Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Vaccine Technology
My Lords, the best recent example of vaccine technology is the pandemic and Covid, and the UK rightly champions the 100-day mission to develop vaccines against any future pandemics. As I am sure the Minister is aware, AI can rapidly compress that discovery phase through genomic surveillance, lab val…
Lords
Debate
24 June 2026
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Addington, and other noble Lords for their gold medal contributions today—if I am allowed to say that, at this stage at least. As the noble Lord, Lord Foster, and my noble friend Lord Hayward set out, there are quite often unintended consequences, the sausage being a per…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Global Governance
My Lords, recent restrictions by the United States on access by foreign nationals to certain advanced AI models have highlighted the extent to which access to frontier AI technology can be determined by decisions taken overseas. What discussions have the Government had with international partners to…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
Digital Safety: Children
My Lords, there is total agreement across the House that children must be protected from harms online. Noble Lords will recall that amendments tabled by my noble friend Lord Nash on the impact of social media on children’s well-being were repeatedly resisted by the Government. We therefore welcome t…
Lords
Committee Stage
4 June 2026
AI Regulation Bill
I add my thanks to my noble friend Lord Holmes for bringing this debate forward today. It is a complex area, and we would all agree that it is difficult to do it justice with such limited time. I think we also all agree that there are some areas where we definitely need controls on AI: safeguarding …
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Sovereign AI Fund
My Lords, the Competition and Markets Authority has expressed concerns that AI may entrench the market power of a small number of cloud providers. If the sovereign AI fund is not designed to increase the UK’s strategic authority in the cloud space, what are the Government’s plans to do so?
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
2 contributions
EU-UK SPS Agreement: Food-related Standards
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare an interest as chair of a biotech company.
I thank the noble Baroness for her Answer, and I am very encouraged by her response, because in this area I have seen first-hand how we have used our innovation and flexibility to create inward investment and a world-leading industry. Can I take from the noble Baroness’s Answer that we are adopting …
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
UK Biobank Data
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement. This is clearly a serious incident that goes to the heart of public trust in one of our most important research assets. I pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of volunteers whose data underpins the success of the UK Biobank and the breakthrough i…
Lords
Debate
24 April 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, as requested by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, I have reflected on the progress we have made on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to date. I know that we have engaged in vital scrutiny work and made progress, although for the supporters of the Bill it seems agonising…
Lords
Committee Stage
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I declare an interest, in that I am president of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, so it is partly with that hat on that I am asking these questions.
The Manchester Arena inquiry makes harrowing reading, and I expect that there will be some bereaved people watching this debate, beca…
On all these areas, as I said, I am happy to meet with noble Lords in person. To be honest, I think that that would be more helpful, not least because we are talking about scenarios and we have a note of the questions that noble Lords are raising. I would be delighted to go through them. Again, in t…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
AI Growth Lab
Building on both noble Lords’ recent questions, we need to look across the whole of the economy. There will be a great amount of private investment going in, as well as investment from our public financial institutions. We are also thinking about how we can harness the benefit of sovereign AI here i…
Lords
Debate
13 March 2026
5 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
As requested, I was waiting until the noble Baroness had moved her amendment—
I was trying to respond to the noble Baroness’s request not to be intervened on during her speech, but I have some questions on what she was talking about. I am now concerned that she will not have the opportunity to answer them.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
27 February 2026
5 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Is there not a critical difference, when we talk about conflicts of interest, in that, in this case, this will be law—something that has been passed by Parliament? I do not believe that, in any public appointment, being supportive of a law of the land is deemed to be a conflict of interest.
If I may intervene again, let me say that this is a post which will happen only if the law has been passed by Parliament. I am not aware—but perhaps the noble Baroness can help me—if there is any other public appointment process which says that someone cannot be in favour of the law that they will b…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
6 February 2026
6 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Building on from that, that is correct: there are two different approaches here. There are those among us who believe that choice should come first, and within that choice there should obviously be protections and safeguards. Then there are those people who have equally very firm beliefs that the re…
I will make just one point. My noble friend mentioned that this was opposed by every one of the groups. Again, we took evidence from all these groups. The position is that they are neutral on it, because their memberships are split on it. The Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of General…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
AI Superintelligence
The noble Lord is aware that the Government are spending £2 billion on supporting all AI-related projects. We are investing £500 million in our Sovereign AI Unit, supporting UK businesses to compete internationally. The noble Lord is absolutely right: the world is changing and we have to be at the f…
Lords
Debate
30 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
To follow on from that, as my noble friend said right at the beginning, the amendment was put down in such a blunt fashion absolutely to stimulate this sort of debate. What has been really useful in this debate is finding that there is a broad degree of consensus that AI can be valuable as an input …
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Superintelligent AI
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Hunt for initiating this important debate on an important topic, and all noble Lords from around the House for their contributions today. This Government believe that advanced AI has transformative potential for the UK: from scientific innovation and public ser…
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
13 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I think I heard my noble friend say that NHS resources should be used just to help people live. Of course, we would all agree that is a very important thing, but surely palliative care is all about helping people to die comfortably, which I think we all believe in as well. Given that, mayb…
To build on that, I will put the financial numbers into context. The impact assessment has it down as £28 million; I believe that is 0.000175% of the NHS budget. It is right and proper that we decide how NHS resources are spent and in which direction, as the noble Lord, Lord Winston, said. We make t…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
Artificial Intelligence: UK Preparedness
The noble Lord is right to draw attention to this matter, on which he has been a long-time thoughtful voice. All I can say is that we are investing in this sector. We have put aside £500 million to develop our sovereign AI capabilities. We are going to establish AI growth zones and AI growth labs, w…
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
6 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Every point that has been raised is valid, and I am sure that, when the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, gets up to respond, he will acknowledge those points as well. However, I think the question in each case is whether we want it to be a black or white assessment of whether that should apply…
Again, it is about whether you put that financial support clarification in black and white and say, “This must be something that someone’s done”, where it might not even be relevant to the circumstances, or where the—
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I have found this debate to be very helpful, because we all of course want the safest processes possible in all of this. It is clear that we are all reaching to try and find a way that we think will work. To a certain degree, it is all down to whether the best way to do this is through a m…
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I just say, if I may, as a member of the Select Committee, that it was decision by the Select Committee not to hear from terminally ill people. It was not to do with the time available; it was to do with the majority of the committee being opposed to hearing from terminally ill people.
My Lords, perhaps I may just ask a question on that. Everyone believes a GP should be able to conscientiously object. But, in all of this, I have not heard an answer to what happens in that circumstance. Surely, we need a circumstance, as happens today, involving a team-based approach, as the noble …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industry
We are always open to reviewing what the Government do in all varieties of ways to do with tax. We will have to wait to see whether there is anything on that in the Budget next week. As I said, we are investing in the supply chain. We want to see energy produced in the most effective way. I think we…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Space Debris
The noble Lord makes a good point. We have to work with international partners, whether the US, Japan or the European Space Agency. Currently, the Government are developing space sustainable standards with commercial space sector investors and insurers as part of our wider regulatory reforms. We mus…
Lords
Debate
14 November 2025
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, for introducing this debate and raising very important questions about devolution, and I look forward to the Minister’s response. I will first address the amendments specifically and then respond to some of the comments raised in the debate.
These …
My Lords, I do not think it is helpful to your Lordships’ House to be going into discussions that included private discussions. The Motion that the House passed did not suggest that. Noble Lords will also know that there are ethical concerns about calling people who are so vulnerable.
+1 more contribution in this session