King’s Speech Debate: Bishop of Manchester welcomes focus on communities and accountability

The Bishop of Manchester spoke on the topic of criminal justice during the King’s speech debate on 24th July 2024, welcoming the government’s focus on community policing and policies to introduce a duty of candour for public officials:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow my former boss.

As a trustee of the Clink Charity, where we help prisoners build skills for employment in the catering industry, I too welcome the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, and congratulate him on a powerful and hopeful speech. He might wish to know that the Clink restaurant at Styal prison won the Cheshire Life restaurant of the year award earlier this week. If his team can draw my remarks to his attention, I hope he will accept an invitation to dine with me there later this year, so he can see for himself. However, as my right reverend friend the Bishop of Gloucester has spoken eloquently about prisons already, I will focus elsewhere.

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King’s Speech Debate: Bishop of Gloucester calls for new approach to justice and rehabilitation

The Bishop of Gloucester gave a speech on the topic of justice and prison reform during the Kings Speech Debate on 24th July 2024, calling for a new and joined up approach to criminal justice and rehabilitation:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, on his superb maiden speech, and I refer to my interest as stated in the register as Anglican bishop for prisons.

The gracious Speech began with the principles of

“security, fairness and opportunity for all”.

What does that mean for our criminal justice system? Much mention has been made of overcrowded prisons, an overflowing remand population and a void of rehabilitation leading to reoffending. In the past year I have convened cross-party, round-table discussions with key people in this and the other place, plus academics, those with lived experience and prison reformers. We are all agreed that we need a legislative definition of the purpose of imprisonment, and we need to improve the public’s understanding of sentencing. The concepts of punishment and vengeance are strong in the public narrative.

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Bishop of Gloucester responds to government statement on prison capacity

The Bishop of Gloucester asked a question following a government statement on prison capacity on 24th July 2024, welcoming Lord Timpson to his role as Prisons Minister and querying how the government planned to change the public perception of prisons to encourage change:

The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I too welcome the noble Lord, Lord Timpson—someone so brilliantly equipped for the task. I welcome this Statement and all the good sense contained in it as we lift this immediate crisis. I am all for new prison places, as long as they are not in addition to all the crumbling prison places. It was wonderful to hear him offer assurance that increased prison capacity will not become the main aim but rather, if I heard correctly, that we will have the courage to look at a whole-systems approach in a solution-focused way.

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Bishop of Manchester asks about issue of holiday hunger for children

The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on the governments plans to tackle holiday hunger for children on 24th July 2024, raising the example of church projects offering support to children and families in school holidays:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: Something like seven out of every eight local authorities now use this money to alleviate holiday hunger among our children. Can we have any hope that the Government will look at a more strategic way of helping children cope with hunger during the school holidays? Many of the churches in my diocese, and those of my right reverend friends here, are having to put on voluntary projects to support children during those periods. What can we hope for?

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King’s Speech Debate: Archbishop of York raises importance of faith and representation in public life

During the King’s Speech debate on 23rd July, 2024, the Archbishop of York gave a speech on the topic of the constitution, devolution and trust in democracy, raising the importance of faith in public life and the potential for other faith communities to be better represented in the House of Lords:

The Lord Archbishop of York: My Lords, it is an honour to respond to the gracious Speech. I, along with others on these Benches, welcome the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hermer, the Attorney-General, and thank him for a really moving maiden speech—not least his desire that we listen to and respect one another and work consensually.

Like others, I want to focus on one thing, which is rebuilding trust in democracy itself. The turnout on 4 July was shockingly low. Research also shows a 13% gap in turnout between constituencies with the highest and lowest proportions of home ownership. Furthermore, an estimated 400,000 people were turned away at the polling station because they did not have the right ID. These are alarming statistics, and I look forward to the changes outlined in the Government’s manifesto that could start to address them, including reducing the voting age to 16.

