Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 29th April 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Ashton of Hyde) (Con)]

Does the noble Lord wish to move his amendment?

[Lord Bailey of Paddington (Con)]

I beg to move. Excuse me—I am dyslexic, and procedure is massively hard for me. One day I will get it all right—and all at the same time.

Building Safety Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

3rd reading
Monday 4th April 2022 Lords Chamber

Relevant documents: 20th and 21st Reports from the Delegated Powers Committee

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to acquaint the House that they, having been informed of the purport of the Building Safety Bill, have consented to place their interests, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

My Lords, a significant number of the provisions in the Building Safety Bill apply to England and Wales and a number also apply to Scotland and/or Northern Ireland. Throughout the preparation and passage of the Bill we have been working closely with each of the devolved Administrations, and I pay tribute to officials and Ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for their constructive engagement and support.

There are provisions in the Bill which engage the legislative consent process in the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru and the Northern Ireland Assembly. I am pleased to report that the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament have granted legislative consent. However, the Northern Ireland Executive have not brought forward a legislative consent memorandum and the Assembly has therefore not voted on legislative consent. I reassure noble Lords that the Government will continue to engage with the Northern Ireland Executive.

Schedule 8: Remediation costs under qualifying leases etc

Amendment 1

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [HL]

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

3rd reading
Tuesday 14th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to acquaint the House that they, having been informed of the purport of the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill, have consented to place their interests, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

My Lords, before we progress with Third Reading, I will make a very brief statement and update on legislative consent in respect of the Bill. As the UK Government have made clear throughout the earlier stages of the Bill, we are committed to working closely with the Welsh Government on this legislation in order for it to be of the greatest benefit to leaseholders in both England and Wales. While the law of property is a restricted matter under the Government of Wales Act 2006, we have worked closely with our colleagues in the Welsh Government and taken note of their views in a spirit of collaboration and joint working. This has led to a series of amendments to ensure that the Bill works in the best possible way for the benefit of leaseholders wherever they live.

In summary, these amendments transfer executive competence to Welsh Ministers, meaning that the Bill now engages with the legislative consent process in the Senedd Cymru. The Welsh Government laid a legislative consent memorandum for the Bill before the Senedd in May this year, and we have had continued correspondence with Ministers advising that they share the same policy ambitions as the UK Government in this area. Senedd Cymru has not yet considered its position on legislative consent at this relatively early stage in the Bill’s passage through Parliament. However, I assure noble Lords that we are intent on securing legislative consent for this Bill and will continue to work with the Welsh Government in order to realise this ambition.

Motion

Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development etc.) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Russell of Liverpool) (CB)]

We have been unable to resolve the technical problem but we have worked out how to resolve the situation. I call the Government Chief Whip.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, with the agreement of the usual channels, we are going to defer both votes until tomorrow, so they will be on tomorrow’s Order Paper. After this, to give everyone time to move over to the next business, we will have a short adjournment.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

I thank the Government Chief Whip. I would have been very happy for my vote to be agreed by the collecting of voices, but the Government did not take me up on that offer. Obviously, I fully understand about these technical issues and we are happy for the votes to take place tomorrow.

Fire Safety Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Consideration of Commons amendments
Tuesday 27th April 2021 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

That the Commons reason be now considered.

Amendment to the Motion

Moved by

[Lord Adonis (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not wish to detain the House unduly, but I need to draw the attention of the House and, in due course, the Procedure Committee to the really unsatisfactory way that our proceedings are conducted on these important matters relating to Commons reasons.

The Commons debated this matter only a few hours ago, and there is no Hansard account of the debate. We were not at all clear when we were going to debate these hugely important matters affecting millions of our fellow citizens: we were told it might be at 4 pm and then 4.40 pm. Many of us have had to hang around the House for hours, waiting to be told when it might happen; we were only recently told that it would be at 7.10 pm.

Until I came into the House, half an hour ago, I was not aware of the amendments that have been tabled because they are not available, in the haphazard way that we conduct these proceedings. I and many other noble Lords have not yet had a proper opportunity to assess the amendments. They are quite complicated and we are being railroaded into taking decisions on them in the next hour.

This is a totally unsatisfactory way for this House to consider important legislative issues. Although I do not wish to detain the House unduly now, as I have said, I feel duty-bound to draw the attention of the House to the unsatisfactory nature of the proceedings. We should take this matter up with the Procedure Committee. We have proper arrangements for the consideration of Bills at all other stages, including fixed intervals between the different stages of consideration. These are in our Standing Orders and they should apply at this vital last stage of Bills, when we are engaged in interchanges with the House of Commons. I beg to move.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

I start by saying that I disagree with the noble Lord: his amendment is unnecessary because there is a Commons Hansard transcript—it is online and has been since just after 5.30 pm. Nevertheless, the noble Lord’s amendment gives me the opportunity to make it clear to the House that what is proposed for the consideration of the Fire Safety Bill today is entirely in keeping with the normal practice of the House. By “normal”, I mean that this has long been the case and has nothing to do with how we have been working more recently in the hybrid House.

Fire Safety Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

3rd reading & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 24th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Fire Safety Bill, has consented to place her interest, so far as it is affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

Motion

Moved by

Housing: Rent, Evictions and Covid-19

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I remind the House that the Procedure Committee has recommended that supplementaries should not last longer than 30 seconds. During the last Question there were examples of questions by Members from nearly all parties and groups that went on for longer than that. It would be of benefit to all noble Lords if Members restricted their supplementaries to 30 seconds.

Covid-19 Secure Marshals

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Tuesday 15th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked, and that brings this part of Question Time to an end.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, unusually, today, we have to have a 10-minute break.

Covid-19: Local Democracy

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

The noble Lord is right. The local government response to the pandemic has been exemplary. I agree that it would be sensible to review procedures so that there will be a proper functioning of local democracy next May.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

I call the noble Baroness, Lady Barker. No? Then I call the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker.

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

Given the distrust in government decisions nationally and locally, what thought have the Government given to the promotion of citizens’ assemblies, organised remotely, to enable citizens to be party to evidence and discussion?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, in the absence of the Lord Speaker, with the leave of the House, I must tell noble Lords that the 10 minutes allocated for this Question is up.