Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Vaccine Technology
My Lords, the development of Evo 2—which is an AI biological model with 9.3 trillion nucleotides extending over 128,000 different species, including humans—means that there is now a capability to produce proteins, molecular structures and even genomes, and therefore artificial pathogens. So is it ti…
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement today and the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, for her excellent report. We have many reports now describing the tragedies occurring in maternity services. I hope this report will be the final one before we go back to delivering the best maternity care, as …
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Resistant Hypertension
My Lords, I will refine the previous questions. Resistant hypertension occurs when the blood pressure does not respond to standard treatment of two, three or even four drugs—hence we call it resistant hypertension. The reason why the renal system is involved is because the sympathetic nervous system…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Global Governance
My Lords, does the Minister agree that we are more likely to succeed in having international regulation for AI if the regulations are based not on a single set of regulations for all algorithms but on risk-based classifications in a set of regulations, as with other technologies such as atomic energ…
Lords
Proceedings
22 June 2026
NHS: Dementia Treatment Trials
My Lords, if our intention is to increase the diagnosis rate of early dementia, normally what we would do is to find a screening test that would identify people at risk of any disease. There is one called Mini-Cog; it takes three minutes to administer and uses word registration and recall and a cloc…
Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2026
Prostate Cancer Screening: AI
My Lords, several trials are assessing the use of AI for prostate cancer screening and diagnostics, as well as testing the accuracy of digital imaging and histological imaging of biopsies to understand better the progression of disease. Some of them are well funded. For instance, the screening progr…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Compassionate Use Medicine Schemes: VAT
My Lords, going back to the question about access to compassionate medicine, as I understand, the Minister just stated that medicines that are not yet authorised or licensed can be issued if companies agree to provide them for free, and that HMRC charges VAT on them. If the medicines are free, how d…
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Rare Cancers: Diagnosis and Treatment
My Lords, we lead in genomic science and infrastructure by having established seven hubs for genomic testing. Despite this, we fall behind in testing for liquid biopsies of DNA and for circulating DNA, in histology testing, in molecular testing of cancer tissues and in testing for genetically inheri…
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2026
Prostate Cancer Screening
My Lords, coming back to the Question from the noble Baroness, Lady Royall of Blaisdon, it is disappointing that the screening committee did not approve of screening for people with a strong family history, particularly of breast cancer, which the Minister mentioned, as BRCA genes are also associate…
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Sovereign AI Fund
My Lords, I commend the Government for their sovereign AI development, particularly the Isambard-AI project at Bristol University, which has one of the world’s fastest processors. My question relates to parallel development. Do the Government still have a plan for the parallel development of the clo…
Lords
Proceedings
21 May 2026
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: Ebola Outbreak
My Lords, the vaccine that exists is effective only against Ebola Zaire. The strain now operating has had two previous minor breakouts; Bundibugyo is the name of the strain. I hope the Minister will agree that our hope lies in developing a vaccine as quickly as we can, which might take up to six or …
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that notice before I got up. In the brief few minutes I have, I am going to speak mostly about the Health Bill. The Bill is light in legislation, with 72 clauses and 48 pages, but it has 143 pages of schedules. One wonders whether most of the powers might therefo…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
Miscarriage Care
My Lords, in an era of more personalised medicine, it is important to note that the care of women who have miscarried is dependent on several factors: the gestation age when miscarriage occurs, the age of the mother, and any existing diseases. It is not just about the number of miscarriages the moth…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
Healthy Life Expectancy: England
My Lords, healthy life expectancy is a mix of two data: a more precise life expectancy and a much cruder self-reporting of the stages of health. This leads to a confusing interpretation and therefore is not helpful in policy-making decisions. We have to find and seek better information about healthy…
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
UK Biobank Data
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply on the Statement, and I commend the Government for taking immediate action when this data breach was known. Last Tuesday, the Science and Technology Committee took evidence from the chief executive of UK Biobank, and some of the issues brought out today a…
Lords
Proceedings
23 April 2026
Women’s Health Strategy
My Lords, my interests are well known in regard to women’s health. I congratulate the Minister on this report, which I think is a good one. The gaps are in how, in some places, it will be delivered on. But I also recognise her personal commitment to improving women’s health, and I applaud that.
I h…
Lords
Committee Stage
21 April 2026
6 contributions
Cancer Outcomes in the UK
My Lords, sitting on the same side as the Minister does not mean that I am on her side. I thank all noble Lords taking part in the debate and look forward to their contributions. There is a formidable array of talent, so the Minister should get a good response. I thank her for making time to respond…
Is it possible for the noble Lord to speak a bit louder? We old, deaf people back here find it quite hard to hear him.
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Migraine Care: 10-year Health Plan
I certainly agree. NICE’s headache guidelines and the Royal College of GPs’ training modules support that better recognition and management.
Lords
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
Unpaid Carers: Patient Hospital Discharge
I can see the pressure and difficulties that can bring. There is a range of reasons why discharges do not take place in a timely fashion—not just processes but the interface between health and social care, and capacity. As we look at how we involve carers and improve discharge rates, matters of fund…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
NHS: In-house Software Capabilities
Absolutely—public confidence is really important, and the debate around this today perhaps emphasises the need to communicate the realities of what is going on. But giving the NHS greater control and long-term value for money, as well as protecting privacy and improving public trust while improving …
Lords
Oral Questions
12 March 2026
NHS: Heart Valve Disease
I am reassured that the noble Lord can assist within five minutes—we might consider engaging him. The serious point is that early diagnosis is important, and the modern service framework will build on the work that has already been done. I know that the noble Lord is aware of this, but just the use …
Lords
Proceedings
6 March 2026
International Women’s Day
My Lords, it is an honour to be here today to celebrate International Women’s Day and to hear the speeches of so many noble Lords, including such interesting maiden speeches, on which I add my congratulations.
I cannot start any other way than by recognising the struggles of women around the world …
Lords
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Quantum Technology
The noble Lord asks an important question. Quantum computers will be best for quantum problems. Drug discovery is a quantum problem, so it is exactly the sort of area for which this will be useful. We have five hubs specifically looking at both basic science and translation: a biomedical sensing hub…
Lords
Debate
23 February 2026
4 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, I will speak to my amendments listed in group one. My amendments should be underpinned by the status of UK medical graduates. The competition to get into medical schools in the United Kingdom is one of the toughest of any country. The ratio of success is about 4:1, with the highest A-level…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her comments, and I thank the other noble Lords who spoke. I take the points that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, made, which are quite important: there needs to be much wider review of the whole issue of medical training and workforce planning, which are linked togethe…
+2 more contributions in this session