House of Lords: Gender Equality

Debate between Countess of Mar and Lord Young of Cookham

Thursday 6th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I may be in some trouble with my noble friend but that was actually in my brief.

[The Countess of Mar (CB)]

My Lords, as the last hereditary woman left standing, I ask the Minister to ask the Chief Whip to support the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, in their requests.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

My Lords, my noble friend the Chief Whip will have heard both those bids and they will be discussed through the usual channels.

Verify: Digital Identity System

Debate between Countess of Mar and Lord Young of Cookham

Monday 26th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

There is an issue of commercial confidentiality in publishing the amount paid to the five identity providers, but if the noble Lord wants to know the cost of the Verify programme, I should be more than happy to write to him and place a copy in the Library.

[The Countess of Mar (CB)]

My Lords, we electronically tag all our animals—I speak as a former farmer. Why cannot we electronically tag humans? We could all have microchips, and then we would know where we were.

House of Lords: Register of Hereditary Peers

Debate between Countess of Mar and Lord Young of Cookham

Wednesday 25th October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I say to the noble Baroness that her Government had 13 years, from 1997 to 2010, in which to address this issue but they did not do so. They had a further opportunity in 2010, when the Equality Act, to which I referred, was introduced to address it and they declined so to do. So far as the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, is concerned, we had a good debate at Second Reading. I set out the Government’s view at that point, and we look forward to its Committee stage when my noble friend the Chief Whip finds time for it. The noble Baroness said that some of her best friends were hereditary Peers; my line manager, the Deputy Chief Whip, is a hereditary Peer.

[The Countess of Mar (CB)]

My Lords, as the last female hereditary Peer left standing, I ask the Minister whether he is aware that I support the noble Lord, Lord Grocott. We have gone on for too long with elections. We no longer know the electorate as well as we should and it is time that we called an end to them.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

As I said, the House will have an opportunity, when we debate the further stages of the noble Lord’s Bill, to come to a conclusion. When I summed up, I indicated the views that were for and against. I think I ended up by saying that in one sense, the Bill was premature, because we were waiting for the report of the noble Lord, Lord Burns. Hopefully, that report will be in the public domain by the Committee stage.