Baroness Harding of Winscombe

19 parliamentary sessions on record in this archive

19 sessions
Lords Committee Stage 4 June 2026
AI Regulation Bill
My Lords, I too thank my noble friend Lord Holmes for bringing this debate. The fact that so many of us wish to speak today shows that this really needs to be properly debated as a society, not just in a series of two-minute soundbites. I think we all agree that good regulation and economic growth …
Lords Debate 28 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I start where the Minister started, by acknowledging the work of my noble friend Lord Nash, who has led an incredibly effective campaign, which has been driven not by any political motives but by three things: first, wanting to do right by all children; secondly, having listened to the pai…
Lords Debate 27 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I am sure that it will be source of huge disappointment to all noble Lords that I do not intend to give a valedictory speech.
Lords Debate 24 April 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I am speaking very briefly so, if the noble Baroness does not mind, I will continue. Many of those stories have been told very movingly here today. The point is that 52% of us have cared for or witnessed a family member who was terminally ill and suffering at the end of their life. Unsurprisingly, …
Lords Debate 20 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Motion D on the phone ban. The Minister talked about strengthening guidance and Ofsted being able to inspect schools’ mobile phone policies, but I speak as a parent as well as a teacher when I say that parents do not understand statutory footing; they understand a legal ba…
Lords Committee Stage 15 April 2026 2 contributions
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I will be very brief. The Explanatory Notes say that a full impact assessment was not completed because “no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen”. I think it entirely foreseeable that there could be significant cost and complexity, as well as an inabi…
My Lords, I declare an interest as the chair of Sport Wales; with that, I sit on the board of UK Sport. I am also a board member of Active Travel England. I reiterate the comments made by others about how horrendous and horrific the Manchester bombing was, as well as how significant an impact it ha…
Lords Debate 18 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I will also try to be brief. I completely support everything that the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, has said. I would like to draw out two arguments that have been made to me today as to why her amendments should not be supported and explain why they are wrong. The first argument is that w…
Lords Debate 4 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, given the hour, I shall be brief. I support my noble friend Lady Stowell in the two amendments that she has so ably introduced, and I have been delighted to add my name to both of them. I have worked all my life in consumer services: for 20-odd years in retailing, but then in telecoms and…
Lords Proceedings 26 January 2026
Holocaust Memorial Day
I am very honoured to follow that excellent speech; and I take the chance to acknowledge the very brilliant maiden speech that we heard earlier as well. I am intending to speak quite briefly on this subject, because it has been very fully covered already, and I am sure nobody will mind that. First,…
Lords Oral Questions 26 January 2026 2 contributions
Superintelligent AI
Let us have the Lib Dem Bench next and then the Conservative Benches.
The AI Security Institute looks at the science and the implications of AI, and collaborates with many other research institutes to examine some of the implications for our society and economy. That approach is bearing great fruit. The institute publishes findings so that we can all take account of t…
Lords Debate 21 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will also endeavour to be brief. Like many who have spoken already, I spent a very large amount of time on the Online Safety Act. I agree entirely with the comments of the noble Lords, Lord Knight and Lord Russell, and the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. This is a cry of pain and anger from…
Lords Oral Questions 8 January 2026
AI Systems: Risks
My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Fairfax of Cameron, for initiating this important and timely debate. As a signatory to the AI Red Lines initiative, I agree very much with his reasons for bringing this debate to the Committee. Sadly, with apologies, there is too little time to properly win…
Lords Oral Questions 7 January 2026
Computer-generated Child Sexual Abuse Material
Both parties’ Governments —the previous Government and this Government—have passed legislation in the Online Safety Act to make it illegal to provide child sexual abuse material online. In the Crime and Policing Bill, which is before this House, there are four or five additional measures to strength…
Lords Proceedings 30 October 2025
Protection of Children Codes of Practice
My Lords, I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for introducing this regret Motion. I am very familiar with it because, as a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, I was part of the team scrutinising it when it came in front of us. I welcome the Minister to her post. This…
Lords Debate 18 September 2025 2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I too support Amendments 493 and 494 in the name of my noble friend Lord Holmes, and Amendments 502K and 502YI in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. I am not an educationalist and this is my first contribution on the Bill. I spend my time in this House focused mainly on digital i…
Before the Minister moves on, I have a follow-up question. It is very encouraging to hear the work that seems to be ongoing in the ICO. What is the Minister’s view on why it would not be appropriate to put the requirement for a code of conduct on the statute book for education in the same way that i…
Lords Debate 11 June 2025 2 contributions
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, like my noble friend Lord Pickles, I have considerable sympathy with this amendment, which was so well set out by the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame. I am pleased to find common ground with the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, that it is really important that we are honest about the responsibility …
My Lords, I suppose it is a bit of a clue that if we have more groups of amendments than there are clauses in the Bill, we are going to feel a bit like we are going round in circles—and this group does feel a bit like we are going round in circles. It may be the worst nightmare of the noble Barones…
Lords Debate 11 June 2025
Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL]
My Lords, of course the Government have the right to do what they intend to do, but that does not make the Government right to do what they intend to do. As a mark of our cross-party determination, we have pushed this in this House up to the limit—some would argue, perhaps, beyond—but the Governmen…
Lords Debate 11 June 2025 2 contributions
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, as I have been for nearly a decade, and a resident of Westminster who walks my dog in the park. I remind us all that this is Report, not Second Reading, and I will attempt to resist the huge temptation to remind noble…
My Lords, I will address directly the question that my noble friend posed on why collocation is important and why this is the right location. I would just like to dispel a couple of myths in this debate. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Russell, for bringing it, and I think it is a very important and me…
Lords Debate 19 May 2025
Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL]
My Lords, it’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside, as I rise to support the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron—which my Front Bench so clearly opposes—but I’m still standing, because I do not yet believe that Ministers have heard the clarion cry from our country’s creators that they…

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