technology companies, mainly software companies. I do not think I need to spend too much time telling noble…
I am grateful to the Minister for his answer and to the other Members who have spoken today. I am satisfied that the Government are seized of this issue. I do not think it will be difficult to satisfy them and Members of this House and the other place that the technology works, the privacy issues ca…
Lords Debate 3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I rise to support this amendment. The Government have, as I understand it, proposed non-statutory guidance that all schools should prohibit smartphone use by pupils in schools. This is indeed a move from their previous position, that most schools are already doing this and thus a firm rule is unnece…
Lords Debate 3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will talk to Amendments 198 and 199, to which I have added my name. Inclusion is very important but, at the moment, some children—too many, frankly—who should not be in maintained education are being admitted to maintained schools because of their parents’ wishes. Those parents are makin…
Lords Debate 28 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I support Amendment 114 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed, and my noble friend Lord Young’s Amendment 117. It is clearly a better solution to have a monetary limit than a number—that just seems obvious. As for gifted items, I could not agree more with my noble friend. Are we rea…
Lords Debate 21 January 2026 5 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 92, 93 and 94A, in my name and those of the noble Baronesses, Lady Cass, Lady Benjamin and Lady Berger. As this is the first time I have spoken on Report, I should draw attention to my registered interests, particularly the fact that I am chair of a multi- academ…
I am interested to hear from a Labour politician, for whom I have a great deal of respect, that there are parents who can control their kids, but it is the most vulnerable kids and the least advantaged kids who live in households in which there is no discipline who are the most exposed.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords Debate 9 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the amendments in this group. It is shameful that we have not yet legislated for parity between the regulation of online and offline pornography and that we are so very late in playing catch-up. What people can view online at a couple of clicks—including children often diverted t…
Lords Debate 16 September 2025 4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a delight to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Bousted. She may be pleased to hear that I have advised my noble friend on the correct pronunciation of her name. I did not hear very well when we were here last week, but the word “devil” was mentioned. Having checked Hansard , I see tha…
My Lords, it is a great honour to speak after the last two speakers and I will speak in support of the amendments in the names of my noble friends Lady Barran and Lord Agnew. The speech from the noble Lord, Lord Harris, and the passion with which he spoke were a tribute to him and his team, who have…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords Debate 10 September 2025 2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I add my support to what my noble friend has just said, and the comments made by the noble Baronesses, Lady Morris and Lady Blackstone. It is a matter of balance, as the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said, between the needs of the religion and the needs of the child to receive a broad and b…
I support the amendments in the names of my noble friends Lady Barran and Lady Spielman and support the sentiment behind them. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Knight, that we should not rush to this, because I think Ofsted inspectors will need some training on it. Many of them still do not really …
Lords Debate 2 September 2025 2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I support the point that has just been made, which is perfectly valid. Some of the elements of the troubled families programme could be used for school home support for children persistently absent from school. I invite the Minister to look at that, because some of the issues with children who are p…
My Lords, I rise to support Amendment 306 in the name of my noble friend Lady Barran. Given that this country has the joint lightest-touch approach in Europe in relation to the oversight of home education, I would have thought this is a no-brainer to enable us to understand more about the performanc…
Lords Debate 3 July 2025 5 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I fully understand the Government’s desire to limit the cost here, but I support the principle behind most of these amendments, particularly those of my noble friend Lord Agnew and the noble Lord, Lord Hampton. The noble Lord, Lord Hampton, made an excellent point, which was supported by t…
So if the shirt provided by the school is blue and the opposition plays in red, and this has all been arranged in advance, and some pupils decide to be difficult and turn up in red, which will create chaos, that is okay, but if you say “You’ve all got to turn up in blue”, that is breaking the rules.…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords Debate 23 June 2025 3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, my Amendment 177 seeks to ban access to social media before the age of 16. Other amendments in this group relate to screens in schools, edtech, and the use and possession of smartphones in schools. I refer to my interests in the register, particularly the fact that I am co-founder and chai…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her response and all noble Lords for their contributions. I particularly thank my noble friend Lord Bethell for his contribution. I am just so sorry that we will perhaps not see him around this place for very much longer. On the amendment in the name of my noble f…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords Debate 17 June 2025 3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I rise to support Amendment 134A, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Sanderson. I also believe that the transparency of prices should extend to the SEND sector. I agree we need responsible, not highly leveraged, private investment. I understand why the Government are bringing forward these…
Transparency is a good start. I think it is the case, and I know there are vastly different prices charged around the country, perhaps for different reasons, property prices or whatever; but I think transparency is key. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Addington: I think that trying to interfere in…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords Debate 17 June 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I support Amendment 119, in the name of my noble friend Lord Agnew, about the availability of boarding places. I do so as a former south London boy who was, rather unexpectedly, because of family circumstances, sent away to a boarding school—with, I believe, considerable financial help. Pretty much …
Lords Debate 22 May 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Although I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Bousted, about schools becoming very good at child protection in recent years, there will be a cost to engaging in this activity. I support my noble friend Lord Agnew and his point about the cost for schools. All schools are facing a very severe funding…
Lords Debate 20 May 2025 3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will not repeat my Second Reading speech. I draw attention to my interests on the register, particularly the fact that I am chair of a multi-academy trust. Regarding subsection (1)(a) of this proposed new “Purpose” clause, the Long Title states that it is to make “provision about the s…
There are many in the charity sector that are professional, but there are many others. I do not think we disagree about this. Turning to other settings, I am an adviser to the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation, which works with more than 200 independent and state boarding schools acr…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords Debate 1 May 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly and positively about good home education. I disagree with some of the assumptions that the noble Lord, Lord Nash, has just made about the majority of people being home educated, and I will come to that in a moment. I absolutely understand and—like all other noble Lord…

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