Ffos-y-Fran Opencast Coal Mine

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

If the noble Baroness wants to put a Question down on that subject, she is perfectly entitled to do so. That is not what this Question is about. I will respond to that Question if the noble Baroness puts it down.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will recall that I am a great enthusiast for devolution. However, can I point out that he is not correct in what he said? My understanding, as a long-time supporter and student of devolution, is that the UK Government would not normally intervene. That word “normally” is in the legislation. Perhaps the Minister could think again.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am not going to think again. The 2006 Act is perfectly clear, as are the other Acts offering further powers to the Welsh Government. This is a matter for the Welsh Government, and they have responded.

Brexit: Employment Protection for Women

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Thursday 8th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My noble friend makes a very good point about women’s rights: two of his wives lost their heads. I will think about that.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

Will the Minister tell the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, that we can go beyond EU standards now as far as women’s rights are concerned, while we are still a member of the European Union. This Parliament remains sovereign, which is why we are not instructed by an advisory referendum.

[Lord Henley]

I do not think that the noble Lord listened to my noble friend Lord Forsyth as he should have done. My noble friend Lord Forsyth made exactly that point. This Parliament is sovereign, and we are ahead of what happens in Europe on many things. Can the noble Lord look very carefully at what my noble friend said?

Energy: Domestic Tariffs

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, we are seeing reductions in the price of renewable energy and we are working to bring the price of nuclear energy down. My noble friend is quite right: the crucial issue is the price of energy that consumers have to pay, which is why we are helping them to shop around to get the best deal.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that it is not simple to switch energy suppliers, particularly for older people? In fact, it is easier to switch churches.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I know a little about switching energy supplier. I do not know much about switching churches but perhaps the noble Lord can offer some advice to the right reverend Prelates—not that I think they will want to be switching churches at this stage. More seriously, the noble Lord is right to draw attention to the fact that not enough people know how to set about switching energy. Sophisticated people like him know that they can go online and do it, but that is much harder for older people—people even older than the noble Lord himself—who are possibly less technically sophisticated than he is. This is why we are offering help and funding the Big Energy Saving Network, which we hope will provide assistance to vulnerable consumers.

Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 28th February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I cannot give him the figure offhand. The figure of 57 rings a bell with me, but I shall have to check the number and write to the noble Lord. I can tell him that between March 2014 and December 2016, PIPCU shut down 11,000 websites selling counterfeit goods and 1,300 websites infringing copyright—so it has been extremely active. But I shall write to him on that point.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

Yesterday the Minister showed that he has deep concern for disadvantaged people. Surely he can be more sympathetic to the Liberal Democrats about their loss of intellectual property.

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, it is very hard to lose what you never had.

Industrial Strategy: Engagement

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

The noble Lord makes a very good point. Industrial relations, employee engagement—call it what you will—is much better by and large in the private sector than in the public sector. We are not good employers, if we are honest. Like me, a number of noble Lords in this House were staggered that the junior doctors, for example, were forced into taking strike action. These people are vocationally committed, yet somehow we created an environment in the public sector which is far from satisfactory.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister, on behalf of the Government, have a word with the Speaker, the Senior Deputy Speaker and the Clerk of the Parliaments and ask them to consider how the employees of this place might be involved more in decisions regarding its running?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, a number of our leading companies have very innovative ways of engaging people in their business—for example, Google and other companies like it have installed table tennis tables. I wonder whether the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, might consider making way for a table tennis table in this place.

Climate Change: Fracking

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I think the key thing is to have a proper regulatory system of controls. We have learned from US experience in setting up our system. We are also focused on all the Kyoto basket of gases, which includes methane. I assure the noble Baroness that that is an important part of our thinking. But I return to my first point, which is that we need a mix of energy in the transition to 2050.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab)]

My Lords, will the noble Baroness try again to answer the question of my noble friend Lady Royall: what amount of leakage is acceptable?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I think this is a matter for the experts concerned in the particular circumstances. Our regulatory system is site specific. You go to the particular site and work it out. Clearly, you want to minimise the emissions of all six of the Kyoto basket of gases. I think that would be an agreed objective.