argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
Peter Lilley (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, these regulations relate to, among other things, masks. Common sense has always suggested that, since Covid is transmitted by droplets, wearing masks will to some degree reduce its transmission. However, we have not been led by common sense but by the science. Your Lordships will recall that for the first two or three months of the crisis, we were told that there was no scientific evidence suggesting we should wear masks; indeed, they would be unhelpful because they encourage people to be overconfident and to touch their eyes and face. In May, we were told that they would do no harm and might be useful. In June, we were advised but not required to wear them. In July, wearing them in shops was made compulsory. In August, that was extended to other places. In September, regulations made it a punishable offence to prevent people wearing face masks. The latest regulation imposes a fine of up to £10,000 for anyone who even fails to tell their customers to wear a mask Throughout this journey, from discouraging the wearing of masks to hefty punishments for not encouraging their use, we have been told that we are being led by the science. My aim is not to discredit science—I studied it at Cambridge and revere the scientific method. Nor do I mind having to wear a mask over my face; but I do mind having the wool pulled over my eyes. The simple truth is that the reason we were initially told we should not wear masks was that there was a shortage of masks and the scientists, civil servants and politicians felt they should be reserved for medical staff. I hope we will learn from this extraordinary saga that when the common sense conflicts with "the science", we should subject that scientific advice to rigorous scrutiny, and when we are told there is no evidence for something, we should not conclude that there is evidence against it.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
Rosalind Altmann (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is never easy to deal with a public health issue of this magnitude. I have sympathy with the Government’s position. However, I too have serious reservations about the measures before us After so many months, we have learned a huge amount about this virus and how to treat it. Meanwhile, other public health issues that are also a risk to life are being worsened. I urge the Government to look more carefully at public health in the macro sense—all aspects—rather than the ongoing micro focus on Covid-19, which is just one of the myriad threats. These regulations are laid before us without a proper impact assessment and without the views of experts in epidemiology and bioscience, who have been warning ever more loudly that the number of deaths from the extraordinary and extreme measures being taken to fight the spread of Covid-19 are likely to exceed the deaths that the virus causes. We are bringing our law-making into disrepute by introducing measures that may cause extra deaths and economic destruction, particularly in the hospitality sector, which I agree needs urgent assistance. Without proper public health evidence of why these measures are needed, how will they produce a better future, and most important, what is the end game Of course extreme lockdown reduces virus transmissions. The rule of six will itself do that, but once there is relaxation the virus remains. The inconsistency and seemingly laughable rules in these measures, which other noble Lords have explained, make no sense. I echo the call for logic, evidence and common sense that will take account of the whole public health impact on the population and do not causes added problems for our economy.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
Andrew Robathan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, another day, another set of restrictions. Of course, they are all as plain as day and not confusing at all, which is why we are discussing an amendment to the regulations about singing and dancing laid only nine days after the original I am sure that all noble Lords, when they were about 10 or 11 years old, had a teacher who could not keep order in class. At my school it was a he. He would stamp his little foot and say, "If you don’t do as you’re told, I will keep you all in for a detention." I say to my noble friend on the Front Bench, first, hard luck being dealt the hospital pass of defending all these regulations. Secondly, I see that the Government are now blaming the people, and that is really not a good idea. We have these new measures, which, as we know, the Prime Minister finds confusing. I find them contradictory, draconian and very difficult to enforce The question has to be: are the regulations working? Leicester, near where I live, has been locked down for over 100 days, but infections have gone up. Is the policy working? I understand that Calderdale, which has been locked down for 10 weeks, has seen infections rise fivefold. "Let’s blame the people; it’s all their fault." In Bolton, infection rates have risen tenfold. Should we blame the people? I suggest that we should blame the policies. We should go back to first principles—a reset, as has just been said. We should find out how many people are dying, what good the policy is doing, and work from there, rather than from what we are getting far too much of at the moment I was in a Zoom meeting with Matt Hancock just now. He has told us that more than 200 people are dying from the virus a week, but over 11,000 people die every week. I heard Professor Van-Tam say that these are the biggest restrictions that we have seen in peacetime, but this is not a war. I urge the Government not to double down on failing policies but to look at the evidence and not deal with scare stories in the media, scientific modelling that does not work or opinion polls.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
Michael Morris (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I will make two points, the first on communication. My Government communicate; the problem is that they are not communicating in the right way. Young people need communication that is targeted to those they respect within their community. Secondly, local government, which I was in, must be communicated with closely, as must trade associations. The Government are trying, but it is obviously not quite working. Rugby league was just mentioned; I put rugby union alongside it I did a little work on death certificates yesterday. In the period 10 August to 7 October, there were 43 death certificates that registered Covid. Of those, nobody was aged nought to 19; one was 20 to 39; four were 40 to 59; 14 were 60 to 79; and 24 were 80-plus; so 88% were over 60 and 56% were over 80. The question we all have to think about is: are all these lockdown measures necessary, or should we just be protecting the elderly with multiple morbidities, so that we can let everybody else get back to normal?
