House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour peer Lord Dubs asks whether the additional funding for Northern Ireland announced in the Budget will go towards integrated schools in Northern Ireland, and asks if this is the case, for civil servants to be able to have the powers to use this as soon as possible.

Lord Dubs calls for Northern Ireland families to be considered as foster homes for refugees.

He says the Northern Ireland parties "should be spoken to in a consultation about some of the things we're discussing today", as this "would move things along more rapidly".

"Further consultation and communication is key."

House of Lords
Parliament

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Conservative peer Lord Mackay says "abortion and same sex marriage are devolved issues which are for the devolved nation to decide on."

Lord Mackay says the decision of the courts does not affect the decision for abortion to be illegal in Northern Ireland.

"The people of Northern Ireland have divided minds on the issue," he says.

He says he has posed an amendment to the wording of clause 4 to ensure there is no hostility in Northern Ireland on the matter.

Many public services will feel squeezed for some time to come, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warns.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Ulster Unionist Party peer Lord Empey says the bill is "a smokescreen for failure" and is "only before us because the government has had pressure put on it by the courts".

Lord Empey says "if he was put in the spotlight, the minister could not defend what is going on here".

"Peoples lives are being directly affected as a result of no executive being in place."

Lord Empey says Labour's amendment that human rights issues be taken into consideration on the issues of abortion and same sex marriage "needs to be clarified so that people are not wrongfully scared that there is going to be a change in the law".

Select Committee
Parliament

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The SNP's Stuart C McDonald asks how much can be done before March 2019 in the event of no deal.

Richard Martin of the Police Chiefs Council says police forces across the country are "fully prepared," but, he adds, none of the contingency plans for crime are as effective as what is currently available to police forces.

Ms Owens adds that the UK currently has systems which can check anyone in automatically, but the "best" the intelligence services can come up with in the event of no deal is a "manual" system which would take longer.

Systems currently automatically synchronise, Mr Martin explains, if British police lodge a missing person, then that information is automatically shared with police across the EU.

House of Lords
Parliament

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The DUP's Lord Morrow says "my party is strongly in favour of devolution".

"I have some concern when members want to cherry pick things that London should be deciding now, and we will strongly oppose any attempt to do this," he says.

Lord Morrow says if direct rule has to resume, "let it be done in full, not piecemeal".

"It must be said here that Sinn Fein brought down this assembly, and that if it was brought back together, they would probably do the same again," he says.

Lord Morrow says "abortion is a devolved matter" and the legislation is up to date as of 2016 when a cross party vote was held.

"This is an issue for the people of Northern Ireland, and Westminster must not intervene."

The chancellor says public spending - apart from on the NHS - will not go up in real terms.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Liberal Democrat peer Lord Bruce says the bill has "three clear and limiting purposes" and says "the Liberal Democrats do not disagree with the premises of the bill, but are sad this bill has to be introduced at all."

Lord Bruce says: "Devolved government and a well functioning Assembly remains the best option for Northern Ireland", but "we must be careful that the Belfast Agreement is not breached."

"It is shameful on both this government and the parties in Northern Ireland that there has been no progress since last March," he says.

Lord Bruce says "we must exhaust every possible initiative to ensure an accountable government is back in place", and calls for an independent facilitator to encourage more progressive talks in Northern Ireland.

"The important of an independent facilitator is crucial and in the government's interest," he says.

He says 76% of people in Northern Ireland support same sex marriage, and asks what the government is doing to spur it on.

Select Committee
Parliament

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After requesting some more written information from the panel on employers' checks and EU citizens' rights, the first panel of witnesses leave.

Conservative Tim Loughton is the first to ask the new panel questions on whether or not the UK can still access Europol data after the UK leaves.

Lynne Owens, of the National Crime Agency, says it is the NCA's hope that investigations can continue, but it would be reliant on agreement from other member states. There is currently no clarity on this, she adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Peers are now beginning to debate the Northern Ireland Bill in its second reading.

The bill gives Northern Ireland civil servants more legal clarity to make decisions in the absence of ministers, and passed through the Commons last week.

An amendment proposed by Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Conor McGinn which will require the secretary of state to provide guidance on the law regarding abortion and same-sex marriage, also passed.

Minister for Northern Ireland, Lord Duncan, says: "The government remains emphatic in its support of the Belfast Agreement, and at the heart of that is a commitment to a devolved power sharing government.

"Much to our regret, and against our best efforts, there remains no devolved government at Northern Ireland," he says. "The people of Northern Ireland need and deserve a devolved government."

Lord Duncan says: "I would rather not be here delivering this bill, but this is a key staging post towards restoring a power sharing executive."

He says he expects the debate "to revolve around the sensitive issues of abortion and same sex marriage", but notes that "the amendment that passed to this bill last week does not change the law in either of these areas."

"Achieving a working devolved executive is our main priority," he says.

Select Committee
Parliament

Yvette Cooper asks what legislation the Home Office needs in advance of a no-deal scenario.

Ms Nokes says that the government would have to put in provision to turn off free movement as soon as possible.

