House of Lords: Reform

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Wednesday 1st May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

I agree that an elected Chamber has problems, because there would inevitably be a clash with the Commons and indeed the devolved legislatures. An appointed Chamber allows the Commons to prevail constitutionally and serve constituents across the country. Reform is not ruled out in the longer term but we have been very clear, certainly ever since I joined the Front Bench, that we should not have piecemeal reform and that any reform should be very careful, considered and comprehensive.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, I remind the House of one of the greatest reforms of the House of Lords, which I am sure the vast majority of noble Lords agree with, brought in by a Conservative Government—the Life Peerages Act in the 1950s.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

I agree with my noble friend, who always has good historical angles, that the Act was a great move forward. Many of us who are lucky enough to serve in this House benefit from that excellent constitutional change.

Ministerial Appointments: Vetting and Managing Conflicts of Interest

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

There is an issue of balance between privacy and the need to know—the transparency. I have often engaged with the noble Lord on these tax issues and the Prime Minister himself has said that he will publish his tax return, but moving to a different system raises quite a lot of issues of balance. I come back to my point about personal responsibility and explaining where there are these issues or might be conflicts of interest when you are a Minister, or if circumstances change.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

Is it not the case that it is very important that any Prime Minister of the day has an independent ethics adviser and an independent Commissioner for Public Appointments? What is the point of having these officials doing those jobs unless they are allowed to get on with them—do the jobs they are paid and appointed to do—and avoid the speculation, which is completely unfounded until the facts are known?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

I thank my noble friend. Sir Laurie Magnus is doing just that. He was appointed in December and now has an important case to look into. We need to give him time to look at the issues that have been raised and come to the Prime Minister with a summary of his findings, so that we can move forward. But we need to establish the facts because, unfortunately, everything you read in the newspapers is not always spot on.

Peerages: Letters Patent

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Thursday 17th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

As I said yesterday, I am not willing to speculate on what might or might not happen after a future general election. However, I repeat that the Conservative Party, despite winning a succession of elections, has still only 34% of the seats in the House of Lords. It is interesting that 408 Members were appointed over the 13 years from 2010, and 404 Members have been appointed over the 12 years between 2011 and 2022.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister confirm that, when the Prime Minister of the day is considering honours, one of his responsibilities is to maintain the integrity of the honours system?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My noble friend makes a very good point, which I am happy to endorse.

BBC

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Thursday 12th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

This is our first day of discussion of the charter. I have made it clear that the BBC will have editorial independence, which of course will allow it to continue to make the children’s programmes that we all love. I explained that we were introducing a £20 million contestable fund and suggested that that could be used for children’s programming. The precise details are yet to be settled. The important point is that the Government will be consulting on the scale of the fund and how it will operate. I look forward to the noble Baroness giving us her assistance.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, I warn my noble friend the Minister that in her Statement she came perilously close to achieving consensus with the noble Lords, Lord Collins and Lord Foster. That is a remarkable achievement, in the context of everything in the press beforehand. I welcome the fact that the majority of the new unitary board will be non-government appointed, and therefore independent members, which will enhance the independence of the BBC. On that independence, will the Government consider the possibility of limiting each appointment to one term only so that there can be no suggestion, perceived or not, of any board member currying favour for the renewal of an appointment?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I thank my noble friend for his interesting idea. In corporate life, it is very unusual to appoint for one term only, but we have not decided on those details. There will be a transition period while the arrangements for the regulation of the board are set up. I note what he said about a one-term appointment.

Press Regulation

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Tuesday 26th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, the exemplary damages provisions, which now extend to all media cases, came into effect on 3 November and provide an incentive to publishers to sign up. We are not convinced that the time is right for the introduction of the costs provisions but the Secretary of State is considering the issue further and discussing it with interested parties; we have had some discussions with individual noble Lords in this House.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, has my noble friend read the report on press regulation by the Communications Committee last year? Do the Government accept its recommendation that with the system evolving, especially with IMPRESS and IPSO, they should keep it under review and monitor it very carefully?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I am not sure that I am allowed to do this, but I must recommend this report as excellent reading. It is a very clear summary—I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Best, and the committee on it—and one of the good things is that it encourages regular review and reporting; of course the Press Recognition Panel will report each year.

BBC Charter Review

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Thursday 16th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, I do not agree. The panel includes a former board member of the BBC and I think that one or two of the other members have links. It is drawn from the media industry, where there is quite a lot of circulation of talent. However, it is an advisory group—as I have already explained, it is advising the Secretary of State on the consultation process. We are also looking at other sources of advice, including your Lordships, as well as, fundamentally and very importantly, the British public, who pay for the BBC through the licence fee.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

My Lords, in responding to those in this House who think that the Green Paper has been motivated by hostility, is my noble friend the Minister aware that on the BBC “One O’Clock News” today the BBC media correspondent Mark Easton said specifically that the BBC did not regard the Green Paper as hostile?

Public Service Broadcasting

Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury

Monday 15th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My noble friend makes a good and interesting point and I look forward to hearing the detail of his ideas in the coming weeks and months.

[Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that, now that the World Service is financed by the BBC, it is in a much more secure position than when it was in the home of the Foreign Office?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, I cannot but agree with my noble friend. I was pleased to see that the audience figures actually increased by 10% to 210 million worldwide in 2015—an awesome bit of public diplomacy, in my opinion.