Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
9 contributions
Better Start Longitudinal Programmes
I thank the Minister for that and declare an interest: my sister, Gill Thornton, is the director of Better Start Bradford, which is part of the £250 million programme funded by the National Lottery, with local funding too, for the last 10 years. The model, which places children and family at the hea…
My Lords, the Minister may not have had the time that I have had to read the first report from this programme, which is called Exploring School Readiness . These projects have been going in five different areas, with 16 different programmes. In going through all 16 programmes, does she share with me…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
10 contributions
Under-16s Energy Drinks Ban
My Lords, the Government promised to ban the sale of energy drinks in this Session. The consultation has ended but we have not seen the results yet. When will the responses be published and when will the Government publish the regulations? Will the ban extend to all under-18s and all retailers, incl…
My Lords, in addition to the harms of energy drinks, the 156 cans of fizzy drink that the average child consumes in the UK each year can and do contribute to higher rates of childhood obesity and dental problems. With that in mind, will my noble friend the Minister commend the work of —would you bel…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
9 February 2026
5 contributions
National Cancer Plan
My Lords, I am grateful for the warm welcome from both Front Benches for the national cancer plan. This is a moment when we transform our cancer care and we make it personalised—we wrap it around the person instead of expecting it to be the other way around. The 62-day treatment standard has not bee…
I am sorry to hear about the member of the noble Baroness’s family.
To the point about treatment, by 2028, every cancer patient will have access to a personal cancer care plan via the NHS app. Tailoring treatment and support through the whole care journey is important, including before the care jou…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
6 February 2026
10 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful for the contributions on eligibility and definition of terminal illness. Once again, I will keep detailed comments limited to amendments on which the Government have major legal, technical or operational workability concerns.
First, I will give a reassurance to your Lordship…
I will briefly look at the actual amendment. As I said in my response, the workability concerns are about the specification of a list of illnesses or diseases. I have already outlined why that would be unworkable—because it is often a combination of illnesses, as well as the complications of those i…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
4 February 2026
6 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, it is essential that the changes we hope to make in this Bill resolve some of the existing workforce issues within our NHS. I say at the outset that the Bill will not be a silver bullet, and I do not wish to present it as such, but the changes it introduces for foundation and specialty tra…
My Lords, I begin by declaring my interest as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. It is a pleasure to open the first of our discussions on the Bill, and I should like to express my thanks to the Minister for her clear explanation of its provisions and its policy background.
I als…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
8 contributions
Baby Milk Powder: Cereulide
I thank the Minister for her Answer, but I would posit that there is very clearly a well-identified systemic problem that non-mandatory ingredients such as arachidonic acid, which is the source of the current contamination in Nestlé and Danone products, place a burden on infant metabolism and create…
My Lords, what the Minister said is correct, but only partially. Arachidonic acid is the key component that may contain bacillus cereus, which is the product that produces the toxin cereulide, which causes problems for babies including vomiting and diarrhoea. It is the same as any bacteria or virus …
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
8 contributions
NHS: Corridor Care
I thank the Minister for her reply, but I want to understand when a credible long-term delivery plan will be published—rather than “in the near future”—to restore year-round resilience, making whole-system patient flow a core performance priority. Unnecessary stays in hospital are linked to worse pa…
My Lords, as a former chair of an NHS community trust, I say that the situation often arises because of the shortage of social and community care. What are the Government doing to address those issues?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
30 January 2026
5 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. As ever, I will limit my comments to amendments on which the Government have major legal, technical or operational workability concerns.
First, I draw the attention of the Committee to operational workability concern…
I understand the point, but it is about verifying that.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
8 contributions
Battery Shortage for NHS Hearing Aids
I am grateful for that reply. While this is not the most urgent problem facing the NHS and its patients, 80% of people over 70 suffer from hearing loss. Many of them are now switching off their NHS hearing aids to conserve the batteries, and this has an impact on their quality of life. Last November…
My Lords, is it not the case that it is not just hearing aid batteries and that the NHS is facing problems with the supply of quite a number of pharmaceuticals? Could the Minister tell us precisely which major pharmaceutical products are affected by this, and is this a consequence of Brexit?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
28 January 2026
4 contributions
Medical Devices (Fees Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I am glad to introduce these regulations, which will take effect from 1 April. These regulations will amend the fees structure for the relevant medical devices regulations and provide for a new annual medical device fee to replace an existing fee. The fee will enable funding for the MHRA’s…
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for introducing these regulations. Although we support a strong and properly resourced system of post-market surveillance for medical devices, I am afraid we have significant concerns about the Government’s approach to this instrument.
As the Minister said, t…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
8 contributions
Maternal Mortality
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. She will know that the Conservatives promised to halve maternity mortality by 2025. Instead, as the report shows, it has risen substantially, with stark disparities for older women and those from BME and disadvantaged backgrounds. Between 2021 and 2023, over …
My Lords, the Government have launched a maternity inquiry, but we have already had lots of maternity inquiries and reports from the charity sector, such as the Muslim Women’s Network— I declare my interest as its CEO—Five X More and Birthrights, all with similar findings and recommendations. Instea…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
7 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to the debate. As I have said previously, I will limit any detailed comments to amendments about which the Government have major legal, technical or operational workability concerns. To that point, I would like to clarify for the noble Baroness, Lady B…
For the reasons I have already outlined. That is why I clarified that, when I say I am only speaking about where there are particular concerns, if I do not refer to them, there are no concerns to raise for the attention of your Lordships’ House, which I would always be very clear in doing.
