On 13th December 2021, the House of Lords debated the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill in the report stage. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which Bishops took part.
Votes: Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill
Category: Bills
Legislation before Parliament
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on data protection
On 8th December 2021, the House of Lords debated the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in its first day of the report stage. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of amendments to ensure data protection regulations are maintained when data is shared under the bill:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I rise to support the amendments in my name and those of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, and the noble Lord, Lord Paddick. I draw your Lordships’ attention to my interests in policing ethics and my work with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, as set out in the register. I trust that those interests assure your Lordships that I am a strong supporter of effective policing, not its adversary.
As an occasional statistician, I am also well aware of the power and utility of data. Good data, including on the risks of serious violence, can provide the evidence that allows the limited resources of our police forces to be directed to the particular challenges faced in different contexts and localities. Perhaps it is because I trained not as a lawyer but as a mathematician that I hold firmly to the maxim that, before one can begin to find the right solution, one has to have clearly defined the problem. I am not sure that these clauses, as presently drafted, fully pass that test.
Continue reading “Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on data protection”Votes: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
On 8th December 2021, the House of Lords debated Commons Amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Votes were held on further amendments to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Votes: Armed Forces Bill
On 8th December 2021, the House of Lords debated Commons Reasons regarding amendments to the Armed Forces Bill. Votes were held on further amendments to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Health and Care Bill: Bishop of Carlisle welcomes legislation and highlights multifaceted aspects of care
On 7th December 2021, the House of Lords debated the Health and Care Bill in its second reading. The Bishop of Carlisle made a speech welcoming the bill and outlining the multiple aspects of care in need of attention going forwards:
The Lord Bishop of Carlisle: My Lords, this is a health and care Bill. I will address certain specific aspects of that care that deserve further attention.
First, on integrated care, like the noble Lord, Lord Kakkar, I welcome the clear desire for integration, collaboration and local flexibility, and the placing of integrated care systems on a statutory footing. But can the Minister assure us that, in ICBs and ICPs working together to ensure co-ordination in the design and delivery of integrated care, there will be an adequate focus on prevention rather than just cure, especially in mental health needs, not least among young people with learning disabilities?
Continue reading “Health and Care Bill: Bishop of Carlisle welcomes legislation and highlights multifaceted aspects of care”Votes: Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill
On 29th November 2021, the House of Lords debated the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill in the report stage. A vote was held on an amendment to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Police Bill: Bishop of Leeds speaks on amendment on access to crime and accident scenes for ministers of religion
“I praise the emergency services and the police for their sensitivity in the way they have addressed this, but they are doing so within a culture that often treats religion as a private matter.”
The House of Lords considered the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in Committee on 22nd November 2021. The Bishop of Leeds spoke in the debate on an amendment to the Bill from Baroness Stowell of Beeston about police procedure on religious rituals or prayer at crime scenes:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, this is very sensitive territory. Dying is sacred and is part of our living. I think I am the only minister of religion here, and I have accompanied many people, including my own father, to and through their death. If you have been party to that, you will know that it is holy territory
One could say that violent death is even more holy because of how that dying has been brought about. It seems that there needs to be religious literacy on the part of the emergency services and the police, and that the religious bodies need also to improve their literacy in relation to the nature of these events and how they are dealt with.
Continue reading “Police Bill: Bishop of Leeds speaks on amendment on access to crime and accident scenes for ministers of religion”Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill: Bishop of Leeds supports amendment on qualifications for court interpreters
On 22nd November 2021, the House of Lords debated the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill. The Bishop of Leeds spoke in the debate, supporting an amendment tabled by Baroness Coussins which would establish minimum qualifications for court appointed interpreters:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I endorse every word of what the noble Baroness just said. In a previous incarnation—that is probably the wrong phrase to use; I am mixing my religions—I was a professional linguist in Russian, German and French, working in government service. One of the things you learn as a professional linguist is that language goes deep. This is not simply a matter of picking someone off the street who can order a pint in a Spanish bar; you are dealing with the stuff of people’s lives. Surely accuracy is vital, for the sake of not only clarity of understanding but justice itself.
Continue reading “Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill: Bishop of Leeds supports amendment on qualifications for court interpreters”Bishop of St Albans moves his Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill
The Bishop of St Albans moved his Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill in the House of Lords on 19th November 2021, and gave a speech outlining the purpose of the bill, which focuses on gambling-related suicide:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: That the Bill now be read a second time.
My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-chair of Peers for Gambling Reform. The focus of this Bill is on gambling-related suicide; indeed, I have heard one Member of your Lordships’ House describe it as a “gambling Bill”. It is no secret that gambling reform is a major concern of mine, but I start by stressing that the scope of the Bill extends far beyond gambling-related suicides and can include a wide range of factors that contribute to death by suicide.
I will give some background to set the scene. Under the current legislative framework in England and Wales, once a suspected suicide is reported, the death is classified as “sudden and unexplained” until an official determination is made. The coroner is then required to undertake an inquest alongside a jury to make a determination as to the cause of death and whether the death is to be registered as a suicide—a process that often takes up to six months from the confirmed date of death of the deceased.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans moves his Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill”Bishop of Oxford supports Age Assurance (Minimum Standards) Bill
On 19th November 2021, the House of Lords debated the Age Assurance (Minimum Standards) Bill in its second reading. The Bill, tabled by Baroness Kidron, would require Ofcom to produce a code of conduct setting out minimum standards for any system of age assurance, with the aim of protecting children from exploitation and harmful online content. The Bishop of Oxford spoke in support of the bill:
The Lord Bishop of Oxford: My Lords, it is a real pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Russell, and indeed every other noble Lord who has spoken in this debate. It has been extraordinary and very moving. I join other noble Lords in congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, on securing this Second Reading and on her passionate and brilliant opening speech. With others, I thank and commend her for her tireless commitment to protecting children online. That she does so with such consistent grace and good humour, against the backdrop of glacially slow progress and revelations about both the variety and scale of harms to children, is no small achievement in itself.
Continue reading “Bishop of Oxford supports Age Assurance (Minimum Standards) Bill”
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