"My Lords, is the Minister as amazed as I am that, after 14 years of the previous Government, when they introduced no changes and left us with a mess, they are now coming up with policies to reduce costs for students? Why did they not do it for 14 years?..." Lord Watts - View Speech
"My Lords, would it not be a good idea for ACAS to get involved again to see whether progress can be made with this dispute? At the moment it does not seem to be going anywhere, and both the people of Birmingham and the workers are suffering...." Lord Watts - View Speech
"My Lords, does the Minister agree that accountability of the Civil Service is crucial as well? It is important that Ministers can hold civil servants to account. Do we know how that is best managed? It seems to me as though we need to hold them to account, but there …..." Lord Watts - View Speech
"My Lords, is it not about time that we means-tested farmers? We seem to be giving taxpayers’ money to billionaires. Is it not time that we stopped doing that?..." Lord Watts - View Speech
"My Lords, many musicians and artists struggle in the first few years when they are leaning their trade. Has the Minister seen what Ireland has done in introducing benefits systems that take into account the low earnings of these musicians and artists?..." Lord Watts - View Speech
"My Lords, are the Government concerned about what seems to be the growth of cash-only businesses? They are not there for the customers’ benefit but, in some cases, for the business to avoid tax and other things...." Lord Watts - View Speech
"My Lords, is there any evidence whatever that appointment of a commissioner will necessarily improve a service? It seems to me that the NHS has lots of problems and if we start appointing commissioners for every one of those problems, we will have a regiment of commissioners...." Lord Watts - View Speech
"Does the Minister agree that it is not the recent tax increases that have damaged the economy but the cost of Brexit, which cost £100 billion? That is another mess that has been left by the previous Government...." Lord Watts - View Speech