Covid-19: Antiviral Pills

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Geddes

Monday 31st January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, there is plenty of time. I think one side could give way to the other.

Public Authorities: Algorithms

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Geddes

Thursday 14th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, there was no difficulty in finding a Minister in this House: answering the noble Lord’s very sensible Question was pinned on me at a very early stage. The point about the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, which will publish its interim report on algorithms in the summer—relatively soon—is that it will look across the whole area and highlight what should be done in regulation terms. It will be one of the things that we expect the centre to look at, so the genuine concerns raised by the noble Lord can be considered at by this forward-looking body.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Would my noble friend explain what an algorithm is? Should I be concerned about it?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I am not an expert, but I am sure that the noble Lord can go back to his school days and remember from his study of Greek that Euclid was producing algorithms in 300 BC —he will remember that this was for finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers. Essentially, an algorithm is a set of rules that precisely defines a sequence of operations. Today, they are used mainly by computers for calculations, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Artists: Workspaces in Cities

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Geddes

Monday 19th December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, we do not want artists to have to move anywhere if they do not want to. That is why I mentioned an example of where we are partnering and using Arts Council England money. But actually it is an ambition of the Government to move more away from London so more Arts Council England money is going to be spent outside London—the Great Exhibition of the North is an example.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, how does my noble friend define “artists” in the context of this Question?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

Someone who participates in arts.

Banks: Unbanked and Underbanked

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Geddes

Monday 11th April 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I would be very happy to do that but do not want to steal my noble friend the Leader’s thunder at 6 pm or thereabouts. The fact is the Government are doing an awful lot on overseas territories and Crown dependencies. The noble Lord may shake his head, but I will leave it there because it is not the subject of the Question.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, as I am a bear of very little brain, could my noble friend explain to me what underbanked means?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, underbanked means those who do not have access to the full range of services: people who are unable to access bank accounts in the way that most of your Lordships can.

Gross Value Added

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Geddes

Wednesday 13th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I think we should take a more positive view and work out what we are going to do about it. Certainly in Wales, there is plenty that the Government are doing. For example, capital spend is increasing by £900 million over this Parliament. Infrastructure investment through the block grant in this Parliament will rise by just under 17%, and among other things we would like Cardiff to agree to a city deal which will help its economic growth.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that the economy of Wales would be greatly improved if the Severn barrage project went ahead? What progress has been made on that?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I believe that my noble friend has raised this point before. I am not sure that I can make much more progress, except to say that the Government have started a due diligence process on this project. But it is very important to work out the cost-benefit analysis of tidal lagoon energy. This is an ongoing process. It is important that we understand the costs of this project and the technology in detail, particularly in the broader context of energy needs and prices, and availability.