Covid-19 Update

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Monday 30th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

The noble Lord, Lord Balfe, has withdrawn, so I now call the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on the importance that he attaches to the safe return of fans to designated sports events, the reopening of many gyms and sporting activities across England, and the financial package announced last week for key sports in need of urgent financial assistance. Does he agree that we now need to help all clubs, particularly grass-roots clubs, to fulfil the critical role of ensuring that the population is as active and healthy as possible, to provide a strong counter to the Covid virus? Delivering and funding that objective must remain a key priority for the Government.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for the opportunity to mention sports and to thank him for his advocacy of sports, both national and grass roots, during the epidemic. He is entirely right: if there has been one striking aspect of the pandemic, it has been the way that the British public have missed the elite sports that they follow and support avidly, and have increasingly participated in their personal fitness and sport. I cannot help thinking that this pandemic will be something of an inflection point in the British people’s attitude to sport. I support the department’s campaign to encourage people to do more sport. We are doing an enormous amount to open stadia. I am pleased that we have new guidelines that will enable large stadia to open, albeit with social distancing. But my noble friend is entirely right that we must do more to support the grass roots, and I know that colleagues in the DCMS are doing as much as they can to help.

Covid-19 Update

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Viscount is better advised than me. As far as I understand, mass testing remains a central part of our battle against Covid and we remain committed to that programme.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, there is growing concern that the unique Pfizer vaccine, with an mRNA genetic molecule that cellular machinery reads in order to build proteins, could be incompatible with the World Anti-Doping Code for all sports men and women, including Premier League footballers and Olympic athletes. Since the World Anti-Doping Agency already bans the use of agents designed to impact genome sequences if they have the potential to enhance sport performance or provide unfair advantage, and pursuant to my noble friend’s very helpful answer yesterday, will the Government undertake to work with the World Anti-Doping Agency and offer comprehensive advice to the sporting world before any vaccine programme begins?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am extremely grateful to my noble friend for flagging up this important concern, which I acknowledge is a serious worry for those in the athletic and sporting arena. Colleagues at DCMS are aware of this concern. It is extremely early days and we do not know what the impact of the vaccine will be on the kind of protocols analysed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, but we have sought advice from the WPA on this matter and I will be happy to convey it as soon as it arrives.

Covid-19: Vaccine

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Baroness is right that we face a challenge. While there will be millions of people who will come forward emphatically to have the vaccine, there will be some who are either disengaged with the British Government or actively hostile to the thought of a vaccine, and we take seriously the disruption caused by those who seek to profit either financially or politically from the confusion and distress caused by anti-vax campaigns. It is not appropriate for me to discuss at the Dispatch Box the detailed measures we are putting in place to deal with the anti-vax message, but I can reassure the noble Baroness that they are focused, energetic and proving to be effective.

We also take seriously our efforts to reach hard-to-reach communities—those who might not have confidence in the Government or we might not have the right connection with. Those communities are exactly the ones we need to vaccinate, and we are making them an enormous priority in our efforts.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

Will my noble friend the Minister ensure that among the priority groups for vaccination will be the sportsmen, sportswomen and their entourages who are seeking to represent GB in international events during 2021, in particular the Olympic and Paralympic athletes who aim to qualify for and participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo? Will the Government urgently consult with the World Anti-Doping Agency to ensure that all approved vaccines are exempt from any possible breach of the current regulations on doping?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for that question, which is incredibly important because we all take our preparation for the Olympics extremely seriously. I am also grateful to him for giving me advance notice of it. There is a desire for all the UK population to be vaccinated, including those who represent the UK. Prioritisation decisions will be based on vaccine availability and scientific clinical evidence on the safety and efficacy within different population groups. The JVCI is the independent expert on this and will make the decision he refers to. The World Anti-Doping Agency is actively responding to the coronavirus outbreak as it relates to the global anti-doping programme and the regulations are evolving rapidly.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

I will follow the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, and his emphasis on the importance of exercise, and the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, on the critical importance of children in isolation. Will the Minister tell us what public health advice concerning physical well-being and mental health is being given to the young, who are often traumatised by having not just to stay home but to self-isolate as a result of these regulations?

The outstanding work done in this area by YoungMinds is worthy of national distribution by the Government. Its four pillars—“staying connected”, “staying calm”, “dealing with stressful situations at home” and “helplines and resources”—are critical. Guidance on mindfulness, social media, physical activity at home, and unfollowing or muting accounts that create anxiety, is important. We need a national information campaign to back these regulations, including advice on exercise at home and staying as mentally and physically fit as possible.

Joe Wicks led the way earlier this year, and the Government should fund such fitness programmes as the nights draw in. As test and trace increases its reach, this work for innately gregarious young people during these difficult days is essential. It is young people who are shouldering the lion’s share of the burden of this crisis, while the average age of someone dying from Covid remains above 82. When isolation is over and rejoining wider society is permitted, I repeat my plea to the Government to reclassify gyms, pools and leisure centres as essential services and to keep them open.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 2020

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, there is much in both these SIs and replacement local level regulations about permitted indoor sports gatherings. There has been significant publicity about differences between regions in the north when it comes to keeping gyms open. I would like to take this opportunity to emphasise how important it is to recognise that grass-roots sports and the safe use of gyms to sustain an active lifestyle are critical, not only for the financial security of these businesses but for the physical and mental well-being of everyone. The fitter we are, the stronger our resistance to Covid, the less exposed we become to the worst consequences of the disease, and the greater our chance of avoiding long Covid.

