Overseas Aid
Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Barnett(10 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Northover
The ODA definition, as the noble Lord probably knows, is relatively wide. To seek to change that requires international agreement, and there are risks to that. That said, we fully recognise the contribution that the BBC World Service makes.
Lord Barnett (Lab)
My Lords, now that the Prime Minister has made crystal clear that money for flood victims is not a problem, can the noble Baroness confirm that her department is not considering transferring any money at all from her department’s funds to help in this instance?
Baroness Northover
Maybe I might answer by saying what we have done in Pakistan in terms of floods. The UK committed £134 million overall in aid for the 2010-11 Pakistan floods. The floods left 20 million people in need of serious assistance, including 2,000 dead; destroyed 1.7 million homes; and affected an area four times the size of Britain.
NHS: Joint Replacement Procedures
Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Barnett
Baroness Northover
This is a key area. The noble Baroness is absolutely right. The Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit is carrying out research in this area. I find that extremely reassuring because it is right that there are consequences of not undertaking these procedures in terms of pain for patients which, in turn, reduces their ability to work, to look after their families or to undertake whatever other responsibilities they may have. It is very important that that is factored in.
Lord Barnett
When efficiency savings are proposed, does the department immediately make that money available to spend or does it wait to see whether the efficiency has been achieved?
Baroness Northover
The noble Lord, as ever, asks very challenging questions. The various sections of the NHS have been set various tasks in terms of efficiency savings, but with the responsibility of reducing bureaucracy—which has grown, as noble Lords know, over the past 10 years or so—as opposed to making any reductions in clinical services.