Sub-Saharan Africa: Water and Sanitation

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for bringing up Gavi, which was a great success last week, and which brought the world together to raise over £8.8 billion for essential vaccinations. As he says, improving access to water and sanitation is its own development goal; safe water and sanitation are critical to public health and are necessary elements of universal health coverage. It is also good value for money, and we encourage other donors and indeed the World Bank to continue investment. It estimates that for every £1 spent there are economic benefits worth over £4. Therefore, we target our aid well to vulnerable countries. Between 2011 and 2015, we helped 64.5 million people get access to water and sanitation. We will continue this work and continue to encourage other partners to invest.

[Baroness Randerson (LD) [V]]

I declare an interest, as my husband receives a grant for research on sustainable farming in Uganda. Almost 22 million people in Uganda do not have access to clean water. That is important for health but also for equality and education opportunities for girls in particular. How much funding have the Government allocated in the last year to address health and sanitation problems in that country?

[Baroness Sugg]

I am afraid that I do not have the specific amount of funding for that country but I will write to the noble Baroness with that information. I completely agree that we must ensure that, as schools reopen, all pupils are able to return to school, and providing proper health, hygiene and clean running water will of course be important for that aim.

Brexit: The Customs Challenge (European Union Committee Report)

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Monday 1st April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, I did not have the privilege of being a member of the committee responsible for this excellent report, but it is a very interesting read. It is, unfortunately, a historical document, and it would have been a lot more appropriate to debate it some months ago. It is striking that, in the six months since it was published, although we have learned a lot more about the problems associated with customs arrangements, there have not been any solutions. Therefore, what the committee advises is as relevant now as it was then.

The report draws attention to the fact that, as my noble friend said, there are 145,000 VAT-registered businesses in the UK, and a further 100,000 under the VAT threshold, that currently trade abroad but exclusively with the EU. That means that they have not had to deal with the paperwork and bureaucracy associated with international trade. In addition, the report draws attention to the huge cost to business of no deal, estimated by HMRC at £18 billion per year. It is a pity that figure was not on the side of a bus.

The report also emphasises that all the talk of using technology to overcome border issues, particularly in Northern Ireland, is basically so much hot air—those are my words, not the report’s. There is no technological solution. Essentially, there are bound to be hold ups at the border, and, however brief they are, they will have a huge impact. Since the publication of this report, we know quite a lot more about the details of that impact.

I will start with Dover, which has already been mentioned, the largest roll-on roll-off port in the UK. Noble Lords will be familiar with the expectation that there will be long queues. The report acknowledges that there is no space for additional checks, examination sheds, checkpoints or additional barriers, and no space for lorries to park as they wait. Of the UK’s total trade in goods, 17% goes through Dover, and it depends on going through without stopping. Indeed, both Dover and Eurotunnel market themselves as a continuous, non-stop motorway to Europe. Some weeks ago, I met the Road Haulage Association. Its representative told me that an Amazon lorry can have 8,000 individual shipments on it, and would normally have an individual customs declaration for each of those 8,000 shipments. Each customs declaration has 36 different fields that must be completed. The RHA estimates that it would take 170 staff one day’s work to process that lorry. The implications on a grand scale are serious.

The Government have sought to combat these problems in two ways. One is by saying, essentially, that we will ignore the need for border checks and everything will continue as it always has. There are a couple of problems with that. First, why are we leaving if we are going to continue exactly as we have done? Secondly, as a representative of the freight industry said to me, the moment we do not apply the rules we lose control of the border. That will lead to various kinds of smuggling—of people, drugs, armaments and so on, as well as ordinary, everyday goods. It will also lead to the introduction of substandard goods—a serious issue for those trying to produce good-quality goods in the UK.

The Government have also attempted emergency preparations—the M20 being turned into a giant lorry park and the use of Manston Airport for emergency long-term parking—and we are all familiar with the fact that they have not gone well. Then there is the Seaborne ferry company with no ferries, which seemed to think it was providing the Department for Transport with pizzas rather than ferries.

