Alcohol: Strategy

Debate between Lord Flight and Lord Henley

Tuesday 27th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, that is not part of what we are proposing at the moment but we will no doubt consider it when the legislation comes forward. I look forward to discussing the amendment that the noble Lord will put forward on that occasion.

[Lord Flight]

My Lords, perhaps I may counsel that describing something as bad and telling adolescents that they should not do it is about the best way of encouraging them to do it. That needs to be borne in mind when providing guidance.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, that argument can be put forward but I am not sure that it is necessarily always the case. I still think that we have a duty to offer appropriate warnings. If those warnings are made in the right way by the right people, the right message can be got across to young people. That is why I referred to what is taking place in west Cumberland.

Criminal Records Bureau

Debate between Lord Flight and Lord Henley

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I accept that it was necessary to bring in the CRB and these checks, but things had become out of proportion. That is why my right honourable friend announced her review and is why we want to scale things back to allow people to take proper responsibility for these matters. That is what we are trying to do, and it was what we were trying to do in the Protection of Freedoms Bill, but we will obviously keep these matters under review. If we can further scale down the checks without putting children or vulnerable adults at risk, we will do so.

[Lord Flight]

My Lords, when I was at school, it was quite common for people to have school exchanges and stay with a family in France or Germany, pick up the language and learn a bit. These exchanges have virtually disappeared for the same reason that we have been hearing—checks have to be done on the families with whom the children will be staying. Does the Minister agree that this is yet another system that is over the top? Surely, the schools themselves can do checks on children’s parents.

[Lord Henley]

My right honourable friend brought in the review exactly because of those concerns—damage to exchange visits, volunteering and the like. That is why she conducted her review last year and is why we made changes during the course of the Protection of Freedoms Bill.

Universities: Non-EU Students

Debate between Lord Flight and Lord Henley

Monday 6th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, the noble Baroness will appreciate that that is a completely different question from the Question on the Order Paper. We are discussing the actions of the Home Office and the UK Border Agency and the effect they are having on students coming in. If the noble Baroness wishes to put down a Question on that subject, I am sure that one of my noble friends will be more than happy to answer it.

[Lord Flight]

My Lords, when talking to the Cambridge Vice-Chancellor’s office a few months ago, it raised with me a problem about senior research students aged 28 or 30 who it wanted to attract from India, but who were mostly married. The problem was about their spouses coming in and I encountered the same issue in India. Has this issue been resolved?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, the restriction on bringing family members applies to undergraduates. The sort of senior research students who my noble friend refers to would be allowed to bring partners or members of their family with them, so I think I can say to my noble friend that that issue has been resolved.