Equality: Break Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Hussein-Ece
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I completely agree. I would go back a stage earlier and stress the importance of health visitors. It is very disappointing that the number of health visitors has gone down in recent years. They are an incredible link to families. They are trusted and they can share information at a local level. My noble friend is absolutely right. As I stressed at the outset, the relationship with health is pivotal. We know that poor health outcomes often lead to low attainment. This is why we are determined to work in such a joined-up fashion.
Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)
My Lords, more than 170,000 children are currently living in temporary accommodation. Nearly half of them—47%—frequently have to move schools. They are living in conditions that are not conducive to their health and well-being. Having to keep moving, often far away from their support network, is another major factor. What specifically is being done to support this cohort of children and to prioritise their needs?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
This lends itself to one of the key vulnerabilities: families ending up in difficulties and children having to come into care. The Government are investing £39 billion in affordable housing and £13.2 billion in the warm homes plan, working with the existing housing estate. Housing is critical to well-being. The noble Baroness is right that kids having to move around a great deal adds to their vulnerability.
Children in Care: Illegal Accommodation
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Hussein-Ece
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The noble Lord touches on a very important and sensitive issue. Too often, young people are labelled by what happens to them. It is critical that, where we get the opportunity to engage with young people, we bring together their peer group to give support, along with all the other agencies that can offer help and guidance and steer them on their way forward. I absolutely agree that social justice should be at the heart of everything we do in this place.
Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)
My Lords, do this Government know exactly where these children are and where they are placed? Do we have the data available so that these children can be tracked down and protected in the way that they should be, and so that local authorities, where necessary, can step in to offer the support they need?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
That, again, is an important point. The collection of data is critical, and local authorities need to submit that data annually. However, data is only as good as its interpretation and use. I am afraid that, although we have much data, we do not focus on what it is telling us and what we can do to bring improvements. That will be our focus going forward.
NHS England: Staff Costs
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Hussein-Ece
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I can only say that the ongoing forensic work will uncover what has happened over the past few years, but I think we all know that, at the moment, the NHS is not fit for purpose; there needs to be radical change. This Government are absolutely committed to that, and we will make sure that it happens at pace and safely, putting patients front and centre in the delivery of health services in this country.
Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)
To return to the Question from my noble friend Lord Scriven on health inequalities and how they might be impacted by the proposed changes, will the Minister please reassure us that the widening health inequalities that we know exist around the country will not get worse, particularly for the most vulnerable and those with learning disabilities, whom we know face tremendous access problems? There have been numerous studies on how accessing primary healthcare is a real challenge for those with learning disabilities. Can she reassure us that that will not be dropped?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
My experience of the Covid virus taught me about the impact of health inequalities and where people suffered the most. It is absolutely imperative for this Government to look at health inequalities, and everything in the 10-year plan is based on that premise. We know how unequal services are and how unequal life expectancy is. We know that people living just a few miles down the road from others in the same city can have a more than 10-year difference in life expectancy. This is absolutely at the centre of the 10-year plan and why we are doing it and will deliver for patients in this country.
International Women’s Day
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Hussein-Ece
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for all the work that she has done in this area over many years. This Government are committed to strengthening equal pay and ending pay discrimination. We will make the right to equal pay effective by putting in place measures to ensure that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay, and we will implement a regulatory and enforcement unit for equal pay. My noble friend is right about the importance of closing the gender pay gap, which is why, as part of the Employment Rights Bill, we are taking the first steps towards requiring large employers to produce action plans covering steps they are taking on the gender pay gap and menopause support.
Baroness Hussein-Ece (LD)
My Lords, I declare that I am the co-chair of the APPG on Global Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Women and girls are all too often at the front line of conflict and humanitarian crisis, and approximately 800 women die every day of preventable causes relating to pregnancy and childbirth. In Afghanistan, a woman dies every two hours due to sexual violence and attacks and the restricting of access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. With the proposed reduction in these vital services due to the proposed ODA cuts, will the Government emphasise their commitment to prioritising and ring-fencing these programmes for women and girls as a hallmark of commemorating this International Women’s Day.