Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
My Lords, according to the association for FASD, every prevented case saves over £400,000 in lifetime costs, as well as the personal tragedy. Universal antenatal alcohol history taking is recommended by NICE guidelines, but implementation remains variable. Will the Government embed NICE guidelines e…
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Healthcare Services: Acute, Primary and Community
My Lords, community and primary care services are at the heart of the Government’s objective in the 10-year plan to shift from sickness to prevention and from hospital to community. But the funding does not always support that.
Over the past nine years, the average increase in spend across health s…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Children: Physical Punishment
My Lords, we already know that regular physical punishment encourages children to bully other children and damages their relationship with their parents. The UCL research has now shown us that it also damages their educational attainment and future prospects. When will the Government take not just a…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, recently my work has focused on two aspects of prevention of ill health and health inequalities. In 2024, I chaired a one-year special inquiry into food, diet and obesity, and this year I am chairing one into childhood vaccination rates in England. Apart from clean water, these are two of …
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
2 contributions
Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps
My Lords—
My Lords, does the Minister agree that any deal that the Government might do with the supermarkets to cut prices in exchange for delaying regulations on healthy food would be short-sighted, against public health and damaging to the NHS?
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
2 contributions
VAT Relief: Business Donations
My Lords, while the intention of the policy is welcome, does the Minister recognise that it may create a perverse incentive for businesses to divert surplus food away from community organisations and enterprises such as Community Shop, which provide both affordable food and wider support for vulnera…
My Lords, in relation to the question from my noble friend Lady Kramer, does the Minister agree that applying the new nutrient profiling model to surplus food diverted to various organisations could make it easy to carve out less healthy food from the VAT relief?
Lords
Proceedings
23 April 2026
Women’s Health Strategy
My Lords, I thank the Minister and I, too, welcome the women’s health strategy, as it includes many important objectives. In communities up and down the country, we have seen the devastating toll of sustained failures to invest in and deliver better women’s health. Women’s lives, families and econom…
Lords
Committee Stage
21 April 2026
Cancer Outcomes in the UK
My Lords, I declare my interest as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. If I have learned one thing during my time in the House of Lords, it is that any pronouncement emanating from the lips of the noble Lord, Lord Patel, should be listened to with the utmost care and attention. I …
Lords
Oral Questions
21 April 2026
2 contributions
Midwives: Graduate Guarantee
My Lords, the graduate guarantee creates additional temporary registered midwife roles and enables newly qualified midwives to apply to join the NHS workforce. This supports the transition from education to employment. Since September, over 850 of these roles have been created, backed by £8 million.…
On the second point, the noble Baroness is quite right: it is important that midwives have that time. That is what we anticipate will be the case—I refer her to the forthcoming workforce plan, which will improve the situation. With regard to the position that the noble Baroness describes, I agree th…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 March 2026
Maternity Commissioner
The considerations that the noble Baroness raises are pertinent. Through the 10-year plan and the workforce plan, we need to make sure that we have the right people in the right place. She raised the issue of new starters wanting to come into the profession, but we also have a huge issue with retent…
Lords
Debate
3 March 2026
5 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 66 and 68 in my name. These provide that the money collected by trading standards in small fines imposed by fixed penalty notices for offences other than those related to the licensing regulations should go towards smoking cessation services provided by the relev…
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Young, for tabling Amendment 202, to which I have added my name. It would require the Government to publish, every five years, a road map to a smoke-free country: in other words, a plan for the event rather than a review after it.
There are two essential compo…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
3 March 2026
Gibraltar Treaty
My Lords, I wonder whether the Minister could answer the question asked by my noble friend Lord Purvis about provisional implementation before 10 April.
Lords
Debate
2 March 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, for missing the beginning of her speech on Amendment 240. However, I have checked with the clerk and I believe it is in order that I speak to my amendments in this group.
