Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, it is a great honour to be a Member of the House and to address your Lordships in this my maiden speech. I express my sincere thanks to the many friends and Members on both sides of the House for their support, encouragement and kindness during my first few months. I pay a special tribute to the staff. This House is very fortunate to have very many hard-working and helpful staff....
Baroness Howells of St Davids: I should like to speak in support of Clause 1 of the Bill and the amendments to which I have put my name. I thank my noble friend the Minister for the very constructive way in which he and his colleagues have conducted the debate so far. At Second Reading, your Lordships may recall the debt of gratitude I conveyed to the Government for having the courage to set up the inquiry into the death...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I warmly welcome the news that the Government have ensured that the provisions of the Race Relations Act on indirect discrimination will apply to public bodies in respect of their functions. This is a decisive step towards meeting the aspirations of the findings of the Macpherson report that our public bodies set themselves the highest standards and that they are seen to keep them...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What plans they have to ensure that current overstayers will not lose the right to a suspensive appeal against a decision to remove them after 1 October 2000.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What plans they have for reviewing the legislation affecting common land and town and village greens.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I, too, am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Russell, for bringing this report to the attention of the House. Much of all that has been said relates also to the minority communities, so I shall use my few minutes to bring to the attention of the House two areas of concern which are specific to the community from which I come and which have a real bearing on the poverty described in...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they have any plans to amend the Department of Health departmental expenditure limit/running cost limit for 1999-2000.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I, too, should like to add my thanks to those already expressed to my noble friend Lady Whitaker for bringing this important issue to the attention of the House. I should also like to join my noble friend Lady Gould and others in paying tribute to the work of the Secretary of State for International Development, who is personally driving and delivering so much in her department. I...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What pilot schemes of innovative electoral procedures they have approved for the May local elections.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What steps they are taking to make kerb crawling an arrestable offence.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, in speaking to this Bill, I confess to a certain crisis of identity. I share most of the views of the noble Earl, Lord Russell, on the CSA as an organisation; however, I welcome the proposed reforms envisaged in the Bill, especially the child-centred spirit in which they have been suggested. The introduction of the child premium, not in the Bill itself but in the White Paper on...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What previous political activity will make a person unsuitable to be appointed as an electoral commissioner.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Brennan and Lord Greaves, on their speeches on law and order. I feel sure that the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit, who initiated the debate, will allow me to present to your Lordships' House what I know about the connection between race and law and order. I shall try to speak about a troubling aspect of our system of justice that is too often ignored. I...
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will announce the results of the consultation process on the design of a pilot study for financial bonds for visitors under Sections 16 and 17 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What measures they are taking to support British firms trading internationally.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What plans they have to strengthen legislation to tackle abuse of the United Kingdom's immigration control.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What the terms of reference are for the Law Commission's review of the law governing prosecution appeals in criminal proceedings.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: What changes have been made to EU sanctions in place against Burma.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they have seen the report from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs on the prospects for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
Baroness Howells of St Davids: My Lords, can the Minister tell us what is being done by Her Majesty's Government to promote the rights of women overseas?
