Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Friday 18th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP) [V]]

My Lords, it seems that this House will be spending our Fridays far into the future debating new government diktats after the fact, producing outcomes that, as the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, said, could be seen as farcical, a view that many other noble Lords have reflected. Is centralised decision-making the right approach, even putting aside the democratic concerns? The situation in different parts of England is fast-moving and the economic, geographic and demographic make-up of different regions, cities, rural areas, et cetera, is very varied.

While we in your Lordships’ House spend much of our lives glued to news feeds, most people do not, and the general state of the nation is confusion. Have the Government considered instead creating a clear framework of levels of lockdown—as, for example, was done from the start in New Zealand—providing practical, straightforward guidance about personal risk reduction, as the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, suggested, and then leaving it to the local authorities to decide, day to day, how to implement and communicate them, guided by local health officials given appropriate resources? That would be a radical change from our usual centralised decision-making—taking back local control—but would be a move, I suggest, to a new and more thoughtful strategy, as the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, said. At the same time, given the excellent results from local test and trace, why not give the entire responsibility for that to local teams, provided with the appropriate resources?

My second question concerns the limits on family gatherings—the rule of six—and, in particular, its impact on childcare. Have the Government assessed the impact on NHS workers and other essential workers with younger children or children home from school? Have they made an estimate of the numbers affected? If so, will the Minister inform the House of that, either today or by letter? This is a limited but terribly important impact assessment, although provision of the broader types of impact assessment, referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, would be extremely welcome.