argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Randox Covid Contracts — House of Commons, 2021-11-17
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for running through the dates. She may recall that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care came to this House in, I believe, July of last year to announce that 750,000 Randox tests that were being used in care homes had to be withdrawn because they were faulty. Subsequent to that announcement, the Government awarded a £350 million contract to Randox. Why?
Randox Covid Contracts — House of Commons, 2021-11-17
Topic: Health
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (Labour, Centre-left): May I just correct a couple of things that the Minister has said? First, Exercise Cygnus and Exercise Alice both identified shortages of PPE should there be a global pandemic, although it was never a question of if; it was always a question of when. Secondly, on the procurement disaster, the Minister should not forget that the Government were found to have acted unlawfully in the publication of their contracts in the action that I took with the Good Law Project and other hon. Members.
Randox Covid Contracts — House of Commons, 2021-11-17
Topic: Health
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): Beyond being a get-rich-quick scheme, does the hon. Gentleman share my concern that there are longer-term implications about where the data from the testing being done by Randox goes? When I completed a Randox test the other day, I noticed that the system does not seem to fit with the NHS and there is seemingly no data sharing between the Randox tests and the NHS. Does he know more about that?
Randox Covid Contracts — House of Commons, 2021-11-17
Topic: Health
Anneliese Jane Dodds (Labour, Centre-left): Many thanks to my hon. Friend; she is absolutely right that we have seen failure upon failure upon failure to meet the targets that were set, as she knows very well from her experience in this place and her focus on health matters. I find it extraordinary that the process of the Health Secretary having to call on others so that Randox could deliver what it had promised was described as an example of the "triple helix". I remember those days very well. I remember academics begging the Government to come to them because they said that they could deliver the testing that our country needed. Were they listened to? We all know what happened: they were not listened to—they were ignored when our country needed that testing. This was an example not of collaboration, but of outsourcing that failed spectacularly on the Conservatives’ watch.
Randox Covid Contracts — House of Commons, 2021-11-17
Topic: Health
Karl Turner (Labour, Centre-left): I know that the Minister has not managed to answer the question that I posed earlier, but Arco, in the city of Hull, had existed for 135 years, had provided top-quality products to the NHS since its very inception, and could not get on the VIP lane. Why was it blocked?
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Stability and Peace — House of Commons, 2021-12-02
Topic: Defense
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): For the record, there has to be a strong EUFOR presence, but it has only 750 people at the moment, so it is too small. It is not up to this country alone, but what can we do to ensure that we empower EUFOR to act as a real deterrent?
Arts Courses: Funding Reductions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Culture
Questions: What recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of reductions in funding for arts courses in higher education on the provision of those courses.
Matthew Raymond Western (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome the Secretary of State to his place. As a neighbour, and possibly a friend, it is good to see him here This nation has long produced some of the best creatives in the world—in fact, the arts are a powerhouse for the country’s economy—yet the Government have a myopic view on the value of everything. Their present focus is that ballerinas should be coders, but for decades people from low-income households in particular have not just benefited from their discovery and study of the arts but gone on to enrich this country of ours and, at the same time, generated soft power. I think of people such as Danny Boyle, Tracey Emin, Annie Lennox, David Bowie and Alison Lapper—the list is endless. People’s lives are infused with the arts as they listen to music on their iPods, read fiction, attend museums and watch TV dramas, dance and so on. Given that the UK creative industries are truly global-leading and make such a significant contribution to our economy, why are the Government so determined to limit people’s social mobility and our wider economic success?
Covid-19 Management in Schools — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Health
Kim Michele Leadbeater (Labour, Centre-left): The NHS covid recovery fund is an important measure to help address the backlog of operations and patient care. Will the Secretary of State set out, following any conversations between the Department, the Treasury and the Department of Health of Social Care, how much of that budget has been earmarked for additional capacity for children with disability and care needs, children and adolescent mental health services, and special educational needs and disability provision, which is quickly becoming a crisis in our schools?
