argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19: International Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-18
Topic: Health
Peta Buscombe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I pay tribute to the King of Bhutan and his people for their amazing fortitude and smart response to the virus On 6 March, I witnessed their decisive action following one suspected case: a tourist who had travelled from India. Within 24 hours, every tourist was traced and tracked, and we were contacted daily thereafter. All citizens were asked to socially distance themselves, while trucks travelled across the land distributing sanitiser. A quarantine period of 14 days kicked in for arrivals across the borders and all incoming tourist flights ceased, thereby avoiding a wide-scale lockdown across the country. Philanthropic hoteliers and businessmen supported their efforts and, in stark contrast to our Commons colleagues, all MPs donated a month’s salary to the cause. The king immediately rolled up his sleeves, working with doctors and encouraging anyone feeling unwell to attend clinics. He continues to work tirelessly across the country It should be noted that a national preparedness and response plan, together with an emergency committee, had already been devised in late February, and that both the Prime Minister and Health Minister were formerly public health officials. In addition, Bhutan is tech connected: nine year-old trainee monks have mobile phones To date, there have been less than 20 cases and no deaths. In the words of a local journalist, Sonam Ongmo: "Following an evidence-based approach of testing, effective quarantines, and border control, Bhutan has been able to avoid overloading its limited healthcare system … The under-resourced nation’s response, led by science and quick preventative action, has been fortified by its traditional communal values … which has seen its king, citizens, and government work in lockstep to support the nation." I hope my noble friend the Minister will join me in congratulating the people of Bhutan and wishing them safe and well for the future.
Covid-19: Government Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, with leave I shall repeat the Answer given to an Urgent Question asked in the other place yesterday. In the repeat, I will use the most up-to-date figures, which have changed since yesterday. The Answer is as follows: "Mr Speaker, we have flattened the curve of this epidemic, ensured that the NHS is not overwhelmed and expanded testing capacity to over 100,000 tests a day. As a Government, we are working resolutely to defeat the coronavirus. There are two important areas where I want to update the House today First, on the expansion of our work to test, track and trace, we have now built a national testing infrastructure of scale. Because we have this extra capacity, we will be delivering up to 30,000 tests a day to residents and staff in elderly care homes, making sure that symptomatic and asymptomatic staff and residents can all be tested. Our care system represents the best of us, supporting our loved ones with tenderness and dedication at their time of greatest need. Through this unprecedented expansion of testing capacity, we can give them the certainty and confidence that high-quality testing can provide Secondly, we are working to strengthen the resilience of the NHS. We currently have 3,382 spare critical care beds in the NHS, and that does not include the capacity provided by our Nightingale hospitals, including the 460-bed Sunderland Nightingale, which opened earlier today. We should all be very proud that we have built up the NHS so fast and that our collective national effort has helped to protect the NHS and flatten the curve. As a result, not only have we been able to restore some NHS services; we are in a position to be able to place the London Nightingale on standby. This is good news, because our NHS has not been overwhelmed by this crisis and remains open to those who need care, which means that this nation’s shared sacrifice is having an impact Throughout its time, this Chamber has borne witness to so much, and it has borne witness to the nation’s resolve once more. I am delighted that the British people are well and truly rising to this incredibly difficult challenge." My Lords, that concludes the Statement.
Covid-19: Government Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the noble Baroness’s questions on accountability. However, I remind her that not all Covid-related matters are covered by the department of health; Ministers have been in front of the House every day it has been open, answering questions on Covid, and they have given fulsome and thoughtful answers to questions and scrutiny. I welcome also her question on the eight-week review, which, as she says, is coming up in a fortnight. I will find out how the usual channels wish to mark that occasion in the House, and I would welcome the chance to submit the Government to scrutiny on the matter.
Covid-19: Government Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government’s commitment to isolation is spelled out clearly in guidelines published by Public Health England, and it is promoted every day with the Government’s "stay at home" slogan. On the 200,000-test aspiration, we have put in place a remarkable platform for testing. We have strong partnerships with important companies, we have sourced new supply chains of critical reagent swabs and other supplies that are in short measure, and we are making the logistical arrangements necessary for a massive expansion of testing. I believe that those will take us to whatever is necessary to meet the testing needs of the country.
