Lords
Debate
14 January 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I turn to the first group of amendments to this important Bill on Report. I thank noble Lords for their contributions. I start with a message of reassurance that this Government are committed to hearing from and listening to children about what matters to them most. It is for this very rea…
I can assure the noble Baroness that her comments are fed into the process and that they are listened to.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
11 contributions
Early Years Education
I thank the Minister for her response. Given what we know from existing data regarding adverse experiences in early childhood—for example, those at higher risk of future offending—how are His Majesty’s Government factoring in cross-departmental strategies to their long-term planning between, for exa…
My Lords, research published by the Government on Monday showed some two year-olds spending five hours a day on average on screens, with a strong negative association with their language development. In that context, I welcome the Government’s commitment to produce guidance for parents in this area,…
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
8 January 2026
3 contributions
Schools and Universities: Language Learning
My Lords, I congratulate the Baroness, Lady Coussins, on introducing this debate and also on her outstanding and continuing work on the importance of modern languages.
The well-known actor Larry Lamb, who is fronting the British Council’s new festival of languages this summer in London, recently sa…
My Lords, I will be brief. I too congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, on her brilliant introduction to this debate and I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard. We are both alumni of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and we are both passionate about languages.
As a child, I l…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
9 contributions
Sudden Cardiac Death: Screening for Young People
I thank the Minister for that Answer. This week, Cardiac Risk in the Young will publish a study reporting on the cardiac screening of 104,000 young people aged 14 to 35 over a 10-year period in England and Wales. Uniquely, it follows up on each one. Sadly, this is still under embargo, but the result…
My Lords, although great strides are being made in medicine, as I understand it, to study individuals’ genetics to predict a propensity to get diseases later in life, this raises a serious question about how the insurance market is going to respond to that. I would be very dubious about going in for…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
11 contributions
Toilet-training: Support for Parents
I thank the Minister for that Answer. I am delighted to talk about this important subject first thing in the new year. It is not just for the health of children that it is best to potty-train early; we send about 3.6 billion single-use nappies to landfill or incineration every year in England alone.…
My Lords, how are the Government ensuring that parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities receive tailored, specialist support for toilet-training, rather than being expected to rely on generic guidance that may not meet their child’s needs?
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
8 contributions
Girls: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
My Lords, I have a long-standing association with the Royal Academy of Engineering, so I warmly welcome the establishment of this task force and the strong commitment of the Secretary of State to encourage girls to pursue STEM subjects from a young age, which I am sure has the support of all noble L…
My Lords, the Minister is replying specifically in relation to science and the like, but women play an inadequate role in very many parts of society, most notably, for example, in sport. Will she take this opportunity to congratulate the England women’s football team and, in particular, the England …
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
17 November 2025
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, clearly, we have failed to reach the target in this session. I just want to reassure noble Lords that provision has been made for an additional session. The timing of that will be discussed in and conveyed through the usual channels.
Lords
Committee Stage
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for the amendments in this group.
I note the comments from the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, that the noble Lord, Lord Mott, is not in his place to speak to his amendments, but I will just touch on them briefly, if I may. Basically, his amendments seek to require licensing …
My Lords, in responding to these comments from the noble Earl, Lord Howe, I am grateful for the opportunity to explain further the clauses relating to enforcement powers, which I think is what he is seeking from these amendments, and to look at the opposition from the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, that C…
Lords
Committee Stage
30 October 2025
5 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords for raising these points and for bringing forward the amendments to Committee today. Listening to Finn’s story from the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, it is important that we always bear in mind that we are talking about real young people and children and the actual …
My Lords, I am grateful for these amendments from the noble Lord, Lord Kamall. Amendments 26, 27, 31, 56, 111, 150 to 153 and 213 seek to ensure that the views of consumers, businesses and retailers are captured as part of the consultations on the licensing scheme and the display regulations, as wel…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
9 contributions
National Curriculum: Religious Education
I thank my noble friend for the Answer. My sons were privileged to go to Rutlish School, a diverse state comprehensive in south-west London with no religious affiliation. They received excellent religious education—in fact, it was compulsory until GCSE—that enhanced the community cohesion in a very …
My Lords, can the Minister say when the school curriculum will include the contribution of minority ethnic communities—for example, to World Wars I and II, to rebuilding Britain after World War II and to the NHS, which is a contemporary contribution? Some 18% of doctors are Muslim.
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
27 October 2025
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, we are running out of time. If we want to finish the group, we will have to finish by 8 pm—otherwise, we will have to break midway through. It is up to noble Lords whether they want to keep their comments to a minimum so that we can finish this group.
