Minimally Invasive Cancer Therapies
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Walmsley
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The noble Baroness raises such an important point. Of course, the Government are committed to significant investment in research, but we cannot overestimate the work that so many individuals, companies and charities do in this space. I know that her personal experience is of giving them the support that they need.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
My Lords, all new therapies require specialists to deliver them but, according to the Royal College of Radiologists, there is a shortage of both diagnostic and interventional radiology consultants. I accept that the specialist training takes six years, but the benefits of increasing that workforce are crucial to the Government’s objective of shortening waiting lists, as the Minister just suggested. What progress is being made to increase the number of those specialists? If there are logjams anywhere, what is being done to remove them?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The noble Baroness makes an incredibly important point. It is not just in this area that we have shortages in specialisms. The Government are committed to creating a much better environment for resident doctors moving through the process into specialisms and to giving them support. There is a whole raft of work, which I cannot go into now, on how we can make sure that those programmes are smoother, speeded up and more equitably spread around the country—to pick up on the important point regarding this type of specialism.
Advertising Restrictions on Less Healthy Food
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Walmsley
Baroness Walmsley
To ask His Majesty’s Government how many advertisements for less healthy food will be shown on television as a result of their recent delay in implementing planned advertising restrictions; and whether they will publish an impact statement about the effect on children’s health of their plan to exempt brand advertising.
Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (Lab)
My Lords, on 22 May, the Government announced that we will bring in restrictions on junk food advertising in January 2026. We have secured a unique agreement from advertisers and broadcasters to comply voluntarily from 1 October 2025. A new impact assessment is not needed, as brand advertising was always exempted from the policy. We are committed to implementing the restrictions, which we expect to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from UK children’s diets per year.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
I thank the Minister, but she clearly does not have the answer to my Question. Does she accept that voluntary measures have been shown not to work? What is more, they provide no evidence to inform future policy development, because they are not monitored. Can she reassure the House that the Government will support independent research into the effect of brand advertising for companies that make unhealthy food on children’s health and their consumption of unhealthy food, compared to the specific advertising of unhealthy products themselves?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
First, I commend the work done by the noble Baroness, the committee and everyone in this House who is passionate about this agenda. We are not weakening our stance on this. It is absolutely imperative that everyone understands that we are determined to tackle this issue. We felt strongly that there was a need for legal clarity on the existing policy, so that we could bring in the restrictions in January, which we are committed to doing. I repeat that brand advertising was always out of scope for the policy. That was confirmed during parliamentary scrutiny of the Health and Care Act 2022. This is an important area. We have laid out our determination to move forward on it and we intend to do so.
NHS 10-Year Plan
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Walmsley(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
Robotic surgery is one of the areas generating enormous excitement, and I was very interested to hear of my noble friend’s experiences. I assure her that conversations are taking place, and I know that they will be part of the plan when we come to talk about delivery.
Baby Foods: Nutrition and Marketing
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Walmsley
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I share my noble friend’s views and concerns, and I recognise that the current situation is not good enough. Current regulations set nutritional standards, and we continue to push industry to go further to reduce the sugar content in baby foods. We welcome the recent updates to advice for parents and carers on the Start for Life website—picking up on the particular point that commercial baby foods can be used as part of a baby’s diet but should not be used as the primary source of nutrition for infants—and completely recognise my noble friend’s acknowledgement of how important the first 1,001 days of a baby’s life are for the rest of their lives.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
My Lords, voluntary action and expectation really have not worked and will not in future. Is the Minister aware of a report published in January evaluating the compliance of UK commercial baby foods with WHO nutritional guidelines? Only 45% adhered to the nutritional standards, less than 60% complied with maximum sugar content requirements and none met the requirements for appropriate nutrient health and marketing claims. The paper concluded that regulatory measures are essential. What do the Government plan to do about it?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I hear the frustration in the noble Baroness’s comments every time she raises this issue, and I would love to have a conversation with her about it. While recognising the frustration, I emphasise that we are challenging industry to improve the nutritional content and labelling of baby foods, including, where it can, taking voluntary action to align products with dietary guidelines and best practice. It is not all doom and gloom, and there is evidence in certain areas of improvement as a result of this. There is a great deal more to do, and going forward we will continue to review the situation and work with the best interests of our children, young people and their families in mind.