World Health Organization: Pandemics

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now come to the third Oral Question. I understand that the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, intends to ask this Question on behalf of the noble Baroness, Lady Nye.

ONS: UK Life Expectancy

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I think that healthy living and life expectancy is a strategic marker. We are naturally focused on it and, in particular, the disparities between communities, which have been alluded to by a number of noble Lords. The huge gap between life expectancy in Blackpool and west London is extremely disturbing, and something that the Government are highly focused on. These are complex issues. They involve government policy—as the noble Baroness quite rightly points out—but also personal behaviours, and it will very much form part of the NHS plan going forward and the rebooting of the NHS in a post-Covid world.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Covid-19: Vaccinations

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I completely understand the noble Lord’s impatience to know that. I am afraid that I cannot provide him with a precise date. One reason why is because we do not know the availability of the other vaccines. As he knows, the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Moderna vaccine and three others are all in the pipeline at the moment. If they get authorisation from the MHRA, that will completely change our deployment programme. At the moment, we are putting in place contingency measures for an uplift in our deployment should any of those be authorised; that will lead to a major growth in our deployment plans.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. Oral Questions have now finished.

Anti-obesity Strategies

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My noble friend makes an incredibly thoughtful, practical point. Of course, it is easier to tell whether someone is abiding by their obesity commitments if you see them face to face. With regard to schools, I remind her about the hundreds of millions of pounds going into school exercise through the sugar tax payment. That is completely transforming exercise in schools and will have a profound effect over many generations.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Suicide

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Baroness is entirely right that self-harm is an alarming, distressing and rising phenomenon among young people. I welcome the report that she describes, and commit to having a good look at it, when it is published.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Covid-19: Local Restrictions

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I apologise to the noble Baroness for disrupting the lives of local officials, but this disease is completely unpredictable. It is prevalent where we least expect it and it travels long distances very quickly. It is a fact of life—one that local authorities will have to get used to—that we cannot always predict where it is going to pop up and that fighting this epidemic is going to require fast action, which is why we have brought about the kinds of regulations that we will debate in this Chamber later this afternoon.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Folic Acid

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Baroness is entirely right to explain and expand on the wider benefits, but the benefits in respect of NTDs are extremely persuasive in themselves and the consultation focuses on them. I understand that it is an analysis of those benefits that will form the basis of our decision-making.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Mental Health Services

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ramsbotham (CB)]

My Lords—

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

I am sorry, but I think we have lost the connection. I will call the noble Baroness, Baroness Verma, and then come back to the noble Lord.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Bethell]

One thing that Covid has thrown a light on is that digital communications have been greatly improved; the use of video conferencing in mental health services is one of the things that have helped. Groups that do not have access to video conferencing need to be reached in other ways. We are working on using telephones and community outreach to do that. My noble friend is entirely right that this needs to be a focus of our work.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker]

I return to the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham.

[Lord Ramsbotham]

My Lords, does what the Minister has said apply to prisons and probation?

[Lord Bethell]

I pay tribute to the Prison Service, which in extremely difficult circumstances has managed to provide pastoral care and clinical segregation in our prisons in a way that has completely outperformed expectations. The effect in prisons has been profound and the mental health of prisoners is concerning. The degree of lockdown in prison cells is an awful aspect of this disease, and undoubtedly we will have to work very hard to manage and deal with the mental pressures on prisoners, which are extremely unfortunate.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. The Virtual Proceedings will now adjourn until a convenient point after 12.45 pm for the Motion in the name of the noble Baroness, Baroness Stedman-Scott. Proceedings in the Chamber will be taken at a convenient point after 12.30 pm.

Care Homes: Covid-19 Testing

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord gives powerful personal testimony. I cannot possibly argue with the details of his story, but I reassure him that the data I have is that the turnaround time for tests is, in the vast majority of cases, radically less than what he described. We are on course for hitting the target of 48 hours for a very large number of tests and 24 hours for a lot of tests.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. The Virtual Proceedings will now adjourn until a convenient point after 1 pm for the Motion in the name of Baroness Boycott. Proceedings in the Chamber will be taken at a convenient point after 12.30 pm.

Covid-19: Personal Protective Equipment

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness raises a good point. I do not know the precise answer and would be glad to write to her with a clear answer.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

Lord Hannay of Chiswick. Lord Hannay? We will go on to the noble Baroness, Lady Ramsay of Cartvale.

[Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale (Lab)]

My Lords, I have been puzzled—not for the first time—on the PPE distribution question. The UK has always had a system and structure of deciding on priorities of threats to the security and well-being of the United Kingdom. Pandemics have been on that list and given very high priority for a number of years. If that system is functioning, as it normally does very well, how can we have this problem of production, procurement and distribution of PPE? Is it working as it used to? If not, is that because there has been a lack of resources into it in recent years?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord asked for clarity; let me be clear. The NHS is the client. The department of health pays the bills. Other departments are doing their bit to help. We are very grateful to the Cabinet Office in particular for providing contract and procurement staff, and we are thankful to all other departments that have lent us their staff or their logistical skills in delivering our PPE commitments.

[The Senior Deputy Speaker]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. The Virtual Proceedings will now adjourn until 1 pm for the debate in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Wheeler.