Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I join others in expressing my gratitude to the noble Baroness. She is a great campaigner and is prepared to reach out across all Benches. That is much required with the problems we face. I think I am probably the first to mention football, but I mention Denmark and congratulate it on the work it does with women. Denmark ranks the highest in the whole world in presenting a community...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I hope that the Government will seek to establish why there have been these administrative errors and give a full report to both Houses. I recognise that the Government had to act urgently in the circumstances in which they found themselves, but I see no reason why they needed to break existing rules. The previous Secretary of State used a personal mobile in a way that was in...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bird, for presenting the Bill. He is a great, doughty fighter, and I very much support what is in the Bill. I have listened carefully to the arguments advanced about what we can and cannot expect and how we can and cannot plan for the unexpected. We need to be very honest about politics, and we are not honest enough in politics. While I...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, for giving us this debate, and for the contributions made by other noble Lords. In particular, I picked up what the noble Baroness said about care homes and the number of unfilled beds. Having watched television and seen people who have gone through the difficulties of Covid, I am not surprised that many questions are now being raised...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Morris of Yardley for an outstanding speech based on great knowledge and experience; it is one we have had before, but they get better. I offer many congratulations to her on her birthday today. I normally speak on health issues and I was going to, but I decided against it. I look to the Minister to see whether she can make my noble friend Lady...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, first, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord McFall, on his election as Lord Speaker. I hope the House noted that when it was announced, he stated that one of his aims was that the Lords should be taken to the people so that they might better understand what we do, to try to meet some of the criticisms of us which have been made of late. Secondly, I congratulate the chief clerk, Simon...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I am grateful for this opportunity to raise a couple of points regarding the gracious Speech in today’s debate. One is minor and the other is a little bigger. I hope that the Minister will be back for the bigger one because, every time I raise it, we never engage with each other. The first point relates to the introduction by the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh, who spoke about—and...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: Does the Minister agree that, whichever office is in charge of it, any successful obesity strategy must engage with the so-called hard-to-reach groups in society? As many play the National Lottery, scratch cards and so on, will the Government consider how this link might be used to incentivise and reward players for moves to better and healthier eating, drinking and exercising? As the...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, I am most grateful for the opportunity, particularly as a former trade unionist, to pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh and to speak of one of the less well-known but equally important contributions that he made to society. I refer to the creation of the Commonwealth Study Conference in 1956. He saw a problem between the relationship between industry and the community around it and...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the report by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, published on 2 February, what steps they will take in response to the contribution of global population growth to climate change.
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had on inviting Pope Francis to COP26.
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional resources required to implement the provisions of the Domestic Violence Bill; and by when they expect to provide those resources.
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, it has been a while since I was last here, but I am very pleased to come in today to support my noble friend Lady Thornton. I am sorry that the Minister is not here, because I wish to thank him for the hard work he has consistently put in for so long in such difficult circumstances. We have to recognise that no Government in the world have got this right—we have all been in an...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to conduct a public consultation on (1) the impact of the (a) COVID-19 pandemic, (b) demographic change in the UK, and (c) global population growth, on public services, and (2) the legislative framework relating to voluntary euthanasia.
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, climate change is the biggest threat to people’s security, so I welcome the Budget’s modest initiatives on this and wish them well. However, like the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, I think that much more is needed. I wish only that the Government would address the major driver behind climate change insecurity, which is of course the continuing world population growth. It is the...
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether issues relating to global population growth will be on the agenda for COP 26; and if so, what proposals they have to address any such issues.
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conclusions and recommendations relating to global population growth in the report by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta Final Report - The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, published on 2 February.
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether issues relating to global population growth will be on the agenda for COP26; and if so, what proposals they have to address any such issues.