Covid-19: Response

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness raised the data protection impact statement, which I have read. I did not find it confusing; I thought it was extremely straightforward and it has been welcomed by a large number of the privacy groups I have spoken to.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

A few minutes ago, responding to the Front-Bench questions the Minister said that the heart of the Government’s message was that

“people who have symptoms must isolate themselves”.

How does the Minister square this with what he said to me last Thursday? He said:

“No one working in the NHS should go to work if they feel ill or have a temperature”


but that this

“is not necessarily true for people who work in normal workplaces.”—[Official Report, 14/5/20; col. 806.]

We were of course at that point talking about care homes. If we look at the Government’s launch last Tuesday for the document Our Plan to Rebuild, this says:

“If a negative test is returned, then isolation is no longer required.”


If the Government’s position has changed, should this not be made clear to the public?

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness undoubtedly knows that anyone who is ill with anything whatever should not go to a hospital. Being ill is not the same as having the symptoms of Covid-19. Anyone who has the symptoms of Covid-19 should isolate immediately.