Financial Services Bill

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Consideration of Commons amendments
Wednesday 28th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe (Con)]

My Lords, I express my thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, and the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, for what they have said. I am pleased that they have both taken the trouble to read the words of my right honourable friend the Economic Secretary when responding to the debate in the other place on Monday. I was careful to frame my remarks in a way intended to ensure that there is not a hair’s breadth of difference between his words and mine.

The noble Lord made some very well-observed remarks on the risks arising from asymmetric information. However, I am happy to confirm to the noble Baroness that the FCA’s consultation will not be solely focused on asymmetry of information, important though that is; it will look more broadly at raising the level of care that firms provide to consumers—not particular classes of consumers, but all consumers.

Some hesitation—I think that is the best word—was expressed as to why there is yet another consultation. In response to that, I say that it is important that consumer groups and firms have the opportunity to comment on clear proposals and subsequent draft rule changes before final rules are set in stone. So I argue that it is a necessary step, even though I fully understand the noble Baroness’s wish for action this day. I remind her that we are talking about a consultation to be launched very shortly, and I hope that indicates that the sense of urgency which both noble Lords have indicated is right is shared by the FCA.

The FCA will and must act in accordance with its statutory objectives, which include the consumer protection objective. I come back to that point: this is not an issue that is ever lost on the FCA. With those comments, I am grateful to both noble Lords for their acceptance of the amendment in lieu, and I beg to move.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall) (Lab)]

My Lords, we have a request to speak after the Minister from the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My Lords, I join others in congratulating my noble friend the Deputy Leader of the House and other Members of the Front Bench on the way they have dealt with the Bill and got us to this final stage. I just have a question about the consultation on the duty of care, and it stems from my experience in other areas of regulation—that is, health and safety and food safety. I have found that, where a duty of care is introduced, it is sometimes possible to change adjacent rules and regulations in a regulatory area and reduce the bureaucracy that can be a problem for both consumers and operators in the field. I would be interested to know whether that sort of work is likely to be envisaged by the Economic Secretary.

House of Lords: Appointments

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 30th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I recognise the noble Baroness’s concern on this matter and I shall ensure that the points she makes are fully considered.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, may I take the noble Earl back to the question from my noble friend on the Front Bench about the Burns committee report? That report had significant support in this House and is focused on taking reform forward without the need for legislation, using what one might call the natural processes already available to us. Is the leadership of the House pressing the Prime Minister to take seriously the recommendations of the Burns report?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I think we can all agree that our numbers in this House need to reduce. However, in the light of the Government’s commitment to review the role of your Lordships’ House, with all that that entails, it is difficult for me to go further as I cannot pre-empt the conclusions of that review.

Register of Hereditary Peers

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 9th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I say it is not incremental because the end point of such a measure would be to entrench a House—if one excludes the Lords spiritual—composed solely of appointed life Peers. That is where the Government are coming from. I suggest to the noble Baroness that we have an opportunity, through the committee set up by the Lord Speaker and chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Burns, for noble Lords to make representations to the committee on this or any other associated matter.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

I wonder whether the Minister would care to reflect on what he has just said. It does not seem to me that there is anything in the Bill that my noble friend Lord Grocott is bringing forward which would preclude further and different kinds of reform within, say, the next 60 years during which it would be possible to see the end of the hereditary principle in this House, if only my noble friend’s Bill were in operation. Therefore subsequent reforms might overtake that over time, and I think many of us hope that they will, so is that really a reason to stand in the way of this Bill?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, as the Government’s manifesto made clear, we believe that the size of the House should be addressed, and that is the issue primarily being addressed by the committee set up by the Lord Speaker. However, we also made it clear that with so many pressing legislative priorities, not least those stemming from the result of the UK referendum, comprehensive reform is not a priority during this Parliament. We do not wish to close to our minds to that idea. A good case can be made for comprehensive reform, and it is worth remembering that in the last Parliament the Government put forward a Bill that would have made 80% of the eligible membership elected.

