Lords
Oral Questions
14 July 2025
9 contributions
Advertising Restrictions on Less Healthy Food
I thank the Minister, but she clearly does not have the answer to my Question. Does she accept that voluntary measures have been shown not to work? What is more, they provide no evidence to inform future policy development, because they are not monitored. Can she reassure the House that the Governme…
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister and her officials will be familiar with the research carried out by Professor Emma Boyland of Liverpool University, which was presented recently at the European Congress on Obesity. Professor Boyland’s results show that exposure to brand-only advertisements has …
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2025
12 contributions
NHS 10-Year Plan
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I will now repeat a Statement made by my right honourable friend the Health Secretary in another place. The Statement is as follows:
“There are moments in our national story when our choices define who we are. In 1948, the Attlee Government made a choice found…
My Lords, I also start by sending my very best wishes to my noble friend Lady Merron. No one more than me is looking forward to her making a very speedy recovery. I am very pleased to hear from her that she is making good progress, so we look forward to her return. I think it is appropriate that I d…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
7 July 2025
4 contributions
Combined Authorities (Adult Education Functions) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments for the scrutiny provided on this draft statutory instrument, which was laid in Parliament on 19 May 2025. If this order is approved, the Department for Education will transfer an addition…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing this order. The adult skills fund plays a vital role in helping adult learners gain the practical skills and qualifications needed for meaningful employment across key sectors. The fund was introduced by the previous Government to support adult learners…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
3 July 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Hacking for the clarification that he has just made, and the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, for a very clear explanation of why she is not supporting these amendments. As a former lead member for children’s services for the second-largest metropolitan authority i…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Music Education: State Schools
My Lords, I thank everyone in the Chamber for such a rich debate, especially given the time pressures that we are all facing. I thank my noble friend Lady Keeley for opening this valuable debate. She is such a great advocate for music education, and I think we should all be very grateful to her. Man…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
8 contributions
Social Care
I thank my noble friend for that reply and welcome the initiatives that she has outlined. I want to raise further the extraordinary work of unpaid workers in the care system. The Government have confirmed to me that 61% of unpaid carers in receipt of carer’s allowance have no other additional income…
My Lords, I declare my interest as a director of an adult social care business. It is time—and I hope the review looks at this—to rename carers something other than “carers”, because it distorts the training and level of professionalism that carers provide every day. If we try to rephrase the name “…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
8 contributions
Baby Foods: Nutrition and Marketing
I thank my noble friend for her Answer. In response to mounting evidence of and concern about the poor nutritional and high sugar content in commercial baby foods, despite their being marketed as a healthy substitute for home-cooked food, the NHS has issued new guidance advising parents not to use t…
My Lords, voluntary action and expectation really have not worked and will not in future. Is the Minister aware of a report published in January evaluating the compliance of UK commercial baby foods with WHO nutritional guidelines? Only 45% adhered to the nutritional standards, less than 60% complie…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
23 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, Amendment 166 was tabled by my noble friend Lady Lister of Burtersett. I echo the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, and compliment her, as always, on the eloquent and moving way she described the plight of so many children and young people coming into this country. I know that s…
The tender is going out in the summer. I believe that implementation will take some time and should be fully up and running by 2027.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
19 June 2025
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for the very compassionate comments that ran through their suggestions.
By way of background, the new corporate parenting measures in the Bill will, for the first time, impose a duty on a number of public bodies to be alert to matters that affect the well-being of look…
I will consider whether that is necessary when I get to the end of my speaking notes.
To continue, the corporate parenting responsibilities will also apply to bodies that exercise functions on behalf of the Secretary of State, such as the Prison and Probation Service. Of course, there should be rea…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
19 June 2025
HS2 Reset
I remind the House that this is an opportunity for Back-Benchers to ask questions. We have several who want to intervene, and we will run out of time if we are not careful.
