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Vol. 811 Wednesday No. 219 21 April 2021 PARLIAMENTARYDEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDEROFBUSINESS Election of Lord Speaker.................................................................................................1831 Questions Mobile Telephones: Public Emergency Alert System ...................................................1833 Latin America: Future Foreign Policy..........................................................................1836 Covid-19: Obesity .........................................................................................................1839 Care Homes: Guidance ................................................................................................1843 Afghanistan Commons Urgent Question............................................................................................1846 Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities Statement......................................................................................................................1850 Domestic Abuse Bill Commons Reasons and Amendments .............................................................................1863 Grand Committee Net-Zero Carbon Emissions Motion to Take Note ...............................................................................................GC 311 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. Corrections for the bound volume which Lords wish to suggest to the report of their speeches should be clearly indicated in a copy of the Daily Report, which, with the column numbers concerned shown on the front cover, should be sent to the Editor of Debates, House of Lords, within 14 days of the date of the Daily Report. This issue of the Official Report is also available on the Internet at https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-04-21 In Hybrid sittings, [V] after a Member’s name indicates that they contributed by video call. The following abbreviations are used to show a Member’s party affiliation: Abbreviation Party/Group CB Cross Bench Con Conservative DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party Ind Lab Independent Labour Ind LD Independent Liberal Democrat Ind SD Independent Social Democrat Ind UU Independent Ulster Unionist Lab Labour Lab Co-op Labour and Co-operative Party LD Liberal Democrat LD Ind Liberal Democrat Independent Non-afl Non-affiliated PC Plaid Cymru UKIP UK Independence Party UUP Ulster Unionist Party No party affiliation is given for Members serving the House in a formal capacity, the Lords spiritual, Members on leave of absence or Members who are otherwise disqualified from sitting in the House. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2021, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1831 Arrangement of Business [21 APRIL 2021] Arrangement of Business 1832 House of Lords I also take the opportunity on behalf of the House to thank all members of staff, and the Hansard Society, Wednesday 21 April 2021 who made the election possible and ran the process so smoothly. There will be a proper occasion for tributes The House met in a hybrid proceeding. to be made to the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, after he retires as Lord Speaker, so I will save mine until that Noon time. But on behalf of the House, I would like to thank him for all his service to this House. Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of London. Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab): My Lords, I concur with the comments of the Lord Privy Seal and offer Arrangement of Business our congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord McFall, Announcement on his election as the next Lord Speaker of your Lordships’ House. 12.07 pm Noble Lords including the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler): My Lords, the may recall that, when he was newly elected, we Hybrid Sitting of the House will now begin. Incidentally, congratulated the Lord Speaker on breaking through today marks the first anniversary of virtual proceedings. the glass ceiling as the first male occupant of that post I would like to thank the House and all the staff who —there are very few times that us women can say that. have made proceedings over the last year possible. There will be time later to pay proper tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, but at this stage I want to thank him for his service to this House. We look forward to Election of Lord Speaker the opportunity to pay tribute to his work. Announcement This was an unusual election and I think that, as the noble Baroness, Lady Evans, said, the whole House 12.07 pm will want to thank the officials of the House, the Hansard Society, and Mark D’Arcy and Jackie Ashley The Clerk of the Parliaments announced the result of for hosting the hustings. I also want to thank the other the election for the office of Lord Speaker. The successful candidates; I am sure the noble Lord, Lord McFall, candidate was Lord McFall of Alcluith. will join me in this and has probably been in touch already. It was a difficult election and all the candidates showed the best of your Lordships’ House. As those of Message from the Queen us who have done so in other lives know, standing for election is always difficult; you want to win and need 12.07 pm to be prepared to lose. They all showed this House at The Lord Chamberlain (Lord Parker of Minsmere): its best and showed themselves at their best. They gave My Lords, I have the honour to notify your Lordships us an excellent and difficult choice, but from these that Her Majesty the Queen, having been informed Benches we send our warm congratulations to the that your Lordships have elected the Lord McFall of noble Lord, Lord McFall. I have worked with him for Alcluith to be Lord Speaker, has pleasure in confirming many years already, but look forward to working with your Lordships’ choice. him in his new role. Furthermore, I have the honour to present to your The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler): My Lords, if I Lordships a message from Her Majesty the Queen, may add this briefly, I first met the noble Lord, Lord signed by her own hand. The message is as follows: McFall, in the House of Commons when he came up “I thank you most sincerely for your expression of sympathy to congratulate me on a political book that I had in the great loss which I have sustained by the death of my written. I of course immediately recognised him as a beloved husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. I am greatly moved by man of sound judgment and discernment. But over your kind comments and by your sincere condolences, which bring me comfort at this time”. almost the last five years, I have recognised him as a man of action who brings forward his plans to completion and success. No Lord Speaker could have had a better Election of Lord Speaker or more loyal deputy, and no Lord Speaker has ever had a better preparation for the Woolsack as the noble 12.09 pm Lord, Lord McFall. I congratulate all three candidates on the way that they have conducted their campaigns The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park) but, today, I congratulate him most sincerely and wish (Con): My Lords, on behalf of the whole House I him the very best of luck for the future. congratulate the noble Lord, Lord McFall of Alcluith, on being elected Lord Speaker, and I look forward to working with him in his new role. I also offer our Arrangement of Business thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter of Kentish Announcement Town, and the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, for standing in this election. As with everything else over the last 12.12 pm year, this election was impacted by Covid, but all three The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler): My Lords, Oral candidates rose admirably to the challenge of remote Questions will now commence. Some Members are campaigning. here in the Chamber, others are participating remotely, 1833 Arrangement of Business[LORDS] Mobile Telephones: Alert System 1834 [LORD FOWLER] away, and the pandemic has identified new uses for this but all Members will be treated equally. Please can initiative. Can my noble friend give us a target date for those asking supplementary questions keep them short when it will be rolled out in this country? and confined to two points, and I ask that Ministers’ answers are also brief. Lord True (Con): My Lords, I cannot give a specific target date, for the reasons I have given. I said that we Mobile Telephones: Public Emergency are ensuring the timing is carefully aligned with the Covid-19 strategy to avoid confusion. However, my Alert System noble friend is absolutely correct: technology advances. Question Our anticipation is that somewhere between 60% and 80% of phones may be contactable by this system 12.13 pm when it comes in. As he and the noble Lord opposite Asked by Lord Harris of Haringey said, we also have to be aware that anything which is broadcast is also able to be received by terrorists. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in introducing a public emergency Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab) [V]: My Lords, alert system using mobile telephones. given the imminent obsolescence of the country’sanalogue PSTN system, what assessment have the Government Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab): My Lords, I draw made of the impact their plans will have on the rollout attention to my interests in the register and beg leave of a voice over internet protocol technology and other to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order communication systems, such as the red button alarm Paper. which is relied on by so many elderly people? The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Lord True) Lord True (Con): My Lords, the system that is (Con): My Lords, the Cabinet Office and the Department envisaged would be complementary to, and would not for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are developing a eliminate, other existing means of contacting people cell broadcast alert system to enable people whose in danger and emergencies. lives are at risk in an emergency to be rapidly contacted via their mobile phone.