Children and Social Work Bill [HL] — House of Lords, 2016-11-23
Topic: Health
Philip Alexander Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I do not think I will follow that comment If the noble Lord, Lord Warner, was astonished, I was certainly very pleased with the way in which the Minister acknowledged on Report that this is an important issue. I welcome the amendment. I take the opportunity of thanking the Minister, the honourable Edward Timpson in the other place and officials in both the Minister’s department and the Department of Health for the tremendous amount of work they have done in response to the issues raised. We are very satisfied with the outcome.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
Colin Moynihan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, Members from all sides of the Chamber will want to congratulate the Minister and thank him for his commitment and dedication to his work, undoubtedly under considerable pressure. A fast-moving current is the most difficult to navigate, as I know all too well from many years on the boat race course. These regulations are no exception to that rule and may last only until Monday. This debate has highlighted the need for clarity of messaging and the importance of avoiding excessive detail around decibel levels and who can dance with whom, under what circumstances. These details undermine the authority of clear consistent messaging, based on common sense. Unless the guidance and advice are clear and reasonable, the messaging will be lost, as will political will and public support The hospitality sector clearly meets the criterion of increasing social engagement and, as a result, potential transmission of the disease. However, it is much safer to have a meal or drink in a well-ventilated, clearly spaced, screen-divided, socially distanced restaurant or bar than in residential settings or when supermarket shopping. As I saw again last night, substantial groups of people were gathering and moving in close proximity along pavements. People, not socially distanced nor with their faces covered, were congregating outside venues closing simultaneously at 10 pm. If the Government are committed to stay with the 10 pm curfew and the measures before us today, they need to demonstrate the scientific evidence that supports them, which has not been forthcoming.
Covid-19: Local Restrictions — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care told the other place last week, for significant national measures with effect on the whole of England or UK-wide, the Government will consult the House of Commons wherever possible and hold votes before such regulations come into force. The arrangement of business and scheduling of debates in this House is a matter for discussion through the usual channels. Noble Lords will know that in this House the Government do not schedule debates without consulting the usual channels first.
Covid-19: Local Restrictions — House of Lords, 2020-10-09
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, my Lords, our rule—if there is a rule—is that we are clear that our measures should be locally led. We work with local leaders first and communities to take swift action to prevent and manage outbreaks, ensuring that our responses work for them, supported by a national service which they plug into. It is for that reason that we are considering local tiers. Local alert levels or tiers are designed to standardise the interventions in place in local areas across England to make it easier to communicate what restrictions apply, and in what areas, to the public.
Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Defense
Mark Lancaster (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I rise to add my support to this amendment to the regulations. I am conscious that I am simply a poor warm-up act before the noble Lord, Lord Dodds of Duncairn, gives his maiden speech, so fear not: I shall be brief Turning to the regulations, it is important that we ensure that our legislation continues to operate effectively beyond the transition period and procuring our defence needs in a way that is legally sound is vital. The instrument we are debating today is necessary as it will ensure just that. I recognise that the challenges being debated today are just the first step towards developing a procurement regime that better meets the UK’s requirements. I am heartened to hear that the Ministry of Defence is grasping the opportunities offered by our departure from the EU and that work has already begun to simplify and modernise the legislation and, crucially, improve the pace and agility of procurement activity. Reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens on government buyers and suppliers alike is one of the opportunities that EU exit has opened up for us and one it is important to exploit Looking further ahead, I take this opportunity to draw noble Lords’ attention to the excellent Dunne report, written by my former ministerial colleague Philip Dunne, which seeks to plot a pathway for defence to make a growing contribution to UK prosperity. As we leave the EU, we now have the opportunity to buy British and support UK industry. For example, under EU regulations, while warships could be procured solely from UK yards, non-combatant vessels, even those of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, had to be put out to international tender. Equally, defence has been restricted from supporting local communities by offering food contracts exclusively to local suppliers. Can my noble friend assure me that, as the Dunne report recommends, due weighting is attached to the prosperity impact in the UK for future government tenders Secondly, I highlight the need for agility and pace in our procurement process, perhaps by adopting a culture focused more on finding the right procurement solutions and less on defining and avoiding obstacles at the outset. This requires the MoD to develop its skills base as a client, while better understanding how defence and market interactions shape each other. Building the quantity and quality of skills across defence is an important part of this work Finally, in reminding the House of my interest as chairman of the 2030 Reserve Forces review, I make a plug for the greater use of sponsored reserves. Supplied as part of a commercial contract with the MoD, they offer an assured supply of uniformed skills to defence. Despite being identified as a vital asset to defence over 10 years ago, their numbers have stagnated at just over 2,000 and they remain, in my opinion at least, an underutilised resource.
Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Defense
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the nature of the world we live in means we have to have adequate defence and security provisions. Ensuring that the necessary procurement can continue effectively after our departure from the EU is clearly essential. These regulations are designed to ensure that, so I support them, but I wonder, as did the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, why the opportunity has not been taken to draft some new and more easily comprehensible regulations than these. As the Minister tried to explain the changes that are being made and the tidying up that is being done, I sympathised with her plight: these are a real hotchpotch It had been my fervent hope that, after leaving the EU, the UK would seek the closest possible alignment with EU regulations, thus allowing, effectively, a continuing membership of the single market that has been such a boost to our industry. That is not the Government’s policy. I believe the decision will undermine the UK’s economy, but it is clearly important that, in the new, post-Brexit world, the UK nurtures its industrial base. The defence and security industry is a valuable contributor to that. The research and development that goes on in many of our defence businesses feeds into valuable innovation in companies in many other sectors. We need to help that in the future. Can the Minister tell us how much we are going to be able to place our own industry at the forefront when it comes to procurement? To what extent will we still have to offer contracts to the EU and beyond? Are we able to make it clear that our shipbuilding industry is the one we wish to nurture? The noble Lord, Thomas of Gresford, referred to state aid. Can the Minister explain exactly what the position is on state aid? Many of us are confused at the moment as to why it is such a stumbling block in EU negotiations. Any elaboration she could give would be much appreciated.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the Government have a very difficult task indeed, and I ask my question simply in a spirit of inquiry. I am puzzled by the latest graphs, to which the noble Lord, Lord Newby, referred: the four winter scenarios shown to the country by Patrick Vallance on Saturday, showing deaths totalling 4,000 a day. Is this really a realistic possible figure, considering that the previous realistic worst possible case forecast was 800 a day? The daily death rate was 1,000 in the first wave, and this figure is well above the daily death rate of a country like Brazil. Why is the second wave forecast to be so much worse than the first? Was lockdown ineffective and just temporary or is it, as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer suggested yesterday, just in the nature of the virus that the second wave would be worse? If so, why was this not predicted in previous forecasts and why did anyone ever talk about defeating the virus?