🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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My Lords, does the Minister foresee a substantial expansion of the number of renal satellite units in the execution of this policy, particularly in the spirit of trying to bring treatment closer to patients?
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My Lords, from the Back Benches I join in giving condolences to those who have suffered in the recent exchanges. The Minister made a reasonable Statement in good faith, but perhaps he will allow me to reflect on the background to the whole business of invading and hoping to secure Afghanistan. To what extent has one reflected on the misfortunes of the Russians in the 19th century and more...
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My Lords, I have a minuscule interest to declare in respect of 30 acres of to-let grassland. I have watched this whole drama with bewilderment, certainly not with hostility. Can the Minister explain why so many continental countries have been able to resolve their agricultural claims in a much shorter period, whether he has studied their practices and whether they might be adopted by this...
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My Lords, I accept at once the Minister's advice that we should have a measured debate about the Blake review, but may I echo deferentially the points that were made so powerfully by the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Bramall? Whatever institutional changes will be proposed and whatever institutional arrangements, which have been very unsatisfactory in the past, are made, if, as the Minister...
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My Lords, I apologise to noble Lords and particularly to the Minister for not being present at the beginning of this debate. Having had an enervating morning in a hospital bed, I have come along to offer a small comment. It will not be of the same contentious nature as those offered by my noble friend Lady Noakes and the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, which demonstrated the great anxieties about...
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My Lords, my noble friend who spoke from the Opposition Front Bench said that it was important to keep Parliament informed as the negotiations proceed. I want to raise a narrow point that has not been mentioned hitherto in these debates. I refer to the unhappy decision to call off the proposed visit of Romanian parliamentarians by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. I make no comment on the wisdom...
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My Lords, my noble friend Lady Buscombe has referred to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills as being "honest and honourable". I am sure that that will be endorsed by the entire Chamber. Does not that constructive response contrast with the way certain elements of the media have handled this whole business over the past 10 days? It says little about the historic role the media are...
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I congratulate my noble friend Lord Howell on these amendments because they have enabled us to have this debate. The topic gives rise to genuine concern. One of the difficulties of dealing with European Union legislation has always been to postulate amendments in terms of one's own domestic legislation when all the while you are affecting treaty obligations. That has been a difficulty since...
More of Lord Biffen's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will review the funding arrangements, objectives, organisation and conduct of the National Parking Adjudication Service; and Whether they will arrange for investigations into the behaviour of National Parking Adjudication Service officials to be held in public.
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asked Her Majesty's Government: What has been the trend in Anglo-Georgian trade since 1996; what are the prospects for improvement; and whether Export Credit Guarantee cover will be made available for this business.
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asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will list the factors which have dissuaded them from acknowledging as genocide the Armenian massacre in 1915.
More of Lord Biffen's written questions
