Lords
Committee Stage
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Sheep Carcase (Classification and Price Reporting) (England) Regulations 2025
My Lords, these schemes, long established in the aforementioned beef and pork sectors, have provided transparency, accountability and consistency across the market. It is only right that the sheep sector now be afforded the same standards.
The proposed regulations, based on the existing Carcase Cla…
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their valuable contributions to today’s debate and their strong support for these regulations; it is much appreciated. These regulations are important, so it is very good that we can bring them in smoothly.
The key issue raised in the debate is that of small abatto…
Lords
Committee Stage
7 July 2025
Combined Authorities (Adult Education Functions) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, for his comments and his overall support of the direction of travel. I will pick up a couple of the points that he raised, in particular his comments about the reduction in adult skills funding allocations. I have to say that our analysis is that we …
Lords
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Artificial Intelligence: News Media
The noble Earl clearly raises some important points. We genuinely want to get this right and for AI to work for everyone. All our work so far has been on protecting existing rights. In that context, I am happy to write to the noble Earl on that question.
Lords
Debate
4 July 2025
Mortgage Prisoners Inquiry Bill [HL]
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, for his continued commitment to this important issue, and all noble Lords who have contributed their perspectives to the debate. As discussed at Second Reading, the origins and treatment of mortgage prisoners have been subject to close consideration by…
Lords
Committee Stage
1 July 2025
Protection and Disclosure of Personal Information (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, and the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, for their contributions. I will respond to some of the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bourne, and I need to declare an interest: I was the publisher of his major textbook, Bourne on Comp…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
My Lords, if this Government are pro-business, as the Statement says, why has £143 billion-worth of initial public offerings gone to New York? Why are Revolut, Unilever ice cream and many others jumping ship?
Lords
Oral Questions
30 June 2025
Arts Sector
DCMS is not suggesting that there should be one source of funding and that the arts’ only source of funding should be public funding—a mixed economy is really important. DCMS in particular is committed to championing philanthropy, which has a rich tradition in our country. It is key across the DCMS …
Lords
Debate
25 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I declare an interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. It is a pleasure to follow the noble Earl, Lord Effingham—I almost agreed with some of the things he said. It was quite charming.
For a passionate Green like me, who spent the first 18 years of her life living …
Lords
Oral Questions
25 June 2025
NHS: Private Equity
Again, if there is particular information I should have, I would be delighted to receive that. I can only wholeheartedly agree with my right honourable friend the Secretary of State about the need to use capacity in the private sector. It is one of the ways we are driving down waiting lists and offe…
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
Young People: Sporting Activities
Given that we are about to go on to day eight in Committee on the Bill, I look forward to that discussion and debate. The noble Earl is, of course, right to identify the benefits of sport and activity to ensure young people remain healthy, both physically and mentally. That is why, without waiting f…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Music and Dance Scheme
Well, I do agree with the words of my noble friend Lady Longfield. I am sure that she, like me, is dismayed at, for example, the big fall-off in young people able to take GCSEs in those subjects over the period of time that the noble Lord was in government, and that she is dismayed about, as the nob…
Lords
Debate
23 June 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 189 and 191 to 193 en bloc. I thank all noble Lords who have made such valuable contributions to this group thus far.
