David Willetts

Latest speeches

1. House of Lords · House of Lords · 17 September 2026

   • Statement: Education and skills reform: curriculum, pathways and devolution

     “My Lords, there clearly is a tide of opinion in favour of devolving funding. The statement in the other place was absolutely clear: for the first time, mayors will have control of the 16 to 19 education budget. This is…”

     Watch from 1:35:45

2. House of Lords · House of Lords · 4 September 2026

   • Fiscal responses: tax, health and social care levies

     “My Lords, a strong theme in this excellent report is the importance of people aged over 8 over 50 remaining in the workforce. The other needs and the challenge in the report is clear. Perhaps I can make to the…”

     Watch from 1:09:29

   • NEETs, vocational routes and qualification reform

     “My Lords, I congratulate the committee on an excellent report. I'm sure it was the right approach to focus on a specific set of problems and it's a very well-judged collection that's put to us for us to debate today.…”

     Watch from 2:17:36

3. House of Lords · House of Lords · 16 July 2026

   • Debate contributions: NEETs, skills, welfare and regionalisation

     “My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Baroness Evans on calling this debate and one can sense in the interventions from all sides of the House the deep disappointment and frustration that we now have once again shockingly a million…”

     Watch from 1:32:03

4. Lords Grand Committee · House of Lords · 15 July 2026

   • Minister: long‑term vision, employers and regulation

     “Will the minister give way? I'm grateful to the minister for giving way. And look, I'm clearly one of the guilty people who didn't turn up to the briefing session, but I'm sure my question can be answered. But just…”

     Watch from 49:27