Lords
Proceedings
12 November 2025
11 contributions
BBC Leadership
I thank the noble Lord and the noble Baroness for their points and questions on this matter. I am sure the BBC agrees with the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, in his aspiration for it not to be newsworthy.
As the Secretary of State said in the other place yesterday, the BBC has a respons…
The Secretary of State for Culture said in the other place yesterday that if we did not have the BBC, we would have to invent it. It has a proud history of over 100 years, and it can have a proud future, hopefully, of more than 100 years going forward. I concur with the noble Lord’s sentiment. Some …
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
22 October 2025
7 contributions
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
My Lords, I very much associate myself with the noble Lord’s sentiment of being appalled. Discrimination in all forms, including antisemitism, is fundamentally opposed to our British values of fairness, decency and respect. In relation to the noble Lord’s question, the Home Office, through the UK fo…
Clearly, we need to look at why no request for additional resource through mutual aid, which is quite a standard process, was sought beforehand. I assure your Lordships’ House that, as soon as the decision was made known, the Culture Secretary, Home Secretary and Community Secretary had extensive di…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
10 contributions
Telegraph Media Group: Ownership
My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s confirmation that the formal bid has been received and that during this phase of scrutiny the existing protections for the Telegraph remain in place. I very much hope that the Secretary of State will soon be able to say that she is minded to involve the CMA…
My Lords, I associate myself with all the comments about the Lord Speaker—or, at least, with all those that we have heard so far.
As we know, a fund with Abu Dhabi money, and probably Chinese money, is acquiring what in global terms is a small media player. It is relatively small, but the Telegraph…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
11 contributions
UK and EU Trade: Arts and Creative Industries
My Lords, the almost five years since we left the single market have already cost us tens of billions of pounds in trade—that includes the creative industries—not to mention the red tape and frustration that continues to be experienced on a daily basis. For musicians touring, there has been no resol…
My Lords, the Welsh Government promote creative arts and education through the creative learning through the arts programme. Its aim is to integrate arts and creativity into the core of the education system, ensuring that all learners have access to creative experiences, regardless of their backgrou…
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who spoke in this group, especially the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, for moving Amendment 427BA. The group considers amendments to the clauses relating to independent educational institutions. These clauses amend the Education and Skills Act 2008 and the regulatory …
Yes, we can do that.
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
9 contributions
Football Governance Act 2025: Implementation
My Lords, I very much welcome the Minister’s reply, and perhaps I should declare my interest as the only known member of the Brighton & Hove Albion (Lords) Supporters’ Club. Given the Euros success of the Lionesses this summer, the upcoming expanded Women’s Super League and the growth of the wom…
My Lords, the nomination of David Kogan as the new football regulator has been widely welcomed in football and beyond—his capability and deep knowledge of the game are well recognised. Mr Kogan’s appointment was first announced in April, but four months later he is yet to be confirmed. The uncertain…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Statutory Instrument
22 July 2025
8 contributions
Enterprise Act 2002 (Mergers Involving Newspaper Enterprises and Foreign Powers) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I shall also speak to the Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025 and the Enterprise Act 2002 (Definition of Newspaper) Order 2025.
This set of regulations will broaden the scope of media merger regimes and strengthen the public interest protections, as wel…
Is the Minister seriously arguing that the survival of our newspapers, both national and local, depends on changing the law, as she is doing, to allow foreign Governments to have ownership of them?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
9 contributions
Parthenon Sculptures: Return
My Lords, there is a case for amending the existing legislation in a narrow way to allow our national museums to return permanently certain artifacts to their country of origin on a case-by-case basis—none more so than the Parthenon sculptures, so that the frieze and other sculptures can be seen in …
My Lords, this legislation is a throwback to the time when our national museums were little more than adjuncts of the Office of Works. As they gained their independence, the Government at the time quite rightly wanted to stop that. The trustees and leaders of our national museums have shown, admitte…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
9 contributions
Newspapers: Foreign Ownership
I thank the Minister for that Answer and for responding to the issue by publishing the responses. However, only four responses is a very small number, given the widespread interest in the issue and its importance. Although the Government have leaned heavily on the consultation in their explanations …
My Lords, why are the Government inviting the House to vote for secondary legislation that they have now admitted is defective in so far as it allows foreign Governments to own 15% and several foreign Governments collectively to own an additional 15%? Although the Government may have tabled amending…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 July 2025
5 contributions
Football Governance Bill [HL]
My Lords, with the leave of the House, in moving this Motion I will also speak to Amendments 2 to 62.
