Schoolchildren: Swimming

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Monday 20th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Well done to the noble Baroness: I am rather more a floater than a swimmer, it would be fair to say. She is right that last June the Prime Minister announced a new national approach to PE and school sport in the PE and School Sport Network, which will bring together the department and schools, along with national governing bodies and local clubs. We are in the process of procuring a national delivery partner for that, and we expect that partner to be in place from autumn 2026.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend the Minister will be aware that in the Navy we are all taught to swim. Does she agree with me that it is rather important that we enhance our swimming ability, because the reduced number of ships we have do not now have the weapons they require to defend themselves, and unfortunately that may mean that people have to swim more than they should?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is always clever at turning a question to his advantage. I will simply say that I absolutely know, as I think he does, the significance that this Government place on increased investment in our defence capacity, which is why we have seen the largest increase in defence spending pledged since the end of the Cold War, and why I know this is being actively considered not only by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence but by the Chancellor.

Pensions: Online Dashboard

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Buscombe]

First, I congratulate my noble friend on being appointed as the chair of pensionsync. I noticed that the question she has just asked was on her blog this week, suggesting that it is perhaps due to errors. I entirely refute that suggestion. The reality is that we already have, as my noble friend well knows, the online Pension Tracing Service to help people more easily locate their pension savings. We have also established the “Check Your State Pension” service, which has provided more than 9 million estimates since its introduction in 2016. We also have the development of a single financial guidance body. This department is doing a huge amount towards a revolution in the way that we support people to save in their retirement. Auto-enrolment, to which nearly 10 million people have actually signed up in the last six years, is an example of where we are working with this quiet revolution.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that war pensions were included in the figure of 2% of GDP that is spent on defence. It is therefore a false figure. Can she assure us that this will be looked at within the ongoing modernising defence programme so that we actually have a realistic amount of money for defence to support the Armed Forces, not least to have some more ships so that when we are all away on holiday on the oceans, we see some grey funnel line around rather than anything else?

[Baroness Buscombe]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. He knows my particular affection for the Navy.

Police: Neighbourhood Policing

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

My noble friend is right. It is worth quoting Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, who said:

“In these times of austerity and considerable financial challenges, it is to the credit of the police service that so many forces have shown themselves able to protect the front line and make the necessary savings.”

As I said, crime is down.

[Lord West of Spithead]

My Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree that crime has actually been falling fairly consistently for about the past 14 years? It is a slight conundrum, because one feels that if we had no policemen there would be no crime. Is it not true that there has been this fall?

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

The noble Lord is right. Crime has been falling for several years, but I believe that it was his party which suggested that crime would increase, because of the cuts that were necessary. We have clearly proven the Opposition wrong on that count.