Lord Holmes of Richmond Portrait

Lord Holmes of Richmond

Conservative - Life peer

Became Member: 13th September 2013


Science and Technology Committee (Lords)
13th May 2021 - 31st Jan 2024
Electronic Trade Documents Bill [HL] Special Public Bill Committee
12th Dec 2022 - 20th Feb 2023
Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee
13th Jun 2019 - 16th Jun 2022
Intergenerational Fairness and Provision Committee
17th May 2018 - 26th Mar 2019
Artificial Intelligence Committee
29th Jun 2017 - 13th Mar 2018
Financial Exclusion Committee
25th May 2016 - 25th Mar 2017
Social Mobility Committee
11th Jun 2015 - 16th Mar 2016
Information Committee (Lords)
8th Jun 2015 - 23rd Jun 2015
Digital Skills
12th Jun 2014 - 4th Feb 2015


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Lord Holmes of Richmond has voted in 533 divisions, and 4 times against the majority of their Party.

24 Mar 2021 - Financial Services Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Holmes of Richmond voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 2 Conservative Aye votes vs 219 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 296 Noes - 255
11 Feb 2021 - Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Claimants previously entitled to a severe disability premium) Amendment Regulations 2021 - View Vote Context
Lord Holmes of Richmond voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 2 Conservative Aye votes vs 215 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 303 Noes - 248
6 Jan 2021 - Trade Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Holmes of Richmond voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 1 Conservative Aye votes vs 220 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 340 Noes - 248
17 Jan 2022 - Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Holmes of Richmond voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 3 Conservative Aye votes vs 98 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 144 Noes - 101
View All Lord Holmes of Richmond Division Votes

Debates during the 2019 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
Baroness Penn (Conservative)
Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
(27 debate interactions)
Baroness Barran (Conservative)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
(23 debate interactions)
Lord True (Conservative)
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
(14 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Cabinet Office
(43 debate contributions)
HM Treasury
(37 debate contributions)
Leader of the House
(32 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Financial Services Bill 2019-21
(11,269 words contributed)
Financial Services and Markets Act 2023
(8,150 words contributed)
Business and Planning Act 2020
(4,203 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Lord Holmes of Richmond's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Lord Holmes of Richmond, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


3 Bills introduced by Lord Holmes of Richmond


A Bill to make provision for the regulation of Artificial Intelligence; and for connected purposes.

Lords - 40%

Last Event - 2nd Reading
Friday 22nd March 2024
(Read Debate)

A Bill to make provision for the prohibition of unpaid work experience exceeding four weeks; and for connected purposes

Lords - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading
Monday 13th January 2020
(Read Debate)

First reading took place on 7 June. This stage is a formality that signals the start of the Bill's journey through the Lords.Second reading - the general debate on all aspects of the Bill - is yet to be scheduled.The 2016-2017 session of Parliament has prorogued and this Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to make provision for the prohibition of unpaid work experience exceeding four weeks and for connected purposes.

Lords - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading : House Of Lords
Tuesday 7th June 2016

Lord Holmes of Richmond has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 7 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
16th Oct 2023
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have used or tested tools, such as Pol.is or CitizenOS, as a way of gathering public opinion on different issues.

There is no centrally held record of government use of tools such as Pol.is or CitizenOS used as ways of gathering and understanding public opinion. The use of such is devolved to individual departments.

The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), within Cabinet Office, is responsible for supporting departments to build and operate modern, state of the art, highly responsive, cost-effective technology that meets the needs of our end users and delivers the cross-government digital strategy.

CDDO is working with departments to establish the frameworks and policies to guide the responsible adoption of new technologies.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
12th Apr 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure financial technology solutions are considered as part of the Debt Resolution Services supplier roster being created by the Crown Commercial Service.

The Debt Resolution Services Framework will include specific lots for data and affordability solutions. These will be supplied by organisations that provide a range of technology and digital solutions including but not exclusive to; conversational artificial intelligence, open-banking, credit reference agency data, and automated standard financial statements.

Public Sector organisations can utilise these solutions and services to better understand customer financial circumstances and ensure affordable outcomes while providing increased access and choice in the way that customers interact with the services.

It is anticipated that the contract notice for the Debt Resolution Services Framework will be published in June 2021.

