Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Debate between Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle and Lord Duncan of Springbank

Report stage
Monday 15th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Duncan of Springbank (Con)]

My Lords, I realise that the hour is late and I do not intend to detain your Lordships long. I speak to Amendment 48. It is a cross-party amendment and this morning, when I began to consider this, I typed up some notes, which I have—but I do not have my glasses and I typed in a font far too small. I feel I am now a speaking metaphor for what the amendment represents. We have to be careful that we are looking not just at the fuzziness of the whole issue but at the detail. The noble Lord, Lord Krebs, ably set out why it is important.

This is a non-regression amendment. We are where we are right now, and we are content with that—if anything, we should be going further, but let there be no step backwards. The important statements in this amendment are very clear: let us accept what we are able to achieve, look at the international standards by which we must be judged and consider how to do that correctly.

I am pleased to see the Minister before us. It is not my intention or desire to vote against the Government, but these things occasionally happen. I think he can give us some words of comfort this evening about how we might help us to be able to understand the non-regression element of each of the matters we have touched on so far.

I will speak no further, other than simply to say that the amendment establishes and stabilises what we are about. We are a nation with clear ambition in this area, and we have done good work. Let us not let that be lost; let us not regress.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, having attached my name to Amendment 47 in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, and the noble Baroness, Lady Willis, I shall make just a couple of points on that. I stress Amendment 48, to which the Green group would have attached our names had there been space, and the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, that this is writing into the Bill what the Government tell us again and again, as they have for years, they want to achieve. It is simply delivering the Government’s expressed desire.

I want to make just three points on Amendment 47. There is some important terminology, with which I suspect the noble Baroness, Lady Willis, may have had something to do. That refers to the methodological quality of the evidence. There is increasing awareness in the scientific community of the need to look at the problem of publication bias: the probability that a scientific study is published is not independent of its results. That is just one way in which we have real problems with the methodology of what has been published and the Government have considered in the past, to which the amendment is to some degree addressed.

Proposed new subsection (5) mentions

“a sufficiently wide view of the ecological impacts”.

I will take a case study of this. Scientists are increasingly concerned about the combined cocktail impact of pesticides, plastics and pharmaceuticals together in the environment. I point the Minister to a European report by the CHEM Trust, Chemical Cocktails: The Neglected Threat of Toxic Mixtures and How to Fix It and, independently occurring, a launch this month in the UK of a report from the Wildlife and Countryside Link with the Rivers Trust and UK Youth for Nature, Chemical Cocktails: How Can We Reduce the Toxic Burden on Our Rivers? The scientific view taking that overall wide ecological view is increasingly being recognised as crucial, and massively understudied.

The final point I want to make is that Amendment 47 is reflective of something that I am increasingly finding: groups of scientists—including established scientists whom you might expect that have a very good route into the Government—are coming to me and saying, “Please advise us on how we can get through to the Government to make sure that our scientific advice and discoveries are acted on”. There is real feeling in the scientific community that there has been a breakdown in communication and consideration from the Government in terms of the current science. This amendment seeks to address those issues.

Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) (No. 2) Regulations 2021

Debate between Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle and Lord Duncan of Springbank

Tuesday 14th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, a great deal of concern about procedure has been expressed from all sides of your Lordships’ House. I have nothing to add on that, except to say that I share those concerns.

I have two specific questions for the Minister. The first builds on the comments of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, who talked about how we have to win the argument on vaccination and the concern about unintended consequences and potentially discriminatory outcomes. When I look at the impact assessment, it is focused entirely on the care and health sectors. For example, paragraph 126 refers to

“the possibility of negative behaviour change resulting from the policy. For example, a German experiment found that vaccination requirements increased anger among individuals with existing negative vaccination attitudes and led to a decrease in uptake”.

As far as I can see, there does not appear to be in this impact assessment any consideration of impacts outside the health and care sectors. If we are creating this process, it will have impacts right across society, not just in the health and care sectors. We are talking about systems thinking here: not just what making a decision in the health and care sectors means for the health and care sectors, but what it means across the whole of society. What are the negative impacts of people in general deciding not to get vaccinated because of this?

The second point I draw from a very useful briefing from the Homecare Association. I do not think anyone else has asked this question, and I feel I should ask it for the Homecare Association. It said that it is extremely concerned about the intention to legislate rather than persuade. It is asking about a contingency plan if, indeed, the results are towards the worst end of the impact assessment. What are the Government doing to plan for this situation, when we have already had 1.5 million hours of commissioned care not delivered between August and October because of lack of availability? If this gets much worse, what plans do the Government have to fill the gaps?

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

My Lords, there will be one winder taking part remotely, the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. I hope we can go to her now.

Medicines and Medical Devices Bill

Debate between Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle and Lord Duncan of Springbank

Committee stage & Committee: 6th sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 6th sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 17th November 2020 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

I have been made aware that a Division may happen in the course of the next contribution. I apologise in advance to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, should we have to suspend the Committee. I now call the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett.

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

It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey. I share his concerns about the quality, depth and effectiveness of far too many consultations. As he was speaking, I was looking at an editorial article in the British Medical Journal, which says:

“The medical-political complex tends towards suppression of science to aggrandise and enrich those in power.”


That is a powerful message.

I will speak specifically to Amendments 105 and 132, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, to which I have attached my name and which have been ably introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Wheeler. I do not feel the need to speak at great length—maybe I will manage to beat the bells, but we shall see. However, I want to reflect on the fact that both Amendment 105, in addressing information systems and Amendment 132, in addressing regulations, specify full consultation with the devolved Administrations. As the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, noted in her summing up on the previous group, the Government’s attitude towards devolution is a little uncertain. It would seem that the Prime Minister’s view changes from one hour to the next, according to recent reports, but it is terribly important that we see in the Bill an absolute commitment and requirement to consult the devolved Administrations.

In his comments on the initial group, the Minister noted that data needs to be consistent. Speaking as someone who has occasionally been forced to manipulate databases and work with Excel spreadsheets, although that is certainly not my favourite thing, I think we all know the problem with inconsistent data and the kind of outcomes that it can produce. It is crucial—

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

I am afraid I have to interrupt the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, because we are now about to have that Division.