Lord Weir of Ballyholme — Hansard

Lords Committee Stage 9 July 2026

Modern Service Framework for Dementia and Frailty

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to raise what is both an important and timely issue. There is a truism which certainly affects my family, indeed most families: many years ago, it would have been said that the terrible scourge of cancer had touched pretty much every family in the country and that…

Lords Proceedings 2 July 2026

Post-16 Education and Skills: Funding

My Lords, I refer to my registered interests in the FE sector. Although there is an excellent job being done by schools and FE bodies in support of young people aged 16-19, we sometimes concentrate on the institutions rather than the individual students. There is a concern that some young people wit…

Lords Proceedings 24 June 2026

Resistant Hypertension

My Lords, I welcome the remarks made so far by the Minister. We are aware of the drivers and that hypertension can lead to strokes and heart attacks. In particular, about 5% to 10% of those with hypertension have resistant hypertension. I ask the Minister specifically: when the cardiovascular diseas…

Lords Proceedings 22 June 2026

NHS: Dementia Treatment Trials

My Lords, it is welcome that the Government seem to be setting national targets for dementia diagnosis. But targets are valuable only if they are accompanied by timeframes, not simply for diagnosis but for a treatment plan. Will the Government consider proposals such as from Alzheimer’s Research UK,…

Lords Proceedings 10 June 2026

Best Start Family Hubs

My Lords, the Best Start Family Hubs offer an opportunity for positive progress. However, if we are to provide the most assistance to families, particularly those with SEND children, it will require an integrated and holistic approach from the Government. Can the Minister outline how family hubs wil…

Lords Proceedings 3 June 2026

Alzheimer’s Disease: Diagnosis and Access to Experimental Drugs

My Lords, early intervention can clearly be critical, but one of the barriers to early access, particularly to new drugs, is the current modelling of NICE. I think there is a level of criticism of its cost-benefit analysis in that sometimes it does not take sufficient cognisance of the health and ec…

Lords Debate 24 April 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

The point that has been made repeatedly in this House is that public opinion is in favour of this Bill and the Commons has passed it. Therefore, we have a duty to get through our business. Does the noble Lord agree?

Lords Debate 20 March 2026 3 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, it is good to see the noble Baroness, Lady Prentis, back in her place, and I am sure the whole Committee welcomes her back. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, I cannot claim to have a background in representing Wales—the closest I have been is on a few childhood holidays—but I have expe…

My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 553B. It is one of a range of amendments I have tabled, which have been put into a number of groups, to try to deal with some of the concerns that have been raised by disabled people and to provide high levels of safeguards. The amendment overlaps with other am…

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Lords Debate 18 March 2026 3 contributions

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, I support the amendment in the names of my noble friend Lady Foster and others. It is right that we look to close the loophole. We need to look at how terrorists operate in the real world. The loophole that is there at present suggests that the current legislation’s wording is not quite fi…

Does the noble Lord agree that, as we saw recently, it is also the extent to which, if we normalise the sense of terrorism, it feeds into future terrorism? To give an example of this, when we saw the terrible shooting of John Caldwell—thankfully, despite horrendous injuries, the officer survived—and…

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Lords Debate 13 March 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I will speak to my amendment in this group, Amendment 200B. It would insert a new clause to say that care professionals are not permitted to raise the subject of assistance. For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed new clause says that anyone who is engaged in patient care may not “raise,…

Lords Statutory Instrument 12 March 2026 3 contributions

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026

My Lords, I should inform the House that, if this amendment is agreed to, I will be unable to call the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, by reason of pre-emption.

I am grateful to the Minister for introducing the statutory instrument in the way that he did, to the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, for introducing her fatal Motion, and to the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, for introducing the regret Motion. It is very important that we in this Chamber debate these issues…

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Lords Oral Questions 4 March 2026

Maternity Commissioner

This comes to the absolute centre of the problem. The different health structures around the country represent very different communities and it is essential that those health services are tailored to meet the needs of their communities. The inequalities, for example, and the difference in maternal …

Lords Debate 27 February 2026 2 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I will speak to three amendments in this group, two of which stand in my name. The third is Amendment 128 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, which I have co-signed and will touch on briefly now. Amendment 128 is essentially probing in nature. The Bill lists the principal func…

