Results 1-20 of 9,242 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Lord Rooker

Queen's Speech — Debate (3rd Day) (Continued) (23 Nov 2009)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, without any conspiratorial intent, I, too, will address the constitutional aspects of reform of your Lordships' House as a means of strengthening Parliament against the Executive. In some ways the House seems reluctant to change; and yet, long before I came here, the House was four or five years ahead of the other place in the televising of Parliament-something for which credit has...

Queen's Speech — Debate (3rd Day) (Continued) (23 Nov 2009)

Lord Rooker: We should not require reasons to be given-that would be revolutionary-but simply require a certificate with a list of the clauses and schedules not debated. Again, we could pilot that. My fifth point relates to the scrutiny and governance of departments. The Commons has departmental Select Committees, which in the main concentrate, rightly, on the big policy issues. There is no question but...

Organophosphates — Question for Short Debate (17 Jun 2009)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I support the noble Countess. Basically, the simple answer to her question should be yes. I am not going to go into all the background details because I am not as up-to-date as I was when I was one of the Ministers responsible in 1997-99 and then again from 2006-08 in one department, but the fact that this issue goes across departments is the central point that I wish to make. As...

Political Parties and Elections Bill: Report (1st Day) (Continued) (15 Jun 2009)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I did not intend to speak, but I must say that I wholly support the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours. I have two brief points to make. In June 1997 in a committee in the other place, my late colleague Audrey Wise and I tabled amendments to the Finance Bill. As well as being told that the amendments were inconvenient, we were told that they were in the...

Sport: British Formula 1 Grand Prix — Question for Short Debate (23 Apr 2009)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I put my name down on the list to add to the bipartisan approach of the noble Lord, Lord Astor. We have not compared notes, although many of my points will reinforce what he said. I also want to reiterate our best wishes to my noble friend Lord Drayson. I have only done Le Mans once as a tourist—an anorak. It was incredibly exciting and different. I am sure that the...

Health: Contaminated Blood Products — Debate (23 Apr 2009)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I intervene briefly to support my noble friend and others. Other than a Written Question and an Oral Question in the other place, probably in the 1970s, when the noble Lord, Lord Owen, was trying to get things moving, I do not think that I have spoken on this issue in the House. However, having followed the debate, if—as I was in the past as a constituency Member of...

Postal Services Bill [HL]: Second Reading (10 Mar 2009)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, first, I join others in paying tribute to the late Lord Dearing. He was a wonderful man and of great help to me when I first came to the House. I always remember the joy of reading about him in Gerald Kaufman's book, How to be a Minister. It is absolutely magic to read how he came across "Mr Dearing" and the memos that he used to get. I wish to make a couple of preliminary points....

Queen's Speech — Debate (3rd Day) (8 Dec 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I declare my interest as a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and my role as a lay governor of Aston University. I want to say a few words about our role in using science and technology in the economy. I believe that there remains an anti-science and technology culture in the media and public life, which permeates our education system and into the schools. I...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, data on the changing average temperature of land areas are freely available on the Met Office Hadley Centre's website. These data show that the average temperature over land has increased by 1 degree centigrade since pre-industrial times and, furthermore, has continued to rise over the past 10 years. Most of this increase can be attributed to the human-induced increases in...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, the Committee on Climate Change will not be responsible for issuing regular updates on climate information relevant to where people live. However, the adaptation sub-committee of the Committee on Climate Change will have a role in advising the Government on their national climate change risk assessments and will produce the budget over a five-year period, the first one being...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I did say that this is a complicated issue. Since pre-industrial times, global average temperatures have increased by 0.75 degrees centigrade, land temperatures have increased by 1 degree centigrade, and over the sea surface temperatures have increased by 0.66 degrees centigrade. The noble Lord is involved in a dialogue on this issue, and I am in the middle of reading his book,...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I freely admit that my briefing on that is not up to date. I am sticking to figures for temperatures based on the two most recent Questions that I have answered in the House. Obviously, the negotiations in Copenhagen will be crucial in agreeing a replacement for Kyoto. We are not in favour of forests being chopped down, as we made absolutely clear during the passage of the Climate...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I say to my noble friend, whose birthday we welcome today, that there are disputes between scientists and allegations that 30 per cent of the world's scientists disagree with the general consensus. However, I emphasise that there is not a shred of evidence that 30 per cent of the world's scientists disagree with the world consensus among scientists, and if anyone were to bring...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, the note at the bottom of the graphs referred to the red line, the blue line and the grey line but, as they had come via a fax machine, they were pretty useless to me. Since then I have had copies produced in Defra at vast expense. I shall put readable copies of the graphs in the Library. One can see that there has been an increase over land. Over the sea there has been a tip of a...

Climate Change (15 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, the whole of Government are on alert for different diseases among humans. This morning I was at Wisley launching a consultation on plant diseases that have been discovered in the country only in the past five years. That may or may not be as a result of climate change or international trade, but I can assure the noble Countess that the Department of Health is fully aware and...

London Waste and Recycling Board Order 2008 (14 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I beg to move the Motions standing in my name on the Order Paper.

Bovine TB (7 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I cannot answer all the noble Countess's questions. On her last point, as was said in the other place, this is not a question of moving cattle on and off farms—closed herds are going down where no cattle are being moved. There has to be a reason for that. The Secretary of State made it clear that there would be wide discussion of membership of the partnership group. He said...

Bovine TB (7 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, it is for the noble Earl to ask his own questions but that is an incredibly unfair one. Pirbright has nothing to do with TB. The Veterinary Laboratories Agency at Weybridge is the reference laboratory for TB; that is where the work goes on. Pirbright is a world reference laboratory for foot and mouth and other diseases. So far as I know, it is not involved in TB, although there may...

Bovine TB (7 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I could be completely wrong, but I do not think we have anything to learn from the continental experience because the Continent does not have bovine TB. It is almost unique to the United Kingdom, although Scotland and parts of northern England are virtually exempt. As the Statement said, it is very much a regionalised issue. No one on the Continent is vaccinating cattle against TB....

Bovine TB (7 Jul 2008)

Lord Rooker: My Lords, I agree with what my noble friend said about science. The analogy with BSE does not quite square. Even today, we still do not know the incubation period of new variant CJD. That is why many of the BSE controls are still in force. It is a supreme public health issue on which the precautionary principle weighs incredibly hard. On bovine TB, the milk was always used because it was...