Gender-based Violence: Screening

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 9th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

Most certainly. Gender-based violence is one of the issues which sexual health clinics, and indeed all parts of the NHS, are now alert to. New guidance from NICE was issued in February last year on domestic abuse and how health and social care services and the organisations with which they work can spot and respond to abuse earlier in a more joined-up and preventive way.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that not all domestic abuse results in physical symptoms? In his Answer, he mentioned mental health services. What is being done to deal with emotional abuse and to discover and refer people who suffer from it?

Jimmy Savile: NHS Investigations

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 26th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I cannot give a specific undertaking on the timescale that we envisage for the consultation or on any legislation that might ensue from it because that raises the question of whether any legislation is necessary. That is what we want to know from the consultation process. However, I can tell my noble friend that the Home Office will be leading the consultation in conjunction with all the other relevant government departments.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Earl repeated a phrase in the Statement referring to Jimmy Savile as a one-off. Although that is qualified in the sentence that follows, nevertheless the reference is made. Does he consider that describing these incidents as a one-off characteristic of an unusual individual is tremendously helpful? We know that he was not a one-off because a number of other people working in NHS settings engaged in similar behaviour and have already been convicted. Many other people who were not working in NHS settings but doing other kinds of job—for example, in the rock music business—were also engaging in this kind of behaviour. Perhaps we need to take more account of the fact that, hard as it is for us to recognise, there are circumstances in which people, given the opportunity, will engage in this kind of behaviour and will continue to do so. Thinking of them as, as it were, bad apples does not help us to grapple with that reality.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is right. It is with that thought in mind that Kate Lampard did not simply pigeonhole Savile as a one-off but has come forward with recommendations, most of which we have accepted, as to the wider lessons we should learn from this sorry saga. We know that, while the scale of Savile’s activities was probably unprecedented, there are others who have been found guilty of similar offences.

NHS: Financial Tariff for 2015-16

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Wednesday 4th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

It is the view of Monitor and NHS England that providers of specialised services should make every effort to deliver care that is both clinically appropriate and cost-effective in order to manage demand—where, after all, their clinicians have significant influence. NHS England considers the proposed rule to be warranted—this is about the 50:50 split in the tariff—because rapidly growing expenditure that exceeds population prevalence growth is unlikely to reflect efficient and effective services, which, when one thinks about it, are in patients’ best interests overall.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

Going back to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, I am sure the Minister will have seen recent reports showing that there is a serious shortage of mental health beds in the health service at the moment. Indeed, I believe that at one point in the very recent past there were no more than four or five available in the entirety of the UK—or certainly in England. Parity of esteem is a fine phrase, but is it really being played out in practice?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, it would require a full-scale debate for me to lay out in full all the things that we are doing to promote parity of esteem in the health service. The noble Baroness is right that in certain parts of the country there has been acute pressure on bed numbers, but bed numbers have been increased in some of those areas, and NHS England is paying close attention to the need to ensure that those who need in-patient treatment receive it.

HIV

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 15th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the work of the Halve It coalition in raising awareness about the importance of increasing HIV testing. My noble friend is right that apart from ignorance often GPs are reluctant to discuss HIV testing or are unaware of the importance of early diagnosis and possible indicator symptoms. My department was pleased to fund the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health’s HIV testing in primary care project that provides a web-based interactive resource for GPs in primary care to help make testing easier in GP surgeries.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the biggest disincentives to testing is the amount of stigma that still remains against those who are known to have HIV? Alongside encouraging people to have tests, can he say what Public Health England is doing to combat that stigma?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. If we were to single out three things that are important in this context, they would be prevention, testing and tackling stigma and discrimination. The NHS, local authorities, government, community and faith groups, the media and individuals themselves all have a part to play in eliminating HIV-related stigma. Our framework for sexual health improvement is clear that action needs to continue to eradicate prejudice based on sexual orientation. That depends on building an open and honest culture where everyone can make informed decisions and responsible choices about relationships.

