Contributions
1,892 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDCivil Servants: Working from HomeMy Lords, there are clear benefits from face-to-face, workplace-based collaborative working. That is why departments have issued new guidance that most civil servants should spend…01 Feb 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransVeterans can access a range of support, including via the 24/7 Veterans’ Gateway, which deals with gambling, as well as housing and so on. There is also, of course, a national…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransI am always glad to hear of good practice, wherever it is, but, as I tried to explain at the beginning, we have changed the way that we are counting veteran homelessness in local…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransI can agree that military service leads to many advantages, not only full-time military service but working in the reserves. We should encourage young people to look at this…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransThe Government doubt that the statistics available prove that there is an increasing level of homelessness among veterans. However, any homelessness among veterans needs to be…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransI should say first that the level of veteran homelessness remains very low: less than 1% of households are owed a homeless duty. I agree with everything the noble Baroness has…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransThe way I look at it, we need to help veterans. We have the veterans covenant, to say that those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransI have not seen the report but I would be very interested to look at it, and I thank the noble Baroness. In my former life as a private-sector employer in the retail industry, we…31 Jan 2024HANSARDHomelessness: VeteransI certainly agree. We try to be as holistic as possible in the help we provide. On mental health in particular, we invest £17 million a year in an amazing scheme called Op…31 Jan 2024HANSARDExtreme Weather: ResilienceMy Lords, I will repeat the Answer to an Urgent Question in the form of a Statement: “First, I would like to say how sorry the Government were to hear that four people sadly lost…24 Jan 2024HANSARDExtreme Weather: ResilienceMy own view on resilience is that it has to be a whole-of-society effort; I was trying to explain that point in relation to the previous question. Therefore, local authorities…24 Jan 2024HANSARDExtreme Weather: ResilienceMy Lords, I very much echo what the noble Baroness said about the emergency services and all who are involved in this. Indeed, without the changes we have made and the effort they…24 Jan 2024HANSARDExtreme Weather: ResilienceThe noble Baroness makes a very good point about insurance. We do have discussions with the insurance industry on resilience. Of course, in recent years we have developed Flood…24 Jan 2024HANSARDExtreme Weather: ResilienceI thank the noble Earl. I am glad he mentioned the NAO report, because it did welcome the work that had been done—I know this has been welcomed across the House—on setting up the…24 Jan 2024HANSARDFreedom of InformationI support the noble Lord. I think this was probably his approach when he conceived the legislation, which is not entirely easy because of the burdens. You have to have a balance…23 Jan 2024HANSARDFreedom of InformationAt the moment, as I was saying, we do not have plans to change the Freedom of Information Act. However, we have worked hard to clear the backlog that was created on freedom of…23 Jan 2024HANSARDFreedom of InformationI agree with my noble friend; records are important, both for the record and for the next steps agreed at meetings, which one wants to make sure are carried forward in the…23 Jan 2024HANSARDFreedom of InformationI certainly agree with openness wherever we can make things open. Of course, that White Paper goes back to the Labour Government of the early 2000s, and I remember a certain Prime…23 Jan 2024HANSARDFreedom of InformationIt is a good question. I do not have a figure; I have explained that freedom of information is a duty across nearly 100,000 public authorities, because we are not only talking…23 Jan 2024HANSARDFreedom of InformationOf course not—I am sorry if I misled the noble Baroness—as we do keep these things under review. The latest review was in 2016, when the Information Commission on Freedom of…23 Jan 2024