Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, is the Minister saying that, if those people do not have any of these mitigating circumstances, they will be starved into submission?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, I, too, shall concentrate on Clause 68, so anyone bored with it had better leave now. First, the clause was not in the draft Bill which came before the Joint Committee. It was put in--I was going to say "sneaked in"--later. It was not in the manifesto; nor did it form part of the gracious Speech. Clause 68 repeals Section 2A--better known as Clause 28--of the Local Government Act...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, can the Minister tell us how much this extraordinary and stupid name change will cost?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: asked Her Majesty's Government: How much changing the name of the Probation Service will cost in respect of unavoidable expenditure on items such as writing paper, signs and directories.
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: It is not true to say that Section 28 was unnecessary. It was originally devised as a Private Member's Bill of the late Lord Halsbury's, to prevent a very serious wrong, which was that certain London councils--Tottenham was one, and I think Brent was another--were teaching children that it was better to be homosexual than heterosexual. When parents protested, they were subjected to abuse and...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, can the Minister tell the House why the roadworks in Parliament Square could not have been carried out during the summer holidays?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, is the Minister aware that beaver skins make lovely fur coats? Furthermore, does she know whether beaver can be farmed? If so, would this not be a wonderful alternative crop for our hard-pressed farmers?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, it has been clear to me for a long time that the Government appear to subscribe to a religion called "political correctness". It appears to be a polytheistic religion. It has important gods and less important gods, but one of the most important is called "Equality". I am rather mystified because there seems to me to be no logic whatever in this Bill. If the age at which young people...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord. I too have not got the foggiest idea. To remove, as this Bill does, with totally inadequate safeguards the only legislation under which it is often possible for the police to obtain a conviction of many of the paedophiles who destroy children's lives is a wicked thing to do. Safeguards will be necessary. But they are necessary now, before the Bill...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether red deer antlers are designated as specified risk material in draft European Union Commission Document XXIV/2905/99.
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, does the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, live in Scotland?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: Where I live in Scotland, post is not delivered until after 1 p.m. and often after 2 p.m. Under the Bill, will the operators be obliged to deliver at an earlier time? I do not know how they would manage to do so in a remote district such as Upperglen. Also, there appears to be no reference to collections on Sunday. Will Sunday collections cease?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: As regards delivery services, I view any directive of the EU with suspicious eyes. In my experience, those services in Europe are not a patch on ours and often do not involve a delivery to a person's house; letters are left in boxes at the end of roads. I am not impressed with or happy about the idea of relying on the European Union directive.
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, will the 200 staff be recruited locally or imported from elsewhere?
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, perhaps I may ask the Minister three brief questions. First, will customers be charged for banking services? I believe that the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, asked that question and I do not seem to remember that she received an answer. Secondly, at present certain services, such as the sale of car tax discs, are provided only by Crown post offices. Will those services be extended...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, I have been looking at the feet of government Ministers and at the feet of Members of the Government whose Bill this is. I have observed that most government Ministers and most Members of the Government are shod in leather shoes, or at least shoes which appear to be made of leather--what I think the shops advertise as leather uppers. Certainly, the Minister is wearing a very, very...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, I am very sorry but I do not think that that is acceptable. That is the doctrine of expediency.
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, the reason that no teachers have been caught promoting homosexuality is precisely that Section 28 is on the statute book.
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, I should like to ask a brief question about paragraph 9 of the report entitled "Smoking policy in Millbank House". Is it contemplated that there will be some kind of smoking room for the use of poor, wretched, smoking Peers who are not allowed to smoke in the common areas and whose stablemates in their office object to smoking; or will they be forced out into the street? I do not...
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: My Lords, would it not be a good idea for special advisers to be paid out of party funds, if they are not Members of Parliament? Instead, like civil servants, they are funded by the taxpayer. If my proposal were adopted, might that not lead to a healthy reduction in their number?