My Lords, I join other noble Members of this House in thanking sincerely Tessa, my noble friend Lady Jowell, for this debate. Rightly, people have talked about her courage. Those of us who know her know that she has had that for years. As a politician in the other place she would dare to tread where others would not even think of. I was pleased that the Sure Start scheme was mentioned,...
I thank the Minister for that reply. He has been a Member of the House for such a short time that I must congratulate him on quickly learning the ability to sidestep questions that Members put in debates, but I think a little longer will prove that Members are also pretty experienced at making sure that that does not last and that they come back in on those issues, as I am sure we will. One...
My Lords, I apologise to the House for not speaking from my usual place. Unfortunately, my back and the rest of me are not getting on very well together at the moment, although it is only temporary. I thank Black Rod’s office, our marvellous attendants and the usual offices for enabling me to introduce this debate from a sedentary position. As a former trade union general secretary in the...
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Haskel for this starter debate, as I hope it is, on a very topical and important issue. There has been much publicity in the press, and during that publicity there have been a number of statements saying that public sector workers, covered by the various review bodies, have an independent review body, and that it is up to that body to say what the...
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Leigh of Hurley, for the opportunity to have this debate. Business and the economy had little showing during the general election. I hope that this debate will give us an opportunity to address that. The noble Lord mentioned the 1970s. It was almost a walk down memory lane for me, because the impression I was given was that private is good and public is...
My Lords, in returning to the debate on the gracious Speech, I apologise to the House for my discourtesy in attempting to speak earlier. I have apologised to the Minister concerned—the noble Baroness, Lady Williams. I was not aware that the House would be going straight into the Statement but I feel that I should apologise. The gracious Speech had one paragraph on defence. It came...
My Lords, the gracious Speech had just one paragraph on defence—
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing this debate. I would like to interpret in that also his support for its taking place, as it would be a foolish Chief Whip who listed a debate without the Minister saying, “Yes, let’s go for it”. I would also like to say how pleased I am that the noble Lord, Lord Astor, is back with us, debating defence issues. This House has been blessed in...
More of Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde's speeches and debates
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the application of the "triple lock" policy used in regard to state retirement pensions to the Personal Allowance element from local authorities for retired people living in residential homes; and whether it is their intention to apply it.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish figures as to how many local authorities have used their discretion in permitting a higher level of Personal Allowance than that published by the Department of Health.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the financial impact on elderly residents in sheltered housing of the Valuation Office Agency’s Council Tax valuation policy in respect of individual bedrooms in non-registered homes; and whether they have any plans to amend the definition of sheltered housing in the Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings)...
asked Her Majesty's Government: To which countries, and for what duration, members of the Reserved Services of the Armed Forces were posted in the years 2002 and 2003.
asked Her Majesty's Government: How many members of the Reserve Services of the Armed Forces were mobilised in the years 2002 and 2003.
asked Her Majesty's Government: How many members of the Reserve Services of the Armed Forces lost their civilian employment after being mobilised for Armed Services support in the years 2002 and 2003.
asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will provide a response to Mr Justice Butterfield's review of current practices at HM Customs and Excise.
asked Her Majesty's Government: What plans they have to relaunch Defence Estates.
More of Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde's written questions
