Category: Bills

Legislation before Parliament

Bishop of St Albans co-sponsors amendment to protect Public Forest Estate

On 5th November 2014, the Bishop of St Albans took part in a debate on an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill, which he co-sponsored with Baroness Royall of Blaisdon. The amendment sought to guarantee the protection of the Public Forest Estate, following the recommendations made by the Independent Panel on Forestry, which was chaired by the former Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd James Jones. Following the debate on the amendment, the Government agreed to bring forward amendments to the Bill at Third Reading.

Bishop of St AlbansThe Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I am glad to speak in support of this amendment proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Royall. I am also glad to pay tribute to her persistence on this matter which I, too, believe is crucial. When the discussions about the future of the forestry estate have come before the public they have made their views absolutely clear that trees, woods and forests are a vital part of the make-up of the English countryside. Although they now cover only 9% of the land area of England, trees have an iconic place in our relationship with the landscape. Whether living in towns, cities, villages or hamlets, many people express affection and deep regard for the well-being of trees in the locality. Protecting the Public Forest Estate will bring many benefits to the public and the environment. I will mention three of them briefly. Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans co-sponsors amendment to protect Public Forest Estate”

Bishop of Truro leads call for stronger regulation on telephone sales of high-cost short-term credit

On 5th November 2014, the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, sponsored an amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill, during its Committee Stage. The amendment sought to place a duty on the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to make regulations to prevent the sale of high-cost short-term credit through unsolicited marketing calls. Following assurances from the Minister, the Bishop withdrew his amendment.

Bishop of Truro 20.6.13The Lord Bishop of Truro: My Lords, Amendment 105C is in my name and those of the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell. I declare an interest: I am chair of the trustees of the Children’s Society, which has co-ordinated this amendment as part of its campaign—of which I am very proud—on the impact of debt on children and families. We produced a report entitled The Debt Trap earlier this year.

In September this year, the Children’s Society launched another report, entitled Playday not Payday, which looked at the effects of the advertising of payday loans on children, and in particular at the telemarketing of payday loans. The report identified a gap in the regulations which allows payday loan companies to use unsolicited marketing calls to offer people payday loans through phone calls and texts. For mortgage products, this type of unsolicited marketing is completely banned by the Mortgage Conduct of Business rules. The Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates payday lenders, said: Continue reading “Bishop of Truro leads call for stronger regulation on telephone sales of high-cost short-term credit”

Bishop of Truro supports child protection amendments to Consumer Rights Bill

On 5th November 2014, the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton, spoke during the Committee Stage of the Consumer Rights Bill, in support of Baroness Howe of Idilcote’s amendment which would require internet service providers and mobile phone operators to provide default adult content filtering. Following the debate, Baroness Howe withdrew her amendment, but suggested that she would re-table it at Report Stage.

Bishop of Truro 20.6.13The Lord Bishop of Truro: My Lords, I support the amendment and am grateful to the noble Baroness for providing a comprehensive and excellent introduction to it. I do not want to repeat the important points that have already been made; I simply want to underline one particularly important point.

These days, we all have a responsibility to take child protection and safeguarding very seriously. Your Lordships may or may not be aware that you cannot be made a bishop in the Church of England unless you have had statutory safeguarding training. The most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury has made that very clear in all that he has said and done, and that seems absolutely right and proper. Continue reading “Bishop of Truro supports child protection amendments to Consumer Rights Bill”

Bishop of Norwich supports ban on pre-watershed payday loan advertising

“These loans are not being taken seriously by young people, serious though they are. We have allowed them to take over our televisions and radios, normalising them to the point where their use is seen as casual. Just this morning I was told the story of a young woman who took out a payday loan to pay for a Domino’s pizza. That could prove to be a very expensive pizza indeed.”- Bishop of Norwich, 3/11/14

On 3rd November 2014, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham James, took part in the Committee Stage of the Government’s Consumer Rights Bill, speaking in favour of an amendment to regulate the advertising of payday loans to children. The Bishop highlighted the pervasiveness of pre-wateshed advertising of payday loans, and the fact that young parents were far more likely to take out a loan than older parents. He also called for greater investment in financial education.

The amendment, which was co-sponsored by the Bishop of Truro, was withdrawn at the end of the debate, with its supporters calling for the Government to take further action before the Bill returned for its Report Stage.

14.06.12 Bishop of NorwichThe Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I rise to support the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and to speak to Amendment 105B, in the name of my colleague the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Truro, on the advertising of payday loans. He cannot be here today but has been working very closely with the Children’s Society on this issue. Amendment 105B seeks to make provisions to restrict the times at which payday loan advertisements are shown, most specifically in relation to the watershed.

