Results 1-20 of 195 for speaker:Lord Gordon of Strathblane

Scotland — Question (18 October 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: Does the noble Lord agree that independence is a moving feast, as reflected in the concern shown on all sides of the House about the question? I regard Scotland as an independent country at the moment but I am happy to renew my marriage vows with England. The key question is: does Scotland want to leave the UK? The matter must be closely focused on that single issue. Otherwise it will be lost...

Flooding: Insurance — Question (18 July 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, surely the answer is to ensure that planning permission is not given for building on the flood plain unless the developer takes precautionary measures to ensure that the area cannot be flooded in future?

Broadband: 4G Mobile — Question (21 June 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: How has this situation come about? I confess that I had always thought that, as with most things, we tended to gold-plate our spectrum separation. I was a member of a Select Committee under the chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, which only two years ago took evidence on the switchover of digital radio and television, and no one involved reported any problems.

Draft House of Lords Reform Bill: Motion to Take Note (Continued) (30 April 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, that seems to be an excellent question. I open by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Richard, and everyone on his committee for a thorough report. It was narrow in its remit, but it therefore focused on the issue. The committee did as good a job as anyone could in such a short space of time. It would also be churlish not to acknowledge the part played by the Government in this. I...

Scotland Bill: Report (2nd Day) (28 March 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: I intervene briefly to suggest that the perceived impartiality of such a series of reports might be improved if it was handled by the equivalent of a Calman 2 commission, preferably of economists of sufficient stature that they would put their own reputation for impartiality above any party advantage. Ideally-I hope that I am not being unduly starry-eyed about this-if the membership of such a...

BBC Governance and Regulation: Communications Committee Report: Motion to Take Note (1 March 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, I too was a member of the Select Committee which produced this report. I join my colleagues who have already spoken in congratulating and thanking the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, on and for the skill and courtesy with which he chaired the committee and enabled us to reach our conclusions. I am conscious that I am speaking immediately after a very distinguished former...

Scotland Bill: Committee (1st Day) (26 January 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: On a point of clarification, I would vote yes to Scotland being an independent country. We are independent at the moment. We are in a marriage with England, and I am quite happy to renew our marriage vows at any time, but that does not mean we are not independent.

Written Answers — House of Lords: Nutrition and Health Claims (England) Regulations 2007 (10 January 2012)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the rejection by the European institutions of over 95 per cent of health claims submitted for approval in accordance with the provisions of the Nutrition and Health Claims (England) Regulations 2007 is consistent with the conclusion of the regulatory impact assessment of the regulations that "most claims are expected to be authorised under the Article...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Food: Nutrition (30 November 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the legal arguments submitted to the Department of Health by the Health Food Manufacturers' Association in relation to the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, its interpretation and its implementation.

Scotland Bill: Second Reading (6 September 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace, for introducing the Bill and sitting so patiently through a very long debate. I am happy to report, as you will all notice, that we are in fact into the second day of the debate-it is just that we have not had a night's sleep in between. Administrative devolution in Scotland is over 125 years old. The Scottish Office was set up in...

Scotland Bill: Second Reading (6 September 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: I genuinely disagree with that observation. It is not a question of the overall representation of Scotland but the nature of the political representation. The SNP has chosen to set its face against the idea of anyone taking a seat in the House of Lords. That has disadvantages for the nationalists, because the honest truth is that they would get a fairer hearing in this Chamber than in any...

House of Lords: Working Practices — Motion to Take Note (27 June 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, I join those who have congratulated the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, and his committee on an excellent report. Perhaps I may couple that with my apologies for not having submitted written evidence. It would normally have been my practice to do so. The honest truth is that I found the subject such a wide one that the task I found too daunting. All the greater, therefore, is my...

House of Lords: Reform — Motion to Take Note (2nd Day) (22 June 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, it was on 17 May that the Government published their White Paper and draft Bill and, by happy coincidence, that was also my 75th birthday. I have always regarded this document as some sort of unintended, but none the less welcome, birthday present. I genuinely congratulate the Government on at least producing this Bill which, as I am sure the noble Lord, Lord McNally, will say...

House of Lords: Reform — Motion to Take Note (2nd Day) (22 June 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: I think I may have. I found the Labour Party quite difficult to support in the 1970s and 1980s, as, indeed, did most of the Labour Party. Let us go back to this campaign. How am I going to fight an election? How am I going to differentiate myself from everybody else who is standing and appear the better candidate? Am I going to promise things? If so, how are people going to know whether I...

Media Ownership (Radio and Cross-media) Order 2011 — Motion to Approve (9 June 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, I, too, welcome the draft order. I have no current interest to declare, except membership of the Select Committee on Communications, but it would be wrong to conceal the fact that I was for 33 years chief executive and subsequently chairman of a group of radio stations. The commercial radio industry, which has recently gone through a fairly rough patch, welcomes this draft order....

Video Recordings Act 2010 — Question (23 March 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, while I am happy to hear that a consultation will be launched by the summer, is it not rather surprising that it has taken quite so long? It was after all in March 2010 that the Government gave an undertaking, as a result of which some of us withdrew an amendment, to launch a consultation on this issue. Although that was under a previous Government, it is largely a non-party issue...

Insurance: Gender Discrimination — Question (8 March 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intervened in the case before the European Court of Justice on gender discrimination in insurance policies and annuities.

Insurance: Gender Discrimination — Question (8 March 2011)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: I thank the Minister for that reply, and I sense that she was as unhappy with it as I and, I suspect, most of the House will be. The problem is that article 5.2 of the gender directive, as the Minister indicated, allowed an opt-out where there was clear, up-to-date statistical evidence that gender was a major risk factor in insurance. That evidence still exists. It is a fact that women tend...

Digital Switchover: Communications Committee Report: Motion to Take Note (12 October 2010)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, simply because the evidence has been bound into the volume with our report, it looks a more daunting read than it really is. I hope that that does not put off some of our colleagues in the House, because we are all listeners and viewers and digital switchover will affect us all. It is very important that this House at least is well informed as to the effects of digital upgrade,...

House of Lords: Reform — Question for Short Debate (11 October 2010)

Lord Gordon of Strathblane: My Lords, grateful as I am for this short debate on the important issue of the function of the House of Lords, I hope that at some point before we consider legislation we will have a proper, full-scale, two-day debate, because the most important issue is: what function do we wish the House of Lords to perform? Once we have decided on that, you tailor everything else to make us able better to...