Lord True
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
16th Oct 2023
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage public participation in questions around the use of AI and its impact on society, what role citizens assemblies might play in those plans, and how the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation will be involved.

In 2021 the Government published its National AI Strategy – a 10-year vision to make the UK an AI superpower by investing in our ecosystem, driving adoption of AI across sectors, and ensuring we get the governance of AI right. The strategy recognised that public trust and support in government’s approach to and use of AI was crucial to maximise its opportunities and value, whilst minimising its risks.

To develop the Strategy, the Government ran an open survey through the Alan Turing Institute. The survey received over 400 responses, in addition to having engaged over 250 organisations and businesses across different sectors.

The Government also ran a consultation to inform the AI regulation white paper, published this year. We heard from over 400 individuals and organisations, with a wide range of views represented including regulators, industry, academia, and civil society. The Government has also engaged regulators, businesses, start-ups, research groups, trade unions, charities and advocacy groups through roundtables and workshops.

In advance of Government’s AI Summit to be held this month, DSIT has engaged broadly with stakeholders to ensure voices and views of diverse groups and individuals have helped to shape the Summit’s focus. This included four official pre-Summit events with the Royal Society, the British Academy, techUK and The Alan Turing Institute as well as public Q&As on X and twitter.

We will continue to engage with the public to inform our approach to drive responsible innovation in AI including through the work of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI). The CDEI’s Public Attitudes team conducts an ongoing programme of quantitative and qualitative research to engage the public on AI. This has recently included focus groups and deliberative dialogues with diverse groups to understand public attitudes towards the use of AI in society. CDEI also conducts a large-scale annual survey which monitors public attitudes to data-driven technology and AI, the latest wave of which will be published in November this year. CDEI disseminates the findings from its research widely, and the insight is used across government, academia and the private sector to help ensure trustworthy approaches to AI.

Viscount Camrose
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
22nd Jun 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the request by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 15 June for organisations and individuals to submit their own responses to the questions asked by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the economic recovery roundtables, how many responses they received to that request; how many of those responses focused on the use of private sector investment in research and development; and what plans they have to publish (1) the responses, and (2) their assessment of those responses, to that request. [T]

To date, the Department has received over 450 documents from 285 stakeholders across the UK. We are working through these inputs, which will inform the Government’s thinking. Several responses refer to the importance of private sector investment as a key lever for economic recovery and the critical role of Government in facilitating private R&D investment. We shall make further information available in due course.

Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
18th Jun 2020
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to put the guidance contained within A guide to using artificial intelligence in the public sector, published on 27 January, on a statutory footing. [T]

Since the publication of the AI Guide, we have committed to updating and improving the guidance in order to support the public sector's adoption of AI and data technologies. This includes considering how best to ensure the safe and ethical use of AI and data technologies, including statutory or non-statutory mechanisms.

Baroness Barran
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
5th Jan 2022
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 30 November (HL Deb, col 1265), what new solutions to support citizens who use its services the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is exploring; whether the DWP is running any proof of concepts on digital payments; what “alternative technologies” they are considering; and what plans they have to reconsider distributed ledger technology solutions.

DWP is committed to harnessing the potential of new technologies in making a positive difference to our customers’ lives.

The department is currently undertaking a modernisation programme of work which does also include reimagining the future of payments, exploring using disruptive and alternative technologies to challenge traditional thinking and processes.

DWP has previously undertaken proof of concept using disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology to challenge and change how we manage and distribute money, drive more resilience and security. In this proof of concept, DWP examined how blockchain technologies could be used to issue welfare payments to our banking partners on a near real-time basis, helping reduce 3rd party dependencies. During this initial internal proof of concept, no claimants were involved and the work was used to inform the decision to develop a future method of payment strategy that outlines DWP’s commitment to improving the methods available to make payments to customers.

We continue to explore payment innovations, including distributed ledger and blockchain technologies and their potential to securely deliver services that our customers rely on.

15th Jan 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce the Law Commission's draft Bill on Digital Assets this parliamentary session.

The Law Commission’s final report on Digital Assets did not include a draft Bill. However, the report recommended statutory confirmation of the existing common law position that certain digital assets and other intangible assets are capable of attracting personal property rights. The Government is carefully considering the Law Commission’s recommendations and will respond in due course.

Lord Bellamy
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)