The serious point is that the subsidy for ferries led to Eurotunnel seeking compensation for its products and services being overtaken by the subsidy for ferry services. Last week we discovered that the contract the Government signed with the ferry operators started on 29 March, even though we have not left the EU. I am told that tickets for these additional ferries are now being sold on the open market. It might be a good time to catch a ferry in the next week or so but, if you meet a tall, bald man called Chris trying to flog a few tickets in the ferry terminal, it would not be good value for money.

It has already cost £89 million for the ferries; £6.5 million for the extra weeks of the ferry subsidy that the Government have to cover until we leave the EU; £800,000 for the financial advice; £33 million in compensation to Eurostar; and £30 million for the design, build and operation of Operation Brock on the M20. By my calculations, that is almost £160 million, and counting, as the cost of Brexit to the DfT alone.

I have dealt with the costs to us—the taxpayer—but most importantly we should remember the costs to the businesses of Britain. The SMMT referred to the production of a single fuel injector. To make it takes 35 components from 15 countries and it requires 39 border crossings between the UK and the EU. Now we can see why the automotive industry is thinking of leaving this country fast and why the producers in the supply chain are extremely concerned about their future.

Trade Bill

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Committee: 3rd sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Wednesday 30th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Risby (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 48. I am a director of the Horserace Betting Levy Board as a government appointee, and a former Member of Parliament for Newmarket, which, after all, is historically the world headquarters of racing. Equine matters are very dear to my heart.

The situation we have, which is a tripartite deal, developed before the European Union became involved. There is some level of involvement on the part of the European Union and negotiations have been going on in Brussels between the British Horseracing Authority and the Commission. It is important to highlight this because the system has been in existence for many years and has been absolutely seamless. The relationship between the United Kingdom, France and Ireland has flourished. We can think of Irish horses winning in large numbers at Cheltenham, French successes at Ascot and Newmarket, and our own recent victories in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The real key is this. The system of horse passports and documentation is managed in the United Kingdom by our highly respected industry bodies: Weatherbys, the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and the British Horseracing Authority, with the approval of Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency. It works extremely well and is therefore something that should be cherished. It is particularly important to the economy of the Republic of Ireland. People in the equine industry in Ireland are extremely anxious about this situation being damaged in any way.

As a result of the support over the years of our Governments for the equine industry, stretching right across party divides, it has turned into a great success story and is the best-managed and best-organised racing industry in the world. It contributes to the pleasure of millions of people who watch horseracing either at racecourses or on television. All our facilities have been upgraded and the industry should be supported.

I will refer to the comments made by my noble friend Lady McIntosh. If it were somehow possible to retrieve this from where it seems to have landed up and see it go back to its original tripartite status, which was actually free of the European Union, that would be excellent. However, the reality is that for whatever reason there has been a process of greater and greater involvement by the European Union; in which case, I will ask my noble friend two simple questions. What will happen during the transition period in this area of activity which is so important to us? What is our negotiating objective for the longer term as far as the work of the British Horseracing Authority with our own Government is concerned?

I conclude by expressing my admiration for many colleagues both in your Lordships’ House and in another place who have done so much work over the years to keep this industry up to the highest possible standards of governance and popularity. Finally, I will praise one particular individual. When the Single European Act came in and there was a change in the way that VAT was dealt with, we nearly lost the racing industry altogether. We had a huge fight, but it was saved by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, my noble friend Lord Lamont. For anyone who is interested in and has a passion for racing, he of all people is someone to whom we owe a great deal.

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, I start by craving the indulgence of the Committee and offering an apology for the fact that I missed the start of the speech of the noble Lord, Lord McNichol. I was racing back from Cardiff, but noble Lords will know that that involves the Great Western Railway. The train was only a few minutes late but that was the time I needed in order to hear the beginning of the noble Lord’s speech.