On the Thursday just past, we heard some excellent speeches in your Lordships’ House on the various issues relating to the provision of healthy…
The Minister twice mentioned monitoring the take-up. Do the Government know how many families should be claiming free school meals? That would surely help in understanding how close the Government are to reaching the goal that all noble Lords are asking for, which is free school meals for everyone w…
Lords
Debate
19 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their valuable contributions thus far. Amendment 146B in the name of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester seeks to strengthen the duty on the local authority to ensure that it has due regard to that very duty to either remove or minimise the disad…
My Lords, corporate parenting means providing the best possible care, safeguarding and support, ensuring that children thrive and have opportunities to reach their full potential. It involves actively promoting their well-being, health and education, and preparing them for adulthood, mirroring what …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
13 June 2025
3 contributions
Environmental Targets (Public Authorities) Bill [HL]
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, for his commitment to environmental issues and, as a result, bringing forward this Private Member’s Bill. The noble Lord’s expertise and dedication have long contributed to the strength of debate in your Lordship’s House, and we thank him for his continu…
My Lords, Amendment 2, tabled by my noble friend Lord Trenchard, seeks to remove Great British Nuclear, now re-named Great British Energy-Nuclear, from the scope of this Bill. In adding this amendment, my noble friend recognises the unique role of nuclear energy in our national energy strategy. He c…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
12 June 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 79, in the name of my noble friend Lady Barran and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester, and Amendment 80, in the name of my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott. While we are of course positive towards efforts that support children with a social worker…
My Lords, Amendments 101 and 102 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, seek to promote familial relationships for looked-after children.
Amendment 101 seeks to include a duty to promote a child’s familial and social relationships alongside the existing duties for local authorities to promo…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2025
Free School Meals
My Lords, I quote from the Statement that
“it is an investment in our children’s futures. It sets them free from the worries and strains of growing up in poverty”.
Does the Minister agree that, if this is the Government’s aim, there should be compulsory financial education in schools about pension…
Lords
Debate
9 June 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 69B in my name and in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, as well as the other amendments in this group. Amendment 69B seeks to ensure that children in kinship care and their carers can be referred to as a “kinship family”. Using the term “kinship …
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who made valuable contributions to this group. The noble Lord, Lord Hampton, talked about improving the visibility of kinship care, and he is absolutely right. My noble friend Lady Sanderson talked about acknowledging the role of the whole family in terms of kinship…
Lords
Proceedings
6 June 2025
Preterm Birth Committee Report
My Lords, I am sure I speak for all of us when I say that it feels somewhat overwhelming at the end of a debate such as this, not least because noble Lords have been very generous and open about their personal experiences and those of their friends and families, and I am grateful to all noble Lords …
Lords
Debate
22 May 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, this has been an interesting and thought-provoking debate on an important topic: namely, how we use a unique identifier in the interests of safeguarding our children. Noble Lords have quite rightly raised some crucial questions for the Minister to answer, particularly relating to privacy a…
My Lords, this has been a valuable discussion, and I thank all noble Lords for their insightful and knowledgeable contributions. Child contact centres do indeed play an integral role in allowing parents to see their child in a safe environment for both parties involved. They allow parents not only t…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 May 2025
Social Care Reform
Again, I do not recognise the characterisation of a U-turn on social care. The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State have been extremely clear, as I outlined earlier in response to the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, about why this commission is in place. When it was brought to this House previously, …
Lords
Debate
20 May 2025
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I am delighted to speak to Amendment 5 in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, and the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, who has considerable experience in this subject. It is similar in purpose to Amendments 7, 8, 9 and 11, and we need to follow key principles to make sure that the family…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions. It is important for all these children that we do everything we can to make sure that these processes can be implemented successfully, and ensuring that an evidence-based approach is followed is a key part of this. I briefly flag in particul…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
20 May 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, perhaps I could make a small contribution. This is about a purpose clause. It is a broad amendment, and noble Lords are speaking to the amendment, whether that be proposed new paragraphs (a), (b), (c) or (d). It is on the Marshalled List and has been checked with the Clerk of Procedural Pr…
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 3 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, which I have co-signed.
Family group conferencing was born out of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 in New Zealand, whereby families became key participants in a process of decision-m…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2025
NHS and Care Volunteer Responders Service
My Lords, the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service has completed more than 2.7 million tasks and shifts, including more than 1.1 million telephone support calls, over the past five years. It provides volunteering support seven days a week, underpinned by wraparound support and assurance, as wel…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 May 2025
Assistive Technology
The noble Earl is right that that research—which, to be fair, happened under the last Government—is an important basis on which we can now expand the ability to use, and improve the use of, assistive technology across schools and education. That research has identified the barriers in the system and…