Rape and Serious Sexual Offences: Jury Directions
Debate between Lord Lemos and Baroness Sugg(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Lord Lemos (Lab)
My noble friend is clearly right that if the experience of being a victim and giving evidence in these cases is so traumatising or retraumatising, one can understand—particularly, as the right reverend Prelate said, in the context of long delays—why victims would find that a really serious problem. As I have said, that leads to us not having the track record that we would wish for in prosecuting these cases. The specific initiative that my noble friend refers to is a civil society initiative, and I welcome civil society initiatives such as that as part of an ongoing social campaign to change this question of rape.
Baroness Sugg (Con)
My Lords, the Prime Minister’s comments on Friday:
“We need to do more to support victims of sexual assault and rape, and we will do that”
have been broadly welcomed by survivors but have also raised expectations of swift action. What concrete steps are the Government going to take to provide that support?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness and pay tribute to her for her own work in this area. On what we are doing to support rape victims, we are introducing independent legal advisers for victims of adult rape this year, with £6 million of initial funding over the next two years. We are introducing a package of crucial legislative reform to protect victims, which I have already talked about, and we are delivering on our commitment to introduce a specialist rape and serious sexual offences court, backed by £23 million of funding. That is an extremely important initiative—and I see the noble Baroness nodding in agreement. The way in which those courts are rolled out—and, as she knows, we are rolling them out— will, we hope, make a big difference.
Finally, we are establishing a new rape justice taskforce, chaired by the Lord Chancellor and bringing together leaders from across the criminal justice system, directly to tackle the rising rate of postponed rape trials and confront the rape myths that cause victims to withdraw from their own cases. I hope that that full answer gives the noble Baroness the reassurance that she seeks.
Mindanao Earthquake
Debate between Lord Lemos and Baroness Sugg
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I pay tribute to my noble friend for the work that he has done in the Philippines over many years, particularly in the Bangsamoro region. He has been involved for more than a decade, I think, and that has been a remarkable commitment where he has achieved and contributed to real change.
The UK has provided humanitarian assistance in recent years to support the Philippines Government’s response to the major natural disasters that have impacted the country. My noble friend is right to say that these are often climate-related. The Philippines is one of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and we have been strong supporters of it. We also have a modern development partnership with the Philippines.
Baroness Sugg (Con)
My Lords, are the Government having discussions about deploying emergency response teams to assist on the ground, such as the excellent Hazardous Area Response Team or UK-Med, which have been trained in providing life-saving assistance in these cases?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
As I say, we have not as yet been asked to provide support, and we are strong supporters of the response of the Philippines Government. I make that it clear that we are close partners of the Government of the Philippines and we would mobilise the resources that the noble Baroness mentioned if they were felt to be necessary. There is no resistance at all at our end.
West Papua: Deforestation
Debate between Lord Lemos and Baroness Sugg
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I thank the noble and right reverend Lord for his question on this important issue. The UK respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Indonesia, including the region of Papua. We support the efforts of the Indonesian authorities and civil society to address the needs and aspirations of the Papuan people. All Papuans need to benefit from the development of the region. Where we have human rights concerns, we raise them, as we have done at both ministerial and senior official level. We continue to support a visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to the region. Our UK mission in Geneva raised this with the high commissioner’s office in April 2025, and we have encouraged both parties to agree dates.
Baroness Sugg (Con)
My Lords, over the last two decades, we have seen the development of large-scale palm oil plantations in West Papua, and that has led to the clearance of vast swathes of primary rainforests, which are some of the most biodiverse in the world. What assessment have the Government made of the environmental and human rights impact of palm oil production in West Papua, and what steps are they taking to ensure that UK imports of palm oil are not linked to deforestation or associated abuses?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. The UK is supportive of the implementation of the Indonesian sustainable palm oil standard to support Indonesia’s sustainable economic, social and environmental objectives. Agricultural expansion for a small number of commodities, as the noble Baroness rightly notes, is the biggest driver of forest loss. We need to improve the productivity of existing land to reduce pressure on the forest frontier. We need to realise more economic benefits for forest countries from preserving forests than from deforestation. The UK is supporting small farmers and the Government of Indonesia in their commitment to greater food security, and working to improve supply-chain transparency internationally. This includes supporting international partnerships and initiatives such as the Tropical Forest Alliance. The UK ODA programme promotes sustainable farming in countries such as Indonesia by working with national Governments.