argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I first pay tribute to the devolved nations for working so closely together, as characterised by the very close work of the four CMOs. The noble and learned Lord is entirely right that different parts of the country move at different paces—the disease does not respect national boundaries in any way—but public health messages have to be clear to be effective. It is difficult to speak in terms of one region or another being in different phases of the disease, but I completely accept his point that local variations may well be necessary. When they are, and if it is possible, we will have to shape our communications to that cause.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is entirely right: the backlog of operations and procedures will be a daunting task for the NHS to tackle. We have prioritised it. Simon Stevens has told the NHS to throw the doors open to try to get through this backlog. As a result, we will live with the effects of Covid for months to come. I am not fully aware of the contract of which she speaks, but I will try to find out its status and will write to her with additional information.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness undoubtedly knows that anyone who is ill with anything whatever should not go to a hospital. Being ill is not the same as having the symptoms of Covid-19. Anyone who has the symptoms of Covid-19 should isolate immediately.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): It will be for others to decide whether an inquiry is necessary. For my part, I am enormously proud of the Government’s response and the NHS’s response to Covid-19, and I stand full square behind the decisions and actions we have taken.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, the noble Earl is stretching my scientific knowledge with his question. All I can say is that different vaccines work in different ways. Anyone with antibodies who has beaten the disease has the capability of beating the disease, but vaccines ensure that that capability lasts longer, hopefully for life.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid I did not hear the full question from the noble Baroness, but if I understood her correctly, she referred to track and trace. I reassure her that we are putting a huge amount of resources into that surveillance. It is true that surveillance does not currently exist. We do not have the facilities that some Asian countries, such as Taiwan and South Korea, had following SARS, about which we now know so much. We are putting the correct resources in place, and we hope very much to have a detailed local and demographic understanding of where and how the disease is progressing. That information is essential to beating it.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is entirely right that the deaths of those with learning difficulties have been one of the most disturbing and sad aspects of this disease. We are focused very much on ensuring that we protect those with learning difficulties, such as those with autism, in whatever way we can. With regard to recurrent testing, the tests that we have are not a limitless resource and we have to prioritise them. Although we have massively increased the number of tests that we have, it is not possible to test millions of people on a very regular basis with hundreds of thousands of tests. However, we are using them intelligently and prioritising areas where there are infection control problems. We believe that that is the most effective way of using our resources.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I reassure the noble Lord that we look at this issue constantly. It is a subject that the British public are deeply concerned about. There is an instinctive human belief that face masks make a difference, but the scientific proof that they do so is not crystal clear. Although some countries have committed to them, we are still in the process of reviewing them. We have a positive attitude towards implementation but we are guided by the CMO and by scientists. As the evidence builds up, and the noble Lord is quite right that in many places it is indeed building up, we will make the right decision on face masks.
Covid-19: Response — House of Lords, 2020-05-19
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Baroness is entirely reasonable. I apologise if I give the impression that I am in any way complacent or if I am unapologetic about what we have done. She is entirely right: this is an awful disease that has hit this country extremely hard and not everything we have done has worked as well as we had hoped. Undoubtedly, when we look back, it will be judged that the Government have made mistakes; of that I am absolutely sure. I approach this question with humility. I completely take on board her point that questions that resist the idea that we have made mistakes are quite wrong However, I want to try to convey the enormous commitment and focus that the Government, the NHS and the people who are involved in the greater project have thrown into this project. It is not a massive shambolic mess littered with political stupidity and corruption, as is implied by some of the critics of the Government. Actually it has been a venture that has had a huge amount of innovation, collaboration and good will behind it. I am afraid I cannot help but seek to salute and pay tribute to those who are involved.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): On PPE, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Deighton, who has performed an amazing task in providing an enormous supply of PPE. There is sufficient PPE in the NHS, social care and other parts of the healthcare system for all those who need it. There is a PPE hotline for those who would like to order it directly and, at this stage, stockpiles are being created to get us through the winter months. On tests, a testing portal is available to all of social care. It can be accessed either by social care employers or, if employees or residents want a test, they can order one themselves through the public testing portal. It is my understanding that posted tests are no longer counted in the same way: they are counted not on dispatch but when they are processed. The "test and trace" programme initiated this change in the recent change of data, which I think was 10 days ago.
