Consumer and Personal Debt

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 23rd October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

The report referred to earlier contained the staggering statement that more than 40% of Britons have less than £100 in savings as a buffer before they get into debt. That is one reason why my noble friend will be pleased to know that we have established the Help to Save scheme. It will help 3.5 million people save £50 per month over two years. If they do that, the Government will give a 50% grant, which represents a very substantial rate of return to encourage saving.

[Lord Kinnock (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister recognise that in our debt-dependent economy, average household debt is 150% of average household income? Unsecured personal debt is now back above £200 billion. Council tax and utility bills are at record levels of default and 40% of mortgage borrowers in our country have no experience of dealing with an interest rate rise. In those perilous circumstances will the Minister join others in strongly urging the Bank of England not to increase interest rates, which would devastate families, businesses and the economy and do nothing to diminish inflation, which is in any case largely the result of the post-referendum devaluation of the pound?

Aid and Trade

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I can confirm that, and I pay tribute to my noble friend for his work as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Rwanda and Uganda, as I do to all our trade envoys who carry out that important task around the world. If you compare 1990 to 2010, the number of people in extreme poverty has reduced by 50%. That has not been achieved through aid flows; it has been achieved through aid flows directed at improving economic development, which then lifts people out of poverty. That remains our aim, and trade is an important element of that.

[Lord Kinnock (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm reports that the Government are to quadruple, to £6 billion, funding for CDC, formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation? If so, will this not completely contradict existing stated government policies on combating poverty, increasing accountability and fighting tax evasion and tax avoidance, given CDC’s proven record of investing through tax havens?

[Lord Bates]

I can certainly say to the noble Lord that that is not the case in terms of tax havens. CDC is very clear that it does not use tax havens for investment, or to hide investments, but is a transparent international finance organisation that does tremendous work around the world. It invests in 1,200 companies, and safeguards and creates about 1 million new jobs. The CDC Bill, which has its Second Reading in the other place tomorrow, is simply to give the facility for that increased investment to take place, from £1.5 billion to £6 billion, because the former figure was put in place 17 years ago and we think it is time to look at it again. However, in order for that money to be drawn down, CDC will have to comply with the same rigorous business case requirements, on transparency of investments, that any other organisations would. I hope that that helps to reassure the noble Lord on that point.

Independent Schools

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The report indicates that 80% of ISC schools are engaged in some sort of partnership with state schools. I suggest that the noble Baroness looks at that point: indeed, she probably already has. The Charity Commission looks at the contribution those schools are making to the local community, and this issue is part of that. The report mentions a number of instances of independent schools assisting in teacher training and teacher support, but it is not quantified.

[Lord Kinnock (Lab)]

In order to promote this synthesis between the maintained and private sectors of British schooling, will the Government consider withdrawing charitable status from private schools and using the estimated £100 million that would be saved annually to reduce class sizes in the maintained sector, for instance?

Health: Cancer

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Thursday 11th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kinnock]

My Lords, I naturally join the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, in thanking the ever-vigilant, ceaselessly campaigning and profoundly knowledgeable noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, for initiating this debate. In my contribution, I want to focus on the need for improved measures of information, advocacy and treatment relating specifically to prostate cancer.

In the UK, around 36,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, making it the most common cancer in men. More than 10,000 men die each year from the disease—about 12 per cent of the total number of men killed by cancer. Only the rates of lung cancer exceed those figures among men. Prostate cancer mortality rates have remained almost constant for the past 20 years in the United Kingdom.

Against that background, I offer the argument that this major killer, which on average takes the life of more than one man every hour, should be a high-priority target of policy-makers and medical practitioners, as it is a disease which, if diagnosed early, can be very effectively treated and even cured in many cases. The requirement of early diagnosis is therefore vital. To fulfil it properly, however, several barriers of ignorance and cultural diffidence have to be dismantled, advances have to be made in the knowledge and practices of general practitioners, as my noble friend Lady Royall has emphasised on previous occasions, and far stronger efforts must be made to implement policies which have been approved by successive Governments but have not been applied with the necessary vigour.

The need for the first development—combating public ignorance—is graphically illustrated by the fact that, while at least 10,000 families, neighbours and workforces every year suffer the loss of a male relative or friend, seven out of 10 adults do not know what the prostate gland is or what it does. Forty-six per cent of respondents to a reputable survey earlier this year were unaware of the prevalence of prostate cancer. The same survey also showed that 70 per cent of the men questioned were not aware of the existence of the prostate specific antigen blood test, which so far is the only easily administered test that can identify a prostate abnormality and, helpfully and indicatively but not unerringly and conclusively, show the presence of cancer.

As a result of these factors, the simplest of measures to improve the quantity of life of men with prostate cancer would be hugely to increase printed and broadcast publicity about the nature and incidence of the disease, the need for the earliest possible diagnosis and treatment, the existence and the limitations of the PSA test and the right of men—recognised and accepted by the current and previous Governments—to make an informed choice about whether to have a PSA test, and to get the test on the National Health Service if they want it.

That established entitlement to make an informed choice is crucial. Indeed, I would make the argument that the full and effective exercise of that right requires the introduction of a national programme of screening that is comparable with the programmes for detecting breast, cervical and bowel cancer. The National Screening Committee has, I know, been consulting on this matter, and I would be grateful if the Minister could now say what, if any, conclusion has been reached on those consultations. I would also like the Minister to respond to the following questions.

First, it is now three years since the Department of Health’s cancer reform strategy recognised the need to explore new approaches to improving the information about prostate cancer and the PSA test. No new approaches have been introduced or even piloted. I would like to know whether action is going to be taken.

Secondly, the Government’s worthy and continuing policy—explicitly expressed by the Chief Medical Officer in July 2009—of recognising men’s right to make a universally informed choice about having a PSA test, and to be tested on the NHS if they want it, is commendable. However, that policy must be embraced by the cancer reform strategy, supported by much more resonant and widespread publicity, and communicated more directly and rigorously to general practitioners.

Finally, I emphasise the irreplaceable role of GPs in achieving improved knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. But I also underline the need to deepen and widen the awareness of GPs—a need which is made emphatic by the following survey results. 75 per cent of the 250 GPs surveyed by the Prostate Cancer Charity this year were not aware of government guidelines for delivering information to men about the PSA test. 75 per cent of those surveyed said they never or only occasionally had unprompted discussion about the PSA test with asymptomatic men aged 50 to 70. 15 per cent of the surveyed GPs said that they do not support the right of asymptomatic men to have access to the PSA, even if requested by the patient on the basis of an informed decision. These findings are cause for concern. I do ask the Government, forcefully, to take their responsibilities seriously, to implement their policies and to secure a new level of awareness and action, particularly among GPs.