King’s Speech

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that notice before I got up. In the brief few minutes I have, I am going to speak mostly about the Health Bill. The Bill is light in legislation, with 72 clauses and 48 pages, but it has 143 pages of schedules. One wonders whether most of the powers might therefore be through SIs and guidance, and that is what we have to explore.

I will concentrate my remarks on the notes produced by the Government following the gracious Speech. It is customary, as has been noticed over the last three days, that most noble Lords offer their alternative legislation to that which the Government are going to bring forward. This is evidenced by the 300-plus noble Lords who will have spoken by the close of business tomorrow. I will refrain from doing that; I will stick to what is in the legislation and follow the notes that have been circulated.

Early this morning, I listened to a podcast about health and social care. It was recorded just a few weeks ago, and the person who was interviewed was Andy Burnham. Some of the things that he reflected on in the podcast are in the legislation, but he focused mostly on social care and prevention in the wider sense. I do not want to predict the future, but I wonder whether we will have another Bill in times to come following that podcast. However, I put that aside.

Sticking to the Bill, I am grateful to the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, for introducing its health aspects, and I will pick up some of the points she made. The first is the abolition of NHS England. I accept that there was a disconnect between NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care that needed to be addressed, and this Bill tries to do that. However, in doing so, it gives wider and deeper powers to the Secretary of State and to Ministers, to the point of the ability to intervene both locally and nationally. That might be a good thing, if the leadership recognises that any intervention has to be for the benefit of the patient, but that will have to be tested in times to come. That is my anxiety about that— I hope that is not my phone I can hear ringing; it is not.

The Bill strengthens local democratic accountability in the health system by means of mayoral nominees on the integrated care boards. In some areas, such as Manchester, these are referred to as health commissioners. If the responsibility of the mayoral representative is to focus on local and regional healthcare and to drive the ICB’s commissioning powers that way, that will be most welcome.

There are other issues, such as the CQC now being responsible for patient safety. The CQC has not improved the quality of healthcare in all its time. There are issues around the recognition of the patient voice, which will be taken away from Healthwatch and put into the Department of Health via a patient experience directorate. I do not know whether that can be regarded as the patient voice.

In my last minute or so, I comment the single patient record—it is universally accepted that we should have a patient record that goes from GPs to hospitals to social care—but there are issues with the curation and use of this data and with who has ownership, which now appears to be in the hands of the department and the Minister, not the patient. We have to explore how this data will be released and to whom, and its relationship with the NHS data platform, which is contracted out just now to organisations such as Palantir. This is an important issue to explore in depth, which I hope we will do in Committee.

There are issues around ICBs and their role now as a commissioner of services, and the representation on their boards. That requires further exploration, because it appears that the local authority representation might now be removed.

I will engage with this Bill constructively, with a view to be helpful and not in any way to criticise. The 10-year health plan and the 10-year cancer plan are good documents to drive improvement in healthcare.

Vehicles: Purchase Price and Running Costs

Lord Patel Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I am very happy to outline what government policy is. As the noble Baroness will know, and as is always the case when taxes are referred to, all taxes are kept under review. It should be stressed that the reduced VAT on domestic supply reduces bills for households by £5 billion a year. Most people do not charge their electric vehicles exclusively at public charge points. However, I accept that that discrepancy exists and, as I said, we keep taxes under review.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister believe that the UK strategy on battery production is still viable, particularly given the recent media reports related to Britishvolt and the decision to move the production of electric Minis to China from Oxford? Does that show a loss of confidence in the strategy?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I do not think it is a loss of confidence in the strategy. The Government’s intention is that the UK remains at the forefront of EV manufacture, innovation and batteries; that is why we have the Faraday fund and the automotive transformation fund. All these elements are really important, but I accept that some companies will come into the market, and some will leave. There will be some flux, but at the moment, we are not concerned.

Transport Decarbonisation Strategy

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 19th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

My noble friend is right that we really must look at these plug-in hybrids and make sure that they do what they say on the tin. On ending the sale of diesel cars and vans in 2030, we will also consult on what zero-emission capability looks like, because some that would be for sale after 2030 could be said to have zero-emission capability—it is up to people to respond to that consultation and tell us what that actually means so that we can get carbon emissions down.

[Lord Patel (CB) [V]]

My Lords, battery and fuel cell technologies will both be needed to decarbonise transport. Why are the Government not showing the same leadership to make the UK the world leader in fuel cell technologies as they have shown in developing battery technologies, especially as in the UK we have some of the best scientists in the emerging science of fuel cells? I would be content if the Minister would much rather write to me and put a copy in the Library.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I am very happy to answer that question right here, right now. The Government are a leader in hydrogen; we have invested £121 million in hydrogen innovation, which is supporting a world-class refuelling network which we are looking to expand. We are funding demonstration trials across all modes and driving the development of hydrogen vehicles and the hydrogen production supply chain. In transport alone, we are investing £23 million in various hydrogen interventions. We are going as fast as we can.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel (CB) [V]]

My Lords, while supporting these regulations, I feel their scope is very limited. Scientific evidence clearly shows that Covid-19 is spread as an aerosol. The president of the Royal Society yesterday referred to the evidence that the Royal Society has published. Many other countries have made it mandatory to wear a face covering in all public areas, including shops. On the basis of the scientific evidence, should the Government not look further to see whether face coverings should be made mandatory in all public areas?

Visas

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel]

Does the Minister recognise that for some courses, such as pharmacology and medicine, post-study work visas for experience are absolutely necessary? Does he think that such courses require a special arrangement?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I fully accept that post-study work is essential to courses such as pharmacology. Actually, our proposals are more generous in that the post-study work has to be at graduate level, but does not need to be in the discipline read for the first degree.

Severe Winter Weather

Lord Patel Excerpts

Monday 20th December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, there is not a niggardly approach to distributing the salt. As for pavements, local people can clear them. The Statement that I repeated referred to the fact that people can clear the pavement if they want to. But the noble Lord is right to raise the issue of increased levels of injury through slipping. It is a big problem. A fall for people in their later years can be very serious indeed.

[Lord Patel]

My Lords, as someone who has had two and an half feet of snow, and dug myself out last night to get down the hill to get here, I know the problem of moving around. If the Minister believes in the science of climate change and the ability to predict what future winters over the next decade or even century will be like, how come the science of meteorology cannot tell me what the weather will be like two weeks from now?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the whole population complains about the art of weather forecasting.