London Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012: Legacy

Debate between Lord Grocott and Lord Kamall

Monday 10th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for that warm welcome. Indeed, if noble Lords will allow me, I also thank the Labour Front Bench and others for welcoming me to my new post. I look forward to working constructively with noble Lords across the House. On my noble friend’s question, he is absolutely right that it is important not only that we continue to see the social, economic and cultural benefits of hosting these events but that we learn from these events. For example, from the things that we learned from London 2012, when it came to the Commonwealth Games, we asked whether we always need brand-new facilities or whether we could upgrade existing facilities that would definitely be used by the community in the future. There are a number of lessons that we learn from each of these events.

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

My Lords, is not one of the huge benefits of the circumstances in which the Olympic Games took place the fact that they were available on free-to-air television as one of the listed events? Does the Minister share my concern that, over the years, there has been a seemingly inextricable tendency for successful national sporting events to move from free-to-air television to subscription television? Does he think that—with, for example, no international cricket or international golf among the listed events—it is high time that the list was revised?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The noble Lord makes an important point, which a number of noble Lords have raised with me since I took on this position. While there are some events for which there is a lot of consensus that they should be free to air, there are others who say, “Maybe not that sport or this sport or this event.” It will require a lot of conversations to make sure that we have a list on which there is wide consensus.

Diabetic Prevention Programme

Debate between Lord Grocott and Lord Kamall

Thursday 23rd June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

My Lords, further to my noble friend Lord Brooke’s Question about the drop-out rate and his suggestion of an independent review, what mechanism is there for assessing courses that clearly are not as successful as they might be if there is such a high drop-out rate?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The point is about what we learn. For example, some noble Lords will have seen stories about the impact of minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland. Clearly, it did not turn out as intended because the review found that people from poor communities were spending more on alcohol, rather than the alcoholism rate being affected. In this case, we have learned that the nine-month programme and some of the other processes behind it clearly lead to a drop-out rate. We are looking at other programmes. One of the great stories we have seen is the use of digital and other forms of access. If we can roll that out as well with community programmes, it might be a better way of doing things.

NHS: Nurse Recruitment

Debate between Lord Grocott and Lord Kamall

Thursday 27th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My noble friend makes a valuable point about the cost of agency nurses, which is why we have the goal of recruiting 50,000 nurses. We are looking at completely different pathways to ensure that we can encourage people into nursing. I do not have the statistics with me, but I will write to my noble friend.

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

The Minister referred to ethical recruitment of health service professionals from overseas. Can he explain to us precisely what he means by ethical recruitment from overseas?

Public Health: Night-time Working

Debate between Lord Grocott and Lord Kamall

Thursday 6th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

A number of noble Lords have made the very important point that there is clearly an impact on individuals of working at night, including fatigue, wider pressures and disruption to family life. The sleep review has looked at this and reported just before Christmas, after consulting a wide range of stakeholders. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will publish its report in the summer of 2022, I hope.

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

My Lords, given that so few people work night shifts from choice—some do but most do not—is it not ironic that, very often, these night-time jobs are quite low paid? Is it not a strange commentary on our society that, all too often, the people working in the least popular and more difficult and challenging jobs are also the lowest paid?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

One of the issues of technology is how it has changed the nature of work. We have seen over time how older jobs have disappeared and new types of jobs and industries and different working practices have appeared. It is really important to make sure that workers, wherever and whatever times they work, get the best facilities and conditions possible. Sometimes that is done directly by unions, which work with employers and companies, and other times it is done directly, but it is important. One of the things we are looking at in the review is how deprivation of sleep affects many people, especially those who work at night.