I rise to speak to two amendments in my name in this group, Amendments 496A and 496F. At the outset, I want to give an apology to the sponsor and to the Committee as a whole, in line with the Chief Whip’s procedural recommendations. Given that I suspect that this will carry on at least until 6 pm, I…

Lords Statutory Instrument 10 February 2026

Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2026

Before the Minister sits down, I asked whether the Government suggested to Kim Leadbeater that she table Amendment 77 back in June, which started to extend parts of the Bill to Scotland. I can always ask the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, about his Amendment 888, but, if she has an answer, I…

Lords Debate 2 February 2026 4 contributions

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, for the benefit of the absent noble Lord, Lord Russell, I will attempt to speak in a paperless fashion, which means that if I engage in verbal streams of consciousness I hope that the Committee will forgive me. There is a range of amendments in this group, many of which I support, a number…

I appreciate the point the noble Baroness is making, but would she accept that the telemedicine is illegal in Northern Ireland? Pills by post is not an option, so the only route that any woman in Northern Ireland can use is the clinical route and within the timeframe. It is pretty obvious why there …

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Lords Oral Questions 2 February 2026

Prisoners for Palestine: Hunger Strikes

We will go to the non-affiliated Benches and then to the Conservative Benches.

Lords Debate 27 January 2026

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, it is always an honour to follow both the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, and the noble Lord, Lord McCrea. Their personal experiences—my family has not been directly affected—are a salutary reminder to this Committee that the choices that we make on this issue are not academic debating societ…

Lords Debate 23 January 2026 2 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Is it not also the case, if we are looking at assisted dying much more from a justice prism, that one of the broader, important elements to establish, where death has occurred, is whether there has been any criminal action or intent, in terms of the administration but also in a situation where peopl…

The noble Baroness raised the issue of speed. It comes back to a point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Fox. Often in public policy issues, there is a trade-off between the speed of a decision and its quality. Sometimes when we short-circuit or fast-track decisions it can inevitably lead to a grea…

Lords Debate 21 January 2026 2 contributions

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

My Lords—

With respect, everyone else has had an opportunity to speak, but no one from my party has, and I want to make some remarks. The House should draw a level of unity from the fact that, although a variety of solutions are provided by these amendments, common threads run between them: a common acceptanc…

Lords Debate 16 January 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I have notified the Lord Speaker’s office and the Whips that I shall be moving Amendment 30, which stands in my name and those of the noble Baronesses, Lady Foster—who is unable to be with us today—and Lady Fox, and the noble Lord, Lord Empey. This group of amendments deals with the issue …

Lords Debate 12 January 2026

Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, has just said that this was not part of a Labour manifesto, but it was part of the last Government’s determination to get a deal on the issue of Diego Garcia. I accept that there are genuine arguments in this debate around environmental issues, and issues aro…

Lords Debate 6 January 2026

Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention

My Lords, the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner, David Johnstone, has warned in the last few days that the current draft of the proposed legislation treats terrorists better than veterans. We know that terrorists have the protection of weapons having been destroyed with no forensics. The docume…

Lords Debate 25 November 2025 6 contributions

Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

My Lords, I will briefly make two points. First, on behalf of my noble friend Lord McCrea, who has had to leave for a family wedding, I will speak to Amendment 57, which principally brings to the Committee’s attention the role of British legal firms in this issue. We have been critical in this Hous…

Absolutely. I have taken the Minister and the Government to task on a range of things, but this may be one issue on which we are in vigorous agreement. I do not question the Government’s bona fides as regards Gibraltar or the Falkland Islands. I know there is a strong commitment to both. I fully ack…

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Lords Debate 25 November 2025 6 contributions

Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

My Lords, I rise in relation to this group. Picking up the remarks, first of all, of the noble Lord, Lord Jay, I will say that, yes, there is not, perhaps, a single unified position of every single Chagossian. Perhaps we should not be surprised at that. Can we identify an issue in the United Kingdom…

On the amendments that the noble Lord, Lord Morrow, and I put forward, as was alluded to in a number of speeches, including by the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, the reason why we raised equality issues as regards financial payments is the potential role of Chagossians within the trust fund. There is …

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Lords Oral Questions 24 November 2025

NHS: Wheelchair Services

This is a very important point, not just for the supply chain but also for the technology, particularly if we are thinking about those with more complex needs; the wheelchair has to support and meet those complex needs. We know that there is a lack of investment in new models and that there has been…