Baroness Crawley: My Lords, I hesitate to begin my speech as I realise that I am being followed by the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth. He has told us in the House Magazine that he is having a personal war against cliche. I hope that my contribution will live up to his high standards and avoid being cliche-ridden. In the debate on the gracious Speech tonight, perhaps I may concentrate for a few moments on...
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, this Second Reading debate, with the excellent maiden speech from the noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie, gives us all the opportunity to put on record our appreciation of the hard work carried out by so many social care staff throughout the country. In our rightful condemnation of that small minority of people in the social care workforce who truly neglect and abuse those in their charge,...
Baroness Crawley: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will announce the full composition of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Assembly of the Western European Union.
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, may I first apologise to the noble Baroness, Lady Young--I have written to her in these terms--for the mistake in the Women's National Commission's annual report. I welcome the comments of my noble friend the Leader of the House on the economic benefits that women have gained. Those advances will mean that many millions of women's lives will be improved in this country. Does my...
Baroness Crawley: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will announce their responses to the Red Tape Review reports on the meat industry integrated administration and control system (IACS) and inspections and the intervention system.
Baroness Crawley: I am grateful to the noble Earl for giving way. He spoke of the importance of what people absorb--the osmosis. Is it not the case that if a law provides that homosexuality cannot be promoted--we have discussed the meaning of "promotion"--young people will absorb from it the fact there is a section of people in society about whom they, adults, parents and social workers cannot talk and who are...
Baroness Crawley: asked Her Majesty's Government: When they will publish the report of the Review Body on Senior Salaries and what are its main recommendations.
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister say whether the Government are concerned that Mr Haider's FPO party will legitimise and increase support for other far-Right parties in the UK and in Europe?
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, the noble Earl, Lord Russell, has done us all a service in drawing our attention to the Rowntree report in this formal way today. We thank him very much for that. Poverty and social exclusion continue to disfigure our country, even as we can prove that we live in an unprecedented era of peace and plenty. As our debate is about the have-nots, perhaps the House will bear with me if,...
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, will my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor explain how the Government's fiscal policies work to prioritise the interests of children?
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, I, too, thank my noble friend Lady McIntosh for introducing this important and entertaining debate. I also thank her for the great expertise which she brought to it in her opening remarks. There can be no doubt that the access of young people to the performing arts and to cultural life more widely enables them to reinforce talents, skills and enthusiasms which can result in them...
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, I welcome the chance to take part in this important debate. I thank my noble friend Lady Ashton for giving us the opportunity to focus briefly on a group of people who have had more than their fair share of vilification over the years. Most lone parents are mothers. Over the past couple of decades there has been an increase in lone mother families. According to the 2000 edition of...
Baroness Crawley: asked Her Majesty's Government: What costs relating to the establishment of the Electoral Commission will be met in advance of Royal Assent being given to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill.
Baroness Crawley: rose to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are satisfied with the operation of the Sure Start programme with its aim of improving outcomes for disadvantaged children. My Lords, I wish to thank my noble friend the Minister for her time in this debate, as well as noble Lords from all sides of the House who will be participating in our debate this evening on Sure Start. I wish to see this...
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, I welcome this Bill as a further stage in the Government's responsibility to ensure that our welfare system reflects the contemporary needs of our most vulnerable citizens and delivers for them. Despite this being a three-in-one Bill with added extras, amusingly described as a "finger buffet" by the noble Lord, Lord Rix, there is a theme running through it. It is that the welfare...
Baroness Crawley: I should like to reiterate some of the points made by the Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. The contribution of both parents is taken into account in the Bill. None of us is saying that the parent with care--and it is nearly always her--does not make a financial contribution as well as a contribution in kind. The Bill is fair: the contribution of the absent parent is the maintenance contribution....
Baroness Crawley: I just wanted to ask the noble Earl if he would agree with me that all that has to be done in order to retrieve the driving licence is to pay the maintenance.
Baroness Crawley: We should remember why this provision is in the Bill. It is there because only 66 per cent of maintenance due is actually paid at present. Therefore, we have to look at serious ways of ensuring that maintenance due is paid. Although the noble Lord, Lord Higgins, dismissed the American experience, the evidence shows that the very threat of withdrawal led to a vast increase in the amount of...
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, as someone who represented Longbridge as a Member of the European Parliament for 15 years until June 1999, I should like to add my congratulations to the Government, to Phoenix, the trade unions at Longbridge, the Government Office of the West Midlands and those who are very much involved in the task force. If ever an RDA chairman had a baptism of fire, it is Alex Stephenson as head...
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, said, we are indeed grateful to my noble friend Lord Peston for initiating this very important and timely debate. He did so highly effectively and in a balanced way that was, as always, run through with much humour and wit. It is an enormous privilege, especially as a relatively new Peer, to be a legislator in the House of Lords in the 21st century....