The nobl…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
2 contributions
Rare Cancers Bill
I apologise for keeping the House waiting a moment longer, but I want to ask the noble Baroness something very important. This has been a fantastic debate of a high standard, in the best interests of the House of Lords. There was a great focus on focused research on rare cancers, but does she agree …
My Lords, I thank everyone who has taken part in this debate. It truly has shown this House at its best, with a combination of personal stories and incredible expertise on the subject—way beyond my level of knowledge. Everybody has played an important part in highlighting just how important this is.…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
2 contributions
Vaccine Health Technology Assessment
Before my noble friend sits down, I ask that she and her ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care give particular attention to establishing the independent committee to evaluate the existing vaccine health technology assessment process so that the impact of vaccines on the …
I understand why my noble friend is raising that, but NICE is seen as a world leader and has processes in place to review its processes and methods to ensure that they remain fit for purpose. I am not entirely convinced, as my noble friend will see, that we need to establish an independent committee…
Lords
Proceedings
18 December 2025
7 contributions
Puberty Suppressants Trial
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for acknowledging the sensitive language. This is indeed a sensitive issue. For all the division and divided opinion that I know there is, there is also a determination—including across the House, I am sure—that we get this right. The clinical trial is just …
I thank the noble Lord. Before participants enter the trial—and it is an extremely high bar, as it should be; there will be at least 226 participants required, but that is not a target and there will be no drive to get up to that number—certainly any possible impacts such as those the noble Lord des…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
16 December 2025
7 contributions
NHS: Winter Preparedness
First, we have started earlier and done more than ever before to prepare for the winter pressures. The good news is that the flu vaccines are working well to protect people against severe disease, and they are certainly working well in comparison to how they used to. In fact, we are the first countr…
I know my noble friend is very familiar with the maternal RSV programme, not least because of her campaigning, for which I pay tribute to her. It only began in September, and it is already proving successful. We want to see more pregnant women being vaccinated; we have updated and made available inf…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
7 contributions
Women’s Health Strategy
I thank the noble Baroness for that answer and for her championing of women’s health in her role. She will know that women’s health hubs have been shown to be successful in reducing gynaecological waiting lists and speeding up women’s access to care, and were highlighted as a real success in the 10-…
My Lords, the latest data from October this year shows that there are over 576,000 women on gynaecology waiting lists and there were 130,000 new referrals in October. How will the Government address this unacceptable wait in the refreshed strategy?
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
15 December 2025
9 contributions
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, the Government have made a comprehensive offer to resident doctors to resolve their disputes. I listened closely to the assessment of the Government’s performance made by the noble Lords, Lord Kamall and Lord Scriven, and it is not a reflection I agree with. This has dominated the agenda, …
The noble Baroness has just made a very good case as to why the offer which has been rejected would have been so helpful. On the issue of pay, our door has remained open to the BMA and to reasonable, realistic solutions to resolving the dispute, on which we have been repeatedly clear. I know the nob…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
9 contributions
Breast Cancer
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her Answer. She is right that a common cause of death in women is breast cancer, but age is a primary risk. One in three breast cancers occurs in women aged over 70 but, shockingly, nearly half of breast cancer deaths occur in women over 70. Yet the NHS stops…
My Lords, women over the age of 70 are entitled to receive free breast screening every three years. However, for those who are digitally excluded, both awareness of this and the practical process of making an appointment can present real barriers. What steps is the NHS taking to ensure that women ov…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
8 contributions
Emergency Adrenaline
My Lords, as the mother of a severely allergic needle-phobic 17 year-old, the authorisation of needle-free adrenaline devices such as Neffy is a potentially transformative development. These products offer families vital peace of mind by enabling life-saving treatment without needles. The Natasha Al…
My Lords, it has been four years since the Commission on Human Medicines first examined widening public access to adrenaline auto-injectors. It is an excellent initiative, but it requires national co-ordination. What progress have the Government made in establishing a national lead for allergy—which…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
14 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords for their contributions on this group. To echo the comments of my noble friend the Chief Whip, the Government remain neutral on the principle of assisted dying and on the passage of this Bill. Whether the law in this area should change is a matter for Parliamen…
I hope that the comments I have made already indicate where we are concerned, rather than going into further areas, but I would be very happy to look at the noble Lord’s point.
I also wish to raise points relating to the European Convention on Human Rights. As before, these are potential risks that…
+12 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
Wheelchair and Community Equipment Strategy
My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Hunt, not just for securing this important debate on a vital issue, as the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, said, but for his campaigning, along with other noble Lords, groups and individuals outside your Lordships’ House over many years. I am also gratef…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 November 2025
4 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I am most grateful to noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. Let me first turn to the opposition to Clause 138 standing part of the Bill, which has been proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Udny-Lister. Clause 138 amends the Health Act 2006 to insert new provisions relating to vap…
My Lords, the amendments in this group relate to limiting the Government’s ability to create heated tobacco-free places in England. I am grateful for all the contributions to the debate.
The noble Lord, Lord Udny-Lister, opposes Clause 139 standing part of the Bill. Clause 139 provides the power to…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
6 contributions
Mental Health Bill [HL]
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I will speak also to Amendments 2 to 21, including Amendments 19A and 19D. It is a pleasure to return this Bill to this House; I very much appreciate the support and engagement of noble Lords throughout its passage.
Let me turn first to the government amendmen…
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 19D in my name. I thank the Minister and her officials for the frequency of their engagement on the Bill. I put on record my apology for not spotting possible issues with the Government’s Motion, to which I have tabled the amendment, much earlier. I thank the Mini…
+4 more contributions in this session