Biodiversity: Dasgupta Review
Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, as part of the spending review process, all departments are required to look at their bids in terms of their commitment to climate change and our targets in that respect. We have made a number of commitments on UK progress towards protecting 30% of our land and oceans by 2030, including additional funding at the 2020 spending review.
Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]
My Lords, Sir Partha Dasgupta has produced a truly landmark document which will fundamentally change life in many societies in this world of climate change. The Agriculture Act 2020 provides us with one means of progressing with some of the recommendations, but do the Government intend to press ahead and integrate other findings of the report in the Environment Bill, which they intend to introduce next year?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord is correct in his assessment of the importance of the Dasgupta review. I reassure him that some of the measures in the review touch on areas where the Government are already taking action. We will consider the findings of the review carefully. The Environment Bill already contains world-leading proposals, including for mandatory biodiversity net gain for development, and I believe we will be taking it forward this year.
NHS: GP Vacancies
Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Penn
Lord Clark of Windermere
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many vacancies there were for general practitioners in the National Health Service for England in July; and what were the comparable figures in (1) 2015, and (2) 2010.
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, in 2018-19, 1,398 practices reported 652 vacancies in the NHS Digital GP workforce data collection. Fewer than a third of practices submit data to the NHS Digital collection each year, and it is not possible to make estimates for practices that did not submit data, therefore a comparison between years cannot be made.
Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for her Answer. This small reduction in the number of GPs covers huge differences across the country. Can the Minister explain, for example, why there is such a shortage of GPs in parts of Cumbria, where there are even discussions on closing the purpose-built surgery in Windermere, the largest town in the national park, which would leave in excess of 5,500 locals and literally millions of tourists without any primary care cover?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, the closure of an individual practice is not something the central Government take charge of. However, the noble Lord is right that there are areas of the country where it can be hard both to recruit and retain doctors in general practice and other specialities. That is why the Government have put in place a programme of £20,000 one-off payments to recruit doctors in areas where recruitment is hard. The number of placements available under that scheme is increasing this year, next year and the year after.
Areas with Additional Public Health Restrictions: Economic Support
Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I will take that request back to the Treasury. I would be happy to meet local leaders, but it may be that someone else might be slightly more appropriate. There may be small businesses and sole traders that feel they might not qualify for the support, many of which actually would qualify for bounce-back loans. A further piece of reassurance that can be given to them is the change in repayment terms for those loans, bringing down the monthly repayments, should they wish to take advantage of that. I also emphasise to those local businesses that local councils in areas such as Leicester have been given funding to provide support for local businesses that might not meet one set of criteria or another but still rightly expect some kind of support from the Government. I urge them to engage with councils and ask how they can access that additional funding provided by the Government.
Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)
Has the Minister seen yesterday’s letter from the four mayors of the major cities of the north asking to be involved in the implementation of new lockdown measures? In view of their unique, detailed local knowledge, will the Government do so?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I have seen that letter. I have two things to say in answer to the noble Lord’s question on the implementation of local lockdown measures. First, local authorities have been given £300 million for locally implemented test and trace initiatives and a further £100 million of funding is available for local authorities which have higher outbreaks to bid into. In addition to that, £60 million has been made available for further enforcement of lockdown measures—£30 million for the police and £30 million for local authorities.