Lords
Proceedings
19 November 2025
Arrangement of Business
Good afternoon and welcome to three debates on three statutory instruments. I welcome the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Lloyd, to her place for what I believe is her first appearance in Grand Committee. If there is a Division in the Chamber, we will adjourn the Committee for 10 minutes, but I a…
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
The noble Baroness has moved that the House do now resume. I will take advice as to whether it is debateable. It is debateable, in which case the Motion now stands before the Committee.
My Lords, the Question has been put that the House do now resume. I must now put that Question. I think on a show of voices the Not-Contents have it.
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
3 contributions
Space Debris
I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. I think the House will understand why it is topical.
My Lords, the Government recognise that space debris is a risk to critical national infrastructure due to our reliance on space services, including for communications, climate monitoring, navigation and timing. A summary of the national risk assessment is set out in the UK’s National Risk Register 2…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
3 November 2025
Arrangement of Business
As Members know, on many occasions at the start of a session in the Committee Room, a pro forma notice is given about the possibility of a Division. Today, in view of the business in the House, it is entirely possible that there will be Divisions. If there is one, we will adjourn the Committee immed…
Lords
Proceedings
31 October 2025
Ukraine
My Lords, I do not know whether it is a punishment or a privilege to be put last in the list of Back-Bench speakers, as I invariably am when it comes to a debate on Ukraine. The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, was powerful and eloquent in opening, and it is clear that my noble friend Lord Barrow is going t…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 October 2025
3 contributions
Undersea Cables: National Security Threat
In begging leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, I declare an interest: I was a member of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy earlier this year when we agreed to hold an inquiry into this subject.
My Lords, the Government keep the threat to undersea cables connected to the UK under close review, working to deter and mitigate identified risks. My noble friend will appreciate the limits to what can be said publicly, but the MoD constantly monitors activity within UK waters. This includes patrol…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
Amazon Web Services
I thank my noble friend for that interesting point. I think most businesses, and government, know that AWS is a provider with significant market share—something like 30% of cloud services. The other providers—Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud—also provide such services. I am not sure what he means by…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 October 2025
Musical Instrument Certificates
As I said, we are in consultation. A lot of assumptions are being made by many of the questioners. To reiterate, the consultation is an opportunity for the music sector to make its voice heard and to provide us with evidence about the kind of impacts being mentioned in this Question Time.
Lords
Proceedings
14 October 2025
Digital ID
Can my noble friend the Minister tell the House how the Government plan to address the arguments that will be made against these proposals, in particular in relation to concerns about individual privacy?
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
UK and EU Trade: Arts and Creative Industries
Absolutely—we are looking to increase youth mobility through any scheme that creates new opportunities for young Britons to travel, whether as part of wider academic experience or exchange of culture, including youth orchestras.
Lords
Debate
5 September 2025
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill
My Lords, the topic of space makes us think about rockets, astronauts and faraway places, but one of the great things about being a Member of your Lordships’ space committee has been learning that there is a UK space economy. It is vital to so many industries on earth and, so good are we at developi…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
3 contributions
European Framework Programme 10
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and, in doing so, I am returning to the subject of my first ever Parliamentary Question.
We welcome the initial proposals for the EU FP 10. We identify strong alignment between the proposals and our own focus on using research and innovation to drive economic growth. We are particularly looking at how the proposals align with the principles of excellence, openness and good value for mon…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
Armed Forces Commissioner Bill
My Lords, I join the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, in welcoming not only the review into whistleblowing but the movement on this Bill, because it is an important one.
I just want to ask a few questions about the whistleblowing review. I do not want to be cynical, but we know that, in good old “Ye…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Artificial Intelligence: Legislation
I thank my noble friend. The consultation, which is in the process of being developed, will need input from everybody. It is important that we get the right people looking at what this consultation needs. As that consultation rolls out, it will be important that we have very widespread engagement ri…
Lords
Proceedings
18 July 2025
Strategic Defence Review 2025
My Lords, it is a great privilege to speak after the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate. His points on data are extremely well made, and I thoroughly endorse them.
I will restrict my points to the subject of health, because Britain’s defence absolutely relies upon the health of its people. That is not …
Lords
Proceedings
17 July 2025
Arrangement of Business
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to an afternoon of four Questions for Short Debate. If there is a Division in the Chamber, we will adjourn for 10 minutes—but, as you can see, they are on Amendment 1. It will be a long day and there will not be any Divisions to interrupt us. As this is the last…
Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
My Lords, I welcome the Statement. Reference has been made to applications by open access operators. Will my noble friend the Minister take this opportunity to update the House on the Government’s current view of capacity and capacity constraints on the east coast and west coast main lines?
Lords
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
Primary Stock Exchange Listings
I thank my noble friend for his question, and I pay tribute to his expertise in this area; I know it is something he is deeply passionate about. He speaks about the importance of scale-up in this country. For many years, we have been very good at start-up, but much less good at scale-up. That is som…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 July 2025
2 contributions
Data Centres: Energy and Water Consumption
My Lords—
I have given answers on the data centres. The broader question of AI has been looked at by a number of publications, including recently in the journal Natur e , which looked at the overall energy consumption by AI and the overall potential energy reduction by the application of AI across industries.…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
My Lords, I welcome this Statement, and I positively want to declare an interest. Two weeks ago today, my first granddaughter was born, and since then I have spent many hours holding her and talking to her. I could not agree more with my noble friend when she talks about the importance of early year…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 June 2025
2 contributions
Deep Sea Mining in International Waters
My Lords, the United Kingdom supports a moratorium on the granting of exploration contracts by the International Seabed Authority until sufficient scientific evidence is available to assess the potential impact of deep sea mining on marine ecosystems and strong, enforceable regulations are adopted b…
My Lords, as a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United Kingdom fully supports the work of the ISA. The UK has been fully engaged in the work of the ISA since it was established, following the entry into force of UNCLOS in 1994. There are strong protections in place against deep …
Lords
Oral Questions
26 June 2025
UK Extreme Heat
I hate to disappoint my noble friend by saying that I have not read the report he references, but I will make sure I get a copy this afternoon—it is my birthday this weekend, so that will give me something to do. I referenced the summer resilience network, which is convened by COBRA as a cross-gover…
Lords
Committee Stage
25 June 2025
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
I hope the Committee will allow me to express my thanks for the kind words expressed on the birth of my first granddaughter. I wish other grandchildren a successful arrival in the world.
Amendment 124
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2025
2 contributions
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, good afternoon. Welcome to the sixth and final day on the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. If there is a Division in the Chamber, which there will not be, we will adjourn for 10 minutes and return here. It is another warm day, so the doors are open at both ends of the R…
I have not yet had a chance to see her, but I very much hope to do so soon. I may get messages and, if my expression changes, it is nothing to do with any of the speeches being made.