"I cannot answer the specific question of whether it has already gone out, but we have notified local authorities of what will be coming to them. When we spoke to them about the decisions taken as a result of the reorganisation, we spoke to them about funding as well. I …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"I feel that the noble Lord is pushing me to do what I have just said I cannot do, which is to disclose the legal advice—I am going to stick to that line. The decision was, as he rightly says, taken by another Minister in the department because the Secretary …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"I was coming to the legal advice and I will do so. I hope the noble Lord will be patient for a moment while I get to that part.
Looking beyond the delivery of the current local elections, the Secretary of State said on 23 February that the Government would …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"The postponement was done at the request of the councils concerned, which had concerns about capacity. I think some of them may still have those concerns, but we are supporting them through that process. As my noble friend Lord Davies has said, decisions have been taken in the past to …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"My Lords, I am pleased to respond to this regret Motion for the Government. Before turning to the order itself, I think it is worth setting out the wider context for the local government reorganisation programme. We are on track and making good progress, including elections scheduled this May for …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"My Lords, the Government recognise the very important role that BIDs can play in regenerating their local areas and I thank my noble friend for his work across BIDs in London. In the Pride in Place Strategy published on 25 September, we committed to strengthening the BID model by expanding …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"We have heard that the postal voting system does not always work as effectively as it should for BID ballots and we want to make sure that BID ballots are as efficient and as accessible as possible, which is why we have committed to consulting on those improvements to BID …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"We absolutely understand the interest in online voting but, when it comes to electing representatives, the integrity and security of the process must come first. At present, serious concerns are shared internationally about the risks of online voting, including cyber threats, fraud and the challenge of ensuring a fully secure …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"I agree with the noble Lord that BIDs bring very significant investment in the areas they operate in. There are now more than 340 BIDs in the UK; cumulatively, they invest more than £169 million each year in local areas. We need to ensure that we are doing our very …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech
"I am grateful to my noble friend, particularly as she reminds me of the days when I was doing election monitoring in Moldova and Georgia, which was a fascinating experience. I very much appreciated then the work of the OSCE, and still do. She is quite right that we have …..." Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - View Speech