Lords
Debate
27 February 2026
Rare Cancers Bill
My Lords, I am delighted to reaffirm government support for this important Bill. It will make a real difference for rare cancer patients and, as my noble friend Lady Elliott said, it stands as a real tribute and an amount of change to the memory of those we have lost, including our noble friends Bar…
Lords
Debate
25 February 2026
2 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, NHS staff told us through the 10-year health plan engagement that they were crying out for change. This Bill is but one step in delivering that change. It will ensure a more sustainable and resilient medical workforce. It will ensure that we make the best use of the substantial taxpayer in…
My Lords, although this was emergency legislation, we have had detailed and constructive debates on prioritisation. We have also had the opportunity to debate some of the deeper issues around the supply of medical specialty training places, and I am grateful to the Minister for her letter. We will c…
Lords
Debate
24 February 2026
7 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I appreciate the contributions made in this debate. I will start by addressing government Amendments 217, 218 and 219, tabled in my name; I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for her support.
The Bill updates the definition of a tobacco product in legislation relating to p…
The specific definition is “tobacco control research”, so it would be strange if it did not include what we know about already, which includes heated tobacco. I will be glad to confirm that to the noble Lord in writing.
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 February 2026
4 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I am most grateful for the contributions to this debate. I think we can safely say that there is no unanimity of view, as a number of noble Lords have commented. I am particularly grateful for the support from both Front Benches, as has been consistent throughout. I am also grateful for th…
My Lords, I am grateful for the contributions to this short debate. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, for bringing back Amendments 3 and 12, which would change from negative to affirmative the procedure for making regulations to specify steps that may be taken to verify the age of customers.
In …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
23 February 2026
4 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, I am most grateful to noble Lords across the House for their considered contributions to this group of amendments and to the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for his introduction to this group. I have a third reason to be grateful—namely, for the understanding of the challenge that this Government …
I am grateful to noble Lords on all sides of the House for their contributions today. I turn first to Amendment 3, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed. As I explained in Committee, this is not an amendment that we are able to support. As has been emphasised, including today, a key aim of this Bi…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 February 2026
19 contributions
Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill
My Lords, I am most grateful to all noble Lords for their helpful contributions to this debate. Amendments 1, 3, 6 to 8 and 12 to 14, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Patel, seek to create tiered categories of prioritisation for the UK foundation programme and specialty programmes. Taken together, the…
We do not anticipate that that is going to cause a problem. The noble Lord did not specifically refer to the EFTA countries, but I should like to. Some of them will not produce any suitable people who are likely to be included, so in our modelling we do not anticipate that there will be a problem. W…
+17 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
Tobacco and Vapes Bill [HL]
That the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 to 16, Schedule 1, Clauses 17 and 18, Schedule 2, Clause 19, Schedule 3, Clauses 20 and 21, Schedule 4, Clauses 22 to 40, Schedule 5, Clause 41, Schedules 6 and 7, Clauses 42 to 64, Schedule 8, Cl…
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