Covid-19

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Baroness obliges me to confess that, as a young man, I mastered the art of controlling my sneezing, and I am pathetically proud of this. I should be glad to share the skill with her should we have the opportunity to spend some time together.

[Baroness Prashar (CB) [V]]

I want to return to the question of masks. As we have already heard, the ending of the mandatory wearing of masks is causing anxiety and insecurity among clinically vulnerable people. Would the Minister agree that, given that the wearing of masks reduces the spread of the virus and causes no harm to the economy, it would be sensible to make it mandatory? Secondly, guidance recommends good ventilation in enclosed spaces. What assistance are the Government giving to those who need to install air filtration systems?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I will be crystal clear on this matter. The noble Baroness is right: the wearing of masks is important—for yourself and other people— which is why the Government continue to recommend that people wear them. However, the question was about mandation, and, as I said earlier, it is not reasonable for the Government to mandate minute aspects of our life in perpetuity. We have made a decision on that and passed the responsibility to individuals, local leaders and those who do outbreak management. I completely understand and hear loud and clear people’s concerns, but, were we to mandate it, what is the option for the country? Are we going to issue tens of millions of fines to those who do not wear masks? If they do not wear them, will we lock them up in prison? We tried extremely hard on that policy, but I am not sure whether it had any further rope to run.

Covid-19 Update

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Tuesday 6th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I wish zero Covid was possible. I wish we had never had it at all in this country, but it is a fiendishly clever virus and it gets around the measures we put in place to try to fight it. I can, very sadly, confirm that zero Covid is not something we can plan for in this country. What we can plan for is the winter. I reassure my noble friend that the NHS has extremely thoughtful and diligent plans for the winter. It has a specific winter plan and I would be happy to write to my noble friend with a copy.

[Baroness Prashar (CB) [V]]

Does the Minister agree that reliance on the good sense and responsibility of the public should be supported by clear guidance, backed by scientific evidence? If so, will he please tell the House whether the Government are planning to provide such guidance and explanation? How will it be made available in an easily accessible form?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, that is an extremely broad question. I reassure the noble Baroness that we have published thousands of pages of guidance, many of which have been across my desk, and it has been a privilege to read it all. We have developed better thinking on how we do guidance: I would like to think that it is now written in clearer English and in more languages, and has been made more accessible to those who have reading challenges. We have developed those important learnings over the pandemic.

Covid-19 Update

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Tuesday 15th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I completely accept the challenge. These anomalies exist and he is entirely right to beat up the Minister for this kind of stuff. It is unbelievably difficult to write guidelines that touch so many different parts of life, and I would not pretend for a moment that there is 100% consistency in everything that is done. But I have made the point emphatically: these things are done to save lives and protect people from infection. They are done with a heavy heart, having looked at the scientific evidence, with a sense of regret that we are letting down those with a passion for singing and religious worship, and in the hope that we can get rid of them very soon. We are taking concrete steps as quickly as we can to deliver the vaccines. In terms of care homes, as he knows, there is a consultation in process and that consultation is working its way through.

[Baroness Prashar (CB) [V]]

The Prime Minister rightly says that we have to learn to live with Covid. Therefore, does the Minister agree that, while vaccinations provide protection and effective test and trace is essential, it will continue to be necessary to take sensible precautions for self-protection if we have to learn to live with this virus and its variants? Does he also agree that there is a need for continuous public education and clear, consistent guidance to explain why these precautions are necessary? If so, apart from the effective rollout of vaccinations and test and trace, what plans do the Government have in the longer run for promoting a public education health programme?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I am enormously grateful for the question from the noble Baroness. She gives me an opportunity to lift my head for a moment and think about a brighter future, because she is entirely right. One of the possible benefits from this awful virus is a different approach to public health that is much more effective in fighting contagious diseases, where we have much more effective tests for everything from flu to RSV to things like Covid as well, and where we can get therapeutic drugs to people the moment they test positive so that they do not fall sick. We can use this investment in public health to help level up some of the health inequalities that have beset this country so heavily.

Covid-19

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Prashar (CB) [V]]

My Lords, why do we not have testing at airports yet? Leading figures in the aviation industry are expressing frustration and it is having a detrimental impact on the industry. Other countries have managed to introduce testing at airports; why are we lagging behind?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I completely hear the frustrations of the airport and airlines industries about testing, but I cannot hide from them the simple epidemiological facts. If someone arrives at an airport, they may not test positive if they are harbouring the infection deep inside themselves. It may take days—up to 14 days—for that infection to manifest. I wish it were different; I wish we could set our airports free. Until we find a system that can handle that complexity, I am afraid that we will have to live with the system we have.

Medical Teaching and Learning: Ethnic Diversity

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Tuesday 14th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, I completely agree with the noble Lord, Lord McColl, that complacency is our enemy. I recommend to him the NHS workforce race equality standard publication, which is very detailed in its analysis of the problem and is a guide to the challenge we face and a measure of how far we have come. I completely commend the achievements of those in the BAME community who often far outperform those of us who were born in Britain.

[Baroness Prashar (CB) [V]]

My Lords, we all know that incorporating diversity into medical school curricula is an effective way to develop culturally sensitive responses by medical practitioners. However, does the Minister agree that we need medical curricula where diversity is integral and understood in all its dimensions, including institutional and personal biases? Would he also agree that the current guidance, while welcome, is full of good intent but lacks conceptual clarity, and that more effective work is needed to develop a meaningful and more rounded curriculum and means to evaluate its efficacy?

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Baroness put her point well, although the broadband deficiencies meant that I did not get all of it. I emphasise that this area of policy work is very much the focus of the drafting of the People Plan, which will put a spotlight on a number of the areas of our human resources, including BAME people, and we look forward to the publication of that plan.

Covid-19: Care Homes

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The noble Lord is more expert on the history of public health than I am, but I do not doubt the story that he talked about. I reassure him that Covid has definitely made us all think again about the very clear priority that local public health provision must and will provide. I would like to pay testimony to those public health officials—public health directors, environmental health officers, infection control officers—who play, and are currently playing, a huge role in controlling the epidemic.

[Baroness Prashar (CB)]

My Lords, the Statement is encouraging on one level but very disappointing on another, since it does not recognise that initially there were delays and problems. Consequently, care workers in those homes were working in very difficult and distressing circumstances, often without PPE and on low pay, in many cases below the real living wage. Will the Minister agree that they deserve not just applause but proper protection and a real living wage?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, we ensure that the social care system is funded so that providers can pay the national minimum and living wages to care workers. Since the introduction of the national living wage in 2016, care worker pay has increased at a faster rate than before. I share the noble Baroness’s praise for care workers. As a group, our million-plus care workers have massively delivered for the country. They deserve our praise, our thanks and a tribute from this House.