Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Unpaid Carers
My Lords, given that the issue of NEETs has been looked at by His Majesty’s Government, and that they will report back on Milburn’s recommendations, will the Government please look at the possibility of providing a free bus pass for young carers, particularly given that they have sometimes had to sa…
Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Rochdale Grooming Gang: Offender Deportation
My Lords, at lot of the attention at the moment is rightly on Shabir Ahmed, but there are two other individuals who are facing deportation. Is the Minister able to update the House on whether there are any obstacles to their deportation from this country? Are they in a similar situation to Shabir Ah…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
Historical Forced Adoption
My Lords, I too thank the Lord Privy Seal for repeating the Statement. It was particularly moving to hear the examples of the parents and the mothers. It was a difficult thing to hear, particularly those young mums who were basically stitched back together again without any help or support—it is rea…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
Drugging and Sexual Assault of Women
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the response he gave, particularly around one of the groomers from Rochdale, and I can tell him personally that I will support whatever action he takes to get evil men such as him out of this country, because they do not belong here. For me, there is a culture here…
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
International Marine Protected Area: Sargasso Sea
Given that, as we have just heard, it took 12 meetings for His Majesty’s Opposition to realise that, in their opinion, Mauritius was not a great place to protect the environment, does the Minister think that this is just rank hypocrisy on their part, given that they started those negotiations? Tryin…
Lords
Debate
3 July 2026
Local Plans (Burial Space) Bill [HL]
My Lords, we often hear that death is one of the few certainties in life, yet the question of where people may be laid to rest is all too often treated as an afterthought in our planning system. This Bill seeks to address that omission through a simple but important principle: every community should…
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Post-16 Education and Skills: Funding
My Lords, although the funding increase in the post-16 FE sector is welcome, I press the Minister on that increase: will it reflect some of the increasing costs in that sector, particularly of energy, staffing, et cetera?
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
University Student Finance
My Lords, I recently attended a meeting in my home city of Sheffield, where students and staff from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University came together to highlight the chronic financial pressures that are leading to staff lay-offs and the closure of some of the courses. The ke…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Steel Trade Measure
My Lords, as someone who has spent most of his life in Sheffield and South Yorkshire, I know that this issue is not an abstract discussion about tariffs and trade policies; it is about the future of communities that have made steel, engineering and manufacturing part of their identity for generation…
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Construction Sector: Skills Shortage
My Lords, I welcome the Government’s announcements about apprenticeships, particularly in the construction industry. Given that small and medium-sized businesses deliver the bulk of the construction infrastructure, particularly housebuilding, in the country, what support are the Government going to …
Lords
Proceedings
22 June 2026
Master’s Level History Scholarships
My Lords, does the Minister share my concern that the decline in scholarships will disproportionately affect people from lower-income backgrounds? If she does, what steps will His Majesty’s Government take to make sure that people get to study based on talent and not their ability to pay?
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
State of Extremism Report
My Lords, given the recent incidents in Southampton and Belfast—in which individuals who appeared to belong to either the Black or the Asian community were particularly targeted for no reason other than what they looked like—does the Minister agree that social cohesion must now be a national priorit…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Children: Physical Punishment
My Lords, I turn to the point mentioned by my noble friend Lady Walmsley about the experiences of Scotland and Wales. Have the Government looked at the assessments that have been made by those Governments on safeguarding and the number of incidents reported to them of harm to young children?
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Best Start Family Hubs
My Lords, I welcome the family hubs, particularly the support for young people aged five to 19, or up to 25 with special educational needs. One of the issues we always have around these initiatives is the consistency of delivery and what is often referred to as a postcode lottery. Can the Minister a…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
North Belfast: Violent Attack
My Lords, people are conflating those who come here illegally with those who are here legally. Among the people who were firebombed out of their homes last night was an African family who have been here for 20 years. We also saw pictures of a business, potentially started by an Indian family, that h…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
Further Education Colleges: Recovery of VAT
My Lords, I will return to colleges and the original Question from the noble Lord, Lord Forbes. I want to follow up on the issue that he raised about the amount of VAT that is collected from colleges—about £200 million, if I heard the noble Lord right. What assessment have the Government done of the…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Children’s Social Care: Enduring Relationships Strategy
My Lords, I also welcome the Statement. It is important that we in this House send a strong message to young people in care that we are on their side. I know that on many occasions my noble friend Lord Purvis, who has just left his place here, has referred to those young people as having the richest…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
Unite the Kingdom March
My Lords, I welcome the statement from the Minister, but I have to share with your Lordships’ House the profound anger and hurt that some of the speeches from the stage just outside here caused, not just in London but across the country. I will share my experiences from my own immediate family. One …
Lords
Debate
28 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate today and during the whole of the Bill’s passage. First, on the specifics, as I set out earlier, the Government hope that today we are able to reach an agreement on the Government’s Motion; it represents an effective comp…
Lords
Debate
27 April 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I was intending basically to agree with my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones. I therefore had not intended to speak on issues around social media. However, I have to say that I agree with not only my noble friend but the noble Baronesses, Lady Kidron and Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, and the noble Lord, …
Thank you very much.
Lords
Debate
24 April 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, as we all know, this is a Private Member’s Bill. There was no manifesto commitment to it, nor was it in the King’s Speech.
Lords
Debate
23 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I am making the case that moving backwards and forwards between different models does not serve the public we serve.
Accountability can feel diffuse and unclear, with some councils judging the leader and cabinet model to be more transparent, agile and accountable. With collective decision-making sp…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 April 2026
2 contributions
Burial Provision in England and Wales
My Lords, we are aware of increasing localised pressure on burial spaces in some parts of the country. The Government do not have day-to-day operational responsibility for burial grounds, which are managed locally. At present, there is no statutory duty on local authorities to make provision for bur…
We absolutely recognise the concerns, and I am grateful to the noble Lord for raising the matter. Local authorities’ independence from central government means that they are responsible for managing their resources in line with local priorities, which they are best placed to evaluate. That said, the…
Lords
Debate
20 April 2026
6 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I too welcome the Minister back to her place, and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed, for his remarks. I will speak to my Motion A2. For anyone who has studied them, the verdicts in the two US cases are clearly game-changers. The evidence from the social media companies themselves is da…
My Lords, during the short time we have been debating a ban on social media for under-16s, several countries have brought in or are discussing such a ban. Even China is due to bring in restrictions on the use of mobile phones and social media. Those who argue that our children will be at a disadvant…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Schoolchildren: Swimming
The noble Lord is right that there is a disparity between ethnic groups, in particular, and between more and less disadvantaged children, which is why this is a national entitlement through the national curriculum. Clearly, we need to do more to ensure that every child is getting opportunities, such…