NHS: Accident and Emergency Services

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Wednesday 7th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. It is worth observing that while the standard is that 95% of people arriving at A&E should be seen and treated within four hours, that standard has not been met in recent weeks. Nevertheless, on average, hospitals are seeing and treating around 90% of patients. The department is working closely with the College of Emergency Medicine. Indeed, I have the college’s paper in front of me. I am well aware of the issues that it has identified, but it is worth noting that the college says that the latest figures show that in England hospitals and their staff have coped extraordinarily well.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm that staffing, particularly of emergency medicine doctors, is acute in the sense that probably enough are being recruited but not enough are being retained in emergency medicine and that there is a significant loss of those qualified practitioners overseas? What is being done to address that?

HIV: Stigma

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 1st December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, sex and relationship education plays an important part in exposing young people to the whole subject. Guidelines are available that schools must follow. They include sections on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases generally. As I say, secondary schools must follow those guidelines.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, building on the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, does the noble Earl agree that stigma starts very young? It builds on attitudes that are adopted by young people. The importance of PHSE programmes in schools is therefore very great. In what ways are his department and the Department for Education working together to ensure that these programmes are delivered—not just that they are recommended, but that they are delivered? Does he further agree that it would be a good thing if they were a regular and statutory part of the curriculum?

[Earl Howe]

I shall expand on my previous answer. Sex and relationship education is compulsory in maintained secondary schools, although not in academies. All maintained schools and academies have a statutory requirement to have due regard to the Secretary of State’s sex and relationship education guidance, which dates from 2000, when teaching sex and relationship education. The guidance makes it clear that all such education should be age-appropriate and makes the following points about HIV and sexually transmitted infections:

“information and knowledge about HIV/AIDS is vital; young people need to understand what is risky behaviour and what is not; young people need factual information about safer sex and skills to enable them to negotiate safer sex … Young people need to be aware of the risks of contracting a STI and how to prevent it”.

They also need to know about the diagnosis and treatment of HIV and STIs.

NHS: Hospital Waiting Times

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 10th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

A handful of trusts are unable to report the full range of figures on their waiting times. They are given support to enable them to do so either by Monitor if they are foundation trusts or by the NHS Trust Development Authority.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not believe that the House heard the noble Earl address the issue raised by my noble friend Lord Turnberg. It was not about cash but about share. Can he expand a little on why the share of GDP allocated to the National Health Service is set to go down?

[Earl Howe]

The share of GDP is only one measure. We have to take into account the state of the economy. If the party opposite had been elected to office, it had in fact decided that the share of the cake should be less than the one we have allocated. We have had to strike a balance and I believe that we have done so in a responsible way.

Health: Talking Therapy

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Lord’s perception would be shared by many, which is why we have been very clear in our mandate to NHS England that parity of esteem is of the essence, and we will hold the service to account for that. I do not have the specific statistics that the noble Lord seeks but we know that more people are being treated in secondary mental health services now than two or three years ago. However, the proportion who needed to be admitted to in-patient psychiatric care fell over that period, and that reflects increasing emphasis on care in the community.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, as someone who has benefited from CBT on a number of occasions, may I ask whether the noble Earl agrees that it is not just a question of whether people need the therapy but rather that they receive enough of it? Following the question of the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice, about the number of people who could benefit from this, what is the average number of sessions of talking therapy that a National Health Service mental health patient will receive and is it, generally speaking, enough?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness as I do not have that information in my brief. If it is available, I will write to her with the answer.

NHS: Accident and Emergency Services

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 25th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The answer to the noble Baroness’s question is yes. We are looking very carefully at workforce issues and the mix of skills needed in those A&E departments that have been struggling. I refer not simply to A&E consultants but also specialists in their field—perhaps alcohol is a good example—who can deflect the pressure away from staff looking after acutely ill patients.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, building on the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, is there evidence that current difficulties in the administration of A&E departments are discouraging young doctors from regarding emergency medicine as an attractive specialism? Are the Government doing anything to encourage them to look at emergency medicine more favourably and to ensure that, if they do so, there will be jobs for them in the departments?

