Gaza: Reconstruction

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Wednesday 29th October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Turnberg (Lab)]

My Lords, it is clear that we need to get much building material into Gaza to help rebuild all those destroyed homes, but is the noble Baroness aware of the statement made by the Hamas spokesman last week? He said that the avowed intention of Hamas is to start rebuilding the tunnels into Israel immediately. Is there any way of preventing this?

[Baroness Northover]

We urge restraint, as we always do, on both sides. Peace is in the interest of both sides—of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Israel and Palestine: Humanitarian Aid

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Thursday 24th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is absolutely right about the commitment that the UK Government have made. We are the third biggest donor to UNWRA’s general fund, which supports the majority of the Gazan population. Given the rapidly declining situation, we have made more than £5 million available in emergency support. This includes £2 million in new funding to help UNWRA provide immediate emergency assistance for more than 100,000 people. We are also bringing forward £3 million in funding to help the ICRC respond to the worsening situation. We are also working very closely with others to encourage them to engage and support as well in this dire situation.

[Lord Turnberg (Lab)]

My Lords, the tragedy that is occurring in this terrible carnage in Gaza can be stopped immediately if Hamas stops firing its missiles that it is storing in UN schools and hospitals. However, my question is: what conversations have the Government had with the Government of Qatar about the funding that they have been giving to Hamas to build tunnels into Israel and to buy missiles from Iran, instead of using that money for infrastructure and aid?

[Baroness Northover]

We urge all in the region to be restrained. There is massive civilian casualty resulting from the conflict there, as the noble Lord will be well aware. We would impress on everybody in this situation to draw back. We need an immediate ceasefire. It was appalling to hear this morning our noble colleague, Valerie Amos, saying that a child an hour is being killed.

West Bank and Gaza

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Tuesday 29th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, the Government have not only maintained aid but increased it. I am sure that the noble Baroness will be pleased to know that. On aid to the Occupied Territories, the EU has sustained its level of aid, as has the United Kingdom. We make it extremely clear that demolitions do not help take things forward. It is extremely important for the future of Israel and of the Palestinians that they seek a negotiated settlement. Anything that stands in the way of that, including demolitions, is a mark against it and does not help the process.

[Lord Turnberg]

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware of the many UK charities that support Palestinians? I will give three examples. Olive Tree supports young Palestinian and Israeli students to come to City University for three years. The Building Bridges programme brings doctors from Palestine and Israel to the UK to train at the Royal Free Hospital. On a personal note, the Daniel Turnberg fellowship that my wife and I run provides research fellowships for Palestinians to come to the UK. There are many more; is the noble Baroness aware of them?

[Baroness Northover]

I am indeed aware of them—not least the one set up in memory of the noble Lord’s son. I commend him and others who put their efforts into these organisations. They are extremely important and we encourage them to develop further.

Gaza

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Wednesday 8th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, the important thing is to seek a political resolution. It is only following that that some of these problems will properly be addressed. My noble friend is right to highlight some of the problems that are occurring at the moment. We have to emphasise yet again that it is in Israel’s future interest to make sure that these problems are properly addressed and that it will never be secure while this situation continues.

[Lord Turnberg]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that medical supplies for Gaza are shipped by Israel to the Ministry of Health in the West Bank, which then has to deliver them to Gaza? There is considerable mistrust and poor communication between the two ministries of health, and that is one of the main causes of the delay in the transfer of medical supplies. Is she aware of that?

[Baroness Northover]

I am aware of that. The noble Lord is right that the division between Gaza and the West Bank, both geographically and politically, is indeed playing a part here. We urge all sides to co-operate together to ensure that medicines get across and do get into Gaza.

Health and Social Care Bill

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Warner, is right about the international status of the HPA. In many ways, the proposals for Public Health England take its development a step further by building on its successes and bringing other organisations into the new Public Health England. Independence of scientific expertise, as he and other noble Lords have said, is indeed crucial. The noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, is right that the HPA has an outstanding international reputation, and the intention is to build upon that. I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, welcomes at least some of these proposals, even if he is concerned in other areas.

When we discussed the provisions in Clause 8 that set out the Secretary of State’s health protection functions, we touched on Public Health England and the abolition of the Health Protection Agency. Public Health England will be the national component of the new public health system and will be established as an executive agency as part of the Department of Health. It will bring together activity currently spread across a range of bodies, including the Health Protection Agency, into a new unified body directly accountable to the Secretary of State. It is important to emphasise that the agency is just one component of a system that is currently fragmented, opaque and spread across central government, local government, the NHS and other arm’s-length bodies such as the Food Standards Agency and the National Treatment Agency. We want to replace all that with a clearly defined and much more unified system for protecting and improving the nation’s health. Public Health England will be able to build on the recognised expertise within our public health system from a range of organisations.

We understand that there have been some concerns about the status of Public Health England. I hope that I can reassure noble Lords that further amendments in this area are not necessary; I hear what they say about those concerns but I hope that we can address them. As an executive agency, Public Health England will have a distinct identity and a chief executive with clear accountability for carrying out its functions. Its status will underline its responsibility for offering scientifically rigorous and impartial advice. As we design Public Health England, we will work closely with stakeholders to ensure that it offers support for directors of public health and their partners in the local system. We talked more about the local side of that the other day.