Lords
Debate
17 June 2025
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, the amendments in this group are all in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran. Just taking the amendments as they are, the majority of residential settings are owned by provider groups—organisations that own the providers that run settings. The legislation refers to provider groups a…
As always. That was the point that I was making. For all the reasons given, I would kindly ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
17 June 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, the amendments in this second group comprise new clauses on accommodation and capacity in children’s residential care, and seek to improve the capacity and, of course, most importantly, the quality of provision for children and young people. I really welcome this rich debate. Time constrai…
The noble Lord may say that.
In my personal experience, there is no reason why local areas cannot put these arrangements in place. There have been circumstances with agencies in the past—I am sure this does not happen now—where police have gone into a situation of domestic violence, for example, an…
Lords
Debate
12 June 2025
7 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I thank noble Lords for their thoughtful contributions to this important area of the Bill. I think, hand on heart, we all know that children who need a social worker and children in kinship care experience significant difficulties. Many of them have poorer educational outcomes than their peers as a …
With all this work, I believe it is important that we focus on the job in hand through the route of accountability and the local authorities, and do not give virtual school heads yet another onerous task to do. I believe that enough safeguards are in place and enough ways that the outcomes can be re…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak to the single amendment in this group, Amendment 69AB, in the name of my noble friend Lord Watson of Invergowrie. I reflect the concern that has been expressed about the care and support that some of the most vulnerable children receive. The noble Baroness, Lady Barran, acknow…
I start by saying how touched I am, and I really want to welcome the comments that have been made about kinship care in the Chamber this evening. It is such an important area, and I think we all have to put our hand on our heart and say that it is a set of relationships that has not been given its d…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
4 June 2025
Special Educational Needs: Dyscalculia
My Lords, I begin, of course, by expressing my gratitude to the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, for opening this important debate on supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities generally and particularly those with dyscalculia. I know she is a champion in this space, and for all t…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 May 2025
8 contributions
Young People’s Media Literacy
I thank my noble friend for that response. Perhaps she is aware of the recent research, published by the National Education Union, which adds to the volume of material demonstrating that significant harm is experienced by young people from social media and from being online in general. Does she agre…
My Lords, the Minister will be aware that a Select Committee, ably chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, is doing a piece of work on media literacy. It is convenient that we will have not only the curriculum review but this piece of work as well. What do the Government think should be their nu…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
12 May 2025
4 contributions
Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025
My Lords, these regulations were laid before the House on 25 March 2025. If approved, they will make provision about the new procedure that must be followed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and/or NHS England when preparing and publishing information standards. Information standa…
My Lords, although we recognise the ambition behind these regulations to foster better integration and data sharing across health and social care, we harbour some reservations regarding their scope. We are deeply concerned about their implementation, including the costs there, and the potential impa…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 May 2025
8 contributions
US Tariff on UK Films
My Lords, I congratulate the Government on their calm approach, but the UK film and TV industry employs more than 200,000 people directly and indirectly in productions and is worth £4.8 billion in investment. Given that 87% of last year’s investment into the UK’s 191 films was external, can the Mini…
My Lords, I congratulate the Government on their calm approach, but will the Minister take this opportunity to acknowledge that none of this—the defence of the film industry and other industries—would be possible were it not for the fact that we had left the European Union?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 May 2025
8 contributions
EU-UK Summit: Visa Waiver Agreement
My Lords, it is a little disappointing that the Government cannot confirm, with 11 days to go, whether touring will be on the agenda of the 19 May summit. Talking with other EU Culture Ministers is helpful—if this was discussed by Chris Bryant in Poland—but would the Minister not agree that, ultimat…
My Lords, as part of our inquiry into the EU-UK reset, the European Affairs Committee of this House took evidence from the Independent Society of Musicians recently and was told that, since the Brexit agreement, there has been a very unlevel playing field for our UK musicians. It is not just an unle…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
6 May 2025
4 contributions
Cornwall Council (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I will speak also to two linked instruments: the East Midlands Combined County Authority (Adult Education Functions) Regulations 2025 and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (Adult Education Functions) Order 2025.
I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Jo…
My Lords, I am extremely supportive of these three statutory instruments and thank the Minister for her detailed explanation. The consultation that took place on the three proposals supported what the council in Cornwall and the combined authorities of East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire prop…
+2 more contributions in this session