Covid-19: Government Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-06
Topic: Health
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My noble friend has described a situation that is still worrying. The rate of deaths and of new infections is still much higher than we wish, and we may soon be faced with a situation where the rules in different geographical locations or in different institutions vary, so we need more information. To enable us to seek optimum changes, could he please publish more information—for example, on how many cases came from hospitals and where, how many involve hospital or care workers, and how many involve other key workers, overseas visitors, self-isolators and the like?
Coronavirus — House of Lords, 2020-03-09
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is absolutely right about the importance of guidance and I reassure her that an enormous amount of work is being done to draft clear guidance for employers, volunteer groups and all parts of society, which will include case studies, FAQs and detailed recommendations. That work is being guided by the CMO and senior officials at PHE As for 111, we look very closely at the metrics for the return of calls. Overall, the headline figures suggest that the 111 service is bearing up incredibly well under intense pressure, but I do not deny that there must be people who have had bad experiences. These pressures sometimes lead to poor results and we will keep a very careful eye on that.
Fisheries Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2020-03-09
Topic: Defense
John Eric Gardiner (Conservative, Centre-right): I absolutely understand the point made by the noble Baroness. My assessment is that this is at the right level, and the fact is that the Royal Navy is growing or doubling its vessels. That is why I emphasised the phrase "at least". There is an agreement between the MMO and the Royal Navy about those two things. I emphasised "at least"; all our efforts will be to ensure that there are no difficulties at sea, which would be in no one’s interests. That is precisely why I explained about the doubling of the number of front-line warranted officers, and why I outlined increasing aerial surveillance and the work of surveillance technologies. All this is upscaling, precisely to accommodate the point made by the noble Baroness, if we are in potentially uncertain times, rather than where we were before. I described the increase in almost every feature of what is available to us at sea, including technology and personnel, to accommodate the possibilities that the noble Baroness outlined. I am basing my judgment on a much more rigorous assessment than me just saying yes to the noble Baroness. It is also why JMOCC is so important, because so much of this is intertwined with those organisations involved in JMOCC. It is terribly important that the MMO and Marine Scotland are part of that because there may be a time when fisheries protection becomes an issue and all this resource across the United Kingdom and the Royal Navy may need to be deployed I will say that the answer is yes, but it is not a glib yes. It is because the people who understand these areas have assessed and advised us that we should increase what we have done. That is why I am confident that we are where we should be. However, I emphasise to the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, that it is really important that all these matters are kept under review. That is why I deliberately emphasised that, on this matter, there is strong working with all four fisheries administrations in the United Kingdom interest.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-03-16
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord has hit upon an essential conundrum of the testing framework. I am not the expert who can give chapter and verse, but my layman’s understanding is that the antibodies test on which he rightly focuses is some way away. The biggest difficulty for testing is knowing who has had the virus but never shown the symptoms. Unfortunately, one of the difficult challenges for our response is not yet having that test; it holds us back, but we are working on it very hard indeed.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Ian McColl (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, last week I understated the figures on the deadly combination of Covid-19 and obesity. House of Commons Library figures show that 72% of UK people are either obese or overweight. What is even more tragic, 33% of 10 year- old children are overweight or obese. These appalling figures may help explain the high mortality from the coronavirus in the United Kingdom, so will the Minister endorse the urgent need to persuade people to lose weight? To save lives, we should follow the advice of the Prime Minister himself, who said, "Don’t be a fatty in your fifties".
