Baroness Hayman of Ullock: He has had a Covid revelation.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, we very much welcome and support the amendments put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, and thank him for so clearly laying out their importance in his introduction. I also congratulate him and my noble friend Lord Blunkett on their continued work and persistence on this matter. We welcome that these amendments will mean that, for the first time, the Electoral Commission would...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: I will be very brief, because we need to make progress. I just say that, clearly, we are aware that there have been issues with postal vote fraud, and it is important the Government do everything they can to tackle this. However, I understand the concerns so clearly laid out by my noble friend Lady Quin, who makes some good points about potential unintended consequences of these changes. I...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, I will not go over the ground that we have already covered—and there has been a lot—and will just speak to my amendments. Like a number of others in this group, they extend the acceptable forms of voter identification to broaden them out to include non-photographic identity documents. As has been said, the manifesto commitment for voter ID was not for photographic ID, but we...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will ensure that (1) blind, and (2) partially sighted, voters have equal access to voting aids under the Elections Bill.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is taking to address the High Court judgment of 3 May 2019 which found the arrangements for (1) blind, and (2) partially sighted, voters were unlawful.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, through every stage of the proceedings I have supported the aims of the Bill, and I am sure the whole House will welcome any steps taken to make homes safer and more secure. While we may have differences of opinion on the most effective and fair way of achieving this, I do recognise the genuine desire of the Minister to address historic cladding and non-cladding defects. This Bill...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, the Minister referred earlier to the strategic policy statement that was laid before Parliament back in February, in which the Government urged Ofwat to challenge water companies on how to be more ambitious in protecting the environment and deliver the resilient and sustainable water supply we need. He also mentioned investment, so can he explain why there is no direct guidance on...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Shrewsbury, for so ably introducing the Motion on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Randall of Uxbridge, who has so well steered it through this House so far. I also pay tribute to Andrew Rosindell, who sponsored the Bill in the other place. We welcome any increased measures against those who break animal welfare laws deliberately, so we are pleased to see...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, we welcome this legislation. I pay tribute to Sir Paul Beresford for promoting it in the other place and to the noble Lord, Lord Udny-Lister, for sponsoring it here. It is a small but important piece of legislation and we very much welcome it.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, during the Statement in the other place, the Minister said that 200,000 people were interested in the Homes for Ukraine scheme, yet figures released confirm that just 2,700 visas have been granted so far under the scheme. It appears that Ukrainians are not sufficiently aware of its existence. So what are the Government doing both to raise awareness and to simplify the process as...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, local authorities are crucial to meeting the Government’s housebuilding targets, but, if they are properly to master-plan and create the new communities that we need, they need new powers. So will the Minister support the reform of our arcane land compensation laws?
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, this has been an extremely important debate in which we have covered some of the critical issues still outstanding in the Bill. I thank the Minister for the introduction to the amendments. Many of them are good, but we believe there are still problems that need to be sorted out. I will be brief. I thank the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, for his introduction to Amendment 115. If he...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: I am very happy to accept the Minister’s assurance on this if we can have a meeting to follow up. Amendment 22 not moved.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: Before the Minister sits down, I thank him very much for his response to my Amendment 22. Could he just clarify something, so that I am completely clear on it? Was he saying that the Government will exempt social housing from the levy and that an SI will be brought in? If I am correct in my understanding, I would be grateful for a meeting to discuss the detail of what he proposes will happen.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, this has been a very interesting debate so far. In the interests of time, I will just speak to the two amendments I have in this group, and then I will be very interested to hear the Minister’s response to the broader debate and issues that have been raised, that were clearly also debated in Committee. Amendment 231 is about a registered social landlord not being able to “use...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, I thank the Minister for her detailed response. I was very pleased to hear her response to the amendment on staircase safety from the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly. It is good that the Government are going to review this. I am sure noble Lords will keep the pressure on to make sure that that is done expeditiously. Coming to my Amendment 15, again, I thank the Minister for her response....
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, Amendment 15 is about building regulations and safety measures. It would insert a new clause that states: “The Secretary of State may amend the Building Act 1984 so that the duties imposed on the regulator by virtue of section 31 in respect of higher-risk buildings are imposed on local authorities that exercise building control functions in the area in which the building is...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, I start by thanking the Minister for his introduction to a large number of government amendments. Like other noble Lords, I think it is really important that the Government listened to a lot of our debate in Committee and have brought forward these amendments, as well as others that we will discuss later, in response. It is good that we are making such excellent progress in some...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, turning first to Amendment 1 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, we agree that longer-term protections for residents’ safety are absolutely critical. His amendment also raises the importance of how we manage longer-term protections relating to fire safety. Look at the government cuts to the fire service. Between 2010 and 2016, the Government cut central funding to...