Contributions
1,892 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRetained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) BillI have had correspondence with these bodies. Certainly, in my other work I deal with the Food Standards Agency. It is very helpful and it links with government. If I may, I think…23 Feb 2023HANSARDRetained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) BillI find it difficult to answer that. My understanding is that there has been extensive dialogue with officials across all these portfolios, as noble Lords would expect: that is how…23 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsI used to sit on the Competitiveness Council in Brussels, in the days when we were in the EU, and learned a lot from the Estonians—but of course they have a much smaller country…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningWe certainly have a co-ordination role, especially where risks affect more than one department. The work that we have done on the national security risk assessment outlines, each…20 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsIt is a pleasure to see the noble Lord in his place; I congratulate him on his return and on his daughter’s eminence. The answer is that of course Ministers need to be educated in…20 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsI think that is a matter for the House authorities, but I will happily pursue it for the noble Lord.20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningI agree on the importance of the local resilience and the testing and trialling that the noble Baroness talks about. On actual funding, I will come back to her, but the new…20 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsI can tell my noble friend a lot about what we did at Tesco on this matter. We had a spaghetti junction of old technology and what we did—I am sure noble Lords will be interested…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningThis is not a contract that I have had anything to do with. The noble Lord always asks very good questions on contingency planning. I will look into it and get back to him.20 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsI believe that is actually the direction of travel. We are bringing in more of a capability-based pay scheme, which will allow us to track and keep these people who are in hot…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningI share the noble Baroness’s concern about our rivers and, of course, we worked together to amend the Environment Bill on this issue. Now, she is rightly asking about the…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningI have already described some of the real action that we have taken. I also draw my noble friend’s attention to some of the provisions in Schedules 6 and 7 to the Procurement Bill…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningThe noble and gallant Lord will be aware that we made a Statement before Christmas about the use of Chinese technology in cameras and so on. Obviously, we are putting a lot more…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningThe Government had the advantage—or disadvantage—of the lessons from Covid, when they were conducting the review I mentioned. Since then, they have published the UK Government…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningDLUHC is working with the local resilience forums to work out what we should be doing in the light of the latest developments. I agree that the focus on the website is not always…20 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsI share my noble friend’s concern. I will say that artificial intelligence and robotics are actually improving efficiency in some of the services that one uses, such as banking,…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningI will certainly take forward my noble friend’s idea. I have also been impressed by the system that the mobile phone operators have that you can ring if your electricity goes…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningAs the noble Lord suggests, we have a well-developed system of local resilience through the 38 local resilience forums. I have received no reports myself of particular concerns…20 Feb 2023HANSARDEmergency PlanningThe Civil Contingencies Act sets out the framework for emergency planning in the UK, which the Government have a legal obligation to review every five years. The most recent…20 Feb 2023HANSARDCivil Service: Digital SkillsMy Lords, the Government are already taking action to build digital skills at scale and have a clear road map, set out in the Transforming for a Digital Future strategy, which we…20 Feb 2023