Smoking Cessation: Prescription of E-cigarettes — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): We welcome the announcement that e-cigarettes will be available on prescription. It should be a really significant step in helping 7 million smokers to quit. As the Minister says, smoking kills; it leads to 90,000 deaths and 500,000 hospital admissions every year across the UK. I think she will find broad support for what she has announced, but the House would have preferred to have heard this first, rather than via a press release issued by the Secretary of State on Thursday evening The Minister says that she will return to the House when she has more detail. What is the timeframe for that, and when does she expect the first prescriptions for e-cigarettes to be issued? She will know that to those who find it hardest to quit, the offer of e-cigarettes will be important, but it would be much better if it were backed up with access to specialist support services. However, smoking cessation services have been cut by over £22 million in the last five years. Indeed, areas with high levels of heart disease, cancer and stroke are among those hit hardest by the cuts. For example, Dudley has had a 17% cut. Derbyshire, which is where her constituency is, has had a 20% cut. Hartlepool and Wolverhampton have had cuts of 81% to their smoking cessation services To be frank, there will be no levelling up unless health inequalities are tackled, and unless we prevent cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes where we can, but that demands fully funded local public health services, whereas in recent years, the public health grant has been cut by £1 billion in real terms, and in the Budget last week, it was just maintained at present levels. As the Association of Directors of Public Health has warned, this will mean further "significant… reductions in public health services and capacity across the country." Will the Minister guarantee no further cuts to smoking cessation services? She mentioned the tobacco control plan, which is supposed to be published this year. Can she tell us at what point in the next two months that will happen?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Mary Kelly Foy (Labour, Centre-left): Before I address the amendments tabled in my name, I want to briefly voice my support for amendments 11 to 13 and new clauses 15 to 17, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden), which call for improved regulation of alcohol marketing and labelling, for minimum unit pricing in England and for better assessment of treatment outcomes. Sadly, my hon. Friend cannot be here today, as he is with his family and his father Mike, who is receiving palliative care after many months of treatment for lung cancer. I know how important these issues are to my hon. Friend; I express my love and solidarity, and that of the whole House, at this difficult time for him and his loved ones Smoking is one of the biggest causes of ill health. It has a devastating impact on our population: it killed approximately the same number of people in 2019 as covid 19 in 2020, and one in every two smokers will die from smoking-related illnesses. The Government and the Opposition both support a smoke-free 2030, but without meaningful action, that ambition will be missed by seven years—or by double that number of years, in the case of the poorest in society.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Mary Kelly Foy (Labour, Centre-left): I could not agree more. Michael Marmot is one of the most important health inequalities experts around To make matters worse, smoking rates among young adults have surged to 25% above pre-lockdown rates. However, despite the damage that missing the 2030 target would cause, there is nothing in the Bill that would help to achieve the Government’s ambition to make smoking obsolete. That is why the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health, of which I am the vice-chair, is fighting to get the 2030 ambition back on track. I was delighted to hear the Minister say in Committee that the Government would review the APPG’s proposals as they developed their own tobacco control plan, but that plan, which was due this year and expected in July, is now likely to be delayed beyond the end of the year. If the Government are serious about creating a smoke-free England by 2030, they will implement the APPG’s recommendations as soon as possible, and the Bill provides the ideal opportunity for them to do so Let me quickly summarise new clause 2. It gives the Secretary of State powers to add health warnings to cigarettes and cigarette papers. The Government are reviewing the proposal, but have said that more research is needed. Health warnings such as "Smoking Kills" have been shown to be effective on billboards and tobacco packs, so why on earth would they not be effective on individual cigarettes? At least eight peer-reviewed papers have been published in the last five years showing that the measures are effective. Similarly, new clause 3 would give the Secretary of State powers to require health information messages to be inserted in cigarette packs. That has been a legal requirement in Canada since 2000, and there is substantial evidence to show that it works there. Research carried out in the UK supports its use here as well.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Mary Kelly Foy (Labour, Centre-left): I entirely agree. Tobacco is the only legal product that kills one in two of those who use it, and most people start smoking at a young age. These new clauses are therefore extremely important, because they would tackle that problem.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Janet Jessica Daby (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that prevention is much better than cure, because so many adult smokers have a terrible experience when trying to give up, and it comes at a huge cost to their health?