argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill — House of Lords, 2020-07-22
Topic: Health
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, as noble Lords have mentioned the medical profession, I declare my interest as a member of the GMC board. I reflect on the irony that, as we seem to be curtailing the migration of doctors from the EU to our country, we are repeating history, as my noble friend Lord Adonis said, and returning to the developing world big time to recruit doctors for the NHS. It is also ironic that the new health and care visa excludes a great majority of care workers, who will not meet either the income or the skills threshold In the Minister’s opening remarks, there was surely a sense of irony too when she said how much the Government value social care. I do not think the Bill shows much appreciation of that profession. Ministers point to the Migration Advisory Committee, which said that the problems in the care sector are caused by a failure to offer competitive terms and conditions. I do not think we need reminding of how important skilled care worker jobs are, and we certainly want more people training and entering the care sector at a decent wage However, as UNISON said in its evidence, it is disingenuous of the Government to call for better wages and conditions in the sector when the Government are so influential on the financial health of care services. The rate paid by local authorities to care homes for people whose income is below the means-test threshold is highly dependent on grants from central government, which has been going down just as demand as has been going up. These rates have been tightly squeezed in the last decade and, as a result, self-funders pay exorbitant fees, which are in effect a subsidy for council-funded places. These self-funders get no support at all from the state and can see their assets run down considerably It is a Catch-22 situation. Essentially, the Home Office says that the care sector should recruit staff from people living in this country and pay them more, but the Department of Health, by its actions, is ensuring that there is no funding to enable this to happen. The Government have now had 10 years to sort this out. They had the Dilnot commission, they legislated for it and then would not put it into place. We had Mrs May’s promise in the 2017 election, which she withdrew. We keep hearing from the Government about a plan that will be brought forward—let us see it The thought that this plan, at a stroke, will deal with the immediate issues of the care sector is just blowing in the wind. We have 100,000 vacancies in England alone and, though I do not know in how many months it will be, at some point soon the Home Office will be forced to change this ridiculous policy. I hope the House will help the Home Office do that.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Alan Haselhurst (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, may I ask my noble friend what assurances have been received from AstraZeneca that vaccine supply will be able to keep pace with the Government’s commendably ambitious deployment plans? And what contribution is expected of other vaccine sources?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure we would all like to pay tribute to everyone who has worked so amazingly quickly to help to develop both the Oxford vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine. I can assure my noble friend that AstraZeneca is accelerating its delivery schedule. Obviously, we are working extremely closely with the companies in order to deliver what the noble Lord called our ambitious programme. We of course have access to 100 million doses of the vaccine on behalf of the whole of the UK, the Crown dependencies and the overseas territories.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Culture
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): As the noble Earl rightly says, we have created the £1.57 billion culture recovery fund, of which £500 million in grants has already been awarded to more than 3,000 museums, music venues, independent cinemas, circuses, heritage sites and theatres in England. I know that there is ongoing dialogue between the Secretary of State and the sector to which he refers, and I am sure that all is being done to try to see what else can be done.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I can say to the noble Baroness that currently we are allocating the vaccine doses based on the business as usual Barnett formula. As I have said, we will begin to publish daily data next week. I suspect that the data she is talking about will be part of that, but I will make sure that her request goes to the Department of Health, because I am sure that is data that everyone would be interested in.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Emma Pidding (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the rollout of vaccines is a massive achievement, and gives us much-needed light at the end of the tunnel. However, I read today that clinicians in South Africa suggest that administering a single dose of the vaccines leaves patients at great risk from the new coronavirus variants. Can the Leader of the House give an assurance that urgent research is being undertaken in this country to ensure the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine, now that the second dose has been moved from the original recommended three-week gap to 12 weeks?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): We are continuing to work with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing on updated guidance. I think that with the new strain, and the figures we are seeing on a daily basis, people are well aware of the situation we are in. The British people have been fantastic in all the work they have done and the efforts they have made to get us this far. With the vaccine rollout there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we repeat the message "Stay at home, wash your hands, keep your space and protect the NHS".
