Social Care: Sustainable Funding

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, can we hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell?

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton]

My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that while these complex funding matters are being considered, many local authorities are severely reducing the levels of support provided to disabled people in ways that can curtail their independence, prevent them from working and participating in public life and, in some cases, force them into residential care? Is he aware, for example, that Worcestershire County Council proposes to radically restrict the maximum value of an individual disabled person’s care package, offering them no other choice than to enter residential care if they cannot meet the shortfall? Surely the Minister agrees that this runs entirely counter to the White Paper and government policy?

NHS: Primary Care Trusts

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bach]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, perhaps we could hear from the noble Lord, Lord Soulsby.

[Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior]

Thank you, my Lords. This is an unfortunate Question in that it tends to imply that this system is widespread. However, my experience, admittedly only in one hospital in Cambridge —Addenbrooke’s Hospital—is quite the contrary. I do not know just how much my noble friend can comment on whether access for patients has been restricted nationally, but I would very much like to ask him to make sure that this Question is not a common reflection on the National Health Service and hospital service. I do not think that it is.

Care Homes

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Wednesday 27th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

The noble Baroness, Lady Campbell, is trying to get in.

[Baroness Campbell of Surbiton]

My Lords, in 2008 the Joint Committee on Human Rights produced a shocking report which highlighted some of the most degrading experiences endured by adults with learning disabilities in health and residential care settings. Four years on we are debating the same human rights abuses—this time highlighted by the CQC report, which shows excessive use of restraint and seclusion in assessment and treatment facilities. Will the Minister assure us that he will return to the JCHR and CQC reports and tell us what measures the Government will take now to protect the liberties and safety of this highly vulnerable group so that we do not sit here again in four years debating how we have failed for a third time?

Alcohol

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harrison]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, perhaps we can hear from my noble friend Lord Taverne and then from the other Benches.

[Lord Taverne]

My Lords, the Sheffield University report to NICE in 2010 pointed out the extreme importance of price rises. It came to the conclusion that a 10 per cent price rise would, among other things, reduce hospital admissions by something like 50,000 a year, crimes by something like 96,000 and absenteeism from work by something like 500,000 per annum. Very similar huge social benefits would also come from introducing a minimum price. Does the Minister agree that price rises are probably the most important single weapon in dealing with this social matter?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

My Lords—

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, there is time for both noble Lords. Perhaps we may start with the noble Lord, Lord Imbert.

[Lord Imbert]

In the light of the 60,000 alcohol-related calls answered by the London Ambulance Service alone and the 18,500 alcohol-related crimes of violence in London alone in one year, does that not mean that we should introduce a compulsory alcohol sobriety testing scheme which magistrates can use to sentence in order to reduce this awful number of offences?

Health and Social Care Bill

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, I think it is the turn of my noble friend.

[Baroness Jolly]

My Lords, health reforms rarely come at low cost. Can the Minister tell the House how much the previous Government’s health reforms cost between 1997 and 2010?

NHS: Waiting Times

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clark of Windermere]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

Perhaps we may hear from one noble Lord from the other side at a time, and then from my noble friend.

[Lord Warner]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. Blessed is the sinner who repents. However, will the Minister tell us whether in the light of this repentance, he will, following my noble friend Lord Beecham’s Question, look sympathetically at amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill which will give patients the kind of safeguards that targets did under the previous Government?

Health: Obesity

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Wednesday 19th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, if both noble Baronesses are quick, we can get both in. Can my noble friend speak first, and then the noble Baroness?

[Baroness Hussein-Ece]

My Lords, unlike the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, I have not really been there and done it, but I am full of admiration for him that he has. However, is it not shocking that 25 per cent of children aged between two and 15 are now classified as obese? Does the Minister share my concern that this serious public health problem is not simply a question of celebrity chefs or of parents being lectured about lunch boxes, it is about educating children and families on how to prepare fresh, healthy food? Is there any evidence that this is being done consistently?

Multiple Sclerosis

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

I know that my noble friend has been trying to get in and I think that we should let her.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, I declare an interest in that I have a daughter who has had MS for 30 years. Recent research announced in Russia indicated that they believe they are developing an answer to rebuilding the myelin sheath, which would be great progress in multiple sclerosis treatment. Can the Minister assure us that when that research is available we will follow it here and introduce it at the earliest possible time?

Health: Cancer

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harris of Haringey]

My Lords—

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde)]

My Lords, there has been no question from the Conservative Benches so perhaps on this occasion we can hear from my noble friend.

[Lord Mawhinney]

My noble friend, in his original Answer, talked about the importance of early diagnosis. Is he not concerned at the cascade of cases reported in the media of GPs sending patients home with flu symptoms and indigestion and not detecting the cancer until it is too late? What does my noble friend intend to do to improve GP training to assist the earlier diagnosis on which he rightly lays so much emphasis?

Health: Passive Smoking

Lord Strathclyde Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Glentoran]

My Lords, I wonder whether my noble friend would sit down.

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, we can speak only one at a time. I suggest that my noble friend Lord Alderdice speaks first and then my noble friend Lord Glentoran.

[Noble Lords]

Cross Benches!

[Lord Strathclyde]

Let us hear from a Cross-Bencher first and then from my noble friend Lord Glentoran.

[Lord Alderdice]

My Lords, on Her Majesty’s Government’s commitment after ratification in 2004 to produce a five-year implementation report, I note that the WHO website gives no indication that the report due on 16 March this year was in fact forwarded to the WHO. Will my noble friend confirm whether the report has been forwarded?

In addition, given the enormous amount of smuggled tobacco—accounting for some half of hand-rolled tobacco and 10 per cent of cigarette tobacco in the United Kingdom—what has happened to our commitment under Article 15 to deal with illicit tobacco and, indeed, to the protocol mentioned in the commitment in the Uruguay meeting of earlier this month to ensure that, by 2012, others will also fulfil their responsibilities?