Debating Matters at the House of Lords

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Sixth-form students from four schools battled it out for the title of Debating Matters House of Lords Champions 2023 at a day of debate at the House of Lords on Friday 10 March.

Debate in the Lords

Debate is one of the main ways the House of Lords holds the government to account. Members of the Lords use their knowledge and experience during debates to discuss current issues and draw the government's attention to concerns.  

The students experienced this first-hand when, as part of their day at the House of Lords, they visited the Lords chamber to listen to members debate the education of women and girls for International Women's Day.

Opening up the Lords

As part of the House of Lords engagement programme, this event connects members of the Lords with young people and opens up new ways of explaining the work of Parliament's second chamber.

Debate subjects

Students debated:

‘Social egg freezing empowers women’ (semi-final)
‘Skills gap – too many people are going to university’ (semi-final)
'Tech companies should act to stop online misinformation' (final)

Members

Members of the House of Lords helped to judge the debates:

Baroness Bull (Crossbench)
Baroness Chakrabarti (Labour)
Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat)
Lord Sewell of Sanderstead (Conservative)

Schools

The students in the Debating Matters House of Lords Champions 2023 were from Burgate School and Sixth Form, Havering Sixth Form College, Richmond upon Thames College and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Faversham.

The winners of the final were Burgate School and Sixth Form.