The House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee today (27 July 2021) publish a report on batteries and fuel cells. The report is based on an inquiry into the role of battery and fuel cell technologies in achieving the UK’s ambition to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The inquiry considered the use […]
Category archives: The House of Lords
UK Cash Infrastructure – Critical UK Infrastructure
First, they closed the bank branches, then they closed the cash machines, then they questioned the point of cash itself, then they didn’t financially serve us. Our streets, left high and financially dry. Banks and cashpoints were already closing pre-Covid. The pandemic has accelerated five years of reductions into one. Covid has led to the […]
Digital ID
Today (20 May 2021) in the House of Lords I asked about the Government’s plans for a distributed digital identification protocol. A distributed digital ID offers incredible potential for reimagining the relationship between citizen and state and delivering significant social and economic benefits. “Lord Holmes of Richmond to ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they […]
Build Back Better Together
Today I had the pleasure of speaking in the first of five days of speeches that follow, and respond to, the Queen’s Speech. The speeches are organised into specific policy areas and I was keen to contribute to the debate addressing the economy and business. We must build back better. We must absolutely build back […]
Financial Services Bill Amendment: Cashback Without Purchase
On the final day of report stage (19 April 2021) for the Financial Services Bill in the House of Lords, I put forward an amendment similar to a previous amendment regarding a review for cashback without purchase. The new amendment was reworded but with the same aim – of supporting access to cash by allowing […]
Financial Services Bill Amendments: Digital ID, Open Finance, Digital Infrastructure and Digital Payments.
The Financial Services Bill – still in the House of Lords – has moved from committee stage to report stage – and I am continuing to champion the issues and put forward the amendments that I raised at committee stage. On Monday, 19 April 2021, several of these amendments (regarding open finance, digital infrastructure and […]
Financial Services Bill Amendments: Bank of England & Financial Inclusion
The Financial Services Bill has reached report stage in the House of Lords and today (14 April 2021) I will be putting forward an amendment asking the Government to work with the Bank of England to consider the, potentially pivotal, role the Bank could play in relation to financial inclusion. Amendment 35 in full: Insert […]
Lords Committee Hearing on Financial Exclusion
As a House of Lords hearing revisits the work of the Financial Exclusion Select Committee I consider how my proposed amendments to the Financial Services Bill can deliver the change we still need to see. Financial services should enable and empower, and I want us all to have: “the ability to manage day to day […]
Reforming the Computer Misuse Act: time to CyberUp
Cyber security has never been more important than it is today. As digital technology continues to advance apace and COVID-19 has prevented normal in-person interaction, almost everything in our personal and working lives has become digital. The CyberUp campaign highlights the way current legislation inhibits rather than promotes the important work of cyber security. As […]