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
Lords
Committee Stage
15 October 2025
6 contributions
Companies (Directors’ Report) (Payment Reporting) Regulations 2025
My Lords, late payments are estimated to cost the UK economy close to £11 billion per year. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, employing millions of people and enriching our lives. Late payments lead to 14,000 business closures each year—an average of 38 businesses per day.
The Gover…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction. I have a few questions for him, mainly because I have been unable to answer them for the businesses that have written to me about the statutory instrument.
First, can the Minister confirm that the payment practices disclosure regime—the PPRR—stil…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
7 contributions
Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack
My Lords, with the indulgence of the House, let me say that this weekend I came back from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, where there were heartfelt tributes to the work of my noble friend Lord Campbell of Pittenweem. He was held in very high esteem. It is one example of his dedication to defending…
My Lords, according to the National Cyber Security Centre’s latest report—and following on from the noble Lord, Lord Fox—in the year to September, there were 18 highly significant attacks, meaning attacks with the potential to have a serious impact on essential services. Given the increasing frequen…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 September 2025
8 contributions
Online Safety Act 2023: Virtual Private Networks
My Lords, there are concerns and some misinformation circulating about VPNs and other aspects of the Act. In this light, is the Minister confident that the Act is still fit for purpose, and that platforms have a clear existing responsibility to prevent children bypassing safety protections? Does all…
My Lords, will the Minister support calls for app stores not to provide VPNs to children in this country?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Merck Research Site
I am sorry, but I was actually in the doorway, coming in. I would be grateful if I could ask the question, if that is possible. My noble friend Lord Markham raised an important point about the Treasury’s view of how these pricing processes function. The reality is that if we do not have the drug com…
Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2025
6 contributions
Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack
My Lords, before I respond to the noble Lord’s question, I take this opportunity to thank my noble friend Lady Jones of Whitchurch for her sterling worth as a Minister in this House. I am sure that all noble Lords will thank her for her performance at this Dispatch Box and her support to all Members…
My Lords, the noble Lord made a couple of interesting points, which are crucial, and I will try to address them. Cybersecurity of the UK is a key priority for this Government. It is crucial to protect public services, the public, our way of life and a successful, growing economy. We have been taking…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
10 September 2025
3 contributions
Limited Liability Partnerships (Application and Modification of Company Law) Regulations 2025
My Lords, in speaking to these amendments I will also speak to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Consequential, Incidental and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2025 and the Register of People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2025.
These instruments form pa…
My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on retaining his position after the recent reshuffle of the Cabinet.
Despite recent reforms of Companies House, several issues remain unaddressed and the legislation in front of us does not really deal with them. I will illustrate my concerns with three pieces …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, before we start debate on the next group of amendments, I want to make a couple of points. The Committee will have to adjourn before 2 o’clock so that we can get the Chamber ready for Oral Questions. If noble Lords want to make the Whip very happy, they will speak very swiftly so we can co…
My Lords, it is approaching 2 pm. I suggest that, unless the next speaker can finish his or her contribution by then, we take a short break to allow the House to prepare for Oral Questions; and that the debate on this amendment be adjourned until after Questions.
Lords
Committee Stage
8 September 2025
4 contributions
Online Safety Act 2023 (Qualifying Worldwide Revenue) Regulations 2025
My Lords, as set out in the Online Safety Act 2023, Ofcom is empowered to make regulations that define how the qualifying worldwide revenue—QWR—of a provider of a regulated service is to be determined, along with the relevant qualifying period. The Act requires Ofcom to send the draft regulations to…
My Lords, I welcome this SI, although I have some questions about it. I would be grateful if the Minister could respond to them and, if not, write to me about them.
It is good to see progress being made on these issues. This was an area of considerable discussion and debate during the passage of th…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
This is Report.
Front Bench.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, and my noble friend Lady O’Grady of Upper Holloway, for contributing to this debate, and to the noble Lord, Lord Goddard, for setting out the Lib Dems’ position. I will now speak to Amendment 150, tabled by my noble friend Lord…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, for tabling Amendment 127A. Although it rightly raises the important issue of pay inequality, it effectively duplicates a review process that we are already undertaking.
It is undeniable that average salaries have stagnated. In fac…
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken. I may not agree with some of the sentiments of some noble Lords, but I have listened to all the arguments in the last few years, such as when minimum wage was debated. The scaremongering that businesses will go bust does not hold water with…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who spoke—my noble friends Lord Hendy, Lady O’Grady, Lord Monks and Lord Berkeley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Verma.
The noble Lord, Lord Sharpe of Epsom, tabled Amendment 125, which seeks to give workers the right to opt out of collective agreements. Workers are…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
Renters’ Rights Bill
I am now getting congratulations from my noble friend, which are very warmly felt. We cannot, however, leave the Bill without giving profound thanks to my noble friend the Minister for her pioneering of the Bill through all stages of its passage through this House. I think I echo the words of the no…
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
8 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate. Amendment 94 from the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, would exempt specific groups from all or some of the provisions within Part 1. Since the 1980s, UK reforms have stripped back workers’ employment rights and turned the countr…
Noble Lords opposite may laugh but this is the Lloyds Business Barometer, which I am sure many noble Lords across the aisle will know—with a second consecutive rise in workforce projections for the coming year. Deloitte recently ranked the UK as the joint top destination for investment.
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
14 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this short debate, and I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Llanfaes—I apologise if I have mispronounced that—for tabling these amendments. I reassure her that the Government are fully committed to protecting workers from workplace viole…