Marion Fellows: I beg to move, That this House has considered the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for the opportunity to raise these matters. Around the world, 1 billion people live with a disability. According to World Vision 20% of the world’s poorest live with a...
Michelle Donelan: Today I am announcing the Government’s proposed plans to reform the Higher Education sector through the launch of two linked consultations on Higher Education Reform and the Lifelong Loan Entitlement. The Secretary of State for Education will make an Oral Statement to the House of Commons later today. Our university sector is a great success story – home to world-leading universities that...
Gerald Jones: ...in 1947, and Wales now proudly houses 40 mosques, with 18 in Cardiff alone, including the South Wales Islamic Centre in Butetown, and others for Somali, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities. There are seven mosques in Newport, and in north Wales there are ongoing plans to renovate an old chapel in Llanbedr into a brand-new mosque. As we have heard, Cardiff is a modern, diverse, vibrant...
Baroness Barran: ...pathway, the government introduced a provider access law in January 2018. This requires all maintained schools and academies to publish a policy statement setting out opportunities for providers of technical education, including apprenticeships, to access year 8-13 pupils, and to make sure that the statement is followed. Through the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, we are aiming to...
Eleanor Laing: ...1—Apprenticeships for prisoners— “Notwithstanding any other statutory provision, prisoners in English prisons may participate in approved English apprenticeships, as defined by section A1 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.” The aim of this new clause is to ensure that prisoners can start Apprenticeships while they are serving their sentence. New clause...
Deirdre Hargey: First, I thank the Committee for Communities, the Chair and the Deputy Chair for their assistance in progressing this much awaited Bill to Consideration Stage. Of course, I thank all of the Committee's staff team and the teams in my Department for their work to get the Bill to this point. The scrutiny has obviously been robust and diligent. We have the two amendments that I am moving and the...
Nicola Brogan: ...in wishing the Minister and his family well. I wish him a speedy recovery from COVID. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate today. The Adoption and Children Bill is an important piece of legislation. I commend all of those who have worked really hard to bring it to Consideration Stage. I also commend and thank the children and young people who shared their experiences and...
Robin Walker: Regular attendance at school is vital for children’s education, wellbeing and long-term development. School attendance is mandatory and parents have a duty, under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that their child of compulsory age receives an efficient full-time education either by attendance at school or otherwise. Following expert clinical advice and the successful rollout...
Jim Shannon: Thank you, Ms Fovargue. I apologise to the hon. Member for Newbury (Laura Farris) for not being here earlier—I was at the launch of an inquiry that I chair. I spoke to you, Ms Fovargue, to ask for permission and I thank all hon. Members for the opportunity to make a contribution. Special needs education is a key issue. When the news of lockdown for schools came, my initial concern was for...
Barry Sheerman: ...; and for connected purposes. As you know, Mr Speaker, I have been a Member for a very long time, but it is 20 years since I last moved a ten-minute rule motion, so I hope everyone will be tolerant of me today. I declare my interest as chair of the Westminster Commission for Road Air Quality, as an active member of the all-party parliamentary group on air pollution and as chair of the...
Rosemary Barton: On the introduction of the carrier bag levy legislation in Northern Ireland in 2013, there was an understanding that it may be a phased approach. At that time, the levy was set at 5p. However, even then, there were some suggestions that a much higher levy would be more appropriate. The 5p levy appears to have been very successful in that it is estimated to have removed in excess of 1·7...
Edwin Poots: ...Carrier Bags Charge (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022. In Northern Ireland, the 5p carrier bag levy was introduced in 2013. Since then, the levy has removed in excess of 1·7 million bags from circulation and delivered a significant, tangible result on the initial policy objective of protecting the environment by regulating against the unnecessary use of bags....
Lord Kennedy of Southwark: My Lords, it is not normal for the Opposition Chief Whip to respond to a Second Reading debate, but Members will be aware that I have been involved with these issues for some considerable time. I have also missed the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh, very much, so I thought that with him leading on this Bill and it being such an important issue, I would have to make an appearance. Maybe I will be...
Stewart Dickson: ...the comments that my colleagues John Blair and Andrew Muir have made about sectoral plans. Setting a clear road map across all sectors is fundamental to tackling the climate emergency. If we are to genuinely achieve net zero carbon emissions, we need a bold and holistic approach that is sustained by long-term government commitment. Without detailed plans and targets to underpin our...
Alexander Stafford: ...and for all the work she did as Minister for loneliness to address this important issue, which she continues to drive forward, including in all-party groups. She is exactly right: link workers are vital. Indeed, a big part of my speech is about them, because it is so important to give them the support they need and thank them for their great work to improve the health of our nation. Demand...
Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws: I, too, have my name to this amendment and support it, as I have previous amendments to other Bills relating to genocide. Health procurement is a very problematic area that warrants the special attention of Parliament. Not to put too fine a point on it, we will probably all have been wearing slave-made masks, even here. But it is a particular concern if great institutions such as our National...
Michelle Donelan: The government believes that freedom of speech and academic freedom are fundamental pillars of our higher education system, and that protecting these principles should be a priority for universities. That is why we have introduced the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which passed its 2nd reading in the House of Commons on 12 July 2021 and was debated by the Public Bill Committee in...
Nicola Sturgeon: Today, as usual, I will report on the current course of the pandemic. I will also set out the latest data and outline some further changes that we intend to make in the period ahead. Those will include an update to the guidance on working from home and a change to requirements for overseas travel. Finally, I will summarise what we can all continue to do in the immediate future to keep cases...
Lord Bradley: My Lords, I shall speak on this group of amendments, and I declare my health and higher education interests, as in the register—and, specifically, my honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. We have had some excellent speeches, and some forensic analysis, of these amendments, which are so important to ensuring that the workforce is at the centre of the...
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: My Lords, to state the obvious, without a workforce plan we cannot have a workforce. Amendment 170 certainly seems to get to the heart of the issue, which was so well introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, and my noble friend Lord Stevens. Others have spoken about the medical and nursing workforce, and therefore I will not repeat those comments. I want to put a plea in for the...
