FTSE Companies: Gender Balance

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Wednesday 8th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I totally agree with my noble friend. As you discover when you read the story and hear about her life, she indeed sacrificed her life in the name of science, and what dividends it has paid society ever since.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, although I look forward to the day when there are women on every FTSE board, there are those of us who believe that other boards, executive boards, often have much more power than company boards, where the number of women is at present even lower. I hope the Minister will agree that it is so important that we encourage women to break through the glass ceiling and get on to those executive boards in industry.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. If we look around this House, there are many examples of such women on executive boards. It is not just the non-exec boards, and it is not just who is on the board now; it is about looking at the pipeline of who is coming through, because it is from the pipeline that you will get your executive and non-executive members of the future.

European Union: Migration

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Tuesday 7th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I am glad the noble Baroness is talking about the future and not the past, which probably neither of us, and certainly I, do not remember. The directive is about the movement of workers and their families. The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear about protecting the rights of EU nationals living in this country. We talked a lot in Committee about the fairness of the process and, therefore, protecting the rights of UK nationals in return. The Government do not want to do this on a unilateral basis. We need to think about all the people involved, both UK nationals living in the EU and EU nationals living here.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has actually been very patient with the House during recent Questions in explaining to us the right of residence after five years of work for European citizens, and the right of citizenship after six years. If a European citizen becomes a citizen of the UK, does that mean he or she has the right to remain in this country?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord; we talked about this at length the other day. When we talk about the right of residence and comprehensive sickness insurance, that is an EU law, not a UK law, which we implement after five years, abiding by treaty obligations. The noble Lord is absolutely right: an EU national living in this country has permanent residence, and they do not have to prove that permanent residence. He made another valid point, which is distinguishing that from applying for British citizenship. In that application process, which is based on UK law, that person has to prove residence and not be breaking any immigration rules. After six years, they will then be granted UK citizenship, and the noble Lord is absolutely right: they have the right to remain here.

Brexit: Residence Rights

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Wednesday 1st February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

As I have said a couple of times now, we are ensuring that the online process is a lot more efficient now. People can bring their passport into post offices or other recognised places for verification purposes and get it back quickly, so they are not without a passport while their applications are being processed. I do not know where the person from Bristol got the figure of 128 years to process applications, so I cannot really comment on that.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister advise us how many of the almost 70,000 European Union citizens working in the National Health Service have permanent residence? If they have permanent residence, does that mean that after Brexit, they will be able to remain and work in our health service?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Anybody who has been living here for five years and meets the treaty obligation has permanent residence rights. Will they have them after we leave the European Union? I am not part of the negotiations and I really cannot provide a running commentary on the discussions that are taking place, but it is the Prime Minister’s first stated objective that she wishes to protect the rights of EU nationals living here.

Brexit: EU Nationals’ Right to Remain

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Wednesday 11th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I totally agree with my noble friend—I am proud to be his honourable friend. Of course, this will be part and parcel of what we discuss. The Government totally acknowledge where the skills gaps lie, where temporary labour might be needed, and that will be important.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, while it is quite right that migrant workers in these hospitality and caring industries are important, does the Minister appreciate that tens of thousands of European citizens work in our health service? Indeed, our health service would fall apart—I am not exaggerating—if it were not for these workers. Can we not show them the hand of friendship?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, the Prime Minister has been very reasonable in her position. We are absolutely welcoming to EU residents who come here and have said that we will protect their status as long as that is done in return. When the noble Lord talks about the proportion of NHS workers, he is absolutely right: almost 10% of doctors and 6.3% of nurses in England are from an EU country. We are very mindful of that.

Planning: Trees

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Thursday 14th April 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend: trees are incredibly important. They are important not only for the well-being of the environment and the communities who live in it but also in recent months we have seen how important trees and good tree planting are in guarding against flooding.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of the Lake District National Park Partnership. Does the Minister appreciate that there is a real problem in the national parks when people come and buy houses for the view? Although the local authorities and national parks spend a lot of money planting trees, these individuals then often chop down the trees so that they have a nice view. Will she give extra powers to the national parks to try to rectify this problem?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I am not sure I can undertake to give extra powers to national parks today, but I have a lot of sympathy with what the noble Lord said. It is precisely why TPOs were instigated in the first place. I used to get very angry as leader of a council when a tree mysteriously died in the middle of the night in order for a development to go ahead.

Flooding: Relief Effort

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Monday 25th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, we are considering all forms of support, not at all ruling out using the EU Solidarity Fund, but in considering whether to use that fund, it is important to note how long it would take for the funding to be received and what ultimate cost/benefit it would bring, given that it would not actually bring additional funding.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, it is reported today that, after encouragement from the Government, the local authorities in Somerset are increasing their council tax to pay for flood defences. It is suggested in the north that the same encouragement will be made to Cumbria County Council. Will the Minister give us a categorical assurance today that Cumbria County Council will not be expected to pay for the almost £0.5 billion in flood repairs?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, it is entirely up to local authorities, when considering whether or not to increase their council tax, what their priorities are and what the money would go towards, but we have protected flood funding and are considering whether to ring-fence it. The case of Cumbria was brought up last week in your Lordships’ House. If there are additional infrastructure repairs that Cumbria feels that the Government have not considered, I invite the council to come to me with them and we can either deal with them ourselves or ask the Department for Transport to consider them.

Planning Permission

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Tuesday 15th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, it is very welcome that we have seen an increase in earlier decisions being made, but, given the Government’s commitment to localism, is the Minister content that this is because more and more decisions are being made under delegated council decisions where the planning decisions are made by local government officials? In sensitive issues, that really should be the decision of elected councillors.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I am very glad that the Question is not about Schengen, by the way; I would have struggled.

On planning decisions being made by officials, provisions have always been in place that officials can take certain decisions, particularly where they are uncontentious. However, the localising of planning decision-making through neighbourhood plans and local plans has made for happier communities that are far more likely to go along with planning decisions when they are made.

Flooding: Cumbria

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Clark of Windermere

Wednesday 9th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My noble friend makes a very valid point and that is precisely what the initial response is designed to do: to make people safe, get them to temporary accommodation and clear some of the devastation that was caused initially.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

The Minister has quite rightly praised the emergency services but is she aware that there is another emergency service, which has not been recognised, and that is BBC Radio Cumbria? BBC Radio Cumbria went on for 24 hours a day for two full days and without its assistance the county would not have done as well. Will she join me in paying tribute to it? Secondly, while it is too early to make any analysis, will she tell the House whether there is any truth in the assertion that the £4 million scheme for Kendal was delayed by the coalition Government, and will she give the House an assurance that this Government will not delay it any further?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I will join the noble Lord in that. I am sure that Radio Cumbria, just like all the other members of the community, really pulled together over the last few days to help in quite a devastated area. Like every other person who could play their part, I am sure Radio Cumbria has added to mitigating some of the agony of the people who live there. We are looking at a potential scheme to reduce the risk of flooding in Kendal but it is at an early stage of planning. Within the six-year programme, the proposed Kendal scheme is scheduled for 2020-21. We are considering with other funding partners how we can bring this scheme forward to improve protection for 440 properties, at a predicted cost of £3.95 million.