AIDS

Lord Bishop of Manchester Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That was a point very well made and I thank the noble Lord for making it. I am told by my good friends at Terrence Higgins that the rollback of rights and the absence of education is as big a problem to them as many other issues that we face. Our network around the world works hard on this as well. On rights, I have never seen such pride in an ambassador’s face as when they tell me that they have conducted a same-sex wedding in their ambassador’s house in the capital city of a country where this is not permitted more generally. They are very proud of that. Things such as that speak to the UK’s unwavering support for this agenda, which I do not think will ever diminish.

[The Lord Bishop of Manchester]

My Lords, one of the most tragic consequences of AIDS remains children who lose both their parents at a very young age and often end up in an orphanage. We were talking in the House just last week about some of the challenges of orphanages. What is the Government’s plan to support children who have been left orphaned as a result of AIDS?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

It is a tragedy, as the right reverend Prelate said. The former Foreign Secretary David Lammy felt incredibly strongly about this and had an initiative to support the care of orphaned children in family settings. He was working with many Governments around the world to do this. This is something, from the last conversation I had with him about it, he intends to maintain and continue to champion as Deputy Prime Minister.