My Lords, I strongly support this long-overdue Bill and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Trees, on skilfully steering it through this House. My noble friend Lady Fookes has asked me to say how much she wishes she had been able to be here—she is at a long-standing event for the War Widows’ Associati…
I would be very happy to meet with the noble Baroness, especially given her track record on this agenda. She will have noted that we intend to integrate and mainstream our work on gender, particularly through our work on humanitarian and health priorities, and she will note the appointment of my nob…
My Lords, I will speak very briefly to support Amendment 100. My noble friend Lady Penn and other noble Lords have made the case for this amendment clearly and compellingly. We have heard that better paternity leave can help increase women’s labour force participation and about the other benefits to…
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. This is, of course, another aspect of honour-based abuse, and I am sure the whole House agrees that there is no honour in honour-based abuse. In the criminal justice sphere, to help to bring stronger cases in this area, the CPS and the police have a joint…
My Lords, 60% of English marine protected areas are protected by by-laws that limit the use of damaging fishing gear. On Monday 9 June, the Secretary of State announced that the Marine Management Organisation was starting a consultation on proposed by-laws to protect a further 42 MPAs. This substant…
My Lords, I welcome the noble Baroness’s welcome of the announcement; it is an important step forward in a long-term plan properly to protect our marine ecosystems and environment while enabling fishing. We have had to very carefully considered the next steps to manage bottom trawling in MPAs, along…
I thank the noble Baroness for the question and acknowledge her work in international development over many years. She has remained a stalwart advocate for the benefits of development ever since, and I thank her for that. We will be publishing the more detailed decisions that we are currently taking…
My Lords, I declare an interest as the chair of the trust of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. I have another interest in that I am the grandmother of preterm twins born at 29 weeks’ gestation. They are an example of the success of the NHS in providing excellent care—they are no…
The noble Baroness is absolutely right. As she knows, in March I co-chaired with Denmark a UN Security Council meeting particularly on conflict-related sexual violence. This was followed by chairing a round table with the fact-finding mission that we supported on Sudan and managed to get through the…