Immigration Bill — House of Lords, 2016-02-03
Topic: Health
Frank Ashcroft Judd (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister has just put his finger on a good example of the difficulty here. He has said that it is important that people should apply promptly, but sometimes their mental condition and the state of confusion they are in makes that a totally unrealistic proposition unless there are families or friends who can take them through the whole process, as was the case with the couple I cited as an example earlier. People have to work hard on it. These are exactly the sort of points which should be taken up in the discussion that I am glad to hear the Minister is suggesting.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I think my noble friend and I need to have a chat about statistics, because the statistics I have differ from his. Mine suggest that 28% of the public are either obese or overweight, and it does defy common sense that 72% the public are obese or overweight. Maybe he and I can have a chat about that offline: I would be glad to clear it up. However, my noble friend makes a really important point that I and the Government completely endorse: the Covid epidemic has been a wake-up call for the country—in that, he is right. There is an urgent need to address the obesity epidemic and the Government are looking at ways to do so. The Prime Minister is personally vested in it and my noble friend’s points are extremely well made and supported on these Benches.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord is entirely right to emphasise the importance of flu vaccination. We are very focused on getting the right amount of flu vaccination stocks and encouraging take-up once the WHO has nominated the right vaccination and we have stocks of it in this country.
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Conservative, Centre-right): There is a real degree of confusion about masks. Originally, Ministers said that they did not do much good; now, the President of the Royal Society claims they are essential. A study at Jena, west of Leipzig in Germany, underlines their value. Will my noble friend clarify the position and explain his reasoning?
Covid-19 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government’s approach to the epidemic is to emphasise the three main pillars of our strategy: hygiene, social distancing and isolation. They are based on clear science and evidence. The issue of masks is highly contested. There is possibly a benefit from wearing masks—that is why we have put in place the requirement to wear masks on public transport—but the science remains clear that they are not a replacement for hygiene, social distancing or isolation. On that, we are clear.
National Health Service — House of Lords, 2016-01-14
Topic: Health
John Rea (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, in my three minutes I will concentrate on one section of the NHS Five Year Forward View, published 18 months ago, headed "Getting serious about prevention". It makes the point that we are reaping the consequences of failure to prevent chronic diseases that would be largely avoidable if only suitable changes in behaviour could be made. The former Chief Medical Officer exhorted people to change their so-called "lifestyles" and live more healthy lives—I think we know the list The five-year view does not emphasise sufficiently that these diseases are all strongly related to social conditions. As Sir Michael Marmot has shown, there is a gradient in both mental and physical health through all socioeconomic groups from the top to the bottom. Health education messages to change behaviour are, however, less effective in the lower part of the spectrum. Poverty and inadequate housing may make it more difficult to give up harmful habits such as smoking, drinking or comfort eating, which can give momentary relief from economic and social pressures. Changing behaviour where it matters most is therefore the most difficult; powerful underlying pressures, some from the tobacco industry and parts of the food industry, are pulling in the opposite direction Professor David Gordon and his colleagues at Bristol University have drawn up an alternative list of desirable health behaviours to those advocated by the CMO. They take a rather different approach, which goes like this: "1. Don’t be poor. If you can, stop; if you can’t, try not to be poor for long. 2. Don’t live in a deprived area. If you do, move. 3. Don’t work in a low-paid, stressful manual job. 4. Don’t live in damp, low-quality housing". There are six others, which I am afraid time precludes me from listing Those suggestions all have a direct bearing on health and longevity, but they lie outside the remit of the NHS and are mostly the responsibility of local authorities and other departments of state. If they were adequately funded, a great load could be lifted from the NHS, which at present is carrying a burden for which it is not really designed. I suggest that the continuing financial crisis of the NHS will not be solved until it is properly funded and other departments of state whose responsibilities have a bearing on health are enabled to carry their full share of maintaining the nation’s health and well-being.