I have three amendments in this group, all designed to ensure that we try to keep the transport system running as normally and smoothly as possible after Brexit. I will start with Amendment 41, which relates to road haulage. We have heard the story many times about the dangers to our road haulage system. Indeed, last week the leaked Border Force document estimated that there could be a decline of up to 87% for three to six months after a no-deal Brexit if some arrangements were not put in place. We have had the preparation for the ECMT certificates that would have to come into place if we had no deal: roughly 1,200 certificates for a haulage industry that involves 30,000-plus hauliers. Clearly, this is totally inadequate. We have had the fiasco of the ferry-less ferry services to try to smooth the process.

We have talked many times in this House about Dover, but I want to say a word about Holyhead, the second-largest roll-on roll-off ferry port in Britain. Some 500 lorries per night go through Holyhead—that is three miles of queues, and the route to the port is through the town. In other words, any kind of queuing system caused by a no-deal Brexit would make it impossible for the town to function. I have had meetings with representatives of the Road Haulage Association, who have alarmed me with some information about the way in which the modern haulage industry works. They pointed out to me that an Amazon lorry can have 8,000 individual shipments on it, which—if we do not have arrangements in place—could lead to an individual customs declaration in each of those 8,000 cases. Each customs declaration has 36 different fields that have to be completed. They estimated that it would take 170 staff one day’s worth of work to deal with one lorry. We all know that Amazon will adapt, but it cannot adapt in two months.

There are numerous other cases and examples of the disruption that no deal would bring, so in this amendment I seek to ensure, in relation to road haulage, that we do not have no deal and keep the arrangements as close as possible to what we have now. We should bear in mind—I was told this by a representative of the freight industry—that it is in what it describes as a huge hole. They said, “The moment we do not apply the rules, we lose control of the border”. So it is no good for our Government to say that we will not do the checks and will take it on trust. The point the freight industry is making is that the moment we start taking things on trust, without the checks, we will have serious problems.

In Amendment 57 we move on to aviation. Many noble Lords will recall that last week the airlines came in for criticism because they had been selling tickets without drawing attention to the fact that, if there is no deal and we leave on 29 March without any arrangements, they felt that those tickets might not necessarily be honoured. That was the criticism and yet the Government have claimed that the aviation situation is arranged and organised.

Budget Statement

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, it is fair to say that expectations were low prior to the Budget, and that the Chancellor lived down to them. He may have saved his job but he certainly did not save our economy, which in the last 18 months has gone from a position where we were vying for the championship to one where we are in the relegation zone. One after another, the dire forecasts and economic results have stacked up from the OBR, the IMF and the OECD. Their analysis shows the enormous act of self-harm we are inflicting on ourselves, and the predictions are dire. However, even more worrying are the structural failures in our economy, with a quarter of our workforce low-skilled at a time when technological change puts a massive premium on skills, productivity so much lower than that of our rivals at which the Brexiteers like to sneer, and skill shortages at a time when we are turning away those with skills who happen to come from the European Union.

To combat the economic threats posed by Brexit, we needed a Budget of exceptional skill and dramatic investment. Philip Hammond came over instead as the Paul Daniels of the Treasury. With a great flourish and an amusing line in gags, he pulled some carefully groomed rabbits from the hat. However, on careful inspection, his announcements turned out to be smoke and mirrors. Take that much-trailed plan to introduce railcards entitling 26 to 30 year-olds to reduced rail fares. It is apparently supposed to encourage young people to vote Conservative again, but it turns out to be puffed up way beyond its significance. It cannot be used for season tickets or at rush hours, so most people cannot use it to travel to work or college. Above all, it overlooks the fact that only one in six public transport passengers uses the railways. After all, large swathes of the country—Wales, where I come from, is one of them—have very few railways to use. The bus passengers who make up five out of six public transport users tend to be poorer as well and should be the ones we look at first.

If the Government really wanted to tackle social and generational inequality, they would introduce a reduced-fare bus pass for all. The Liberal Democrats have been advocating that for some years. Sadly, thanks to the huge amounts of money we are wasting on Brexit preparations, the Government feel they cannot afford significant social justice measures like that. In fact, the Government cannot afford not to introduce bold measures. As the resignation of the social mobility commissioners this week has underlined, the Government have a woeful record on this. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report says it yet again. Faced with a crisis, the Chancellor should have read and digested his John Maynard Keynes, rather than his Paul Daniels magic guide. He should have recognised the importance of investment in infrastructure as an economic driver—that borrowing for capital investment is the only sensible solution.