Many noble Lords have expressed concerns about the independence of Public Health England and the need to ensure that it has appropriate corporate governance. We have listened to what people have said. I can say for the first time that we can commit today that the chief executive of Public Health England will chair a board. This will include at least three non-executive members who will provide independent advice and support. We expect the non-executive members to have relevant experience in the public health field, local government or the voluntary and community or private sector in order to provide a broad range of experience and challenge and advise on how the organisation can maximise its income generation abilities. In addition, we will be looking to one of these non-executive directors to have the necessary skills to chair Public Health England’s audit and risk committee, which will provide assurance on risk management, governance and internal control for Public Health England.

[Lord Turnberg]

Am I correct in hearing that the chairman will be the chief executive appointed by the Secretary of State?

International Development

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Monday 21st November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, we are currently piloting the International Citizen Service, which is giving more than 1,000 young people from all backgrounds the opportunity to spend three months doing voluntary work overseas. This will make a real difference to some of the world’s poorest people, while developing skills that will be invaluable as they seek employment in the future. Our intention is to scale up this programme so that 7,000 young people will benefit over the next three years.

[Lord Turnberg]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that in the Palestinian West Bank territories many textbooks contain all sorts of anti-Semitic and anti-Christian remarks and incitements to violence? Is that not something that DfID should pay attention to in its funding arrangements?

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord is right that some of these textbooks include things that we would certainly not wish to see within them. There is no doubt about that. With his work in the area, he knows how difficult it is to bring together groups that come from opposing positions. Sometimes it is extremely important to try to take forward the bigger picture and ensure that the Israeli side has security and that the Palestinian side has some kind of hope. That has to be the focus of DfID in supporting those who are in poverty in whatever situation they may be living.

Health and Social Care Bill

Debate between Baroness Northover and Lord Turnberg

Wednesday 16th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Turnberg]

In the review that the Government are undertaking, will they take note of the publication on alcohol by the Academy of Medical Sciences, produced by Sir Michael Marmot two or three years ago? It recommended a whole series of things to do. Unfortunately, the Government of the day sexed it down and we were not able to move much further with it. I hope that this Government will take it into account.

[Baroness Northover]

I note what the noble Lord has said in regard to his Government. I would be astonished if those working on this strategy were not bearing that in mind, but I will check. I can assure the noble Lord that, in the unlikely event that they are not, I will bring the review to their attention so that they can factor it in.

The noble Lord, Lord Rea, asked whether the current spending on alcohol is included in local authorities’ funding for public health. I can assure him that that is the case and that what is being spent by PCTs on commissioning alcohol services will be reflected in the resources transferred to local authorities.

Amendments 66 and 72 would add,

“providing services for the prevention and treatment of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence”,

to the list of steps that the Secretary of State and local authorities may take under new Sections 2A and 2B. However, the Bill already gives the Secretary of State and local authorities the ability to take appropriate steps to address harmful drinking. The new public health responsibilities in this Bill give local authorities a ring-fenced grant to ensure that local authorities have the resources to deliver their public health responsibilities, including alcohol misuse services. Obviously, there was discussion of that ring-fence grant previously. I think it is a move forward that, instead of public health being part of the overall NHS and subject to being raided, there will be a ring-fenced grant.

Clinical commissioning groups are already under a duty—under Section 3 of the NHS Act, as amended by Clause 10, and under new Section 3A—to commission services as they consider appropriate as part of the health service or to secure improvement in the physical and mental health of their population. Given the scale of the problem, it would be astonishing if that was not part of how they see their responsibility.

I can further reassure your Lordships’ House that the importance of services which reduce alcohol-related harm will not be overlooked. The Secretary of State will set the strategic direction of the NHS through the mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board. This should be the route for highlighting priorities for the health service and I have no doubt that debates in Parliament, such as this, and in the wider sphere will help to influence that.

Amendments 328 and 329 would require joint strategic needs assessments to include an assessment of alcoholism in the local population and the involvement of representatives from alcohol services in the preparation of the joint health and well-being strategy. While we fully support the principle that the joint strategic needs assessments need to be comprehensive, we do not feel that it is necessary to include this amendment in the Bill. The scope of this assessment will naturally include the needs related to harm from alcohol. However, we have retained the power for the Secretary of State to issue guidance on the preparation of the joint strategic needs assessment. We will ensure that it covers the need to consider alcoholism, which I hope will reassure noble Lords.

Amendment 329 would require local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to,

“involve representatives from alcohol services”,

in the preparation of the joint health and well-being strategy. While there is no representative of alcohol services in the local area on the health and well-being board, it would still be able to involve experts as appropriate or invite them to be members of the board. On Amendment 331, which would require health and well-being boards to include,

“a representative from alcohol and drugs service”,

the same point applies: they could be a member of the board or their advice could be sought. The legislation sets out a minimum membership for these boards—