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend. I hope that I mentioned, in my response to the noble Lord, Lord Newby—and I should stress this—that I believe the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser are giving evidence to the Commons Select Committee at the moment to say that the case for the latest measures was not built on the analysis of deaths that the noble Lord mentions. This was not a prediction but just one of the possible worst-case scenarios. As I said, a whole series of other metrics informed the decision as well as the evidence on the ground, which, unfortunately, showed that things were going in the wrong direction. In particular, for instance, the over-60s rate was going up, which correlates with future hospitalisations, and that is still rising. As such, it was a range of measures, and those particular numbers that he mentions were not the reason on which this lockdown, or these proposed measures, have been put forward.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course we recognise that religious practice is of fundamental importance to millions of people across the country. That is why we are enabling individual prayer in places of worship for those who practise that way. We absolutely understand that, for people of faith who take part in communal worship, it will be extremely disappointing news that it cannot continue for the next month, and, of course, it will be difficult for those whose festivals fall during this time. We entirely understand the issue, but we are committed to ensuring that we work collectively to bring the R rate down so that in December we can, we hope, start to get back to normality once we have suppressed the virus, which is what we are all intending to do.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord is absolutely right. Concerns about pressure on the NHS were one of the key drivers behind the decision made as well as the fact that, unfortunately, we are seeing in some areas of the country a small number of non-elective procedures having to be cancelled, and we absolutely do not want that to happen. That is why during this time opticians, pharmacies and GPs will stay open, and we will continue to urge people who need any type of medical opinion, attention or treatment to continue to attend appointments and see professionals. We are ramping up testing capacity. We are providing millions of items of PPE, £3 billion of funding to make sure the Nightingales can provide surge capacity and £300 million to make sure that departments have the funding they need to upgrade ahead of the winter and ensure that the NHS is not overwhelmed.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, as part of Saturday night’s slide presentation, the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser made it clear that the Covid-19 hospital admissions rate is the key factor in deciding on a new national lockdown now. Has the bed and ventilator capacity offered by the Nightingale hospitals been taken into account when calculating admission rates compared to the last peak and surge capacity in our NHS?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with the noble Baroness. We are working very closely with local authorities, and they do indeed have significant resources and powers to do local contact tracing. In fact, there are more than 128 local authority contact tracing teams in place around the country, with more to come. I am sure she will be aware of the Liverpool pilot scheme, which we are hoping will be successful and roll out. Everyone living and working in Liverpool will now be offered a Covid test, whether they have symptoms or not. Whole-city testing aims to protect those at highest risk and find asymptomatic cases in order to prevent and reduce transmission in the community, exactly as the noble Baroness said. If this approach works—and we are looking to roll it out—we are hopeful that it will play a significant role in doing exactly what the noble Baroness says in helping to make sure that local authorities and local areas can bear down quickly and effectively on outbreaks within their area.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
John Dawson Eccles (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I would like to make a small plea about the NHS. There was a very good statement today from Professor Stephen Powis on the actual position facing the NHS. Accurate information is essential to keeping the confidence of the public, as has been said already today. Sometimes it seems that what is happening in the NHS is slightly cloudy behind a lot of other information—scientific information in particular. Will my noble friend encourage the NHS to go on telling us exactly what is happening within its own front line and make sure that, when it does, it gets properly publicised?
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): Across the House, we pay tribute to all staff in the health service, from doctors and nurses to cleaners and security, who have done so much over the last few months. I cannot imagine the strain they must be feeling at the moment. Data from the NHS is critical. One of the key things we are trying to do in taking these measures is to ensure that the NHS is not overwhelmed and continues to provide fantastic service, support and care for all members of our society.
Covid-19 Update — House of Lords, 2020-11-03
Topic: Health
Natalie Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): We learned from the first lockdown that shielding, as I am sure the noble Baroness is aware, can have a considerable impact on mental health and well-being. That is why we decided, at this stage, not to ask people to shield in the same way again. However, we accept that the clinically extremely vulnerable, in particular, will need to minimise their contact with others and not go to work. We are providing over £32 million of extra funding to enable local authorities to provide support to that group, which needs it, including by helping people to access food and meeting other support needs to enable them to stay at home. We have balanced the experience from the first lockdown and its impacts on mental health and well-being with the decision not to suggest shielding, at this point.