This afternoon, the Minister repeated the much-vaunted list of rail projects. This was also repeated in the industrial strategy and the rail strategy last week. It is a rather disappointing list: it is a re-announcement of a re-announcement of a re-announcement. I was particularly disappointed by the Government’s go-pause-stop approach to electrification. There are lots of problems with not going ahead with this. Not only are electrified railways quicker and more comfortable for passengers, but they are better on emissions. After all, why is it all right to have new diesel trains when we are not supposed to have new diesel cars? There are also issues associated with the fact that areas such as Swansea have been encouraging local investment by companies on the basis that they are going to get an electrified railway line, which they are not going to get any more.

We need a much bolder rail investment programme. Above all, we need it for the whole of Britain, not just the south-east. The social divisions to which I referred are mirrored by the geographical ones. Over £6 billion spent on transport in London is matched by a miserable £500 million in the north-east. That is just inequitable. There was nothing in the Budget to redress that balance. As a result, we have a dangerously unbalanced society. Another missing link in the Budget was the absence of any mention of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. Before the 2015 election, senior Conservatives were queuing up for photos there but there has been absolutely no action since. I am disappointed at the lack of effort on renewable energy.

This Budget was long on rhetoric and very short on real funding. Money for electric charging points and the development of autonomous vehicles was announced with a big fanfare. That was welcome as far as it went, but it will not make us world leaders. The Chancellor has let us down in that regard. I spent the weekend at a gathering of Europeans. They think that we are having a national nervous breakdown. They cannot understand why we are being so stupid, because Britain is normally so sensible. Why, oh why, are we wasting billions and billions of pounds on Brexit when what we hear from everyone in industry, across Britain, is, “Please can we recreate what we have now?”? It is stupid.

Wales: Economy

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gale]

My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, on her promotion to the Wales Office and on becoming a Wales Office Minister. I share in the warm welcome that has been extended to her tonight. I know that her experience as a Minister in the Welsh Assembly will stand her in good stead in her work in the Wales Office. I look forward to working with her. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord German, on securing this debate tonight and thank all noble Lords who have contributed. I detected a note of optimism in all the speeches about where Wales can go if we are all determined to work together.

This is a timely debate with the Silk commission due to report on part one of its remit very shortly. Ahead of this, as noble Lords will know, the UK and Welsh Governments have reached a significant agreement on funding reform. The agreement acknowledges that convergence has led to Wales being underfunded in the past and has the potential to do so again in the future. We welcome this admission from the Treasury and will be holding it to account on this point. We also welcome the Treasury’s support for extending borrowing powers in Wales—rightly dependent on an income stream—as a way to shape the Welsh economy, which they have the ability to do.

The debate is timely too because of the better-than-expected employment and growth figures over the last quarter. We welcome those figures but they are still nowhere good enough yet. On the number one challenge facing the Welsh economy—how to secure jobs and growth—the two Governments are not working well together. That is because the policies of the United Kingdom Government are falling short on the real needs for the Welsh economy. The Welsh Government are doing all they can with the levers at their disposal but what Wales really needs to tackle the challenges facing its economy is for the Government at Westminster to change course from their so-called plan A.

That is the message that I hope the Minister will be able to take back with her from this debate, because the Government’s austerity programme is not working for Wales. A 1% injection of growth over the past three months, which was boosted by the Olympics, does not change the fact that the Government’s economic policies have greatly underachieved. Two years ago, the Chancellor said his plan would assume growth at 4.6% by this time. In reality, the UK economy has grown by just 0.6% and we are only now emerging from the deepest double-dip recession in over half a century.

