My Lords, I hope the Minister can answer this simple question: is she not embarrassed that the only way we have been able to discuss this important matter is through a Private Notice Question?

Should these issues not be brought in front of Parliament to be discussed? It is a...

My Lords, I hope the Minister can answer this simple question: is she not embarrassed that the only way we have been able to discuss this important matter is through a Private Notice Question?

Should these issues not be brought in front of Parliament to be discussed? It is a...

My Lords, will the Minister please accept that it is very important to ensure that the whistleblowing arrangements work effectively? Otherwise, people will use this opportunity to attack the Government’s excellent policy on moving as rapidly as we can to renewable energy, which is much cheaper and crucial for our...

My Lords, will the Minister please accept that it is very important to ensure that the whistleblowing arrangements work effectively? Otherwise, people will use this opportunity to attack the Government’s excellent policy on moving as rapidly as we can to renewable energy, which is much cheaper and crucial for our...

My Lords, my family owns the local pub, and therefore I can speak from trying to employ people. We have very high employment standards in our business, and we have had to reduce staff because of what the Government have done on employment taxes of all kinds. That is true of the whole hospitality industry. It is all right for people to groan, but those who are actually running pubs know that we are closing one after another because the Government have not helped us; they have made life much more difficult.

My Lords, my family owns the local pub, and therefore I can speak from trying to employ people. We have very high employment standards in our business, and we have had to reduce staff because of what the Government have done on employment taxes of all kinds. That is true of the whole hospitality industry. It is all right for people to groan, but those who are actually running pubs know that we are closing one after another because the Government have not helped us; they have made life much more difficult.

Would not the Minister agree that this is an interesting example of how, when we thought we would take back control, actually we have given over control in areas where we could have been part of the solution?

Would not the Minister agree that this is an interesting example of how, when we thought we would take back control, actually we have given over control in areas where we could have been part of the solution?

My Lords, I remind the House of my declared interests and the fact that I was for 11 years chairman of the Climate Change Committee, appointed, reappointed and extended by Conservative-led Governments.

What is being proposed today was presented by the Conservative Government. My noble friend who spoke here supported that...

My Lords, I remind the House of my declared interests and the fact that I was for 11 years chairman of the Climate Change Committee, appointed, reappointed and extended by Conservative-led Governments.

What is being proposed today was presented by the Conservative Government. My noble friend who spoke here supported that...

My Lords, I declare an interest as having been chairman of the Climate Change Committee for 11 years. I also chair a company advising on sustainability, business continuity and risk, and I am a partner in a small organic arable and livestock farm—so it may be said that one knows...

My Lords, I declare an interest as having been chairman of the Climate Change Committee for 11 years. I also chair a company advising on sustainability, business continuity and risk, and I am a partner in a small organic arable and livestock farm—so it may be said that one knows...

Can I bring the noble Baroness back to the last part of my noble friend’s question? It looks as though the VAT department in HMRC is behaving most peculiarly. First, it lost the case about VAT on entry to the Great Yorkshire Show, yet it is fighting every single show...

Can I bring the noble Baroness back to the last part of my noble friend’s question? It looks as though the VAT department in HMRC is behaving most peculiarly. First, it lost the case about VAT on entry to the Great Yorkshire Show, yet it is fighting every single show...

I support the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, in particular on the ESG framework. The reason is, frankly, that we need better figures about what is happening. I say to the Minister that this is not because I disagree with the Bill—in many ways it...

I support the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, in particular on the ESG framework. The reason is, frankly, that we need better figures about what is happening. I say to the Minister that this is not because I disagree with the Bill—in many ways it...

Does the Minister accept that there are some areas where the law has already told the HMRC that it ought not to be demanding VAT—for example, agricultural shows—and that it refuses to accept the law and keeps on standing in the way of spreading what it has had to do for the Great Yorkshire Show to other shows? It is also true that the HMRC has lost its case about plug-in electric cars and is

supposed to reduce the VAT to the same level as you pay at home. At the moment, it is penalising people who do not have a drive, and therefore people who do have a drive get their VAT very much lower. Why does he not intervene and make the HMRC accept the law?

