Afghanistan

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I certainly agree with the noble Lord in his last comment. However, I dispute the idea that we have not been working with our international partners. Through the UN Security Council, the G7 and NATO, we have played a leading role in pushing for international consensus to agree a unified approach to the challenge we collectively face; that includes working with those organisations’ partners and our international friends to ensure that we can continue to get people who want safe passage out of Afghanistan out.

I agree with the noble Lord that all this needs to invigorate international action together but we have been playing a lead role. I have already mentioned the G7 meeting convened by the Prime Minister and the work we are doing to convene a potential meeting in the margins of the UN General Assembly. Of course, the noble Lord will be aware that, along with the US and France, we led on the UN Security Council resolution passed in August, which set out our expectations for safe passage for all those who wish to leave, urgent humanitarian access, respect for human rights and the prevention of terrorism. We are playing, and will continue to play, a leading role in these efforts.

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I fully commend the Government on the action that they took to support those who served with our forces and supported our people in Afghanistan. However, I have a question, although I do not expect the Lord Privy Seal to have an answer to it now. I want to put on her radar the fact that a question now arises in relation to Commonwealth servicemen, who served with the British forces and are still waiting for indefinite leave to remain. Will the Government address this issue with a sense of urgency because there is a feeling that we are not acting fairly?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her comments. I will certainly make sure that I raise her points with the relevant Ministers and departments; I will ask somebody to get back to her with further details.

Afghanistan

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Monday 12th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I am afraid that I do not have a running list of every negotiation happening, but I am very happy to go back to colleagues and write to the noble Baroness with recent contacts.

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, as it happens, today is Malala Yousafzai’s 24th birthday—an exceptionally forceful reminder that the right to education and the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan simply cannot be ignored. I accept the unwillingness to give a running commentary of who we have or have not talked to. However, we know that things are not going to get any easier. Will the Minister undertake to give more precise details of how the Government intend to, first, deal with Pakistan in that relationship and, secondly, ensure that the right to education for girls will continue to progress in even a slightly comparable way to the progress we have made so far?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I said, I have already made a commitment to write on Pakistan, so I shall do that.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Thursday 13th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I can certainly reassure my noble friend that we are considering the matter and working closely with the British Olympic Association. We also note the offer from the IOC and Pfizer to support efforts in this area, so work is ongoing.

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome the Government’s commitment to start tackling the NHS waiting list backlog created by Covid, but can I urge Ministers not to lose sight of the extra demands that will be created by the consequences of long Covid? We do not yet know how extensive those demands will be, and we will not resolve and deal with Covid unless we also address such needs.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. We have a number of ongoing research projects, and we are really only just beginning to see the effects of long Covid and understand its impact. She is absolutely right, and I can reassure her that research will be ongoing and we will look to ensure that we can tailor proper support and help as we increasingly understand long Covid and the traumatic and terrible effect it has had on many people.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

The noble Baroness refers to an extremely important issue. Through this dreadful time, we can all agree that the programme to help get rough sleepers into accommodation has been one of the positive things that has come out of it. I can assure her that our £15 million Protect programme, which is running alongside the Everyone In campaign, is providing targeted funding for councils in areas with high numbers of rough sleepers, prioritising the clinically vulnerable and those with a history of rough sleeping. That is on top of the £10 million cold winter fund, which is helping all councils support rough sleepers into self-contained accommodation. By September 2020 we had housed 29,000 vulnerable people as part of the successful Everyone In programme.

[Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister quite rightly said that we now have access to Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines, which will be distributed across the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies. Can she also undertake to publish data on a regular basis on how many vaccines per 100,000 of population are being made available in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I can say to the noble Baroness that currently we are allocating the vaccine doses based on the business as usual Barnett formula. As I have said, we will begin to publish daily data next week. I suspect that the data she is talking about will be part of that, but I will make sure that her request goes to the Department of Health, because I am sure that is data that everyone would be interested in.