Lords
Committee Stage
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I will briefly intervene because the probing amendments here are important to how we look at the precise nature of surpluses. Clearly, the principle of making it easier to return a genuine pension scheme surplus to employers is worthy of support, particularly given how much has historicall…
I am sorry to interrupt the Minister. I raised the question of safeguards. There is a lot of evidence in the industry that there is a lot of pressure. The Minister talks about the driving seat, but the actual installation of the driver into the car is at the behest of employers. It seems to me that …
Lords
Committee Stage
12 January 2026
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I declare my interests as a current member and director of a pension trust. I want to take us back to the amendment for a moment. I shall refer to the reference to surpluses made by the noble Viscount, Lord Thurso, because it is an indicator of how this Bill is going to move; I suspect we …
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Channel Tunnel Infrastructure: Reliability
I am happy, because the principal constraint is actually the availability of trains compatible with the infrastructure on both sides of the channel and in the tunnel itself. They are very specialised; there are few manufacturers who can make them, and the constraint on Virgin starting its services w…
Lords
Debate
18 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I declare my interests as a director of the London Stock Exchange and of Valloop Holdings Ltd. I also have experience engaging with local authorities and their pension funds, in relation to both funding proposals and policy. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady White of Tufnell Park—she…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
Technology Adoption Review
The noble Lord is absolutely right that we need to take action on a number of fronts, including AI literacy and digital skills more generally. The Government are taking action on digital skills in a number of areas, including through what was the CyberFirst programme and is now the TechFirst program…
Lords
Committee Stage
25 November 2025
3 contributions
Road Vehicles (Type-Approval) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which considered these regulations, and, like others, of the Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee, which also dealt in some small way with this issue, in that when we were in Newry, we took evidence from a re…
I am grateful to the noble Lord; I will come back to that point, if I may. I am sorry—I have lost my train of thought.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Broadcasting (Regional Programme-making and Original Productions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
The Minister is right that how people access television has dramatically changed. We need to move with that change. I presume that in the consultation on this SI, the PSBs were broadly in favour —I think the Minister said this. Will the Minister give her thoughts on the fact that when Ofcom implemen…
Absolutely. I will get in touch with Ofcom about the noble Lord’s point, which was well made. As somebody who has spent a large part of my life in London and the south-east, the one thing I would say is that outside the M25 is not the same as outside London, but, at the moment, it is quite clear tha…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Overseas Musicians Touring in the UK
Let us let the UK negotiate with the European Union on these issues. The important thing is that we have as frictionless movement as possible for these sectors, both for UK residents going to the EU and EU residents coming to the UK. For the very reason that the noble Baroness gave, we need to ensur…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Youth Mobility Scheme
The noble Lord is absolutely right: 60% of schools are struggling to recruit modern foreign language teachers. Given that the European Union is our largest trading partner, the reality is that it would probably be sensible if we could talk to them in their language, as well as ours. By joining the E…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
MBRRACE-UK Report 2025
I can give that assurance in respect of services across the country. The independent maternity and neonatal investigation will act at pace. It is an independent investigation and will be chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Amos. In addition, the Secretary of State, Wes Streeting, is showing how high…
Lords
Debate
20 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly. I cannot match the eloquence of other speakers, or the length of their speeches for that matter, but I want to support my noble friend Lady Hodgson’s Amendment 45. The reason I want to support it is that I want, as has just been said, some clarification about the Gove…
Lords
Committee Stage
15 October 2025
Aviation Safety (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I express my gratitude to the Minister for arranging a very helpful briefing by officials.
Like my noble friend Lady Foster of Oxton, I had some concern about the abandonment of the use of Form 1 for certain non-safety critical parts. We can rely only on the personal assurance of the Mini…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
Refugee Family Reunion Scheme
In answer to the noble Lord’s question, I can say yes. The Government are always in discussion with the United Nations and will continue to be so.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 September 2025
National Health Service Regulations
Physician associates often work in hospitals and are there to develop the availability of care. The noble Lord is right to say that there are concerns around physician associates. That is why my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced an independent review…
Lords
Committee Stage
10 September 2025
2 contributions
Hovercraft (Application of Enactments) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing this order, on which I have no complaint— I think it is all very sensible, but I would say that, as a mariner. Following on from what the noble Lord who has just spoken said, I shall be interested to hear what the Minister has to say about this movement…
The noble Lord raises a valued point, and I will write to him fully. The intention of this order is only to cope with their maritime use and the marginal use of the slipway at each side of the Solent. I will write to the noble Lord separately about his valuable point, because it is clear that some r…
Lords
Debate
8 September 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I am very pleased to support the noble Lord, Lord Anderson of Ipswich, and my name is on this amendment. I would just like to say to my noble friend Lord Davies that I was indeed the Immigration Minister, and I came forward with the term “being firm but fair” in relation to all immigration matters. …
Lords
Proceedings
2 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
My Lords, I declare an interest as a former Immigration Minister in this country and say that I sympathise with anybody who has to conduct the business of immigration, particularly with the pressures we have now. I very much welcome most of what the Government are now proposing. I hope it is possibl…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 September 2025
Civil Service: Interns
The noble Lord is absolutely right; as someone who spends their time in Stoke-on-Trent, I think that everybody and every government department should be based in my city. Noble Lords are all more than welcome to visit. Regarding the specifics, while this internship scheme is based predominantly in L…
Lords
Proceedings
23 July 2025
2 contributions
Independent Water Commission
My Lords—
My Lords, I declare an interest as a former water company director—one involved in clean water only, not wastewater. In the speech made on Monday by the Secretary of State, he made it clear as a priority that the customer would come first in all these considerations. The customer matters more than e…
Lords
Committee Stage
14 July 2025
Transport Act 2000 (Air Traffic Services) (Prescribed Terms) Regulations 2025
In many ways, it is quite extraordinary that no single organisation in the UK is currently responsible for creating a modern and integrated airspace design. As we have heard, across the country, airspace change proposals are sponsored by individual bodies—usually airports or air navigation service p…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 July 2025
Tax on Imports under £135
The noble Lord is very kind in trying to get me to speculate on the Budget, but that is something that I am not going to do. I will not be giving a running commentary on the fiscal forecast, nor will I be speculating on the next Budget now. The Government have pledged not to increase taxes on workin…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Prisons: Mothers and Babies
Children always have to come first in these decisions. I have met a number of mums in prison who are with their babies, and it is the best place for them and their baby. It is a safe place, they are getting a huge amount of wraparound support and they are able to build really important relationships…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
Grangemouth Oil Refinery Closure: Job Losses
All jobs are important, and I will write to the noble Lord on exactly what we are doing about that. Our vision for the future is that it is sustainable and that we utilise EVs more than we are currently. There is a future in all this, and I am sure that we will do everything we can to ensure that th…
Lords
Oral Questions
1 July 2025
Plastic Pollution
I am very happy to commend any producer or retailer that wants to reduce the amount of damaging plastic that goes into our environment. The noble Lord is right: a lot of work has been done in recent years by some very forward-looking companies. However, there is still far too much plastic going into…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 June 2025
Planning: Energy Efficiency and Fire Safety
I understand the question the noble Lord is asking. I remind the House that 0.1% of the country has solar farms. I understand that that is not the question he was asking, but it is raised very frequently in the House. I will take back the issue of lithium batteries and solar farms and send him a Wri…