Lords
Debate
12 March 2026
Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill
The question was well made. I can tell the noble Lord that it is important and that there is a whole strategy with UKEF and the Government to ensure that the opportunity that the Bill creates is articulated to the SME community as well.
With that in mind, I thank noble Lords from across the House f…
Lords
Proceedings
5 March 2026
2 contributions
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, before we start the debate, I remind the Grand Committee that we started this group last month and that only those who were here at the start of the group should contribute. A list has helpfully been provided by the clerks, if any noble Lords would like to check it before contributing. How…
The noble Baroness might go on for a while or she might not. I say we start and then adjourn.
Lords
Committee Stage
25 February 2026
5 contributions
Energy-Intensive Industry Electricity Support Payments and Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, this instrument was laid on 12 January 2026. I acknowledge that the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments has provided a helpful review of these regulations and not drawn any special attention of this House and the other place to the instrument. I acknowledge that the Secondary Legislat…
My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to put a couple of questions on these regulations. Having represented a high energy user, a York brick company, for a number of years in the other place, I am well aware of the disproportionate energy costs for high energy-use industry. There is a theme he…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
8 contributions
AI: Labour Market Changes
I thank my noble friend the Minister for his reply and welcome the industrial strategy, as well as the launch of the AI and the Future of Work Unit. My concern is that we do not appear to have tested a scenario in which AI-driven displacement materially outpaces job creation. With estimates of net e…
My Lords, the AI Security Institute was established primarily with a focus on frontier AI safety risks. Does the institute have the expertise and the dedicated resource to assess these systemic AI risks? What consultation is it carrying out with unions, business and trade bodies? Is it actively buil…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Flour Milling Sector
My Lords, this has been an interesting, if short, debate. I hope that the Committee will join me in wishing the noble Lords, Lord Rooker and Lord Vaizey of Didcot, a happy joint birthday on 5 June; I wish everyone else a good February Recess. In the meantime, the Grand Committee stands adjourned unt…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
8 contributions
AI Superintelligence
I thank my noble friend for indicating that superintelligent AI is expected to emerge over the course of the next couple of years. It was the head of the IMF who said at Davos last week that this is moving so fast, yet we do not know how to make it safe. We rightly regulate many industries in this c…
My Lords, I declare an interest as a consultant for DLA Piper on AI regulation and policy. In the debate on AI last week, the noble Baroness, Lady Lloyd of Effra, mentioned the Council of Europe framework convention on AI. She rightly said that it is seeking
“to establish a clear international base…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
22 January 2026
4 contributions
Retail and Hospitality Sector
I thank the Minister. In outlining the changes in the rate system, the Minister is talking about the process. Could he perhaps talk about the outcome, which, when conjoined with the reduction and removal of Covid relief, leaves many businesses—indeed, most businesses—paying more, not less, business …
My Lords, can I make a request to the Minister? In the letter that he plans to write to us, can he explain how many consultations across the whole of government are currently being run? It is a huge number, and I would like to know what it is.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
9 contributions
Artificial Intelligence: UK Preparedness
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply and acknowledge the long-standing work of many noble Lords on this issue. Given the pace of AI development and the risks highlighted by analyses such as AI 2027 , can my noble friend outline how the Government are preparing the UK and eng…
My Lords, does the Minister agree that AI systems are proliferating rapidly and may compete rather than co-operate, and that this degree of self-correction is perhaps one of the areas that we should encourage to stand in the way of the undoubted spreading power of the AI system generally?
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 January 2026
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
This is Third Reading and the noble Lord is repeating what has been debated before.
My Lords, I join with others in welcoming the robust yet civilised and courteous way in which this legislation has been debated. Obviously, at Third Reading, it is not appropriate to regurgitate all the arguments. However, given the significance of the Bill, it is also the case that it merits some l…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
3 contributions
AI Systems: Risks
My Lords, at that point, I will just interrupt the Minister before the witching hour. The Minister has reiterated the approach to focus governance on the user—that is, the sectoral approach—but is that not giving a free pass to general AI developers?