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord make his point well; however, I did not hear all of it. We are working extremely hard to increase the number of admissions in hospitals and all parts of healthcare. We are trying to restore confidence in the healthcare service to address public concerns, and I appeal to all those who have appointments or who are feeling poorly to take the opportunity to phone 111 and book themselves into hospitals or into the appointments they need, because we desperately need people to return to the NHS.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the noble Lord for welcoming the package of £1.57 billion of new money for the arts and culture that has been announced. I can reassure him that the plan for the package is not just to prioritise the largest institutions, although they are very important and £100 million is set aside for them, but to nurture the ecosystem of arts and culture organisations, which will also have important implications for freelancers in the sector and for the whole supply chain. As regards getting the funds out quickly, I can reassure the noble Lord that colleagues are working tirelessly to do that as fast as possible.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): To clarify in response to the noble Baroness’s question on priorities, there are three priorities that we need to balance in deciding where this funding goes. We want to protect our nationally and internationally significant institutions but we also know that there are important institutions which are critical for our levelling- up agenda in places and communities all round the country, and we also want to prioritise those that are key drivers of economic growth. Therefore, there will be some balancing and some choices to make. On inclusivity, the noble Baroness is right that we will aim to support a diverse range of organisations; funding decisions will look at organisations’ track record of inclusivity as regards audiences and those delivering the arts.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord raises the important issue of freelancers. On the plane issue, there is a great deal of difference and a great deal more complexity in reopening a theatre, for example, than having passengers on a plane. However, we are working to try to address these issues and we are hopeful that we can move to stage 3 of our plan—namely, outdoor live performances—within a few days. We have also done a great deal already for freelancers but we believe that by having a mix of funding between bricks and mortar as well as touring companies and other elements of performance, we will reinvigorate the supply chain and allow freelancers back to work. I will take the noble Lord’s suggestion regarding the Music Publishers Association back to the department.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Michael John Dobbs (Conservative, Centre-right): I wholeheartedly welcome this extraordinary package, which I understand is the biggest package of support and investment for arts and culture anywhere in the world. Does my noble friend agree that it is the wonderful cultural life that we enjoy that attracts so many talented and ambitious men and women to this country, not just because they want to work here but because they want to live here? That is one of the reasons why Britain is such a global leading financial centre May I press my noble friend a little further on what she has just said about theatres? What progress is being made on the reopening of theatres, and can I press her particularly on the matter of open-air theatres, which really need to be back in operation right now, while the weather is improving? If pubs can open and air passengers can fly, why not let us enjoy our great culture out in the open?
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): My noble friend is right that our cultural sector and the extraordinarily talented people who work within it have been a great driver both in terms of quality of life but also economic growth in this country. As regards open-air performances, as I said, we are optimistic that we will be able to move to stage 3 of our road map very shortly and to stage 4 later this summer.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): To be clear on the criteria for where funding is going, grant and loan recipients will need to show that, first, they are viable, secondly, they are at risk, and thirdly, they have exhausted all existing avenues of funding. As regards diversity, I touched on number of those points in my response to the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter. That will be a clear priority. On the date for reopening, I am afraid that I can say no more than that our priority remains safety, but as soon as we can give a date, we will.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Patricia Elizabeth Rawlings (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, HMG got it right: support for the arts is vital. Does the Minister agree that without pantomime, we will lose all our regular theatres permanently beyond anything a grant can achieve? Pantomime gives more employment to more members of the industry than any other form of theatre. Its audience is more inclusive and diverse than in any other field of culture. It provides irreplaceable release and relief. It is as British as the fortitude with which the UK has faced this crisis. Does the Minister agree that it will heal us and bind us back together once again? Why be Ebenezer when you could be Aladdin? Pantomime is our reward. I urge the Minister: please make it possible in time for Christmas.
Arts, Culture and Heritage: Support Package — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Culture
Diana Barran (Conservative, Centre-right): Not only is it good to announce a package that exceeds expectations but it is very nice to respond to one as well. The noble Lord raises a critical point as regards new entrants. Obviously, the fabric of the grants that we give out will need to reflect not only the ecosystem of our arts and heritage and culture but its future, of which new entrants are a critical part.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Mohamed Sheikh (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I support and approve of the regulations requiring all passengers on public transport to wear a face covering, subject to certain exemptions. I note that failure to do so when asked is an offence subject to a fine of £100 and not being allowed to travel. How strictly are these regulations enforced When I go out, I always wear a mask. I fully support the guidance issued by the BMA calling for face coverings to be worn by the public as a matter of course. It is felt that if a person is not wearing a face covering and has the infection or is a carrier, the risk of passing it to another person is 70%. If the first person is wearing a face covering, the risk is just 5%. If both persons are wearing face coverings, the risk is reduced to 1.5%. Why is the BMA guidance not being followed by the Government?
