Results 1-20 of 295 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 Baker of Dorking

Education: Curriculum, Exam and Accountability Reform — Statement (7 February 2013)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I warmly welcome the Statement made by Michael Gove in the other House and repeated by my noble friend. When a politician changes his mind it should be an act of rejoicing. What Michael Gove has done in the House of Commons today can only be done by a big politician; little ones would not dare to do it. I very much welcome the fact that we are going back to eight GCSEs, with two...

Education: Academies and Free Schools — Question for Short Debate (4 February 2013)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for introducing this debate. I also welcome my noble friend Lord Nash to the Front Bench. Although he has skirmished at Question Time, this is the first debate on which he has had to answer. This is an engagement and not a skirmish. I should like to make one major point. Michael Gove has imposed on the English education system an enormous revolution, which...

Economy: Growth — Question for Short Debate (6 December 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, the essence of the Heseltine report is the growth and wealth of the economy over the next 50 years. We all know that it will not come from banking services and real estate but from technological innovation, inventions and the capacity to make goods and services that the rest of the world wants to buy, but there is a massive skills shortage. The Royal Academy of Engineering and the...

Employment: Science and Technology — Question (20 November 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: I thank the Minister for mentioning the technical colleges. Is he aware that only a fortnight ago the Royal Academy of Engineering said that our country will be short of 100,000 qualified engineers by 2020 and a million technicians? The only educational institutions in our country that are seeking to fill this gap are the university technology colleges, which I am glad to say have all-party...

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill — Committee (1st Day) (Continued) (29 October 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: Would "another person" be an election agent of a party, or someone purporting to be?

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill — Committee (1st Day) (Continued) (29 October 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: With great respect, that is what the amendment says. It does not say a registration officer or a local authority employee; it says "another person". "Another person" in English law means anybody who says, "I'm actually going to seek this information in order to register more students. That is what I'm doing it for. I'm doing it for a public purpose. The fact that I am an election agent for my...

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill — Committee (1st Day) (Continued) (29 October 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I, too, share some reservations on this matter. I was glad to see my noble friend Lord Rennard describe these as probing amendments, so, fortunately, they are not part of the coalition agreement. I share the view of the noble Lord, Lord Reid, that one wants to improve the methods of registration, particularly as regards students. I am always amazed that students are relatively lowly...

Education: Development of Excellence — Motion to Take Note (18 October 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I declare an interest as the chairman of two educational charities and I draw no remuneration from them. I wish to speak only about technical education, an area in which all parties have failed over the past 150 years. The reason for that is that the classic curriculum written by Thomas Arnold in 1840 has dominated English education and has been reinforced by the EBacc. As a result,...

EU: European Justice and Home Affairs Powers — Statement (15 October 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I was the Home Secretary at the time of the Maastricht arrangements. Let me remind your Lordships of what Maastricht did. It said that matters of criminal justice and police powers should remain matters for independent states within Europe. In fact, John Major described it on coming back from Maastricht as one of the great independent pillars of that settlement. That independence...

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill: Second Reading (24 July 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: The noble Lord has had great experience at Central Office. I agree with him entirely about the extension. Does he have an estimate of the extra cost that parties will have to bear as a result of extending this campaign? At the individual constituency level, there will be considerable cost. At the national level, all the main parties will want to advertise. I wonder whether he has considered...

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill: Second Reading (24 July 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, it is entirely appropriate that this unelected second Chamber should be debating, probing, examining and questioning the electoral system in our country. As none of us is elected, we can approach this with a degree of objectivity and dispassion, which was how the noble and learned Lord began his remarks. I welcome that; it is a sort of oblique argument in favour of not having an...

Electoral Registration and Administration Bill: Second Reading (24 July 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: I am familiar with the Rowntree report and I intend to quote something from it which rather refutes it, so we will have an exchange of quotations later. On percentages, the point about the list I have read out is that this particular fraud has certain characteristics. It is urban and it is in marginal seats. In many seats where there is a clear majority, either for the Labour Party or the...

Scotland Bill: Report (1st Day) (26 March 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My noble friend is right about the incident that affected me because in the previous Budget the Chancellor gave £150 million to university technical colleges to develop the ones my educational trust is promoting. These train technicians and engineers. We have 19 in England and are looking at 22. But I discovered under the Barnett Formula that, out of the £150 million, £25...

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill — Committee (8th Day) (Continued) (7 February 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: Oh!

Design Education and Growth — Question for Short Debate (24 January 2012)

Lord Baker of Dorking: I welcome this report and congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, on being the inspiration behind it, with her enthusiasm and dedication. Without it, I do not think that the report would ever have appeared. The essence of the report is that our recovery as a manufacturing country depends on innovation and invention throughout our society, from aero engines down to carpet sweepers....

House Committee: Motion to Agree (20 December 2011)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I am grateful to be speaking after the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, because I was about to rise with some temerity to take on three distinguished lawyers in this House. However, having been a member of the House Committee for a number of years, particularly during the period of having to deal with this very shameful episode in our history-let us remember that some Members were claiming...

Education Bill — Second Reading (Continued) (14 June 2011)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, back to education, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted. I declare two interests in that I am the chairman of the Edge foundation and the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, two educational charities which promote technical, practical and vocational hands-on learning. I draw no remuneration from either charity and I have no interest in any educational company. I support...

Education Bill: Second Reading (14 June 2011)

Lord Baker of Dorking: Could I ask the right reverend Prelate a question, as he speaks in this House for the Church of England? This Bill promotes the establishment of more faith schools and more Church of England schools; I went to one myself. What is the current admissions procedure of Church of England schools? I believe he made a speech during Holy Week that seemed to be slightly at variance with the Statement...

Education: Vocational Subjects — Statement (12 May 2011)

Lord Baker of Dorking: My Lords, I warmly welcome the Government's response to the Wolf report. They are clearly trying to find a solution to a problem that has eluded all previous Governments-namely, to dramatically improve the practical, skilled and high-quality training of technicians and engineers, alongside higher academic education. If we do not resolve that, because there is a desperate shortage in our...

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill — Committee (15th Day) (Continued) (31 January 2011)

Lord Baker of Dorking: That last point is a very fair point. If there are to be public inquiries as well, I am sure that the resources of the Boundary Commissions will have to be increased because that would extend the timescale and, indeed, the work of the activities. On the general questions raised on the nature of the boundary inquiries by noble Lords opposite who had previously served in the House of Commons,...