Exercise Pegasus 2025

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

We are very grateful to the noble and learned Baroness and her inquiry into Covid-19. Exercise Pegasus came out of one of the recommendations in module 1 of the inquiry, so we are reflecting on its recommendations as they are made. We have guaranteed that there will be one major tier 1 exercise per year and to publish their findings every year, which is an important part of it and one of the key recommendations that has already come from the noble and learned Baroness’s review. We look forward to her recommendations going forward.

[Lord Blunkett (Lab)]

I do not want to put my noble friend the Minister on the spot, but will she take cognisance of what has happened with the noble and learned Baroness’s interim report in relation to the use of statistics and the suggestion that a week-earlier lockdown would have saved 23,000 lives? The reliance at the time on certain academics, particularly at Imperial College, and the reliance of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hallett, on statistics from Imperial College, are extremely worrying because they have been debunked. Can my noble friend ensure that people are asked to really check the robustness of the analysis and the statistical methodology when they are going forward with Pegasus or other reports in the future?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My noble friend is right that my statistics may not be someone else’s statistics. We should always interrogate the data that is being put in front of us.

Creative Industries: Research and Development

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Duncan of Springbank]

The simple answer to that question is yes, I will do that.

[Lord Blunkett (Lab)]

My Lords, I wonder whether we could use a bit of creativity in terms of how a public/private partnership in investment in R&D could reflect the needs of the nation as a whole, so that when the Government think about a critical mass they do not simply, for the north of England, think about Manchester. Given the Minister’s heritage, does he agree that if Scotland were treated as badly as Yorkshire —Yorkshire has a larger population than Scotland—there would be an SNP cry for something better? If we are to keep our nation together, we need something better for the east of the Pennines.

[Lord Duncan of Springbank]

I agree with the noble Lord. On a bizarre point, I was criticised over the Christmas period for drinking not Scottish tea but Yorkshire tea. In Scotland, even on these issues, grievances can be found. He is exactly right: there would no doubt be a problem if we treated these individuals as if they were competitive. There should be a constructive advantage to working together and seeing the collaboration that can lift all parts of the United Kingdom to the wider benefit of all.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

One of the ways we can make the NHS more accountable is through the better combination of the NHS and local government. That is what our proposals envisage. That is the best way to make sure that there is good democratic accountability for what happens in our NHS.

[Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

Q11. The Government have not yet factored into their future Budget proposals the sell-off of the bank assets that we own. Given the Prime Minister’s commitment to volunteering and the dire straits that many young people face because of unemployment, will he consider an endowment fund for a nationwide volunteer programme, building on the six-week national citizen service and benefiting individuals and the nation as a whole?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman makes an extremely interesting suggestion. Obviously, there will be an opportunity to sell the bank assets that we own. I do not think that that opportunity is right now, or that we should wait to get national citizen service, which he rightly mentions, up and running. I want to see every 16-year-old in our country have the opportunity to take part in something like that to make them feel more part of our country and recognise the responsibilities that we all have as we move towards adulthood.