Lord Watts Portrait

Lord Watts

Labour - Life peer

Became Member: 23rd October 2015


1 APPG membership (as of 24 Jan 2024)
Music
7 Former APPG memberships
Belize, Brazil, British Turks and Kurds, Darts, Global Education for All, Safe Standing, Venezuela
International Agreements Committee
23rd Apr 2020 - 31st Jan 2024
Land Use in England Committee
12th May 2022 - 28th Nov 2022
Gambling Industry Committee
13th Jun 2019 - 16th Jun 2020
EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee
26th May 2016 - 23rd Apr 2020
Administration Committee
26th Jul 2010 - 30th Mar 2015
House of Commons Governance Committee
16th Oct 2014 - 17th Dec 2014
Committees on Arms Export Controls
12th Jul 2010 - 2nd Jul 2012
Foreign Affairs Committee
12th Jul 2010 - 18th Jun 2012
Opposition Whip (Commons)
12th May 2010 - 1st Jun 2010
Lord Commissioner (HM Treasury) (Whip)
10th May 2005 - 6th May 2010
Finance and Services Committee
17th Jul 2005 - 10th Oct 2005
Finance and Services Committee
14th Nov 1997 - 11th May 2001


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Lord Watts has voted in 368 divisions, and 4 times against the majority of their Party.

30 Dec 2020 - European Union (Future Relationship) Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Watts voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 1 Labour No votes vs 142 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 213 Noes - 312
30 Dec 2020 - European Union (Future Relationship) Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Watts voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 7 Labour Aye votes vs 117 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 101 Noes - 466
17 Nov 2020 - Fire Safety Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Watts voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 1 Labour No votes vs 124 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 269 Noes - 250
5 Oct 2020 - Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Watts voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 1 Labour No votes vs 122 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 298 Noes - 192
View All Lord Watts Division Votes

Debates during the 2019 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Lord Callanan (Conservative)
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
(50 debate interactions)
Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Conservative)
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
(40 debate interactions)
Baroness Penn (Conservative)
Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
(37 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department of Health and Social Care
(25 debate contributions)
Home Office
(24 debate contributions)
Department for Transport
(19 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Media Bill 2023-24
(833 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Lord Watts's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Lord Watts, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


Lord Watts has not introduced any legislation before Parliament

Lord Watts has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 12 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
1 Other Department Questions
6th Mar 2024
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy on civil servants giving evidence to House of Lords committees, and under what circumstances a request for such evidence may be declined.

The Government, including the Civil Service, is committed to being as accommodating as possible when requests are made by Select Committees. The Cabinet Office has dedicated guidance for Civil Servants about giving evidence to House of Lords Select Committees. Officials will always carefully consider requests to give evidence. When they do accept such invitations, they require Ministerial agreement and are there to represent the Minister's views.

In the event that a Select Committee requests a named civil servant from a department and the department feels that they are not the most appropriate person to represent the Minister, the department has the right to suggest an alternative to the Committee. There may be rare examples where the Department and Ministers feel an official is unable to attend, but the guidance is clear that if a Department considers it is unable to meet any requests from the Select Committee, they should inform the Committee as soon as practicably possible and set out the reasons why.

As Leader of the House of Lords, I have made it clear to my Ministerial Colleagues, that Ministers in both Houses should make every effort to facilitate Select Committee requests, including evidence session attendance.

Lord True
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
6th Jun 2023
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will address the uneven funding between (1) contemporary music, and (2) opera or classical music, to ensure that grassroots music venues are well supported.

His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector, and are key to developing the future talent pipeline.

That is why we are supporting them to develop the next generation of British talent, by providing an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s successful Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund, as announced in the Creative Industries Sector Vision on 14 June. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young, emerging and more diverse artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.

This is in addition to other government support provided to the live music sector, including over £3 million during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund, and through Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund since 2019.

Contemporary, operatic, and classical music subsectors receive funding through a wide variety of sources, including Arts Council England. Decisions made by the Arts Council about the allocation of funding are taken at arm's length from Government. Decisions are made in line with the Council’s ten-year strategy, which sets the direction for all of the artforms and sub-sectors it supports, including opera, contemporary, and classical music.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
6th Jun 2023
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to improve funding opportunities for grassroots music venues to prevent them from closing down.

His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector, and are key to developing the future talent pipeline.

That is why we will support them to develop the next generation of British talent by providing an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s successful Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund, as announced in the Creative Industries Sector Vision on 14 June. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young, emerging and more diverse artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in regular discussions with all parts of the music industry, including live venues of all sizes across the country. The department works closely with interested parties and across Government to ensure the live music sector continues to thrive.

HM Government has provided significant support to the live music sector. This includes more than £3 million during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund, and through the Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund via Arts Council England since 2019.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
6th Jun 2023
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to ensure financial support is provided for grassroots music, such as a ticket levy on large arenas and stadiums.