I tried very hard to avoid the overuse of football metaphors or puns at the earlier stages of the Bill but, despite the Bill having left your Lordships’ House previously, I think we can say that we…
My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for introducing these amendments and for setting out the reasons behind them. On Report in March, the noble Lord, Lord Birt, introduced a series of amendments. These were aimed at addressing what he regarded as some weaknesses in the role of the independe…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
10 contributions
Artificial Intelligence: News Media
My Lords, AI poses an existential threat to independent media because of the way it scrapes their high-quality content without either attribution or payment to those who created it, which is an act of theft directly threatening the provision of quality news and the jobs of thousands of reporters. Is…
Will the Minister undertake to view the opening session of the new inquiry by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, held last Wednesday, into human rights and artificial intelligence? In particular, will she look at the evidence of Professor David Leslie, the director of the Alan Turing Institute, wh…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
30 June 2025
10 contributions
Arts Sector
My Lords, at its best, the ecosystem of the arts and creative industries is a dynamic combination of the non-commercial and commercial, a point well made by the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, in her excellent maiden speech last week. Does the Minister agree that there would be no Steve McQueen, th…
My Lords, public subsidy extends beyond public arts venues. Indeed, at the height of the Covid pandemic, £900,000 of public money was paid to support Glastonbury. In that context, does the Minister agree with me that the scenes that we saw from Glastonbury this weekend were absolutely disgraceful? D…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
23 June 2025
10 contributions
Live Music Industry: Support
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. This week, 200,000 people will gather at the world’s greatest live music event, but Glastonbury is simply the apex of the great pyramid of the UK’s live and electronic music sector, which generates over £6 billion for our economy and brings immeasurable pleas…
My Lords, will the Government, particularly in the light of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, ensure that existing music venues are fully protected in areas that face redevelopment? If the agent of change principle were to be incorporated by government into primary legislation, that would be ver…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
17 June 2025
5 contributions
Casinos (Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I am pleased to speak to these regulations, which were laid before the House in draft on 12 May. This instrument has been considered by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and was not drawn to the special attention of the House. It is part of a package of statutory instruments tha…
My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for setting out what is, in many ways, a very technical SI, as well as the two related SIs to which she referred.
I understand that a lot of the pressure and motivation —if not the only motivation—behind this measure is economic growth and the international com…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
12 June 2025
Craft Industry: Support
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, on securing this important debate and all noble Lords on their thoughtful contributions today. Given the time constraint, I, too, will probably need to talk very fast, and I may need to write to noble Lords after the debate with any responses t…
Lords
Debate
4 June 2025
Malvern Hills Bill [HL]
My Lords, may I say how delighted I am by the tone and content of every speech made in this debate, particularly that of my noble friend the Minister? She answered a number of the issues raised by others as the debate has gone on, which I therefore do not need to repeat now. What I would like to do,…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 May 2025
10 contributions
Sport England: Equality Act 2010
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. She knows that Sport England was set up by royal charter and is in receipt of public and lottery money, and indeed has a board appointed by the Secretary of State. However, it seems to be taking its time in considering the ruling, despite the ruling very clea…
The Supreme Court’s judgment is not difficult to understand, is it?
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 May 2025
9 contributions
Artificial Intelligence: Creative Content
Does the Minister agree that for AI businesses to flourish here they need access to our world-class content—which will only be produced if content creators have effective copyright protection? This House recognised that on Monday during the passage of the Data (Use and Access) Bill. It is deeply dis…
My Lords, as we have heard, yesterday in the other place the Government used procedure rather than policy to overturn amendments that could have turbocharged a lucrative market for AI training data, on the premise that the data Bill is not the right vehicle to protect copyright works. What steps are…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 May 2025
8 contributions
BBC Sounds: Access from Abroad
Since laying this Question, and as a supporter of the BBC, I have been pleased to have a dialogue, but I am sure my noble friend would agree that if it is to be “our BBC” then there must be communications with listeners and timescales for implementation, linking in with genuine accessibility for eve…
My Lords, I declare an interest in having been a BBC producer for 25 years. Today, the BBC director-general called for the “supercharging” of the BBC World Service so that it can double its audience and reach 1 billion people weekly. Can the Minister respond to his call for the Government to be ambi…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
9 May 2025
80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan
My Lords, it is a genuine privilege to close this debate. I thank all noble Lords for their contributions today, not least my noble friend Lord Coaker for his truly inspiring opening speech and all noble Lords for their efforts through a range of organisations and their contributions today to ensure…