Bovine Tuberculosis

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I can give the noble Lord that assurance. I hope that he was pleased to see the strategy announced at the beginning of April, which makes it very clear that culling is only a small part of an overall approach to this disease. He has outlined some very important areas, and Defra has pledged significant support to take that research forward. I hope that the noble Lord will also be pleased with the announcement of support for vaccination on the edge between the areas with a high incidence of bovine TB and those that currently have a lower incidence.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con)]

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what proportion of the culled badgers were found to have actually had tuberculosis on post-mortem examination?

[Baroness Northover]

I can trust my noble friend to ask me a question like that. I read the report a month or so back with enormous interest. I took a great number of notes but I cannot remember the answer to that, I am afraid, and I shall have to write to him.

Children and Families Bill

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Monday 9th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My understanding is that they have indeed been consulted, and that consultation will no doubt continue, because it is extremely important that we get this right. The noble Baroness is right to highlight it. I will of course look into this further, and if they have got concerns we invite them to engage with us, because all of us want to get this right.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich]

My Lords, I thank everyone who has taken part in this debate, especially the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and everyone else who has been working on this subject. I am afraid the response is very disappointing indeed, and it does very little to help these poor trafficked children. The guidance does not provide for a child trafficking guardian, and I would therefore like to test the opinion of the House.

Children and Families Bill

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Wednesday 16th October 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Northover]

I heard what noble Lords said about feeling that the guardian would cut through those layers; my noble friend Lord McColl put that case extremely cogently. I should like to reassure noble Lords that we are seeking to tackle this problem as effectively as possible. In some ways, it is perhaps slightly dispiriting to hear that it has not been cracked by the Scottish model. It looks to me as though we need to look further into why this is not working. That is why it is important that we meet up for a discussion, and it is vital that the organisations that the noble Baroness referred to feed in their expertise so that we can best take this forward.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich]

I thank the Minister very much for her very careful speech, and I am reassured that she is going to have a lot of discussions. I hope that we can all get together to talk about this issue in some detail. She mentioned that the social worker should be the key. If it was one social worker who was responsible for one child and stayed with that child, that would be fine, but the problem is that the children have umpteen social workers. They never know who is coming next and they then have to repeat their story over and over again.

I certainly do not accept that this proposal will add another layer of bureaucracy to the organisation. We have already had an 18-month delay over this and I can see that, with the existing bureaucracy, it will be another 18 months before something effective is done. Meanwhile, hundreds of children are going to be in jeopardy. Therefore, I welcome what the Minister says and look forward to meeting her and all those who have been speaking on this issue and who have done so much work in this field. I thank everyone for their contributions today. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Violence Against Women

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Thursday 20th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

This report emphasises that we face a wide cultural challenge, which needs to be tackled at every level by everybody. The quality of teaching in schools is very important. The Department for Education is providing funding for the PSHE Association to work with schools to support them in developing their own curricula and improving the quality of teaching, which is clearly key. In addition, from September 2014, the new computing curriculum ensures that, for the first time, pupils aged five to 11 will be taught about online safety, including issues such as sexting and cyberbullying.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich]

My Lords, as people generally seem very reluctant to believe the extent of the abuse, is it not time for the Government to broadcast the figures in more dramatic terms? For instance, they could say that millions of men are smashing up millions of women and that millions of men are sexually abusing millions of children. These abusers are normally distributed throughout society, which might account for the fact that so few prosecutions occur.

Health: Tropical Diseases

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord McColl of Dulwich

Thursday 26th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I can give the noble Baroness that assurance. She will know that there is a conference on Monday that will be attended by Bill Gates and many organisations, including the WHO. This will doubtless be part of what they will be considering.

[Lord McColl of Dulwich]

Would my noble friend agree that this Government’s policy of increasing aid to developing countries is just and admirable and so is the method of giving aid on condition that it is spent on agreed projects and carried out by reputable NGOs?

[Baroness Northover]

I thank my noble friend for those comments. I would also point out that British universities, which have a long track record in research on tropical diseases, are also able to take advantage of this so that the work done at Imperial College, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine should also be encouraged.