Lords
Proceedings
22 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
I ask noble Lords to keep their questions short. We have enormous interest in this subject and we want to get through as many questions as we can.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Fracture Liaison Services
My Lords, I am sure we all thank the speakers for their brevity in reaction to the technical issues.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
3 contributions
Music and Dance Schools: Affordable Access
Can the Minister help me to understand where dance will sit within the new centre that she describes? The centre is dedicated to music and the arts but, as we know, in schools dance sits within the PE curriculum. Is there going to be some sort of tension in how the centre can support dance within sc…
Before the Minister sits down, since we have a couple of minutes, I have a point of clarification. The figure of £4 million has been repeated a number of times in the debate. I would clarify for people watching that the £4 million the Government have given is to offset VAT, but the music and dance s…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 October 2025
8 contributions
Unpaid Carers
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. It is indeed good news that the 10-year plan is considering the needs of carers, but the latest survey from Carers UK shows that carers’ rights are being ignored when the person they care for is discharged from hospital. Only 14% of the carers surveyed were a…
My Lords, I was told in a discussion with a carer coping with the day-by-day, hour-by-hour demands of looking after someone with severe dementia that when they got a hospital appointment, the doctor spent a great deal of time looking at the screen and firing off questions to the patient. Frankly, th…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I start by noting that, although there are a smaller number of noble Lords in the Chamber, the quality of the contributions has nevertheless been truly significant. I thank my noble friend Lord Layard for bringing this to the Chamber and for continuing to share his enormous expertise and p…
I thank noble Lords for their contributions and for raising this very important area around parental complaints and appeals and the introduction of a central school complaints system. The Government completely understand the concern on this matter. As I shall go on to mention, the increase in the nu…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
8 contributions
Independent Commission on Adult Social Care
I am grateful to the Minister for her Answer. The reason I ask the Question is because, understandably, when this debate on social care takes place it almost inevitably focuses entirely on the needs of older people, whereas almost half of public expenditure on long-term care is on those of working a…
My Lords, in asking this question, I point to my own interest as a carer. Given the long-term challenges in our adult social care system, I am sure that all of us welcome the Prime Minister’s creation of an Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, and I am sure that we all welcome the appointmen…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank all those who have contributed on this important group of amendments. First of all, it is not going to be possible to give the list that everyone has specifically asked for, but I want to start by making it absolutely clear that raising attainment for all children with inclusivity …
My Lords, as we have heard, this group covers a range of issues. Inevitably, we have heard some very detailed views on different sides of the arguments covering the subjects of the amendments.
I begin with Amendment 463, moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Blower, on behalf of the noble Baroness, Lad…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 July 2025
7 contributions
Minimally Invasive Cancer Therapies
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her response to my valedictory Question, and indeed all other colleagues, who have been generous—overgenerous, I would say—in their remarks on my retirement.
I also thank the Minister for her response, which is very encouraging. Focused ultrasound is a non-invasiv…
My Lords, perhaps I may add our comments from the arts and heritage group to the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare. As Aberdare is the town of my father, I have always enjoyed hearing the noble Lord’s name spoken here. Will my noble friend pay tribute to the many members of the public whose generosity to ca…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
8 contributions
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Givinostat
My Lords, boys M and H are friends aged 14 and 11, and both have Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Boy M is receiving givinostat, provided by his NHS trust, and expects to preserve his ability to walk and to be eligible for new drugs in the pipeline. Boy H’s NHS trust is not providing him with givinostat…
My Lords, we heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, that there is an early access programme for a new treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the UK. Can the Minister share any intermediate observations or results from the early access programme? As the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, asked, a…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
8 contributions
Independent Commission on Adult Social Care
My Lords, we have had the Sutherland report, the Wanless report and the Dilnot report; your Lordships’ House has produced three Select Committee reports on this subject in the past few years; the Health and Social Care Committee in another place has produced 10 reports in the past eight years; the P…
My Lords, the Minister will know that, as many more people are, thankfully, surviving longer despite having severe disabilities or illnesses, and as we are all ageing, there are more people living in the community than in hospitals who need continuing medical care and social support. The department …
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
10 contributions
NHS England: Staff Costs
My Lords, in the absence of any assessment, including the work that NHS England does on health inequalities, coupled with last week’s decision to cut £100 million of support from five integrated care boards, three of which serve highly deprived areas, on what basis can the Minister guarantee that th…
My Lords, I draw noble Lords’ attention to my registered interest as chairman of King’s Health Partners. At the time when the decision was taken for NHS England to be fully incorporated into the Department of Health and Social Care, two other important agencies were completing their incorporation in…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
9 contributions
Weight Loss Medication
I thank the Minister for her Answer. Credit where it is due: achieving that number of people benefiting from weight loss jabs is absolutely terrific. I challenge the Minister—not her personally but the Government—to be a little more creative, in that there are people in this country who cannot work …
My Lords, I too am a user of Mounjaro, and I also helped facilitate the introduction of continuous glucose monitoring into the NHS. Is it not a fundamental problem that the current process of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is far too short-term? It puts too much weight on shor…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Specialty Medical Training
Just to return to a point I mentioned about supporting professional activities as part of consultant job plans, I think it would be very helpful if the Minister would say that, notwithstanding the prioritisation of delivering on things such as waiting list targets, consultant job plans must make pro…
I would be surprised if that was not already under consideration and, when the pieces that have been out to consultation come back in, I would expect that that would be part of the consideration. I certainly recognise the significance of the noble Lord’s comments. I just want to reinforce that, as w…
Lords
Proceedings
16 July 2025
4 contributions
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, I thank those noble Lords who have stayed for this very important debate at this late hour. I thank the noble Lords, Lord Kamall and Lord Stoneham, for their comments and their support for the approach that our Secretary of State has taken.
I emphasise that, since taking office, this Gove…
I thank the noble Baroness for her comments and the background. I shall particularly pick up on the issue of moonlighting, which she has raised before. As a point of reference, during the industrial action in 2022-24, it was picked up. There were isolated and anecdotal incidents of this behaviour. I…
+2 more contributions in this session