Lord Bridges of Headley
Conservative - Life peer
Joined House of Lords: 28th May 2015
1 Former APPG Officer Position
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Debates during the 2024 Parliament
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
Sparring Partners
View All Sparring PartnersDepartment Debates
(20 debate contributions)
(7 debate contributions)
(1 debate contributions)
(1 debate contributions)
Legislation Debates
(3,325 words contributed)
(626 words contributed)
Lords initiatives
These initiatives were driven by Lord Bridges of Headley, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
1 Bill introduced by Lord Bridges of Headley
A Bill to make provision about the Bank of England; to make provision about the regulation of financial services; to make provision about the issue of banknotes; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 4th May 2016 and was enacted into law.
Lord Bridges of Headley has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
Latest 10 Written Questions
(View all written questions)1 Other Department Questions
The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK. VoIP technology is more resilient, more secure, enables better quality phone calls, and can be used to block scam calls. Over 92% of PSTN landlines have already been migrated.
Communications providers are under legal obligations to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency services, including 999 and 112, and to take appropriate and proportionate steps to identify risks to network resilience and mitigate service disruption.
In November 2024, the Government secured additional safeguards from the telecoms industry. These include the provision of free battery back-ups for vulnerable and landline dependent customers to ensure access to emergency services beyond one hour in a power outage. Many providers have gone further, providing 4-7 hours.
Communications providers are also subject to robust cyber security and resilience requirements under the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021, including obligations to identify, manage and mitigate cyber risks that could affect network availability and services.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
School closures can be influenced by a range of factors, not just the VAT policy. While VAT may have compounded pressure, school closures cannot be attributed to VAT alone. Factors such as school performance, financial viability and demographic shifts also play a role. In the 2025/26 academic year, more private schools opened than closed. The department monitors the private school sector via the ‘Get Information about Schools’ (GIAS) system, which shows that between 1 September 2025 and 31 July 2026, 108 private schools opened and 51 closed.
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.
Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.
The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.
Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.
The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.
Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.
The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.
Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.
The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department engages regularly with London local highway authorities on matters related to their local highways networks.
Any recent discussions about the future of any of the named bridges has been under the auspices of the structures fund where authorities have been encouraged to submit applications in line with the principles of the fund.
The technical advisory body (to the fund) is, of course, having conversations on behalf of the Department about the future of bridges that local highway authorities have put forward to the structures fund; including those in London.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises that repair or replacement of some highway structures are unaffordable from local highway authorities’ existing budgets and so launched the Structures Fund in April to support the capital costs of repairing or replacing these structures. The deadline for local highway authorities to put forward schemes is 3 August 2026 and the Government intends to announce funding awards this Autumn.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Structures Fund is only available for structures that local highway authorities and third parties cannot afford to maintain at, or restore to, full functionality themselves.
The Government is providing a record £7.3bn for highways maintenance from 26-27 to 29-30. It is also providing £15.6 billion through Transport for City Regions (TCR) settlements to transform the local transport networks of 9 eligible mayoral strategic authorities 26/27-31/32; a £2.3 billion Local Transport Grant for local transport infrastructure to local transport authorities outside London which do not receive TCR settlements from 26/27 to 29/30; and a £2.2 billion settlement for Transport for London. All of this funding can be used for structures on local highway networks.
The deadline for local highway authorities to put forward schemes is 3 August 2026.
Minister of State (Department for Transport)