My Lords, we have had a wide-ranging Second Reading debate. It has perhaps strayed a little into extra time, but I think VAR would determine that no one was offside in any of their remarks.
My Lords, this has been a good-natured, thoughtful and very convivial debate. I am grateful for all contributions made today.
The noble Baroness, Lady Monckton of Dallington Forest, and the noble Lord, Lord Bailey, made very thoughtful contributions about wider policies that could be adopted to sup…
Apparently, I have nine minutes to deal with the whole of the global security situation. I thank all noble Lords and Ladies who participated in this debate, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Stuart, for what has turned out to be a very timely debate—I am sure she knew that when she called for it…
I thank the Minister for his reply. West Papua has some of the greatest forests in the world. Unfortunately, they are rapidly being cleared to produce coconut oil and for other agri purposes. The other dimension is, of course, that West Papua is occupied by Indonesia and there is a heavy military pr…
My Lords, over the last two decades, we have seen the development of large-scale palm oil plantations in West Papua, and that has led to the clearance of vast swathes of primary rainforests, which are some of the most biodiverse in the world. What assessment have the Government made of the environme…
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Davies and Lord Cameron, in the first instance, if I may, for their careful consideration of these new provisions and for tabling Amendment 204. I recognise that the amendment stems from a shared commitment to robustly address serious crimes. With reg…
I am very happy to write on that point but, speaking as a practitioner of the dark arts of evaluation, I am generally in favour of its publication.
That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 22 July be approved. Relevant document: 34th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (special attention drawn to the instrument).
LordsCommittee Stage17 September 20253 contributions
Before I begin, I profusely apologise for making the Committee adjourn. I should have been here, and I was not. I have not got a good excuse, but I hope that everyone will accept my profuse apologies.
This instrument was laid on 22 July under powers in the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 20…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that introduction. I support the Government’s efforts in this area and appreciate the need for innovative policy solutions, but I have some questions about this statutory instrument.
To begin with, as the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee noted, the Explana…
+1 more contribution in this session
LordsOral Questions16 September 20258 contributions
My Lords, with the leave of the House, before I ask my supplementary question, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on his deserved promotion and welcome him to his place on the Front Bench.
My noble friend will be aware that, in the Tigray war between 2020 and 2022, the Ethiopian federal Go…
My Lords, I join in welcoming the Minister to the Front Bench; I well remember my first Question many years ago and I am sure it is a difficult experience.
Ethiopia’s ambition of gaining access to the Red Sea is one of the core driving factors behind tensions in the region, so what discussions have…
My Lords, if the noble Lord, Lord Harper, will forgive me, I will not comment on the consequences of the fall of the French Government on this legislation or any other. My noble friend Lord Hanson has been a Minister for 15 years; I am of a rather more recent vintage, like a cheap wine, so, if the n…
It is not really within my brief to comment on the financing of universities, so the noble Baroness will forgive me if I do not go too deeply into that. However, I can be clear about the grounds on which a student’s permission to stay may be cancelled, and this relates to some of the points the nobl…
My noble friend is right that probation is where the heavy lifting in the justice system needs to be done. I would like to let your Lordships’ House know that last week I was in a women’s prison, where the average length of stay of a woman was 46 days. There was also one very ill woman who, on avera…
At the end of March 2024, there were 38 mothers and 36 babies in mother and baby units. There are currently six mother and baby units across the women’s prison estate in England, providing specialist accommodation and support services. These enable mothers, where appropriate, to have their babies wi…
To answer my noble friend’s question head-on, whether these women should be in prison is a matter for sentencers to decide in each individual case. However, we have embarked on major changes to the sentencing framework, including to short sentences, to which 75% of women are sentenced. This will hel…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction to the order. We must, of course, recognise the extent of the pressures facing our prison services. Prison spaces have reached capacity and recalled prisoners are a significant driver of prison place demand. Recall is a measure available to His Maj…
This recall works by using MAPPA levels 2 and 3, terrorist offences and so on, but, in the longer term, recall will form part of the discussions around the Gauke review and the sentencing Bill. However, it is important that we have recall as a tool for victims of domestic violence whose perpetrators…
My Lords, I declare my interest: from 2018 to 2025 I was the lead non-executive director of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. Can my noble friend the Minister tell us how much the Government are having to spend to rectify the appalling failure of the last Government to address the prison c…
My Lords, I declare an interest as the vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Craft. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Freyberg on securing this debate and on his excellent opening speech. I thank Patricia Lovett for her excellent briefing on heritage craft and, indeed, whose expertis…
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Lemos. I also congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Peterborough on her important maiden speech.
The noble Lord, Lord Anderson of Swansea, invited us to consider the possibility of a Nazi victory. He was surely right to do so…
My Lords, I refer to my entry in the register of interests, especially as a director of Ark and Ark Schools.
I find this Bill a bit like the curate’s egg, as it has been described already—very good only in parts, sadly. The clue to my views on the Bill is in its name: the Children’s Wellbeing and S…