"Apologies, I was taken by surprise by the lack of an Opposition Front Bench. I thank noble Lords for another important debate on opting into and out of providing assistance and various functions under the Bill. As I have already made clear, I will keep my comments limited to amendments …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I confirm that it is “may require”: that is the response I wish to give him on that. Again, it is pushing the limits of what I am able to say at this point, in terms of future policy...." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I am certainly happy to take the noble Lord’s comments to my noble friend Lady Merron and see whether it is appropriate for her to respond in the way that the noble Lord suggests.
"I cannot answer that specific question, and I am not sure it would be appropriate for me to do so. We note the comments that the noble Baroness made...." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank noble Lords for an important and thoughtful debate this afternoon. As I have already made clear, I will limit my comments to amendments about which the Government have major legal, technical or operational workability concerns. I will speak first to Amendments 212, 215, 217, 218, 214, …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My Lords, I am very conscious of the richness of this debate, and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, for instigating it and everyone who has participated. I acknowledge that I have 10 minutes to comment on the incredible breadth that has come from the Room. I will touch …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"As my noble friend rightly said, the routes to success in adulthood start early in life. For this reason, we are working with the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, DCMS and the Treasury to deliver our ambitious agenda …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My Lords, our mission is to break the link between background and success, creating a Britain where ambition has no limits and opportunity is fair for all. That is why the recent Every Child Achieving and Thriving White Paper sets our ambition to raise standards for all …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"The aspect of gender inequality which my noble friend referred to has been well documented, and there is a lot of evidence to support what she described. That is why we are so focused on giving support during early years to help new mothers and young mothers cope with motherhood …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"We have a commitment to look at what works and to make sure we put young people at the heart of everything we do. An example of something that happened post Brexit is that UK cities kept their relationships with European cities, even though we are outside of the EU. …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech