I beg to move, That this House has considered productivity and economic growth in the East Midlands. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I want to start by telling you, as someone from London, about...

I commend the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate; he is making a name for himself in the House for raising issues that affect his constituency, and I congratulate him on that. There are lessons here for all parts o...

The hon. Member is absolutely right: there are fantastic advanced manufacturing capabilities across the country, including in the east midlands, and the supply chain and the skills chain are key to making them thrive. I...

My Lords, no votes are anticipated so the Bell really should not ring, but if it does, noble Lords know the drill already, so let us kick off. I call the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Malvern—sorry, I see it is the nobl...

My Lords, following on from the questions I was asked yesterday, I thought today, before Oral Questions, was a good time to remind all noble Lords that at Question Time the House wants short, sharp, crisp, clear questio...

I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Armed Forces Commissioner (Family Definition, and Consequential and Transitional Provision etc.) Regulations 2026. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairman...

The Opposition support these regulations. This is a straightforward piece of legislation, but we have some points that we would like the Minister to clarify. When will the new Armed Forces Commissioner will be appointed...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support of the regulations. To answer his questions, the new Armed Forces Commissioner and his office are expected to be operational from April; I hope that also addresses some of the...

Order. I will call Natasha Irons to move the motion and then I will call the Minister to respond. Other Members can make a speech with prior permission from the mover of the motion, which I think on this occasion has al...

I beg to move, That this House has considered Government support for the Croydon Area Remodelling Scheme. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. As the Minister will know, this is the second time tha...

I commend the hon. Lady for securing this debate. I spoke to her beforehand to give her my thoughts. I am here to support her and wish her well in the project. There is a good Minister here to help her and her constitue...

That the Grand Committee do consider the Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. Relevant document: 51st Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (sp...

My Lords, unfortunately, my noble friend Lady Smith is unwell, so I shall speak to the draft Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. To begin with, I should take thi...

My Lords, as we heard from the Minister, the purpose of this statutory instrument is an increase in tuition fee limits, indexed to inflation. The Minister has presented this as a technical adjustment that is necessary t...

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ease the repayment terms of Plan 2 student loans.

My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Balfe, and with the agreement of the House, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order Paper.

My Lords, before I answer the noble Lord’s Question, I thought it appropriate to start by mentioning the devastating news regarding the outbreak of meningitis in Kent at the weekend. Our thoughts are with the families,...

I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Grants to the Churches Conservation Trust Order 2026. It is great, as always, to see you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I am pleased to be speaking to this order, w...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I am very pleased that I can start my speech by saying that I agree with the Minister: the Churches Conservation Trust does indeed play a vital role in the...

It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. At the risk of dangerous levels of cross-party agreement breaking out, I echo what the Minister said about the important role that the Churches Conservation T...

1. What progress his Department has made on creating a national listing framework.

Listing decisions are rightly a matter for the judiciary. We know that listing practices can vary between courts, creating what many victims see as a postcode lottery, so I am pleased that the Lady Chief Justice, with t...

How will the new listing framework help to fast-track prosecutions for rape and serious sexual offences? What other measures is the Secretary of State introducing or supporting to that end, so that we can honour our man...

That the Grand Committee do consider the Further Education (Initial Teacher Training) Regulations 2026. Relevant document: 50th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

My Lords, I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments for their scrutiny of this instrument. These draft regulations were laid in Parliament on 22 January 2026....

My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, has just said, this statutory instrument is probably well overdue. It is something that we have not looked at, because Governments of whatever colour or combination really ju...

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the sustainability of the BBC World Service.

My Lords, the Government highly value the BBC World Service; it is a soft power asset and the world’s most trusted news provider. The significant uplift in our funding to £137 million this financial year, despite the di...

I am grateful to my noble friend for that Answer, and I am delighted that the settlement has been announced. The BBC World Service is one of the greatest instruments of soft power that we have. It is a lifeline to many...