Northern Ireland Protocol

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Tuesday 28th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Fookes) (Con)]

My Lords, I think that concludes the time for questions, unless the House decides otherwise.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, can I just appeal to the House to hear the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey?

Information Commissioner’s Office Report

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Monday 11th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

One thing I feel a bit disappointed about is that the report does not reflect some of the powers that I know the noble Baroness was instrumental in bringing forward within the PCSC Act. They will both help to protect privacy and, I hope, improve consistency across the piece.

[Baroness Fookes (Con)]

My Lords, no one is more concerned than I am that people who have been the victims of rape should be dealt with sensitively and properly, but could I put a point which may not prove popular here? Surely, there is always the possibility in the system that someone might make a malicious charge. It is therefore important to have sufficient evidence and if all, or a lot, of that evidence is closed off it could again cause problems and injustice for somebody else.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

I totally agree with my noble friend and refer her to the comments I made earlier. Nevertheless, it is also important in that whole balancing act that people do not feel they have to hand over their mobile phones or that their prosecution will not go forward if they do not.

Metropolitan Police: Strip-search of Schoolgirl

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

The noble Baroness will have heard me talk about some of the measures that are already in schools and public institutions to safeguard children. Safeguarding children should be at the centre of what we do as public servants. There are clear guidelines around safeguarding and the type of thing we were talking about this week in relation to child Q. Strip-searching is probably one of the most intrusive things that one could ever do to a child.

I am going to beg the indulgence of the House and ask whether the noble Lord, Lord Harris of Haringey, might be allowed to come in.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Fookes) (Con)]

I am sorry, but the time is up. I will allow a short interval for Peers who do not wish to take part in the next business to leave the Chamber.

Scheduled Mass Deportation: Jamaica

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Tuesday 1st December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

I am sorry if the answer was woolly, but I can tell the noble Baroness that the provisions of the UK Borders Act 2007 still stand, that any criminal who has served a custodial sentence of more than 12 months will be considered for deportation and that they are considered for deportation regardless of their country of origin.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Fookes) (Con)]

Do we have the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf? If not, I call the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey of Didcot.

Covid-19: Domestic Abuse

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Monday 29th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I have to confess to not having seen it, but I can recognise what the noble Baroness says and therefore what the report might contain. I shall have a look at it, but I do not disagree with that point. I will take this moment to correct a number that I gave to the noble Baroness, Lady Gale. The #YouAreNotAlone campaign has not received 120 million online impressions; it has received 220 online impressions.

[Baroness Fookes (Con) [V]]

Turning to practicalities, how many women’s refuges are there in the United Kingdom—or at least in England—and how easy or not is it to get temporary accommodation for women who may want to flee an abusive situation, but also to know where they are going to rest their heads next?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

There are 3,898 bed spaces in refuges in England. That figure is from 2018, but it is a 10 % increase on that for 2010. During this Covid crisis, certainly, no woman who is fleeing domestic violence will find herself without food, shelter and support.

FTSE Companies: Gender Balance

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Wednesday 8th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Lord raises a very good point. In fact, my noble friend—I cannot remember her name; I can see her—Lady McGregor-Smith has done extensive work on this. On the back of that, the Government are setting up a Business Diversity and Inclusion Group chaired by the Business Minister, Margot James. It will bring together business leaders and organisations to co-ordinate action to remove barriers in the workplace and monitor employers’ progress. The noble Lord is absolutely right.

[Baroness Fookes (Con)]

My Lords, if we are looking to gender balance, I suggest that we look closer to home. The three excellent clerks before us are all men.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, they are very good men. Of course, we have a female Leader, a female Leader of the Opposition and I am sure that there is a female clerk who comes in here sometimes, so I hope we are balanced out in that sense.

Economic Leadership for Cities

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Thursday 11th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Oh, I have two more minutes.

I totally agree with that, and in fact, Greater Manchester was very clear that it did not want a layering-on of structure, so it has decided to go to the model of having an 11th leader until 2017, when it will elect a mayor, but it will still keep that core of 10 local authority leaders. The noble Lord also asked about the imposition of local structures. That is not true in the sense that, as I have said, it is a proposition to government; whether it is agreed or not will be the result of a dialogue between local authorities. Therefore nothing will be imposed upon anyone unless they want it.

The noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, talked about being born in Sunderland. I was brought up in Hetton-le-Hole, so we have more in common than she thinks. You could not vote Tory there if you wanted to, because—well, they did not want to. The noble Baroness also talked about the size of the state and asked a crucial question about where we want it to lie. I think that trust has to be given by central government to local government. It is no small wonder that central government have taken what is probably the best and most worked-up proposition forward first. Hopefully, that will lead incrementally to such trust being built up between central and local government. The coalition are a Government who want to decentralise, not to create more state intervention—the noble Baroness clearly does not agree with me there. She talked about the back of a fag packet. This is not the back of a fag packet; it has taken years.

But I realise that my time really is up now. I thank all noble Lords, and I will write to anyone whom I have not answered fully.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Fookes) (Con)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this debate has now elapsed, and I must put the Question that the Motion be agreed.

Alcohol: Sale to Children

Debate between Baroness Fookes and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Wednesday 19th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I can have a note sent to the noble Lord about why specifically health bodies were not consulted. In seeking to get the truth, I can assure the noble Lord that I am not evading it, but answering with the best information that I have.

[Baroness Fookes (Con)]

My Lords, may I seek clarification? The Question refers to liqueurs; the Minister has referred to liqueur chocolates. Which is it?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I think that the noble Lord is referring to liqueur chocolates.