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with my noble friend. He is absolutely right about the £729 million that we have provided to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of course, as we have already discussed, the vaccination programme is a UK-wide effort, and we will all be working together for a common aim within our union.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): As I mentioned in a previous answer, those who have been vaccinated still need to follow the rules, as the challenge we currently face is that we do not yet know how the vaccine impacts on transmissibility. As I mentioned, PHE is assessing the effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting against a range of outcomes, and the issues that the noble Baroness raises will be among those considered. We do not yet have the data to say to people anything other than what I have just said, which is, I am afraid, that if you have been vaccinated you need to stick by the rules.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Colin Moynihan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as we enter the epic phase of vaccine versus virus, the exemptions in these regulations for elite sportsmen and sportswomen are welcome. The related debate over the timing of their vaccination and that of their entourages has now become a key issue. The president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, is to be praised for saying that athletes should not jump the queue in front of those in greater need of vaccination. I agree with him. No one wants to see the world of elite sport given advantage over the most vulnerable in society, namely those most likely to require hospitalisation if they were to contract Covid Canadian Richard Pound, who is closely associated with the World Anti-Doping Agency, called overnight for the immediate prioritisation of Canadian athletes in the first wave of vaccinations in his country. He was wrong; "not yet" would have been a more considered view Moving through the tiers of those most in need of vaccination, I urge the Government to recognise the pressures that our athletes, both Olympic and Paralympic, are under to qualify for selection for the Games. Selection criteria vary by sport. Some need to qualify soon; others, in the summer. Sport by sport, I urge the Government to work with the Olympic governing bodies to determine the latest possible time it would help Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls to be vaccinated. I believe that they will find that the end of February is broadly the consensual point, but it is vital that this comes after the most vulnerable in society In so doing, I hope that the world of international sport also considers the global and not just national socioeconomic inequalities associated with Covid-19. First-world countries will benefit from the vaccine first, with supplies to developing countries lagging significantly behind, some potentially after the Games. While the whole sporting world hopes that the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place this summer, all involved need to work to ensure that selection processes are fair, that opportunities are taken to optimise performance preparation and that the interest of the world’s athletes is critical, but not more important than the most vulnerable in society.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-09-03
Topic: Health
Elizabeth Andrews (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I take the Minister back to airports. I have three questions. First, what is the science telling us about the likely impact—I know that this is a difficult question—of people coming off planes from highly affected countries? Have we done any research on that? Secondly, the Minister said that it is very difficult to test when people come off aircraft because the disease may be inhabiting them but not presenting. Other countries, however, are testing at five-day and even 10-day intervals: have we considered that? Thirdly, if our only strategy is quarantining, are we collecting data on how people are conforming? Are they staying in isolation? How do we know that? Can the science and the data be made available to us? If there is an unknown or even a known loophole, how do we fill that if quarantining is our only strategy?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Howard Emerson Flight (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is politically healthy that the UK system has the ability to correct and polish statutory instruments, and that such changes made by government need to secure the approval of both Houses of Parliament. The House of Lords has a useful role in investigating and debating changes to the law made under the affirmative procedure. It is particularly useful that a large number of eminent lawyers sit in the Lords The two relevant key instruments currently being addressed reduce the self-isolation period from 14 to 10 days for people in England who have had close contact with someone who has coronavirus. This change also applies to the minimum period of isolation for households switching their support bubbles. The regulations also make changes to the starting date for calculating the isolation period. The Government made the changes following a review by the chief medical officers of the evidence on self-isolating. The regulations shortened the infectious period to 10 days after contact; it was defined as being low, although it was higher than the likelihood of being infectious after 14 days The changes to self-isolation period starting points in England were made to bring them in line with the rest of the UK. While there has been some professional questioning of these changes to the regulations, I observe that they have, in the main, been accepted as necessary and appropriate.