Contributions
72 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDInternational Development StrategyMy Lords, it is quite a challenge to follow the noble Lord, Lord Desai. He used to sit opposite me, but now he is in the middle. I come out of the CDC stable, which has been…16 Dec 2021HANSARDHouse of Lords: GovernanceMy Lords, I will first talk about two things which I think are works in progress. The first is the External Management Review , which the Senior Deputy Speaker referred to in his…08 Dec 2021HANSARDAssisted Dying Bill [HL]My Lords, that is a difficult speech to follow. My family home is over the hill from Vernham Dean; it is a lovely part of Wiltshire. I think we all have an interest to declare in…22 Oct 2021HANSARDSub-Saharan Africa (Report from the International Relations and Defence Committee)My Lords, it is a great pleasure but also quite difficult to follow the noble Lord, Lord Alton, because his knowledge of human rights conditions all over the world, particularly…08 Sept 2021HANSARDRepublic of Cameroon: Economic Partnership AgreementMy Lords, I cannot support the noble Lord’s Motion to Regret. I cannot see that removing preferences will help banana workers in south- west Cameroon. I will sketch the appalling…29 Jun 2021HANSARDSkills for Jobs White PaperMy Lords, obviously I welcome the White Paper, but it worries me to a large extent because there must be limits to what central government can do to match the skills of people to…26 Jan 2021HANSARDCovid-19: VaccineMy Lords, as an interest, I can report that Lady Eccles and I have both had two Pfizer jabs, three weeks apart. At the planned rate of 2 million vaccinations a week, there will be…12 Jan 2021HANSARDCovid-19 UpdateMy Lords, I would like to make a small plea about the NHS. There was a very good statement today from Professor Stephen Powis on the actual position facing the NHS. Accurate…03 Nov 2020HANSARDHealth Protection (Coronavirus, Local COVID-19 Alert Level) (Medium) (England) Regulations 2020My Lords, in expressing my gratitude to my noble friend on the Front Bench, I reflect that in this very complicated situation it cannot always be easy to convey the messages that…14 Oct 2020HANSARDHealth Protection (Coronavirus, Local COVID-19 Alert Level) (Very High) (England) Regulations 2020My Lords, I fully support the local approach to this very difficult situation. We have learned a lot since the virus came and hit us. We could do with being told more about what…14 Oct 2020HANSARDCovid-19 UpdateMy Lords, last week I pursued the question as to whether there were precedents for using emergency powers under an old Act—this is an Act from 1984—and also whether the Government…14 Sept 2020HANSARDHealth Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 3) Regulations 2020My Lords, I will follow the thrust of the speeches made much earlier by the noble Lords, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord Scriven. In this intervention, I am questioning not the…03 Sept 2020HANSARDCovid-19: Economic CostsBearing in mind that this excellent paper is entitled Living with COVID -19 and that at the present time we have no idea how long we will have to live with it, and given that the…28 Jul 2020HANSARDCovid-19: ResponseMy Lords, I am sure my noble friend is well aware of the importance of the use of language in Statements and careful use of language. Given the importance of the working…27 Jul 2020HANSARDPension Schemes Bill [HL]My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, opened the debate on this group with a request for more detailed information from collective money purchase schemes, particularly on…30 Jun 2020HANSARDPension Schemes Bill [HL]Perhaps I should already know this, but will it be possible, in the additional technical work, for an individual to decline to have the information about his or her pension…02 Mar 2020HANSARDPension Schemes Bill [HL]My Lords, perhaps I might make a general comment. I support the way in which the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, introduced his amendment. This is a problem with framework Bills. Why do…24 Feb 2020HANSARDPension Schemes Bill [HL]My Lords, I say in support that, if I were a trustee of a pension scheme, and one, two or more people wanted to transfer out, I would be extremely unhappy if they had not taken…24 Feb 2020HANSARDPension Schemes Bill [HL]My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Flight. He mentioned equity release, and about 20 years ago he assisted me with a major chunk of equity release when I…28 Jan 2020HANSARDEuropean Union (Withdrawal Agreement) BillMy Lords, arguing that there are defects in a Bill to which the Government should pay attention is not the same as voting for an amendment and sending that amendment to the House…13 Jan 2020