On getting jobs and growth into the economy, we need the United Kingdom Government to implement a plan that works for Wales and follow the example set by Welsh Labour Ministers in Cardiff. Despite the real terms cut of 42% to their capital grant, the Welsh Government have put forward a budget for jobs and growth. On tackling youth unemployment, for example, the Welsh Government introduced jobs growth Wales in April this year, which will create 12,000 job opportunities over the next three years. In contrast, of course, one of the first things the UK Government did when they came into office was to scrap the future jobs fund. That was a risible and completely counterproductive decision, especially with long-term youth unemployment in Wales having quadrupled over the last year.

Another way the Welsh Government are doing what they can to boost jobs and growth is by reaching out to business through city regions, through growth funds, and by investing in Wales’ infrastructure with a £15 billion investment plan over the next decade. As far as we are concerned, the Welsh Government are doing their fair share, but unfortunately Wales is being let down by the coalition Government in Westminster pursuing counterproductive policies.

I will put three questions to the Minister. First, on the scale of public sector cuts, what assurance can the Minister give that forecasted 700,000 public sector job losses in the UK will not fall disproportionately on Wales? Secondly, the Government’s regional pay proposals would be disastrous for Wales. Does the Minister share the views of the Liberal Democrat leader in Wales, Kirsty Williams, who said recently that regional pay would exacerbate a “brain drain” in Wales and create the impression that to “get on”, you first had to “get out” of Wales? Thirdly, does she agree that the increase in VAT—which, before the election, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg estimated would cost people £389 a year—has hindered the Welsh economy?

Public sector job losses, regional pay and VAT are three policies that will hit Wales hard and are indicative, we believe, of the Government’s divide-and-rule approach to politics. Labour has put forward an alternative “One Nation” plan to get growth into our economy. We are calling for a jobs plan to boost the economy, including using funds from the 4G mobile spectrum auction to build 100,000 affordable homes in the UK. We believe that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor need to change course and follow Labour’s alternative plan as well as the example set by the Welsh Labour Ministers in Cardiff Bay. We believe that that will be the best way for the two Governments to work together to tackle the real challenges facing the Welsh economy, and the best way to get jobs and growth into the Welsh economy, which we all know is what is needed. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Wales Office (Baroness Randerson)]

My Lords, I first thank the noble Lord, Lord German, for securing this debate to discuss the economy of Wales. It is a hugely important subject and clearly close to the hearts of many noble Lords here today. It is an honour for me to be standing here for the first time as the Wales Office Minister answering this debate.

We have had a large number of really good ideas put forward today and some very valuable contributions from noble Lords. Although we might not always agree on the solutions, I hope that we all share a common objective: to revitalise the Welsh economy. Clearly this is not just a job for the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government need to work hand in hand with the UK Government. We also need to work closely with the private sector and with all stakeholders in delivering our vision for the Welsh economy. The noble Lord, Lord German, illustrated the sometimes confusing split of powers and economic levers. We have to work with them and ensure that they work effectively.

However, our hopes and aspirations need to be founded in reality, and the noble Lord, Lord German, outlined the challenges that Wales faces. We must recognise that the UK economy as a whole is dealing with some very deep-rooted problems. The global financial crisis in 2008 exposed an unstable and unbalanced economic growth model, based on increasing levels of public and private sector debt: an unbalanced model, overreliant on the financial sector and on the economy of the south-east of England. Since then, the UK economy has of course been hit by a series of further shocks, including the eurozone crisis. Returning the UK to strong, sustainable, balanced growth is the top priority for the UK Government.

We had welcome news last week of course, with confirmation that the UK economy is officially out of recession. We had particularly welcome news in Wales. The noble Lord, Lord Roberts, drew attention to the recent statistics on the state of the economy in Wales. Employment statistics tell a great story for Wales in the last quarter: 40,000 more people in work, 7,000 fewer people unemployed and 32,000 fewer people economically inactive. I disagree with the noble Baroness when she says that the Government’s economic policies are not working for Wales.

