Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Balfe Excerpts

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, I have two points and a question. On the borders issue, we do not need to get too worked up about the crossing of borders because, after all, people cross the border from London to Nottingham and places such as that. We need to make sure that the test-and-trace mechanism works.

From time to time in the past year, I have been on the Eurostar. One is not allowed on to the train to come back unless one has filled in the form and it has been registered by the border people. They take a copy of the form and register it. That is a condition of getting on the train. We probably need to tighten up there.

My second point is on vaccines. It is obvious that we should have pharmacies administering them. Do we have enough vaccines? Is the Minister satisfied that the amount being produced will be sufficient to get things done? If he wants to give some encouragement to the Prime Minister, he could say to him that if Britain can manage to vaccinate its people faster than the rest of the EU, he will certainly have seen a result of getting Brexit done because it will make him popular.

My third point is a question. Will the Minister tell me, or write, about the position of dentists and dental surgeries? I read the guidance issued at the end of last year and the priority groups included doctors, dentists and nurses, but are dental nurses included? What is the position of staff in dental surgeries? If they are being left to get their own vaccines, that is not satisfactory.