Does the Minister accept that there are some areas where the law has already told the HMRC that it ought not to be demanding VAT—for example, agricultural shows—and that it refuses to accept the law and keeps on standing in the way of spreading what it has had to do for the Great Yorkshire Show to other shows? It is also true that the HMRC has lost its case about plug-in electric cars and is

supposed to reduce the VAT to the same level as you pay at home. At the moment, it is penalising people who do not have a drive, and therefore people who do have a drive get their VAT very much lower. Why does he not intervene and make the HMRC accept the law?

My Lords, does the Minister accept that it has to be faced that in the east of England we spend a lot of money pumping fresh water out to sea during the winter and then do not have enough of it for agriculture, industry and homes? Nobody at this moment...

My Lords, does the Minister accept that it has to be faced that in the east of England we spend a lot of money pumping fresh water out to sea during the winter and then do not have enough of it for agriculture, industry and homes? Nobody at this moment...

My Lords, working as the chairman of a small water company means that one does know a bit about it. I just want to ask the Minister: when are we going to stop pouring fresh water into the sea during the winter in the east of England and then being...

My Lords, working as the chairman of a small water company means that one does know a bit about it. I just want to ask the Minister: when are we going to stop pouring fresh water into the sea during the winter in the east of England and then being...

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords, as a fellow Catholic, I make a confession. I have learned an enormous amount from listening to almost every moment of the Bill. The argument that most distresses me is that which suggests that this has been subject to a filibuster. I have learned a great deal, and...

My Lords, as a fellow Catholic, I make a confession. I have learned an enormous amount from listening to almost every moment of the Bill. The argument that most distresses me is that which suggests that this has been subject to a filibuster. I have learned a great deal, and...

My concern is merely to say that, whatever your views are, I do not know of a previous occasion when such concerted concerns have been, frankly, not faced up to.

The second thing that I find very difficult is for it to be said that this is a robust and safe...

My concern is merely to say that, whatever your views are, I do not know of a previous occasion when such concerted concerns have been, frankly, not faced up to.

The second thing that I find very difficult is for it to be said that this is a robust and safe...

I am genuinely trying to help the noble and learned Lord for this reason: I am concerned about the person who wishes to avail themselves of this Bill. I do not understand how you do that effectively unless you can look at a list and get the person you want....

I am genuinely trying to help the noble and learned Lord for this reason: I am concerned about the person who wishes to avail themselves of this Bill. I do not understand how you do that effectively unless you can look at a list and get the person you want....

There is one last thing I would like clarification on. When the noble and learned Lord spoke about hospices, he said in a slightly confusing way that that did not necessarily refer to care homes. I am concerned about care homes that are run by organisations for which this is...

There is one last thing I would like clarification on. When the noble and learned Lord spoke about hospices, he said in a slightly confusing way that that did not necessarily refer to care homes. I am concerned about care homes that are run by organisations for which this is...

Does the noble Baroness not find it peculiar that people who are very keen on employment rights in every other circumstance are not keen on employment rights in these circumstances and put their views on assisted suicide ahead of the right of very ordinary workers to say, “I don’t want...

Does the noble Baroness not find it peculiar that people who are very keen on employment rights in every other circumstance are not keen on employment rights in these circumstances and put their views on assisted suicide ahead of the right of very ordinary workers to say, “I don’t want...

I knew I would do that. I am sorry. I will not refer to the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy.

I knew I would do that. I am sorry. I will not refer to the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy.

I am pleased that I gave time for the noble Baroness to talk, given that she thinks all of this is nitpicking. I remind the House that is what she said about the work we are doing. The fact is—

I am pleased that I gave time for the noble Baroness to talk, given that she thinks all of this is nitpicking. I remind the House that is what she said about the work we are doing. The fact is—