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Mary Kelly Foy (Labour, Centre-left): I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. A theme throughout these new clauses is that most people start smoking when they are children or when they are young, and most of them say that they wish they had never started. The new clauses would tackle young people’s access to tobacco-related products.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Paula Barker (Labour, Centre-left): It is often vulnerable children, and often those in care, who start smoking early, so does my hon. Friend agree that it is incredible that the Government have so far said that they will not support these new clauses?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Mary Kelly Foy (Labour, Centre-left): Yes, it is absolutely incredible. We have heard that a tobacco plan might be on its way, but every day that goes by without our putting these recommendations in place is another day on which someone dies of tobacco harm, and on which more young people become addicted to nicotine products Discussions with the Treasury on the "polluter pays" levy would not be necessary. The Food and Drug Administration administers the user fee in the United States, and the Department of Health and Social Care could and should administer such a scheme here New clause 11 has been revised in the light of the Government’s response to our proposal in the Committee, in which they cited the need to "review the evidence base of increasing the age of sale to 21 in more detail".––[Official Report, Health and Care Public Bill Committee, 28 October 2021; c. 816.] They also stated the need for a public consultation. I agree that a consultation is the appropriate next step, so the new clause has been revised to require the Government to consult on raising the age of sale for tobacco from 18 to 21 within three months of the passage of this legislation To sum up, my new clauses address loopholes in the law. They would take incremental and obvious next steps to strengthen tobacco regulation still further, and they would provide the funding that is desperately needed to deliver the Government’s smoke-free 2030 ambition—funding that the spending review failed to deliver. When I was chair of the Gateshead tobacco control alliance, I saw the damage that smoking can do. It shortens life expectancy, increases the pressure on our health services, drives down productivity and drains wealth from our poorest communities—and for one in every two smokers, it will kill them. Eventually, the Government will have to accept that the measures proposed are necessary. The only question is how long they will wait, and how many lives will be ruined by tobacco in the meantime. I urge the Government to accept these new clauses in full.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to speak for the Opposition in this first part of the debate on the Bill A decade ago, virtually to the day, I was a young activist taking part in marches, protests, online campaigns, letter writing campaigns, petitions and much more in opposition to what would become the Health and Social Care Act 2012. We argued that it would lead to more fragmentation, less integration, confused decision making and more privatisation and that it would not make anybody any healthier Despite significant opposition to the legislation, the Government pushed on. But as campaigners, we were right, weren’t we? The 2012 Act created a fragmented system that did not promote health and care integration. Performance against NHS targets, even pre-pandemic, was dismal and now it is even worse. Waiting lists have grown extraordinarily, and staff vacancies have grown to crisis proportions We are here today and tomorrow to consign that legislation to history—perhaps less the end of an era and more the end of an error. But the same Government who broke the system now offer a new package of reforms, and that should really scare us. These are the wrong reforms at the wrong time. There are no answers in them to the waiting times crisis, no answers to the capacity issues in accident and emergency or our ambulance services, no answers to access issues for our GPs or dentists, and no answers to the environmental factors that make a country with so many assets so unhealthy.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): Yes. That was a strong theme in Committee that we on the Opposition Benches are very much against; it is likely to be a prominent theme during our discussion of upcoming amendments. Through what we are discussing now, we at least have the chance to put something in the Bill that might improve the public’s health.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend talked about waiting lists. Would he confirm that at the moment approximately 5.6 million people are on the waiting list and that the Government’s own projections are that that figure could rise to 13 million? What in the Bill does my hon. Friend believe can address that extraordinary situation?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an important point. This Secretary of State must be the first in the history of the NHS who came into that important role saying that he was expecting waiting times to grow to the extent that they are. That is of course pandemic-related, but it also has a reality far beyond this extraordinary last 18 months. There are more than 125 clauses in the Bill and the Government have proposed more new clauses in Committee and on Report, but not one of them will have a meaningful impact on waiting times, so people should be really disquieted.