Author: parliamentaryunit

Bishop of Derby asks about levels of youth unemployment

The Bishop of Derby received the following written answer on 10th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Derby asked His Majesty’s Government what are the levels of youth unemployment in the most recent period for which data are available.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con):The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

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Bishop of London asks about upcoming workforce strategy for social care

The Bishop of London received the following written answer on 10th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of London asked His Majesty’s Government whether the upcoming workforce strategy for social care will implement recommendations contained in the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care, published by the NHS Confederation on 9 May, including (1) support for pharmacists to implement the Pharmacy First initiative, and (2) additional locum cover for GPs as they transition into ‘modern General Practices’.

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Bishop of Southwark participates in debate marking 75th Anniversary of the Windrush Generation

On 7th July 2023, the Bishop of Southwark took part in a debate marking the 75th anniversary of the Windrush Generation, speaking about the history of the Empire Windrush and the need for appreciation of the contribution of immigrants to the UK:

The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, I am grateful to His Majesty’s Government for the opportunity to debate this important anniversary. On 22 June, together with the Archbishop of the Province of the West Indies, I had the privilege of welcoming to the national service at Southwark Cathedral Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, bishops from the Caribbean and England, other church leaders, members of the community and, prominently, members of the Windrush generation and their descendants. It was a witness to and thanksgiving for 75 years of change in Britain, the contribution that those pioneers made, how we have changed as a nation and the burdens we have made that generation bear.

The previous week, I attended a reception hosted by His Majesty the King at Buckingham Palace, at which the portraits he had commissioned—we have heard about them—of members of the Windrush generation were exhibited. We not only marvelled at the art but met both sitters and artists. As many of your Lordships will know, the King has previously commissioned series of portraits down the years for those engaged variously in the Battle of Britain and the D-day landings, as well as for those who survived the Holocaust. In each case, we witness in paint people who are the product of extraordinary lives and whose essential character is distilled on to canvas for future generations to remember, interpret and cherish.

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Online Safety Bill: Bishop of Oxford speaks to amendments on misinformation and disinformation online

On 6th July 2023, during the first day of the report stage on the Online Safety Bill, the Bishop of Oxford spoke in support of amendments targeting the spread of misinformation and disinformation online, particularly with regard to the risk posed to children:

The Lord Bishop of Oxford: My Lords, I too welcome these amendments and thank the Minister and the Government for tabling them. The Bill will be significantly strengthened by Amendment 172 and related amendments by putting the harms as so clearly described in the Bill. I identify with the comments of others that we also need to look at functionality. I hope we will do that in the coming days.

I also support Amendment 174, to which I added my name. Others have covered proposed new subsection (9B) very well; I add my voice to those encouraging the Minister to give it more careful consideration. I will also speak briefly to proposed new subsection (9A), on misinformation and disinformation content. With respect to those who have spoken against it and argued that those are political terms, I argue that they are fundamentally ethical terms. For me, the principle of ethics and the online world is not the invention of new ethics but finding ways to acknowledge and support online the ethics we acknowledge in the offline world.

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Online Safety Bill: Bishop of Oxford supports amendments on safety and risk assessment

The Bishop of Oxford spoke in support of a group of amendments to the Online Safety Bill designed to encourage a focus on safety by design in technology and online services, and to provide frameworks for assessing risk, on 6th July 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Oxford: My Lords, I broadly support all the amendments in this group but I will focus on the three amendments in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Russell, and others; I am grateful for their clear exposition of why these amendments are important. I draw particular attention to Amendment 281A and its helpful list of functions that are considered to be harmful and to encourage addiction.

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Online Safety Bill: Bishop of Oxford welcomes amendments on artificial intelligence, stresses importance of future-proofing

On 6th July 2023, during a debate on the Online Safety Bill, The Bishop of Oxford spoke in support of a group of amendments to the bill focusing on the development of artificial intelligence, whilst raising concerns about whether the bill was sufficiently future proofed given the rapid movement of technology:

The Lord Bishop of Oxford: My Lords, I warmly welcome this group of amendments. I am very grateful to the Government for a number of amendments that they are bringing forward at this stage. I want to support this group of amendments, which are clearly all about navigating forward and future-proofing the Bill in the context of the very rapid development of artificial intelligence and other technologies. In responding to this group of amendments, will the Minister say whether he is now content that the Bill is sufficiently future-proofed, given the hugely rapid development of technology, and whether he believes that Ofcom now has sufficient powers to risk assess for the future and respond, supposing that there were further parallel developments in generative AI such as we have seen over the past year?

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House of Commons Debate: Bishops in the House of Lords

On 6th July 2023, a debate was held in the House of Commons on the motion That this House has considered the matter of bishops in the House of Lords, organised by the All-Party-Parliamentary Humanist Group. Andrew Selous MP, the second Church Estates Commissioner, spoke in the debate:

Tommy Shepherd MSP (SNP, Edinburgh East): I beg to move,

That this House has considered the matter of bishops in the House of Lords.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Davies. Some people, perhaps including members of my party, might wonder why a member of the SNP has secured a debate on the House of Lords, so I want to make it clear from the outset that my principal role here today is as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary humanist group, which comprises more than 150 Members of both Houses and has representatives from all the main political parties. I moved the motion in that capacity.

Aaron Bell MP (Con, Newcastle-under-Lyme): As secretary of the same group, I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate, which is not only overdue, but timely: as he knows, yesterday in the Lords, there were amendments to the Government’s legislation. I suspect he agrees with the principle of those amendments—he and I differ on that—and he probably agrees with me that the archbishop who tabled them is a very distinguished Member of that House, but does he share my sense of unease about somebody who has not been elected or appointed, and who is merely in the Lords in his capacity as a bishop, potentially changing the law of this country?

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Online Safety Bill: Bishop of Manchester voices support for collaborative production of the bill

On 6th July 2023, the House of Lords debated the Online Safety Bill in the first day of the report stage. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in favour of a government amendment to the bill introducing a new introductory clause setting out the purpose and duties of the act, and voiced his support for the collaborative way in which the bill had been produced:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I too support the Minister’s Amendment 1. I remember vividly, at the end of Second Reading, the commitments that we heard from both Front-Benchers to work together on this Bill to produce something that was collaborative, not contested. I and my friends on these Benches have been very touched by how that has worked out in practice and grateful for the way in which we have collaborated across the whole House. My plea is that we can use this way of working on other Bills in the future. This has been exemplary and I am very grateful that we have reached this point.

Hansard

Bishop of St Albans asks about Russian threats to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine

The Bishop of St Albans tabled a private notice question on 6th July 2023 concerning recent developments at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, and the risks posed if the plant were to be damaged by Russian forces:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government (1) what assessment they have made of recent developments at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and (2) what contingency plans are being made in the event of the power plant being damaged.

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Bishop of Exeter asks about importance of upholding human rights in international relations

On 6th July 2023, the Bishop of Exeter asked a question on the importance of supporting and upholding human rights during an exchange on the status of pro-democracy activists in China and Hong Kong:

The Lord Bishop of Exeter: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his answers, but does he not agree that this case is yet further evidence for the revisionist tendencies of the Chinese Government when it comes to human rights? This tendency will only intensify as China tries to use its economic and political muscle to mute its critics, so does it not underscore the importance of His Majesty’s Government working tirelessly to revive the spirit of universality that originally inspired the human rights project in upholding core rights and freedoms?

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