Medicinal Cannabis

Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Lord Bethell

Monday 6th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

There is a difference between the issue of controlled drugs and that of access to regulatory approved drugs. The noble Baroness is right that medicinal cannabis offers huge hope to those in pain and with severe symptoms. However, it is only through the process of regulation, clinical trials and scientific proof that we can guarantee that the benefits of this important medical opportunity are truly exploited.

[Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, is the Minister aware of the predicament of the person who suffers chronic and unbearable pain from degeneration of the spine, the only effective relief for which is medicinal cannabis in the form of Bedrocan? Is he aware that her medication is not allowed to be prescribed by a GP on the NHS, that it costs her an unaffordable £750 a month to obtain it on private prescription, that she can obtain it at an affordable price in Holland, that due to the circumstance of the pandemic she cannot make that journey, but that she is none the less expected to pay the Dutch pharmacist for the medication being held for her? What is she to do, and how will the Minister help?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I cannot comment in detail on the specific situation the noble Lord refers to. I recognise the high costs of medicinal cannabis, and we have done an enormous amount to bring those costs down and to regularise the transport and regulation of those drugs, but this is the way our medical arrangements are made in this country. Private prescriptions are an option for those who can seek them, and we are working hard to get more of these medical cannabis treatments on the NICE schedule, but they require clinical trials.

Mental Health Services

Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Lord Bethell

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

I join the noble Baroness in paying tribute to those working in mental health in the NHS. They have kept services running in extremely difficult circumstances and their impact has been extremely powerful. Although we are aware of the deep threat of a mental health tsunami, as was warned, the evidence to date is that these people have done an amazing job of addressing the concerns of those who are suffering under coronavirus and the lockdown.

[Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic include loneliness, a sense of entrapment, income and employment insecurity, substance abuse, relationship problems, bereavement and other factors that are liable to be severe? Resources will be needed for many interventions. Is he aware of the growing evidence base on the important benefits of the arts and creativity for mental health? What plans do Ministers and NHS England have to accelerate the spread of social prescribing, supporting people with mental health conditions to engage creatively with the arts, culture and nature?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I completely recognise the noble Lord’s warnings. He rightly warns about the huge pressure of lockdown on people, and rightly mentions the benefits of the arts—particularly social prescribing, of which I am particularly supportive. I pay tribute to the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care, who has allowed me to bring Tilly, my working cocker spaniel, into the office to provide me and my fellow workers with some kind of support from an animal. I know that canine support is valuable. We are working hard to support the kind of social prescribing of which the noble Lord speaks.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Lord Bethell

Monday 16th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The Bill will arrive on Thursday and the plan will be published then. In terms of those who wish to attend the House, all I can do is share the advice of the CMO, which is very simple and very clear, but it is down to the choices and decisions of those here as to how they wish to conduct their travel and attendance arrangements.

[Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lady Thornton alluded to some confusion in the Government’s communications over the weekend as to their policy in regard to herd immunity. No doubt the policy is a nuanced one but is it possible for the Minister to state succinctly and definitively what it is? Also, I think the public are finding it hard to understand the Government’s new provisions on eligibility for sick pay and social security. In particular, will he explain what support the Government are giving to self-employed people in low-paid and insecure work who are now being told by the people they normally work for not to come into work and that they will not be paid? How are the Government going to protect them?

[Lord Bethell]

On government priorities I will be really simple and clear. The Government’s priorities are to save lives and to support the NHS. That is our objective and that is what we are throwing our energies into. In terms of sick pay and support for the self-employed, provisions for those have yet to be published, but when they are I look forward to them being discussed.

European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill

Debate between Lord Howarth of Newport and Lord Bethell

Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard) & Committee stage & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 14th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howarth of Newport (Lab)]

My Lords, Clause 13(5) contains a Henry VIII power; it is admittedly constrained by the specific subject matter and context of the Bill, but is none the less within those constraints a wide-ranging power:

“The power to make regulations … may … be exercised by modifying any provision made by or under an enactment.”


Henry VIII clauses are in principle objectionable, and in principle the Government ought always to explain to us why they think they are justified.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I am enormously grateful for the opportunity to respond to the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter of Kentish Town, and others. I thank all those who have contributed to this debate.

The noble Baroness put it very well; the importance of this measure should not be underestimated. As we leave the EU, protecting the rights of UK nationals in the EU and EU citizens in the UK, including EEA, EFTA and Swiss nationals remains a massive priority for this Government. It is a commitment that we have delivered very clearly in the withdrawal agreement, the EEA EFTA separation agreement and the Swiss citizens’ rights agreement. For those noble Lords who have enjoyed the pleasure of reading those pages, it is a really hefty chunk of the withdrawal agreement. The detailed and complex nature of these commitments is testified to by the large number of pages taken up describing them. For brevity’s sake, I will not go through these pages and will refer to EU citizens and agreements thereafter.

The dynamic nature of the EU’s social security co-ordination rules means that, following the end of the implementation period, updates at the EU level to the EU social security co-ordination regulations will be reflected in the agreement and therefore apply to those citizens within the scope of the agreement. The current social security system is dizzyingly complex. These updates are also very complex; they include minute changes to things such as definitions, the templates in which organisations communicate with each other and the line by line minutiae of the regulations. They ensure the clarity and delivery of benefits for citizens and the operational viability of the overall system. This clause ensures that the appropriate authorities, including the devolved Administrations, have the power to make regulations to align the domestic statute book with the amendments made in these regulations.

A question was asked about Henry VIII powers. I reassure the House that these provisions are focused solely on the regulations described in Part Two, Title III of the withdrawal agreement relating to social security co-ordination, as well as to the supplement, and deal only with matters arising.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

The Minister pointed out that the regulations are extraordinarily complex. Would he accept that, the greater the complexity, the greater the need for accountability?

[Lord Bethell]

No, that is a neat way of putting things, but it is not quite the point I was trying to make, which is that they are very closely defined in terms of breadth and that the detail of the regulations is so minute that it would waste the time of these Houses to go through them line by line. It is important for solidity and confidence in the system that they are expedited quickly and resolved without delay. Without wishing to give the game away regarding what I am about to say, the bottom line is that we simply do not have the legislative capacity in these Houses to go through all the complexity of the details as they arise at an EU level.

[Lord Bethell]

No; my noble friend puts it well, but I am alluding to the fact that there is a hierarchy of priority, and there are matters of significant policy and implementation that are of a sufficiently high level to warrant the attention of the House. However, this clause refers to matters of an operational nature, which are there to implement the agreed clauses of the withdrawal agreement.

There is no question of this clause being used to bring in new policy, new arrangements or the kinds of policy changes that, frankly, would warrant discussion in the Houses. That is the reassurance that I am trying to communicate to the House, that any changes in the actual policy and arrangements and the benefits of those in the 5 million, whom the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, accurately referred to, are absolutely not part of either the intention or the way in which these clauses are written.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

If there is no intention to change policy, why is Clause 13(5) in there?

[Lord Bethell]

All the arrangements within this part of the Bill are heavily constrained to Title III of Part Two of the withdrawal agreement. There is therefore no need to escalate to questions of policy; if there are questions of policy, they will be brought to the House but in a completely different way. The purpose of this clause is to make sure that there are no conflicts or inconsistencies in domestic law that refer to the current commitments within the withdrawal agreement, which could give unfair treatment and uncertainty about the rights and benefits of the 5 million in the group of people who benefit from these arrangements. It allows Ministers to protect the entitlements—