Employment Rights Bill

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 5th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, before my noble friend stands up—I hope he will not have to stand up—it is nearly 7.45 pm and it is Thursday. It is not just the convention but the firm convention of this House that the House should rise at about 7 pm on a Thursday. Therefore, will the Government Chief Whip move to resume the House?

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness very much for that. I was the Opposition Chief Whip for three years in this House and always played fairly and reasonably with the then Government, even though many times I opposed them fiercely. I try to be reasonable and fair in all the things that I do as Government Chief Whip. This House has an important role to play in challenging and scrutinising legislation. The Opposition have the right to oppose, and the Government have the right to get their business through. I know the point that the noble Baroness makes about conventions. However, equally, we have many times stood here in opposite roles at all hours, well beyond 7 pm on a Thursday, well beyond 10 pm during the week. I want us to continue. We will do one more group before I move that the House adjourns. I think that is fair.

I always recall the words of the noble Lord, Lord True, whom I like very much. He would often say to me at the end of the night, “Well, of course, Roy, for me it is True’s law that matters. What goes around comes around”. I always thought that I treated the Government very fairly and reasonably. I remember sitting here until four o’clock one morning on a Home Office Bill with the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe. I did my job reasonably and fairly. We will do one more group before we adjourn the House.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

The Chief Whip is absolutely right that the Government will get their business through; I have never demurred from that fact, as he did not when his party were in opposition. However, this is a 298-page Bill. We have made really good progress today—as the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, said—but it is 7.45 pm and we are sitting tomorrow.

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

It is because the Bill is so important and noble Lords have so much to say on it that I have given the Opposition three more days in Committee after this to make sure we have proper scrutiny. We will do one more group before the House adjourns.

Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 23rd May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Fox (LD)]

May I suggest that we have a 10-minute break to discuss this, please?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, I suggest that consideration on this amendment be adjourned for 10 minutes while we seek clarification.

Economic Growth (Regulatory Functions) (Amendment) Order 2024

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

My Lords, I will take this opportunity to pause the current business on the SI so that the Leader of the House can repeat an Oral Statement taken in the House of Commons earlier today.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, before we begin, it might be helpful for the House to know that the usual channels have extended the Back-Bench speaking time to 30 minutes.

Brexit: Benefits to Economy and Society

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 6th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, has any of that made up for the loss of trade to the European Union? Would it not be helpful—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, we will hear from the Cross Benches, then the Labour Benches.

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, there are certainly no Brexit benefits at all for the arts and creative industries. Is the Minister aware that for the musicians touring, despite the good news about tax relief that we have heard today, there remain problems with visas, cabotage, carnets and much else, which need to be sorted? Until they are, our music industry will be struggling.

Post Office Appointments: Ministerial Responsibility

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hain (Lab)]

I am sorry, but the Minister has not answered the question from the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

Order. It is the turn of the Cross Benches.

[Baroness Butler-Sloss (CB)]

My Lords, as a member of one of the departments is a member of the board of the Post Office, at the relevant time—and the board knew quite early on that Horizon was not working properly—why did that representative not tell the Government, or did he do so?

Horizon: Compensation and Convictions

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 10th January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords—

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Williams of Trafford) (Con)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Liberal Democrat Benches.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, following on from what the Minister said, could he explain the role of the audit committees, at any level, and the National Audit Office? Where were they in this scandal? There are audit committees and they had a role to play. The elementary precaution used by all firms of accountants is that, when a new system is put in place, you run a parallel system for a few months to make sure there are no errors. Why was that not done?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

Can we let in the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, from the non-affiliated Benches, please?

[Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, one of the reasons this has resonated so widely is not just because it was a brilliant drama but because so many ordinary people recognise what it feels like to be fighting the establishment and getting nowhere. We have all spent hours shouting at the phone on those helplines on the computer—that is in relation not just to HMRC but to the NHS and everything you deal with—but people were also treated as though they were criminals, not believed, and gaslit by these experts who know what they are talking about.

Anyway, there is an issue here. The whole establishment, not just the Post Office but the judiciary, seems to have a lot to answer for. I therefore ask, if the judges believed the computer, how we feel about the fact that the police national computer is maintained by Fujitsu. Britain’s criminal records database is run by Fujitsu. It has all the details of convictions, cautions, fingerprints, DNA data and—something I have been banging on about for a while—non-crime hate, when you have not committed a crime but you are on a database run by the police. Fujitsu has it. I do not feel safe in these circumstances, and I identify with the little man against the establishment.

Northern Ireland Investment Summit

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Thursday 23rd November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, there is time for both noble Lords to come in, so we will hear from my noble friend first.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

I declare my interest as a former Minister of Commerce in Northern Ireland. Having travelled around the world raising interest in investment in Northern Ireland, I confirm what my noble friend has just said. There was immense attention to the sheer quality of the training and skills in Northern Ireland, particularly then in the aeronautical sector, in Harland & Wolff, and in a number of other high-tech electronic industries—Japan was especially interested. This was some decades ago, but now that we have a renewed and strong interest in links of every kind with Japan, is that aspect to be emphasised in Northern Ireland?

Employment Gap: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and White, Workforce

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Thursday 29th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Green of Deddington (CB)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, there is plenty of time. We will hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Lawrence, followed by the noble Lord, Lord Green.

[Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Lab)]

My Lords, I will mention the disparity report that came out a couple of years ago. It put immigration, race relations, unemployment and education so much further back, so it is completely wrong to use it as something that is well known. Will the Minister focus on what the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, was talking about, which is the contribution around education and employment that needs to be looked at, making sure that the disparity is forthcoming, and that employers understand that it is all about the earnings, not the report?

Whistleblowing Framework

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Tuesday 16th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Flight (Con)]

[Inaudible.]

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Flight stood up to ask a question, but I do not think the Minister heard it.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

My Lords, which is the bigger issue, the underpayment of pensions or the overpayment of pensions?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

I think my noble friend may want to ask that on the pensions Question.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

I congratulate the Government on having a review of whistleblowing, which clearly is long overdue. I thank my noble friend for his letter and engagement with us on the whistleblowing issue in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, but does he consider that there is adequate protection in the current framework against career detriment and dismissal for whistleblowers? Does he not think that those who are working inside firms are best placed to blow the whistle and uncover crimes before any regulator tries to sweep up the mess afterwards? Therefore, looking at examples overseas, such as in America, that seem to work much better than here might be worth considering.

UK Car Production Since 2016

Baroness Williams of Trafford Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lamont of Lerwick (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the noble Baroness from the Green Party, followed by my noble friend Lord Lamont.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

It is good that the Minister emphasises R&D, but, truly, electric cars are not really sustainable, so the Government will actually have to think about the next generation of much more sustainable vehicles. Will any of that research and development go into improving our public transport networks—not HS2?