Covid-19: People with Learning Difficulties and Autism

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Monday 5th October 2020

(4 years, 2 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, let me clarify with an update on the numbers. As of 25 September 2020, 690 deaths from Covid of people with learning disabilities have been reported to the leader programme since 16 March. We have commissioned Public Health England to carry out additional analysis of the existing data, which will be published as soon as it is completed. We are not trying to hide from this issue. Covid has raised very serious questions about the impact of a pandemic on those with learning difficulties, who are often more susceptible to disease and mortality than others. We absolutely accept the challenge of figuring out how to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Therefore, we will embrace the opportunity to take these learnings and put them into a disability report at some point in the future.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, I regret that the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Hospitals and Nursing Homes: Do Not Resuscitate Notices

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Thursday 1st October 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, I welcome the testimony of the noble Baroness. We often keep track of Wales’s use of innovative health measures and, while I am not aware of this concept in particular, I will be glad to take the advice back to the department, recommend it and return to the noble Baroness with a response on how we are going to take it forward.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed—my apologies to the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes.

Covid-19: NHS Application

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Thursday 1st October 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, version 1 does not have an international component to it, but that is something that we would seek to develop. I emphasise that the app in its current form is very much focused on providing a huge amount of personal privacy and is therefore not an appropriate vehicle for putting in place any form of surveillance or quarantine management. That would be in breach of our arrangements with our technical partners, Apple and Google. Therefore, although I cannot give my noble friend Lady McIntosh a complete answer, I would like to hint that perhaps this will not be the vehicle for accelerating airport testing.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Covid-19: Tracking

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Wednesday 30th September 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, the point of the app is to support our tracing efforts and provide security among those who are in areas that are not socially distanced in order to alert them when they have been near someone who has recently had a test. The test results are not, as the noble Lord described, typically available after seven days. The figure is much lower and we have already found enormous support for the use of the app.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked and we now come to the third Oral Question.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Thursday 24th September 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, we are rolling out our response to the Green Paper on mental health for young people. That has included the implementation of mental health support teams, which will make a big impact. In addition, and in response to recent circumstances, on 8 September we launched a mental health well-being campaign specifically for children and young people through the PHE website. It encourages a personal mind plan and the use of a quick and easy interactive tool, and 2.5 million mind plans have been completed since its launch.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this question has elapsed. We now come to the fourth Oral Question.

Covid-19: NHS Long-term Plan

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Tuesday 15th September 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, the Chancellor has made it clear that catch-up support for the NHS to recover from the impact of Covid is an important part of his financial projections. However, I remind the noble and gallant Lord that we are investing in 40 new hospitals. It is a massive capital investment and the impact on our healthcare service should not be underestimated.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now move to the next Question, which is from the noble Lord, Lord Storey.

Covid-19: Self-isolation Payment Scheme

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Wednesday 2nd September 2020

(4 years, 4 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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The evidence base and criteria were our discussions with local authorities and community leaders on what an effective amount would be that would tip the balance in a personal decision to isolate. As I said earlier, those personal decisions are extremely tough. It was agreed with local infection teams and authorities that this was the kind of sum that would make a difference.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed, and that concludes Question Time.

Childhood Obesity

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Wednesday 2nd September 2020

(4 years, 4 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell (Con)
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My Lords, the Government are not planning a review of VAT at present.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Smoking

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Monday 20th July 2020

(4 years, 5 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell [V]
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My Lords, I completely hear the views of retailers. No one wants to put a retailer in an awkward position and I completely understand why they would support the introduction of licensing. However, that is not currently our plan and we believe that we can get to a smoke-free 2030 without introducing onerous and expensive new regulations of the kind that the noble Viscount describes.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now come to the fourth Question.

Pharmacies

Lord Fowler Excerpts
Monday 20th July 2020

(4 years, 5 months ago)

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Lord Bethell Portrait Lord Bethell [V]
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We are fully engaged with the sector. The National Pharmacy Association and the other stakeholder groups are in close communication with the department to ensure that they have the PPE, medicines and finances to keep going during the epidemic. The voice of the DPHs is involved in that stakeholder engagement.

Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.