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Rosalind Altmann (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I accept the need for face coverings, but do the Government have plans to ensure that people know what type of face covering is most appropriate—what type of material and how it must be worn? Is there official guidance on approved standards? A face covering could be made of mesh, which presumably would not be appropriate, or a scarf that is porous—again, not acceptable. Would a full-face plastic visor be considered acceptable Can we perhaps help people access approved face coverings, to reassure them that they will be doing the right thing for protection? We could possibly even create opportunities for production of such face coverings in the UK, encouraging schools or prisons to manufacture the appropriate type of covering and avoiding the uncertainty about what is an approved type of mask or a standard design.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Nathanael Ming-Yan Wei (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I thank the Government for this measure, which is welcome, but I wonder whether this is a case of "too little, too late". In other countries, masks are being encouraged, not only on public transport but in many other contexts. We have had mixed messaging over the past few months about whether masks are important, and conflicting views from the scientific community both in the UK and globally. Can the Minister reassure us that bringing this measure in now has nothing to do with the availability of masks, and that the concern about asking the public to wear masks, whether on public transport or not, was not driven by a desire to ensure that the NHS and other care facilities did not run out of masks? Can the Minister reassure us that these concerns are being dealt with and that there is adequate supply, such that, if necessary, we could increase mask usage beyond public transport?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Patience Wheatcroft (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, earlier this week the Minister told me that 86% of travellers on public transport are now wearing masks. That is good but the remaining 14% pose a threat to other travellers and clearly, they have not responded to encouragement. What we need now is a firm approach that will make it clear that if people do not follow the regulations, they will face heavy fines, and that if they should attack the drivers who refuse them entry, they will be severely punished. We have managed to stop drinking on public transport in London by making it very clear that failure to comply with the rules will be punished. Does the Minister agree that encouragement has gone as far as it is going to, and that it needs to be made clear to the remainder that they will not get away with breaking the regulations?
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Richard Balfe (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, in the beginning it was very simple: stay at home and save lives. However, as time has gone on, good behaviour fatigue has set in and that is where we are now. First, as has been pointed out by a number of speakers, the regulations are confusing because they vary between different countries, so my first point is that we need to keep it simple. If the three devolved Administrations and the UK Government cannot get an agreement, frankly, we are in a pretty poor situation Secondly, we also need to get some idea of whether or not this is the right policy. I suggest, as I always do, that we should talk to our European colleagues, who seem to have a mass of different ways of dealing with this, to see if there is a common position and even a common science for us to fall back on. If we can do that, we might get some obedience to these new regulations.
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings on Public Transport) (England) Regulations 2020 — House of Lords, 2020-07-08
Topic: Health
Hugh Trenchard (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, for the first time, perhaps, I find myself in full agreement with the noble Baroness, Lady Jones I have had the good fortune of living and working in Japan for 11 years. When my wife and I first arrived in that country, we were initially surprised to observe how prevalent the wearing of masks is and how totally normal it is perceived to be, not only on public transport. Anyone who has a cold or the slightest sniffle is, effectively, obliged to wear a mask in order to avoid infecting others. Most scientists recognise that the need for social distancing is greatly reduced by the wearing of masks. The Japanese parliament has continued to operate much as normal throughout the pandemic and all Members of both Houses meet in their Chambers. They never once considered introducing remote voting. They wear masks at all times except for eating and drinking I wanted to show that it is even possible to speak and be understood while wearing a mask, even though a noble friend who is a Minister told me that I would expose myself to ridicule by wearing a mask to speak today. Does my noble friend the Minister not agree that, if all noble Lords wore masks, we would be able to resume normal working in this place much sooner than otherwise? Would it not also send the right message to the country at large?