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I completely agree with him. I would be the last one to police people’s consumption habits in the night-time economy for fear of being a hypocrite, but I do think that we should all have informed choice. What we have at the moment is inconsistent and unclear. We know that that frustrates people. A recent survey has shown that: 75% of people would like to know the number of units in a product; 61% would like to know the calorie information, as he mentions; and 53% would like to know the amount of sugar. We should give people the chance to have that full information to make their own decisions.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Geraint Richard Davies (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend will know that two thirds of people in Britain are overweight and that one in four is obese. An enormous amount of added sugar is put into processed foods that people do not know about. Men, for instance, are not supposed to have more than nine teaspoons of added sugar, and women six, which is the equivalent of a can of coke and a light yoghurt. Does he not agree that this Bill is tremendously light on the killer that sugar is, and that not only should we be labelling it, but that the Budget should tax added sugar in processed food to reduce the waiting list?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend will be delighted to hear that I will be coming on to the modesty of the Government’s plans for tackling obesity, but I have to finish my remarks about new clause 16 New clause 16 compels the Secretary of State to publish an annual statement about the spend and impact of alcohol treatment funding. After a decade of reduced commitment in this vital area, the Secretary of State should seek to embrace this opportunity. At the moment, national Government cannot say they are meeting their responsibility to tackle alcohol harm with the requisite financial commitment and in the right place, which should discomfort them greatly. New clause 17 would replicate in England the minimum unit pricing restrictions that we see in Scotland and Wales, and we are all watching with great interest as evidence gathers as to their impact Let me now turn to the amendments and new clauses relating to advertising. The Government have included a couple of elements of their obesity strategy in the Bill. As I have already said to the Minister—in Committee and upstairs in the delegated legislation Committee—I wish that they had put the entire obesity strategy in this legislation, because there are bits that could have been improved by amendment, by debate and by discussion, as we heard in the contribution of the hon. Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith), and as I dare say we will in that of the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller). We should have taken that approach to the entire document, and it is sad that we did not On the obesity strategy itself, it is too modest and it fails to attack a major cause of obesity, which is poverty.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): I think that a solution might be a little from column A and a little from column B, but I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point We have heard about the modesty of the strategy from the hon. Member for Buckingham. The reality is that any benefits from the obesity strategy will be outstripped by losses in the nation’s health caused by the impact of the cut to universal credit. We want the strategy to succeed, but it needs to be seen in that broader category. Obesity is an important issue, with nearly two thirds of adults carrying excess weight. Childhood obesity is also a significant issue, with one in 10 children starting primary school obese, rising to one in five by the time they leave—extraordinary at such a young age.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the shadow Minister, who is making an excellent argument, and colleagues across the House for all their work on this important Bill. Does he agree that we could do an enormous amount for the health of the nation by looking holistically at the role of exercise and prescribing exercise through the national health service, including swimming—the statistics on 11-year-olds who can swim 25 metres are going backwards due to all the lessons they have missed during coronavirus—and other important sports?
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Health
Alexander James Jorden Norris (Labour, Centre-left): Yes, I agree. I look with real sadness at the loss of exercise-on-prescription schemes that were part of the public health grant but have gone over the last decade. Similarly, on swimming, the decisions in the Budget relating to local authorities will lead to councils, which are setting their budgets as we speak, closing more leisure centres and swimming pools. We should mourn those losses, which come as a result of a weak bit of public policy In the Bill, the proposed watershed with regard to high fat, sugar and salt products is broadly a good thing. With that in mind, we do not oppose Government amendments 31 to 39, which are relatively modest tweaks, but we should not lose sight of the fact that we are talking about a significant proposal; I know that colleagues have interest in this. Beyond a watershed on traditional broadcast media, we will also see a complete online ban of high fat, sugar and salt advertising. This is a blunt tool in pursuit of an important goal New clause 14 in the name of the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire would implement a more nuanced system, as proposed by the advertising industry itself. This is mirrored in amendments 106 to 109 in the name of the hon. Member for Buckingham. We probed this point in Committee. I was surprised then, and remain surprised, that there seems to be little interest from Ministers or the Department in even having that conversation and exploring creative alternatives. The desired benefits are non-negotiables. If there are other ways to achieve those benefits, they ought to be approached with an open mind.