Covid Contracts: Judicial Review

Debate between Lord Bethell and Lord Wood of Anfield

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, it is not for me to do the post-match analysis; that will be for those in the future. I reassure the noble Baroness that we have 32 billion units of PPE procured, including 19 billion purchased by the DHSC, 10 billion purchased by SSCL and 2.5 billion manufactured by our brilliant UK companies. We have 120 days of PPE ahead of us, and I can very confidently say that we are in great shape for anything the pandemic may throw at us.

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I declare an interest as director of the Good Law Project, which brought the action against the Government. Can the Minister clear up a confusion about this judicial review? In the wake of losing it, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, refused to apologise and said that dealing with the pandemic meant that breaching the legal obligation to publish within 30 days was “the right thing to do”. However, the case revealed emails showing that civil servants’ serious concerns that

“we are in legal breach”

were overridden in order

“to allow No.10 SpAds … enough time to be sighted and given full opportunity to comment”.

Why would the desire of No. 10 to provide comment on the mere publication of a contract legitimise a legal breach? Can the Minister explain the inconsistency between these facts and the Health Secretary’s professed explanation?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lord Bethell and Lord Wood of Anfield

Wednesday 1st July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord overstates his case a bit—it is 28% of Britons who are obese—but his point is very well made. We have undoubtedly been challenged as a nation because too many of us are overweight, and I say this with a degree of personal humility. As I said in my previous answer, there is a significant opportunity for this country to regard Covid as a massive warning shot and a potential inflection point where we address overeating and, as a nation, embrace the opportunity to get fit and lose some weight.

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, on Monday the Mayor of Leicester said:

“It was only last Thursday that we finally got some of the data we need but we’re still not getting all of it.”


Is he mistaken, Minister?

[Lord Bethell]

Yes, the mayor is mistaken. He has been presented with all the data that we had. He has sat down with public health officials and been through that data, which has been re-presented to him on several occasions. I am pleased to say that he has finally come round to the lockdown measures that we have recommended.

Covid-19: Testing

Debate between Lord Bethell and Lord Wood of Anfield

Thursday 14th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I pay tribute to Public Health England, which stood up the CTAS system that provided track and trace services at the beginning of the epidemic. I pay tribute to Dido Harding, the track and trace director whose appointment was announced earlier this week. I pay tribute to Professor John Newton, who provides scientific guidance and co-ordination for the track and trace programme.

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

My Lords, we have seen from the Covid outbreak at a nightclub in South Korea that speed is of the essence in ensuring an effective test, trace and isolate strategy. However, given the limited availability of test kits and the fact that it can take three to four days to process them, and in the light of the fact that what the Government called “operational issues” led last week to 50,000 tests being sent for analysis to the US, can we really be confident that the tests can produce sufficiently timely information to form the basis for a test, trace and isolate strategy?

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord is entirely right. Speed is essential and the South Korea example is a good one. More than half of our tests are turned around within 24 hours. I pay tribute to the track and trace team, who handled an extremely complex and difficult laboratory failure last weekend and used innovation to turn around 50,000 tests, the results of which were reliably given to people. However, we will continue to work on shortening the result times and getting the information back speedily so that isolation can happen in a thorough way.

Covid-19: Extent of Infection

Debate between Lord Bethell and Lord Wood of Anfield

Wednesday 22nd April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness speaks of anecdotes of which we are very aware. We are conscious of the stories coming particularly from America about a seeming correlation, if not a causation, between obesity and Covid mortality. Clinical trials and data on this are in short supply. The CMO has not made a declaration on it. But I share her instinct that there is a strong connection. As the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, suggested, fitness and diet will be important parts of our post-lockdown experience.

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

My Lords, we can understand the epidemiological value of antibody—serology—testing. However, I am interested in the public policy uses that may come from this testing. Is it the Government’s intention to use evidence of antibodies in individuals to say that some people rather than others can return to normal life sooner—particularly people of working age and younger rather than older people?

[Lord Bethell]

Serology tests provide important data on the behaviours of the virus. We still do not fully understand what kind of immunity and antibody response will be long-lasting in the body. There are mysteries to this virus that are yet to be solved; serology tests are vital to that and they can play a part in the back-to-work strategy. However, I would remind him that it is a tiny proportion of the population—probably around 5%— who have antibodies. We cannot put the economy back on its feet with just 5% of the population.