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Anne McIntosh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I declare my interest as advising the board of the Dispensing Doctors’ Association, and I would like to focus on the rollout of the vaccinations. Does my noble friend the Minister share my concern that a delivery of over 1,000 vaccines to a rural practice in Suffolk was cancelled at less than a week’s notice? This is happening across the country—in Devon the same as in Suffolk. Dispensing doctors are the ideal vaccinators for the elderly and stand prepared to play their part. Yet notice and certainty of delivery are essential, mindful of the distances and needs of patients in far-flung rural areas to reach the surgery. It seems that successful vaccination sites are being prevented from getting more vaccines, possibly because they are considered to have successfully vaccinated a greater percentage of patients than neighbouring sites. Yet there are media reports that an internet pharmacy—Pharmacy2U—is to be allowed to vaccinate people in supermarket car parks. Where is the infrastructure to support this? A GP practice wanting to operate vaccinations from a car park would currently be prevented from doing so. Remote NHS management teams seem to be dictating how much can be supplied rather than allowing individual practices to request what they require for their population. Thus, there is no certainty of supply and an inability to plan clinics efficiently and effectively. Those with proven expertise in the provision of vaccinations are being prevented from doing their job I also raise the concern that over-65s will not be vaccinated before the middle of February, which appears to be a slippage in timing. Yet this age group is as likely to require hospitalisation as those in the four priority groups. Equally, a change to the date and timing of the second dose of vaccination is not supported by the pilots, on the basis of which regulatory approval was given, and flouts the recommendation of all scientific authority, not least the World Health Organization.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 3) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-09-03
Topic: Health
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): I hope I am not cut off like that, my Lords I certainly welcome the opportunity to debate these regulations, which show up the inadequacy of our procedures to scrutinise such instruments. Last night, the Minister, in the Second Reading of the medicines Bill, extolled the virtues of regulations. He said they come to Parliament and we can scrutinise them effectively, but this afternoon we can see how scanty that scrutiny actually is. These regulations came into force on 18 July. It has taken until today to have a debate on it. There are many more Covid regulations that we still have to debate, which are in power. As Big Brother Watch has pointed out, the regulations have a major impact on how people live their lives and they deserve much tougher parliamentary scrutiny. I would also remind the Minister that very few SIs have been defeated and, the last time the House defeated an SI, we were threatened with abolition by his own Government. Coming back to the medicines Bill, the idea that regulations provide a degree of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny is, I am afraid, very much mistaken The noble Lord who got cut off was talking about the importance of local authority leadership—I agree. The trouble is that Regulation 3 gives the Secretary of State power to override local councils. That might be justified if the intervention was based on science or some other rational explanation, whereas we have seen, in the north-west, that the decision of the Government was based on lobbying by Conservative MPs, which had to be reversed when the data came to light The noble Lord quoted Regulation 3. Can he explain to the House—so far today he has had two opportunities—what representations his department has received, in the last few weeks, from Conservative MPs in the north-west, to ease the lockdown? Did the Minister take account of the advice of the Chief Medical Officer or Deputy Chief Medical Officer?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as time for scrutiny is so short, I turn to the main area of hope, which is vaccination. Does my noble friend the Minister agree that this Government are likely to be judged by whether they can manage the rollout of the vaccine effectively? The Prime Minister has more or less committed to vaccinating the highest four tiers by the middle of February. If that timetable is not met, excuses will cut no ice, and experience so far does not indicate that matters are proceeding with the urgent ruthlessness that is required Unfortunate bureaucratic obstacles, such as requiring vaccinators to be well versed in diversity, were identified weeks ago. Why were this and other similar obstacles not dealt with at once? Why is there not vaccination seven days a week and up to 24 hours a day? That would not require vaccinators to work seven days a week; there is such a thing as flexible working. There is a race between the virus and the vaccine. The victims include our schoolchildren and their life chances, our economy, those stuck in cramped urban homes and those suffering from cancer and other health conditions, so we must have a more rapid rollout The health department’s plan is too slow and centralised. Why did it not start injecting the AstraZeneca vaccine until Monday? Every day matters. We need to bring in the private sector, private doctors and hospitals, and of course private pharmacies, as many have said. These people, who run small businesses, will work day and night and together can deliver millions of doses. They can also charge; many people will be prepared to pay for a dose without affecting the NHS rollout. AstraZeneca has indicated that it could gear up supply. We need to bring in tens of thousands of Army members, some to administer jabs and others to organise them We need more action and less self-congratulation. I hope that my noble friend the Minister realises the seriousness of this situation.