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Donate to our crowdfunderBaroness Hayter of Kentish Town: Oh! I had not noticed. Mr Baker was looking forward to the Bill coming to your Lordships’ House, in the, “fervent hope that their Lordships will examine this Bill line by line”,—[ Official Report, Commons, 3/4/19; col. 1217.] and give it good attention. The hope was that we would get on and deal with the Bill, and that is what this Motion is about. However, I speak now to only the...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: I think I will continue, if the noble Lord does not mind.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: Yes, again.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: I am sure the noble Lord does, but I would like to answer the point that the noble Baroness the Leader of the House made some time ago, which I have not been able to answer. She is in a difficult position; I understand that. She is a member of the Cabinet and of the governing party, but she is also the Leader of the House. In the absence of a Speaker with authority—although we do have a...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: I think the noble Lord has spoken quite enough. We have heard from him; I think we know his views. We should not still be debating the content of the Bill, because we have not got on to it. We want a Second Reading. We can vote against the Bill if we do not like it; that is the democratic way of dealing with a Bill that you do not like. But to try to talk out the ability of us even to take...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: My Lords, unconventional times call for unconventional measures. What are these times? The country faces the possibility of an exit from the EU without a deal; a disorderly exit that nobody wants. The Prime Minister does not want it, business and the CBI do not want it, the TUC does not want it, the House of Commons does not want it, and your Lordships’ House voted against a no-deal exit by...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: I believe the conventions of the House, to which the noble Lord used to adhere, mean that it is my decision whether to give way. I have decided not to. We, rather than the Government, had to table this Motion, which would allow us to take all stages of the Bill today and add it to today’s agenda. However, it is not just the Government who are failing to respond to the decision of the...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Guidance and criteria for proposers bidding for capital funding to support the establishment of a new voluntary aided school, published in December 2018, what evidence they had of improving the diversity within the governing body of a school supporting greater inclusion and integration in, and between, communities.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: He was holding it!
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the impact on ethnic minorities of voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of public support for voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance, if any, they have issued to local authorities on consulting local people on proposals for new voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they collect information on the diversity of religion or belief amongst school governors in voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion; and what assessment, if any, they have made of the impact of the religious diversity of these school governors on local social cohesion and integration.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of expressions of interest in the new capital funding scheme for voluntary-aided schools were for schools with a religious character; and what is the number of those expressions of interest broken down by faith group.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: I just wondered whether the noble and learned Lord was speaking on behalf of the Government, who were threatening that we should be leaving the day after tomorrow with no deal.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: That is not fair. How can I follow that? I will say two things to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Keen. He mentioned Robert Peston; of course, when I first came here, his father Lord Peston was sitting behind me. I think he would have enjoyed today’s proceedings, maybe for all the wrong reasons. I should also say to the noble and learned Lord that using the example of the Baron amendment,...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: My Lords, Members of this and the other House have spoken of their shame or embarrassment about how the Prime Minister and the negotiators she appointed, Messieurs Davis, Raab and Barclay, have handled our dealings with the EU. Today’s statutory instrument is a manifestation of their failure. The Prime Minister has failed to unite her Cabinet, her Government, her party or the Commons, let...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: Indeed, I am as questioning on that. That apparently, from very good leaks, was what the Attorney-General said to the Cabinet. Unfortunately, I do not have access to it. It may not be the case, but that is what was being briefed—I do not think that the Attorney-General will be speaking utter nonsense, which is what I think I heard from the other side of the House. It is what Robert Peston says.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: As I just said, that is what he was told by Ministers present in the Cabinet. I was not there; he was not there. I am reporting—