The positive influence of exercise is recognised alongside evidence that it is the fittest in society who are best placed to fight the disease. A recent publication in the Lancet concluded that the practice of any type of regular, moderate to vigorous physical activity appears to be associated with enhanced immunosurveillance and mucosal immune responses. This is likely to explain the significant risk reduction of community-acquired infectious diseases and infectious disease mortality, as well as an increase in the potency of vaccination.

I urge my noble friend the Minister and his colleagues across government in health, education and the DCMS to work closely together and back campaigns to reclassify gyms, pools and leisure centres as essential services. Some 400,000 signatories have been added to a petition today to stop the mandated closure of gyms in Merseyside, Wales and areas with tier 3 Covid-19 restrictions. I fully support the petition, for we must promote safe, healthy lifestyles among all sections of the population, and particularly the young, who have borne the brunt of the epidemic while, ironically, being the least exposed to its harmful effects.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Local COVID-19 Alert Level) (Very High) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted to have this opportunity to congratulate my noble friend Lord Moylan on his maiden speech in your Lordships’ House. It was delivered in record time, so he was unable to do justice to his considerable achievements.

I had the pleasure of knowing my noble friend when up at Oxford. His presidency of the Oxford Union provided a platform for him to display outstanding intellect and considerable debating skills, which he has put to good use in the City and local government for many decades. Despite his modesty, he has never stumbled but has moved seamlessly from challenge to challenge as a natural leader of people, with strength of purpose, a deep knowledge of the local government challenges to be faced and, above all, an instinctive ability to understand how local government impacts the lives of local people—a subject very relevant to today’s business before the House. I am certain that the House will be the beneficiary of his experience and insights for many years to come. He is warmly welcome.

I turn to the SI before us. The Minister will not be surprised if I make one comment about active lifestyles. It is well known that one of the strongest measures that we can take to tackle Covid is to reduce obesity, increase opportunities for sport, recreation and an active lifestyle, and ensure that we are as fit as possible. An active and well-balanced campaign to be physically and mentally strong is the best way of dealing with Covid. The campaign led by ukactive to keep gyms and leisure facilities open should have the total support of the Government. While it is critical to seek improvements in the way that we treat patients suffering from Covid-19, it is equally important that, where gyms and leisure facilities can be safely opened, they should be. I call on the Government to recognise that and not to close them during this pandemic.

Coronavirus Act 2020: Temporary Provisions

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Monday 28th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, at this seminal and important moment in our parliamentary consideration of Covid-19 legislation, we sadly find ourselves having to contribute not to a debate, as defined by intervention and response, but to a pastiche of parliamentary points of view. I intend to use my time to cover three key issues for the Government as we move towards a further six months which will no doubt witness a similar avalanche of Statements and regulations on the subject.

First, I echo many of the contributions today and ask the Government to ensure that parliamentary consideration takes place before, not after, the Executive have taken action. The Government will be surprised by how much they will benefit by listening to recommendations regarding the content of their proposals. Above all, they will need to present them clearly, on time and in a sympathetic and concise way. Making appropriate parliamentary time available would not be an impediment where there is political will. Consideration of outdated legislation, which we have done over successive Fridays, makes a mockery of parliamentary scrutiny. For background reading on the importance of this issue, I recommend taking careful note of the contributions made by my frustrated noble friends Lord Forsyth and Lord Dobbs, whose views I fully endorse.

Secondly, please can the Government, the university authorities and all involved with young people and education treat young people with respect and sympathy, not with threats, intimidation and the imposition of a far stricter regulatory framework than elsewhere in society? Reassurance, sympathy and clear guidance to university undergraduates is needed. I was at home in Scotland over the weekend talking to parents of students at Glasgow University. One mother said that her son, away from home for the first time, said he felt lonely and imprisoned. He had already isolated for 10 days when three students in his bubble tested positive, although they were asymptomatic and learned of their condition only through tests. He was now to be isolated for another 10 days. A return for Christmas with his family was in question, and he faced disciplinary action according to threatening emails received from university authorities. He was left in his room with less space to move around than the average prisoner. Everyone wants good government, but clarity of messaging and sympathy are essential. We have had months to prepare for the return of students to universities. I hope that a priority for the Government over the next six months will be a focus on young people with clarity of messaging about next year’s exams, improvements to online teaching over dodgy internet connections, respect for their rights and sensitivity to the fact that they can barely afford to pay fees and accommodation costs, and face the prospect of even larger loans than they have ever faced for a much reduced service.