Covid-19: Business — House of Lords, 2020-05-13
Topic: Health
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): Where workers already wear PPE for protection against non-Covid risks such as dust, they should of course continue to wear this. In relation to Covid-19 specifically, we have worked very closely with the medical community to develop this guidance and we will of course be guided by the science so that we do not put lives at risk in future.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) — House of Lords, 2020-03-03
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is not the role of the Department of Health and Social Care to lead on this matter, but I am aware that the House authorities are very sensitive to the points made by the noble Baroness. Ultimately, it will be up to the Leader’s Office, working with the House authorities, to make decisions on the matters she describes.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
James Peter Hymers Mackay (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, any decisions on relaxing the present restrictions and on research into treatments and vaccines are very difficult and therefore liable to give rise to differences of opinion, even among scientists and doctors. Will the Government do all in their power to reach agreement with the devolved Administrations on any decision on these subjects? Today, the Scottish Government published Coronavirus: Framework for Decision Making, a valuable aid to reaching the agreement I have mentioned.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, is entirely right in the way that she explains things. The driver of that decision is the need to get our prevalence rates and the velocity of the infection down to a reasonable level, so that we have reasonable resources to keep R down by track and trace. I remind her that South Korea, which has used this technique most effectively, does only 20,000 tests per day, because its prevalence levels and velocity of infection are so low.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I note my noble friend Lady Buscombe’s question, but I reject the sentiments behind it. I do not regard a second wave as inevitable; I do not share her fatalism. The priorities of the Government are to save life and to protect the NHS and our care system. That requires us to lower the prevalence level, reduce infection and put in place systems such as track and trace to keep a lid on the disease so that we can protect life and our systems.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord, Lord Scriven, is not correct to say that the Government decided to stop track and trace; there are still PHE track and traces, but when the disease reaches a certain level of prevalence, it simply is not arithmetically possible to track down every new incidence of the disease. Nor is it true that anyone in the Government said that we would have only 1,000 tracers in our call centres. Plans which I have seen are being drafted at the moment which are wildly more ambitious than that. It is our plan to put together a system that is proportionate to the challenge.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
Emma Pidding (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, my question is with regard to testing, and in particular the drive-through testing centres, where we are not seeing maximum take-up. On the priority for testing, that is obviously our key workers, both in the NHS and care homes, but I am mindful that some who may not be able to drive or who may not have access to cars. Therefore, this itself presents a challenge with regard to drive-through centres and their geographic positioning, as they can be considerable distances away. I appreciate that the Minister has already spoken about home testing, and the Statement makes brief reference to the use of mobile units. Surely this has to be the way forward, taking the testing to essential people who are in the front line. Can we not ramp up this operation, employing the expertise in logistical functions of the military? I would be grateful if my noble friend could provide more detail as to what mobile units are and how they operate.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I would like to recruit my noble friend to our testing organisation, because she has exactly the right ideas, and the programme she described is exactly what we are doing. The Army is putting together 50 transit vans with tents and cones to be able to travel to places such as care homes to conduct testing, particularly at times of epidemic. Amazon is putting together home testing kits, which means that no one need drive anywhere to have a test, and we are working with care homes so that care workers can take the swabs and then drop off bags of them at a reasonable place so that they can be processed by our laboratories. Drive-in testing was an early but limited programme, and we have a lot more going on than that.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-04-23
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I reassure my noble friend Lord Balfe that the amount of video treatment being given by doctors has gone through the roof. During this epidemic, we have seen the medical trade and patients embrace a huge amount of digital technology. We are working with the colleges to try to get all the services of the medical profession open at this time and the response has been largely positive.