Climate Change

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Warsi

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, I promised myself that I would try to not get into a discussion on science with my noble friend, but he tempts me. The scientist in the family is my husband, but I would come back to the noble Lord on this particular question by saying that the overwhelming evidence from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is supported by every country in the world, clearly shows that this is a real hazard, it is man-made and it is causing us huge concern.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness’s robust refutation of the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, is extremely welcome, but is her view of climate change shared by the Chancellor of the Exchequer?

[Baroness Warsi]

I have never had a conversation with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about climate change. We have had conversations on many other things, but certainly I will speak to him when I next get the opportunity.

EU: UK Balance of Trade

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Warsi

Wednesday 14th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

There is some writing on this as to whether the statistics are accurate because of the “Antwerp effect” where goods are actually for another destination but show that they are passing to Europe. I asked officials specifically about this matter and they informed me that the information they have from BIS is that the ONS does record the final destination. However, I cannot be specific as to how accurate these figures are.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, I wonder whether the noble Baroness will reflect on her answer to my noble friend Lord Dubs. Was it the last Labour Government who took the decision in relation to the euro?

[Baroness Warsi]

My Lords, they took the right decision.

Private Military and Security Companies

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Warsi

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

I am not sure what the specific answer to that question would be, but I am aware that the whole point of having a code of conduct—and thereafter having international standards against which the code of conduct is implemented, and thereafter having an audit of those standards—is to ensure that there is voluntary acceptance of certain rules of behaviour that have to be applied by all private security companies.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, on that point, having an audit is not a substitute for proper statutory regulation. Will the noble Baroness answer my noble friend’s question? Why are the Government getting rid of that regulation?

[Baroness Warsi]

The Government feel that the best way to proceed in this area is to work on a voluntary system in which the trade organisations and the private security companies working in this area are involved. This is a matter which relates to the private security companies of many countries, and it is therefore important that we have an international standard against which companies can be audited.

Transparency

Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Baroness Warsi

Thursday 10th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

The Government’s recent open data consultation consulted on an extension to the types of organisations to which the open data policy could apply. The Freedom of Information Act will also be subject to post-legislative scrutiny to see how it is working in practice. Further policy in this area will be developed. At this stage I do not have a specific timeframe, but I can write to the noble Lord once I have further information.

My noble friend Lady Byford asked some important questions about how what we are trying to achieve appears to be hindered by how we achieve it. The Government are committed to achieving the very benefits that she highlights and will give serious consideration to the challenges she raised, which could stand in the way of those benefits. She also raised an important point in relation to privacy, and I can assure the noble Baroness that we will not extend transparency at the expense of privacy. Personal data will be handled in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act.

The noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, raised some important points about politicians. All politicians, all of us who are in the public sphere, must be committed to the very basis and essence of this agenda; otherwise, we will be accused of hypocrisy, not just by each other across these Benches but by the public. I can assure him that all those in this Government are committed to that very basis of transparency and openness. Our goal is for participation and engagement—

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

I am most grateful to the Minister for giving way. I am glad she said what she said, but does she accept that if Ministers redefine some of their meetings as private that is not being transparent?

[Baroness Warsi]

I completely take the point that the noble Lord makes. I repeat that we all bear the responsibility to make sure that what we say is what we do. I hear what he says, and indeed comments made by other noble Lords, and I will make sure that they are heard by all of us who are in this Government.

Our goal is for participation and engagement from an engaged society that knows it has a role to play in shaping the world in which we live. This is what open government means. Noble Lords may remind me that this is not a new idea, but what makes it a timely one is the increasing focus on how society works and how public services are actually delivered. What makes it achievable is the continuing democratisation of technology, with almost 80 per cent of households now having access to the internet. The fact that some households do not have internet access was raised in this morning’s debate and I will take that back.

Providing easily accessible data allows people to choose what services are right for them, localities to determine what their communities need and the public sector monopoly on provision to be opened up. This is a sea change in the relationship between the state and the individual. We are moving from a “We give, you get” approach to public services, to an “I choose when and where” approach.

This Government have every intention of putting into practice the ambitions they stake out on the global platform of OGP. We have an obligation to continue to lead this agenda and to use our successes to bring others with us. I hope that I have whetted noble Lords’ appetites in relation to our joint chair of the OGP, for the role we have to play in the growth review later this month, for the White Paper due in the spring and for what I think is an exciting and fast-developing agenda.

I conclude by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Elton, for his earlier remarks and for giving us the opportunity to discuss the range of possibilities that our transparency agenda offers to all of us.