Business of the House

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Viscount Waverley

Wednesday 30th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Waverley (CB)]

My Lords, I have just taken the initiative of calling the House of Commons to see what their situation is. I can only tell your Lordships what I have been informed, which is that a decision has not as yet been made, and that Monday and Tuesday are still a possibility. That may be helpful.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I have accepted that there is widespread feeling in the House on this. As I said, a lot depends on the House of Commons. It would be silly to spend a lot of time on this if we knew that it would not get through the House of Commons. If the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment, I will agree to talk to the usual channels and, if necessary, he could bring back his amendment tomorrow—or we may not even need an amendment. Is he happy to accept that?

Brexit: Digital Single Market

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Viscount Waverley

Tuesday 8th May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I am not absolutely clear whether that will still be possible. I do not think it is the highest on our list of priorities. However, I will certainly take it back to my department and get my noble friend a clear and concise answer.

[Viscount Waverley (CB)]

My Lords, by chance I called on a UK tech association last week and the message I received was that the industry is in the doldrums—that is my word. I think the inference was that it is depressed—that since whenever this exercise started, there has been a depression in the industry generally. Does the Minister wish to say how we can reinject a sense of optimism into the sector, to give the heads of these trade associations the view that we are, indeed, heading in the right direction?

Brexit: Audio-visual Services

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Viscount Waverley

Monday 29th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, we agree that migration and key skills in the creative industries generally, and the audio-visual sector as well, are crucial. We have made that point very clear to the Home Office. We are liaising with the Migration Advisory Committee to make sure that we have up-to-date information. We have made it aware that in the audio-visual sector 5.7% of the workforce come from the EU. However, interestingly, the immigration system appears to be working for the audio-visual sector, because more than that—6.7%—come from outside the EU.

[Viscount Waverley (CB)]

Would the Minister use the case in reverse and encourage Mezzo, probably the best music channel in the whole world, which is beamed only into Europe, to be available in the United Kingdom?

Data Ethics Commission

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Viscount Waverley

Monday 10th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I think it has been discussed in many multinational organisations—including the EU, I completely agree. One point of the data protection Bill is to try to get equivalence in data flow across borders after Brexit, but the point that the noble Lord makes is right: it is not always easy but we have to lead the way to show that an ethical regime is the way forward.

[Viscount Waverley (CB)]

My Lords, are all non-classified reports or reports back compiled by officials—for example, reports back on trade missions around the world—in the public domain?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I do not know the answer to that, but I am sure that not every report is in the public domain.