Since this is Report, I will not repeat the arguments I made on…
My Lords, I am very sorry that the Minister has taken offence at my comments. I accept that this Government have brought forward legislation and taken a number of actions, but I am very much influenced by the disappointment of the IICSA board members. As my noble friend Lady Brinton said, it is very…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Better Start Longitudinal Programmes
I hope I can be helpful to the noble Baroness. In the Best Start for Life strategy, we committed that each Best Start Family Hub will have a children and family services practitioner to support children and families who have additional needs. I feel that this new offer will help parents to understan…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
2 contributions
Under-16s Energy Drinks Ban
My Lords, we are taking decisive action on obesity, easing the strain on our NHS and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. As part of this, we will fulfil our commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children aged under 16, introducing the ban within this Parliamen…
I hear the noble Baroness’s counsel but, as I said, we have committed to introduce the ban within this Parliament, as the Secretary of State said. He also said ideally sooner, if possible. I can confirm that all sellers, retailers and businesses of all sizes in England, including in-store and online…
Lords
Proceedings
9 February 2026
National Cancer Plan
My Lords, from these Benches, we very much welcome the national cancer plan and support its ambitions—and it is very ambitious. Many organisations and committees have called for an integrated, long-term plan, so it is very good that the Government have listened and, in particular, have taken note of…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
Baby Milk Powder: Cereulide
In my preparation for this Question, which is an important one, I asked a similar question to officials, particularly those from the FSA, and they assured me that testing shows we are meeting the right standards. They also made the point that this is all covered by the Food Safety Act. In their opin…
Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I too have added my name to this important amendment. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Meston, and indeed with the late great Judge Munby, that a full incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the gold standard to which many of us campaigners have long aspired. Toni…
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
Holocaust Memorial Day
My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for bringing forward this take-note debate on Holocaust Memorial Day, which falls tomorrow, and for her very thought-provoking speech. It was passionate, and I could feel that she felt it very deeply. I am also grateful to all noble Lords for their thought-provo…
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I have two amendments in this group. The purpose of Amendment 104 is to ensure that no eligible family misses out on the Healthy Start payments, as there is evidence that many families have not been aware of this important extra support and have therefore not applied for it. I have tabled …
My Lords, before the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, responds, I would like a small point of clarification from the Minister. I very much welcome the government amendments and congratulate the Government on what they are doing on free school meals. This is all very welcome, but in introducing it, the M…
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lords, Lord Khan and Lord Collins. Back in 2014, I supported this Bill in the House of Commons. It had cross-party support—it is Parliament at its best when we all agree—and I am slightly surprised that, 12 years later, we are still having these debates. As my no…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 November 2025
5 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I shall start with Amendment 182A tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Rising, which replaces his withdrawn Amendment 180A. It seeks to specify that vaping should be allowed in locations where it is “reasonable to expect” that only people over 18 congregate. I believe this would limit …
My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness. In Amendment 184A, the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Rising, seeks to exclude heated tobacco from the smoke-free generation objective of the Bill, to allow it in places where everyone is over 18. For this reason, and because of my lack of confidence that any l…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Child Grooming Victims: Compensation Awards
As the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, knows, it is a top priority for the Government to appoint the chair of the national inquiry as quickly as possible, and we are grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, for supporting these efforts. Once the chair is in place, the terms of reference for the in…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
2 contributions
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industry
The Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan sets out a clear plan to boost growth in the UK hydrogen industry, including: deployment certainty for future hydrogen allocation rounds; launching the first transport and storage allocation round in hydrogen to power our business model next year; exploring op…
I thank the noble Baroness for that question. This is a very important sector that the Government are working on, and we want to see it improve. The Government highly value regular engagement with the industry. We will be meeting the industry next week, on 26 November, to work out how we can work to…
Lords
Committee Stage
17 November 2025
5 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, we cannot support these amendments, I am afraid.
I want to make a couple of comments on the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Moylan. The scenarios that he outlined would be against common sense and I really hope that, when the regulations come before us, they adhere to common sense and…
Just to clarify, yes.
+3 more contributions in this session