Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, I join the long line of people welcoming my noble friend to the Treasury and the Front Bench today. I have a lot of respect for her personally and she has done the jobs she has held within government extremely well. Before she was in this House, she had a very noble cause as well, which we worked on together in 2016. I hope that her current position is more successful for her than...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, I join the long line of people welcoming my noble friend to the Treasury and the Front Bench today. I have a lot of respect for her personally and she has done the jobs she has held within government extremely well. Before she was in this House, she had a very noble cause as well, which we worked on together in 2016. I hope that her current position is more successful for her than...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, this is a difficult speech for me to make, because we have heard so many wonderful speeches today. I particularly mention the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, who spoke before me; having tears in one’s eyes is not really a good way to start a speech in the House of Lords. I will talk about two aspects of Gaza from my experiences and make some comments as a British Jewish person. I have...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, I have never been in a debate where I have been complimented so much at the beginning of everyone’s speech and then had almost everything I said disagreed with afterwards. I thank noble Lords for their contributions. The noble Baroness, Lady Fraser, referred to the people who spoke as “gadflies”—I believe that was the expression. With due deference to my noble friend Lord...
Lord Harrington of Watford: Other than the fact that ongoing conflicts are discussed—it is not the conflicts that have come out in that council meeting, it is future conflicts. However, I accept there is an argument. I would argue, of course, that it is nothing whatever to do with the Bill. It is an argument, and it was very well articulated by other noble Lords. I was impressed, as ever, by my noble friend Lord...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My noble friend makes his point clearly and with great lucidity, as ever. Quite a few points were made about the Covid loan—as has been said, it was given according to the decision of an independent committee that DCMS, I presume, appointed for all the loans that took place—and whether surplus money should be used to pay back the loan early to the Government. Any charitable body which has...
Lord Harrington of Watford: I thank the noble Lord for that. He made it clear that he felt that his Benches would not be able to support the Bill in its current form, but I do not think that is particularly important today, because I think the last time a Private Bill such as this was divided on was in the 1930s. If I remember correctly, it was a railways Bill. It has been my duty and pleasure to propose this...
Lord Harrington of Watford: The trustees recognise that. The noble Lord’s point is one for any cultural institution of any sort. They are conscious of that point, and the number of performances that are put on effectively by the charity which would not be financially viable to be put on commercially shows their commitment on that point. However, he makes a specific point about financial pressures on the hall. I argue...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, I felt I was reasonably experienced at doing Bills from my career in the Commons and my experience here. I have taken through quite a few Government Bills, usually with consensus, and I have done a Private Member’s Bill, which became law. I was not aware of the existence of a Private Bill, so this a new procedure for me. I beg to move that this Bill now be read a second time. I...
Lord Harrington of Watford: I thank the noble Lord for his question. I am embarrassed to say that I do not know the answer, because these are their seats and they are entitled to sell them as they think fit. I am afraid I cannot answer that question. I have also been involved in a number of charities, which have used and booked the hall. There are lots of seats available that do not belong to the seat-holders, and I...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, I too thank my noble friend the Minister for securing this debate, and I pay tribute to the contributions of my predecessors. I cannot opine in any way comparable to them on matters of defence, foreign policy or the geopolitical and strategic matters that have been mentioned today—I would not pretend to, nor detain your Lordships’ time on that. I would like to briefly note the...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, the work done on the National Planning Policy Framework by my noble friend Lord Pickles, Brandon Lewis and Greg Clark was in my view one of the major achievements during the coalition, because it provided a sensible balance between a stick and a carrot, with local authorities producing a plan and a mechanism for the Government to step in if they did not. This led to a significant...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, the Minister will be aware that the Homes for Ukraine scheme has led to 150,000 refugees from another country being settled in this country in people’s homes, while Afghans who came a year prior to that are still largely in hotels. Will the Minister look at the Homes for Ukraine scheme, see what lessons can be learned, and make sure there is a standing scheme of sponsorship and...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, the National Planning Policy Framework from Greg Clark, when he was Secretary of State, gave government the power to impose targets locally if the local authority could not come up with a local plan. My understanding is that the latest amendments to the levelling-up Bill mean that that will not be the case and that these local plans and targets will be advisory. I cannot understand...
Lord Harrington of Watford: My Lords, I declare my interest as a trustee of the Royal Albert Hall. I would like to ask the Minister to grant it and other such institutions the same sympathy and consultation facilities that were given by the commendable acts the Government took to help us during Covid.
Lord Harrington of Watford: The Children's Commissioner for England's independent review on family life explores how to improve the way public services understand the needs of children and families, so every child has the best start in life and the opportunity to reach their full potential. The review involves extensive engagement with children and families from different backgrounds and locations across England, to...
Lord Harrington of Watford: The English Housing Survey collects data on number and proportion of households in each tenure and publishes this every year in our Headline Report, with details at Annex Table 1.1. The totals for the private rented sector from 2017 are as follows: 2016-17: 4,692,000 households; 20.3% of households 2017-18: 4,530,000 households; 19.5% of households 2018-19: 4,552,000 households; 19.3%...
Lord Harrington of Watford: The energy efficiency of housing in the UK is reported separately by each Administration. In 2020-21 2.9% of the English housing stock had an energy efficiency rating of A or B. In 2019 4% of the Scottish housing stock had an energy efficiency rating of A or B. The proportion of housing in Wales and Northern Ireland with an energy efficiency rating of A or B is not reported.
Lord Harrington of Watford: The Government is clear that it is up to the House of Lords to decide where they wish to be located, including during any potential decant of Parliament. The previous Secretary of State said in his letter that he would welcome the House of Lords playing a role in the levelling up agenda and he suggested a number of illustrative options. The freehold of the QEII Conference Centre is held by...
