"My Lords, I believe we are in a much better place now than we were during Second Reading and I thank the Minister for the part he has played in that. I also thank the usual channels, who I am sure were not silent when critical issues came up.
"My Lords, I want to focus briefly on one word in the amendment proposed by my noble friend Lady Massey—the word “paramount”. It will make a huge difference as to how choices are made when it comes to implementing this Bill. There will be hard choices of a financial nature …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, I promise to be very brief and offer one comment and one suggestion. The comment is that there is a huge range of possible needs under SEN and we need to unpick them at some point. This is not the time to do that, but it leads to …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, the Bill before the House could well expand educational expenditure in this area to over £6 billion annually. What steps are the Government taking to be sure that this money is well spent, and that it benefits those most in need in terms of increasing their educational opportunities?..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, many of us are very pleased to see the Minister back in his place. Following a time of new Governments and reshuffles, we are reassured, and the evidence of that showed last evening when we had a very good discussion, which the Minister chaired, on how we might …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, it will not have escaped noble Lords’ notice that today is the day of the Budget. Noble Lords who have a speech will doubtless be pleased to know that there will be no jokes about two kitchens and that the financial statistics that I quote will be unambiguous, …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank the Minister for her detailed and, in places, reassuring reply and look forward to further comment in due course. I also thank all noble Lords who took part in the debate, not least those who are not members of the committee. We appreciate their interest and …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, I understand the good sense of legislation taking account of the modern digital world in which we live. However, in the present context, relying on that for safety and security has two major problems. One has already been mentioned, that many older people—who are among the most vulnerable—are …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech
"My Lords, since the changes in the funding of universities have taken place, one of the problems which has come to the surface is the funding of postgraduate students. That is because undergraduates graduate and leave with a fairly large debt, which makes them unready, unwilling and perhaps unable to …..." Lord Sutherland of Houndwood - View Speech