Lords
Debate
12 February 2026
4 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, my name is also attached to Amendments 3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14, which are consequential, so I will not speak to them. This may be the briefest of introductions to any amendment.
My amendment tries to prioritise—which is the main theme of the Bill—UK medical graduates for training in UK …
Obviously, the Minister is not accepting my amendment, but she makes the point that all the priority groups will be treated in the same way—whatever the definition is of people in the priority group, they will all be grouped together as a priority, and that would include UK medical graduates. What a…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
9 February 2026
National Cancer Plan
My Lords, I too support the national cancer plan, but I am not here to blow the Government’s trumpet. I will pick up on some of the points.
This is an ambitious plan, and that is good, because it might act as a catalyst for some progress. However, if that progress is to be achieved, the Government …
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Life Sciences: Beagles
My Lords, the noble Lord makes the point, which the Government accept, that animal testing is currently required where alternative, non-animal methods do not exist. We are also working with regulators to see how advances in technology can and will reduce the use, and phase out in some areas. We have…
Lords
Debate
4 February 2026
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, I declare an interest as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of General Practitioners, and as chair of the council of King’s College London, which is Europe’s largest educator of health professionals. I too congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Roe, on h…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
Baby Milk Powder: Cereulide
As ever, the noble Lord has put things better than I did. I understand the point he is making. The FSA’s role, certainly in the incident response, includes chasing supply chains to identify any additional potential products and businesses. I certainly agree that it is very important to stem any diff…
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
Can the noble Baroness help me by clarifying what her amendment would mean? Currently, a provider, or anybody who counsels a woman seeking abortion, will take in good faith what the woman might say to them about her gestation. But the noble Baroness’s amendment would move that to “beyond reasonable …
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, can the noble Viscount please assist me? I understand all the legal reasoning that he has put forward. I am not a lawyer, so I cannot challenge any of it. But I ask for his assistance on what actually happens in reality. In reality, lots of mothers lose their baby as a stillbirth. It happe…
Can we just clarify what we are talking about? I am tempted to say that those putting forward these amendments are living in a world of fiction, but I am not so rude as to suggest that. I am not suggesting even that they are misguided. I think all these amendments and their proponents are doing this…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Superintelligent AI
My Lords, I declare an interest as a consultant on AI regulation and policy for DLA Piper. I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, for provoking an extremely profound and thoughtful debate on an international moratorium on superintelligent AI development. I was very interested that he …
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
UK Start-up Companies
It is the turn of the Cross Bench group, so can you make your mind up?
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Maternal Mortality
This is absolutely crucial. I welcome that, as of June last year, maternal mental health services are available in all parts of England. We also now have 153 operational mother and baby unit beds providing in-patient care to women experiencing severe mental health difficulties during and before preg…
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
Rare Cancers Bill
My Lords, before beginning my speech, I draw attention to my entry in the register of interests, particularly my involvement with Cambridge University Health Partners, Newmarket Strategy and Health Data Research UK, and in particular as a patron and adviser of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, …
Lords
Proceedings
15 December 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, as a doctor, I feel that a doctor withdrawing or withholding services from a patient is dishonourable and unethical—full stop. I find no reason that I can support for a doctor to withdraw their services, because their patients are trusting them with their lives. As far as I am concerned, j…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
Emergency Adrenaline
The noble Lord raises a point on the practical and safety concerns that we would need to consider in widening access to adrenaline in the community. I should add that that would be regardless of the administration method. On his point, and following on from the question from the noble Lord, Lord Scr…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Children: Social Media
The noble Lord cites some important evidence which, along with other evidence about the links between social media use and different cohorts of young people, young adults and so on, is very important. The Government and Ofcom are looking at that carefully. As I said before, we continue to keep open …
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Wales: Further Devolution
This Government always support Wales—and I will be doing so this weekend when they are playing the Springboks. On the noble Lord’s specific point, last week I sat in on the debate that he mentioned, in which he raised some really interesting points that were answered by my noble friend. I will refle…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Brain Tumours: Causes and Treatment
I want to convey to the noble Lord our ambition in this area. I completely accept the point he makes—although not all of them—about the challenge of diagnosing rarer cancers, including brain tumours. Research is absolutely vital. Last September, we announced new research funding opportunities, bring…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Medical Nuclear Radioisotopes
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, on securing this valuable debate. I think we should judge its value not by the number of people here but rather by the quality of the contributions. This is an important issue and, as the noble Lord, Lord Patel, said, the noble Baroness i…
I understand the noble Lord’s point. The point I am trying to make is that a supply chain is important. I was indeed careful in my choice of words, not least because, as I mentioned elsewhere in my speech, the Government have not made a formal assessment of, in this case, the ARTHUR project. So I am…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industry
On fuel cells in general, we can say that the industry has funded R&D for zero-emission technologies and transport through a number of programmes, including the zero-emission HGV and infrastructure demonstrator programme. Nearly 300 zero-emission HGVs have been produced and there are 73 planned …
Lords
Committee Stage
3 November 2025
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of the amendments in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Russell, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. The point I am making is slightly different. If I had my way, I would ban cigarette sales completely, but I know we are not going to get that…
Lords
Committee Stage
30 October 2025
4 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I support this amendment. We know that nicotine is highly addictive. In fact, it is one of the most addictive substances there is, even in small quantities. The noble Lord, Lord Kamall, made the point that people use it for cessation of tobacco or cigarette smoking. That is true, but the d…
My Lords, if the nicotine contained in the vapes is not extracted from tobacco, where is it coming from?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
MBRRACE-UK Report 2025
This Government are committed to closing the black and Asian maternal mortality gap. It is unacceptable that, in 2025, black women are twice as likely to die in childbirth. I was speaking yesterday with a clinician who said that for every woman who dies, 100 women experience a severe maternal morbid…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 October 2025
HIV: Testing and Medical Care
Although I cannot answer specifically, I would be very happy to write to the noble Lord about what information is in pharmacies. I know the noble Lord will appreciate, as your Lordships’ House has welcomed, the greater use of pharmacies, not least because they are more accessible for those who other…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
European Framework Programme 10
The noble Lord is right. Our ability to get money through this scheme is a great success story. We are back to nearly full strength in terms of the academic side of that. Just to give some figures, in the past scheme, the University of Cambridge had £70 million and the University of Oxford £67 milli…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
Prostate Cancer
My Lords, first, the key word in my noble friend’s very important question is “proactively”. Axiomatically, it is Ministers who must decide to be proactive in the end, not national screening committees. This is a time when worried men face a blizzard of news and views about their prostate risk. Thes…