Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2026
Patient Data: Research
My noble friend Lord Patel, in introducing this important debate, spoke about health data secure systems. I will speak about the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage system—the SAIL database—based in Swansea and funded by the Welsh Government, which runs on the mantra of “public data for public goo…
Lords
Proceedings
9 September 2026
Funeral Directors: Regulatory Regime
My Lords, this is much to be welcomed, because a funeral is a very important part of marking the passing of, and respect for, a person. So, in the consultation, will the Government ask hospice bereavement counsellors—specifically those who see people on the ground face to face—for their comments? Of…
Lords
Proceedings
8 September 2026
Integrated Care Boards: Access to Services
My Lords, what are the criteria that ICBs plan to use to monitor 24/7 access to services in the community? At the moment, the pressures are on emergency departments, where ever more patients arrive, because that is where the lights are on. We have heard about the governance problems of clinical erro…
Lords
Proceedings
4 September 2026
Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains (JCHR Report)
My noble friend Lord Alton’s commendable inquiry has shone a light in dark places. Abuses occur beyond first-tier suppliers, affecting women and the environment in particular. It made us think, and his opening speech today will have made us think further.
As the NHS is one of the largest commercial…
Lords
Proceedings
22 July 2026
Pensions Commission
My Lords, in welcoming the Minister back to her seat, with her in-depth knowledge of all these topics, can I ask whether the Pensions Commission will explore how access to the state pension for terminally ill people of working age who are too ill to continue working can be made available? A large nu…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
22 July 2026
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, we must thank the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, for her introduction to this amendment. Like others, I have had some desperately sad correspondence from widows whose husbands died relatively early after infection. Infection denied them children, some suffered serious discrimination within …
Lords
Proceedings
20 July 2026
People with Learning Disabilities: Acute Illness
My Lords, the report highlights that, for almost two-thirds of these patients, there was no assessment of mental capacity. However, when people are ill and frightened, mental capacity is incredibly important for being able to communicate with people, to make a diagnosis and to monitor a response to …
Lords
Debate
20 July 2026
Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill [HL]
My Lords, I also thank the Minister, in particular for the exemplary way he has engaged with those of us who are Back-Benchers and on the Cross Benches over specific issues, and how he has facilitated moving forwards. If I may inform him, I have managed to secure a meeting with the CAA tomorrow morn…
Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Unpaid Carers
My Lords, some employers are now adhering to the principles of Hugh’s law when there is a seriously or critically ill child and those unpaid carers are particularly severely affected. Will the consultation cover the issue of children who are very seriously ill? Will the Government also consider—and …
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Services
Do the Government recognise that, as the report said, school staff often see the antecedents of mental health? Two areas where there is strong evidence are parental alcoholism, with a threefold increase in children considering suicide and a fivefold increase in eating disorders, and repeated physica…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Drink-Driving
My Lords, given that somebody with a blood level of 50 to 80 milligrams of alcohol has a six times greater chance of dying in a road accident and, on top of that, of killing other people, when will the Government finally implement a lowering of the limit? They are aiming to have an overall decrease …
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Pension Access Rules: Impact on Terminally Ill
The Government’s review is much to be welcomed, because of the disparity. Given that 33% of working-age people with children who are terminally ill are recognised as dying in poverty, will the Government also look at the ability of people who withdraw their private pension to access a full range of …
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
My Lords, the Government’s initiatives on alcohol prevention in pregnancy are to be welcomed and are very impressive, but can the Minister assure us that the industry itself will not be involved in consultations and in designing public health programmes? To date, the tiny pictograms on bottles, part…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Clergy Conduct Measure
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, is taking part remotely. I invite the noble Baroness to speak.
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Children: Physical Punishment
My Lords, do the Government recognise that this report shows quite clearly the link between a failure to protect children from abuse and poor outcomes for those children? If parents who are not coping with parenting are to access family hubs and all the other support services, the law has to give a …
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Compassionate Use Medicine Schemes: VAT
My Lords, do the Government recognise that it has been estimated that, for each pound invested in research, there is an approximate 25p return on that in perpetuity. Therefore, we should avoid anything which disincentivises research investment in this country, which would include the inability to re…
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Rare Cancers: Diagnosis and Treatment
I am grateful to the Minister for outlining what are laudable aims, but the reality is that, every year, about 67,000 people die from rare cancers. About 10,500 of those have brain tumours, and, of all those patients, many are children or young people. Some 82% say they were never offered a trial, o…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Health-related Benefits Assessments
How many long-term claimants with severe long-term disabilities, who will never have a life devoid of dependence on disability benefits, has it been agreed will not be recalled to assessment—assessments which proved to be futile and quite damaging to their whole persona as they feel they are not bei…
Lords
Proceedings
4 June 2026
Declining Birth Rates
My Lords, I am most grateful to my colleague, the noble Baroness, Lady Nargund, for having secured this debate, and to the noble Baroness, Lady O’Grady, for having introduced the business of intergenerational solidarity. I want to concentrate on the other end—not on birth but on this older populatio…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My noble friend Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield has been a fine mentor to the whole House. That was evident today. As we proceed without him, we must not let him down. Laws send social messages. Candour and individual accountability must improve in all sectors. Human nature and fear intimidate people fr…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My noble friend Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield has been a fine mentor to the whole House. That was evident today. As we proceed without him, we must not let him down. Laws send social messages. Candour and individual accountability must improve in all sectors. Human nature and fear intimidate people fr…
Lords
Committee Stage
21 April 2026
Cancer Outcomes in the UK
My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Patel, on securing this important debate. I declare my interest as a member of the General Medical Council.
Like many other noble Lords, my interest in this very important subject is personal. My father and older sister both died of lung cancer. My …
Lords
Committee Stage
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I want to add to the comments and questions made by my noble friend Lady Harding about the potential impact of this regulatory change on horseracing. It is a very important sport, as the Minister responsible knows, and a sport that is already under considerable financial pressure, despite …
If I may, I hope this may be helpful: the confusion that I have heard is over whether a doctor, for a CQC registration at their GP surgery, can use that to volunteer on a point-to-point racecourse, as an example, or whether they have to separately register with the CQC to be a volunteer on the racec…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Nitrous Oxide
The noble Baroness strikes at the heart of this. The use of nitrous oxide is currently illegal under legislation passed by the previous Government. There have been convictions, but there needs to be both education and support to young people—particularly about the dangers, because nitrous oxide can …
Lords
Debate
27 March 2026
8 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I have Amendments 190, 268, 359, 617 and 660 in this group. The crux of this group is that assisting suicide is not a medical treatment, and products to bring about the death are being used not as medications but in massive overdoses for their poisonous properties.
The Human Medicines Reg…
I intervene on the noble Baroness’s comment about training. Everybody is, indeed, trained in abortion, for example, as they go through medical school, but by the time you are practising clinically and you are on a specialist register, you are no longer keeping up to date with those skills at all, an…
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