Black Dog Crisis Management Company
Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Baroness Williams of Trafford(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
My Lords, I am sure that the terms of reference and the details of that inquiry will be laid out in due course, but I will certainly take the noble Baroness’s points back.
Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)
My Lords, the department is to be congratulated on seeking help in this area. I see from the organisation’s website that its specialist areas of expertise include
“providing consultancy support to help clients to understand the leadership roles, responsibilities and behaviours required for effective decision making.”
We hope that the department will make full use of this skill.
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
I thank the noble Lord for his point. The skills of the company were particularly useful in the context of the issue of the migrant crossings.
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy
Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Baroness Williams of Trafford(3 years, 3 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
The noble Baroness mentions a very sensible point: this is a global crisis, in many ways, because helping these people requires a global response, and co-ordinating effort is eminently sensible. I cannot give her details on what is going on, but there is a co-ordinated approach across government, and certainly lots of bilaterals are going on at this moment with my noble friend Lord Ahmad and other Ministers across the world.
Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)
My Lords, I take this opportunity to join other Members of the House to press the Minister to facilitate, as a matter of urgency, safe passage for those Afghan citizens who worked specifically on UK-funded academic research to advance the UK’s international development agenda? They have risked their lives undertaking fieldwork in areas of policy and practice that the Taliban see as a threat to their objectives.
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
As I said to other noble Lords, the ACRS will prioritise those people who have assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan and who face particular risk from the Taliban because of their stance on democracy and human rights or because of their gender, sexuality or religion.
Policing and Prevention of Violence against Women
Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Baroness Williams of Trafford(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con) [V]
The noble Lord talks such sense on these matters, and I agree with that “educate your son” placard. If we, as parents, do not teach our children the boundaries and they do not learn them at school, how will they know what is and is not acceptable, and how will they know what respect is? As the noble Lord says, failing to protect our women in turn fails to protect our children as well.
Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I first endorse strongly the sentiments expressed earlier by my noble friends Lord Rosser and Lady Blower. My concern is that the title of the Statement, “Policing and Prevention of Violence against Women”, fails to acknowledge the true nature of the problem. We should not just refer to “violence against women”; we must always make it clear that it is really violence by men against women that is the problem. Every opportunity should be taken to emphasise that it is us men who are the problem. As such, I am glad that the Minister has mentioned the importance of culture. Therefore, the question is: what steps are the Government taking to play their part in the required cultural shift by men?
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con) [V]
The noble Lord makes a very important point: we should not just say “violence against women”—we should say, “violence by men”. However, it is not always violence by men; it mostly is but not always. The Government are clearly in the middle of the Domestic Abuse Bill and all the provisions therein. I thank my noble friend Lady Newlove for bringing forward the issue of non-fatal strangulation, which seems to be much more at large in some sexual behaviour and, of course, often leads to death—it is often at the heart of domestic violence. We have done much on forced marriage and female genital mutilation, which are all particularly female-focused, of course. We have done much in the 11 years that we have been in power, and I pay tribute to my right honourable friend Theresa May, who was at the original inception of this.