Alcohol Consumption
Debate between Baroness Gardner of Parkes and Baroness Jolly(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Jolly
The noble Lord is right in that all the major supermarkets and chains have worked really hard to reduce the amount of alcohol in the wine, beer and spirits that they sell. However, one thing they are not particularly good at—with the exception, perhaps, of Morrisons and Asda—is having separate spaces within each supermarket where wines with lower levels of alcohol are displayed. On the question of the House wine, I am happy to have a word with the Secretary of State about that.
Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that some time ago we were told that the calorific value of a glass of wine would be published? Why is that not proceeding, because it is quite an incentive for people who are not too worried about the alcoholic effects but are concerned—as we all should be—about obesity?
Baroness Jolly
We should all be concerned about the alcoholic effects as well. Currently, not all wine bottles have calorific labelling, although there is labelling that relates to anxiety about pregnant women, but I will have to come back to Peers on that.
Carers Strategy
Debate between Baroness Gardner of Parkes and Baroness Jolly
Baroness Jolly
That assessment will come as a result of the work being done on the report that was referred to earlier. However, I can tell the noble Baroness that the carer’s allowance will increase faster than wages and in line with inflation this year, from £59.75 to £61.35. A household will be exempt from the benefit cap where someone is receiving carer’s allowance and also there is someone within the household in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit, such as PIP, DLA housing benefit or attendance allowance.
Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)
My Lords, I understood from the Queen’s Speech that at last there was going to be some justice for certain people—not those who do voluntary caring but people who are employed in that capacity. I have explained to the House before that these people and their organisations are used by most councils and that a person is only paid for the 15 minutes or half hour that they work for someone. There is no pay then for what may be an hour’s travel onwards. Those people are earning something like £2 an hour and because they are considered to be on self-employed rates of pay they simply do not get any more money. I understood that that was going to be changed. Can the Minister tell us when it is going to be changed or whether it is all just speculation in terms of this new strategy?
Baroness Jolly
Certainly there are some questionable employment practices within the care industry. I know that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State at BIS has got his eye on employment practices. I feel sure that this issue will be swept up within that.
Health: Care Homes
Debate between Baroness Gardner of Parkes and Baroness Jolly
Baroness Jolly
In the first instance, rather than referring it to the police, NHS England needs to find out exactly the extent of what is going on. The whole business of enhanced services is slightly confused because under the new GP contract there are several enhanced services that would be appropriate within a care home which should not be paid for. Also, “enhanced services” is used as a generic term to imply some sort of value added. Maybe we need to think about how we use language to better differentiate.
Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con)
My Lords, today I had a letter through the House of Lords system on contacting your Member, or whatever it is called, which was referred to me by some other Member of the House. It is about a 91 year-old dentist in a care home who knows that he needs dental care. He has been referred to the community service and told that he must wait 16 weeks for an appointment. Of course, that is very hard. What is the relationship? The National Health Service for services in the care homes should be not only medical but dental.
Baroness Jolly
Dental services are provided by NHS England, and community dental services fall into that area. In the first instance, I would probably contact my local CCG and ask it to talk to the local NHS England on its patch.
NHS: Reorganisation
Debate between Baroness Gardner of Parkes and Baroness Jolly(13 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Gardner of Parkes
Following the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, could I ask my noble friend more about this transfer? Does he recall that, in previous reorganisations of the health service, large numbers of people claimed redundancy payments and then got very favourable jobs afterwards? Does he not think that the six months that he mentioned as the claw-back period is probably not enough at a time when the health service is very stretched? Also, will he consider what the noble Lord, Lord Walton, said about reorganising some of those posts now to avoid that situation?