[Earl Howe]

That is very much in the focus of Health Education England, which oversees workforce issues in the health service. There has been a shortage of A&E consultants for some time and Health Education England is looking at that area very carefully. A&E is a discipline that has not traditionally proved attractive to trainee doctors for a number of reasons. It is very stressful and the remuneration is perhaps less than in other areas of medicine. That needs to be addressed and is very much an area of scrutiny.

Public Health England Advisory Board Membership

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 4th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, yes.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

In view of the answer that the Minister gave to my noble friend a few moments ago about not operating a positive discrimination policy, is it possible or even likely that the next round of advertisements will also result in the appointment only of men?

[Earl Howe]

I simply cannot tell because we do not know which candidates have come forward. It may be that no women come forward. I hope that that is not the case. We make a point of advertising our appointments on the website of Women on Boards UK Ltd—the noble Baroness may be aware of it—which is an open UK-wide organisation for women seeking to leverage their professional skills, if I can put it that way, on to leadership roles. We will see what happens, but I assure the noble Baroness that while there will not be positive discrimination, there certainly will not be negative discrimination either.

NHS: 111 Telephone Service

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 13th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I agree. NHS England and clinical commissioning groups are engaged in that publicity. I think it will be a while before the general public are fully aware of what NHS 111 has to offer, but I have in my brief a series of very complimentary testimonials about 111 that show that many members of the public are already enjoying its benefits.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, would the Minister accept that many people who are not directly involved in the health services find it quite hard to understand why NHS Direct was dismantled in favour of the 111 service, which has clearly not been working terribly well? Does he agree that the fact that this change has not succeeded tremendously well does not give one great confidence that other changes that appear to have been relatively unnecessary will go through successfully?

[Earl Howe]

I agree. It is unfortunate that the launch of this service was not nearly as satisfactory as was planned. The adverse performance in certain areas of the country has rather overshadowed the very good, if not excellent, performance in other areas, so while not belittling the issue the noble Baroness raises, I think we have to get it in proportion.

Health: Tuberculosis

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Wednesday 24th April 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that the problem of multidrug resistance is not confined to TB; there are many other areas where we have every reason to be fearful about the development of drug resistance. Is the noble Earl satisfied that enough is being invested in research into the development of new drugs to be reasonably confident that we are making proper inroads into this problem?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the Government are supporting a range of research programmes to promote the development of new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines for TB. These include £6.5 million for the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, £23.3 million for the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and £10.5 million for the AERAS Global TB Vaccine Foundation. However, I will look into other areas of disease where there is drug resistance, and if I can supply the noble Baroness with further information I will be happy to do so.

Social Care Funding

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 11th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

First, I completely agree with my noble friend that the leak to the media over the weekend was highly regrettable. I do not know how it occurred. It certainly was not of my making or that of my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health. We wished to make this announcement to Parliament first of all, and I am sorry that that did not happen.

My noble friend’s second question relates to the national minimum eligibility threshold. We believe that that can be introduced in advance of the Dilnot package because what it is designed to do, as I explained earlier, is to give people greater certainty about their access to care wherever they live around the country, particularly for those who move from one place to another. That is a separate issue from those covered by Dilnot, although it was one of those which the commission considered. It is separate from the issue of the cap or the means test, which we believe can logically come in at a later date.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, as one of those in the Chamber today who is not an expert on social care matters, I ask the noble Earl whether he can reassure the great many people who are hearing about this for the first time as to what it means in practice for them when they have to start paying for social care—or, more particularly, when they become in need of social care. When we have a Budget, newspapers often produce ready reckoners, showing the impact of tax rises, reductions or whatever is being introduced on people in particular circumstances. Will the Minister encourage his department, and encourage his department to encourage local authorities, to produce the kind of information that ordinary people can understand, which will show them in easily understood, ready-reckoner terms what they will be in for if they need long-term care?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness on how important this is. It is quite complex to explain the whole system in words. The system will depend on the operation of a sliding scale which, by its nature, is difficult to describe other than pictorially. Nevertheless, the basics of the rules of these funding arrangements are straightforward and can be described. They are, as the Statement described, two essential elements, being the maximum level that people have to pay for their care—which we are setting at £61,000 in 2010 prices; £75,000 in 2017—and the means test, which is £100,000.

