Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill

Debate between Lord Palmer of Childs Hill and Baroness Garden of Frognal

Committee stage & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 16th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees]

The noble Lord, Lord Hain, has had to withdraw, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill [V]]

I did not realise someone was withdrawing. I asked to speak mainly to support Amendment 60, but also to inquire whether this will achieve what the movers want to achieve. With sale to connected persons, there is always a worry in any liquidation or moratorium as to whether those connected persons are getting a benefit, to the detriment of other creditors. It is also a fact that very often a sale or arrangement with connected persons is a way of saving a company by connected persons taking some of the business out of the company. If there is a situation in which that company can survive enough to pay all its creditors, sales to connected persons could be a valuable tool. I just want to ensure that the Minister says this is an open book and can help in some ways and police in others.

Mali

Debate between Lord Palmer of Childs Hill and Baroness Garden of Frognal

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My understanding is that this money will indeed come from the contingency fund and that currently no extension or upper limit has been set. However, all these things are under discussion because, at the moment, we are still awaiting the ongoing discussions in that area to find just what the extent will be.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill]

My Lords, as the worry is about mission creep, can the Minister confirm that the training by our troops is going to take place in Bamako or in the countries providing the African forces and that our troops will not be training the Malian troops in the advance guard?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

Our troops will largely be working with the Anglophone nations there: Nigeria, which is taking the lead, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. Their training will be in such areas as economics, the law of armed conflict, human rights and good governance. That is the sort of range of aspects where our troops are very well equipped to play a training role, but there is no suggestion from this initial engagement that they will go further than that. We certainly do not wish them to be involved in a combat role.

Armed Forces: Reserve Forces

Debate between Lord Palmer of Childs Hill and Baroness Garden of Frognal

Monday 12th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I entirely agree with the noble Lord that a great deal is brought back. Of course, we have to balance that against the disadvantage that employers see in having their people away for set periods of time. Under the proposals of the new consultation that should be more manageable—employers should have more notice of when it is going to happen—and we hope that all the good stories that the noble Lord has highlighted will be evidence that having reserves in your employment is a good thing.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill]

My Lords, on Friday 9 November, my noble friend Lord Astor reported that 75 members of the Reserve Forces had been called out in the year to date under Section 56, which allows continued permanent service. He also reported that 530 reservists are currently deployed in Afghanistan. Can my noble friend Lady Garden say how many of these are currently employed in the NHS, and what positions they hold?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My noble friend picks up an interesting point. We do not currently keep statistics about Reserve Forces membership. It is not asked for and nor is it necessarily supplied, so it is not possible to give an accurate figure. We have an estimated figure of 2,400 clinical staff in the reserves, but this excludes auxiliary staff who may serve in other, non-medical reserve units.