It surprised me to discover that, according to Ofcom, no less than 80% of all payday loan advertisements are shown before the watershed. It is therefore no surprise—to pick up on some of the statistics that the noble Lord, Lord Alton, mentioned—that the Children’s Society found in its survey that over half of all children aged 10 to 17 reckon that they see payday loan advertisements either “often” or “all the time”. It is the sheer quantity of these advertisements that normalises payday loans for children and young people. The research shows that one-third of all teenagers think that the payday loan adverts themselves are tempting and exciting—they are very well designed. Those teenagers are much more likely than their counterparts to say that they would consider taking out a payday loan in the future. Continue reading “Bishop of Norwich supports ban on pre-watershed payday loan advertising”

BISHOP OF DURHAM CO-SPONSORS AMENDMENT TO SERIOUS CRIME BILL ON CHILD PROTECTION

14.06.10 Bishop of Durham 4The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, contributed to the debate on amendment 43 to the serious crime bill, moved by Baroness Walmsley, which places legal obligations on people in positions of power to report allegations of abuse, making failure to do so a serious crime. The Bishop argued in favour of this amendment, highlighting cases over the years where failure to report allegations of abuse had often led to cases of widespread and prolific abuse in institutions of a highly serious nature. Baroness Walmsley the lead sponsor of the amendment decided when concluding her remarks at the end of the debate to withdraw amendment 43 following assurances given by the Government Minister, she said “I am delighted that there will be a public consultation’ … ‘I hope that they will make their voices heard.”

Read the full transcript of his speech here:

The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I once again support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. Indeed, since I last spoke in this place on this matter, the need for an obligation to be placed

on certain individuals to report knowledge or reasonable suspicions of abuse involving the most vulnerable has become more pressing. Continue reading “BISHOP OF DURHAM CO-SPONSORS AMENDMENT TO SERIOUS CRIME BILL ON CHILD PROTECTION”

BISHOP OF ROCHESTER CO-SPONSORS AMENDMENTS TO SERIOUS CRIME BILL ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Bishop of RochesterThe Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd James Langstaff, co-sponsored amendments 44 and 44a to the Serious Crime Bill, which concerned Female Genital Mutilation. He also contributed to the debate on amendment 44, stressing that the seriousness of harm done to the individual by acts of FGM was too great for it to be allowed in the UK under the principle of tolerance for alternative cultural and religious practices. Baroness Smith of Basildon the lead sponsor of the amendments concluded the debate on amendments 44 and 44a. Following the Ministerial statement reacting to the debate on the amendments Baroness Smith decided ot to press the amendments to a vote on the basis of further discussion before Third Reading.

Read the full transcript here: Continue reading “BISHOP OF ROCHESTER CO-SPONSORS AMENDMENTS TO SERIOUS CRIME BILL ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION”

BISHOP OF ST ALBANS SPEAKS ON SUNDAY TRADING IN DEREGULATION BILL

Bishop of St AlbansThe Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Smith, spoke on amendment 11 to the Deregulation Bill, which concerned the extension of the liberalisation of Sunday trading laws to garden centres. The Lord Bishop of St Albans spoke out against this amendment, arguing about the importance for human health and wellbeing of protecting the seven day week cycle. He said that if Sunday trading laws were to be liberalised to this effect, it would be a thin-edge-of-the-wedge effect, and so such considerations should be made in a separate bill, rather than this amendment.

Read the full speech here: Continue reading “BISHOP OF ST ALBANS SPEAKS ON SUNDAY TRADING IN DEREGULATION BILL”

Bishops take part in votes on reforms to Judicial Review

On 27th October 2014, four bishops took part in divisions on the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, on the third day of its Report Stage. Details of the votes can be seen below.

House of Lords Division Lobby
House of Lords Division Lobby

Amendment 146 – Judicial review in the High Court and Upper Tribunal

Crossbench peer Lord Pannick moved amendment 146, which sought to soften the Government’s proposal that the High Court must refuse permission for a Judicial Review if it is ‘highly likely’ that the decision whose legality is being challenged would be unchanged even if the Review were successful.

Four bishops voted ‘content’ to this amendment. They were the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Revd Alastair Redfern, the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd James Langstaff, and the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Smith. No bishop voted ‘not content’. There were: Contents: 247 | Not Contents: 181 | Result: Government Defeat

(via Parliament.uk)

Continue reading “Bishops take part in votes on reforms to Judicial Review”

Bishop of Rochester supports amendments on conditions for secure colleges for young offenders

On Wednesday 22nd October 2014, the House of Lords debated amendments to the Government’s Criminal Justice and Courts Bill during the second day of its Report Stage.

The Rt Reverend James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester, contributed to the debate on Lord Ramsbotham’s amendment 108 to the bill, which was later withdrawn. The amendment sought to ensure that no secure college for young offenders could be established until clear rules on their operation had first been agreed. The Bishop spoke in favour of the amendment, highlighting the need to provide the highest standards of education for children in young offender institutions, especially when it had often been such a lacking feature of their pasts.

Bishop of RochesterThe Lord Bishop of Rochester:  My Lords, I hope that I am not a flag-waving antagonist but I support the pleas made by the last few noble Lords who have spoken, asking for some thoughtfulness, reflection and time to be taken over this. I am grateful for the consultation about the rules but we need time to take that consultation seriously and reflect upon it. Continue reading “Bishop of Rochester supports amendments on conditions for secure colleges for young offenders”

Votes on the Deregulation Bill

On 21st October 2014 three bishops took part in three votes on the Government’s Deregulation Bill during the House of Lords committee stage . Details on the Bill can be found here. Continue reading “Votes on the Deregulation Bill”