Finally and critically, there are the sports bodies which currently face a crisis which could further damage the young and create a lost generation of activity. As has been noted in the latter part of this debate, the future of the sector is perilous. The arts industry received £1.57 billion in July. Professional sports bodies returned to televised competition at the request of the Government but no professional club in, for example, rugby has any gate income, and without that, which can be arranged in a Covid-safe way, large wage bills continue to be paid. Players have on occasion taken major pay cuts, and numerous redundancies have been made. They would have been able to cope if fans had been allowed back under strict safety controls in the stadia. The time is now, as evidenced around the world, for a return of fans in a limited, Covid-safe manner—unlike closing time at 10 pm in city centres. As my noble friend Lord Naseby eloquently put it, the young are at the forefront of the measures necessary to improve health, well-being and the improvement of the lives of local communities. We should now look to the sport, recreation and activity sector to tackle growing societal issues, including reducing health inequalities, obesity and crime, easing loneliness and enhancing social cohesion in the long winter months when we will be living with Covid. I urge the Government to take action.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Fookes) (Con)]

My Lords, the next speaker was omitted from the list in error. I call the noble Lord, Lord Wigley.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions on Gatherings) (North of England) Regulations 2020

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Friday 25th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, in these regulations it is young people, who are least affected by the virus, who are taking the lion’s share of the burden in the north and throughout the UK. Young people, who are instinctively gregarious, are living with their school lives damaged. They are often the first to be quarantined and yet are expected to attend schools which have had to sacrifice school sport and activities on the altar of academia, necessarily prioritised under Covid. As my noble friend Lord Forsyth said, they have had to trade in a university experience for a remote online degree course, often in a closed single room, while having to pay the same costs charged by universities, which have closed the opportunities for sport, an active lifestyle and social and cultural engagement, which have been at the centre of the university experience for generations.

For those who started work coming out of school, college or university last autumn, it was the young who were victims of a furlough scheme, which was constructed on a year’s employment contract, without which the employee had to pay everything to keep them. It was no surprise that young people were the casualties of a “last-in-first-out” policy, making them three times more likely than employees in general to lose their jobs. It was young people who woke to see apprenticeships and internships go up in smoke. It is young people who have no chance of a first step on the ladder when companies are making existing employees redundant—a generation of young people more obese and more prone to suicide, mental health issues, boredom and loneliness than any other in living memory.

When the Government come forward with their promised and overdue sports recovery programme, will the Minister recognise that a physically and mentally fit and active cohort of young people is critical and, in health terms, beneficial in the fight against Covid? Will he ensure that it is about not only the survival of clubs hammered by Covid, but also about the people served by the clubs, the young who have no team sport opportunities now or on the horizon? If not, we will have let down a generation of young people, not only those in the north or Glasgow, but a whole generation who should not have borne the brunt of a disease which least affects them.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Friday 18th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I intend to focus my remarks on the exemptions made in paragraph (4)(b) in Regulation 5B in Part 2 of Statutory Instrument 2020/907, where

“the relevant gathering is necessary for the training of or competition between elite sportspersons”.

While this is welcome, many sports event organisers are in the dark and unable to fully prepare for the impact of the restrictions and readily work out what they can, and cannot, lawfully do. If the idea of the more recently introduced rule of six as applied to elite sport was to simplify the law for the general public, does my noble friend accept that recent announcements regarding grouse shooting and polo imply that any recognised sport or recreation can be exempt, whether or not elite?

There was an announcement under the rule of six that sports gatherings for people who are not elite sportspersons to

“take part in any sport or other fitness related activity”

are also exempt from the gathering limits, provided they are run by businesses or other organisations and operate Covid-safe protocols. Can my noble friend confirm that any such gathering can now be exempt over and above elite sportsmen and women, providing they are run by a business, in its widest legal definition?

Are the Government comfortable with the word “elite” in this legislative context of sport? Many sports and pastimes are now rapidly looking to rebrand themselves as elite—currently the only level of competition allowed to resume save behind the closed doors of defined places, including schools. Is there a clear definition between playing sports formally and informally? If so, it would be useful to understand it. Am I right in understanding that, while formal training with a football team, for example, is permitted, a social kick-about in the park with more than five friends is not, unless it is run by a business or a self-appointed sporting body?

Recreation is critically important in times of local lockdowns, and we need legislative clarity where sport and recreation are concerned.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Friday 24th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Moynihan (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. I welcome the exemptions made for elite sportspersons in Regulation 5 and have a number of questions in this regard. First, these regulations apply to England. Is it the case that, for example, a Scotland-based athlete who is a member of or recognised candidate for the British team looking to compete in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics might not receive the same legal treatment regarding their ability to train with their team in Scotland, but would be permitted so to do in England? It is a British and Northern Ireland team for the Olympic Games, yet these regulations apply only to England.

There is also mention in the regulations of Scottish and Welsh teams competing in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Do these regulations apply to those resident in Wales, Scotland and the other countries mentioned, since they are named in the regulations? No doubt this has been taken into account through bilateral negotiations with the devolved assemblies, but it would help all concerned if the Minister could clarify how matters stand on this for British athletes normally resident outside England.