Cabinet Manual: Guidelines for Government Formation

Debate between Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent and Baroness Hayman

Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords, we have, especially in the other place, a series of conventions that determine who commands the confidence of the House, and they include the King’s Speech and Budget votes. There is no need for any additional convention.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords—

El Niño: Impact

Debate between Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent and Baroness Hayman

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. We saw during Covid and see during every crisis moment that communities come together, and the church and faith communities tend to be at the heart of a response. Details about how communities can respond are available on gov.uk/prepare, which outlines not just what is available and what individuals can do but what communities can do to prepare for any extreme event, whether related to a pandemic or to severe weather. We thank everyone who steps up at times of national emergency, especially those within our faith communities who take local leadership roles.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, returning to the debate we had about adaptation to climate change, would the Minister agree with me that, as well as having the plans in place for how we respond to an immediate emergency, we have to look at the longer term? This has happened already, and it will happen more. Does she agree that we need to design and adapt buildings so that they are comfortable and safe for people during hot weather episodes?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right: for hot weather and any form of extreme weather, we need to reflect that in design but also in how we look after each other. The national security strategy references climate change 12 times. This is a core part of who we are. As my noble friend referenced, we are seeing an increase in number of wildfires year on year as our climate changes. In preparation for this Question, there was a meeting with the Met Office to talk about the extremes and how we analyse them. It is also about the new modelling that we can do: how we will use AI in addition to traditional modelling so that we can better assess long-term patterns too is important, so that we can make sure that, as a Government, we are working across all sectors, whether building in design or working with our schools and hospitals to make sure they have the right resilience plans in place as and when needed.

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Debate between Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent and Baroness Hayman

Report stage
Wednesday 9th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

On the noble Lord’s last quip about some Charter 88, irrational view of the size of the House, I think that if he read the Burns report, he would learn how much thought went into choosing that size as providing enough person power to do exactly the jobs that he has discussed, to which I am as committed as he is. I believe that the size of the House, and the view outside of it, are not the most important factors, but they stand in the way of appreciation of what the House actually does and that it is not defensible to those who have not studied it in any detail.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am ever so sorry, but given the hour, I thought it would be helpful to remind noble Lords that this is Report and any interventions need to be short, please.

UK Extreme Heat

Debate between Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent and Baroness Hayman

Thursday 26th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend. As a former trade union officer, this is something that I have discussed every summer in my adult life. My noble friend is aware of the current situation with regard to the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations, which require employers to provide a reasonable indoor temperature in the workplace. Obviously, what is reasonable depends on what work you are doing and where you work, which is why in the Moses Room yesterday we had to have the doors open and the fans on. I think it is appropriate that appropriate mitigations are made, but my noble friend will be aware that these conversations are ongoing, and the very nature of this Question ensures that I had yet another conversation about it yesterday.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

I declare my interest as a director of Peers for the Planet. Should we not be aware, in discussing this Question, that extreme heat affects us in certain ways, but extreme heat overseas can have devastating effects on crops, with drought, famine and population changes and movements, so we should not treat this lightly? Alongside the need for mitigation, resilience measures and everything that the Minister has said, is not the proof of the increased likelihood of these sorts of episodes an absolute clarion call for this country not to withdraw or retreat from our commitment to domestic progress and international leadership on fighting further climate change?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness raises excellent points about why we are having to have these conversations in the first place. It is clear that the chance of 40-degree days in the UK is now 20 times higher than it was in the 1960s, and we have a 50:50 chance of a 40-degree day within the next 12 years. This is changing within the UK, and obviously that has a knock-on effect on climate elsewhere, which is why we need to take this extremely seriously in terms of our impact on the environment and why I was so pleased to see in our industrial strategy, which we published on Monday as part of our plan for change, that we made commitments to green jobs, investment in green energy, embedding net zero and challenges to climate change within our plans for government across every department.

Arm’s-length Bodies

Debate between Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent and Baroness Hayman

Thursday 1st May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness knows how fond I am of her, but I am going to have to disagree hugely with the premise of her question. We are very clear on making sure that we can deliver. The noble Baroness’s previous Government announced a review. They evaluated 125 public bodies over a three-year period, with 104 reviews within their review, and saved £104 million. Given that the budget for arm’s-length bodies is £353 billion, it is an accounting error in terms of savings. That is not the approach of this Government. We are moving forward and delivering for the people of the United Kingdom.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, following on from the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, I can well understand the Government’s concern not to have duplication, not to waste money and not to have unnecessary bodies. But does the Minister agree that it will require careful and nuanced work during the transition to make sure that in doing away with duplication we do not open up chasms into which important areas of policy and delivery fall?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Baroness raises the most important of points. I assure her that the Cabinet Office is working closely with sponsoring departments to make sure that, while we recognise and want to eliminate duplication, we are not doing so by deleting both functions in one go. We will be very sensitive about how we approach this.