My Lords, this has been a long and very interesting debate, and I am extremely grateful to everybody who has contributed. To the people who have said very nice things about me, thank you very much; it is not deserved but it is very kind. It was encouraging that there were lots of suggestions about how the ODC concept could be improved and made more appropriate. I am really interested in...
It was not just me.
I thank the noble Baroness for her good wishes; I hope she will still feel the same at the end of my speech. The issue of population change and its consequences has long been an interest of mine, because I believe that successive Governments have failed to give the topic sufficient strategic analysis and attention. In a country where we appear to want to plan for almost everything, we...
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Tyrie, with whom I have made common cause on a number of issues—most notably, the evils of extraordinary rendition. In my four minutes, I want to raise two points. The first is the strategic choices the Government have made in this Budget and how that is going to set the tone for the country’s economic performance over the rest of...
My Lords, if, as the Minister says, this is such an important matter, why did it not merit a single mention in the Chancellor’s speech on the Budget?
The Minister says that he inherited a mess, but I have scars from trying to promote the idea of the Rwanda Bill, which might have provided an answer. We were excoriated as being mad, bad and dangerous to know. We were told then that Labour had the answers. Where are the answers now, only 18 months later?
The Minister talked about the monitoring procedures. Her remarks indicated they were going to be only when the projects were in their early stages. The worry is what happens maybe three, four or five years later, when the people who start owning it pass it on to someone who may be less attractive to the future of this country. Will the monitoring be a continuous process throughout the life of...
More of Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts's speeches and debates
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the statutory duties of local highway authorities for the public rights of way network are integrated into the Local Government Outcomes Framework.
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of section 147ZA of the Highways Act 1980 on the rights of disabled people to access the outdoors with ease and confidence.
To ask His Majesty's Government how plans to introduce nine new river walks and three new national forests will contribute towards ensuring that everyone in England has access to green or blue spaces within fifteen minutes' walk from their home, as committed to in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, published on 1 December.
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their plans to introduce nine new river walks and three new national forests will include the creation of new permanent legal rights of access.
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 7 October (HL10487), what change in position there has been since the same information on National Insurance numbers issued to individuals outside the United Kingdom was provided for the year beginning June 2023 in the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 17 September 2024 (HL885).
To ask His Majesty's Government how many National Insurance numbers were issued to individuals outside the United Kingdom in the past twelve months for which figures are available.
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment has been made of civilian casualties from US and UK military action in Yemen (1) since March and (2) between January 2024 and January 2025.
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the British airstrikes conducted in Yemen on 29 April were in support of Operation Poseidon Archer or Operation Rough Rider.
