Good afternoon, my Lords. I think that we are going to be as speedy as we were last week; the Chief Whip will continue to approve.
The amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, and the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, would create additional burdens for the court system. They would also chal…
My Lords, before I outline the amendments in this group, I will refer to government Amendments 30, 31, 104 and 105, as your Lordships will have noticed that these have been withdrawn from the Marshalled List. Together, these amendments had sought to ensure that there was no conflict between the proh…
My Lords, and so we begin. I thank all noble Lords present for their participation and engagement. On a personal note, before we get to the substance and serious detail of the Bill, this time last week I was having my make-up done for getting married, so I welcome noble Lords joining me on my honeym…
My Lords, if we continue at this speed, the Chief Whip will be disappointed that we are doing only seven groups. It is probably unlikely that we will continue at this speed, but I can aspire.
While I appreciate the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, I want to be clear that Amendment 2 is …
My Lords, there is significant interest in this Statement. Can I urge brevity from both noble Lords and my noble friend the Minister in order to get in as many colleagues as possible?
My Lords, I am grateful for the contributions of the noble Baronesses, Lady Finn and Lady Brinton. As ever, the tone of this discussion and the questions so far has been one of sensitivity and co-operation; it is your Lordships’ House at its best.
I pay tribute to the work of many noble Lords acros…
I thank the noble Baroness for coming in today to participate in the debate. As she is a member of the affected community, I know of the strain of leadership that she has had to face as people look to her for answers. She is a tenacious woman and a dedicated campaigner, but that still requires a hug…
My Lords, the recent CYBERUK conference reported that the number of cyberattacks had doubled in the past year. This is costing tens—indeed, hundreds—of millions of pounds to businesses and is making people very nervous about their personal data. It is having a huge effect right across society. I wel…
My Lords, I declare my technology interests as set out in the register. Can the Minister confirm whether the Government have any plans to update the Computer Misuse Act, mainly to protect our cybersecurity professionals and researchers, who do so much to keep us all safe? The Act is over 35 years ol…
My Lords, last year, the Conservative Government brought a Northern Ireland legacy Bill to this House and this Parliament. I did not support it because of limited immunity, but at least they had the courage and the decency to bring it to this House for debate and voting instead of having a de facto …
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, for his helpful Question, which allows me to reply. Would the Minister confirm to the House—if it needs confirmation—that the conduct of investigations and prosecutions in Northern Ireland, as in the rest of the United Kingdom, was under the exclusive control of…
My Lords, there has been some improvement in retention rates recently, but since 1999 there have been only six years when the number of personnel joining the Armed Forces was higher than the number leaving. Last month, the Chief of the Defence Staff reported that the forces are getting smaller each …
My Lords, I am proud to bring this Bill to your Lordships’ House with my noble friend Lady Sherlock. I am grateful for the engagement that we have had with noble Lords on the Bill so far and look forward to working with your Lordships as the Bill progresses. I also look forward to hearing the maiden…
My Lords, it is both a pleasure and a privilege to open my remarks by looking forward to and welcoming the maiden speech of my noble friend Lady Spielman. Throughout her career, she has embodied the highest ideals of public service: courage in the face of complexity, integrity under pressure and an …
I thank the Minister for her Answer. The people of Wales were promised at the last general election that, if they voted Labour, they would have two Governments, at either end of the M4, improving their lives. But yesterday the First Minister of Wales gave a speech suggesting ruptures in that relatio…
My Lords, yesterday the First Minister made an important speech in Cardiff noting the changed and positive relationship with the UK Government since last July. But just as the wonderful programme “Gavin and Stacey” often showed, what is right for Billericay will not always be right for Barry. Does m…
I thank the Minister for her Answer. I am somewhat confused because the Government have already committed to establishing, or are in the process of establishing, 26 new arm’s-length bodies. I have been trying to ascertain from the Government by Written Answer the exact cost of those 26 bodies but ha…
My Lords, in creating new arm’s-length bodies, are the Government looking to utilise the skill sets and experience of civil servants and others who are currently on arm’s-length bodies that are due to be disbanded?
I would thank the noble Lord for the question, but I am not going to. With regard to the independent inquiry, the former leader of his party, the noble Baroness, Lady May, instituted a national inquiry. Some 7,000 victims gave evidence. There were 2 million pages of evidence to be considered; it too…
My Lords, I am so sorry to hear of the experiences of the noble Lord’s sister. I can only send my heartfelt support for her.
The Home Office has doubled funding for supporting adult survivors, which is incredibly important when we consider the genuine scale of the issue. The British crime survey la…