Of course, there are nuances around that, such as around couples and how the system will work for them. That is a question that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, asked me which I did not answer. At present, a couple could potentially face two sets of unlimited care costs. By protecting them from these costs, the reforms offer them significant benefits which need to be spelt out. In most circumstances, even if a couple both had care costs at £75,000, the level of the cap, they would contribute less than this because housing assets do not count towards the means test if one of the partners remains resident in the home. All those sorts of things need to be made clear. We will do our very best to work with others to ensure that these messages have not only the greatest clarity but the greatest coverage.

Health: HIV

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 29th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend is absolutely right that this is a complex condition. As regards a response to the BHIVA report, we are planning to publish an integrated sexual health strategy which will embrace all aspects of sexual health, including HIV. The vast majority of HIV in the UK is sexually transmitted. HIV and sexual health services are closely linked, as he will know, and we believe that it is in that strategy that the appropriate guidelines should be set out.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, will the noble Earl bear in mind that the stigma around people with HIV is still an extraordinarily important issue? Will he encourage healthcare providers to ensure that as much as possible is done to reduce this disincentive to people to come forward for testing?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness is of course right to say that stigma is an issue, and it is doubtless why many people do not come forward for testing. Through the National HIV Testing Week we are encouraging doctors in all parts of England to consider this matter and to see what role they can play in terms of having the right conversations with patients who are in the most at-risk groups.

Winterbourne View

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I agree fully with the noble Baroness. The aim and aspiration for this group of individuals is that they should benefit from personalised services. What that means is that their needs should be individually assessed professionally by multi-disciplinary teams. The noble Baroness did not do this, but there are some who suggest that we need to get rid of in-patient services altogether. There are individuals who will continue to require in-patient services, but these should be used only in very limited cases. We need to aim towards a situation where no one is sent unnecessarily into in-patient services for assessment and treatment. We know that that has not been happening. For the small number of people for whom in-patient services may be needed for a short period, the focus has to be on providing good quality care that is safe, caring and open to the community, which is another important aspect, and that people can move on from these services quickly. Planning starts from day one to enable people to move out of the in-patient setting into more appropriate care as quickly as possible. That comes back to intelligent commissioning.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, is it not the case that a great many workers in this sector are extremely low paid? Does the Minister think that there might be any correlation between the fact that they are low paid and the quality of care they deliver? I do not mean to imply that there is any excuse for the sort of behaviour that was revealed in the “Panorama” programme, but could any form of pressure be applied by regulators and commissioners to the commercially driven organisations that provide this care so as to prevent them continuing to employ people on very low wages to do such sensitive work?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, there is more than a nugget of truth in what the noble Baroness says. Many of us have been troubled for a long time that work of this kind is insufficiently valued by society, and that is reflected in the rates of pay. That is why I am a firm believer in raising skills in this sector as a reflection of the value we place on care workers. The programme that we have in train over the coming months should steadily deliver that. To come back to the commissioning question, I am also a believer in ensuring that commissioners should be satisfied that the settings to which they send individuals have an appropriate mix of skills to look after the people concerned. That has not always happened. There is no single answer to this, but I identify myself with the particular point she has raised about remuneration.