Coronavirus — House of Lords, 2020-03-12
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my noble friend for his question on deep cleaning. I reassure him that no one is suggesting that the best efforts of any employer to protect the welfare of their staff is in any way irrelevant or undervalued. Cleaning is an important response to this virus and those who decide to put resources into cleaning their premises are entirely to be lauded. There is clear guidance on the PHE website. I have put that guidance in the Library and would be happy to arrange for it to be emailed Let me try to explain the nub of the question. The CMO has not put the daily deep cleaning of offices or any work premises at the top of his priorities. The reason for that is that it takes only one person to touch a doorknob at 7 am for that doorknob to be contagious for the rest of the day, whereas a pair of hands can be cleaned many times a day. If you do the arithmetic of how the virus is spread—as the modelling professionals do at SAGE—constant handwashing, which we bang on and on about, is the most effective way of preventing the virus spreading. When that no longer proves an effective measure, the CMO will undoubtedly change the guidance and publish that guidance widely.
Coronavirus — House of Lords, 2020-03-12
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): I reassure the noble Lord that this is a whole-health family challenge. I thank all my colleagues, in every part of the NHS, PHE and all the arms-length bodies, who have been involved in the response. Yes, the guidance and direction are coming from the top, and the expertise is coming from the scientists who advise and guide us, but it has been up to individual managers at every level of the NHS to step up to this challenge. The response has been formidable, impressive and reassuring. I wanted to take a moment to bear testimony to that response Regarding the devolved nations, the four CMOs are working incredibly well together. It is reassuring to see how closely their response has been tied. It has been a whole-country, UK-wide response and there is a lot of consistency across the different nations.
Coronavirus — House of Lords, 2020-03-12
Topic: Health
James Bethell (Conservative, Centre-right): The noble Lord asks a question that is on the minds of a lot of people who have been reading into the subject. The concern of the CMO is that if you bring intense social behaviour restrictions to bear on a population, you can temporarily suppress the spread of the virus. If you ask the entire population to stay at home, and close down every business, public space and event, you can suppress circulation. However, the moment you lift those restrictions, the virus spreads with a vengeance. It is often the most vulnerable who are then hit with a second peak, which can take out the provisions needed to support them. That is the CMO’s primary concern. The Government’s objective is to manage the situation so that the virus spreads in as limited a way as possible, and is spread out over time to allow medical and social care resources to be given to those who need support.
Well-being — House of Lords, 2020-03-12
Topic: Health
Elizabeth Redfern (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I shall speak briefly in the gap. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, for tabling this interesting debate. As growth is considered not only essential but positive, there is a need to think about how it is achieved and at what cost; recognition of that measurement itself should not be the end goal With 10 UK national well-being indicators across all departments, the goal is to drive a more robust agenda, so we can make the UK an even better country. Putting people’s well-being at the heart of policy requires better data and adapting the methods through which policies are formulated, appraised and evaluated. The caveat is that investment will be made only if leaders are convinced it will result in better policy decisions and thus better outcomes for people. It is about bringing well-being monitoring efforts closer in line with policy by producing shorter and more communicative dashboards of indicators that are timed to coincide with strategic decisions, and shifting priorities towards employment, which has a long-lasting impact on our well-being. I am pleased that at last, mental health is recognised as one of the top drivers of well-being, from childhood through to adulthood. There has been a seismic change in how we treat mental illness—as professionally as we do physical health. On loneliness, having someone to rely on in times of need can make the difference between high and low well-being levels Another part of this valuing concept is that wherever you are and whoever you are with, and whatever your cultural background, we all value happiness and well-being. We all need the confidence to thrive and to forge a sense of self-direction, self-achievement, esteem, relatedness and purpose. All these emotions are embedded in our culture. While many things are important to us, some life events, such as losing a job, can have a far more dramatic impact than others on our life satisfaction. Businesses and employers appreciate that a healthy and happy workforce is good for productivity as well as for employees. There is a growing evidence base of what works well in improving the well-being of people in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Good government is about improving the lives of our fellow citizens, and the well-being that makes their lives worth while.
Covid-19: Business — House of Lords, 2020-05-13
Topic: Health
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): Of course, we are always reviewing these measures and acting on scientific advice. I think we all have to accept that that scientific advice will evolve as the knowledge of the virus increases. The noble Baroness, as she usually does, makes an important point: these are things that we keep under constant review, so that we can get the country back to work as quickly as possible.