"My Lords, it is a pleasure and an honour to follow the noble Baroness, Lady White, and her excellent maiden speech. I congratulate her on her appointment and her debut outing here in the Chamber and say how much all of us look forward to her future contributions. I am …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, I am sure that the vast majority of noble Lords would agree that genuine equality of opportunity in academia and more widely requires a commitment to fair application procedures and continuing concerted efforts to address the obstacles that prevent different groups from accessing opportunities. This includes racial and …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, as always, and I welcome the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth. I welcome the main proposals of this Budget: some as important measures to combat inequality and support households; others as necessary responses to what …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, I add my praise for Richard Hughes and his outstanding public service, mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, the Minister and others. I have two questions for the Minister about the Treasury-OBR relationship going forward, learning the lessons from what has happened.
"To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to remedy skills shortages and workforce gaps in the provision of adult social care...." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"I thank my noble friend for that Answer. I draw the House’s attention to my interests in the register. Social care workers do an extraordinary job, including with my own mother, but there are huge skills shortages in this sector, estimated at over 130,000 at present. Partly as a result …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, there is much to welcome in this spending review. Can I especially welcome the £39 billion of investment in social and affordable housing that the noble Baroness mentioned earlier on? Shelter yesterday called this a game-changer. The National Housing Federation said it was the most ambitious affordable homes …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, one way you can tell that I am a Treasury nerd is that I am really looking forward to the Green Book review being announced next week, and I welcome what my noble friend has said about that today. There are many problems with the way the Treasury …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Fox, mentioned the much-discussed issue of security requirements—the American requirements that there be security of the supply chain for steel and aluminium. In the document, that requirement applies not just to steel and aluminium but to the pharmaceutical sector. Indeed, it envisages that it …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech
"My Lords, it is a pleasure to speak in this debate on such an important topic, and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bridges—my predecessor as chair of the Economic Affairs Committee—and thank him for his kindness in the tricky transition period between our tenures and for his time chairing …..." Lord Wood of Anfield - View Speech