Health and Social Care Act 2012

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I am in tune with the sentiments that the noble Baroness has expressed. I am sure that she will be in no doubt that my department will be monitoring the implementation of the Act very closely. Of course Ministers will continue to provide information to Parliament—for example in response to Questions and in Select Committees and, indeed, in debates if noble Lords put down Motions. I am sure that we will provide a lot of information both on the implementation of the Act and on health and social care more widely in the months and years ahead.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

I wonder if the noble Earl can explain a remark that he made early in his original Answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, when he said that all government Bills are subject to post-legislative scrutiny within five years. I am sure that that is true in some way, but not in a way that I personally understand, and I am sure that it is not entirely clear to the House in what way such scrutiny is carried out. It certainly is not what is commonly meant by post-legislative scrutiny—that all Bills should be subject to it.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my understanding is that formal post-legislative scrutiny is a relatively new invention. It came in under the previous Administration in, I think, 2008. So until now there have been very few if any—there may have been one or two, a handful—formal post-legislative scrutiny processes. But we will, of course, see this as a more regular feature going forward.

Health: Smear Tests

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 13th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

Following that question, will the Minister tell the House how widespread uptake is and to what extent there is any difference between the various groups of young people in being prepared to take up the offer of vaccination? This is clearly the best hope that we have of bringing down the incidence of cervical cancer in the long term.

[Earl Howe]

The latest figure I have is that there is around 82 per cent uptake among eligible girls. However, for screening the uptake is lower. The figure I have for 2010-11 is that 78.6 per cent of eligible women had a test result in the past five years and 3.4 million women were screened. In the case of screening, it depends on whether the women themselves respond to the screening call. In the case of vaccination, it will depend on the attitude of parents and medical advisers.

Smoking

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Thursday 8th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I do not agree with the noble Lord’s analysis. It is true that, on current evidence, the legislation is having a beneficial effect; I would not dissent from that. However, we know that voluntary behaviour change is eminently possible. It would explain why, between 1996 and 2007 when the legislation came in, secondhand smoking exposure in children in England declined by 70 per cent. That was driven by not only the evidence but also awareness campaigns and increased awareness in the lead-up to the legislation. Therefore, voluntary action can have a beneficial and marked effect.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, since the Minister mentioned enforcement, I wonder whether he would like to comment on the issue more generally. I take the point of my noble friend Lord Foulkes about road safety issues that arise from smoking in cars, as well as health issues. Is the Minister content that enough is being done to enforce restrictions that are already in place, for example on the use of mobile phones in cars? Is it not the case that the burden of enforcement always will fall mostly on the police, and that they are unlikely to be able to carry out those duties very effectively when they are under such pressure to cut their numbers?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point. Currently, enforcement in the hands of the police centres mainly on dangerous driving. That may take the form of people illegally using mobile phones while driving or perhaps smoking in a dangerous way. However, I take her point that there is a limit on the extent to which the police can be expected to extend their remit. There is also a sensitivity in this area. The idea of police stopping a car in which somebody in the front seat is smoking on suspicion that there might be a child inside may stray over the boundary of what society would consider an acceptable use of police time.

Health: HIV/AIDS

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

Monday 5th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend makes a serious point. This is not a subject on which I or, as far as I know, the Government have a fixed view, but I will ensure that her question is fed into our deliberations on the sexual health framework document.

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall]

My Lords, as a member of the committee of the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, I ask the Minister if he agrees that the contribution made by the voluntary sector to the effort both to prevent and to inform about AIDS is very significant. It is particularly important in the combating of stigma, which, as he will be aware, is a tremendous impediment to the good take-up of treatment and testing. Will he reassure the House that funding to the voluntary organisations that are most involved in HIV/AIDS will not be affected by the cuts that are currently being undertaken?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I readily join the noble Baroness in paying tribute to those voluntary organisations, not least the Terrence Higgins Trust, which over the past 10 years has done a great job in leading the department’s national programme of work—we believe that that has contributed in a major way to the increased uptake of testing in clinics—while for African communities the African Health Policy Network has managed the department’s national programme, working with community-based groups in a very positive way. Those two groups in particular are being funded this year. No decisions have been made about next year because a tendering process will apply, but this work needs to continue in some form.