I am pleased to be able to say that the increase in the employment rate in Wales over the past quarter was the largest of all the devolved countries and English regions and well above the increase seen across the UK as a whole. The figures may have been stimulated by the Olympics; I can assure noble Lords that Wales did not benefit disproportionately from the Olympics but still did very well indeed in these figures. However, there is no room for complacency, and no one is more alive than I to the challenges that we continue to face in Wales.

The Government are investing in Wales, illustrated by our commitment to electrify the south Wales main and valleys lines, which several noble Lords referred to. Wales is expected to benefit directly and indirectly from almost £2 billion from the programme to modernise the rail network. I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Jones, that we have repeatedly indicated our desire to look at infrastructure improvements in north Wales and we are committed to working with the Welsh Government and the local community in considering the business case for electrifying the north Wales line. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, drew attention to the number of regular commuters in this area and hence the need for this improvement.

We have made considerable investment in broadband infrastructure. The Government have provided the Welsh Government with almost £57 million to help bring broadband to everyone and super-fast speeds to 90% of homes and businesses in Wales. In July, the Welsh Government announced that they had matched our investment and had awarded the contract, which is worth £425 million and also includes European structural funds.

Several noble Lords referred to the importance of enterprise zones, and we wish to see these flourish in Wales. By granting enhanced capital allowances to the Deeside enterprise zone, we have demonstrated that we can work very closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that that zone is a success. But we need to find ways to further accelerate major infrastructure investment, and I hope that we will see Welsh projects benefit from the £50 billion UK guarantees scheme that we have introduced. The noble Lord, Lord Carlile, drew attention to the need for venture capital funding, which will also need to be stimulated in some cases by those government guarantees.

I welcome the recent agreement reached in principle that the Welsh Government should have access to capital borrowing powers, which was also welcomed by the noble Baroness, Lady Gale. Those borrowing powers are necessary in order to finance infrastructure, and there are ongoing discussions with the Welsh Government on infrastructure improvements along the M4 in Wales. We look forward to considering the report from the Silk commission, due to be launched on 19 November, which has assessed the case for borrowing and taxation powers. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord German, that increased fiscal responsibility is important for the development of devolution.

I recently had a very productive meeting with Edwina Hart, the Welsh Government’s Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science, in which we discussed how the two Governments can work together to ensure that enterprise zones work properly for Wales, and I welcome the news that the Welsh Government will soon be announcing proposals for more enterprise zone sites, which could benefit from enhanced capital allowances. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas, gave us international examples of economic co-operation. If it can be done on an international basis, it can be done within the UK.

Edwina Hart and I also discussed how our two Governments can work together in response to the report on city regions by Dr Elizabeth Haywood, which highlighted the need for the Welsh and UK Governments to work together to strengthen the Mersey Dee Alliance to deliver growth and jobs for north-east Wales. That report was referred to in detail by the noble Lord, Lord Thomas. There are important cross-border opportunities that we are committed to take forward with the Welsh Government.

In addition to the challenges that we face to improve infrastructure, it is vital that we do all that we can to enhance the skills of the workforce in Wales. Improving skills will not only support indigenous business but help Wales to attract more inward investment. It is excellent, as the noble Lord, Lord Jones, said, that Airbus and Tata Steel, for example, continue to operate effectively in Wales and to run apprenticeship schemes that are examples of best practice. I know that the Welsh Government have a number of such schemes running to support young people into work across Wales.

Of course, many aspects of skills policy are devolved to the Welsh Government, but that does not mean that there are not opportunities for the Governments to work together in this important area. Wales’s higher education institutions have a world-class track record. I am very pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, chose to highlight the importance of the higher education research contract recently won by Swansea University. We can celebrate that it will team up with BP to create an Energy Safety Research Institute which is worth £38 million in partnership.

There is clearly still more to do if we are to improve the economy in Wales, and tonight’s debate has raised some interesting and important points. In my last couple of minutes, I will try to answer some of the points that noble Lords have raised. The noble Lord, Lord German, emphasised the need for new thinking to spread prosperity across Wales. Within the Wales Office, we will need to give careful consideration to his proposals for joint working; he had some very interesting ideas. The noble Lords, Lord Roberts of Conwy and Lord Jones, referred to the abolition of the WDA, which has undoubtedly had an adverse impact. Sadly, the figures say it all on that. However, both the Wales Office and the Welsh Government are working hard with UKTI to market Wales abroad. The two organisations are having success and we hope to continue that and redouble our efforts.

