Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Can the Minister say what discussions might have taken place with other government departments to compare the approach that could be taken to the coastguard with the retained firefighter model? There is a risk that, from September, both will provide on-call emergency services, often at great persona…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, if there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, the Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume after 10 minutes.
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, as a reminder, if there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, this Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume after 10 minutes.
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Social Media: Substances Unfit for Human Consumption
My Lords, is the problem here not often one of classification? Selective androgen receptor modulators, or SARMs, which are so often the basis of the physique-enhancing supplements to which the Question refers, are classified as novel foods by the FSA. This means that while they are not approved for …
Lords
Proceedings
3 June 2026
Access to Nature Green Paper
My Lords, the Minister has talked a lot about access for children, which is, of course, very important, and she has used the word “walk” quite a lot. Access to nature is equally important for people who do not have the ability to walk: I am thinking in particular of elderly people with mobility issu…
Lords
Proceedings
21 May 2026
Youth Offending
My Lords, the prevalence of learning difficulties in the youth justice system is incredibly high. I understand figures show that about 80% of young people who are cautioned or sentenced have some kind of special educational need or neurodivergent condition. Does the Minister agree that this seems to…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
Disadvantaged Pupils: Music Attainment Gap
My Lord, the inequalities that the noble Baroness identified in her Question go on to be clearly manifest in the creative industries, where we know from the excellent work of the Sutton Trust that top-selling musicians are six times more likely to have attended a private school and that more than ha…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
Ballet
It is very good to be facing questions today from at least two excellent dancers—that is no slight on my noble friend. The noble Baroness raises, as have other noble Lords, the question of certainty around the music and dance scheme, which, as she says, the Government have consistently committed to …
Lords
Debate
23 April 2026
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I am going to intervene very briefly to say that it is good that an agreement has been reached on the difficult issue of the processes and arrangements relating to private prosecutions. As with many of the other issues we have discussed during the passage of this Bill, private prosecutions…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Charity Giving
Unfortunately, when those of us on the Front Bench took up our roles, we had to give up our trustee roles. I know that noble Lords across the House are committed to working directly with charities and giving their expertise. One of the first things that the Government committed to was the civil soci…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 March 2026
Equality: Break Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission
We have a commitment to look at what works and to make sure we put young people at the heart of everything we do. An example of something that happened post Brexit is that UK cities kept their relationships with European cities, even though we are outside of the EU. We are looking at what works and …
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Ukraine: Reparation
The noble Baroness draws our attention to an important aspect of this hideous war: the attack on Ukrainian identity. One of the ways this is put into effect is through the deliberate, wanton destruction of cultural artefacts. They can be registered, and decisions will be made; I think there are 130,…
Lords
Debate
19 March 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
I must advise the House that if Amendment 78 is agreed to, I cannot call Amendments 79 to 92, by reason of pre-emption.
Amendment 78
I must advise the House that if Amendment 96 is agreed to, I cannot call Amendments 97 and 98, by reason of pre-emption.
Amendment 96
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 March 2026
3 contributions
Special Educational Needs: Dyscalculia
My Lords, we know that some children face real challenges in maths, particularly those with dyscalculia and other special educational needs. That is why we are supporting schools through our national maths hubs as well as improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools. Our core profession…
I pay tribute to the noble Baroness for her consistent support across the piece, and often repeated in this Chamber, in highlighting the situation and spelling out clearly what dyscalculia is in the discussions she has had. I recognise that those involved in this have been getting organised and rais…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Prisons: Education
I shall address those two separate points. Data collection is something that challenges me every day, along with vetting. As someone who has run a business where I had all the information at my fingertips, I find it frustrating, as I know other colleagues do, that we do not get all the information w…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Under-16s Energy Drinks Ban
I actually do not know the answer to that, so I cannot confirm it is the case, but I will certainly look into it. I take the noble Baroness’s point about caffeine. That is the problem here, but it is also right that we consider sugar intake.
Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I remind the House that the Question before the House is on Amendment 216 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Addington, so we must first deal with that before we return to Amendment 215.
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Child Poverty: Faith-based and Voluntary Sector Organisations
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for a great question. I agree with her point that the role of cultural organisations and the opportunity to participate and engage with others to do collective action in different ways are crucial to children’s development —and often those are the kinds of opportu…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
Schools: Music and Dance Scheme
The fact that dance sits under PE means that it is part of the national curriculum up to the age of 16. However, I take the noble Baroness’s point, which I think she has made previously, that having skilled teachers able to deliver that is important. Considering how we can build support from the spe…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
Early Years Education
One of the interesting developments with the Best Start family hubs is that local councils are being tasked with having dedicated SEND practitioners in each of them. Dyscalculia comes under the umbrella of those conditions, and I know that its profile is being raised and better understood, not least…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
Office for the Impact Economy
This is a genuinely important point from the noble Baroness. There are several parts to this: it is about empowering local communities but also ensuring that there is training undertaken, so that community groups can genuinely access some of the funds. I used to run a national charity and am very aw…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
Public and Private Sector Productivity Trends
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. I agree. Fundamental skills are vital to improving our productivity. Labour quality is a key driver of productivity. The skills agenda is vital to that. That is why we recently set out measures to tackle that in the skills White Paper. I hope the…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Youth Mobility Scheme
I was doing so well in reassuring noble Lords, but I am afraid that I will have to give a level of disappointment to the noble Baroness. We are not currently considering rejoining the creative arm. However, 40% of touring artists are under the age of 35, meaning that they would be able to access wor…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
Autistic Children: State Schools
The noble Baroness is absolutely right that schools have a legal duty, under the Equality Act, not to discriminate against pupils by excluding them because of their disability. It would be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have SEN or a disability that the school feels unable to meet, …
Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Education in Prisons
I am a big fan of the Shannon Trust. It does fantastic work in many prisons and I would like to see more of it. A number of other third-sector organisations play an equally important role: Storybook Dads is one that I have been interested in for a long time, and the National Literacy Trust does real…