Operation Midland

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I have explained it many times and I know that I have not convinced this House why. It would be a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of government. It would be up to them if they wanted to carry out an inquiry. As I have said, Operation Conifer has been scrutinised over several layers, and it seemed a very robust and thorough inquiry.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, what is the point of having powers if the Government refuse to use them?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

As I have just explained, the Government would not usually instigate an inquiry in this sort of situation. It would be up to the police to do so, should that be appropriate.

Schools: Free Sanitary Products

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I totally agree. Puberty brings with it all sorts of embarrassments and sensitivities. This scheme is an excellent way to avoid any of that. It does not matter where you come from or what your parents’ income is: you will have access to the products you need so that your education will not be held back.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it not a disgrace that many families now cannot afford to buy these products?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

It is awful if a family cannot afford to buy these products. In relation to the previous question, asked by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, there are all sorts of issues around puberty and access to products. This scheme cuts across all those issues. Nobody has to be embarrassed because their parents cannot afford to pay—or, indeed, be too embarrassed to ask their parents to buy the products in the first place.

Children: Covert Human Intelligence Sources

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Yes, it does.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is the increase due to the amount of criminals who are now using young people, especially in the drugs-related elements of crime? What are the Government doing to address that problem?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, a number of complex matters are driven by knife crime, by gangs, by county lines and by drugs, and the noble Lord is right to raise the issue. I have gone through the various things we are doing on knife crime—including the Offensive Weapons Bill—and the various aspects of what we are doing to tackle drugs, most notably a public health approach to the issue.

Official Development Assistance

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 16th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I am grateful for the opportunity to do that. My noble friend Lord Ahmad and I had the opportunity to brief interested Peers on the situation there. How we operate there demonstrates what is great about this country. Not only are we at the forefront in delivering aid in cash terms—at £129 million, one of the largest commitments of any country—but we are also leading the charge with our diplomatic and security efforts at the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Commission. It is that spectrum of reach which makes our aid so effective.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it not the case that we need to do far more on population control? We are giving aid to many places where women have no access to birth control. We need to do far more if we are going to deal with this major world problem.

[Lord Bates]

That is very true. Because of population growth, Africa needs an extra 18 million jobs a year just to stand still. We have been at the forefront of the work of the UN Population Fund to ensure that women have access to safe methods of family planning and contraception. This work is much respected and will continue to play a major part in our aid programme.

Visas: Certificates of Sponsorship

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I hope the noble Lord could concede that it is not hostile; it is quite the opposite. There has been a change in how the tier 5 route is implemented when individuals enter the UK, particularly from Ireland. Because there are no routine immigration controls on these routes, the correct form of entry clearance cannot be given and the certificates of sponsorship therefore cannot be activated. It has nothing to do with exit from the EU. Work is well under way to identify a workaround for the tier 5 concession route when entering the UK from Ireland to avoid the requirement to obtain a visa before arrival. I hope that gives the noble Lord some comfort.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, the music industry is very concerned about the ability of many artists and bands to move around Europe—if we leave the EU—fairly freely, with little bureaucracy. What will the Government do to make sure those artists are still allowed to ply their trade as they are at present?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, the UK, more than perhaps many countries, absolutely welcomes the creative industries. We want artists to come here and to be able to perform. It is the reason why, as I tell the noble Lord, we are looking at how to work around this issue. It is a result not of border control but of no immigration controls on these routes, and we are therefore trying to work around it. It is nothing to do with Brexit.

Brexit: Europol

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I do not think anyone would disagree with the noble Lord. Our ongoing security partnership should protect those shared law-enforcement and criminal justice operational capabilities. He and I have debated on the Data Protection Act, on the specific law-enforcement provisions, and, of course, on national security. It is incredibly important that we continue to co-operate, to the benefit of both the EU and the UK.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, the German constitution bans the extradition of people outside the EU. How will the Government get over the problem that, after we have no deal, there will be no extraditions between ourselves and Germany?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Lord is absolutely right that there are specific provisions in Germany’s constitution, which we will have to take a practical and pragmatic approach towards as we move forward.

Online Hate Speech

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

There is a clear distinction. Expressing one’s own opinion can offend people; there is a right to offend. However, there is no right to propagate speech that goes to a particular characteristic, whether that be race, religion, disability or sexuality, and promotes hatred against that person.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Government consider introducing an education programme for this House so that we can address some of the bigotry that we regularly hear here?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I am rather depressed to say to the noble Lord that it is not just here that we hear what I would call religious illiteracy, sometimes going into the area of downright misleading comments; it is within our legislature, the media and online. Through all strands of society, we need to tackle this.

Refugees: Teaching of English

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 6th February 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I certainly agree with the noble Baroness that refugees generally should be able to learn English. What I am talking about today is a £10 million fund for resettled refugees, but tuition is available to refugees under arrangements for adult learners as well.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Hogan-Howe (CB)]

My Lords—

VAT: Evasion

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 20th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

Before we wait for the future one, we might reflect on what the last one did or did not do in this area. The truth is that these are fast-moving instruments; people are arbitraging the system and looking at how to exploit advantages from a trading point of view. HMRC has been vigilant and has come forward with ideas—and when it does, we implement them. That is why we put them forward in the Finance Bill and are bringing forward the measures we are talking about. That is also why the 75 measures on tax evasion and avoidance that we have introduced since 2010 have raised £160 billion for public services.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister explain why the BBC seems to know more about tax evasion than the Treasury? What is the Treasury doing?

[Lord Bates]

I think that the particular case the noble Lord refers to is about how some employees of the BBC are remunerated using taxation. There is a standard briefing in my pack here, which says that I cannot refer to specific individuals and their taxation status. However, suffice it to say that, thanks to the BBC, we are all now aware of them— including HMRC.

Public Sector Pay Cap

Lord Watts Excerpts

Wednesday 5th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

That is why we have said that productivity is a key target. But just last year we had the fastest-growing economy in the G7. We have seen incredible growth, otherwise we would not have employment at record levels in this country, with an additional 3 million people in work. Part of the reason is because we have kept a tight grip on the public finances and have seen the deficit reduced by two-thirds. These are important contributions towards maintaining confidence in the economy going forward. However, I accept that we need to work much harder on the area of productivity.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

What would the Minister say to the public sector workers who are told that there is not enough money to pay them a decent wage, while at the same time the Government can find £1 billion to give to the DUP?

[Lord Bates]

We would say to those people that we have independent pay review bodies which look at these matters. On Northern Ireland, there are historical challenges. Personally, I think that securing stability for the Government going forward is an important part of maintaining that path to growth, enabling us to pay down on the debts and ensure that salaries for both the public and private sectors increase in the future.