Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 25 Jun 2021
Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill [HL]
"My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bird, on reintroducing this Bill on hardwiring into policy-making the future interests of generations. As he said, we cannot have the future continuously put off. Of course, the fundamental question is how to overcome the short-termism in policy development that is inherent …..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
View all Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill [HL]
Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 25 Jun 2021
Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill [HL]
"I was informed by the Whips’ Office that I had seven minutes. I shall finish in one sentence. The Bill proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Bird, offers England the opportunity to build on those experiences. It is heartening that, with very few exceptions, noble Lords in today’s debate all …..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
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Written Question
Wednesday 28th April 2021
Asked by:
Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans the Prime Minister has to make a national address directed at children and young people about their role in Build Back Better: our plan for growth, announced on 3 March.
Answered by Lord True
- Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble peer to the List of Ministerial Responsibilities which sets out the allocation of portfolios across government; the Secretary of State for Education has overall responsibility for children’s services and education.
The programme of Her Majesty’s Government, including our policies to champion the interests of children and young people, will be set out in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech.
Written Question
Wednesday 28th April 2021
Asked by:
Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to give the Minister for Children and Families a position in Cabinet.
Answered by Lord True
- Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble peer to the List of Ministerial Responsibilities which sets out the allocation of portfolios across government; the Secretary of State for Education has overall responsibility for children’s services and education.
The programme of Her Majesty’s Government, including our policies to champion the interests of children and young people, will be set out in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Fri 12 Mar 2021
Budget Statement
"My Lords, I welcome my new noble friend Lord Khan and commend him on an excellent speech, not least his nod to Kamala Harris.
I would like to address my remarks to the measures in the Budget impacting education, but if I did it would not require anything like two …..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 01 Jul 2019
Statistics: Accuracy
"My Lords, “lies, damned lies and statistics” is a phrase generally accepted to have been coined by a former Tory Prime Minister. Modern Tory Ministers seem to have misinterpreted it, because Benjamin Disraeli was not advocating it as party policy. The UK Statistics Authority’s latest rebuke of the Department for …..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
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Written Question
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Asked by:
Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria are employed by departments when deciding whether or not to undertake an impact assessment on (1) primary egislation, (2) secondary legislation, and (3) other new policies.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Making Legislation sets out that an impact assessment is generally required for any primary legislation that is of a regulatory nature that affects the private sector and/or civil society organisation or public services.
Guidance for government departments on undertaking these regulatory impact assessments is published online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-regulation-framework This covers policies that have a regulatory impact on businesses or civil society organisations. The better regulation framework requires departments to produce a regulatory impact assessment if the annual net impacts of a measure are greater than £5 million a year.
Where a policy does not have a regulatory impact over £5 million a year, departments should still consider undertaking an impact assessment in order to support Parliamentary scrutiny. The Chief Analyst in each department is responsible for providing direction on the production of these impact assessments. Where an impact assessment is not produced, Departments must still develop appropriate analysis to inform policy development and decision-making.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 13 Mar 2017
Higher Education and Research Bill
"..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
View all Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Higher Education and Research Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 13 Mar 2017
Higher Education and Research Bill
"My Lords, Amendment 145 is in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Stevenson. Students beginning their university courses after 2012 were told that if they took out a student loan, they would be required to repay it at the rate of 9% of future earnings above £21,000 …..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
View all Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Higher Education and Research Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 13 Mar 2017
Higher Education and Research Bill
"If the situation had been reversed, and earnings had risen by more than had been anticipated, would the Government’s ability to vary the loans have been carried out in a manner which benefited students, rather than as has happened on this occasion?..."Lord Watson of Invergowrie - View Speech
View all Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Higher Education and Research Bill