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Rosalind Altmann (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, yet again we are rubber-stamping regulations imposing draconian restrictions aiming to protect the country in a war that has already caused countless casualties. Despite ever stricter lockdowns, the virus has accelerated. People are not objects that can be put in a box and locked away. Where is the impact assessment on human lives, or a matrix that demonstrates how each element works? Why are we not pulling out all the stops to win this race? Test and trace is not doing the trick. Winter pressures and an ageing population are against us, and serious staff shortages have reduced NHS capacity below normal winter levels, with Nightingales underused. Can my noble friend explain precisely how the Government are removing bureaucratic delays preventing retired NHS staff returning It is almost beyond belief that we do not require a negative Covid test before UK entry. The only way forward seems to be vaccination. We keep hearing about delays in training, approvals or distribution logistics, but Israel has managed to get moving much faster than us. Its medical and military operations have left the UK and EU countries lagging behind My mother is 88, with COPD, heart problems and other risk factors, but has not been called. All military medical support units, pharmacies, dental staff, first aiders and any others trained in administering injections must be fully mobilised. Also, the virus does not stop spreading at night, so where are the plans for 24/7 vaccinations? Could we consider vaccinating all care home residents through the night in those homes and free up daytime hours for other vulnerable individuals? Medical staff, care home staff and teachers should all be receiving vaccines. We must win this war. We cannot keep halting cancer treatments and other urgent treatments and throwing money at people and businesses that are paralysed by this virus. We have a vaccine, and nothing is more important than doing everything possible to deliver it.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2021-01-07
Topic: Health
Ian McColl (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I fully support these regulations to ensure that appropriate steps are taken in the right place to limit the spread of the virus. The places that need especial care are hospitals, particularly intensive care units. What progress has been made to reduce the number of their staff who are very vulnerable to the virus, such as those with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions that are caused by or aggravated by obesity? This measure is difficult with the present staff shortages, which are worsened by illness. Taking the long-term view with the prospect of future pandemics, how much progress has there been with the Prime Minister’s welcome initiative to reduce obesity in the 67% of the population of this country who are in this particular danger?
National Health Service — House of Lords, 2016-01-14
Topic: Health
Christopher Rennard (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Lords’ Interests. Last autumn, the Chancellor secured some good headlines by promising an extra £10 billion in real terms for NHS England by 2020, representing an annual increase in NHS spending of 1.75%. But beneath those headlines, NHS cost and demand rises by 3.5% to 4% a year. When trying to explain the problems of the rising cost of pensions and healthcare, I often begin by saying that when I was at school, 40 years ago, male life expectancy was just 67. A man approaching retirement then might well have worked and paid taxes since he was 15. After 50 years of contributions, he would retire at 65 with a pension and the health service would have to provide for him and look after him for just two years. A man who retires this year at 65 will probably live another 20 years. His state pension will have to be paid for from general taxation for 20 years, not two years, and towards the end of his life there will be, on average, a period of eight years when he will be in poor health and in need of greater health and social care support In providing for women and men like him, the NHS delivers good value for money compared to healthcare systems in other countries. We achieve a lot by spending just 8.5% of GDP on health compared to the OECD average of 8.9%, but our figure is due to fall to 7.8% by 2020 If we want a better health service, we have to look at the fact that France, Germany and Holland all spend about 11% of GDP on health. We will certainly never match those levels if the Chancellor is to succeed in his aim, set out in the Autumn Statement, of reducing the overall level of government spending from about 41% of GDP to just 37%. It would, however, be a very brave politician who argued for more than a very modest increase in the basic rate of taxation, even though it is now 15p in the pound lower than in 1975-76, 10p in the pound lower than in 1979-80, 5p in the pound lower than in 1988-89 and 2p in the pound lower than in 2000-01. It may be politically unacceptable to reverse those income tax reductions, made for political advantage, but the time must have come for a hypothecated health and social care tax. I hope that this idea will be considered further by the cross-party commission being launched by Norman Lamb.