I thank the Minister for such a generous and wide-ranging response. He said that we are going to regulate at the point of use, yet in this House we saw such a battle about the misuse of UK creative data that is protected by UK law. The UK Government wanted to give it away rather than protect UK law,…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
9 contributions
Fair Work Agency: Small and Micro Businesses
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his Answer, but small businesses continue to raise concerns about the Government’s one-size-fits-all approach to labour market policy. Can the Minister assure the House that in designing the structure of the Fair Work Agency, proper account will be taken o…
My Lords, the Fair Work Agency and the Secretary of State are legally one and the same entity. Given the extent of enforcement and police powers which the agency will enjoy, will the service level agreement, which I assume will be agreed between the Secretary of State and the agency, ensure that the…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Order. May I ask my noble friend to wind up now, please?
My Lords, there is one short point that the House should bear in mind in relation to Motion B1. There is already no cap on the award of compensation in employment tribunals for race discrimination, sex discrimination and disability discrimination cases. The House may therefore think that the concern…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
20 November 2025
4 contributions
Radio Equipment (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I note the regret amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and will respond to the points raised. However, I will first outline the context of this instrument, which was laid before the House on 13 October 2025. This instrument relates to radio equipment, which encompasses a broa…
My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Leong, to his position. He is about the third noble Lord we have had answering SIs, so we are gradually getting round all of them. It is of course very nice to see the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson, who is very involved with and supportive of Northern Ireland…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
Before the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, stands up, I want to make a statement. Noble Lords will be aware that grouping processes are well established. The deadline of 5 pm is always communicated to all Peers when the groupings are sent out. Late degrouping is discouraged, I am afraid. For this group, …
I just want to clarify that I have a note here saying that the Chief Whip decided this afternoon. Given how late the change was made, it could not be reflected in Today’s List , which had already been published. I informed the Deputy Chairman of Committees of the degrouping just 10 minutes ago.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
8 contributions
Space Debris
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Two weeks ago today, your Lordships’ UK Engagement with Space Committee, of which I was a member, published its report, The Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out , which highlighted the issue of space debris. There are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of bits…
My Lords, I am glad that the Minister and the noble Viscount mentioned the most recent report of the Select Committee. Given what the Minister has said about active debris removal and the European Space Agency, what are the Government doing to ensure that the cost of end-of-life compliance is met by…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I have already spoken to Motion F. I beg to move.
Motion F1 (as an amendment to Motion F)
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their very kind words. I thank my noble friend Lord Faulkner and the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, for their engagement with the Government, myself and my colleagues. This amendment is good news to the thousands of volunteers working in heritage railways up and do…
Lords
Proceedings
10 November 2025
2 contributions
Curriculum and Assessment Review
My Lords—
May the noble Lord wind up, because we have other speakers coming up as well?
Lords
Oral Questions
3 November 2025
7 contributions
AI: Workforce Training
I thank the Minister for that helpful Answer. Artificial intelligence training courses already exist and, as the noble Lord said, there are many of them. British history provides a template to achieve a greater take-up for the wider population. In 1969 Harold Wilson established the Open University, …
My Lords, it is a real challenge to get the workforce in the 5 million or so SMEs to embrace the advantages of AI while obviously understanding the pitfalls as well. What are the Government doing to make sure that SMEs do not get left behind in the technology race?
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
9 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
No.
My Lords, in addressing Motion C, I thank the Government for their amendment. The noble Lord, Lord Katz, in particular, has been very patient and has provided us with his time. He has responded to an issue that was first raised by Sir Ashley Fox in the Commons, when one of his constituents, who was …
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
12 contributions
Amazon Web Services
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that response. I notice that he did not say whether the outage was precipitated by hostile state activity. Given the impact on UK critical services, including those run by the Government, should we have more variety in cloud producers and more sovereign…
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on his Question; I submitted exactly the same Question yesterday. Is it possible that some of the sites affected in the UK, including the GOV.UK portal, were not aware that the data was held in America rather than in the UK and that, therefore, when a problem…
+10 more contributions in this session