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

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Department: Department of Health and Social Care

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

Baroness Barker Excerpts
Friday 24th July 2020

(3 years, 8 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Barker Portrait Baroness Barker (LD) [V]
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My Lords, had these regulations been provided in April with proper consultation, they might have been credible, but today, with our “world-beating” track and trace system, which fails to notify 20% of contacts of people who have tested positive, and with Public Health England releasing data to local authorities only once a week and without patient identification, they are highly questionable. When will local authorities be given real-time data and the powers that they really need—for example, to instruct the opening of facilities such as toilets? When will the Government release the scientific basis for treating different businesses in inconsistent ways? Will they monitor the differential impact of these regulations on black and minority communities, and will they act swiftly to end such discrimination?