Contributions
793 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSocial Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments and National Insurance Funds Payments) Regulations 2020That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 30 January be approved.03 Mar 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesMy Lords, as the Prime Minister’s spokesman said a couple of days ago, Britain will comply with the obligations set out in the Northern Ireland protocol but does not see that…26 Feb 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesI thank the noble Lord for his kind and warm words but pessimistic outlook for my tenure in this post; I now have a challenge to be standing here in 13 months’ time. We are in a…26 Feb 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesMy Lords, the protocol protects the all-Ireland economy. It also makes clear that Northern Ireland is and remains part of the UK’s customs territory, and it allows the UK to…26 Feb 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesThe noble Baroness asked rather a lot of questions there; I will try to answer one or two of them. Northern Ireland will continue to be part of the UK customs territories, and…26 Feb 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesMy Lords, the Government are committed to supporting businesses in preparing for new customs processes. Since November 2018, HMRC has provided grants to help support traders,…26 Feb 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesMy Lords, the negotiation is a dynamic process; we are at the beginning of what will be a very fractious negotiation over the next nine months. I tell those noble Lords with a…26 Feb 2020HANSARDBrexit: Financial Assistance for BusinessesI am not sure if the noble Lord is talking about Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom in general. We have intensively engaged with the 3,000 UK/EU-only high-value traders over…26 Feb 2020HANSARDAdoption Support FundMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Russell, for securing this important debate to discuss the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Adoption and Permanence’s Investing in…13 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareOn the noble Baroness’s issue about funding, we have made the tremendous commitment of an extra £1 billion a year to adult and children’s social care for every year of this…03 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareMy Lords, I am afraid it is not quite as simple as the noble Lord would like to suggest. He is quite correct that Ofsted has carried out 150 investigations in the last year, and…03 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareMy Lords, the mental health of these children is extremely important. One recent initiative we have introduced is the role of virtual school heads, who become the overseeing…03 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareMy Lords, where local authorities place children in independent and semi-independent settings, they must ensure that these are suitable and meet the needs of young people.…03 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareMy Lords, it is always a priority to ensure that children are placed as near to their home as possible. However, there are certain circumstances where this is not wise, such as…03 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareMy Lords, I assure the House that this is a priority area for the Government. We committed in our manifesto to a review of the care system, which will cover key issues facing…03 Feb 2020HANSARDChildren in CareMy Lords, this is an area of particular focus for me. I have made a lot of effort over the last two years to encourage local authorities to be more open-minded about the…03 Feb 2020HANSARDLooked-after and Adopted ChildrenMy noble friend is right that children with any kind of mental or physical disability are harder to place. The key is to try to get these young children placed as early as…28 Jan 2020HANSARDLooked-after and Adopted ChildrenMy Lords, we are committed to undertake a review of the care system. We are already implementing substantial reforms to improve outcomes for this most vulnerable group of children…28 Jan 2020HANSARDLooked-after and Adopted ChildrenMy Lords, it is certainly true that we have a huge demand for good social workers. This is also about establishing that as a profession and giving it a higher profile, which we…28 Jan 2020HANSARDLooked-after and Adopted ChildrenMy Lords, the right reverend Prelate is right that an increasing number of older children are going into care, and their preference is often to go into less-regulated…28 Jan 2020