Ms Cooper says that this legislation would have to look at provisions on immigration which earlier witnesses said they couldn't answer.

Ms Nokes says this would be dealt with by relevant ministers.

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Peers debate the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill at third reading.

The bill makes provision about the oversight and management of the appropriate use of force in relation to people in mental health units and similar institutions, and suggests the use of body cameras by police officers.

Minister for Health and Social Care, Lord O'Shaughnessy introduces the bill, and it passes its third reading.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Labour peer Lord Griffiths asks whether the government will introduce legislation to reduce the maximum bet for fixed-odds betting machines to £2; and if so, when.

Minister for Culture, Media and Sport Viscount Younger says - as announced earlier this year - the government will produce legislation to reduce the maximum stake for fixed odds terminals from £100 to £2.

"The new stake limits will come into effect when the remote gaming duty will be increased to 21% in 2019."

Lord Griffiths says: "This is a victory for the bookies who have been able to slow the progress of this legislation to suit their needs."

The Bishop of St Albans says he is "appalled" at the announcement that the legislation is going to take even longer to roll out.

"This is going to have huge social costs as well as financial costs and it's time to do this now for the interest of everyone in our country."

Viscount Younger says "it takes time to replace the machines" but the government "are proactively looking forward to the deadline being worked towards".

UK governments are not good at putting the amount into capital investments that they say they are going to.

House of Lords
Parliament

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Lib Dem peer Lord Addington asks about the importance of the identification of spectrum conditions, such as dyslexia, ADHD and dyspraxia, on educational and other life outcomes.

Education Minister Lord Agnew says in 2016-2017, after completing key stage four, 90% of pupils with statements identifying their special needs went on to further education or employment, compared to 88% of those with special needs which were not specifically identified.

Lord Addington says "Accurate diagnosis which is life-changing must be maintained."

Labour peer Lord Winston says he is "astonished" the government cannot provide the figures for the number of children in education who have spectrum conditions.

Conservative peer Lord Sterling says his grandson is on the spectrum, and that "alongside early identification, there must be more child psychologists".

Education minister Lord Agnew says "lots of autism awareness training has been carried out, with 190,000 people now trained specifically in this area."

House of Commons
Parliament

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Labour MP Naz Shah says the Children's Society has expressed concern that government plans for children's mental health "are moving too slow", and that the Budget yesterday did little to resolve this, with nothing on mental health services in schools.

"This Budget does nothing at all" for young people with mental health issues, she says, as it "neglects their needs".

She welcomes the £2bn investment in mental health services announced yesterday, but it "just doesn't cut it" as almost £4.1bn is needed to meet existing provisions.

"My concerns remain as valid as they were before...the government is using the mastery of sticking plasters to hold together a wound that they've inflicted, and it isn't healing."

House of Lords
Parliament

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Liberal Democrat peer Lord Beith asks when new trains will be in service on the East Coast Main line between Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Transport Minister Baroness Sugg says: "New trains will be delivered by North Eastern Railway which will provide more frequent services and faster journey times."

She says that "the trains will be brought into service as soon as possible".

Lord Beith asks for a specific date on the new trains arrival.

Baroness Sugg says: "The trains were supposed to be ready for December this year, however NER have delayed this until early next year."

"There remain challenges relating to electromagnetic capability," she says, "this is disappointing, but when the full roll out is completed in 2020 there will be huge benefits for all."

Labour per Lord Rosser asks if this is "another example of the fragmented railway system".

Lib Dem peer Lord Steel asks how the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling can keep his job and "what happened to ministerial responsibility?"

Baroness Sugg says the government is "working hard to ensure train services are improved".

Select Committee
Parliament

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Conservative Sir Christopher Chope asks when the White Paper is coming.

Ms Nokes says the home secretary said autumn.

Sir Christopher says the previous home secretary said the immigration white paper would be presented before the end of 2017.

Ms Nokes says "it is still the autumn". She adds that the government is waiting on further expert advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative MP George Freeman says he left the government previously as he wanted to make the case "that we needed to make this a moment of much bolder national renewal" and move away from austerity.

With that in mind, he says he strongly welcomes the Budget. "He [the Chancellor] has squared an almost impossible circle in a clever Budget that has done something very important for some of the most vulnerable in our society."

He says the UK needs to drive the modernisation of public services and increase the rate of growth and revenue generation.

He calls for the UK to become an "innovation nation" and use innovative ways of driving investment into infrastructure projects.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Yvette Cooper raises concerns that under a no deal scenario, the UK loses access to important security mechanisms to check passengers. She says the current system processes 1.4m checks a day.

Mr Lincoln says he hasn't got those statistics.

Ms Cooper asks if "this is a pretty important thing to know".

Border Force routinely looks at a huge amount of records, Mr Lincoln replies.

Parliament needs to know what the loss is of intelligence at the borders if there is no deal, she says.

Mr Lincoln says Border Force has contingency plans to work with Interpol, which will provide "similar sources" of information for guards.

Ms Cooper says she doesn't understand what "similar information means".

Mr Lincoln says there will be different information in some cases, but there will be additional data in some cases.