Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Labour Peer
We will hear from the Liberal Democrat Benches.
The other one.
My Lords, I have it in command from His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to acquaint the House that they, having been informed of the purport of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, have consented to place their interests, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill. Clause 65: Other requirements for an EDP
My Lords, on 24 July, I informed your Lordships’ House of Simon Burton’s intention to retire from the office of Clerk of the Parliaments with effect from 1 April 2026. The recruitment process for his successor has now concluded. The unanimous recommendation of the interview board was that Chloe Kilcoyne Mawson should succeed Simon as Clerk of the Parliaments. Her appointment follows an...
My Lords, I have a sense of déjà vu in moving this Motion today, so I will say few words about why it appears on the Order Paper. Last July, following helpful and constructive discussions in the usual channels, the House agreed to suspend hereditary Peers by-elections for 18 months. Those 18 months have now passed, and if we were to do nothing, they would have to restart. We have all...
The noble Baroness is absolutely right on that, and it is important that there is a viable Palestinian state across the West Bank as well. She will be aware, as I mentioned in my answer, of the reconstruction conference taking place at Wilton Park, which will bring all countries together, including the US and the UK. At the heart of that discussion are how we bring a lasting peace to the...
Across the region, it has been clear, including from President Abbas, that there needs to be change in the Palestinian Authority. One of the roles of Michael Barber is to shore up the Palestinian Authority and ensure that, where there is corruption, it is rooted out. We have to have a reformed state. Unless we have security in Palestine and security in Israel, there will not be a lasting...
The noble and gallant Lord makes a valid point. We are talking about quite a wide issue and other players in this have made it more difficult to resolve the problem. He can be assured that that is very much on the agenda and is taken note of in all the discussions taking place.
It is the responsibility for departmental Ministers to ensure that answers to written questions are accurate and address the question posed by the Peer. It is for each individual department to decide its approach to auditing responses. The Guide to Parliamentary Work makes clear that “in responding to questions, ministers should follow the principles of the Ministerial Code making the...
As Leader I regularly remind Ministers of the importance of timely and accurate answers to written questions. I have met the working group of departmental Parliamentary Clerks and am scheduled to meet separately Permanent Secretaries next week to stress the importance of written questions and the need for those to be answered on time. Alongside this my office routinely contacts departments...
The Government has always supported the protection of single-sex spaces to ensure women’s safety, privacy and dignity. The Equality and Human Rights Commission as Britain’s independent equality watchdog has revised its Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations (the Code) following a six-week consultation. The Code includes practical guidance for service providers,...
The question was answered by the Department for Work and Pensions on the 27th October 2025. I apologise for the delay and have reminded the department of the need to meet the response target of 10 working days.
In line with longstanding process, relevant meetings are declared in the Special Advisor transparency publications. The Prime Minister’s chief of staff has not held meetings with the Center for Countering Digital Hate and Hope not Hate.
The question was answered by the Department for Health and Social Care on the 4 September 2025. I apologise for the delay.
As set out in the written statement, the Prime Minister will continue to ask the House of Lords Appointments Commission to make nominations for individuals to sit as Crossbench peers. The Commission invites applications from the public and assesses candidates against the criteria set out on its website. It is established practice that the Prime Minister can recommend a limited number of...
I have personally reminded Ministers of the 10 day target for their department throughout my time as Leader. As well as this my office routinely contacts departments and Secretaries of State who have breached the target, reminding them of their duty to ensure the target is met and to ascertain the reasons why deadlines have been missed. I have not at present written to any Permanent...
