Lord Judd: My Lords, does the Minister agree that all the messages of good will and good intent are wearing a little thin? The fact is that, at the moment, those who want to remain must still pay £10,000 or more for a visa. Furthermore, there have been some pretty disturbing cases of, for example, a veteran being asked to pay a £50,000 bill to the health service for the removal of a brain tumour....
Lord Judd: My Lords, we have heard two interesting maiden speeches today. I warmly welcome my Cumbrian neighbour, my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock. What she said about the environment was not only right but very important. We look forward to hearing much more from her in the years ahead. I put on record my appreciation for the forthright clarity of the reports of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory...
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking (1) unilaterally, and (2) multilaterally, to protect lower and middle income countries from adverse impacts of COVID-19 on literacy rates.
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what policies relating to National Parks are set out within their proposals for reform of the planning system in England.
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing the findings of the report by Julian Glover Landscapes Review, published on 21 September 2019; and what assessment they have made of the response to those findings by civil society organisations.
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that child victims of criminal exploitation are not excluded from school.
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Just for Kids Law, Excluded, exploited, forgotten: Childhood criminal exploitation and school exclusions, published on 26 August; and what plans they have to include new provisions to protect children vulnerable to exploitation in their forthcoming guidance on exclusions.
Lord Judd: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, and I have known each other for almost a lifetime, since his very young days as a student in Portsmouth when I was the MP. We did not agree politically, and we do not agree politically now, but we have been good friends and I have always valued his insight, experience and total commitment on a range of issues concerning our part in the world, developing...
Lord Judd: My Lords, I apologise for the fact that our BT hub has been playing hell with us this morning—and indeed for several days—which prevented my coming in earlier. I am grateful to those who have accommodated my coming in now. I want to speak briefly but very strongly in support of my noble friend Lord Stevenson’s amendments. We are talking about taking back control; the Government have...
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of Vitamin D in promoting good health and resistance to COVID-19 and other infections.
Lord Judd: My Lords, this is an important amendment. On matters of the environment, there has been a lot of rhetoric and aspirational thought. There are international agreements to which we are, I hope, firmly signed up. However, the point about moving forward on the environment is that we need muscle. We should be talking far more about how our trade policy can assist in fulfilling our obligations...
Lord Judd: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for introducing this amendment. I agree absolutely with those who argued that it is inconceivable that the Government will not accept it. The situation in China is of course appalling, but if we are going to introduce this legislation and further the cause of justice, we must be consistent. That means that we have to try to do everything possible...
Lord Judd: It is always a pleasure to speak to an amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Hain on Northern Ireland affairs. His commitment to Northern Ireland is second to none, and he always speaks with great authority and concern. The progress towards building a better future for Northern Ireland and indeed the Republic has been remarkable. However, it is a human story in which very many people have...
Lord Judd: My Lords, although, as the amendment states firmly, it is not exclusively concerned with the issues of animal welfare, protection of the environment, food safety, hygiene and traceability, plant health, employment and human rights, these are important in the context of this debate. We have repeatedly discussed them in the context of this Bill, as well as during the debate on the Agriculture...
Lord Judd: My Lords, this is a very important impendent indeed, and we have cause to be grateful to all those who put it on the agenda. I have never understood how you can have an effective free market of any kind without the free movement of people. It makes a nonsense of it. In that sense, the arguments have been very well rehearsed in this debate. I would just like noble Lords to know that at least...
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the analysis by Oxfam, published on 18 August, that on average one air raid has hit civilian infrastructure in Yemen every 10 days since March 2015; what action they have taken to curb such air raids; and what assessment they have made of the implications of those air raids on their policy towards Yemen.
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that peace talks in Yemen are inclusive of women, youth and civil society.
Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government why humanist weddings are limited to gatherings of six people under COVID-19 regulations; and what plans they have to change those rules to reflect those for religious and civil marriages which allow up to 15 people.
Lord Judd: My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Masham, was absolutely right to remind us of what has just happened in the Lords last week and this week. Modern technology is not perfect, and the trouble is that it has so much authority—in the sense that it has become so indispensable—now in the handling of affairs that, when it fails, there are very serious consequences. There is nothing more serious...
Lord Judd: My Lords, the noble Earl is a very civilised man, and it is always very refreshing to hear him. We have become a highly regarded and enviable centre of the arts in the world. The first thing that any of us who are involved at all know—and I have a son-in-law who is a professional singer and other members of the family who are involved in the arts—is that that by definition the arts and...