The noble Lord, Lord Jones, referred to the Secretary of State and the First Minister being in close contact. I am aware that they are, but I cannot answer the question about which language they speak in their meetings. I am very grateful for the intervention of the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, who brings a different perspective to our debate.

Finally, the noble Lord, Lord Carlile of Berriew, talked about the lack of venture capital in Wales. I am pleased to be able to tell noble Lords that Welsh businesses are benefiting from the enterprise finance guarantee. So far, 784 loans have been offered in Wales with a total value of nearly £72 million. I also welcome the announcement that Finance Wales recently made its first investment from the new £40 million Wales SME investment fund.

I hope that noble Lords will bear with me. When I read Hansard tomorrow, I will write to anyone whose questions I have not had time to answer here today.

House adjourned at 9.20 pm.

Health and Social Care Bill

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Wednesday 16th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Masham of Ilton]

My Lords, these amendments relating to campaigns are very important. My question is: who will be carrying them out? I would like to highlight the problems of late diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and meningitis.

Many people are living with HIV/AIDS who do not know that they are infected. There needs to be sensitive targeting of campaigns. If diagnosis is late, the condition is much more difficult and expensive to treat, as has been said. There are often co-infections of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Late diagnosis in TB is very dangerous. Along with the growing problem of drug-resistant TB, there is extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, which is very dangerous and much more expensive to treat and takes much longer.

I would like to mention the effective and important work of the group Find & Treat, which goes out to find homeless and other people who are difficult to find, who may have TB, and test them. The group now wants to test for co-infections, which would be much more effective and less expensive in the long run. This type of infection is on the increase. There is a fear that, unless local authorities and the National Health Service work together, there may be fragmentation, and these people, who should be treated early, may fall through the net. Find & Treat needs all the support that it can get to carry on this very important work.

Hepatitis B is very infectious, but there is now a vaccination, which is good. However, there is no vaccination for hepatitis C. Both types of hepatitis have been found to be a huge problem in prisons. There is a problem of liver disease with hepatitis C. Early diagnosis is important for all infections. In the case of meningitis, there have been far too many tragedies because of late diagnosis. The public—and doctors—need to be reminded continually how important this issue is by means of campaigns and guidelines. My GP always waits for guidelines from the Department of Health.

[Baroness Randerson]

My Lords, I speak in support of these amendments tabled by my noble friend. I strongly welcome the provisions in this Bill that ensure that the NHS and local governments work together on public health. I believe that these provisions are long overdue. However, as my noble friend said, we need to ensure that central responsibility and control is retained to be able to have high-profile, national public health campaigns.

I am the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hepatology and I participate today from that perspective. I wish to speak especially about hepatitis C. In the summer, the group produced a report emphasising the points that I am making about the importance of national public health campaigns. The current proposals will affect those suffering from this disease and will improve the response at a local level. However, they will also ensure that we need a national response. Hepatitis C is a preventable and curable cancer-causing, blood-borne virus. The main groups affected are intravenous drug users, or those who have been, and certain ethnic groups from south Asia who were also badly affected because, very tragically, they were immunised in childhood during mass immunisation campaigns using dirty needles.

As has been said, a stigma is attached to hepatitis C, as it is to HIV/AIDS. As a result of that stigma, it has largely been ignored by government ever since it was first identified in the late 1980s. Deaths from the disease are rising; mortality has risen by between 39 and 45 per cent since 2005 and the number estimated to be affected is between 250,000 and 466,000. I say “estimated” because the majority of those affected are undiagnosed. That is the key point in relation to public health campaigns.

