Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for auditing the appropriateness and legality of the skilled worker visa route for those individuals specifically sponsored by (1) vape shops, (2) other retail shops, and (3) micro businesses with sponsorship status.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The changes in the Immigration White Paper (July 2025) relating to Skilled Workers, significantly reduced the number of roles eligible to qualify for a visa related to high street retailers. This means that these Sponsor Licence holders are no longer able to bring in overseas workers to work in lower skilled roles associated with retail.
A Micro-business could cut across numerous sectors and therefore their ability to recruit specific roles will be dependent on the skill level of the role they wish to sponsor.
We routinely check the compliance of licensed sponsors and will remove their licences where non-compliance is proven. Since this Government has come to power, we have revoked record numbers of sponsor licences.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle youth unemployment.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. We have recently committed a further £1 billion investment in young people, taking total additional investment into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to £2.5 billion over the next three years. This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.
This includes the delivery of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England and the expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain. We are also introducing expanded support for young people looking for work on Universal Credit, providing tailored employment support and a structured path into a job, apprenticeship, work experience, Sector-based Work Academy Programme (an employed-led intervention, with Jobcentres supporting claimants to get the training and experience needed ahead of a guaranteed job interview for a real vacancy), learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre. This will include a dedicated Youth Guarantee Gateway meeting if a young person is not already earning or learning by week 13, followed by 4 additional weeks of intensive support to ensure young people take up work, training or learning opportunities. We will also prioritise prevention – improving support in schools, access to work experience and further education places.
Within the up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, this investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. It will also help unlock up to 200,000 more employment opportunities, through a new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for employers who hire 18–24-year-olds who have been on Universal Credit for over six months, a new £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for small and medium sized employers hiring 16–24-year-olds and the Jobs Guarantee scheme, providing long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds with a fully funded six month job.
Together these measures demonstrate the Government’s commitment to improving employment opportunities for young people, while supporting employers, and working with partners across Great Britain to create clear pathways into employment and education for young people.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what advice or guidance (1) the Civil Service People Group, and (2) the Cabinet Secretary, have issued about intimate relationships between Civil Service colleagues, other than the Civil Service Code and Civil Service Management Code; whether (a) junior, and (b) senior, civil servants are permitted to enter sexual relationships with co-workers; what requirements exist to declare such relationships where there is a reporting line or managerial responsibility; and how conflicts of interest are managed in that regard.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No such guidance has been issued.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 9 February (HL Deb, cols 2–3) on beagles used for testing in life sciences laboratories, what progress they have made on developing a replacement strategy for reducing the use of dogs in animal testing in line with the Labour Party manifesto of July 2024.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Labour Manifesto commits to working with scientists, industry and civil society to phase out animal testing. The Replacing Animals in Science strategy was published in November 2025 to deliver a cross‑government programme to develop, validate and adopt alternative methods to reduce the use of protected species across the life sciences. This includes targeted action to reduce the use of dogs in pharmacokinetic and cardiovascular safety studies through validated alternatives. The Government will publish a delivery update, alongside key performance indicators on progress across all elements of the strategy, later in 2026.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office on 10 March (HC114884), whether the investigation into Lord Doyle will report to the Prime Minister in his capacity as leader of the governing party.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is not conducting an investigation into Lord Doyle. An investigation is being carried out by the Labour Party.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 19 March (HC111477), how many times Lord Mandelson was recorded as visiting 11 Downing Street between 4 July 2024 and being appointed ambassador according to (1) the Chancellor’s diary records, and (2) the Downing Street visitor notification system.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
According to available records, Lord Mandelson visited 11 Downing Street on two occasions between 4 July 2024 and his appointment as Ambassador: on 18 November 2024 and 8 January 2025.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Egypt on the use of blasphemy provisions and restrictions on religious conversion, particularly in relation to Christian converts and Coptic Christians.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided on 27 April in response to Question HL16168.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish (1) any interests that the Attorney-General has declared to his Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests in relation to his work for Gerry Adams when a barrister at Matrix Chambers, and (2) whether the Attorney-General continues to receive payments from his time as a barrister at Matrix Chambers.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
As has previously been set out to the house both in January 2025 and in June 2025, there is an established rigorous system in place within the Attorney General’s Office to ensure that a Law Officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest.
If a Law Officer were to publicly confirm specific matters where they were recused, this would infer that legal advice had been requested by the Government on a specific matter, which would risk a breach of the Law Officers’ Convention.
This process also sits alongside the established system in place for declaration Ministerial Interests. I confirm that my relevant interests have been published for the public record, including my previous employment at Matrix Chambers.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 29 April (HL16703), what assessment they have made of the consistency with paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code of the practice of pre-briefing the policies in the Budget 2025 to the media; and whether the Prime Minister authorised pre-briefings.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the noble lord to the Answer on 29 April (HL16703). There are occasions where the Government will trail and/or announce policy ahead of a Budget to provide context and help the public understand major fiscal events. Any such communications are tightly controlled, respect Parliament, protect market sensitive information and are in accordance with paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 29 April (HL16424), what is the rationale for not including white Irish under the internship; and what assessment has been made of whether this is positive discrimination against young people who are (1) white British, or (2) white Irish, given the absence of any other internship scheme open to them in that public body.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The SIS Summer Intelligence Internship is one of a number of lawful measures (as set out in The Equality Act 2010) used to encourage people from under-represented demographics to consider national security careers.
In addition to the Summer Internship scheme, SIS runs other placements and apprenticeships. The details of which are regularly published on their website. All schemes are only open to those who meet the required British, or British dual-national, nationality criteria.