Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
Budget: Press Briefings
My Lords, the Minister mentioned October 2022 in his previous response, so I ask him: is the yield on the 30-year UK government bond higher now than it was in October 2022?
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
Hillsborough Law
My Lords, it would be customary to begin by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for securing this debate, but I am sure he will agree with me when I say that I should open my reply on behalf of His Majesty’s Government by paying tribute to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster and their families…
Lords
Committee Stage
10 November 2025
Environmental Protection (Wet Wipes Containing Plastic) (England) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for taking part in today’s debate and for their contributions. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to bring this important debate to the House of Lords. It has been a really interesting discussion. I am grateful for the broad support but, clearly, there is a r…
Lords
Committee Stage
10 November 2025
National Health Service (Procurement, Slavery and Human Trafficking) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord and the noble Earl. I apologise that I will have to write on a number of issues, but I will try my best.
The noble Lord, Lord Scriven, asked what the difference is between PPN 009 and the regulations. PPN 009 sets out policy expectations, but the new regulations pro…
Lords
Proceedings
4 November 2025
Huntingdon Train Attack
My Lords, as mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Davies, according to the Statement, the Government are committed to halving knife crime within a decade. However, recent research shows that last year there were 1,300 offences in schools. Does the Minister agree that a watertight, zero-tolerance policy…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
National Curriculum: Religious Education
The noble Earl puts his finger on one of the most sensitive issues in education at the moment. I reassure noble Lords that we are absolutely committed to making improvements in this area. Hate crime, discrimination and racism have no place in Britain, particularly not in our schools. I am delighted …
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Corruption: Low and Middle-income Countries
Of course, the noble Earl is right, and nobody would like to see that money released and able to be spent in Ukraine more than me. We have to act within the law as it currently stands and as his Government left it last year. We do not have the power, as he knows, to seize those assets in a way that …
Lords
Debate
24 October 2025
Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for the positive and constructive debate on this important subject, and I congratulate my noble friend Lord Bach on bringing forward the Bill. I have been particularly struck by the emphasis of all those who spoke, including the noble Earl, on the fact that these are ch…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Fracture Liaison Services
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Black, on securing this important debate and thank all noble Lords for their significant contributions. I pay tribute to his personal background; it has brought such depth and strength of feeling to the subject, and I am sure many noble Lords have simila…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Music and Dance Schools: Affordable Access
My Lords, I start with an enormous thank you to the noble Lord, Lord Blackwell, for bringing forward this important debate. The number of people taking part demonstrates the strength of feeling in this House and, clearly, beyond. I thank all noble Lords who have spoken, who have considerable experie…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Alzheimer’s Disease
I think the valid points that the noble Earl raises refer to a whole range of health conditions. I refer particularly to our health service’s struggle to support those with complex needs. Clearly, prevention of ill health—one of the pillars of the 10-year plan—is going to be crucial, and that will i…
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Blower, and other noble Lords who proposed the amendments in this group. This is a very technical area, and we have heard much expert opinion from my noble friend Lord Banner, the noble Lord, Lord Carter, the noble Baroness, Lady Longfield, the noble and le…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for raising the critically important issue of sport and physical education in schools, which I personally feel particularly strongly about. If schools were to follow the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Storey, and perform physical exercise in the morning before c…
Lords
Debate
16 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, His Majesty’s loyal Opposition believe that we do, of course, need to pay careful attention to the barriers that prevent children from low-income backgrounds, young carers and others from attaining higher grades and better results in school. Ensuring that every child has a fair and equal c…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Merck Research Site
My Lords, the decision by Merck, or MSD, not to progress its investment, with 126 jobs lost—I express my sympathy to those individuals—is part of a broader effort by MSD to optimise its resources. It announced in July that it would cut $3 billion per year by 2027 and that 6,000 jobs would go worldwi…
The decrease in funding for the life sciences sector, in terms of NHS purchasing of medicines, started in 2015 and has continued since. It has not been a good position. We are reversing that now with the Life Sciences Sector Plan to make sure there is proper investment. Some £2 billion is going in a…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
UK and EU Trade: Arts and Creative Industries
I appreciate that this is a question for me from His Majesty’s Opposition, but these are things that presumably came up as part of the impact assessment when we withdrew from the EU.
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak only briefly to these amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Knight of Weymouth. The misconduct regime covered in these clauses is clearly very important for the protection of schoolchildren and maintaining the highest standards both in the classroom and outside, in public …
Lords
Oral Questions
10 September 2025
Gaza Protests: Anti-terrorism Legislation
I am grateful for the noble Earl’s support. We will do that and have done that, but there are several cases pending on which we are not able to comment. Therefore, I hope the public will accept and understand the reasons why that assessment has been made, but he is absolutely right in his comments .
Lords
Committee Stage
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Warm Home Discount (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this important debate on an important issue for their contributions and for the broad support that the Committee has expressed for this statutory instrument. I shall cover the questions as best I can. First, the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, ta…
I am sure that the noble Earl and his colleagues are aware that we have made a very strong commitment to nuclear energy and are pushing forward on that in a way that previous Governments have not done. It is really important that we are investing in nuclear energy with that commitment. The departmen…
Lords
Debate
2 September 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to this group of amendments on the children not in school register, which seek to probe issues surrounding privacy. The children not in school consultation aimed to collate thoughts and views around local authority registers of children not attending school to ensure that all…
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Lucas has raised concerns about parental and child involvement at both a national and local level. It is of course important that local authorities consult with home-educating parents. But His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition are of the view that the establishment of a “pare…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
23 July 2025
Financial Services Reform
My Lords, the Minister mentioned how interest rates have been cut, and other noble Lords on the Government Benches have mentioned the same thing. Does he agree that the Bank of England dictates monetary policy, not the Government, and that the reason why the Bank of England has been cutting interest…
Lords
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, the Secretary of State said that resident doctors
“should start to experience an improvement in their working conditions on everything from the availability of nutritious food and drink ”—[ Official Report , Commons, 10/7/25; col. 1150.]
to other items. I would be interested to know: how…
Lords
Committee Stage
14 July 2025
Contracts for Difference (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 3) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I thank noble Lords again for a good debate, with some incisive observations made by noble Lords opposite. This Government are steadfastly committed to deploying renewables in order to achieve our ambition for clean power by 2030 and to protect bill payers both now and in future. The instr…
Lords
Committee Stage
14 July 2025
Nuclear Installations (Compensation for Nuclear Damage) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I am grateful for the valuable contributions and the insightful questions. As I said, this is a technical issue, so it is only right that it be looked at technically and in detail.
I say to the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, that a formal public consultation was not undertaken for this draft…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
My Lords, following on from the question of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, on screens, new research shows that gaming addiction and smartphone overuse is, frighteningly, starting much earlier than previously thought—in fact, in primary schools rather than in teenage years. Does the Minister agree …