Results 1-20 of 136 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:the Bishop of Chester

Health: Walton Report — Question (3 Nov 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I declare an interest as a supporter of the NeuroMuscular Centre in Cheshire, one of the flagship providers in the charitable sector for people with serious muscle-wasting diseases. The well named Walton report refers to a lack of clarity and responsibility in the NHS for supporting services for people with these diseases. What pressures can be brought to bear on the one-third of...

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (4th Day) (13 Oct 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, while the Minister is talking about definitions, can he confirm that the term violence means and can only mean physical violence?

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (2nd Day) (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: Perhaps I may put it on the record that I said that four out of five women—80 per cent—engaged in prostitution in London were foreign nationals. I did not say that they were trafficked, but it is safe to assume that a fair percentage of them may well be trafficked. Those figures come from a 2004 report by the POPPY Project, an organisation that works with such women.

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (2nd Day) (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: In one of St Paul's letters, he prefaces his argument by saying: "I speak as a fool". I can only reiterate the apostle's words when entering a debate on a legal question with the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, and the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. The noble Lord, Lord Borrie, demolished the amendment very effectively and said that the real issue was whether Clause 13 should stand part of the...

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (2nd Day) (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: In any interchange with the noble Lord, Lord Desai, too, I preface my remarks with the words of the apostle: "I speak as a fool". However, I do not think that his argument is entirely convincing. I would not want to say that we presume the guilt of any man who pays for sex but any person paying for sex needs to take extreme care to make sure that they are not complicit in the exploitative...

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (2nd Day) (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: I hope that the Minister, in offering to take this away for legal consultation—although I entirely accept the very serious legal points made earlier—will remember that there is also an important moral point here, which needs to be weighed with the legal point. If a man has sexual relations with a woman who has been coerced, forced, threatened or whatever, the moral status is akin...

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (2nd Day) (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, suggested that some of those who support the Government on this matter are engaged on a moral crusade, which I hope cannot be necessarily rejected outright. However, I do not think that those who, like me, start out by supporting the Government do so primarily out of a sense of moral crusade, although moral issues are raised even where money is paid for sex...

Policing and Crime Bill: Committee (2nd Day) (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: I am grateful to the noble Earl for his agreement. I think that the issue will emerge more sharply in the next debate, on the issue of strict liability. It is right for the Government to keep their parameters as narrow and focused as possible on the particular issue of the use of trafficking, because that is where there has been this alarming growth—and particularly in the abuse of...

National Express East Coast Franchise — Statement (1 Jul 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I follow the previous question by pressing the Minister a little on whether it is necessarily in the public interest to let franchises to the highest bidder.

National Council for Democratic Renewal — Question (3 Jun 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I pay tribute to the Prime Minister for this initiative, but does the noble Baroness the Leader of the House agree that it should not come simply from the heart of government and that it certainly should not be dominated by politicians? If it is to be effective, it needs to draw in a much wider range of expertise and interest because part of the problem is that politics has become...

Turkey — Question (20 May 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, would the Minister agree that absolute religious freedom, including the freedom to convert from one religion to another, is a core human right and must be fully accepted by any member country of the European Union?

English Language — Question (26 Mar 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, does the Minister think that in introducing Solomon instruction in the use of such websites as Twitter into the primary curriculum would help to safeguard the English language?

Building Societies — Question (25 Mar 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support and develop mutual building societies.

Building Societies — Question (25 Mar 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his Answer, but may I press him on one point? Is it fair that the mutual societies, which on the whole have conducted themselves in a fairly cautious and risk-free way, should be required to pay such large contributions to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to make up for the failures of Icelandic banks and similar institutions? Is this...

Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 — Motion to Approve (24 Mar 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, it is significant that there is no dispute among us that there is a proper place for the retention of relevant data for the serious investigation of crime and the prevention of terrorism. The difficulty is that that is not dealt with as a separate area, but potentially spreads into many other areas as well. We have to recognise that the well publicised loss of data by the Ministry...

Constitution: Rights and Responsibilities — Statement (23 Mar 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, without wishing in any way to resile from the Human Rights Act and the discussion so far, may I ask the Minister whether he agrees that there is a danger of the discussion being set up in terms of the power of the state and the rights of the individual in a way that is too exclusive of all the other institutions of society that, it seems to me, embody our values? The noble Lord...

Inequality — Debate (29 Jan 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I shall attempt a synthesis between the position of the noble Lord, Lord Patten, and that of the noble Lord, Lord Krebs. I am not sure how successful I shall be. Choice is potentially a good thing. Freedom, which choice seeks to express, is in some sense central to authentic human experience. It has certainly been part of the rhetoric and inspiration of the British national...

Financial Markets — Statement (19 Jan 2009)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, may I return to the Royal Bank of Scotland? It may not be nationalised, but it is under national control if the Government own 70 per cent of the ordinary shares. Do the Government now guarantee the liabilities of that bank to the same extent as other government securities?

Queen's Speech — Debate (5th Day) (10 Dec 2008)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, I wish to speak on the environment. I confess at the outset to having had real difficulty about what I might say beyond welcoming the Marine and Coastal Access Bill and the flood defence measures that have been announced. Issues on the environment are so complex and often confront us with difficult dilemmas whether we are talking about individuals, the Government or society as a...

Banking: Lloyds TSB and HBOS (25 Nov 2008)

The Bishop of Chester: My Lords, does the Minister agree that the financial services industry in our country would be in better shape if the mutual and customer-owned building societies and banks had not been privatised in the first place?