His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector, and are key to developing the future talent pipeline.

That is why we will support them to develop the next generation of British talent by providing an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s successful Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund, as announced in the Creative Industries Sector Vision on 14 June. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young, emerging and more diverse artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in regular discussions with all parts of the music industry, including live venues of all sizes across the country. The department works closely with interested parties and across Government to ensure the live music sector continues to thrive.

HM Government has provided significant support to the live music sector. This includes more than £3 million during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund, and through the Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund via Arts Council England since 2019.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
11th Jan 2022
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many GPs retired in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, and (3) 2021.

The following table shows the number of general practitioners who have retired from the NHS Pension Scheme in each year since 2019.

Scheme Year End

Number of retirements

2019

1,144

2020

1,193

2021

1,331

Source: NHS Business Authority

13th Dec 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to answer the Written Questions tabled by Lord Watts on 17 November (HL4171, HL4172 and HL4173).

We responded to the noble Lord’s questions on 16 December and 29 December respectively.

17th Nov 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 16 November (HL Deb, cols. 158–160), whether they expect to meet their target to increase the number of GPs by 6000 by 2024.

While progress against the target to increase the number of doctors in general practice by 6,000 by 2024 has been challenging, we remain committed to increasing the general practitioner (GP) workforce as soon as possible. In September 2021, there were 1,841 more full time equivalent doctors in general practice than September 2019 - a headcount increase of 2,634.

We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Health Education England and the profession to increase recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice. We have increased the number of GP training places with 4,000 doctors accepting a place this year, from 2,671 in 2014.

17th Nov 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 16 November (HL Deb, cols. 158-160), what assessment they have made of the number of NHS doctors who are likely to retire between 2021 and 2024.

An assessment of future expected retirement rates for National Health Service doctors is complex. Retirement is a personal choice and an individual may choose to retire for a range of reasons. While it is not possible to isolate a single factor which motivates retirement, we continue to monitor retirement patterns of doctors in the NHS.

17th Nov 2021
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Kamall on 16 November (HL Deb, cols. 158–160), how many doctors were employed by the NHS in (1) 2019, and (2) 2021.

In August 2019, there were 115,469 full time equivalent (FTE) Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) doctors working in National Health Service trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England and 126,625 in August 2021. There were 34,433 FTE doctors in general practice in England as at 30 September 2019 and 36,275 in September 2021.

10th Mar 2022
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff are working from home; and what proportion of the department this represents.

The FCDO does not collect information on the number of our staff working from home.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
5th Apr 2022
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 24 March (HL6900), how they are able to manage their functions without information on the number of Home Office staff working from home; and why they do not collect such information.

  • The Home Office employs over 35,000 staff working across several large business areas including UK Border Force, HM Passport Office, UK Visas and Immigration and several other areas. Staff are employed across all parts of the UK as well as countries around the world doing a variety of policy and operational roles.
  • The requirements for workplace attendance are managed at a local level in line with the Home Office Hybrid Working Policy. Under this, all staff are expected to attend the workplace within a framework of between 40%-100% of their contracted hours. Similar to other attendance requirements this is not centrally managed and is co-ordinated through the line management chain.
  • Working from home is part of a suite of flexible working options which are non-contractual and flexible to meet the needs of the business and the individual. Collecting data on who can work from home would serve little purpose as our policy applies to all staff subject to the confines of their role.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
10th Mar 2022
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Home Office staff are working from home; and what proportion of the department this represents.

Throughout the pandemic, all Civil Service employers have followed Government guidance in setting out their internal COVID-19 related policies. This includes complying with the Working Safely during Coronavirus: Guidance which sets out the key actions organisations should take to protect employees and customers in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in workplaces, along with carrying out health and safety risk assessments that include the ongoing risk from COVID-19.

On 21 February 2022, the Government published their 'Covid-19 Response: Living with Covid-19' This document sets out how and when the remaining restrictions will be lifted in England. Government guidance was subsequently amended, including the Working Safely guidance.

The Government’s Working Safely guidance continues to require organisations to carry out a risk assessment which includes the risk from COVID-19. It also sets out additional actions organisations can take to protect employees and customers in the workplace, such as ensuring adequate ventilation, frequent cleaning, asking people to wash their hands frequently and asking people with COVID-19 to stay away. The guidance advises that people continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed settings where they come into contact with people they do not normally meet, when rates of transmission are high. Civil Service employers will continue to follow this guidance and align their policies accordingly.

Home Office staff conducts a wide range of roles requiring varying levels of attendance at the workplace. Our hybrid working model means that all staff, whose role permits, have the ability to work from home for a proportion of their working hours.

Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)