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Archbishop of Canterbury asks about measures to ensure financial stability of water companies

On 23rd July 2024, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked a question on over-return to shareholders in water companies and whether the government plans to put in place measures to prevent this, during a discussion on the financial resilience of England’s water industry:

The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: I join in congratulating the noble Baroness on her appointment. Picking up on the previous question, which is very much the point, is it not true that the shareholders of Thames Water and others have made extraordinary returns by financial engineering, well in excess of what one would expect to make from a utility, which should be low risk and low reward? In looking at the future structure, will the Government put in place measures to prevent the over-return to shareholders by means of financial engineering, and limit the upside so that utilities are run basically for their customers and not simply for the short-term gain of those who have them?

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Bishop of Leeds asks about plans to improve the transport network in the North of England

The Bishop of Leeds asked a question on plans to revitalise the transport network in the North of England on 23rd July 2024, particularly regarding rail connectivity:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, one of the mysteries of HS2 was that you could get to places like Leeds 16 minutes quicker, but you could not get anywhere else when you got there because of deficiencies in the northern network. What confidence can we have that any other plans that come forward will be realised and improve the situation in the north?

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King’s Speech Debate: Bishop of Bristol encourages efforts to combat modern slavery

The Bishop of Bristol gave a speech on the topic of modern slavery during the King’s Speech debate on 22nd July 2024, emphasising the need to combat the growth in worker exploitation and applauding the government’s commitment to strengthening workers’ rights:

The Lord Bishop of Bristol: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lords, Lord Howarth and Lord O’Neill, and to welcome and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, and greet him as the granddaughter of a Cornish man and a Scilly woman, as my father rather cheekily determined it.

I preface my remarks by welcoming, in an adjunct to the gracious Speech, the Government’s proposal to renew the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act, and I should declare my interest as I am a Member who benefits from its current provisions. But it is on modern slavery that I wish to focus my remarks this evening as, in the labour exploitation that we have seen increasingly in the areas of agriculture, domestic work and social care, there is growth that we should not seek and indeed need to guard against. As your Lordships know, modern slavery is a crime which affects every community in the UK. It is not a niche issue. It is estimated that 130,000 people are held in modern slavery in our country today, and we are used to hearing about day-to-day transactions where there is exploitation in car washes, manicurists or, increasingly, in accessing social care.

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King’s Speech Debate: Bishop of Newcastle highlights importance of communities in economic growth

The Bishop of Newcastle gave a speech on the topic of the economy and economic growth during the King’s Speech debate on 22nd July 2024, highlighting the importance of local communities in relation to businesses and social enterprises:

The Lord Bishop of Newcastle: My Lords, I welcome the gracious Speech and the importance it places on economic growth. I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Vallance and Lord Petitgas, on their excellent maiden speeches.

The Government’s bold articulation of fiscal reality, and the resistance to colluding with demands for short-term fixes, present a helpful foundation for next steps. One question is: when striving for growth, who will most feel its impact? The UK has some of the highest levels of geographic inequality in Europe. According to a survey conducted in 2022 by YouGov and the Resolution Foundation, 41% of those surveyed in the north-east felt that their region has generally declined in recent years—the highest out of any region in the UK. This feeling is not unfounded when real wages in half of the north-east’s local authorities are still below 2008 levels. The impact can be felt in take-home pay and on our high streets, and it is borne out in the investment decisions of businesses.

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King’s Speech Debate: Bishop of Leeds raises issues effecting the economy in the North of England

During the King’s Speech debate on 22nd July 2024, the Bishop of Leeds gave a speech on the topic of the economy, expressing admiration for the government’s ambition and commitment to a long term view, and raising issues affecting the economy in the North of England:

The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I am not an economist, but I care deeply about the economy. I shall limit myself to a couple of observations, and I am sure that I can save a few minutes in the length of the debate.

First, I welcome the Minister and thank him for his illuminating and articulate speech. I admire the new Government’s ambitions, but I worry a bit that there is too much. Holding all this together in a coherent development framework will be challenging beyond words, but I wish the Government well in doing it.

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