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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 06 May 2025
Artificial Intelligence: Public Services

"My Lords, does the Minister agree that caution is needed if public services, in an attempt to be inclusive but also to save money, convey information in languages other than English that has been produced by machine translation? That works pretty well for standard Romance languages and for German, but …..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

View all Baroness Coussins (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Artificial Intelligence: Public Services
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 24 Apr 2025
Journalists and Media Workers: Safety and Security

"My Lords, I know the Minister is already well aware of the recent escalation in the Iranian authorities’ harassment and intimidation of BBC Persian journalists and their family members in Iran. The aim is to intimidate the journalists into stopping their work for the BBC World Service and to silence …..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

View all Baroness Coussins (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Journalists and Media Workers: Safety and Security
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 24 Apr 2025
Journalists and Media Workers: Safety and Security

"Before the noble Lord sits down, can he comment on the question I asked about his willingness to speak to Home Office colleagues about being quicker off the mark in processing visa applications for the relatives of BBC Persian journalists? They need to come here to visit their family because …..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

View all Baroness Coussins (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Journalists and Media Workers: Safety and Security
Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 20 Mar 2025
Crown Court Criminal Case Backlog

"My Lords, the failure to use professional qualified interpreters in our courts often results in cases being adjourned. This adds to the backlog, not to mention the costs.

I declare an interest as co-chair of the All-Party Group on Modern Languages and as vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. …..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

View all Baroness Coussins (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Crown Court Criminal Case Backlog
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 17 Mar 2025
Media Freedom Coalition

"My Lords, what specific measures are His Majesty’s Government taking in response to the serious escalation in the harassment of and threats towards BBC Persian staff by the Iranian authorities, including the journalists who are based here in London and their families in Iran?..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

View all Baroness Coussins (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Media Freedom Coalition
Written Question
Victims: Codes of Practice
Tuesday 11th March 2025

Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the new promotional leaflets and posters about the Victims' Code in languages other than English.

Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede

The materials that are part of the ‘Victims’ Code: Understand Your Rights’ campaign are available in English, Welsh, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, French, Gujarati, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish and Urdu. These reflect the fifteen most spoken languages in the UK, in addition to English and Welsh. They are available at Victims' Code posters and leaflet translated - GOV.UK.

Speech in Grand Committee - Thu 06 Mar 2025
Ukraine (International Relations and Defence Committee Report)

"My Lords, I also have the privilege of being a member of the International Relations and Defence Committee. I will confine my remarks in this debate to one of the points in chapter 3 of our report, “Nurturing partnerships”. This looks at the concept of defence in a more holistic …..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

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Written Question
Mandarin Language: Education
Tuesday 4th March 2025

Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer  by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 6 January (HL3649), what progress has been made in discussions across the Government regarding funding of the Mandarin Excellence Programme beyond August 2025; and when they expect a decision on the subject to be announced.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department continues to work with all interested parties across government to consider the future approach to supporting Mandarin language learning beyond August 2025, and we will set out more in due course.

Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 03 Mar 2025
War in Sudan

"My Lords, what can the UK Government do to leverage their role as penholder at the Security Council for Sudan to help bring an end to the violence in that country?..."
Baroness Coussins - View Speech

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Written Question
Artificial Intelligence: Languages
Thursday 13th February 2025

Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are holding with foreign language professionals and their representative bodies about the regulation of machine translation in the context of developing AI policy.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We recognise that the vast majority of AI systems - including machine translation - are best regulated at the point of use and in the context in which they are deployed. That’s why in response to the AI Action Plan, the government has committed to supporting regulators in evaluating their AI capabilities and understanding how these can be strengthened.

In regard to foreign language professionals, the GCHQ-chaired cross-Government Languages Group brings together government language professionals, developers and commissioning officers who have a stake in machine translation capability, to capture use cases and develop best practice for its development and deployment.