The picture in Britain is not the same as the picture in most of the rest of Europe. Elsewhere deaths from the disease are falling because there have been high-profile public campaigns and strategies to deal with the disease. As a result, diagnosis has been very much earlier. I said that the majority of people suffering from the disease are undiagnosed, but why is that? They are undiagnosed because it is a tricky disease. It remains asymptomatic for 10, 20 or even 30 years, and by the time the symptoms occur it may be too late for a cure. It is certainly very possible that any attempts at treatment are very complex and expensive. That outcome can be a result of the stigma, but it can also be a result of ignorance because we have had no big public health campaigns. There is ignorance on the part of clinicians and the public. Delayed diagnosis costs not just lives but a great deal of money. There is a range of clinically effective and cost-effective treatments for the disease that can cure and that are recommended by NICE, and more and better treatments, due to go to NICE in the near future, are in the pipeline.

That is the background. As I see it, that is how the Bill will help, but it needs to be improved in order to help even more. The local government NHS LINk will enable local public health campaigns to focus on local needs. Given the list of at-risk groups that I have described, it is obvious that an area with a high population of those from south Asia, for example, will be enabled to target their health messages appropriately. An area that is aware that it has a particular problem with drug use will do the same. Of course, many people will be affected by the disease who do not live in those target areas, and they need to be screened and treated in the same way, so local campaigns need to supplement and bolster national information campaigns, not replace them.

We have already heard from my noble friend reference to the dementia campaign that is currently being run, and there has been reference to the AIDS campaign. I would say very strongly to the Minister that we need a hepatitis C campaign of similar impact. Without the proposals in these amendments, I believe that there might not be sufficient obligation on the Government to co-ordinate these campaigns. I very much look forward to Minister’s response on this issue.

My final point is that successful national and local campaigns will inevitably have a knock-on effect on commissioning services. More patients will be diagnosed, and that will mean more needing treatment. In the long term, of course, there will be a fall-off in the demand for treatment because of higher public awareness and, one hopes, very much safer behaviour as a result. That fall-off will take years, however, and it is essential that GP services, hospitals services and, for example, drug and alcohol action teams all have the increased capacity brought into line at the same time as such campaigns take place. It is therefore even more important that there is the central control and direction to which I referred. That is just one example; other noble Lords have given similar examples, and I urge the Minister to give this serious consideration.

Women: Special Operations Executive

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Monday 6th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Randerson]

I thank the noble Baroness for giving us this opportunity to pay tribute to these truly extraordinary women. Churchill referred to the SOE as “ungentlemanly warfare”. The fact that its work was shrouded in mystery, combined with the fact that General de Gaulle was absolutely determined not to recognise its significance, led the Government at that time almost to ignore the amazing work that it did. The noble Baroness rightly says how important it is that we should recognise these women. Three of them were awarded the George Cross and others were made MBEs or were the subject of memorials, but there has been no consistent approach to remembering them and recognising what they did. That should be done in their memory, for the sake of their families and for our sake as a nation, because we should not forget them.

As has been pointed out, what is so outstanding about those women is that many of them may not necessarily have considered themselves British or felt patriotic towards Britain. Precisely because they were chosen primarily for their language skills, they came from very mixed international backgrounds. For example, Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian Muslim, had an American mother and had lived primarily in Russia and France. Christine Granville was of Polish descent. Vera Atkins, a Romanian Jew, had lived in France. Many of them exhibited great bravery and physical endurance just to get to Britain in the first place to train for the SOE. Denise Bloch walked across the Pyrenees to escape to London to undertake SOE training. Nancy Wake also escaped from France, leaving behind her husband, who was captured and killed. She then parachuted back into France as a special agent. We should remember that the life expectancy of these women was on average six weeks, as when they were captured they were treated as spies, not prisoners of war.

Finally, we should think about their courage. There is a sort of courage that can be forced on you. For example, if you are suddenly taken hostage, you can show great fortitude. You can show great courage when faced with big events. When you go into battle as a soldier, you can gear up your courage for that event, but these women had to live a lie and show that courage day in, day out and for every hour of every day, unaware of whom they could rely on.